Normally Podcast: Blocking Traffic Won't Get You Peace!

Summary

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
Episode: Normally Podcast: Blocking Traffic Won't Get You Peace!
Release Date: June 12, 2025

In this episode of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, hosts Mary Kathryn Ham and Carol Markowitz delve into the escalating protests across major U.S. cities, the shifting political landscape among immigrant voters, the upcoming New York City mayoral election, and recent high-profile apologies from Simone Biles and Elon Musk. Through insightful discussions and sharp commentary, Ham and Markowitz provide listeners with a comprehensive analysis of current events shaping the nation.

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1. Escalating Protests and Public Order

The episode opens with an in-depth conversation about the ongoing protests in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, and Tampa. Ham and Markowitz express concern over the increasing frequency and intensity of these demonstrations, highlighting the implications for everyday city life.

• Curfews and Control Measures:
  Markowitz (03:10) notes, “The mayor of Los Angeles did impose a curfew last night, which is odd for protests that are not spreading and are super contained.”

• Impact on Civilians:
  They discuss how these protests frequently lead to road blockades, disrupting normal activities for residents who need to work or attend to daily responsibilities.
  Ham (04:47) emphasizes, “Already in New York City where protests have begun, you have folks blocking traffic. And you know what that means, Carol, is that normies can't do normal things because there are people who just need to run errands and there are people who need to pick up their kids from daycare or go to work.”

• Protesters' Demand for Peace:
  The hosts critique the protesters' message, pointing out the contradiction between the call for peace and the resulting chaos.
  Ham (07:04) states, “They just like, don't do those things.”

2. Media Reporting and Misinformation

Ham and Markowitz address the role of media in shaping public perception during these turbulent times, specifically focusing on the Los Angeles Times' efforts to counteract misinformation.

• Fact-Checking Amid Rumors:
  They scrutinize reports circulating on social media about ICE raids, pointing out that the LA Times debunked several sensational claims.
  Markowitz (10:22) remarks, “There was another story about ICE raiding a hotel and taking out workers. That didn't happen either.”

• Advice to Listeners:
  The hosts advise caution when consuming breaking news, urging listeners to verify information before accepting it as truth.
  Markowitz (10:25) advises, “Give it a minute. I take this approach to anything really, to any major story breaking. Give it a second to see what develops.”

3. Immigrant Voters and Political Shifts

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to analyzing recent polling data indicating a notable shift in the political alignment of immigrant voters.

• Shift to the Right:
  Ham (11:55) introduces a segment featuring CNN's Harry Enson, who presents data showing that immigrant voters have increasingly leaned towards the Republican side over recent years.
  Enson (12:27) highlights, “Immigrant voters were in the Democratic camp. Jump forward to 2024, 2025. Look at that shift. A 40 point shift to the right among immigrant voters.”

• Support for Donald Trump:
  The discussion reveals that Donald Trump's support among immigrant voters has grown significantly, challenging previous assumptions about his appeal.
  Enson (13:18) states, “Trump's vote share in presidential elections among immigrant citizens... Look at this. In 2024, all the way up to 47% of the vote.”

• Implications for Future Elections:
  Ham and Markowitz explore the potential impact of this shift on upcoming elections, suggesting that increased support for Trump among immigrant communities could reshape political dynamics.

4. New York City Mayoral Election

The hosts transition to the imminent New York City mayoral primary, examining the candidates and their potential influence on the city's future.

• Candidate Overview:
  Markowitz (23:08) and Ham (23:10) discuss the candidates, including Eric Adams running as an independent, former Governor Andrew Cuomo, and Democratic Socialist Zoran Mamandi.
  Markowitz (23:31) warns, “If you were still living in New York, I would be holding on to Eric Adams with both hands.”

• Potential Outcomes and Challenges:
  They express concerns about Mamandi's campaign tactics and Cuomo's unpopularity, questioning whether any candidate can effectively address the city's pressing issues.
  Ham (24:12) states, “He wants free buses, government-run grocery stores, and freezing the rent. I mean, again, full-on communist government-run grocery stores.”

• Cultural Nuances – Bagel Orders:
  Adding a lighter touch, the conversation shifts to the significance of candidates' bagel orders during debates, symbolizing their connection (or lack thereof) with New Yorkers.
  Markowitz (29:07) humorously critiques a candidate's bagel order: “Zoran's was toasted. Correct? Was that where he went wrong?”

5. Public Figures' Apologies: Simone Biles and Elon Musk

Towards the end of the episode, Ham and Markowitz critique recent apologies from high-profile individuals Simone Biles and Elon Musk, assessing their authenticity and impact.

• Simone Biles' Apology:
  Markowitz (35:45) criticizes Biles' apology as insincere and poorly timed.
  Markowitz (36:06) remarks, “It made no sense to me. So I just, it’s aggressive, yes, yes.”

• Elon Musk's Apology:
  Contrastingly, Elon Musk's apology is analyzed for its genuine tone despite its awkward delivery.
  Markowitz (37:18) notes, “I believe him. Again, a three in the morning apology.”

• Donald Trump's Response:
  The discussion touches on Donald Trump's measured response to Musk's apology, highlighting the unpredictable nature of these public exchanges.
  Markowitz (38:24) comments, “He didn’t say whether he was willing to let bygones be bygones with Tesla and SpaceX and Musk in general.”

Conclusion

Mary Kathryn Ham and Carol Markowitz wrap up the episode by emphasizing the need for calm and reason amidst the chaos of protests, misinformation, and political shifts. They encourage listeners to stay informed, critically evaluate news sources, and engage thoughtfully in the democratic process.

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Notable Quotes:

• Carol Markowitz (03:10): “The mayor of Los Angeles did impose a curfew last night, which is odd for protests that are not spreading and are super contained.”

• Mary Kathryn Ham (04:47): “Already in New York City where protests have begun, you have folks blocking traffic. And you know what that means, Carol, is that normies can't do normal things because there are people who just need to run errands and there are people who need to pick up their kids from daycare or go to work.”

• Harry Enson (12:27): “Immigrant voters were in the Democratic camp. Jump forward to 2024, 2025. Look at that shift. A 40 point shift to the right among immigrant voters.”

• Mary Kathryn Ham (13:18): “Trump's vote share in presidential elections among immigrant citizens... Look at this. In 2024, all the way up to 47% of the vote.”

• Carol Markowitz (35:45): “Simone Biles. Her apology was very scripted.”

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This episode provides a thorough exploration of the intersection between public protests, media narratives, political realignments, and the behavior of prominent figures, offering listeners a nuanced understanding of the current socio-political climate.

Transcript

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[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Hey guys, we are back on normal. The show with normalish takes for when the News gets weird. I am Mary Kathryn Ham.

[Carol Markowitz]

And I'm Carol Markowitz. Hi, Mary Kathryn. How are you doing?

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

I'm doing all right. There's no rioting by my house, so we're good on that front. It spreads.

[Carol Markowitz]

It does spread. The protests do continue in Los Angeles, and despite the fact that we are frequently told on the X platform that they are contained and we're being hysterical, the mayor of Los Angeles did impose a curfew last night, which is odd for protests that are not spreading and are super contained. And they are spreading to other places like Chicago, New York City. They tried it in Tampa. One of my Twitter buddies, West Tennessee Barbecue, described it as tens and tens of people, and there were a lot of counter protesters and it was all quite hilarious. But they are calling for a day of action this Saturday. So it remains to be seen whether these protests really will spread to other cities and cause fires and damage there as well.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Well, and I think, look, I'm fine with you guys being wary of the federal government's exertion of power. Welcome to the party on that. And protests are how you address that. That's fine.

[Carol Markowitz]

Protest away.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Yeah, protest away. Do not set things on fire.

[Carol Markowitz]

Easy call.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Do not block traffic.

[Carol Markowitz]

Do not loot.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Do not loot. Oh, by the way, did you see that the. I saw a clip where some Apple iPhones that have been looted in LA started blaring alarms and saying, return me to the such and such store.

[Carol Markowitz]

That's amazing.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Like the AI Gotcha. And the AI was like, we're gonna contact the authorities on behalf of this stolen iPhone. And I was like. I was like, the iPhones have risen up in defense of the waymos, which are the self driving cars.

[Carol Markowitz]

Amazing.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

That were being burnt. Yeah, yeah. So just like, don't do those things.

[Carol Markowitz]

Don't do those things.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Already in New York City where protests have begun, you have folks blocking traffic. And you know what that means, Carol, is that normies can't do normal things because there are people who just need to run errands and there are people who need to pick up their kids from daycare or go to work. Yeah. People who need to go to work. And you and I both saw this fantastic clip illustrating the dynamic between normal city dwellers and lefty protesters, where a woman is trying to go to work and this is the interaction she has with two lily white protesters.

[Carol Markowitz]

Lily white's important there.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Who are no doubt well educated and for some reason able to take off a Tuesday to protest in the streets and block her way. And here's the interaction that they have.

[Carol Markowitz]

Then what happens to my kids? But you can. If you could just move out the wind. How is it the people protest. If there's enough, there's nothing wrong.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

How do y' all, as white people.

[Carol Markowitz]

Feel about stopping a black woman from going to work? Oh, no, not work.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

I care so much.

[Carol Markowitz]

So you don't care about stopping black people from going to work? Look at this line that you guys are causing. I'm not causing no problems. I'm not. The facial expressions kind of make that video. So if you can look it up and go see her. But when he starts making fun of the idea of her going to work, her face is like, if she was ever sympathetic to any part of this, she no longer is.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Oh, no, not work. Has never been uttered by someone who doesn't have resources. Like, this guy is fine. Yeah, he's this pig tailed. Lib is going to be fine. He's going to have plenty of food today and all the things he needs furnished for him. She would like to furnish those things for her children. And this is what she gets. And she. I love the part where she's like, like, help me help my kids. And they're like, they're like, no, you're American.

[Carol Markowitz]

We don't care about you. Today is not about your kid.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

It is such a clear illustration of so many things that drive this. And I know there are sincere people out there, but telling that poor woman that this is peace. Us blocking a roadway is peace. That this is good people things. We're doing good people things. Stop yelling at us. Lady who wants to feed your children. And her saying, you could help me by just moving. That's it.

[Carol Markowitz]

Right.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

It's very simple. You don't have to set anything on fire. Just let me drive.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah. And how does her not being able to drive help them? Like, how in the world is it at all helping any cause that they want to support at all? I just, it never made any sense to me. Like, let me inconvenience a bunch of people who might even be on our side. And that will make them be on our side. Because it won't. It definitely will not.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Dr. Drew talked about this on Guy Benson's show recently, talking about the sort of the mental health self mental health issues that liberals self identify with at far higher levels than Republicans. And he was talking about that and he said a lot of this and sort of left activism is an exercise in just having emotions loudly and putting them on other people. Right. And so a lot of this is because if you ask them to explain how it's going to help, they don't know. They're just like, we're making noise. We're doing the thing. We want you to feel the pain that we want you to feel, and that's the end of the plan. And I think the same is true of their leaders, where Newsom and Bass are just having sort of emotional outbursts, really outbursts and saying, like, come at me, tough guy.

[Carol Markowitz]

And it's like, arrest me. Like, what?

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Why don't you, tough guy the criminals. That would be the thing to do. And in these cities, I just. I'm so fed up. And look, it's why I don't live in a major city. But I am so fed up on behalf of people who live there with the idea that just simple things like law enforcement being allowed to say, no, you can't block the road. That's somehow fascist.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, the last episode we talked about how people were minimizing all of this, and the LA Times had an article titled, all of LA is not a war Zone.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Okay, great.

[Carol Markowitz]

I was ready to mock it, and I did mock it a little bit because, okay, not all of LA is a war zone. Even if only part of one of our major cities is a war zone, I find that problematic.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Well, this is the JD Vance line from the debate. I feel like one hotel taken over by illegal immigrants would be more than enough for us to be mad about.

[Carol Markowitz]

Exactly. So. But the LA Times had that headline, and they said, we separate facts from spin and disinformation amid immigration raids. And I guess the LA Times is actually working on being a real newspaper. So the article did actually clear up some disinformation, which I found, you know, unusual. There were stories.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

It was like journalism instead of anti journalism.

[Carol Markowitz]

It was really wild because I immediately made fun of the headline. And then I read the article and I was like, this article's not bad. Like, this is pretty good.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

They clickbaited and then did some journalism under it. Yeah.

[Carol Markowitz]

Oh, they really got me. So there were stories circulating in LA that ICE had raided a school. And lots of people spread it, of course, on X. You know, like, they're ripping these kids out of their middle school graduations. The LA Times article says this did not happen. There was another story about ICE raiding a hotel and taking out workers. That didn't happen either. They allude to the Home Depot story, but that's the only one they were kind of weak on. They didn't specifically say it didn't happen. But there have been a lot of reports that the Home Depot raid that also was rumored to have happened also did not happen. So I don't know how many people are listening to this that are inflamed by stories that they're hearing. I think probably our audience is a little bit more savvy than that. I think that they would not automatically believe sensational stories. So. But if you do, if you've heard stories like, Give it a minute. I take this approach to anything really, to any major story breaking. Give it a second to see what develops.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Yeah. And like all of these things, you know, I do think that there are, there are ways that the federal government can certainly overstep in doing its duty, which the cities are preventing it from doing. I worry about Marines because what are the rules of engagement here? That is a step beyond National Guard. National Guard I'm pretty comfortable with because I don't, I didn't love 2020. I didn't love summer of 2020, guys.

[Carol Markowitz]

Summer of the summer riots. Not for me really.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

I'm done with that. And so I'm okay with, you know, enforcing the laws. And many Americans are. And as CNN found out, a lot of those Americans are in the immigrant community. I love when Harry Enson, who is the numbers guy at CNN the poll, like look deep at the polling guy when he comes out. He does about a weekly segment where like Kate Baldwin, the anchor has to be like, oh right, who are you? And he's just like, he's just like breaking brains with this seemingly counterintuitive information. Let's hear him do.

[Harry Enson]

So start off on the fact that immigrant citizens, immigrant voters, foreign born voters have gone tremendously to the right on this issue in 2024 and 2025 versus where they were in 2020 closest to her trust borne immigration. You go back to 2020. Democrats get this held a 32 point lead on this issue. Immigrant voters were in the Democratic camp. Jump forward to 2024, 2025. Look at that shift. A 40 point shift to the right among immigrant voters. Republicans now lead on this issue by 8 points over Democrats, more so than any other group that I could find. The group of voters who became more hawkish on immigration were in fact immigrants themselves, immigrants who are registered to vote in this country.

[Carol Markowitz]

So that's on that issue. How about how they feel about kind.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Of traditionally, historically about Donald Trump.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah.

[Harry Enson]

So you know, you see this shift and you go, what is going on underneath the hood? Well, take a look. Donald Trump, you remember when he first ran back in 2016. Immigrant voters are one of his weakest box. But look at this. Trump's vote share in presidential elections among, again, immigrant citizens, those who registered to vote. Look at this. 2016, he got 36% of the vote. You go to 2020, 39% of the vote. Look at this. In 2024, all the way up to 47% of the vote. Some polls I looked at had him barely losing that vote. Some polls I looked at had him barely winning that vote. Again, there is no block of voters that shifted more to the right from 2020 to 2024 than immigrant voters. And Donald Trump, at least in some surveys, actually won that vote. On average, it's about equal. So there may be all this stuff, right, about undocumented immigrants and Trump being harsh on them, but immigrant voters themselves have increasingly liked Donald Trump and have increasingly moved to the right on immigration.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

All right, thank you, Harry. You can wrap that up. I do enjoy that. Each of these segments, there's always an attempt to be like, well, surely there's bad news for Trump, and he keeps going through the numbers, and the fact is that the news isn't bad.

[Carol Markowitz]

No, it's not. Yeah.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Look, we don't always say that whatever's popular is right, but in this case, what happened is a bunch of communities have a assimilated, emigrated, and then assimilated and then watched Biden let untold numbers come across the border without vetting, without a system ignoring our laws, and they got fed up. That's what happened. Like, you just, you hit a tipping point where this wasn't cool with people anymore. And the Mexican immigrants and Latin American immigrants from two generations ago now look around and go like, whoa, whoa, whoa, right? What's happening here with the waving the Mexican flag and setting cop cars on fire? That's not totally.

[Carol Markowitz]

That's not us. Right. Look, I'm an immigrant. I feel this very strongly. I was always pretty, you know, hardcore on illegal immigration, but I've certainly become even more hardcore. I think that. I don't know, I think even just maybe a decade ago, I don't know, that I would have been like, oh, we should just be rounding people up. But it's gotten so bad that this is where we are now. And I also, I find it very offensive when they intertwine illegal and legal immigration as if it's one thing. We're just not one thing. And I'm sorry, you know, I told a story on X, but my mother's s. Lived in Russia until her death. She was not allowed to come visit. She was not granted a tourist visa to come visit because the assumption always was that she would probably stay. Because why? Why not? You have a family, et cetera. And she was already older, so she wouldn't be able to work and she'd be a drain on the system. We don't really know why, but this was the assumption. We followed all those rules. And my mom would, like, watch on TV the people streaming across the border, and she'd say, my sister can't come visit me for two weeks. And we followed those rules and we followed the law. And it's galling when other people don't and they get away with it. And this is why illegal immigrants also the whole, come here, we'll give you a hotel room and a check and all the different things. Like, we had to promise somebody would take care of us. There was no, come, let us take care of you. It just doesn't exist.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Didn't I. I just think you run into real. The Trump administration can run into problems by overstepping. Right. Overplaying their hand. And I think he's spoiling for that fight. If he wants. He wants a do over 2020, he's happy to do that. But I think you run into real problems with normies when it is so obvious that you value those who have broken those laws, who have violated the system over those who haven't. And in fact, what you do is you soak the ones who follow the rules to serve the ones who do not. And that is what happens in all of these cities. And it's so depressing and so demoralizing as an actual citizen who's trying to do the right thing. By the way, if anybody's worried about us living in a fascist state, I do want to let you know that the. The tweeting menswear guy.

[Carol Markowitz]

Oh, yeah.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Who I actually started following back when he got promoted on X God.

[Carol Markowitz]

And I unfollowed. I ended up unfollowing.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Yeah, I enjoyed the takes. I was into it. He has a very specialized kind of knowledge. It's interesting. And he's gotten very big. And then he had to signal how lefty he was. So he just started, like, trashing right leaning figures, outfits and like, whatever. I'm not a snowflake about it, but it's very obvious that he's only picking right leaning people. And then he just decided during this week to say, oh, by the way, I'm an illegal immigrant. And he was brought here by his family when he was very young. He did not really have a choice in this matter. Something that is like more sympathetic certainly than other stories.

[Carol Markowitz]

Sure.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

But like the menswear guy is just going to tweet that he's here illegally and pretend we live in a fascist state. But tweeting that he's here illegally just makes him probably more famous and more money on X. And you know the fascism.

[Carol Markowitz]

I don't think no.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

And like look, if he gets deported, you straight up told everyone on the platform where the actual Homeland Security and vice president hang out a lot that you're here illegally. So like that's well within what could happen to you. You have assumed a risk here. But I do think it's kind of interesting that like he's just still joking about stuff. He's, he's trolling on the, on the X about this very pertinent fact in our fascist state.

[Carol Markowitz]

Right. And if he does get kicked out, he has no one to blame but himself. We'll be right back on Normally Are.

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[Carol Markowitz]

Speaking of crazy places that are doing crazy things, New York City is going to have an election in just a few days. They're going to have a primary election and traditionally whoever wins the New York City mayoral Democratic primary goes on to win the election, right?

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

This is the one party rule situation, right?

[Carol Markowitz]

It may be a little bit different this time because the current Mayor, Eric Adams, is running as an independent. So I'm not really sure how that's going to play into this. I mean, I've said openly if I were still living In New York, I would be holding on to Eric Adams with both hands.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Which is such a testament to the others.

[Carol Markowitz]

Right, right, right. It's like, vote for the criminal. It's important, truly. But in the top two slots of the Democratic primary right now are former governor Andrew Cuomo and Zoran Mamandi, who is a democratic socialist and is running to the left. Of that, I would say he's running as a full on communist and he may win.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Yeah, I mean, look, it's scary when the clearly best options for normal people are Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo and look, I don't want that guy to have a comeback.

[Carol Markowitz]

No, I know, I know.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

But right now Dami is like out here saying, I'm going to freeze rents. He has no authority to do so. It would, it would ruin so many things. It was just like a middle schooler being like, I'll give you free treats from the vending machines. Like, no, you won't.

[Carol Markowitz]

Right. He wants free buses, government run grocery stores, and freezing the rent. I mean, again, full on communist government run grocery stores. Like, I don't even think AOC would be for that. No, no, it's far out.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Somebody joked that. I think it was Ben Dreyfuss pointed out that I'm sure they had decided that AOC should endorse him. And when would she endorse him? And you got to make the most impact possible. And it happened on the day that Elon. And it was amazing fighting.

[Carol Markowitz]

It really was, because it was like, so like, will she? Won't she? Will she?

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Won't she?

[Carol Markowitz]

And then she finally did it and it's like, did not make the news at all.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

No press.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah, Zero. So a lot of people hear his ideas and say that's ridiculous. Obviously someone like that. But as I always like to say, it's very important to remember that I will give you free stuff remains a popular campaign tactic. And I, I'm worried. I don't know. Some polls I, I've seen have him winning Brooklyn. It's, it's definitely a concern. I hope Andrew Cuomo pulls it out in the Democratic primary. The problem is that Cuomo is still super unlikable. You may remember that from 2020. And our friend Justin Ro, the amazing political show Politics, Politics, Politics. He points out on X that Mamandi is running a very good campaign tactically. And Cuomo is acting like everyone in New York City should be honored. He'd slum it by running for mayor.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Unsurprising.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah, that's how that's going. Like Cuomo wasn't showing up to mayoral forums. He was really just acting as if like, here I am. You guys are so lucky to have me.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Yep.

[Carol Markowitz]

That might not work. It might not work.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

It might not. And Zoran, for his part, and I must say this about every single one of them that pops up. Pete Buttigieg, AOC him. If they can talk, they're a danger. This guy can talk. His ads are very good. They're creative. He is an interesting speaker. And so that's always a challenge because he comes off much more likable than Cuomo. Looks like low bar. But it is amazing to me that both LA and New York right now, in very different ways. New York, electorally, Louisiana, in the streets, lefty leaders are doing the things that the American people that the normies, even in their towns, left leaning towns, have told them they hate. They don't want chaos. They don't want chaos on behalf of illegal immigrants and criminals, convicted criminals, by the way. Many of these people that are being picked up, they don't like the far, far left inability to govern and deliver on services they do not want. That's why the Ezra Klein's of the intellectual lefty world are trying to drag them back to the idea that they should serve voters with absolute services. And they're just like tripling down on all of it. I don't know how they, I don't think they know how to pivot at this point.

[Carol Markowitz]

Right. I kind of want to go back in time and tell Carol and Mary Catherine of 2020 that we'd be rooting for Andrew Cuomo to win anything, really. I'm so not a fan of Andrew Cuomo. This is again why I would prefer Adams if I were a New Yorker, just on principle.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

I don't even care how bad Adams is. I'm like, Cuomo deserves not this at all.

[Carol Markowitz]

Exactly. And during the pandemic, Cuomo said so openly hated New York City and he was just always so anti the city. But there's this whole subtext of the mayoral election where they get asked their bagel order.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Yes, this is great.

[Carol Markowitz]

Tell me your bagel order.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

I mean, look, I'm not a connoisseur, so I think like I, I'm not the one to ask, so we're going to go to you second after I get my trash order out.

[Carol Markowitz]

But I would just say my bagel orders. Bojangles.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

No, my, my favorite, my preference would be a fresh, warm everything bagel with plain cream cheese and possibly lox.

[Carol Markowitz]

Okay. Yeah, my order is Everything bagel, cream cheese, tomato. It's not crazy. It's not, you know, anything fancy. The thing is, when you're hearing the bagel orders in New York, what New Yorkers are looking for is whether or not you say toasted. If you say toasted, you're not from here. I'm still in New York or somewhere at heart. But yeah, if you're toasting, then you're not going to bagel that makes it fresh. And then what are you doing? You may as well have a supermarket bagel.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

So this was new information to me because I have never lived in a place with great bagels like New York. We had a Brugger's bagel, which is a chain and I'm sure New Yorkers would look down upon it. However, they did have fresh bagels, which is why that's all that matters. I want the hot one. Right, right, the hot one. But I will toast one when I don't have that option. But I believe. Let's see, it was. Zoran's was toasted. Correct? Was that where he went wrong?

[Carol Markowitz]

I don't know. I had the Brad Lander. Our friend Eli Klein on X pointed out that Brad Lander gave his bagel order as everything bagel, Scallion, cream cheese, slice of tomato and lox. And again, it doesn't matter what you put on it. Capers and blah, blah, blah. Doesn't matter. But Brad Lander then retweeted, like somebody praising his order and added, lightly toasted. It's like he has no print principles. This man stands for nothing.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Come on.

[Carol Markowitz]

Right? It's just. It's unacceptable.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Okay? So yes, okay, let me just call him out.

[Carol Markowitz]

Read the Mamdani one.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Yeah, the socialist is for toasted. Okay? The order. As someone who grew up in Morningside Heights, I have to go back to absolute bagels, poppy seed bagel, scallion cream cheese, some pulp Tropicana on the side. And this is going to lose me some votes. But to be honest with you, toasted.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah, not acceptable. Just really, really not acceptable. So Ben points out that bagel shops bake their own bagels fresh. No reason to toast a bagel. And then he says, no one is saying you shouldn't toast your piece of shit loser bagel that you bought from the supermarket and brought back to your rat infested trailer. I actually showed that to my daughter. To be like, you know, toasting bagels is unacceptable.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

It's false behavior. Okay.

[Carol Markowitz]

He also made fun of Zoran because he had the Tropicana on the side. He was like toasted poppy seed bagel with a tropicana on the side. Is he running to be the mayor of Cincinnati airport? Which is pretty good.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Pretty good. It's funny. Do you remember notoriously Cynthia Nixon, the Sex and the City actress? She had some weird she was a gubernatorial candidate and her bagel order was. This is horrific. A cinnamon raisin bagel with locks and capers. How how I like I'm for a sweet and savory in some capacities, but not in that one.

[Carol Markowitz]

No no. That's super gross.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

It's. That's. Anyway, best of luck to everyone. Yeah I do not understand. If you can get one fresh and hot right in New York, why are you yeah, that doesn't make any sense.

[Carol Markowitz]

Why would you toast makes no sense. That's absolutely right.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

You're not from my land of trash bagels. Like do it right.

[Carol Markowitz]

We're going to take a short break and come right back with Normally Are.

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[Carol Markowitz]

People have been having a good 24 hours of being nice and apologizing. Should we wrap up with something pleasant?

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Yeah, let's do some Some Apologies the Apology Tour the Apology Tour from two very famous people. It turns out that both Simone Biles and Elon Musk have had a bit of a change of heart.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah, Simone Biles. Her apology was very scripted.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Convoluted.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yes, I did not believe her. Like her post at Riley was on a Saturday night and I guess I and a lot of other people assumed she had had a couple of drinks.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

It felt aggressive, yes, yes.

[Carol Markowitz]

But this her apology was just like, the current system doesn't adequately balance these important principles of, you know, competitive equity and inclusivity, which often leads to frustration and heated exchanges. And it didn't help for me to get personal with Riley, which I apologize for. It just like, just say you're sorry.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

What is this?

[Carol Markowitz]

What is this? Like, the way that I spoke, you know, it just. It made no sense to me.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

And also, it was like 48 hours after the thing. It was like in. Probably not quite that much, but it was. The delay was large given how famous she is and how quickly the news cycle moves. Normally you want to do a cleanup like this pretty quickly afterwards, so that would have probably helped.

[Carol Markowitz]

Right. But I think Miley is so just what a great person. Accepted the apology, said, you know, Simone's still the greatest gymnast ever and accepts it. I don't accept it. I just. I'm sorry. I found the apology to be fake. And I like, if Simone Biles is promoting something I'm not in, she. She lost me.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Yeah, I'm. I'm out on it too. Like, she's. She's without dispute the goat when it comes to women's gymnastics. No one can take that away from her. I'm not going to be particularly wooed anymore by any of her pitches.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah, yeah, that's it for that Elon Musk, however, his apology Tweet was around 3 in the morning.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Who, by the way, definitely does not have crisis pr. That guy.

[Carol Markowitz]

No, no, nobody is helping him craft any of this. He tweets. I regret some of my posts about President Donald Trump last week. They went too far. Again, it's not an effusive apology, but I believe him. Again, a three in the morning apology. That' 400 words. I feel like he really means it. Will they be bros again? I'm not so sure.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Well, for his part, Trump responded and as he has done throughout this, in a pretty measured manner.

[Carol Markowitz]

Right.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

He talked to the New York Post and said, I thought it was very nice that he did that.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah, I quite like that. Yeah.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

He didn't say whether he was willing to let bygones be bygones with Tesla and SpaceX and Musk in general. But, you know, like, Trump is so such an interesting character because sometimes you want to say, like, oh, yeah, like, this guy's burned forever. There's no way he can come back from this with Trump. And yet that's not.

[Carol Markowitz]

That's not.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

That's not often Trump is. Or even often how Trump operates. Like, you come and say the right thing and he's going to be like, okay.

[Carol Markowitz]

Right.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Okay.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah, absolutely. I can think of a lot of examples of that, including his vice president. J.D. vance said some terrible things about Donald Trump. Trump. Marco Rubio said some terrible things. He's golfed with Ron DeSantis. I mean, he makes up. He kisses and makes up. But this one, I thought maybe not just because they were really close. And it remains to be seen, maybe Trump really has mellowed and he can forgive. But it seemed like they were friends.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Not just it seemed like an affectionate relationship.

[Carol Markowitz]

Trump was hanging out with his son, with Elon's son, more than he was hanging out with his own kids. Yeah, I don't know. I hope that those two crazy kids find a way to make it work. It was, it was nice when they were friends.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

It was.

[Carol Markowitz]

Well, thanks for joining us on Normally Normale Ly airs Tuesdays and Thursdays and you can subscribe anywhere you get your podcasts. Get in touch with us@ normallythepodmail.com thanks for listening. And when things get weird, act normally.

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[Carol Markowitz]

Cleans like.

[Mary Kathryn Ham]

Clorox.

[Carol Markowitz]

And feels like yay.

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[Podcast Announcer]

Use as directed for some of us, personal finances aren't just personal. They include a lot more people than ourselves, loved ones, neighbors, the communities we call home, and the causes we hold in our hearts. At Thrivent, we help plan your financial payments picture with the bigger picture in mind. Because even though our business is helping guide your finances, our ambition is to make it mean so much more. Thrivent where Money means more Connect with.

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[Mary Kathryn Ham]

This is an I Heart podcast.