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The Daily Beans
Holy Majoly (feat. John Fugelsang; Rep. Julie Johnson)
01:09:10
Friday, June 6th, 2025 Today, the Trump-Musk feud explodes on their social media platforms as Musk calls for Trump’s impeachment and threatens to release information about Donald and Epstein; CDC’s top Covid vaccine advisor resigns after RFK Jr says he’ll remove it from vaccination schedules; a federal judge orders the reinstatement of the AmeriCorps program in 24 states; Trump reinstates an expanded travel ban that includes 19 countries, he also blocked international students from studying at Harvard and settled a six hour long lawsuit with himself in Texas; Trump officials delayed a report of farm trade data over deficit forecasts; the Supreme Court sides with a straight white woman claiming reverse discrimination; four states petition the FDA to lift abortion pill restrictions; and Allison delivers your Good News.
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- [00:00]
Alison Gill
MSW Media. Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Friday, June 6, 2025. Today, the Trump Musk feud explodes on their social media platforms as Musk calls for Trump's impeachment and threatens to release information about Donald and Epstein. The CDC's top COVID vaccine advisor has resigned since RFK Jr said he'd remove Covid from the vaccine schedules. A federal judge has ordered the reinstatement of the AmeriCorps program in 24 states. Trump has reinstated an expanded travel ban that includes 19 countries. He also blocked international students from studying at Harvard and settled a six hour long lawsuit suit with himself. In Texas, Trump officials delayed a report of farm trade data over deficit forecasts. The Supreme Court sides with a straight white woman claiming reverse discrimination. And four states have petitioned the FDA to lift abortion pill restrictions. I'm your host, Alison Gill. Hello. Hello. Happy Friday, everyone. Holy majoli. It's been a day for anyone with a social media account. Trump and Musk were at each other's throats today, and I for one, am enjoying this immensely. I know, I know it's probably a distraction from something else, but we are all pretty well informed about everything else that's going on, and it is a really fun distraction. So Elon said Trump won't release the Epstein files because he's in them, which we knew. And then Trump said Elon had Trump derangement syndrome. And. And then Elon said Trump should be impeached. And then Trump said he would rescind Elon's government contracts. Then Musk said he was going to decommission his dragon spaceship. And then Musk even said he won the election for Trump. Then he won the House for Republicans and a couple of Republican senators too. So that was quite specific with the numbers that he gave. Alex Jones is flipping out. Bannon is calling for Trump to deport Musk. And meanwhile, Tesla lost 154 billion billion with a B dollars in value today. Today alone. But women are too emotional, right? So we're going to talk about all that and more with Sean Fugelsang later in the show because it's Fugal sang Friday on the Daily Beans. And I'm going to be speaking with the first openly gay congresswoman from The south, representing Texas 32, Congresswoman Julie Johnson. Dana's out today. She'll be back Monday. She's out raising money for the LGBTQ community and Lambda Legal. So we love to support her while she's doing that. We, we have so much to cover today. So let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes all right, first up from the post. A top coronavirus vaccine advisor at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has resigned, citing concerns that she could no longer help vulnerable people after federal health officials rescinded long standing recommendations to immunize children and pregnant women. Lakshmi Panagiokopoulos, I hope I'm saying that right. It's a very long last name, so please forgive me if I'm mispronouncing it. She said in an email to colleagues Tuesday that she made a personal decision to quit the CDC after 12 years. Quote, My career in public health and vaccinology started with a deep seated desire to help the most vulnerable members of our population, and that is not something I'm able to continue doing in this role. That's what she wrote, according to a copy obtained by the Post. She said she made her decision Friday. Her email didn't further detail her reasons for leaving, but I think that's enough. It came days after the Health and human services secretary, RFK Jr. And other health agency leaders said they would stop recommending coronavirus shots for healthy children and pregnant women. Next up from NBC. Anger and condemnation broke out as families and attorneys and immigrant advocates absorbed the blast from the latest bombshell delivered by the Trump administration, a travel ban that stops or restricts People from 19 mostly African, Asian and Caribbean countries from entering the United States. While the Trump administration said the travel ban is meant to keep Americans safe, critics lobbed accusations of discrimination, cruelty, racism, inhumanity and more in response. Meanwhile, the news also elicited confusion over what will happen once the ban goes into effect this Monday. Now, Trump's proclamation issued Wednesday night bans people from 12 countries from traveling to the United States, including Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. And in seven more countries, travel to the US Is suspended but not banned, and that's Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela. Now, it took three tries for Trump in his previous administration to come up with a travel ban that the Supreme Court would accept. Lower courts nixed the first version, and the administration kept revising it until the high court accepted the third version in June of 2018. Immigration and Civil rights groups opposed all three versions. Raha Walla, vice president of strategy and partnership at the National Immigration Law center, said that challenging the latest ban will be an uphill battle because the Supreme Court decision is the law of the land. Edward CIA, an immigration attorney in New York City, said that blocking the latest ban will be tougher now than it was in 2017, quote, Trump got smarter this time, he said, explaining that this mix of countries makes it harder to argue that the ban is discriminatory. Next up from the Times. Trump said Wednesday he would prevent Harvard from having international students entering the country, an aggressive move the school called illegal. And they, by the way, updated their lawsuit to include this in the same proclamation. Trump also urged Marco Rubio to consider revoking current visas for Harvard students. The extraordinary action marks the first time Mr. Trump has tried to directly use the power of the presidency against Harvard, an indication of how personal the effort to inflict distress on the Ivy League university has become for him. And I don't know that this is the first time. I mean, he canceled all their grants anyway. He said he was looking into this and now he's done it. The school, which is all but certain to challenge the legality of Mr. Trump's action, and they have, has become a focal point of Trump's effort to align higher education with his political agenda. That effort began as one focused on addressing allegations of anti Semitism on college campuses. But that was a front and we all know it. And it has moved beyond that issue now to include targeting universities over diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and support of transgender athletes. So we'll keep an eye on this Harvard lawsuit for you. This is from Steve Vladik at 1. First, something happened yesterday afternoon that I couldn't believe, and that sets a new low standard for the shameless hypocrisy on the part of of both the U.S. department of justice and the Texas Attorney General's office. Within a span of just over six hours, one, the federal government sued Texas challenging a state law under which undocumented immigrants who reside in Texas are eligible for in state tuition at Texas's colleges and universities. And two, Texas agreed to settle the lawsuit by consenting to a judgment under which the state would be permanently enjoined from enforcing the law because it violates the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, ostensibly because it is preempted by federal law. And three, the consent judgment was approved by the district judge, Judge Reed O' Connor, who had a 100% chance of having this case assigned to him since it was filed by the federal government in the Wichita Falls Division of the Northern District of Texas. There are at least three problems with what happened here, says Professor Vladek. First, the Supreme Court has long made clear that Article 3 courts lack the power to adjudicate such transparently collusive lawsuits because there is no true case or controversy when both litigants desire precisely the same result. Indeed, district courts are supposed to have an obligation in such circumstances to protect the jurisdiction of the federal courts, but not so much here. Second, even if there's some way to satisfy Article 3 in this context, it's Republicans who have spent much of the past decade railing against what they've described as sue and settle, where a federal agency defendant agrees to settle a lawsuit with a plaintiff on the alleged ground that the agency agrees with the plaintiff's regulatory goals. Those cases usually take longer than six hours, tend to involve contexts in which the agency has had a good faith argument that it's going to lose the lawsuit if it doesn't settle, and three are typically brought by directly affected interest groups. In all three respects, this seems worse. Indeed, part of what appears to have prompted yesterday's activity was the fact that two bills intended to repeal the 2001 state law failed this week in the Texas legislature. A collusive lawsuit by the United States against a state shouldn't be a backdoor when the democratic process has already declined to intervene. And third, of all the courthouses in which the United States and Texas could have played this game, they singled out Wichita Falls, one of the handful of single judge divisions remaining in any federal district court in the country after The Judicial Conference's March 2024 policy statement, strongly discouraging the practice. Not only does that suggest a lack of confidence on the party's part that a randomly assigned judge would have endorsed the shenanigans, but it also drives home that for all the complaining by the current administration and its supporters about judge shopping by litigants challenging Trump policies, the only real judge shopping that's currently going on is by the federal government. He concludes by saying it's all a stain on the federal courts, one that in this case comes at the literal expense of as many as 20,000 Texans who have been living in the United States since they were children, everyone involved in this sham proceeding ought to be ashamed of themselves. And if given the chance, the 5th Circuit shouldn't let it stand. But I'm not holding my breath. You can read this whole piece. There's a lot more to it at one. First on Substack, that's Professor Vladek's very informative newsletter. Subscribe when you can. Next up from Politico, Trump administration officials delayed and redacted a government forecast because it predicts an increase in the nation's trade deficit in farm goods later this year. That's according to two people familiar the numbers run counter to Trump's messaging that his economic policies, including tariffs, will reduce US Trade imbalances. The politically inconvenient data prompted administration officials to block publication of the written analysis normally attached to the report because they disliked what it said about the deficit. The published report, released Monday but dated May 29, includes numbers that are unchanged from how they would have read in the unredacted report. That's what the people said who were granted anonymity. Policymakers, farm groups and commodities traders rely on the closely watched report, which the Agriculture Department issues quarterly for its analysis of imports and exports of major farm commodities, including cotton and livestock. The highly unusual rollout could raise questions about potential political meddling with government reports that have traditionally been trusted for decades. Quote, objectivity is really key here and the public depends on it. That's what Joe Glober said. He's a former USDA chief economist. Quote, to lose that trust would be terrible. Where the hell is Beaks? We have a fake crop report. All right, next up from the Post, the Supreme Court Thursday sided with a straight woman who claimed she faced bias in the workplace after she was passed over for positions that went to gay colleagues. The decision will make it easier for people who are white, male or not gay to prove job discrimination claims. The justices unanimously struck down a standard used in nearly half of the nation's federal circuits that required members of groups that historically have not faced discrimination to meet a higher bar to prove workplace bias than members of minority groups. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the only black woman on the high court, wrote the opinion that sided with Marlene Ames, an Ohio state government employee who argued it was unconstitutional to have different standards for different groups of people. Congress left no room for courts to impose special requirements on majority group plaintiffs alone. That's what Jackson wrote in the ruling, portions of which she read from the bench. Next up from NBC and some good news. Four states petitioned the FDA Food and Drug Administration on Thursday to lift its lingering restrictions on abortion pills. The attorneys general of California, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York argue in the petition that the FDA's current regulations make it difficult to prescribe mifepristone, one of two pills involved in a medication abortion in primary care settings, despite evidence that it's extremely safe to do so. Quote Given Mifepressone's 25 year safety record, there is simply no scientific or medical reason to subject it to such extraordinary restrictions. That is New York Attorney General Letitia James. In a statement, she went on to say, the FDA must follow the science and lift these unnecessary barriers that put patients at risk and push providers out of care. Of course, this comes on the heel of Trump's FDA idiot saying that he wants to do a review of the safety of mifepriston. So when Attorney General Letitia James says the FDA must follow the science, that's why Trump put non scientists in charge of the fda. And from the Times A federal judge Thursday temporarily blocked the Trump administration's wholesale dismantling of AmeriCorps, an independent federal agency that facilitates public community service opportunities, reversing the termination of its grants and volunteer network across 24 Democratic led states. In an opinion explaining the ruling, Judge Deborah Boardman of the Federal District Court in Maryland wrote that the various programs funded through AmeriCorps, which include public health, veteran transition services, conservation and environmental protection, and education support, have come to fill a void in government services in many parts of the country. The sudden suspension of those programs, which she emphasized was done at the behest of doge, the Department of Government Efficiency, left states marooned and struggling to provide for their residents. In limiting her order to the grants and programs supporting only the 24 states that sued, only volunteers working in those states could be restored. And this is again in anticipation of a potential Supreme Court decision that could block nationwide injunctions, which, as we know, the Trump administration has been complaining about. All right, everybody, it's time for some good trouble. What are you guys doing? Senator Rick Scott, the Voldemort of Medicare fraud felons, is accepting applications for internships. So if you have a lot of experience in Medicare fraud, you should definitely apply now. Rick Scott and his wife held stocks in firms that did business with the Maduro regime in Venezuela and a shipping firm with close ties to Russia. So if you have any of that kind of experience with the Maduro regime or Russia, you could apply too. He also recently stashed $3 million in the Caymans. So if you're really good with hiding money in tax havens, you'd be a great candidate for an internship with Rick Scott. So have fun with it. There's a link in the show notes. Next up, John Fugal saying, followed by Congresswoman Julie Johnson. Stick around. We'll be right back after these messages.
- [15:51]
John Fugelsang
We'll be right back.
- [15:53]
Alison Gill
Hey everybody. These days eating at home doesn't always feel cheaper than eating out with rising grocery prices and limited time. So it's hard to keep meals healthy and affordable. But that's where Home Chef comes in. They save the day. Users of leading meal kits have rated Home Chef number one in quality, convenience, value, taste and recipe, ease and For a limited time, Home Chef is offering you 50% off and free shipping on your first box. Plus free dessert for life. Just go to homechef.com DailyBeans Last night I had their parmesan crusted chicken with broccoli and pesto butter. It was fantastic. Easy to make, low in carbs, absolutely delicious. Home Chef's meal kits are a real time saver and a money saver. They come with fresh pre portioned ingredients and recipes that make it easy to cook at home without any guesswork. I've been able to stick to a healthier routine now without spending hours of meal planning or blowing my budget or going to the store all the time. And now on average, Home Chef customers save about 86 bucks a month on groceries. That's not just a small difference. It adds up fast. And with over 30 weekly options, I've never bored or stuck eating the same meals week after week. Home Chef even offers microwavable meals and five ingredient recipes for nights when I want something tasty but don't have a lot of time. Whether I'm cooking for myself or sharing a meal with friends, Home Chef helps me feel like a pro without the stress. So for a limited time, Home Chef is offering you 50% off and free shipping on your first box. Plus free dessert for life. Just go to homechef.com dailybeans that's homechef.com dailybeans for 50% off your first box and free dessert for life. Must be an active subscriber to receive free dessert. Hey everybody, welcome back. It is Friday on Fugal Sang Fridays. So please welcome my good friend, host of Tell Me Everything on Sirius XM progress channel 127. That's every weeknight at 9pm Eastern, 6 Pacific. If you don't have that, you can always check out the John Fugal Saying show podcast. My good friend John Fugal saying. Hello sir.
- [17:47]
John Fugelsang
Can we make this quick because I'm trying to enjoy a Republican MAGA Civil War. Please, please. I've invested in popcorn. Tariff free popcorn because that's the only kind I can get now. And wow, my favorite Civil War Confederate versus Confederate. How are you, Dr. Jim?
- [18:03]
Alison Gill
Let them fight.
- [18:04]
John Fugelsang
They're doing it.
- [18:05]
Alison Gill
Today has been very fascinating. I mean, this all started, you know, a day, day and a half ago with the constant tweet storm from Elon Musk about the billionaire bailout bill. Or as Joni Ernst has named it, the We're All Gonna Die bill.
- [18:22]
John Fugelsang
Finally, Democrats outsource naming their policies to a Republican and it's Working perfectly.
- [18:26]
Alison Gill
We might as well keep that up. But today, just today, Tesla's down 20, almost 25%. And something happened in just the last few minutes.
- [18:35]
John Fugelsang
Oh, yes. Oh, yes. It'll be old news by the time the kids hear this, but it will.
- [18:39]
Alison Gill
Be old news by the time you hear it. But Elon has tweeted out. What did he say? He said specifically, time to drop the really big bomb. Real Donald Trump is in the Epstein files. That's the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, djt. So I was wrong.
- [18:58]
John Fugelsang
I thought Elon had better impulse control than Trump. I will always admit when I'm mistaken to your listeners, Allison. He, in fact, he, in fact, is as much of a reactionary man, baby as Trump.
- [19:08]
Alison Gill
And it's true. And now, you know, I mean, I posted months ago that the reason the Epstein files are taking too long is because of all the redactions of Trump they have to make.
- [19:17]
John Fugelsang
Can you imagine? It's going to have more blackouts than my threesome with Liza Minnelli and Courtney Love.
- [19:23]
Alison Gill
Eliza Minnelli turns on a lamp. Yeah, I. I have to. I have to. You know, I. I am not a palace intrigue person. I am generally a. What went on in the courts today? Because a lot of important shit happened in the court. I'm with you.
- [19:38]
John Fugelsang
I'm with you.
- [19:38]
Alison Gill
What's happened here. But this is actually. I mean, it's hard to ignore the significance of this, considering that Elon Musk has also admitted that he bought the election for Donald Trump.
- [19:50]
John Fugelsang
It seems that way, doesn't it?
- [19:52]
Alison Gill
Yeah. And now he is admitting that Trump is all over the Epstein files. But that's not all he's admitting.
- [20:00]
John Fugelsang
No. And by the way, you know, with Trump all over the Epstein files, people are saying, wait, is Elon coming out and saying that this means Trump's a pedophile? And I ask you to remember. No. Elon's coming out and saying that he protected and covered for a pedophile until that pedophile leaked his embarrassing drug habits to the New York Times on the day he left. I mean, this has been brewing for a long time. And I said last Friday that Elon Musk is not used to being humiliated by a lesser billionaire than he. And to have that New York Times article about all the ketamine and the shrooms and the mdma, to have that come out the day he has that White House press conference, that article just filled with unnamed White House sources say. Unnamed White House sources say that was Donald Trump Making sure that Musk was humiliated on the way out, because Trump had no idea that Musk would ever come back and cross him. So I don't really think this is palace intrigue. I think this is like the last act of Shakespeare's play Titus, and we just get to watch the blood and mayhem because the whole budget fight was already like watching a bunch of feral raccoons fighting over a dumpster. I mean, one raccoon is screaming, cut Medicaid. And another raccoon is, like, gnawing on a Ukraine flag. And then Elon Musk shows up and says to the raccoons, you know what? This dumpster needs to be on fire. So, I mean, when he slammed the budget legislation this week saying, I can't stand it anymore, this outrageous pork filled congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. And then he goes, he attacked the Republicans saying, shame on those who voted for it. You know how you did wrong? You know it. And I'm like, all right. Elon is lecturing on doing wrong. That's like being lectured on hygiene by a porta potty at Burning Man. Elon birthed this budget, okay? He was at the White House so much. He doesn't care about the abandonment of the poor.
- [21:50]
Congresswoman Julie Johnson
He.
- [21:50]
John Fugelsang
He doesn't care about the deficit. He doesn't care what this is gonna do to needy people. He's mad because the ev tax credit is getting yanked and Trump used him like a promo code. It's, again, selfishness. Their whole cult is based on corrosive selfishness. And I think it's amazing. We thought these two petulant millionaire at birth, corrosive narcissists were somehow gonna be able to work together.
- [22:13]
Alison Gill
No. Yeah. No, I don't think any of us were under that impression. I mean, you and I have long talked about how we've been waiting for this to come to.
- [22:22]
John Fugelsang
I didn't think it would come this soon. I gotta be honest. I didn't think it would happen this soon. Like, he spent months playing footsie with Trump, like they're doing the Notebook for Nazis. And, you know, I mean, it's amazing to watch these billionaire narcissists in real time realize that their bromance with another billionaire narcissist wasn't a good strategy. So now Elon apparently is going scorched earth, and Trump is ready to go scorched earth on him. Mike Johnson and John Thune are. I mean, Mike Johnson. We have to take a moment for the comedy that Mike Johnson is giving us the most pathetic. Oh, My friend Elon is terribly. He's terribly wrong. He's disappointed.
- [23:00]
Alison Gill
I just had a phone call with him this morning. He seemed real keen on this. Yeah.
- [23:04]
John Fugelsang
Oh, no. Yesterday he said, well, I called him last night and he hasn't called me back yet. It's like, dude, you're revealing to us how lame you are. He sounds like a Sunday school teacher who caught Elon vaping in the parking lot. I mean, and you know, again, they don't care. They only care about themselves. They will ditch Trump. They will D. Musk. That's what the entire cult has in common, and it always has. That is the Gingrich, Nixon, Republican Party. Put yourself first. So inevitably, they turn against each other. I'm still waiting for Rudy Giuliani and Lindsey Graham to turn on Trump, but they all will. Trust me, they all will. And Elon saying that Congress is bankrupt. No, Elon, these people bet on techno authoritarianism, and he more or less got punked by the JV team at Liberty University. I mean, it's like he's like Tony Stark. If Tony just skipped MIT and went dunning Krueger, I could talk for days about these idiots.
- [23:55]
Alison Gill
Well, this is faster than I thought, too. I had been waiting for the reckoning that would happen with Republican electeds in Congress. That would come when they had to choose between pleasing Donald Trump and pleasing their constituents. And we had already seen, like, Josh Hawley, for example, Rand Paul come out and say that cutting Medicaid is a bad idea, probably because 40% of Josh Hawley's constituents rely on Medicaid for health care.
- [24:20]
John Fugelsang
Save us, Rand Paul and Josh Hawley. Please save us, you two noblemen.
- [24:24]
Alison Gill
And so we started to see. And of course, Susan Collins beginning to become concerned again, getting in her concerned corner. But now it seems like the reckoning is going to. For. For Republican electeds in Congress is going to be what side to choose between Elon Musk and Donald Trump.
- [24:42]
John Fugelsang
Yep.
- [24:43]
Alison Gill
And that's where my concern comes in, because we see people like Marjorie Taylor Greene, who I've. Who we've talked about on this show, when she came out and said, oh, I didn't read the whole bill. I didn't know about this AI states thing where they couldn't regulate it for 10 years, blah, blah, blah. Therefore, I'm with Elon. Like, they're picking sides between their money daddies, and it's still leaving their constituents in the dust.
- [25:09]
John Fugelsang
Yeah, yeah. I mean, well, it's never about the constituents. Right. They're not gonna do anything for the Constituents. They're just gonna tell the constituents who they should hate.
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Alison Gill
Well, even. Even when they say, like, even like Josh Hawley is, he cares more about just retaining his power as a senator, or he doesn't care about what happens to his. He doesn't. He's not opposing this because he's worried about his constituents. He's doing it because he's worried about not being elected again. But that was still the reckoning I was talking about. I was expecting that reckoning sooner than I was this particular.
- [25:39]
John Fugelsang
I mean, the average American and even conservative friends, they don't really desire tax cuts for billionaires and pink slips for social workers. They're spinning these Medicaid cuts like it's a gym membership. I mean, the cuts will strengthen Medicaid. Like, it's like saying you're going to strengthen a parachute by removing the straps. This is Republican logic. Fewer teachers means better schools. Fewer vaccines means better health. Fewer facts means a better America. Less access to birth control means fewer abortions. More guns leads to fewer mass shootings. This is what they do all the time.
- [26:11]
Alison Gill
Fewer employees at the VA leads to shorter wait times at the va. Somehow.
- [26:16]
John Fugelsang
I mean, let me be honest with you. What surprised me even more. I always saw this coming. The Trump and Musk thing. But Donald Trump going scorched earth on Leonard Leo the same week. I'm sorry, it's in many ways 10 times a bigger story. And again, like, they're just predicting the spill. The spill. I mean, the last time Donald Trump predicted something good, it was that Covid would disappear by Easter. You know what I mean? This big, beautiful budget is a big, bloated bribe. But by going against Leonard Leo last week, by actually biting the hand that feeds him his Supreme Court nominees, this is a whole new landscape. I mean, we say, we like to say, oh, Republican Supreme Court pick. No, no, it is Federalist Society, Leonard Leo, Supreme Court pick, whose name is then passed to a Republican president ever since David Souter. Rest in peace. We just lost. That's how it's been. And the Republican right wing will never allow a justice who hasn't been thoroughly vetted already to go before the Senate. So all of this is just civil war. And it never smelled so sweet. And, I mean, God bless what's left of America after this. But we knew this had to collapse. And now I think it can only strengthen the hand of Democrats in the House and Senate who will potentially be needed in a divided Republican Party. Because it's begun, Alison. It's begun. And we are seeing Deeper fissures now than we saw in the first three and a half years of term one. I mean, they didn't bail on Trump like this until after January 6th last time. Now it's, it's getting messy, and there's a lot of Elon Musk fans who will, I predict they'll patch it up in a week because they both know they need each other. These codependent bitches. But there's Musk fans that Trump is never getting back.
- [27:55]
Alison Gill
Yeah. I don't know. It might be hard to come back from this.
- [27:57]
John Fugelsang
The Epstein tweet alone. The Epstein. The Epstein tweet alone. I mean, I think they have to come back from it because I don't see how the two of them can go forward without it. They have too much invested, and they're slimy doppelgangers.
- [28:09]
Alison Gill
They're mutually assured distraction. Yeah, yeah. Jessica Tarloff is like 100 bucks. As Donald's going to try to deport Elon.
- [28:16]
John Fugelsang
I mean, he does have citizenship to, what, three different countries? I, I, we'll see if it comes to that. But, I mean, if, if Musk goes. I almost don't want to see how much these guys can go scorched earth on each other, because I assume it'll involve hurting a lot of other people.
- [28:29]
Alison Gill
Yeah.
- [28:29]
John Fugelsang
In the process.
- [28:30]
Alison Gill
Now coming up, too, you know, in 2026. Obviously, we've got a lot of work to do between now and then. I'm, you know, not discounting the months between then and now by bringing up the election in 2026, but flipping the house. Yeah. All in. I totally can see it. I was a little less, I was a little. I'm still a little more skeptical about being able to flip the Senate, but now Iowa could be a toss up because of what Joanie Ernst did to herself.
- [28:53]
John Fugelsang
Isn't she great? The philosopher queen of Medicaid murder. I love Joni Ernst. I used to be really against her. I used to say she was all squeal, no bacon. But now this woman is like, she has the bedside matter of a cat in a blender. I mean, like, I was shocked when I was watching that. The first video where she just says, you know, we're all gonna die. But then to go ahead and do this rebuttal video where you're using the graves of Americans as props to be as snotty and condescending to your own voters as possible. And I mean, a rebuttal video in a cemetery to be completely sarcastic, like, it's Cribs Undead Edition and for her to march around mocking people from her own state who were concerned about deaths from cutting Medicaid. And then the apology video in the cemetery. I mean, she's basically saying, look around. These are my healthcare policy goals in action. Like. Like, I just. She's the crypt keeper of the Republican Party. And I don't trust Chuck Schumer to come up with these slogans on his own, but she's given it to him. The Democrats are now running with the well, we're all gonna die bill. And so I guess we should thank her. All but the best part of it was she, she. She's mocking these people and then she gets the pivot. If you want eternal life, maybe you should get right with Jesus. And I'm like, lady, you're the one gutting Medicaid. Like, like Jesus said, love your neighbor, not take away their health insurance and sell them a prayer cloth on Etsy. I mean, she's literally cutting healthcare for the poor and pretending that she's on the side of Jesus. Like kicking grandma off Medicaid while having a spiritual fire sale. This is the trickle down Jesus of Republicans. And they turn water into lead man. And I think that she has given the Democrats the best chance they can get. Again, Democrats only get the White House and Republicans burn everything down. And they are accommodating.
- [30:43]
Alison Gill
Yeah. And let's talk about that. You know, you should find Jesus part of her quote, unquote. I'd love to apology video. Because I just want to quote to you from a substack, from somebody who sends me his substack. His name is Father Mark Kurowski. And he says, if you are someone who is not a Christian, please, this is not Christianity. It's barbarism. Dressed up with a Christian paper costume that doesn't fit.
- [31:10]
John Fugelsang
Well, thank you.
- [31:12]
Alison Gill
And says about what Joni Ernst says. The Ernst approach that she took at the beginning of the video belied the evil countenance that appeared. Just as she had tricked her victim into thinking that they were not going to be the next trophy of a serial killer. It was reprehensible of a senator in the United States to treat her constituents this way. It was even worse for her. As a Christian, we are commanded by Jesus to love. This had not the slightest inkling of being loving. And then the other quote. It is Ernst who ought to concentrate on her relationship with Jesus. And my confessional is open. I was always taught to give deference to women, but this was vile.
- [31:50]
John Fugelsang
Yeah, we talk so much about how evil she is, we don't talk a lot about how she's so stupid. She's on the Ron Johnson end of the. The dumb Senate spectrum. I mean, let's. Let's just talk about Jesus for just a second, if you'll indulge me. And you're always so kind to lead me. I mean, Matthew 25, Jesus says that individuals and nations are going to be judged by four things. Not how much you scream at women outside healthcare clinics, not how much you persecute trans kids or minorities. Not how much you go to church or give money to your church. Four things. Jesus says that individuals and nations will be judged by how you take care of the poor, how you take care of the sick, how you. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Welcome the stranger. And how you take care of those in prison. That's it. Jesus gives his marching list. That's what it takes to be a Christian nation. So I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. No. Every one of Trump's budget says cut snap and food stamps.
- [32:48]
Alison Gill
Oh, but I'm sorry, John. All the fish that were created in the bottomless basket all had tariffs on them, right?
- [32:54]
John Fugelsang
Well, no, those were socialist fish that was free, and we can't have that happen again. But, yeah, I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. It's like, well, we'll make sure the billionaires get fed first. I was sick. She's repealing the Affordable Care act, or at least wants to. You know, I was a stranger and you invited me in. My God. I mean, God all over the Old Testament, Jesus all over the New Testament. Welcome the stranger. Never repel the stranger. The media never brings this up. And all your listeners have to do in any argument with a conservative Christian is just say, well, Jesus and God command me to welcome the stranger. Why should I listen to you and Donald Trump instead of Jesus and God? I mean, you know, sell your possessions and buy and give to the poor. The blessed are the peacemakers. I mean, Joni Ernst's philosophy is like, if a Halliburton lobbyist wrote the Beatitudes, she's all about, blessed are the bomb makers, blessed are the weapons contractors. Blessed are everyone cashing in on endless war. So, yeah, if Jesus was handing out the loaves and the fishes, she would want to privatize the fish markets. Market. She's a revoltingly fake Christian. And again, the media will never call these people out on it. But this is Joe and errands. We need health care. They're like, yeah, here's a shovel, and that's it. I mean, when she said, you're gonna die, she should have said, we're gonna make that happen as quickly as we can. Republicans are already facing this midterm bloodbath, and I think they're gonna have to fight. They might keep the Senate, Ellison, but they're gonna have to fight to keep the Senate. At this point, it's not gonna be.
- [34:19]
Alison Gill
As easy as, yeah, it's probably going to be the hardest fight to hold on to the Senate that's this close that they've ever had to wage, If I'm being honest.
- [34:30]
John Fugelsang
You know, it's all going to come down to turnout. And. And again, Donald, I hate to be a broken record, but I feel like I have to be. Kamala Harris got more votes for president than Ronald Reagan got two times, than Bill Clinton got two times. She got more votes than Barack Obama got both times. It's all going to come down to turnout. And if there's high turnout in the midterms, like in 2018 and 2022, then we'll see some results.
- [34:54]
Alison Gill
Well, I think anger turns people out more than joy.
- [34:58]
John Fugelsang
Yeah. Let's see how the tariff prices go this summer. And let's see how well Trump can blame all that on Hunter Biden while Elon's pointing a finger and shouting the truth.
- [35:07]
Alison Gill
And the thing is, is Elon doesn't have immunity, so it's not like he can confess to anything that would actually implicate him in a crime, or Ed Martin will be knocking at his door. The wackadag. You're knocking at his door.
- [35:19]
John Fugelsang
I mean, the Epstein file. He just said it. Trump's name is all over it, which everybody already knew. Everyone knew. That's why Pam Bondi won't release it. He said it. I don't know how they're gonna walk it back, but I guarantee you these two men are. These two guys are surrounded by yes men who they pay to laugh at their jokes and call them brilliant. Both of them. They're both in echo chambers. They're both like Orson Welles in the final. They're both like George Lucas making episode one. Oh, no, Jar Jar is a great idea. They're surrounded by yes men who are terrified to question them. And someone's going to have to walk this back, because if these guys go on hating each other too much, I'm not going to need antidepressants anymore. And what will happen to Big Pharma?
- [35:56]
Alison Gill
Well, Trump always chickens out, so maybe who do you think would walk back first?
- [36:01]
John Fugelsang
I don't think Elon can walk back from what he's already said today.
- [36:04]
Alison Gill
That's what I'm thinking as well.
- [36:06]
John Fugelsang
And Elon did it himself. Trump leaks it. All of that stuff about the drug use coming out in the New York Times on Friday, that's all from Trump. Elon comes out and says it directly. So now let's see. If Donald Trump is going to cancel Starlink contracts, that would. That's what he threatened something that it will accidentally help our allies in Ukraine.
- [36:23]
Alison Gill
Wouldn't that be amazing? Finally broken clock, right? All right, my friend, it's been always, it's always great to talk to you, but it's been especially fun today. And I know we'll see you again next week. What could possibly happen between now and next week?
- [36:36]
John Fugelsang
I'll tell you one thing. If you're in Pennsylvania, I'm going to be playing with TV's Frank Frank Conif of Mystery Science Theater 3000 at the Laughing Stock Comedy Club in Grantville, Pennsylvania, as part of the Good Karma Comedy Festival this Saturday night. So Laughing Stock Comedy Club in Grantville, Pennsylvania, come on down and let's get offended together.
- [36:55]
Alison Gill
Amazing. Yeah. And the next time we talk will be the day before the no Kings rally. So.
- [36:59]
John Fugelsang
That's right. It's a lot going on. It's gonna be exciting.
- [37:01]
Alison Gill
Gearing up for that, my friend. You have a wonderful week, everybody. Check out Tell me everything on SiriusXM progress channel 127.
- [37:07]
John Fugelsang
And I'm on substack now. I finally broke down and got a substack. So now I can be like everybody else.
- [37:11]
Alison Gill
The Fugal Stack.
- [37:14]
John Fugelsang
I'm resisting that name, but it doesn't matter what I want anymore.
- [37:17]
Alison Gill
No, it doesn't. It's what the people want, John. It's what the people want.
- [37:20]
John Fugelsang
Thank you.
- [37:21]
Alison Gill
But that's. What is that? SiriusXM progress channel 127 nights, 9pm Eastern, 6 Pacific. John Fugal sang show podcast. And John Fugle saying substack. The Fugal stack. I'm calling it that. I don't care what you say.
- [37:31]
John Fugelsang
Word. You may, you may.
- [37:33]
Alison Gill
And we really appreciate you. Coming up next, I get to talk to the amazing representative from Texas's 32nd district, Congresswoman Julie Johnson. So everybody stick around. We'll be right back. Hey, everybody. For years, I thought I was doing the right thing by taking fish oil to get omega 3s. I heard it was good for my heart, my joints. But when I read a Harvard study that found no real evidence of health benefits, I felt misled. And then I found native path, Antarctic Krill oil. It's the only Omega 3 supplement I've taken that actually made a noticeable difference. Krill oil is better absorbed in fish oil, so your body can use it more effectively. And it also packs extra antioxidants, making it stronger and, you know, a more complete option. So big thanks to Native Path Krill Oil for sponsoring this episode. As a daily beans listener, you can get up to 66% off free shipping and a 365 day money back guarantee@nativecrill.com DailyBeans since switching, I've experienced less joint pain, more flexibility. I feel less puffy and less sluggish. I'm more alert throughout the day. So the difference is real. It's not just what's in it, it's how your body actually uses it. The krill is responsibly sourced from clean Antarctic waters and the capsules are small and easy to take. There's no weird taste, no burps, no guesswork. And if you're unsure, Native path offers a 365 day feel good guarantee that gives you a full year to try it and decide for yourself. No risk, just results. So if you're taking fish oil and wondering why you're not feeling any better, consider this your sign. Native Path Krill Oil is what your body's been waiting for. I switched to Native Path Antarctic Krill Oil and you should too. As a daily beans listener, you can get up to 66% off free shipping and a 365 day money back guarantee. But this special offer is only available@nativekrill.com DailyBeans that's nativekrill.com DailyBeans hey everybody. Welcome back. I'm so excited. Today I get to to meet one of my sheroes. After serving three terms in the Texas State legislature, she became the first openly gay member of Congress from the south and the first woman ever, ever to represent District 32 in Texas. Please welcome Congresswoman Julie Johnson. Hi, Congresswoman, how are you today?
- [39:38]
Congresswoman Julie Johnson
I'm so good. It's such a thrill to be here with you. I have my own fangirl with you and what you do out into the space, the social space out here. And so it's just my honor to be here with you today.
- [39:50]
Alison Gill
Oh, thank you so much for that. And you know, we could probably do a podcast and spend 20 hours a week talking about all the things that are going on, but let's see if we can narrow it down a little bit because there's things I'm really pissed about this week. The first one being Hegseth. We call him Kegseth. Whiskey Pete. And his decision to change the name of the USNS Harvey Milk in the United States Navy. I'm a Navy veteran, and it's not just the Harvey Milk. There's a lot of other civil rights leaders. And Ruth Bader Ginsburg, he wants to change the name of that. I know he changed the name of one of our bases back to Fort Bragg, which also upset me. But the fact that it has been reported and confirmed that they saved this announcement till Pride Month is just the cherry on top of the cruelty cake, I guess the cruelty Sunday that is the Republican Party. So let's talk a little bit about threats to the LGBTQ community and the rights under this administration and this sort of performative cruelty.
- [40:52]
Congresswoman Julie Johnson
Oh, yeah, it's just, you know, it's outrageous. And, you know, they think they're so cute sitting over there in their little office. Oh, yeah, we're going to plan this, and look how cute this is going to be. And what they're really showing is just that they have a deep hatred for the LGBTQ community. They're very scared of us. They. I. I always find that the more thous protest is that they're. They're all closet homos, you know, because anytime. Those are always the ones that seem to outrage the most. Right. But it's just really disappointing because Harvey Milk, I mean, I got married in front of the Harvey Milk statue with my wife in San Francisco. You know, I mean, he was. What he did for the advancement of our quality, deserved commemoration and deserved the honor, and it's just so disrespectful to reverse that. And it's disrespectful to all the brave LGBTQ soldiers that we've had in our military and service personnel across the board. And so it just shows a lack of regard for our community at such the highest levels. It's so, so hurtful and disappointing.
- [42:06]
Alison Gill
It seems to me like an effort to remove representation, to stop folks from thinking that they are and can be represented in certain spaces by removing black heroes and women from the war memorial sites and firing women in the highest positions and changing the name of the Harvey Milk ship. It seems to me it's not. I mean, the cruelty is there. Right?
- [42:39]
Congresswoman Julie Johnson
They're just erasing our history.
- [42:41]
Alison Gill
Yeah, they. Erasing history and they're removing representation. They don't want gay kids to be like, I can do that one day.
- [42:47]
Congresswoman Julie Johnson
Right. And. And. And all of it that it represents and. But it's. It's transcending also down into high schools. You know, I keep up with the Texas legislature. I was there. They just passed a bill in the Texas Ledge, and the governor's going to sign it, that prohibits any LGBT group in any high school. I mean, outrageous, right? They want no sense of community. They want no sense of safe space for us in any place. Work, military, business, school, whatever. And they're doing everything they can. They're so threatened by women, people of color, the LGBTQ community. They're so threatened by us. And I find that fascinating that they're so threatened, that they are so desperately seeking to erase us from this society in so many ways.
- [43:40]
Alison Gill
Yeah. And they do it through isolation. I mean, that's how narcissistic abusers work. Right. They isolate you so they can gaslight you, so that you don't know that other people are having the same lived experiences that you are, so that you feel like they can tell you you're crazy for feeling like you're being opposed or. Or oppressed in any way when you're isolated like that and you feel alone.
- [44:03]
Congresswoman Julie Johnson
And that is why it is so important that people like me are in elected office, that we're here to not be silent, that we're here to raise as much hell as we can. And people like you have shows like this to push out content so that we won't be isolated and we won't be silenced, and we still have community and we can still find those spaces and find that conversation. And it's. It means that those of us that have really strong voices have to double down on using them just to make sure that we can reach the far corners and that people don't get that isolation that they're trying to achieve.
- [44:39]
Alison Gill
Yeah, it's. It's a bunch of BS and that's kind of all this whole administration is. It's. It's based on cruelty. And. You know, when I was in the Navy, I briefly lived in Orlando for just over a year and a half. And though I spent a short amount of time there, I know that there is a hurricane season. Unlike the current director of fema, who apparently was surprised on a conference call to learn that there was a hurricane season, and then leaving the entire staff of FEMA kind of baffled that their new Dear Leader had no idea. And we are now in it. June 1st is the start of hurricane season. I'm sure that's going to change as climate change continues. But talk a little bit about. I mean, it's not even people that are unqualified they're, they're anti qualified. I don't even know. It's like worse than unqualified. And, and they're, they're putting, you know, the, I used to say they're putting dingoes in charge of babies, but they're, they're literally putting people in charge of these departments who will run them into the ground so that they can privatize them or take the money for themselves and their billionaire.
- [45:51]
Congresswoman Julie Johnson
They are doing everything they can to destroy as many foundational organizations in our government as possible. Fema, they're completely trying to dismantle it, they're completely trying to defund it. NOAA on talking about hurricane and weather, you know, airport control also, I was just in a meeting that air traffic, the weather forecasters who work with air traffic control in Texas, we are down. We're undermanned by over 50%. And these are critical services that do weather predictions so that our airplanes can be safe to fly. Our air traffic control is down. Unprecedented numbers. FEMA really, you know, Florida and Texas, two very red states that get all Trumpied up, are going to be the hardest hit with FEMA from hurricane season and it's just going to be a big, horrible mess. And the problem is, it's really staggering to me is that these Republican members, they could be raising hell, they could be protesting, they could be protecting their own constituents, but they sit there in silence and do nothing. They ask no questions, they say nothing. They are not part of the debate and they just blindly vote their orange leader. And it is outrageous. They're just not doing their job.
- [47:17]
Alison Gill
Yeah. And, and sometimes it's, it's, they're just putting their nose wherever the money is. They're just following wherever the money goes. Because now in the last day and a half, we've seen Elon Musk divorce his, you know, he's leaving the bromance of the, of the Donald Trump administration and he is now coming out loudly against the billionaire bailout bill or the, you know, we're all going to die bill, as Joni Ernst might call it.
- [47:46]
Congresswoman Julie Johnson
Wasn't that outrageous.
- [47:47]
Alison Gill
And this is. Yeah, I can't, don't even get me started with Joni Ernst.
- [47:51]
Congresswoman Julie Johnson
There's such a lack of humanity towards her constituents and their concern.
- [47:56]
Alison Gill
And then she tells us to find Jesus.
- [47:59]
Congresswoman Julie Johnson
Right. It was just incredible. And the divorce of Elon and Donald is just going to be one of the most widely watched breakups that this country.
- [48:10]
Alison Gill
Yeah. And let's talk about that in Congress because we see people like Marjorie Taylor Greene who were all 100% Trump. Now they're like, ooh, Elon's looking good. It's like that meme, you know, where the guy turns around and looks at the other person and. And because there's money there, right? I mean, that has to be the reason.
- [48:28]
Congresswoman Julie Johnson
It's not just the money. It's the social media. It's the narrative he controls. The thing is, he has vast power because he controls the narrative and the money. And when you have, if you, if you have one or the other, you can sort of combat it. If you've got the media narrative that people are seeing all the time, you can. You have a counter measure to the money and vice versa. If you have the resources, you can get your own message out against the narrative. But when you control both, that's really, really hard.
- [48:56]
Alison Gill
All right? And that's why I don't think he cares how much money he's generating, how much revenue he's generating from Twitter. That wasn't the point. He didn't buy it to make money. He bought it to control the narrative, at least on that particular social media platform. So what are you seeing in Congress now? Are you seeing. Because, I mean, we've seen obviously the Marjorie Taylor Greene thing over in the Senate. We see the Medicaid moderates and then the deficit hawks who think that not enough people are being thrown off Medicaid. And there could be like a triple fracturing of the Republican Party in the Senate on this bill. So what are you seeing in the House? I mean, if this gets marked up and changed now that we've got this defection of Republicans in the House on the bill that they actually voted for, it seems like just. It's a complete chaotic mess, which, I mean, is great for us who don't want this bill to pass. But what do you see happening?
- [49:53]
Congresswoman Julie Johnson
Well, it's a leadership failure on their part. And I think. But it's really the complication is for the breakup that we just talked about, because with Elon creating a comparative narrative that this is a bad fiscal bill for Republicans to pass, this is going to have very detrimental economic impact on our deficits, and it's irresponsible for them to pass this bill. That freaks these Republicans out because they're all supposed to be in lockstep. And then they found all these provisions. Oh, I didn't see that. They were deregulating AI for the next 10 years. Oh, I didn't see all these. Oh, I didn't see that. We're trying to defund the judicial system and completely defund our courts. Oh, I didn't see all these things. Had I known, I would have voted. So now they're creating these spaces to push back. And I think the Senate, there's just no clear path forward because what this bill is doing is going to have devastating consequences to millions of people across this country and it's going to have devastating consequences to the fiscal health of our economy and our deficits and all for the sole purpose to benefit about 500 people. And so it makes absolutely no sense. And these Republicans, I think, are so squaring up and they're getting killed in the polls. I don't know if you've noticed, but there have been several polls that have come out that just show them getting hammered on this bill and this budget that they're proposing. And then the rescission bills that they submitted today are just as terrible.
- [51:32]
Alison Gill
Yeah. And aside from polls, I also like watching elections, off year elections. We just had Scott Keshan Scott in South Carolina win a state seat by 41 points.
- [51:45]
Congresswoman Julie Johnson
I mean, that's what's happening. That, you know, that happened in Pennsylvania. It happened in Iowa. It's happened the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Every interesting election has gone the Democrats way by sizable margins. People don't want this. And the Republicans are refusing to listen to their constituents. They're getting hammered in town halls, they're getting embarrassed on social media by being unable to defend these ridiculous bills that they're passing and all to please the president. But now they're getting hammered on their right flank on the other side. It's just, it's amazing to watch.
- [52:24]
Alison Gill
I think they might have also gotten the politics wrong on their mass deportation. I think that the majority of Americans are not liking what they're seeing from ice.
- [52:33]
Congresswoman Julie Johnson
They don't. You're not supposed to, you know. And I pressed Kristi Noem on this in one of our hearings about masked men who are not identified coming jumping out of a car, running up to somebody, tackling them and trying to haul them off. You know, in Texas, that's called kidnapping. And you know, we're an armed state. It's open carry, open season. And you know, I'm just. You just know that what's going to happen is somebody's going to shoot these people because who are they? They're not identified. Their masks are covered up. I mean, who knows what their intent is. It's just complete chaos and there's absolutely no protocols. And the administration is encouraging that. And people understand that that is not okay. You can't have unmarked unidentified masked men jumping out of a car to snatch you and throw you in a car and take you away to God knows where. It's just absolutely outrageous.
- [53:33]
Alison Gill
Yeah. And something I never thought I'd see. 71% of Americans are against not having due process. Like, I thought that would be pretty wonky for most voters to be like, oh, due process and habeas corpus. But voters hate what they're doing.
- [53:48]
Congresswoman Julie Johnson
Oh, yeah, because it's not fair, you know, and people understand. People want general, genuine fairness. And it's not right. And it goes against everything that we've been raised to be as Americans and everything that we've been raised to be what our country is supposed to be about. You get your fair shot. That's the foundational tenet of. One of the reasons our country was formed is because they wanted a free and accessible jury system, court system, to have fairness in the redress from the king and from undue influence and to have equality in resolving disputes. And they're completely obliterating that. And they're arresting people who haven't done anything wrong at all. And just because of the color of their skin or where they're from or who they love or whatever, it's wrong, wrong, wrong.
- [54:37]
Alison Gill
Yeah, people don't like shit that isn't fair.
- [54:39]
Congresswoman Julie Johnson
No, they don't.
- [54:40]
Alison Gill
I've noticed. All right, so the final ask is always, what can we do? What should we do? I know I've always encouraged folks, and I do this myself to download the five Calls app, because we like to call our representatives. You're there, you're in it. Does that make a difference, calling your representatives or writing them?
- [54:59]
Congresswoman Julie Johnson
Absolutely. I mean, it's always helpful for us to hear from folks. It gives a measure of the true intensity of how people feel. And it's important for us to understand that when our constituents feel really strongly about that. But I think there's other things that people can do. You can obviously go to protests, you can write op eds, but one of the things that I love is using some of the tools that they put in there against them. And so, for example, there's all these opt outs that you can opt your kids out if you don't want health criteria on sex or LGBT issues, or you don't want them to read the gay book in the library. But what about opting your kids out? From learning election denialism, from learning Trumpism, from learning anti DEI white national messages, Christian only messages. Use some of these. Parents need to get involved and say, no, no, no, we want to opt out of this, this side of the culture war that you're trying to put us in. And I think we have to be look at more ways out of the box like that to really push back on some of this crazy shit that they're putting out there. But people need to call, they need to protest. This is double downtime. But the main thing, the number one thing is we must win elections in 26. We must, must, must win elections in 26. So you have to, if you think you're awesome, run for office. We've got to have a good slate of people out there. We need people willing to step up and say, no, no, not on this. I know. And we need to support folks who are out there trying hard, running, engage in the communications, follow us on social media, support our campaigns, get involved. That is mission critical. We have to win because otherwise they'll take that as a mandate of what the crazy that they're doing is what the people want.
- [56:47]
Alison Gill
They took a 1% win as a mandate, so, I mean, they'll take anything as a mandate.
- [56:51]
Congresswoman Julie Johnson
What happens, though, if they don't lose the chambers? You know, we should. We should. We should flip the house. We. It's. It's got to be the guardstop to be able to.
- [56:58]
Alison Gill
Three to win.
- [56:59]
Congresswoman Julie Johnson
Yeah.
- [57:00]
Alison Gill
Three to win. Absolutely. And hey, if. Even if it's something as simple as running for your school board or your city council, those elections are, Are massively important. State legislature elections are massively, massively important, especially to put up guardrails around your state from what the federal government is going to be doing from 2026 to 2020.
- [57:18]
Congresswoman Julie Johnson
And also to prepare for redistricting at the end of the decade. We need to win state legislative seats.
- [57:23]
Alison Gill
Agreed. Thank you so much. It has been great to talk to you. I hope that you come back and speak to us more about what's going on in the people's House. Because it's just fascinating to me to see all of a sudden a bunch of Republicans who voted for this billionaire bailout bill to be turning heel, not because of what their constituents say or what's important to their voters, but because of what this other guy with money has and what he can do for them on social media. So I would love it if you'd come back and join us.
- [57:52]
Congresswoman Julie Johnson
I would love to. Anytime. I'm a big fan. It's just a thrill for me to be here with you. Love to talk gossip under the dome anytime you want.
- [58:01]
Alison Gill
Yes. Let's spell the tea. I love it. The House tea.
- [58:05]
Congresswoman Julie Johnson
Anyway.
- [58:06]
Alison Gill
It's been great to talk to you and and keep doing the hard work representing District 32 in Texas. We're all so proud of you. Thank you for all the work that you do and we'll see you again soon. Representative Julie Johnson, it's been an honor.
- [58:17]
Congresswoman Julie Johnson
Thank you so very much.
- [58:19]
Alison Gill
All right, everybody, stick around. We'll be right back with the good news, everybody. Welcome back. It's time for the good news. Who likes good news? Everyone. Then good news, everyone. And if you have any good news confessions, corrections. If you want to give a shout out to a loved one or a friend or yourself or a small business in your area or even your small business, we know we have tons of makers and creators and entrepreneurs that listen to this show. Thank you so much, by the way, for listening. We love those shout outs and also shout outs to government programs. Any program that's helped you or a family member, whether it's a federal program, state, city, local, municipal, whatever it is, let us know. We want to hear those shout outs and you can send it all to us@dailybeanspod.com and click on contact. And to get your submission read on the air, all you got to do is pay your pod pet tariff, which is attaching a photo of your pet. And if you don't have a pet, you can send an adoptable pet in your area. We'll see if we can find him a forever home. And if you don't have that, any animal photo on the Internet will do. We're doing a lot of bird watching right now, so you can send a photo of an actual bird or you and your family and friends flipping the bird to Trump and Musk Properties. And if you don't have that, baby pictures always work as well. Everybody's got a baby picture. Send us your baby pictures. All right, everybody, send it to us@dailybeanspod.com and click on contact. First up from Janet V. Pronoun. She and her Good morning. As I usually say, you start my day and I often restart so my husband can listen. I have a small correction. The wild white squirrels of western North Carolina did allegedly start by escaping from a circus. However, they're not albino. They have colored eyes, not red. This is a photo from my daughter's backyard in Brevard, where it all began. They just had their annual white squirrel weekend. Oh, my God. They have a whole weekend. That's amazing. They are taken very seriously there. Also, thanks for shouting out about my friend's organization, Kid in the Corner last month. It's in Phoenix. But she heard about the shout out from a friend in New Jersey. For the first time ever, she received donations from around the country. Love you gals. And I really appreciate all that you do. Your words reach far and wide. That's such good news, Janet. Thank you so much. Hi, pretty little squirrel. All right, next up for Meredith T. Hey, leguminous ladies. I called all four Trump Burger locations and was able to leave a voicemail for only one of them. Obviously, so many people have called to ask for Trump tacos, they're not answering the phone anymore. I just checked the Yelp reviews and saw a new message pop up saying they've temporarily disabled the posting of content. So good Trouble works. Thanks for everything you do, kind people. I've already sent photos of my beautiful girlies, tuxedo cat, Alfie, and Void Ellie. So today I'm sending a photo of a woodpecker that greeted me by my car one recent morning. Oh, he's so cool. It's so cool to me how far they back their heads up to ram into the tree with their face. It's just. It's. It's really interesting to watch. All right, next up, disgusted by it all, Michelle, H E L L O Allison and Dana. My husband and I were out and about last weekend, just cruising around, enjoying a beautiful day with each other, which we haven't done in quite a while. It was a great day and a really, really important respite from the freaking overwhelming feelings and depression I have because of this evil and cruel administration. I'm an artist who hasn't been able to paint since 2016, if that gives you any idea of my level of concern. Anyway, back to my great day. My husband and I ended the day strolling into a movie inside a small mall. Imagine my stomach clenching reaction when I saw that a T Vance campaign office was located inside after such a nice day. It was like a slap in the face. Instantly, I mean, instantly, the bird flew from my hand. My husband audibly gasped in shock and tried to pull my arm down out of surprise. He's not a TEA supporter, but he's also not one to get emotionally involved. Well, that didn't stop me. Nope. I let that bird fly free. And it felt, and felt in this small way, a thrill of satisfaction. And it brought back the good feels. Over the years, I've donated to Dems, called my members of Congress, donated to the ACLU and other organizations, and I just now donated to help Miles Taylor at the whistleblowers website. Thank you so much everybody. We have our own laguminati URL for that whistleblower.org beans so thank you for that. Thank you for everything else. Ladies. Below, find evidence of my freeing my bird and my soul, at least for a little while. Nice. Good bird. Thank you so much for that, Michelle. I appreciate it. All right, next up from Annie. Oh my God, this cat's hilarious. I almost drove off the road a bit ago listening to the podcast. You and Dana called him the Taco Man. My brain immediately went to Taco Taco Man. I really hate the Taco Man. For a bonus picture, the final scene of Kevin Klein's movie In n Out with these lyrics. My pet tariff is Fletcher the cat in one of his weird poses. Love your show. It grounds me every day. Annie. Love that. Love the movie In n Out. By the way, Joan Cusack, I need a man stat. Oh my gosh, it's so good. If you haven't seen In N Out, Kevin Klein, Joan Cusack. Who's the guy with the mustache? That's Tom Selleck. Oh my God, it's so fantastic. Wilfred Brimley's in there. It's a great cast. All right, next up, Lady Death Strike Pronoun. She and her great name. Hello beans Queens. I just wanted to shout out my parents for everything that they've done. My dad, a Gulf War vet, is currently 100% disabled and currently working for the VA from home. Thank your dad for his service. Not just in the military, but at the VA as well. My mom, an RN with multiple titles and 30 plus years of experience who treats her patients like family. Thank her for her service as well. I work in cancer research and I'm angry at the fact that the orange fuck bucket is screwing everyone who isn't one of his rich white friends. Speaking for myself, I enjoy knowing the work I do can either cure or at least make prognosis of certain cancers better as a whole and I will continue to do what I can even though right now I'm debating on moving. I've been also participating in good trouble by giving my younger middle to high school aged kids some banned books. I'm talking to Kill a Mockingbird and Number the Stars to name a few. I'm not going to accept ignorance in my family. Good for you lady. For Podpet tax, I'm sharing a 3 in 1 picture of my 5 year old fur baby Sora, named after the Kingdom Hearts protagonist and his DNA test. He's my little mixed bean who apparently has absorbed everyone's personality who lives with me. He's truly the heart that is my guiding key. Oh, he's so beautiful. Okay, so I think there's maybe poodle in there, maybe Maltese. Maybe a little. Oh, I don't know. Gosh, he's got the really long ears, so like a beagle or something like that. And maybe a little Yorkie. Let's see what we got. Shih Tzu. Okay, that's like the Yorkie type. Cocker spaniel. That's where the big ears are coming from. Got it. Poodle. Got that right. Silky. That's like a Yorkie. Right? Miniature schnauzer. Oh, Yorkie. There's Yorkie. All right, I got one. Two. I got two out of six. That's an F. Oh. Well, it was still fun to guess. And it's a lovely photo. Photo arrangement of your beautiful doggo. Thank you so much, lady. And thanks to your parents for their incredible service. And yours, too. All right, finally, last entry here from Judith. Pronoun. She and they. I woke up this morning feeling like the only thing I'm contributing to the world is tears and poop. Like, I might not make it through another day, but listening to the daily podcast has buoyed me a little. I'll make it tomorrow. I might feel better, and I don't want to miss it. People count on me to be here, so I'm here, if only for that reason. I know this isn't super eloquent or filled with good news, but I want to let you know you make a difference. Thank you, Judith. I know this feeling well. I really do. You're not alone, my dear. These are hard days. Take care of yourself. We love you. There are tens and tens of thousands of people right now listening that love you so want to hear from you again soon. Send in some photos. And I appreciate you, everybody. That's the show. That's the week. It's been a hell of a week. It's going to be an interesting weekend on social media. There you go, Judith. Take a little. Take a little joy in watching the absolute train wreck that is Trump and Musk. I mean, this is, you know, like I said, I know it's a distraction, but we all know what's going on. We can afford a little schadenfreude distraction now and again. And when our enemies fight, that's good for us. Now it's bad for national security. And we'll probably talk more about that on Monday. And Dana will be back in your ears Monday. There's also a new bonus episode for cleanup on aisle 45. For patrons. Oh, if you're not a patron and you can do it, we would really love to have you become a patron. I'm really excited to meet a whole ton of you on June 14th after the no Kings march downtown San Diego at the County Admin Building, which starts at 10am Afterwards, we're going to do a private event for patrons, Drag Queen Bingo. No Kings. Just Queens is what I'm calling it and I'm looking forward to seeing our patrons there. So if you can swing it, please do. We could really use your support. It's patreon.com muellershirote so we'll see you this weekend. I'll be on with Andy on Sunday for Unjustified. And like I said, Dana will be back Monday. Until then, everybody please take care of yourselves, take care of each other, take care of the planet, take care of your mental health and take care of your family. I'm AG and them's the Beans. The Daily Beans is written and executive produced by Alison Gill with additional research and reporting by Dana Goldberg. Sound design and editing is by Desiree McFarlane with art and web design by Joelle Reader with Moxie Design Studios. Music for the Daily Beans is written and performed by they Might Be Giants and the show is a proud member of the MSW Media Network, a collection of creator owned podcasts dedicated to news, politics and justice. For more information Please visit msw media.com msw media.