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The Daily Beans
Refried Beans | Sleepy Don Snoreleone (feat. Rep. Dan Goldman) | 4/16/2024
00:56:39
Tuesday, April 16th, 2024 Jury selection is underway in the first criminal trial of a former president and current candidate in history; expelled Congressman George Santos talks about his fundraising efforts for his bid to run again; Justice Clarence Thomas is absent from the bench for arguments this week; Trump Media shares plunge again on the announcement to file additional shares; transgender veterans are suing the Department of Veterans Affairs; Trump files his response to Jack Smith with the Supreme Court in the immunity case; plus Allison and Dana deliver your good news. Our Guest:US House Rep. Dan Goldman
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- [00:00]
Alison Gill
MSW Media. Hey, everybody, it's Ag. And welcome to Refried Beans, where we play an episode of the Daily Beans podcast from the same week either one, two or three years ago so we can see how far we've come. So please enjoy this episode from days gone by and note the date in the intro.
- [00:23]
Dana Goldberg
Refried beans. I like refried beans. That's why I want to try fried beans, because maybe they're just as good and we're wasting time.
- [00:32]
Alison Gill
With swearing. Daily Beans.
- [00:36]
Representative Dan Goldman
Daily Beans. Daily Beans. Daily Beans.
- [00:46]
Alison Gill
Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Today, jury selection is underway in the first criminal trial of a former president and current candidate in history. Expelled Congressman Jorge Santos talks about his fundraising efforts for his bid to run for Congress again. Justice Clarence Thomas is absent from the bench for arguments this week, Trump Media shares plunge again on the announcement to file additional shares. Transgender veterans are suing the Department of Veterans Affairs. And Trump files his response to Jack Smith with the Supreme Court in the immunity case. I'm Alison Gill.
- [01:21]
Representative Dan Goldman
And I'm Dana Goldberg.
- [01:27]
Alison Gill
Hey, Dana. Happy Tuesday.
- [01:30]
Representative Dan Goldman
Happy Tuesday to you. Oh, boy. It was quite the day, was it not?
- [01:34]
Alison Gill
It was a real bad day for Don Snorleone as it is trending on Twitter along with Sleepy Dawn. Hashtag Sleepy Don. Bad, bad day for him today. A couple of things just real quick because we're going to go over this in a lot of detail on tomorrow's episode of clean up on off 45. But Judge Marshawn set a hearing for April 23rd for the gag order. Okay. Because Trump violated it. The DA is asking for a $3,000 fine, $1,000 each, for three posts about potential witnesses. Trump kept falling asleep.
- [02:10]
Representative Dan Goldman
Bless his heart.
- [02:13]
Alison Gill
No, don't. And it, it's, that's fascinating to me because it's going to be real hard for him to say anything anymore about Sleepy Joe Biden.
- [02:22]
Representative Dan Goldman
Oh, it's so good.
- [02:23]
Alison Gill
He couldn't stay away in the first half of the day, started falling asleep. Maggie Haberman described it as he was slack jawed and his head was nodding off and then he would jerk his head back. Remember when you were in school falling asleep?
- [02:36]
Representative Dan Goldman
Oh, yeah. Or falling asleep on an airplane.
- [02:38]
Alison Gill
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So that happened. And then he gave her the stink eye when he left. Walked out of the courtroom for the very first morning break.
- [02:46]
Representative Dan Goldman
And I love that because Maggie Haberman has been in trouble on at multiple times from like, I would say the left when she sort of looked like she was taking Trump's side So I kind of love that it's Maggie. That's the one that was in the court reporting this and that he was so pissed at her.
- [03:01]
Alison Gill
Yep. And he's, he's been mad at her in the past. He goes after her quite a bit, but she never really fully burns that bridge. So we'll see, we'll see how her access is after this. There's also going to be a Sandoval hearing today. It's 6:30 in the morning, west coast time Tuesday, as you hear this, 9:30 Eastern. That's when they work out whether and what Trump will testify about if he decides to take the stand. So we'll see if his bravado claims that he's going to testify. He said he would testify, not that he's going to testify. So I doubt that he will. But we'll see what happens in that hearing. And that's in the same courtroom. That'll happen before jury selection picks back up. And like I said, Pete and I are going to go over this all on Tomorrow's cleanup on L45. But man, it was a day. And, and I love the coverage. I didn't need to really see cnn, like following his MOT everywhere. No, like, we don't need that. He doesn't deserve that. So this is day one and it's, there's going to be six to eight weeks of this, my friend.
- [04:04]
Representative Dan Goldman
And all this of him on Twitter being like, the judge won't even let me out for my son's graduation. He actually didn't rule on that. He didn't say he would or he wouldn't. He said he wants to see how the, the case is going. It's just one of those talking points. I mean, but it's Trump's suite, by the way. You should read because it is so perfectly written.
- [04:21]
Alison Gill
Oh, which one? The one about.
- [04:23]
Representative Dan Goldman
Oh, the one about Melania. Yeah. About how he's mad he can't go to the graduation of the son that his wife was pregnant with while he was cheating on her with one of the defendants in the hush money case.
- [04:35]
Alison Gill
With one of the witnesses.
- [04:36]
Representative Dan Goldman
One of the witnesses. Thank you. One of the witnesses.
- [04:38]
Alison Gill
Yeah. Yeah, that, that definitely caught my eye. Like, really, do you give a shit? Because somebody else just posted a thread. He's got five children by, by three mothers. Do you know how many graduations he's been to for his children?
- [04:52]
Representative Dan Goldman
None.
- [04:53]
Alison Gill
You're correct. Zero. He has been to zero graduations. He hasn't been to Tiffany's, Eric's Juniors, or who Ivanka Ivanka, yeah.
- [05:04]
Representative Dan Goldman
His sister.
- [05:04]
Alison Gill
Wife, yes.
- [05:05]
Representative Dan Goldman
Daughter, Wife, yeah.
- [05:06]
Alison Gill
None of them went to. None of them. But now he can finally be like, I was gonna go remember, like, what was it? Where. I think it was Steve Martin and Sergeant Bilco. He's like, did you get the flowers I sent? No. All right, I'll call UPS and put a trace on him immediately. Like, like, didn't do it. And. And he would never go to this graduation. But now he can use it as an excuse that he would have gone, had this trial nap. It is delayed because of him. He would have been able to go to Barron's. He would have been able to skip Baron's graduation just fine if the trial had started three weeks ago, like it was supposed to. He created this problem for himself, which, I mean, is really his theme going forward. Of course, you created all of this yourself, sir. So, anyway, very interesting first day of trial. Later in the show, Dana, I'm going to be talking with Representative Dan Goldman, the Congressman representing the 10th district in New York. We're going to talk about Ukraine aid. We're going to talk about the effort to get the gavel back possibly before the election, and you don't want to miss that. He talks about there being, you know, where it almost comes to punches being thrown in the Republican caucus. It's a great interview. You don't want to miss it. And quick, before we get to the hot notes Trump, Trump issued a response to Jack Smith in the immunity case before the Supreme Court. It's dumb and idiotic. Arguments are April 25th. He actually makes some new arguments in this thing, and they're really, really stupid. And Andy and I are going to discuss them on this weekend's episode of the Jack podcast. So I look forward to that. By the way, if you haven't listened to the new episode of the Jack podcast, it's so great. I think I told you about this, Dana. Andy McCabe was so excited to talk.
- [06:54]
Representative Dan Goldman
About this like a, like a giddy kid.
- [06:57]
Alison Gill
The transcript, he says something about, you know, if I. If I were a unicorn, how would you ride me? Like, it's so hilarious. He is a very, very funny man, and I hope everybody gets a chance to listen to the latest episode of Jack before this weekend. All right, we have a lot of news to get to. Let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. All right, from Lawrence Hurley at NBC. Conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was not present at the court for oral arguments on Monday, with the court giving no reason for his absence. You know what? Perhaps Dana he's in his motor coach in a parking lot of Walmart being a man of the people. And he simply couldn't make it to court. This week, Chief Justice John Roberts said in court that Thomas, quote, is not on the bench today but would participate fully in the two cases being argued based on the briefs in the transcript. So he's not even dialing in on zoom. I think maybe he's sick. I don't know. He's the oldest guy on the court right now. A court sp. Sports woman. You know, I'm going to leave it. A court spokeswoman said she had no further information. Thomas, who's 75, the eldest of the nine justices, and obviously the court has a 6, 3 conservative majority. I wouldn't call it conservative. I would call it extreme extremist majority. I would call it Gilead majority. Often when a justice is not present for oral arguments, the court will give a reason, usually including instances where there's a health issue, but no reason. Today, in February of last year, Gorsuch was not present for an argument and the court said he was feeling, quote, under the weather. So he had called in sick at that time. So there's a little recent history of them saying that somebody's not there because they're sick. When Thomas himself was hospitalized in 2022, the court disclosed he had an infection and was being treated with antibiotics. So maybe it's not an illness. Maybe it's just, I don't know, who knows what it is. But we, the problem is we don't know and we have an illegitimate court. Secondarily, the Supreme Court today declined to take up a lawsuit by Representative Andrew Clyde against the House's January 6th metal detectors. And they also declined to reconsider its rejection of Sidney Powell's suit over sanctions in Michigan. And this just came out. We'll go over this in more detail tomorrow. But they removed the stay on Idaho's ban on transgender care from minors. So that is back in effect. That horrible, horrible law is back in effect while they are deciding on that case. So that is like the ninth time they've done an emergency thing like this. All three liberal justices dissented publicly. And like I said, we'll talk about that in more detail tomorrow.
- [09:42]
Representative Dan Goldman
All right. Thanks, Ag. This one's from cnn. Trump Media and Technology Group stock again is tumbling, tumbling after the company announced a potentially massive new influx of shares. The struggling company is rapidly losing money, and a new stock offering could help it stay afloat. But there's a downside to going back to the market with more shares. The addition of 21.5 million shares for sale announced Monday would add more than 15% more stock to the publicly available shares of the true Social owner. That would substantially devalue existing shareholder stakes, including that of former President Donald Trump's, and it means that millions of shares could be sold off. This filing seeks to register all shares related to the merger that took Trump Media public, including those that are tied to warrants. Warrants give the holder the right to buy shares of company stock at a set price, quote, the belief is that we're going to exchange the warrant for a share of stock and then immediately sell that stock. That's from John Recanthaler. He's the vice president of research at Morningstar. Matthew Tuttle, who's the chief executive of Tuttle Capital Management, says that management would be, quote, stupid not to sell more stock, even though the move will upset shareholders. The stock had rocketed higher in recent months in anticipation of merging a blink check acquisition company with Trump's media business. But it's lost more than 60% of its value from its peak on March 26, the day after the merger was completed and it started trading publicly as tmtg. And according to Tuttle, this dip could actually just be temporary. Anyone who bought Trump Media at the closing high of 66.226622 on March 27, they've now lost more than half of their money. The steep declines they have put a dent in Trump's net worth. The former president's stake was valued at 5.2 billion at the closing high for Trump Media stock price as of Monday morning, it's plummeted to about 2.3 billion. Trump's net worth fell about 400 million Monday from the stock's plunge. This filing also seeks to register more than 146 million shares held by some stockholders for resale, including all one 14.8 million of Trump's 78.8 million current and 36 million potential shares. That could be granted if the stock price holds above a certain level. Although they won't be able to sell those shares right away, this move means they're one step closer to being able to do that once the rest of the prohibitions are cleared, including a six month lockup period. And this is from Michael Ulrage. He's the associate professor at NYU School of Law. So this thing keeps tanking, but apparently, as some people are saying, it's not disastrous because they can just apparently sell more shares. But I think that's going to cause a lot of problems with the people that bought in early. So we'll see what happens.
- [12:29]
Alison Gill
Already all suing each other, so I.
- [12:31]
Representative Dan Goldman
Know there's going to be more lawsuits.
- [12:35]
Alison Gill
They're all just trying to get out of this. It's painful to watch, but also kind of joyful. All right. From Reese Gorman at the Daily Beast. Disgraced former Representative George Santos reported raising a stunning $0 in the first quarter of this year as he attempts to run against his nemesis, Representative Nick lalota. He lalota. I hope I'm saying that right. And he explained away the goose egg as an intentional decision to stop people from thinking he's a grifter. That's what I do with my businesses. I just don't sell anything ever. And then I say, well, I don't want anyone to think I'm grifting.
- [13:13]
Representative Dan Goldman
Totally.
- [13:14]
Alison Gill
People have a variety of reasons to think Santos's bid against lalota is unserious. He's an admitted liar who was indicted on 23 federal felony counts, who announced his return bid for Congress during Joe Biden's State of the Union address last month while wearing bedazzled shoes and a bedazzled collared shirt, which is probably the most fabulous thing about him. And he's not running as a Republican either. He's running as an independent in an attempt to get the general election ballot. But since announcing his run, Santos has raised $0, leading even more people to believe this congressional bid is nothing more than a joke and just a way to anger his opponent. According to his filing with the FEC on Monday, the new campaign account he formed in order to run against Loda reported spending money even as it failed to raise any, a rarity for a candidate attempting to oust an incumbent. Santos has an excuse for this. He says he doesn't want people to believe his bid against lalota is a way to rake in cash for personal reasons. Look, if the reason people think you raise money for personal reasons is because you illegally gave yourself money from your.
- [14:20]
Representative Dan Goldman
Campaign donations, that's for personal reasons. Botox and apparently OnlyFans accounts.
- [14:26]
Alison Gill
Yeah, quote, I will not be raising a single dime until I'm confirmed on the ballot. Unlike many in the media speculating, I'm only running to grift. Honey, we're not speculating. You were charged with 23 felony counts. I'm setting the standard that only confirmed ballot access candidates should be able to raise money. That's what Santos said in a statement to the Beast.
- [14:46]
Representative Dan Goldman
Oh, my God.
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Alison Gill
Yeah. While there was no activity in his current campaign account. His old campaign account did have to refund his old donors who supported him before he was expelled from Congress and announced he would not be seeking reelection for his old seat. Exactly why Santos is running is unclear. He has denied his bid against Lalota is a revenge tour and rather claimed he's running in a new district because he and his husband want to own chickens in their backyard.
- [15:12]
Representative Dan Goldman
Your face. I know people can see this, but Allison's eyes just rolled so far back into her head.
- [15:22]
Alison Gill
Santos does get on the general election ballot. It could pose an issue for Republicans. He could siphon votes away from lalota in a district Democrats would like to flip. But in order to make the ballot, Santos still needs to obtain enough petition signatures from district residents, something experts think remains unlikely. I am going to bet you right here and right now I will put the beans on this that multiple signatures that he turns in are going to be fraudulent and fake.
- [15:49]
Representative Dan Goldman
Absolutely.
- [15:49]
Alison Gill
Just going to put that out into the ethos right now.
- [15:52]
Representative Dan Goldman
I just don't understand how you can run when you have been expelled, you've been fired from that position. It's just mind blowing to me that he's even allowed to.
- [16:01]
Alison Gill
Well, there's one rep who I think is introducing a resolution that he's not allowed to come to like State of the Union things because he was expelled. Because currently the rules say that you have sort of this lifetime ticket for Congress stuff.
- [16:13]
Representative Dan Goldman
Yeah.
- [16:13]
Alison Gill
And I think they're trying to put a resolution out there saying if we expelled you, no, you aren't allowed to do that.
- [16:18]
Representative Dan Goldman
I think it should definitely happen. All right, last in the segment, some good news. Ish. This is from Joe Yerkava at NBC. An advocacy group for transgender veterans filed a second lawsuit against the federal government over its exclusion of gender affirming surgery from health benefits for veterans. The lawsuit is the latest update in a years long effort by the Transgender American Veterans association, or tava, to push the Department of Veterans affairs to cover gender affirming surgery coverage that the association says the VA has been promising to provide for years. In 2016, Tava filed a petition asking the VA to start the rulemaking process to amend its health benefits for transgender veterans to include gender affirming surgery. The VA covers nearly all transition related care for veterans, including hormone therapy, fertility preservation, hair removal, voice training and psychosocial support. Surgery, however, is the exception. If trans veterans want to receive genital or breast surgery, among other surgical procedures, they have to pay out of pocket or use private insurance. Such surgeries are covered for active duty service members. Tava filed a lawsuit in January and asked the court to compel the VA to respond to its 2016 petition within a reasonable time. The VA responded on February 22 and denied Tava's petition. In this letter denying Tava's petition, Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough recently enacted PACT Act, a 2022 law that expands health care benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange and other toxic substances will necessitate that the VA produce and collect new information that might require the department to submit new data on a proposed rule to cover gender affirming surgeries. Quote Because VA is not ready at this time to initiate a rulemaking addressing the specific regulatory changes proposed in this petition, Virginia hereby denies the petition for rulemaking. This is from McDonough. He wrote in his letter to the Transgender Law center attorneys that are representing Tava, which has shared that with NBC News. Tava filed a second lawsuit on Monday in the U.S. court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C. to challenge the VA's denial, arguing that the denial violates the Administrative Procedure act and the equal protections component of the Fifth Amendment, and that is as it amounts to unconstitutional discrimination on the basis of sex and transgender status. Quote VA's rejection of Tava's petition for rulemaking, after nearly eight years of letting the petition languish and nearly three years of promises to provide the coverage it requested, demonstrates the agency's failure to take seriously the needs of transgender veterans, the inadequacy of the care it currently provides, and the urgent need for reform. This is from Tava's lawsuit. Josie Caballero, the acting president of Tava, said her initial reaction to the VA's rejection on Tava's petition for rulemaking was shock. And then, of course, disappointment because the VA has promised for years to cover transgender affirming care for trans veterans. For example, In June of 2021, McDonough announced that the department was, quote, taking the first necessary steps to expand VA's care to include gender confirming surgery, which she said would take time. This is from the cnn. This is what they reported and another quote, but we are moving ahead methodically because we want this important change in policy to be implemented in a manner that has been thoroughly considered to ensure that the services made available to veterans meet VA's rigorous standards of quality health care. This is from McDonough. This is what was said at the time. Caballero said gender affirming surgery is medically necessary for many trans people and as a result, quote, denying access puts Our lives at risk. She said that many of Tava's members are tired of the VA giving them the runaround. Quote, we just want the VA to keep its promises. The promise of health care, the promise of being able to live with dignity and have our health care provided because we fought. We put our bodies on the line. This is what she said and continued with. This is the least that this country can provide for us and the VA should not be a barrier to providing life saving health care.
- [20:36]
Alison Gill
So proud of Josie. Full disclosure, she's a friend of mine and fellow veteran and I'm so proud of the work that she's doing on this. And yeah, it's unacceptable. The VA needs to make this rule change immediately. There's there. I can't think of a reason not to. Why? Why would you be unable to meet the standards of the VA's rigorous standards of quality care? Why would it take you eight years to.
- [21:01]
Representative Dan Goldman
Yeah, no, no, no. Good excuse.
- [21:03]
Alison Gill
There's not military health service for active duty service members. They did it instantly. So it makes no sense to me. So thank you for that reporting and thank you to Josie for all the hard work that she's doing and all of the lawyers that are supporting Tava. All right, we have a lot of good news to get to, but first I'm going to have a discussion with Representative Daniel Goldman about what's going on in Congress with regard to Ukraine aid and possibly getting the gavel back. So stick around. We'll be right back after these messages. We'll be right back. Hey, everybody, welcome back. Honored today to be joined by the person representing the 10th congressional district of New York. Please welcome Representative Dan Goldman. Hey, Dan.
- [21:51]
Dana Goldberg
Hey, how are you? Great to be with you.
- [21:53]
Alison Gill
I'm great. It's good to see you again. I'm really glad I get to talk to you today because it seems now that Ukraine aid could be up in the air again. I mean, they've put off Appliance Week. Oh, the humanity. But it seems like there's going to be some sort of a meeting with the Republican caucus tonight about perhaps attaching some provisions to a standalone Israel bill without Ukraine aid. Can you talk a little bit about where we are with that and why it's been put off and put off and put off?
- [22:23]
Dana Goldberg
There's a very simple answer to that question and it has now been echoed by two of the the most esteemed members of the Republican Conference in the House, the chairman of the Intelligence Committee and the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and that is that there is A significant part of the House Republican Conference that owes its fealty and loyalty to Vladimir Putin. And there's no other explanation, because, as both Chairman Turner and Chairman McCaul said, There is Russian propaganda that has infiltrated the Republican Party. Donald Trump certainly is promoting it and leading it. Marjorie Taylor Greene is right there as well. But some notion that Vladimir Putin, the brutal dictator in Russia, is the good guy here and that Ukraine, a growing burgeoning democracy after the fall of the Soviet Union, is somehow the enemy, and that supporting Ukraine is supporting the wrong side of this equation is pure Russian propaganda. And there's just no other way to look at it. It is now the Republican Party is the party of Putin. That is who Donald Trump is, and that is who his followers are. And the majority of the Republican Party follows him now. So there's really no other way to sum it up, just to say that this type of isolationism to allow a Democratic ally succumb to a fascist, brutal despot in Vladimir Putin would not only make Ronald Reagan roll in his grave, but also jeopardizes global democracy and stability. Because once Ukraine falls, and Ukraine almost certainly will fall without United States support. And remember, this is financial support. This is not boots on the ground. Vladimir Putin will continue to march through Ukraine, and he will continue to push against other, especially other former Soviet republics, some of whom are now members of NATO. And we will have to put our boots on the ground if we remain a member of NATO.
- [24:49]
Alison Gill
Yeah. And what the Senate passed already doesn't just include aid to Israel and Ukraine. It includes humanitarian aid to Gaza. And we all know that assisting Ukraine helps push back against Iran. And so I'm just very confused as to. I mean. Well, I'm not. We know it's because what Putin wants is what Trump wants. And Trump tells the Congress what to do here, at least the certain members of the Republican caucus. But what is the Dem caucus's plan, the Democratic Caucus's plan to get Ukraine aid passed? At this point, I know there's quite a few people who have signed a petition to perhaps bring it to the floor. That's been kind of going on in the background in case this isn't brought up, which, frankly, I wasn't expecting Mike Johnson to ever bring up Ukraine aid, of always continuing to find different excuses to. To help bolster this Putin caucus that keeps threatening his job.
- [25:49]
Dana Goldberg
You raise a very, very important point that really bears repeating. The national security supplemental aid bill that was passed in the Senate gives a significant amount of money for humanitarian aid in Gaza. As well as Ukraine and elsewhere. But it also provides support for our allies Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan. And if people don't recognize the degree to which Iran, Russia and China are now cooperating and collaborating as the anti democratic axis around the world, then you're really not paying attention. And it's easy to think, oh, this is far away for me, it doesn't matter, it doesn't affect my daily life. But I cannot underscore how significant it is if the United States backtracks on support for Ukraine. What message that sends to China that we will not be there for Taiwan if you invade. And there are real threats that they will and to Iran to link up further with Russia and because they know that we will pull back if needed. And this is not imaginative. The exact same drones that Iran sent to Israel over the weekend, hundreds of drones in an unprecedented attack on Israel itself from Iran with more than 300 missiles, are the exact same type of drones that Russia is using in Ukraine provided by Iran. They are now all working together. And this is truly a fight of good versus evil, of democracy versus fascism and authoritarianism and terrorism. And if people don't recognize that this is the most significant existential threat to global democracy since World War II, then they really need to pay more attention. And I don't mean to be hyperbolic about it. It truly is an inflection point in the direction of global democracy. Because if the United States, which has always been the beacon for democracy around the world, withdraws and allows a dictator like Vladimir Putin to storm over a democratic ally in Ukraine that gives carte blanche to Iran, to China, to others to do the same thing, knowing that the United States is not going to stand up for democracy. And that is very, very dangerous.
- [28:32]
Alison Gill
So what are some of the plans in place here in the face of trying to put up standalone bills? We know that a previous standalone Israel funding bill didn't pass and of course Johnson put defunding the IRS in that one as well. He seems to like put these poison pills in there. What's the plan going forward to get the aid to Taiwan, the aid to Gaza, the humanitarian aid to Gaza, Israel and Ukraine? All of them. What is the just to continue to put pressure on him to bring it to the floor.
- [29:05]
Dana Goldberg
Well, look, the frustrating part about the House of Representatives, which differs from the Senate, is that when you are in the minority, you have no control of what happens on the House floor and you have no control over what happens in the committees. The majority in the House, even a one or two vote majority, has Total control over what the House, House addresses, what the House deals with, don't necessarily always have control over the votes, but you have control over what you bring to the floor. The only way for the minority to get something on the floor is through a discharge petition, which you just described, which means that if 218 members of the House of Representatives sign a discharge petition for a particular bill, then it automatically goes to the floor regardless of whether or not the speaker wants to bring it to the floor. So we have put the Senate bill on the floor as a discharge petition and as of last count, I think we had around 193, 194 signatures. We will not be able, of course, to get to 17 or 218, whatever. Ultimately the number is depending on how many are in office at a given time without Republican help. And so again, even though it is a way of getting around the speaker, it's not a way of getting around the Republican majority. And for the most part, it's a long shot plan to have someone in the Republican Party reject their own leadership to such a degree as to sign a Democratic led discharge petition. But we will continue to push it because there are a number of people in the Republican Party who are adamant about supporting Ukraine. And it would pass with probably 300 votes. If it were brought to the 435 person House of Representatives, it would be about 2/3 or more, even 3/4. But the speaker won't bring it to the floor because he is beholden to the extreme right wing of the Republican Party, the Marjorie Taylor Greene Donald Trump wings that has no interest in democracy to begin with at home or abroad, and has threatened to vacate him, to remove him as speaker if he actually brings aid to Ukraine to the floor. And it is, I cannot emphasize enough, we've had number of classified briefings on this and without going into any of the detail, it is dire. If Ukraine does not get our support within the next few weeks, the tenor and tide of this war will change dramatically. It already is a little bit. And it will go downhill from there and we will be, and Speaker Johnson will be writing the epitaph to the grave of Ukraine as a democratic country.
- [32:04]
Alison Gill
It's frightening and as you said, baffling to me that we wouldn't be able to be willing to spend a percent or 3% of our defense budget to not have to put our own boots on the ground there and to protect democracy abroad. I mean, what's our defense budget for if not for that? Let me ask you about how we can possibly further narrow that majority because, you know, I'm all 100% sure we're gonna flip this House in November. But, you know, Ken Buck, upon leaving, and you know, Gallagher left, too, at very opportune times to make it very difficult to fill his seat. Ken Buck said, I know they're mad about me leaving, but they're gonna be really mad about the next three people leaving. Do you have any insights on any kind of a push to get the gavel back ahead of the November election?
- [32:50]
Dana Goldberg
Well, it's an interesting idea. And their frustration, ranging from conservatives like Ken Buck to thoughtful moderates like Mike Gallagher, is extreme. And I know from some of my more moderate Republican friends that they're incredibly frustrated with how the extreme right has overtaken the party and how they are handling things. One of the ways that we will put pressure on the Ukraine funding is perhaps less by putting pressure on Speaker Johnson and more by putting pressure on the moderate Republicans in districts that Biden won where support for Ukraine is overwhelmingly favored, and calling on them to grow a spine, to stand up, to either get the speaker to put it on the floor or to sign the discharge petition that we cannot wait any longer. And if you are actually a moderate, as you claim to be, and I am talking especially to my New York colleagues who are several of whom are freshmen in the Republican Conference, now is the time to stand up for Ukraine and to actually stand up against Marjorie Taylor Greene in this extreme. Right. Because if you're not willing to do it now, then you're just not willing to do it ever. But that's one aspect of it. And in November, we're going to continue to work to take over the majority. But what you're seeing from Ken Buck and what you're seeing from Mike Gallagher is that there is no place right now for a traditional Reagan Republican in this party. There has been a Civil War between MAGA and sort of the Mitt Romney, Mitch McConnell type of Republicanism. And the border security bill being submarined in the Senate by Trump was the final nail in the coffin of Reagan Republicanism. It no longer has a place in this Republican Party. It is purely a MAGA Republican Party that Donald Trump 100% controls. And so for those who do not fall into that bucket and who recognize that this is somebody who's leading your party, who cares nothing at all about the United States or the public interest and only cares about himself, and everything that he does is geared to his own personal interest. If you actually do care about the United States and you care about the direction we're going. And you care about us being the leading democracy in the world and the center of the global economy and all of the things that have made this country so incredible. And there's no place for you in the Republican Party, so why stay here with this absolute dysfunction and chaos? I talk to my colleagues and they're screaming and yelling in almost every single Republican meeting, sometimes even getting close to punches being thrown. The acrimony within that party is real. And the departures by Ken Buck and Mike Gallagher are reflective of that. And who knows? I mean, there are many, there are a number of others who are similarly situated and like minded to them. And whether what they decide to do, I don't know. But it is entirely possible that more leave.
- [36:28]
Alison Gill
Yeah. And what can we do right now to help you in your efforts?
- [36:32]
Dana Goldberg
Look, I think continuing to emphasize the broader appeal and importance of supporting of the true inflection point that we are at and supporting our allies, our democratic allies around the world. What we saw from the Iran attack is that what's going on in the Middle east is not isolated to Israel and Hamas or Israel and Gaza. This is Iran and its terrorist proxies attacking the west, attacking democracy. We are the United States is Iran's big, big Satan, as they say. And Israel is the little Satan emblematic of the United States. But this is not just isolated to Israel. This is an attack on our way of life, on democracy. And everything that has made this country great has been based on the democracy that has flourished here unlike anywhere else. And the economic stability, the capitalism, the open markets, the success, the innovation, the growth, all of that flows from us being a leading democracy. And if we abdicate that role, we, I believe, are opening up the pathway toward our own demise and emphasizing that message over and over and over because it's hard to resonate. And by the way, I'm not belittling any of the issues at the border. There are real problems at the border. Unquestionably. Our system was not built to handle as many people that are trying to come in. And we have to fix it. There were parts of that Senate bill I did not agree with, but it was the most conservative Republican friendly immigration bill ever agreed to by any president, Democratic president, and it was the second most conservative senator in the Republican Party in the Senate who negotiated it and agreed to it. And what you realize is the Republicans don't want to solve the problems. They want to create chaos for their own political benefit so that they can run on the issue of immigration in the fall Rather than obvious, than actually fix the problem, because that might make Joe Biden and the Democrats look better. If there's a solution. It is the most cynical, disgusting bit of partisanship and politicization. But that's what we're dealing with, and we would like to get together to solve problems at the border and elsewhere. Any bill that's passed the House has relied on more Democratic votes than Republicans in this Congress. That's where we are, even though it's a Republican majority. So the stakes are just incredibly high, and everybody needs to activate. They need to energize. There's no question there's Trump fatigue. There's no question that it gets hard to get up and get out there every day. But I just urge everybody to do one more thing than they've ever done before to promote democracy, to promote our way of life. And it doesn't have to be running for office, but it can just simply be helping your neighbor get to the polling booth. It can be volunteering with a pro voting or pro democracy democracy organization to see if you can do something. There's so many different ways, and we have to lean in because the only way that we are going to preserve and protect our democracy is that if we participate in it.
- [40:12]
Alison Gill
Agree 100%. Thank you so much for spending some time with us today. And you're right. I mean, Donald Trump and the Republicans have even admitted that they killed that border security bill because they didn't want a win for President Joe Biden. And it is one of the most cynical and disgusting things I've ever seen in politics. So I do appreciate your time today. I know you've got to run, so thank you very much and we will talk to you again soon. Representing the 10th district in New York, Representative Dan Goldman. Everybody. Stick around. We'll be right back with the good news after these messages. We'll be right back. Everybody. Welcome back. It's time for the good news.
- [40:55]
Representative Dan Goldman
Who likes good news?
- [40:56]
Dana Goldberg
Everyone.
- [40:57]
Alison Gill
Then good news, everyone. Good news. And if you have any good news confessions, corrections. You want to play what the mutt? Find the cat opine on the bovine. What the heck Wine? What the hell is in that shell? What's the model of your axolotl? What the is in your arc? Whoo. I got through those. You know what? That's off the top of my head, Dana. I. This is. I don't even have a script for this anymore. We do this so often. So send us a photo or a drawing of an animal or your animal, and we will try to guess something about it. Anything. Maybe we'll just name it. Send it to us. And if you don't have pod pet tax to pay, you can send us an adoptable pet in your area. We'll try to find him a forever home. Also. Anything like thesis statements, dissertation titles. Those are always fun. Would be stories. Blankie stories, stuffed animal stories. Love those. I think our record is 117 years old and what was it? It was like a homemade Grover or something. That's like still one of my favorites.
- [41:57]
Representative Dan Goldman
Oh, I love that.
- [41:59]
Alison Gill
If you have. Let's see, shout out to a small business in your area or a loved one or a self. Shout out. Anything at all you want to send us Frog orgies, Baby pictures. Your baby pictures. Send it to us. Especially your student debt relief stories. Send it to us@dailybeanspod.com and click on contact. All right, first up from Bonnie Pronoun. She and her hello Beans Queens and Happy Trump Trial day to all who celebrate. Attached is a five. Celebrating Attached is a photo of my trial following my trail. What? Attached is a photo of my trial following happy place. I see. This is the happy place from which she follows the trial. As the season of accountability gets underway, the glass will be filled with wine. There will be a big bowl of popcorn nearby, possibly joined by a CBD gummy or two for good measure.
- [42:49]
Representative Dan Goldman
Love it.
- [42:50]
Alison Gill
I tried to attach a picture of my pod pet, Dexter, Barn cat extraordinaire, who despite being 15 years old and having cataracts, is still an excellent mouser. Barn cat is kind of a misnomer as she discovered long ago that human beds are more comfortable than bales of hay and usually spends at least part of each day indoors. Note Bonnie did not attach the picture of Dexter, but she did send a picture of some Trump indictment swag. Oh yeah, look, here it is.
- [43:19]
Representative Dan Goldman
Nice indict idiot mints in Indian indictments.
- [43:23]
Alison Gill
Indictments.
- [43:25]
Representative Dan Goldman
Look at me trying to. I don't know why I'm even trying to speak tonight.
- [43:29]
Alison Gill
Me too. I can't. I think my brain is going faster than my mouth today. I think is what the problem is.
- [43:36]
Representative Dan Goldman
Thank you for that. For the generosity. That must be what's happening to me too. Thanks for kicking us off with that Ag. This next one's from Lisa G. Pronoun. She and her hey, my favorite lagoon ladies wanted to give a shout out to our dedicated women led all volunteer band of strategic postcard warriors at Blue Wave Postcard Movement. We just passed 6 million postcards sent since 2020. We started out as A handful of local postcard writers gathering at area brew pubs to stop GOP local chicanery. Now our core team of eight volunteers assisted by 30 plus additional local helpers plus state based partners, coordinates, designs and distributes to a nationwide network of 10,000 plus riders reaching low propensity left leaning voters in swing states. This is awesome. Also, our inaugural fundraiser is coming up May 4th with Congressional with Congressman Joe Neguse. I sure hope that's right. I don't want to get names wrong. Joe Neguse of our Is it ours? Fellow featured speaker. Yes, I'm fangirling here. Honestly, it's amazing how much focus purpose can start shifting the tide.
- [44:46]
Alison Gill
Yeah.
- [44:47]
Representative Dan Goldman
Our donation levels are in units of $53. The current price of a 100 roll of postcard stamps. Clever. True, but we're also trying to stock up before another DeJoy led USPS price increase. Plus help writers on fixed incomes with stamp assistance. That's fantastic. Next up, we're activating pro democracy voters in Arizona where the fuckery doesn't stop.
- [45:10]
Alison Gill
Besides that, beyond their license plates, instead of the Grand Canyon state, it should.
- [45:19]
Representative Dan Goldman
Be Arizona where the fuckery doesn't stop. Oh God Ag. That's a good tweet right there. Besides that total nuts resurrected 1864 abortion ban. The GOP run legislature now wants to make state Supreme Court appointees a lifetime position, probably because two of their calcified ghoulish conservative judges are up for reinstatement by voters on the November ballot. If the Leguminati at large wish to write or donate, check out bluewavepostcards.org plus it's a really lovely postcard design. See below for Popet Tax another picture distributed by Cat Bella posing on top of boxes of Nevada voter registration postcards. And the last photo features a few of our volunteers getting ready to ship postcard orders. It takes a village. Thanks for all you do. And I'm thrilled to say that I'm making that short trip to D.C. from Colorado to see Ag and Pals this weekend at the gala. I'll come bearing swag and happiness cannot wait. Look how beautiful this postcard is.
- [46:27]
Alison Gill
It is absolutely beautiful. And Lisa, make sure when you come up and introduce yourself to me, you say I am Blue Wave Postcards and you bring as many as you want. People will gobble that up, I guarantee it. I would love to have you represent your stuff there. Fantastic. First of all, there's the kitty. Hi Katie.
- [46:48]
Representative Dan Goldman
Cute kitty. Lots of boxes and the volunteers look awesome.
- [46:52]
Alison Gill
Oh man, this is so incredible. So looking at that number 10,000 plus writers. Wow. And you passed 6 million postcards since 2020. That's so great. That's so great. So everybody. Yep. Go to BlueWavePostcards.org and grab yours today. All right, next up from D Lo pronouns, he and him. Rosenstein is pronounced Rosenstein. See also Dianne Feinstein, Leonard Bernstein, et cetera. For example, it's a Steinway piano, not a Steenway piano. Minor point, but thanks. And you know, I should know that because in German class, they teach you to pronounce the long version of the second letter, which is an I. So it would be Rosenstein. I've just heard so many people call him Rosenstein that messes my head. Like every time I approach the word when I'm reading it, you're like, steinstein. And, you know, I get nervous and then the wrong shit comes out. But thank you. Feinstein. Bernstein, Leonard Bernstein, Rod Rosenstein. All cool. And there's a beautiful picture of a very lovely pink and yellow rose. Thank you. I'll go ahead and take the next one.
- [48:05]
Representative Dan Goldman
You got it.
- [48:06]
Alison Gill
Oh, my God. These photos are okay. All right. Wow. Anonymous pronoun. She and her hello, lovely ladies of the beans. Here's a celebratory don't let the door hit you on the way out from Utah. Natalie Klein, the shittiest member of the Utah State Board of Education, lost her reelection bid when her GOP challenger beat her at the GOP convention this weekend. She was elected in 2020, has been terrible ever since. Lowlights of her career include accusing Black Lives Matter in the Utah Pride center of indoctrination and fighting against districts that hire equity directors because they, quote, exacerbate the problem of racism in schools, unquote. She berates teachers for reading stories like Call Me Max, a children's book about trans students, or assigning readings from the 1619 project. She tried to ban a giant list of wor and phrases from classrooms under the guise of critical race theory. A sampling of some of the items on the list include access, belonging, bias, building, community, cultural sensitivity, diversity, equity, learning gaps, life skills, safe space, and white supremacy. Finally, the creme de la shit of her behavior was in February of 2024 when she made a public Facebook post questioning the gender identity of a high school basketball player who happens to be cis. The girl's parents and the rest of the community were livid, and it led to an eventual condemnation from the state legislature. And Klein was stripped of all voting rights from the state board. Half assed apology. She tried to justify her comments by saying the basketball player does have a very large build. Anyway, the good news is that by a 2 to 1 margin, Utah's Republican delegates at the convention over the weekend voted for her opponent in her bid to re secure the GOP nomination for the 2024 race. Delegates who were there reported that there was a massive cheer when the results of that specific race were read to the crowd for podpet Tax. Please accept this random photo of a tiny baby donkey found on the Internet. He made me smile. I hope he makes you smile too. I think that's a goat.
- [50:14]
Representative Dan Goldman
Goat.
- [50:15]
Alison Gill
I think it's a goat.
- [50:16]
Representative Dan Goldman
Okay, I think it's a goat as well. But the fact that this person may think it's a tiny baby donkey makes me want it to be a tiny baby donkey.
- [50:24]
Alison Gill
I'm gonna go ahead and say it's a donkey then.
- [50:27]
Representative Dan Goldman
Yeah, why not?
- [50:28]
Alison Gill
It is because we're very bad at guessing what the is he trying to be like.
- [50:34]
Representative Dan Goldman
Excuse me, that's a goat.
- [50:36]
Alison Gill
That's got some chow chow in it.
- [50:38]
Representative Dan Goldman
Yeah, that's a goat and a Doberman mix.
- [50:41]
Alison Gill
Okay, wonderful.
- [50:43]
Representative Dan Goldman
Thank you for this. And Anonymous. I love stories like this and it is so nice to see these people in these school board positions ousted all over the place.
- [50:51]
Alison Gill
And I love there was a big cheer.
- [50:53]
Representative Dan Goldman
Yes, me too. And even hopefully this person that be, you know, they're GOP that they're just not as evil. So we can hope for at this point.
- [51:01]
Alison Gill
Yep.
- [51:01]
Representative Dan Goldman
All right. This is from Anonymous. Hi Sisters of the Bean Patch. I've been a loyal listener of all three podcasts, Beans, Jack and Cleanup, and will not let a day go by without listening. While I appreciate how Jack and cleanup on aisle 45 go more deeply into what's happening, I love how the daily beans is so current. A daily podcast has to be hard to maintain, especially at the level you strive to keep it. Just know your efforts are appreciated. Over the last few years, I found myself getting more and more worked up over what's happening in our country and feeling so hopeless to do anything. I live in a solid blue state and contribute money to candidates across the country to help turn states and our country blue. But it never seems like enough. So when I became aware of Tony, the Democrat of postcards to voters, I decided to give it a try. Thus far, I've postcarded Is that a word? In four state election and in every one the candidates prevailed. I'd like to say it was my because of my postcards, but I know it was the collective efforts of thousands of us doing our little parts. I just placed an order with USPS for 200 more stamped postcards and fully expected. I'll need to order more before 2024 election season is over. For podpet tax, I've included two pictures. A photo of our granddaughter Opal and a drawing of Opal, my seven year old granddaughter sent me of my granddaughter. See any resemblance? Keep up the good fight AG and dg. You fuel our energy to keep up the good fight.
- [52:27]
Alison Gill
Okay, first of all, this is an Aussie butt. And Aussie butts are up there with Corgi butts and the best working butts in the dog business.
- [52:35]
Representative Dan Goldman
And the photo from the 7 year old. The drawing is hysterical. I know.
- [52:41]
Alison Gill
I don't know if I would have been able to guess Australian. I might have guessed Corgi with this drawing. Honestly, I would have to say. But look how beautiful. Thank you for that. That's wonderful, Anonymous. I appreciate that. And our last little submission here from Marilyn. When I worked as a public school speech pathologist, I was talking to one of my kindergarten students about his pet. He reported that his dog only barked if someone he didn't know came to the door. I said that was okay. It could be a burglar, I joked. And he said, no, it's a chihuahua.
- [53:15]
Representative Dan Goldman
Shit, kids say. You gotta love it.
- [53:17]
Alison Gill
Ah, shit kids say. Thanks Marilyn for that. Thanks to everybody for your submissions today. And just the just the reminder that even the small, seemingly small act of writing postcards can have a massive impact on the election. So I appreciate all that and I look forward to seeing everybody this Saturday. Of course, send in your good news, send it to dailybeanspod.com and click on Contact. Dana, do you have any final thoughts before we get out of here on day one of More of a trial?
- [53:49]
Representative Dan Goldman
Yep, it's more of a song, actually a chorus because I tweeted and you'll recognize a lot of you will recognize the melody of this song. You know, it was fun to do.
- [54:00]
Alison Gill
So think someone asked you to sing it, right?
- [54:02]
Representative Dan Goldman
Yeah, absolutely. So think Delta dawn and it's just a chorus. And you know, I'm a comedian, I tell jokes. I'm not a singer. But here we go. Sleepy dawn what's that bronzer you have on? Could it be a darker orange from days gone by? And did I hear them say you were sleeping in court today? You can't make yourself look sadder if you tried. Everyone sleepy? Done. What's that bronzer you have on? Could it be a darker orange from days gone by? Anyway, those are my final thoughts.
- [54:39]
Alison Gill
Realize your fears. Cause you didn't bronze your ears. Made fun of you till you cried.
- [54:47]
Representative Dan Goldman
Oh, my God. So good.
- [54:49]
Alison Gill
Just making stuff up.
- [54:51]
Representative Dan Goldman
All right, on the spot, people. We're gonna have more verses tomorrow.
- [54:56]
Alison Gill
I used to do it on the spot thing when I was back in my musician days. We used to do this old, old piano bar song called My Cat. You know, like, my cat was scratching at my back door. Scratch so long poor got sore, sore. And then you just keep adding to it. The kitty cat got wet. You know, sore, wet, weird smell. Whatever it is, you keep adding all these words to it. And then I would have people shout out what kind they wanted to hear about. And people, Dana, are so creative. They would be like. Somebody was like Constant Gardner or, you know, George W. Bush, which set up a great verse about pulling out, you know, because he.
- [55:40]
Representative Dan Goldman
Of course. Oh, my God.
- [55:42]
Alison Gill
So I'm. I love making stuff up on the spot like that. So that. That was fun. Thank you for bringing me back to my old musician days.
- [55:50]
Representative Dan Goldman
Absolutely.
- [55:52]
Alison Gill
It's been a while. It's been a couple years. Maybe I'll. Maybe I'll. Maybe I'll start picking up the guitar again. I don't know. But on our show in Milwaukee, go to alisongill.com I'm gonna have my very good friend who's the lead singer of Wheatis, join me on stage. We are going to sing for you at the end of that show.
- [56:09]
Representative Dan Goldman
So nice.
- [56:10]
Alison Gill
That's just gonna be Milwaukee. Tickets are going fast to all of these shows. You definitely don't want to miss Dana and I in Portland and Seattle. Those are going to be super fun. So allisongill.com go get your tickets. All right. That is it. That is our show. We'll be back in your ears tomorrow. Until then, please take care of yourselves. Take care of each other, Take care of the planet, take care of your mental health, take care of your family.
- [56:31]
Representative Dan Goldman
Vote blue over Q and take all your family with you.
- [56:34]
Alison Gill
I'm an AG and I've been dg. And them's the beans.
- [56:37]
Dana Goldberg
Refried beans. I like refried beans.