Refried Beans | Smear Factory Fact Check (feat. Rep. Gloria Johnson) | Jul 24, 2024

Summary

The Daily Beans – "Refried Beans | Smear Factory Fact Check"

Episode Date: July 24, 2024
Release Date: July 26, 2026
Hosts: Allison Gill (AG), Dana Goldberg (DG)
Special Guest: Rep. Gloria Johnson

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on the tumultuous political week following Joe Biden’s decision to end his reelection campaign, the rallying around Kamala Harris as the new Democratic nominee, the swirl of misinformation and smear attempts targeting Harris, and a dedicated interview with Tennessee State Rep. Gloria Johnson about her pivotal Senate campaign to unseat Marsha Blackburn. The hosts blend sharp political analysis with strategic fact-checking, pep talks on media literacy, and actionable persuasion for progressive organizing—with their signature blend of humor and righteous snark.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

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1. The State of the Democratic Race: Biden Bows Out, Harris Steps In

[01:56 & 06:39]

• Biden’s Exit & Harris’s Candidacy
  • Biden to address the nation (08:00), COVID-negative, stepping aside for the 2024 campaign. “My thoughts are with the president ... in this transitional time.” (DG, 07:08)
  • Kamala Harris rapidly consolidated party support, clinching the necessary delegates “two days ahead of schedule.” (DG, 08:44)
  • Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer quickly endorsed Harris, evidencing a rare Democratic “array.” (AG, 09:06)
• Energized Base
  • Hosts express a new wave of hope and energy, noting Harris’s campaign galvanizes previously untapped voting blocs, with spillover effects anticipated in battleground states like Tennessee and Texas. (DG, 05:38)

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2. Smear Machine: Fact-Checking Attacks on Kamala Harris

[10:09–22:07; 16:16]

• Misinformation Dynamics

  • AG reads an analysis by David Kurtz (Talking Points Memo) about the right-wing smear pattern: "The initial round of Republican attacks ... have so far been scattershot, inconsistent, self-contradictory and often comical." (AG, 10:32)

  • The process: "trial balloons" with racist and misogynist undertones are thrown out until a few take root and become media stories, evolving into damaging narratives—comparing this "smear snowball" to what happened to Hillary Clinton and the “swiftboating” of John Kerry. (AG, 12:39)

  • Quote:

    “What began as toxic, racist, misogynistic drivel is now a trap that has ensnared the candidate. … The attacks … accrete into a thing, a ‘thing’ that unsophisticated editors and reporters even notice.”
    — Allison Gill reading David Kurtz (12:18)

• How to Fight Back

  • Trying to refute every attack is “a fool’s errand”: “The urge to rebut each attack whack a mole style may be well intentioned, but it is a fool's errand.” (AG, 13:16)
  • The real solution is smart media consumption and resisting outrage-sharing: “One way to combat the effort is to be a sophisticated news consumer who is aware of it and sees it for what it is.” (AG, 15:58)
  • Mainstream media has improved but some still fall for right-wing “ref” working.

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3. Viral Lies: AP/Fact Check Rapid Response

[16:16–22:07]

• AP Article Highlights (DG, 16:16)
  • Claims debunked:
    • Harris born in the U.S.; is a natural-born citizen.
    • Harris “not Black”—False; her dad is Jamaican, her mom is Indian.
    • Affair with Willie Brown got her career started—Highly misleading; he was separated, supported many politicians.
    • Old clip with Montel Williams proves Harris was his “sidepiece”—False, the woman with them is Montel’s daughter.
    • Harris allegedly said she’d bring ‘vengeance of a nation’ on Trump supporters—Satirical quote; pure fabrication.
    • Viral video of Kamala’s odd word salad—Deepfake; never said it.
• Hosts encourage listeners to use these hard facts when combating rumors in their networks.
  • Quote:

    “Hand this [AP] article … to the people who are questioning it and you know that they're Democrats.” (DG, 20:41)

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4. Trump World Moves & Legal Machinations

[22:08–27:18]

• Trump Campaign FEC Complaint:
  • AG details Trump’s campaign filing a complaint over Biden’s funds being shifted to Harris for president (22:08+).
    • Largely seen as a distraction and a baseless move; the FEC is deadlocked and unlikely to act before the election. (AG summarizes and ridicules the move, 25:48)
    • Quote:

      “This is the dumbest thing I have ever read in my life.” (AG, 26:36)

    • Dana’s zinger:

      "If they think that Kamala really isn't a threat, why are they fighting everything?" (DG, 26:54)

• Trump’s VP Second-Guessing
  • Reports that the Trump campaign is already regretting their choice of J.D. Vance, worried about swing voter appeal and overall likability. (AG, 09:15)

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5. Veepstakes: Harris’s Shortlist for Running Mate

[27:21–33:09]

• Active Vetting:
  • Harris’s campaign requests vetting materials from five leading VP contenders: Roy Cooper (NC), Josh Shapiro (PA), Mark Kelly (AZ), Gretchen Whitmer (MI), Tim Walz (MN). Others possibly on the radar: J.B. Pritzker (IL), Cedric Richmond (LA), Andy Beshear (KY). Eric Holder is leading the vetting team. (DG, 27:21; AG, 29:43)
  • DNC aiming to announce VP pick before the Chicago Convention (Aug 19-22).
• Hosts’ Preferences
  • AG expresses a strong preference for Mark Kelly: “He’s a Navy pilot … and we wouldn’t lose the Senate seat till 2026.” (AG, 30:14)
  • Dana likes Buttigieg ("a hell of a vice president") but admits it’s politically unlikely. (DG, 30:24)
  • The Dems' "deep bench" praised—contrasted with GOP: “They have a real deep bench of Nazi pillow fuckers. But that’s it.” (AG, 33:10)

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6. Interview: Rep. Gloria Johnson—Flipping a Tennessee Senate Seat

[35:07–50:15]

a. Abortion and Women’s Rights (35:37)

• Stark contrast: Johnson supports bodily autonomy, opposes an abortion ban, whereas Marsha Blackburn supports a federal abortion ban and has even questioned contraception rights (Griswold). (Rep. Johnson, 35:37)
• “This puts women and girls in Tennessee in serious danger.” (Rep. Johnson, 37:03)

b. Guns, Safety, and Grassroots Power (38:04)

• Gun Safety: Johnson supports universal background checks, storage laws, and red flag laws, while Blackburn has “voted against any common sense gun legislation that’s come across her desk” and is “one of the top receivers of NRA lobbyist money.” (Rep. Johnson, 38:04)

c. Harris’s Impact on the Race (41:12)

• Local response: “Just a whole lot of energy.” Johnson reiterates her respect for Biden and describes the administration’s achievements. (Rep. Johnson, 41:12)

d. Economic Justice: Wages & Taxes (43:14)

• Johnson advocates for raising the minimum wage to $20/hour (“it costs $15/hr for childcare!”), expanding Medicaid, and cutting grocery sales tax instead of giving tax breaks to corporations.
  • “We are about lifting folks into the middle class. … People are falling out because of policies by Marsha Blackburn and Tennessee Republicans. It is outrageous.” (Rep. Johnson, 45:15)

e. Down-Ballot Impact and Mobilization (46:29, 48:02)

• Johnson believes the grassroots energy of her campaign can boost Democratic performance throughout Tennessee’s down-ballot races.

f. How to Get Involved (48:02)

• Volunteers can help by donating, phonebanking, postcard writing, or spreading the word via votegloriajohnson.com.
• “This seat is going to help everyone in the country … this election cycle is so critical.” (Rep. Johnson, 49:10)
• Rep. Johnson closes with an emphasis on her grassroots, people-powered campaign, in contrast to Blackburn’s corporate fundraising.

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7. Good News & Listener Corner

[51:16–61:36]

• The community-driven, joy-bringing “good news” segment features listener shout-outs, corrections (e.g., Mark Kelly’s Senate term), pet photos (Stan the dog, Nana the cat), LGBT BBQ celebrations in Alabama, pride in intergenerational political progress, and more.
• Tips for resisting outrage: “If a thought comes into your head, just let it pass like a cloud ... they are running scared and they should be.” (AG & DG, 62:03)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Smear Attacks:

  "The urge to rebut each attack whack a mole style may be well intentioned, but it is a fool's errand."
  — Allison Gill (13:16)

• On Democratic Mobilization:

  "Kamala's candidacy now is galvanizing a group of voters that has never been this energized."
  — Dana Goldberg (05:38)

• On Marsha Blackburn:

  "She works for lobbyists and corporations. She does not work for the 80% of Tennessee families that want to see some common sense gun legislation..."
  — Rep. Gloria Johnson (38:04)

• On Republican Hypocrisy:

  “If they think that Kamala really isn't a threat, why are they fighting everything?”
  — Dana Goldberg (26:54)

• On Harris’s Deep Bench:

  “That’s the difference. We have such a great deep bench of amazing talent.”
  — Allison Gill (32:34)

• Grassroots Fervor:

  "I am working for the people. ... My donors, more than 70% are from Tennessee. Marsha Blackburn can't say that. … I don't take corporate money. So this is a grassroots power campaign. We need you on board."
  — Rep. Gloria Johnson (49:46)

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Key Timestamps

• 06:39 – News Quick Hits: Biden addresses the nation, Menendez resignation, Secret Service fallout.
• 10:09 – The Republican smear campaign playbook.
• 13:12 – Historical framing: Swift Boating, Hillary narratives.
• 16:16–21:18 – Dana Goldberg and Allison Gill debunk viral attacks on Kamala Harris point-by-point.
• 22:08 – Trump campaign’s FEC complaint over Biden funds.
• 27:21 – Harris’s VP vetting process and short list.
• 35:07–50:15 – Flip It Blue interview: Rep. Gloria Johnson on reproductive rights, gun safety, economic justice, and winning in Tennessee.
• 51:16 – Good News and Listener Confessions.
• 61:36 – Final advice: Don’t amplify negative attacks; protect your mental health and stay grounded.

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Tone/Language

• Progressive, energetic, witty, and unflinching in the face of political ugliness.
• Concise but generous with context and clarifications.
• Emphasis on hope, organizing, and strategic communication.

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Summary Takeaway

This episode combines rapid-fire updates from a rapidly shifting political landscape with a methodical, empathetic approach to fighting misinformation. AG and DG equip listeners with factual ammo, psychological resilience, and reasons to organize—spotlighting the transformative potential of Kamala Harris’s candidacy and the grassroots-powered movement to flip Marsha Blackburn’s Senate seat in Tennessee. The episode is an instructive, lively toolkit for political engagement—with ample doses of humor, heart, and hard truth.

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For more or to get involved in the Tennessee Senate race:
➡️ VoteGloriaJohnson.com

For fact-checking family and friends:
➡️ Refer them to the Associated Press fact-check, and Talking Points Memo on disinformation.

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Transcript

[Allison Gill]

Diamond Dames, mount up.

[Charlotte Clymer]

I'm Charlotte Clymer.

[Allison Gill]

And I'm Alison Gill. Hey, Charlotte, what if you and I joined forces to create a weekly podcast amid all the chaos of the news to chat about the most recent episode of season four of Ted Lasso?

[Charlotte Clymer]

Well, Allison, we'd be taking delight amid the spite to sit and write and bring some light on Wednesday nights. I mean, look, everything right now is ridiculous. I know we're all stressed out with the state of the country and we all deserve some joy. Ted Lasso was there for us in the middle of the pandemic, and he's back to offer us a respite from Trump 2.0 right before the midterms.

[Allison Gill]

That's right. We believe in Rom communism. I mean, if Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan can go through some heartfelt struggles and still end up happy, then so can we. So subscribe to Diamond Dames for free right now to get notifications and then you can join us every week and after each episode of Ted Lasso Season 4, wherever you get your podcasts.

[Charlotte Clymer]

And remember, be a goldfish. Diamond Danes Dismount

[Allison Gill]

Barbecue sauce. 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 as 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.

[Dana Goldberg]

Refried beans.

[Allison Gill]

I like refried beans.

[Dana Goldberg]

That's why I want to try fried

[Allison Gill]

beans, because maybe they're just as good

[Dana Goldberg]

and we're wasting time.

[Allison Gill]

Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Wednesday, July 24, 2024. Today, fact checking claims and combating misinformation about Kamala Harris. The Trump campaign has filed a complaint with the FEC over Harris taking over the Biden war chest. The Harris campaign has requested VP vetting materials for a short list of potential candidates. The Trump campaign is second guessing their choice of J.D. vance. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheadle has written resigned her position in the wake of the assassination attempt. President Biden is COVID negative and will address the Nation tonight at 8pm Eastern. Senator Menendez says his last day in the senate will be August 20th and a conversation with Tennessee Rep. Gloria Johnson and her campaign to beat Senator Marsha Blackburn. I'm Allison Gill.

[Dana Goldberg]

And I'm Dana Goldberg. Hello.

[Allison Gill]

Happy Wednesday, my friend.

[Dana Goldberg]

And happy Wednesday to you. I know we are both exhausted. I told you before I was like hopeless and exhausted. And now I'm just hopeful and exhausted. But I'm pretty exhausted.

[Allison Gill]

I feel a million times better than I did on Sunday morning.

[Brian Caram]

Good.

[Allison Gill]

And Shannon Watts, you know, founder of Moms Demand Action, is putting together a call. You know how like 45,000 black women got together and raised $1.5 million. And then another, you know, tens of thousands of black men got on a call and raised 1.3, I think, million dollars. Well, Shannon Watts, let me just make sure I've got the information correct here because I don't want to misquote her. She's amazing, by the way, with her work on Moms Demand Action. She is hosting a call this Thursday, and it's called White Women Answer the Call, Showing up for Kamala Harris. And so follow Shannon Watts, ShannonR, Watts, 2T's and Watts on Twitter for information on how to join this call. If you want to get in on that action, I think it's awesome that she's doing this and I'm going to be there. So it should be really informative. And I think we can raise a lot of money. I think it'll be great.

[Dana Goldberg]

I think so, too. And I think, and I say this, obviously, as a white woman in our society, we need to step up as a community and really show that we are supporting this nominee, period. And not because she's a female and not because she's black, because she is very qualified to be the president of the United States of America. But we have to make sure that it's not just black women that feel like they're carrying this or Asian women or even Native American women, like women of color. We need to step up as a white community and really show them we have your back.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah, 100%. So thank you to Shannon Watts for that and we'll get more information out to you. Also, there's a new episode of cleanup on aisle 45 out today. Pete and I, Pete Strzok and I will be live in San Francisco August 24th with Olivia Troy.

[Dana Goldberg]

What? What?

[Allison Gill]

That's right after the DNC. And Pete Strzok, Andy McKay, Brian Greer, Glenn Kirschner and you, Dana Goldberg. We will be live in D.C. august 16th, right before the DNC. And we'll also have a gala for patrons Saturday, August 17th. Dinner and drinks are on us. Thanks for supporting independent media. You can sign up to be a [e-mail] Mueller she wrote later in the show, as I said in the intro, I'm going to be speaking with a most amazing person, Representative Gloria Johnson. She was one of the Tennessee 3 and she's running to oust Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn. So, yeah, we're going to have her on the Flip It Blue segment today.

[Dana Goldberg]

Fantastic. I can say this, and I really believe this. Like, Kamala's candidacy now is galvanizing a group of voters that has never been this energized. And I feel like it's going to transfer to places like Tennessee and Texas and places that we actually, actually have a fighting chance of beating some of these centers. I think Colin Allred can beat Ted Cruz if we all get out and vote. I believe Rep. Johnson can beat Marsha Blackburn if we all get out and vote. And I really do believe there's going to be a new voting block that comes out of the woodworks for this presidential candidate. I really do.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah, it's really exciting. I am, I'm so tired, but I feel really good.

[Charlotte Clymer]

I know.

[Allison Gill]

You were so right. We both jumped on this call and we're like, I'm tired, but I feel great. I feel so good. I'm energized and fired up, and I think I'm going to sleep like a baby tonight. So looking forward to that. I love sleep, as you know. Also, we have so much news to get to today that we had to break it up into sections. So let's do some quick hits.

[Dana Goldberg]

All right. First up, President Biden will address the Nation tonight at 8:00pm Eastern Time on his decision to drop his 2024 Democratic reelection bid. Biden posted on Twitter that he would speak, quote, on what lies ahead and how he will finish the job for the American people. By the way, he tested negative for Covid and has made his way back to D.C. monday night. So my thoughts are with the president of the United States right now in this transitional time. And I'm looking forward to hearing what he has to say.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah. I just want to hug him.

[Dana Goldberg]

I know. Me, too.

[Allison Gill]

Awesome. And Senator Bob Menendez, somebody who is not at all like President Biden says his last day in the senate will be August 20th. I was trying to figure out why he's waiting so long. I'm like, is he waiting for the, for the Democratic National Convention? Because we don't have superdelegates anymore, so what the hell? As it turns out, somebody pointed out on Twitter and they haven't, we haven't confirmed this, but senators get paid on the 5th and the 20th. So I think he's trying to max out those Senate paychecks that, well, that wouldn't surprise me. They shouldn't pay him in gold. He's set to be sentenced, by the way, October 29th. That's right before the election.

[Dana Goldberg]

All right. And Steve Bannon's trial? That has been postponed from September to December 9. He faces trial in Manhattan after being brought up on felony charges by DA Alvin Bragg for his We Build the Wall scheme. So I think he's got to spend some more time near the showers, which is a good thing for everyone around him.

[Allison Gill]

I was so hoping that they'd have to drag his ass up to Rikers and bring him in in an orange jumpsuit to face trial because he'd still be in prison.

[Dana Goldberg]

I know.

[Allison Gill]

But no, he'll be out for the election, so keep your head on a swivel. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheadle has resigned her position over botched security responses to the assassination attempt at the Trump rally. She was grilled by both parties in a congressional hearing on Monday, and both Jim Comer and Jamie Raskin sent her a letter asking for her resignation. After that hearing ended, Secret Service Deputy Director Ronald Rowe is going to take her place.

[Dana Goldberg]

All right, thank you so much. And House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, they both endorsed Kamala Harris for president. During a brief press conference, she secured enough pledged delegates to clinch the nomination Monday night. This is two full days ahead of schedule. All of this happened so quickly. Democrats in array.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah, I had to come in at 6:30pm Pacific Time last night. And record breaking news. She's got the delegates. All right, peace.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah, bye.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah, like it was so fast. And we were all, on Sunday, we were all shocked to learn that she would get enough pledged delegates by Wednesday, close of business. Yeah, she did it Monday night. And some in Trump world are said to be second guessing their choice of JD Vance as a running mate. You think saying it was, quote, born of cockiness. They're expressing hesitation now about his ability to persuade swing voters in a nail biter. Really? You are now worried that Vance isn't liked by most people? I mean, 8 in 10 people in the United States are against a national abortion ban. So fascinating. It'll be funny to see if he kicks them out.

[Dana Goldberg]

I'll be surprised and I don't think he should be able to. I think Donald Trump should have to carry J.D. vance to term. That's what I think. Let's do this.

[Allison Gill]

Sorry, you already had your convention. Those are the rules.

[Dana Goldberg]

That's right.

[Allison Gill]

Who knows? Who knows what their rules are? Their rules are probably not that, but we'll see. All right, we have more news to get to. Let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. All right. Our hot notes section today has a lot to do with misinformation and disinformation, information and the campaign. So I wanted to read this piece from David Kurtz at Talking Points Memo. He writes, the initial round of Republican attacks on presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris have so far been scattershot, inconsistent, self contradictory and often comical. But we've seen it all before, and we know how this works. The volume and intensity of the attacks, deeply suffused with misogyny and racism, represent a thousand trial balloons. Some will pop on their own and others will get shot down immediately. But eventually a few will get through the blitz of counter attacks, and those few will offer a clue as to what works, you know, what sticks around. And they'll form the basis for additional rounds of attacks playing off of the same theme or underlying premise, however false it may be. If you repeat it often enough, the attacks will slowly accrete into a thing, a quote, unquote thing that unsophisticated editors and reporters even notice. They start asking questions about it. Their questions may seem benign and the early rounds of stories often tepid. I promise you that before the week is out, a reporter is going to grab a hold of the attacks on Harris as a DEI hire and use them as a peg to write more generally about dei. But gradually the thing becomes a narrative. The narrative, with more repetition begins to be a problem. Maybe the campaign or the candidate says something in frustration and then presto, you have a pissing match for reporters to cover. Or perhaps the candidate is caught off guard and gives a casual or ill thought out response. Then there's blood in the water. Now it's gone from a problem to baggage that the candidate has to do something about. What began as toxic, racist, misogynistic drivel is now a trap that has ensnared the candidate. At each step of the way. The audience for the lie, mistruth or innuendo has broadened. Each subsequent iteration repeats the attack again. To everyone who already heard it before, what started as scattershot attacks has now become a sustained drumbeat that sneakily enters the public consciousness almost undetected. This is a perfect description, Dana, of I just don't like Hillary.

[Dana Goldberg]

Absolutely, absolutely.

[Allison Gill]

This is so well written. And that's why I wanted to read this article. He goes on to say what I'm describing, a stripped down description of swift boating as it has existed in the 20 years since John Kerry was fellated by it. Not fellated. Jesus Christ, Allison. I wanted to, but I almost feel like. I almost feel like we should leave

[Dana Goldberg]

that edit in there and people know. We can tell. We can tell you it wasn't the right word.

[Allison Gill]

Filleted.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh my goodness.

[Allison Gill]

So he continues. In this article, he says what I'm describing, a stripped down description of Swift Boating as it has existed in the 20 years since John Kerry was filleted by it is not easy to combat or counter. Calling out the lies or the racism or the misogyny, while better than whitewashing, it is never sufficient, especially in a world where the bigotry is the point and legions of Trump supporters are lapping it up. The urge to rebut each attack whack a mole style may be well intentioned, but it is a fool's errand. Taking on the task of confronting an endless supply of baseless attacks is to let your opponent run you in circles, distinguishing who the audience is for the attacks, the MAGA base, mainstream reporters, swing voters, all of the above trying to distinguish. That can sometimes help focus the counterattacks. But we're beyond the point where the people left in the Republican Party are capable of being shamed by the nature or subtext of rancid attacks exploiting race and gender bias. They have no shame.

[Dana Goldberg]

Zero.

[Allison Gill]

I don't have the answers to this problem. What I can tell you is that the relatively short 15 years I've been doing this job, the information environment has been radically transformed. What defined Talking Points Memo in the early days was calling out these kinds of attacks for what they were. But that was back when Republican electeds were trying to soft pedal this stuff into the mainstream and would awkwardly retreat when called out on it. Starting in 2010 with the tea Party backlash to Obama, that began to change. By the time we got to Trump, any pretense of soft pedaling it, let alone shame, was long gone. In general, mainstream outlets have gotten much better at being direct and not euphemistic about these kinds of attacks. But not all of them have. At the same time, Republicans have trained reporters so well that they now often anticipate and air the Republican attacks before they're even made. That is not the public service journalism we are looking for. One advantage Talking Points Memo has that makes exercising good news judgment in these scenarios a little less daunting is that we serve a specific, defined, sophisticated audience. We know who our readers are. We can flag new lines of attack in their nascent stages, usually without acute concern that we're fanning the flames. We can broadly reference the nature and subtext of the attacks without getting tied in knots over it because we share a common understanding and language with our audience. But that isn't true for every outlet. So While the first 48 hours of Harris's candidacy have featured an almost cartoonish response from MAGA World, the there's a method to their madness. The effect over time is to work the refs mainstream news outlets and wait for them to break down and for the attacks to break through to a wider audience. One way to combat the effort is to be a sophisticated news consumer who is aware of it and sees it for what it is.

[Dana Goldberg]

That is incredibly well written. Thank you so much, Alison. This one is from Melissa golden and David Klepper at the Associated Press and I actually saw this article and was shot. Shocked that the Associated Press put it out, but incredibly grateful. The announcement that Vice President Kamala Harris will seek the Democratic nomination for president is inspiring a wave of false claims about her eligibility and her background. Of course it is. Some first emerged years ago, while others only surfaced after President Joe Biden's decision to end his bid for a second term. Here's a look at the facts. This is the claim Harris is not an American citizen and therefore cannot serve as Commander in Chief. The facts Completely false. Harris is a natural born US citizen. She was born on October 20, 1964 in Oakland, California. According to her copy of her birth certificate obtained by the Associated Press. Her mother, who's a cancer researcher from India, and her father, an economist from Jamaica, met as graduate students at the University of California, Berkeley. Under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, anyone born on U.S. soil is considered a natural born U.S. citizen and eligible to serve as either the Vice President or the President. Next claim. Harris is not black. I find this fascinating that somehow they think that being black is an advantage in a historically racist country. However, it's so weird.

[Allison Gill]

So weird.

[Dana Goldberg]

This is false. Harris is black and Indian. Her father, Donald Harris, is a black man who was born in Jamaica, Shyamala Gopalan. I really hope I'm saying her last name right. Gopalan. Her mother was born in southern India. Harris has spoken publicly for many years, included in her 2019 autobiography, about how she identifies with the heritage of both of her parents. Next claim. Harris got her start by having an affair with a married man, California politician Willie Brown. The fact is, this is very misleading and the context is important. Brown was separated from his wife during their relationship, which was not a secret by the way. Brown is a former mayor of San Francisco who was serving as speaker of the California State assembly in the 1990s when he and Harris were in a relationship. Brown had separated from his wife in 1982, eight years prior, eight years earlier. I know, and this is a quote, yes, we dated. It was more than 20 years ago. That's what Brown wrote in the 2020 in the San Francisco Chronicle under the article title. Quote, sure, I dated Kamala Harris. So what? Kind of love the title. He wrote that he supported Harris Harris's first race to be San Francisco District Attorney, just as he has supported a long list of other California politicians, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, former Senator Dianne Feinstein, and Gov. Gavin Newsom. Harris, who is 59, was state attorney general from 2011-17 and served in the Senate from 17 to 2021 when she became vice president. She has been married to Doug Emhoff since 2014. Next claim an Inside Edition clip of television host Montel Williams holding hands with Harris and another woman is proof that Harris was his quote. Sidepiece the fact the clip shows Montel with Harris and his daughter, Ashley Williams. Harrison Williams, a former Marine who hosted the Montel Williams show for more than a decade, dated briefly in the early 2000s. Montel Williams addressed the false claims in Twitter post on Monday, writing in reference to the Inside Edition clip, quote, as most of you know, that is my daughter to my right. I know this is just ridiculous, but I'm really glad that AP wrote this. Here's the next claim. Harris promised to inflict, quote, the vengeance of a nation on Trump supporters. Bullshit. This is a fabricated quote attributed to Harris and it's spreading online five years after it first surfaced. The remarks didn't come from Harris, but from a satirical article published online In August of 2019, shortly after Trump supporters like musician Ted Nugent, he reposted the comments. I know it's a little bit. It's carrying a lot of weight.

[Allison Gill]

Fact check that claim.

[Dana Goldberg]

He reposted the comments without noting that they were actually fake. Next and last claim. This is a video shows Harris saying in a speech, quote, today is today and yesterday was today. Yesterday. Tomorrow will be today. Tomorrow. So live today. So the future today will be as the past. Today is. That is tomorrow. And the funny thing is, if I had read that, I would have been like, that's a Donald J. Trump quote. However, the fact of the matter is Harris never said this. Footage from a 2023 rally on reproductive rights at Howard University, her alma mater, was altered to make it seem as though she did so. Anyone out there? That's starting to look at this stuff and be like, I don't know, is she a citizen? Is she black? Does that matter? Was she, you know, did she. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Read this. Hand this article. This article can be found in the Associated Press. To the people who are questioning it and you know that they're Democrats, you hand them this article, please, I beg of you.

[Allison Gill]

Yes. And send that. We'll have the Talking Points Memo article in the show notes, too. That's just such an important piece. We have to be always mindful of these trial balloons that are sent out to us if we engage and share and get angry and, quote, tweet. I can do this with the followers that I have on Twitter because as Talking Points Memo says, everybody who follows me, very sophisticated folks. Right. And Elon doesn't put my in anybody else's feed because he's a dick. So I'm not too worried about it and I'm not too worried to tell you all about it here on this show. I don't feel like I'm spreading disinformation. Right. But we just have to be mindful about how we consume. About how we consume information and not us, but, you know, tell the folks in your life.

[Dana Goldberg]

Right?

[Brian Caram]

Yeah.

[Allison Gill]

All right. From the Times, which, by the way, I had to text like six people to get a gift link to this story because I don't subscribe to the Times and now neither do anybody, any of my friends. So it took me a while to get this, but Donald J. Trump's campaign filed a complaint Tuesday with the FEC against Biden and Harris, accusing them of violating campaign finance laws by rolling Mr. Biden's campaign funds over to Ms. Harris. I'm sure, I'm sure that no, that like, not a dozen of the top lawyers in the country checked this shit out before they did it. The complaint filed by the Trump campaign's general counsel, David Warrington, came after Biden's team amended the name of its committee on Sunday to Harris for President. Once Biden announced he's stepping down, the fight is over. What is left in Biden's coffers that he's turning over to Ms. Harris, who has been his running mate. I'm going to call her vice president, New York Times. Kamala Harris is seeking to perpetuate a $91.5 million heist of Joe Biden's leftover campaign cash of brazen money grab that would constitute the single largest excessive contribution and biggest violation in the history of the Federal Election Campaign act of 1970. 1. Yeah. Ms. This is from obviously, Trump's attorney. In the complaint, Warrington accused the President, Ms. Vice President Harris and the campaign treasurer of flagrantly violating the act by making and receiving an excessive contribution of nearly 100 million DOL dollars and for filing fraudulent forms with the commission purporting to repurpose one candidate's principal campaign committees for the use of another candidate. Not all campaign finance legal experts share Mr. Warrington's view. Some believe the Harris team is on legally safe ground. And it's unclear what the FEC will decide. They're two and two, by the way. They haven't done anything because they're two and two. So they'll investigate it and way after the election, they'll come out and have their findings saying that we're two to two and we can't do anything. But the Trump team is looking to grind the gears in the transition from Biden to Harris in any way they can. Trump's advisors have made clear they would seek to legally block Biden from transferring the funds to Harris, suggesting a lawsuit was likely. Instead, they're filing a complaint with the fec, which may not be resolved before election Day. I'm glad they said that may not be. Yeah, it will not be resolved before Election Day. FEC spokesperson said the agency couldn't comment. And Charles Luttwak, a spokesman for the Harris campaign, pointed to a giant campaign fundraising hall that the vice president expanded team has raised since Biden endorsed her. Quote, Republicans may be jealous that Democrats are energized to defeat Donald Trump and his MAGA allies, but baseless legal claims like the ones they've made for years to try to suppress votes and steal elections will only distract them while we sign up volunteers, talk to voters and win this election. Such a great statement. Trump campaign's complaint with the FEC argues, among other things, that Harris isn't yet the official nominee. That will happen at the Democratic National Convention. And great. So then we'll just, if that's the problem, we'll just. She already raised 300 million of her own dollars. We'll just eat at Joe Biden's 96 million after the convention if that's, if that's how you really want to do it. And they argue that Biden, by saying he won't be a candidate in the general election, isn't in a position to keep the general election contributions he's received. What does it he think happens seriously to the money? Quote, to date, Biden for president has provided no indication that he will return or Redesignate all of its general election contributions. That's what Warrington wrote. But didn't he just redesignate it all for hair? I don't even understand the legal. There's no. There's. There are no legal grounds here is basically what I'm saying. Quote, thus, each and every general election contribution received by Biden for president is an excessive contribution. Oh, my God. And Mr. Warrington accused the campaign's treasurer and Ms. Harris, Vice President Harris, of fraud of the FEC by using their forms to rename and repurpose the committee seeking a Justice Department referral. They want to refer her to the Justice Department for criminal fraud. He argued in the letter that the commission should address the matter quickly and that Harris is in the process of committing the largest campaign finance violation in American history. And she's using the commission's own forms to do it. This is the dumbest thing I have ever read in my life.

[Dana Goldberg]

Absolutely.

[Allison Gill]

Especially from someone who commits campaign finance violation. He is. He is indicted on 34 felony counts. One of the unlawful means for those felony counts is excessive campaign finance contributions. Like, dude, no.

[Dana Goldberg]

And I'm gonna go back to this point. If they think that Kamala really isn't a threat, why are they fighting? Everything.

[Representative Gloria Johnson]

Everything.

[Dana Goldberg]

Johnson's coming out and saying that, oh, we're gonna make sure she's not on the ballot. I thought you got that. Kamala Harris wasn't a threat. You said on a Muhammad, you could beat her. She's not a threat. So you know what? Drop your lawsuits. They're just such bullshit.

[Representative Gloria Johnson]

Yeah.

[Dana Goldberg]

You should be happy. Right?

[Allison Gill]

If she's so easy to be, she'd be rat.

[Dana Goldberg]

Absolutely. Here's the money.

[Charlotte Clymer]

All right.

[Dana Goldberg]

This one's from Monica Alba at NBC. Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign has requested vetting materials from five possible running mates. That's according to two sources familiar with the effort to review the backgrounds of those being considered. The five Democratic vice presidential contenders are North Carolina governor Roy Cooper, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, even though she has said she would not, and Minnesota governor Tim Waltz. Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, and North Carolina. They're among the critical battleground states that Harris may need to win in the Electoral College in November. Two other possible names under discussion include Illinois Governor J.B. pritzker and former Rep. Cedric Richmond of Louisiana, who has served as Biden Harris campaign co chair. One of the sources has said it's not clear if the two received vetting materials. NBC News has reached out to all the potential picks Kevin Munoz, spokesman for Harris's campaign, dismissed any speculation about who could be her pick and I quote, any reporting on developments or updates in Vice President Harris's running mate search are premature and speculative. Vice President Harris is considering a large pool of qualified candidates and will choose a partner that shares her commitment to fighting for the middle class, protecting Americans freedoms, protecting our democracy. And when that candidate is chosen, together they will handedly defeat Trump Vance ticket in November. Great statement. Sources didn't say whether Kentucky Governor Andy Brashear, who was considered another possible pick, received vetting materials. Eric Holder, who was the Attorney General in the Obama administration, has been tasked with leading the vetting process for Harris's potential running mates. That's according to two sources familiar with that matter, Holder and the law firm where he is a senior counsel, Covington and Burling llp. They're going to oversee the operation, which is taking place on a more compressed timeline, as we know, compared to the other election cycles. Given the fact that President Joe Biden's late decision to exit the 2024 race, the goal is still to have a vice presidential nominee for Harris ahead of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago that's scheduled August 19th to the 22nd. I would put money and beans on the fact that they will announce before then. I don't know what you think all, but what do you think they'll announce before the convention?

[Allison Gill]

Maybe like right before it.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The exact mechanism for how that person will be formally nominated is still being worked out and the process remains fluid. The Democratic National Committee is still expected to hold a virtual roll call around the first week of August to nominate Harris. The Rules Committee will meet Wednesday to discuss how that process will work on our first full day as a presidential candidate Monday. A majority of pledge convention delegates, as we've talked about, have already endorsed Harris for the Democratic Nomin.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah, man. I mean, I've got my favorite, you know, Captain Kelly is my favorite. And I'm just gonna go ahead and say it. I'm biased. He's a Navy pilot.

[Dana Goldberg]

Right. I also love that because, listen, I love Kelly. I've got my own favorite, but I don't think it's. I know it's not gonna be the ticket. I really love Buttigieg. I think he would be a hell of a vice president.

[Allison Gill]

He would be so wonderful.

[Dana Goldberg]

I just know that that's not gonna fly with America right now, unfortunately. Unfortunately. But Kelly. One of the reasons I do like Kelly is that Vance has this whole talking point that he's the only Military veteran in the race. And if Kelly enters, that talking point also goes away.

[Allison Gill]

Well, that's why I like Buttigieg, too.

[Dana Goldberg]

Same. He is a decorated war veteran.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah. Yeah, he is. And he's married to a white guy, so, you know, that's great. No, for Republicans. Yeah.

[Dana Goldberg]

No kidding, right?

[Allison Gill]

Oh, God. All the racism against J.D. vance's wife is so gross.

[Dana Goldberg]

It's so gross. And also J.D. vance coming out and being like, this country's being run by, you know, childless cat ladies. We've got Kamala, We've got someone else. And then he said, buddha, judge. And I literally said out loud, you, Buddha, judge and Chastain have children. Yeah, they have kids. I was. Yeah, I was. I was upset.

[Allison Gill]

I was, too. There was, like, nine things to be upset about in that comment. It's. It's. They're just so awful. They're terrible. Hillary had it right. They are deplorable people.

[Dana Goldberg]

Absolutely.

[Allison Gill]

But, yeah, I do. I do like. I do like Kelly, and I know that he wouldn't be in a. He would. We wouldn't lose the Senate seat. We'd have to fight for it in 2026.

[Dana Goldberg]

Absolutely.

[Allison Gill]

And I looked up the map for 2026, and it's actually much better for Democrats than 2024's map. But it's still real hard because all of the Republicans that are up for reelection are in pretty hardcore red states, but Texas is one of them. So, you know, we'll. We'll see that things are so different than the last general election right now.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yep.

[Allison Gill]

That it's just so very hard to predict anything. But personally, I like Captain Kelly and his wife. Excellent in. In the White House for gun violence prevention.

[Dana Goldberg]

Gabby Gifford. She's incredible.

[Allison Gill]

I know. We set up. President Biden, set up a gun violence prevention office, but there's so much more work as he's acknowledged that we need to do. But yeah. Anyway, I also really love Bashir, and I also really love Buttigieg, and I also really love Shapiro. Like, there's. We. That's the difference. We have such a great deep bench of amazing talent. And let me tell you about the bench on the Republican side. A friend of mine texted me something about, oh, just hear about so and so the Nazi. Do you hear about what the Nazi pillow did recently? And I was like, which one?

[Dana Goldberg]

I might need to narrow that down.

[Allison Gill]

It could be Mike Lindell. It could be Madison Cawthorn. It could be J.D.

[Representative Gloria Johnson]

vance.

[Allison Gill]

You're gonna have to be more specific. So they have a real deep bench of Nazi pillow fuckers. But that's it. And now they're even regretting their JD Vance choice. And I, I'm celebrating and it's going to be funny to see what happens. Going to be a hell of a ride for the next 107 days. So we better get to our Flip It Blue segment. We're going to do that with the amazing Rep. Gloria Johnson right after this quick break. Stick around. We'll be right back.

[Dana Goldberg]

We'll be right back.

[Brian Caram]

I'm Brian Caram and I've spent decades covering politics. Now I'm taking you behind the scenes one interview at a time.

[Podcast Narrator]

Join us as each week Brian confronts the issues that matter, posing the questions you wish you could ask. No filter, no agenda, just the truth.

[Brian Caram]

We're not here for sound bites. We're here for substance. Join me, Brian Caram, every week as we cut through the noise and get straight to it. This is Just Ask the Question for Curiosity will lead us to the facts.

[Podcast Narrator]

Subscribe now on your favorite podcast platform and remember, when you want answers, all you have to do is just ask the question.

[Allison Gill]

Everybody, welcome back. It's time to Flip It Blue. And joining me today, I'm so honored. She was one of the Tennessee 3. You'll remember, they pushed out Representative Justin Pierson and Representative Justin Jones and she was not expelled, but they were later reinstated in the Tennessee House of Representatives. She represents District 90 and she is running for US Senate against Senator Marsha Blackburn. Please welcome Representative Gloria Johnson. Hi, Gloria.

[Representative Gloria Johnson]

Hi there. Thank you so much for having me on. I'm happy to be here.

[Allison Gill]

I'm so happy and honored to be speaking to you today. We really want to work extremely hard to flip this seat and send Marsha Blackburn hacking. So let's talk about some of the very distinct differences between your platform and her platform. And we can start anywhere. But I would really love to start with reproductive rights.

[Representative Gloria Johnson]

Oh, absolutely. There's no question there couldn't be a bigger contrast between myself and Marsha Blackburn, that's for sure. Because pretty much everything she stands against, I support. You know, she wants a federal ban on abortion. I believe that women should have bodily autonomy and make their own health choices with their physicians. And not only does she want a federal abortion ban, she also has questioned the Griswold vs Connecticut decision, which allows us that right to contraception and to ivf. So she voted against contraception and IVF in the Senate just fairly recently and has questioned the Griswold case. So we know where she is on that and what I have to just. What is so incredibly important for women and girls in Tennessee especially to hear is that we have a president who is a rapist and an admitted sexual predator. We have a vice president who believes that women should stay with abusive partners. And we have a senator in Marsha Blackburn, who voted against the Violence Against Women act, voted against equal pay for equal work, voted against contraception, voted against IVF, and supports the federal abortion ban. This puts women and girls in Tennessee in serious danger.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah, I agree. And you know, as a veteran myself, we don't get to choose where we're stationed. And so, you know, we have to also think about our national security and our friends that are have put on the uniform to defend our country. And she's just so extreme. And she's also extreme on the reason you're one of the Tennessee 3. She is so pro gun and she is against any common sense gun laws. So talk a little bit about what you want to bring to the US Senate as as far as how we can. I mean, we've already, you know, President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris had already passed a pretty decent gun legislation. Gun law, first in decades. But we need to go further with that. Can you talk a little bit about that?

[Representative Gloria Johnson]

Yeah, absolutely. President Biden and Vice President Harris have done a great job on gun violence. You know, Vice President Harris came here the day after the expulsions to talk to us about gun violence. We got to meet with her, Rep. Pearson, Rep. Jones and I, to talk about gun violence, what they were working on, how we could work better together. And the thing that was so fascinating to me was her grassroots organizing. She really understood organizing at every level. So it was just such a great conversation. And then going to the White House when they opened the first ever office of Gun safety. So the work they're doing is what right alongside the work that we are trying to do here in Tennessee. But folks like Marsha Blackburn. Marsha Blackburn has voted against any common sense gun legislation that's come across her desk. And it shouldn't be shocking because she is also one of the top receivers of NRA lobbyist money. She works for lobbyists and corporations. She does not work for the 80% of Tennessee families that want to see some common sense gun legislation like universal enhanced background checks, safe storage laws, red flag laws. These are things we can do to keep the second Amendment and also keep our kids safe in their schools, keep our community safe in restaurants and churches and parks. You know, we can do these things. We don't have to Live this way. No other country lives this way. It is a policy decision by Republicans. That is why Tennessee has 36% more children killed by gun violence than the national average. And she wants to do nothing.

[Allison Gill]

Of course. Yeah. And the person at the top of their ticket says get over it when we talk about senseless deaths. And this is something that you know a little bit about because you have been a special education instructor for I believe 27 years, over a quarter of a century, working with kids. And you know, I'm so, I'm so glad to hear that Vice President Harris came down right after that and spoke to you and, and that you say she understands grassroots movements and boy, does she. Right. I mean, she just, I think raised $100 million for her campaign. 62% of a million donors are first time donors. And she understands that. You understand that. And most importantly, the people you want to represent in Tennessee understand that like you said, the huge high percentage of people who just want common sense gun laws and that we would be able, and you would be able to work with a Harris administration, you know, going forward in next year to get those things done. Talk a little bit about what you are seeing with in your state with regard to Vice President Kamala Harris taking over the ticket.

[Representative Gloria Johnson]

Just a whole lot of energy. People here love President Biden. I did. I was an early endorser for President Biden, you know, but he's made this decision and I'm going to honor that decision. And just the great legacy he has left of lowering prescription drug prices for seniors, really fighting for just regular Tennessee and American families is what he has done with the Infrastructure Act. Act, which is going to mean a new bridge in Memphis that is so critical. And every Republican in the state voted against it. Our governor was standing up touting the building of this bridge and he was against our Congress folks voting for the Infrastructure Act. They need to sit down. We need to pass legislation for hardworking Tennessee families and not just the wealthy and well connected and corporations and lobbyists. And this is exactly who Marsha Blackburn is working for when she's not licking the boots of Donald Trump.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah. And that's what makes your campaign so important, is that it is grassroots. It is funded and backed by the people of Tennessee, not the big corporations, not the big lobbying interests. And we could talk about so many things with health care, pharma and big business and oil, like, you know, there's just so many, there's so many ways to go about this. But what a good point. They all voted against this. Money. And then they stand up like they did something great. And so I think that's why. Another very important reason to send you to Washington. Let's also talk a little bit before you go about the rising cost of housing and groceries and education. It's coming down at President Biden has done a very good job at tamping down inflation after the COVID recovery that happened under the Trump administration and Republicans. So let's talk a little bit more about how you want to continue the work of lowering not only the prices of consumer goods, but raising people's wages.

[Representative Gloria Johnson]

Right? That's exactly. I carried a bill in the state House this past year to raise the wage to $20 an hour. We have the federal minimum wage. That's 725. And Marsha Blackburn doesn't think we need to raise that federal minimum wage. They will complain a lot. Oh, nobody's making 725. Yes, some people in Tennessee are making 725. But we are the highest minimum wage paying state in the country and you cannot survive on that even if you're making $10 an hour. In Tennessee, it costs $15 an hour for childcare. How is that math going to work out for someone who has children to care for? They want to complain that people just aren't getting back to work in Tennessee. They're living large on unemployment. Just, just after Covid we cut when legislators in the Tennessee House gave themselves a raise that I voted against the same day they cut unemployment from 25 payments to 12. Just absolutely unbelievable. No one is living large on 12 weeks unemployment. People are not going back to work because we have a child care desert in Tennessee. We're doing nothing to build infrastructure when it comes to child care and helping people get back to work. I'm just sick and tired of the lies and just their fealty to corporations and billionaires. This year in our legislature, we gave the biggest tax cut in history to corporations, corporations that didn't need it or ask for it. $1.8 billion tax cut to corporations. 18% of those corporations were out of state and 53% of that money went to 18% of corporations out of state. What did Democrats want to do? We wanted to cut the sales tax on groceries in Tennessee. It's a 10% sales tax on groceries. We wanted to cut the state portion of that sales tax which would benefit every single Tennesseean. We all buy groceries. Tennessee Democrats, we are about lifting folks into the middle class. But here they're falling out and they're falling out of the middle class because of policies by Marsha Blackburn and the Tennessee Republicans. It is outrageous. We, if we raise the wage, if we expanded Medicaid so Tennesseans could have access to health care, you know, cost of groceries goes up every year. We're dealing with greedflation. These CEOs that are making more than they've ever made, pretending like they have to raise costs to this extreme. They're just ripping people off. And Marsha Blackburn is so supporting that instead of lifting up Tennessee families. You know, everybody says, you know, I'm going to cut taxes, but we should ask, whose taxes are you going to cut? The wealthy corporations and billionaires taxes. Are you going to cut taxes for hardworking Tennessee families? That's the question to ask.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah. And I'm glad you brought up the state legislature there because we saw the whole nation saw you were under a kind of a microscope there for a minute. Just the machinations, the shutting out, the undemocratic way that the Republicans were conducting business because they don't care about women, they don't care about families, they don't care about children and safety and health care. All they care about is satisfying their big rich friends and cutting taxes for them and having the rest of the middle class put the burden on them. And so I'm glad you brought up the state legislature because everybody who comes out to vote for you for Senate to take on and take over the seat from Marsha Blackburn needs to vote down that ballot all the way. And I think that your campaign, you know, kind of with the movement of the grassroots supporters in Tennessee, can drive that down ballot, legislature, the voting that so desperately needs to happen in Tennessee. And so I'm very excited about your campaign. I think it's a crucial campaign. We only have a handful of Senate seats up. We have more, plenty more than the Republicans. But this is one of the only Republican seats that we have a chance at flipping. It's a hard map for us. And I think that that's why your campaign is so important. So I would like to ask you if you could tell everybody who's listening how they can get involved, where they can get involved, how they can donate to your campaign and, you know, they maybe write some postcards or text bank or phone bank, tell us where to go.

[Representative Gloria Johnson]

Yeah, absolutely. You know, so many people said that we couldn't win in Tennessee as a Democrat. Well, I'm already beating Marshall with women 49% to 43%. We increased our standing by six points this time. If we do that one more time. We're going to be in the lead in this race in Tennessee. Marsha Blackburn won by 200,000 votes last time. We know there are 300,000 Democrats that haven't voted in the last few cycles and we're going to get them out to vote. We're going to win this U.S. senate seat and we are going to flip down ballot state House and state Senate seats to get out of the super majority. So you can reach out to my campaign at our website, vote gloriajohnson.com you can donate there. You can sign up to volunteer. Yes. You can write postcards. We can, we can set you up for that. We can set you up for phone banking wherever you are. But just sharing information on social media, all of those things, sharing about this race is so critical because Tennessee desperately needs to win this race. We need somebody there representing regular Tennessee families in the U.S. senate. But we also need to make sure that we're getting that majority. And so this is, this, this seat is going to help everyone in the country. It's going to do a huge amount for Tennesseans, but it's going to be important all across this country. This, this election cycle is so critical.

[Allison Gill]

Yes, all Americans will be impacted by the result of your race against Senator Marsha Blackburn. Thank you so much for joining me today. Is there anything final, any other topics you wanted to cover or any final words you wanted to say about this campaign before I let you go?

[Representative Gloria Johnson]

Well, just that this is a people power campaign and we need your help. And I am working for the people. You can see that my donors, more than 70% are from Tennessee. Marsha Blackburn can't say that only about 40% of her donors are from Tennessee and her money comes from PACs and corporations. I don't take corporate money. So this is a grassroots power campaign. We need you on board. Go to vote gloria johnson.com and thanks so much for having me on.

[Allison Gill]

Thank you so much for joining me, everybody. Stick around. We'll be right back with the good

[Representative Gloria Johnson]

news after these messages.

[Allison Gill]

We'll be right back.

[Brian Caram]

I'm Brian Caram and I've spent decades covering politics. Now I'm taking you behind the scenes one interview at a time.

[Podcast Narrator]

Join us as each week Brian confronts the issues that matter, posing the questions you wish you could ask. No filter, no agenda, just the truth.

[Brian Caram]

We're not here for sound bites. We're here for substance. Join me, Brian Caram, every week as we cut through the noise and get straight to it. This is just ask the question for Curiosity will lead us to the facts.

[Podcast Narrator]

Subscribe now on your favorite podcast platform and remember, when you want answers, all you have to do is just ask the question.

[Allison Gill]

Welcome back. It's time for the good news.

[Dana Goldberg]

Good news.

[Allison Gill]

And if you have any good news confessions corrections, you have misheard song lyrics that you want to share a thesis or dissertation title. Those are always fascinating. If you want to play what the mutt, find the cat opine on the bovine. What's the model of your axolotl? What the hell is in that shell? Any animal guessing game. Or just send in a photo of your pet and pay your pod pet tax. And if you don't have pod pet tax to pay, send us an adoptable pet in your area. We'll see if we can find them a forever home. Also, we love shout outs. Whether you're going to give a shout out to a credible organization in your community or business that could use a boost or a self shout out or shout out to anybody else besides yourself that you love. You know, spouse, kid, parent, and of course shout out to government programs that have helped you or somebody that you know. Whether it's Medicare, Medicaid, Affordable Care Act, Social Security and student debt forgiveness, we really love to hear those stories. And I send them right to my contacts at the White House and they read them and they really love them. So keep sending those in. And basically anything else you want to send in works as well. I don't know why I go through the list.

[Dana Goldberg]

Average is everybody knows we new listeners.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah, we do have new listeners and

[Dana Goldberg]

then we always have to explain Charismatic megaplastics.

[Brian Caram]

Yeah.

[Allison Gill]

What's the model of your axolotl? Yeah. But anyway, welcome new listeners. We have a ton because people are just sick of corporate media. So thank you and welcome to the show. First up from anonymous pronoun, she and her own by the way, all that good news you can Send in at DailyBeansPod.com and click on Contact Us. Think I might have forgotten that again. I got a shingles vaccine this morning and my brain is foggy. So first up from anonymous pronoun, she and her love your shows. Plural and love you both. And Andy and Pete on Monday's beans you said Mark Kelly's term ends in 2026. I thought someone could write in to correct you. But you said it again on Tuesday. I'm sorry. After. After John McCain passed away, Governor Ducey appointed McSally. She was there until they ran the special election where Kelly beat her by about about 80,000 votes and finished McCain's term. He was elected for his full term in 2022, so sworn in 2023 and his six year term doesn't expire until 2029. Ah, okay. So the reason that they would have to do an election in 2026 is because if it's greater than 150 days you have to do the election at the next general primary and the elect not general but next primary election which is 2026. So we would be taking him out of his seat two years early. So yay, he's my vote for VP for sure. Anonymous says Totally agree with Dana that the anti Semitism is too strong to have Josh Shapiro since Kamala's husband is also Jewish. Besides, who doesn't love that sexy astronaut vibe? And there's a photo of the man Captain Kelly. It's he's Navy so I'm like Navy blue through and through is a thing. So anyway, appreciate your writing in and I will make sure that I keep that correction in my head when I talk about ousting. Not ousting, but elevating Mark Kelly to the to the VP position because he would be unchallenged until 2029.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yep. All right. Thanks AG. This one's from Matt. Pronouns he and Him Shout out to my wife Jennifer. She heads up the CTE program in our very anti federalist red state giving fed money and civil rights fights training to all qualified state high schools for jobs training. She's brilliant and hard working and works for the government because she knows the difference it makes in young Americans lives. She works to empower our teen daughter to make and take opportunities. Pet Tax is our senior kitty Nana.

[Allison Gill]

Oh look at this baby with bunny ears. So cute. You wanna go ahead and grab the next one too?

[Dana Goldberg]

Sure. This one's from Anonymous. Pronouns he and him hey Queens of the beans, I have an anonymous shout out for you today. My wife and I have been volunteering for an animal shelter for about a year now. One of the cats we look after, Sasha, a 12 year old black cat, came close to being adopted but unfortunately the adoption fell through after the applicant realized that she was allergic. Even though the applicant couldn't take Sasha, she wanted to still sponsor Sasha's adoption fee for anyone who wanted to adopt her. I'm hoping there may be some Leguminati in North Jersey that may be interested in adopting Sasha. I've included a link to her webpage for Poppet Tax. I've one of my favorite pictures of Stan as he's fast asleep and dead to the world My wife and I have had different reasons for naming him Stan. I say he's named after the legendary comic book author Stan Lee. However, she insists his namesake is Stan Zbornak. Oh, Stan Zbornhack, is that. That's right. Of the Golden Girls fame. My God, thank you for all that you do to keep us informed and give us hope. And there is a link in the show notes to the adoption for Sasha. If anyone in Jersey specific, North Jersey is interested, the adoption fees are already paid for. She's adorable too. Yep.

[Allison Gill]

Beautiful. And then look, the. Look at the dog. I bet this dog snores. I bet Stan snores. All right, next up from Anonymous, he, him. Hello, Beans of the Queens. This is the second city's third most humble living legend again. Here to share a photo that made me think of you. It's The T shirt 5 year old Dee was wearing on the tennis court for our lesson yesterday. It features your favorite models of axolotls. All this time, I had no idea what the fuck an axolotl was. Very cute, very cool, but could they buy a fucking vowel already? Look at. Okay, so we have wild green. Oh, look. Black melanoid gold. Enigma, axolotls. There's all kinds.

[Dana Goldberg]

This is fun.

[Allison Gill]

Now I want this axolotl shirt.

[Dana Goldberg]

I know.

[Allison Gill]

My goodness. I'm gonna grab the next one too, because it's pretty short. You got it from Diane. No pronouns. The Beans is the first podcast I listen to every day. I love the interaction between you two, the laughter in spite of the terror happening. It's a great pod and I recommend it to everyone. Plus that you highlight stories that the quote unquote media doesn't report on.

[Representative Gloria Johnson]

Not really.

[Allison Gill]

For good news. Just wanted to tell you how much I love your show.

[Dana Goldberg]

Thank you very much.

[Allison Gill]

That's totally acceptable. Anybody who just wants to write in and tell us how much you love us, we love that. And we love you.

[Dana Goldberg]

This one's from Jack. Pronouns he and him. Hello, ladies of the legume. You might remember my son Luke. He originally came out as gender fluid with his senior pictures and last year came out as trans. He changed his name to Luke, after Luke Skywalker from Star wars, because Mark Hamill is one of his personal heroes and he always felt Luke Skywalker is queer. My Luke has been on testosterone for about six months now, and we have a good laugh when we start to notice little things like his voice changing. We live in north Alabama and I worry about his safety in this bright red state. We do live in the lightest lavender spot. But I still worry. Luke has a great group of LGBTQIA friends and holds them close. That makes me feel a little better. Last year for Pride Month we had our first annual LGBT bbq. I love that we invited everyone over for great food, games and more importantly, inclusion. This June we had our second annual get together. The turnout was a little less than last year, but it was still a good one. Here's a picture from last year. Bod Pet Tax Sushi is Luke's gray Tuxi. She's the sweetest cat on the planet and the belly is completely safe. Second is Diesel and Ruby on one of our most recent hikes. The trails are their happy place.

[Allison Gill]

Love Diesel and Ruby.

[Dana Goldberg]

It's a fantastic photo. I love these kids and these dogs are absolutely beautiful and so is the

[Allison Gill]

kitty for delicious food and inclusion. Oh, thank you so much for sending that in. It's good to see. It's good to see y' all and hear from you Jack. Next up from Proud woman in Michigan. Hi Beans Queen. In a car ride to visit the family with my 10 year old daughter, I was listening to the recent episode Dana did on Copa 71. My daughter plays soccer. So I shared highlights from the story. When I told her that the federation didn't think women could play soccer because they had boobs, she asked if she could say something. Her response surprised me. In the calmest, sweetest voice, she said them. I was very proud. Her and I have a wonderful time visiting Northern Michigan together and seeing family. And I can say I'm still very proud of my 95 year old conservative grandpa. His opinion has changed over the last four years and he says he won't support Trump.

[Dana Goldberg]

Nice.

[Allison Gill]

And both my daughters were too young to remember when I was proud to have voted for a woman for president and to then feel the feels I felt when Trump won the electoral College that they're now very proud that we can vote for a woman again. I am with her and thank you for everything you do to spread news without click bait. Here's an image of our family dog riding on a paddleboard on our previous trip to Northern Mich. Michigan. So you shouldn't have told us all that. You should have just made us guess. This is a dog on a paddle board.

[Dana Goldberg]

That's a Michigan.

[Allison Gill]

She isn't a mutt, so it might be easy to guess what the breed is. Is this a Terry or Westy little baby.

[Dana Goldberg]

It's got to be a Westie. I love them so much. So cute.

[Allison Gill]

Let's see. West Highland Terrier. Boom God loves the. God. It's. I want to hear it now. It's so awful. But it's so fantastic. It's so fantastic. And I want to get a stuffed bee.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh, yeah, for sure.

[Allison Gill]

For my cat, just so I can. Yeah, where's that? Just so I can do that for when I'm angry. Where's my bee? Does this look like a bee to you? It's yellow.

[Representative Gloria Johnson]

Oh.

[Allison Gill]

Thank you all so much for sending the good news. The week is looking up. Up. The month is looking up. The year is looking up. The election is looking up. So thank you. It is.

[Dana Goldberg]

And I'm going to say this. I think we all know this. It's been a fairly not attacking week for Kamala Harris. Even though it's. We've seen bits of it, it is going to ramp up. I want you to stay grounded. I want you to try not to share the clickbait. Even if you are retweeting, saying it's bullshit. It amplifies it. They're just. You don't have to respond. You do not have to respond to these people. Okay.

[Brian Caram]

Yep.

[Allison Gill]

Like, if you've ever done yoga and they're like, if a thought comes into your head, just let it pass like a cloud.

[Dana Goldberg]

Bye.

[Allison Gill]

Don't think about it. Not like any thought. You know, have thoughts, but, like, something negative.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah.

[Allison Gill]

Just let it pass on by.

[Dana Goldberg]

They're gonna try everything they can. They are running scared, and they should be. There's a lot of support around this presidential nominee.

[Allison Gill]

Plus, letting all that negative in, it's just got to be bad for your brain, you know, it's gonna be bad for your mental health, bad for you physically. Just let it roll right off like water on a wing.

[Dana Goldberg]

Just a little quick update before we leave. It sounds like the Harris campaign is also considering. Kentucky Governor Andy Bashir has been added to the vetting list.

[Allison Gill]

Oh, all right. Excellent. I know. He's wonderful, too. We just. There's so many. I'm like, literally only picking based on the fact that I love astronauts and I was in the Navy. Like, that's it. It's like when I'm at a horse track, I'm like, I like this one's name. Or when I'm shopping for wine, I'm like, that's the prettiest label. Like, that's it. Because the selection is so good.

[Dana Goldberg]

Absolutely. And we are going to vote, vote, vote. Let's get to the sign off.

[Allison Gill]

Yes. Let's do it. Everybody will 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.

[Dana Goldberg]

Vote blue over Q and please take all that family with you and vote

[Allison Gill]

down ballot all the way.

[Dana Goldberg]

I've been AG and I've been DG

[Allison Gill]

and them's the beans. Refried beans. I like refried beans. History is messy. It's weird, wild and anything but boring. Rainy Day Rabbit Holes is a history podcast a about unhinged stories that make you stop and ask, wait, is this real life? From crazy disasters and tasty scandals to enlightening and surprising heartwarming tales, we explore the moments where people behave badly and sometimes beautifully. We've got naughty politicians, cultural chaos, and a deep love for the Pacific Northwest, including Bigfoot. It's thoughtful, irreverent, occasionally serious, and always entertaining. Lets fall down the Rabbit Hole MSW.