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The Daily Beans
The Year To Get It Done (feat. Nate Blouin; John Fugelsang)
00:55:02
Friday, December 26th, 2025 Today, we have a Flip it Blue segment with Nate Blouin, a progressive Democrat running in Utah’s new first congressional district. And of course it wouldn’t be Friday without John Fugelsang for the final Fugelsang Friday of 2025.
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- [00:00]
A
Msw media. Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Friday, December 26, 2020 25. I'm your host, Allison Gill. Today we have a great Flip It Blue segment with Nate Bluein. He's a progressive Democrat running in Utah's brand new, shiny brand new 1st congressional district. And of course, it wouldn't be Friday on the Daily Beans without John Fugalang who is here to join me for the final Fugal sang Friday of 2025. All right, everybody, it's time to Flip It Blue. And joining me today is a candidate running for Congress to represent Utah's first district. This is a new district after the new maps came out in Utah. He's currently a Utah state Senator. He's a progressive Democrat. He's been endorsed by Bernie Sanders saying that he is a fighter who will take on the oligarchs and will stand with workers against corporate interests. He's also endorsed by Citizens Against APAC Corruption. Please welcome Nate Bluein. Hi, Nate, how are you?
- [01:24]
B
Good, thanks, Allison. Excited to be here. And yeah, coming to you from one of our local high schools today. So, you know, maybe we'll talk about education and how we need to do better to fund our schools here in Utah.
- [01:35]
A
I bet we will. I bet we'll get to that. On your platform. Are the kids all right?
- [01:39]
B
It depends on the day. I think Utah is a very conservative state, as people probably know. We've one of the issues lately I've been talking a bit about, especially after the Brown incident the other day. I actually went to grad school at Brown, so that hits pretty close to home. So more university related. But the legislature here has actually prevented our public universities from regulating firearms on campus. So you have students at the University of Utah actually allowed to store firearms in their dorm rooms, which I think is a really bad idea.
- [02:10]
A
Yeah, fully bad idea given recent events. As a matter of fact, I was always interested too. I know that there's a large Mormon population in the state of Utah, but from all of the experience I have and the Mormons that I know, they are big on kindness and tend to reject hateful rhetoric. Have you seen in your state, in your district, with your constituents, any pushback perhaps against maybe what this administration or specifically this president had to say about the murders of Rob and Michelle Reiner, for example? I know a lot of, not many, but some, at least Republican party elected officials have said this is a bridge too far, this kind of thing. What has it been like on the ground with your constituents in the new first District? And we'll talk about that constituency and the redrawn maps in a second. But I was very curious as to how, like, good, salt of the earth kind people who, you know, who believe in treating others as you would treat yourself. What has it been like? What have you seen?
- [03:13]
B
Yeah. So Utah has long been known as kind of, despite being very conservative, not really the conservatism of Trump, the MAGA conservatism. Our current governor's whole initiative has been something called Disagree Better, which unfortunately, we've come to find really means just like, saying things in a way that sounds nicer, but doing all the worst stuff anyway. I mean, he was at Arlington National Cemetery last year with Trump when there were some incidents that happened, and then he ended up using that as a fundraising email and had to apologize for it. And that's. That's what we find all the time. He's now talking about packing the Supreme Court here in Utah after getting decisions that he didn't like with the legislature going along with it. And so I think that, you know, despite kind of the rejection of some of the worst rhetoric, we did actually see one of our former governors yesterday, I think, speak very unkindly about the language that Trump used in regards to Rob Reiner and his wife. But we, you know, as far as actual actions go, like, I haven't seen that carried forward. And so I think that's really disappointing. I think, you know, words do matter, but actions matter more when it comes to politics and doing the right thing and actually passing policies and passing legislation that will prevent some of these, these tragedies from happening, I think is so much more important than just condemning the rhetoric. Because if you condemn the rhetoric, but you endorse the guy, which is what happened with our current governor, that, that, to me, is just totally empty.
- [04:34]
A
Yeah. You have to have action behind your words. You have to walk the walk. And, you know, that's. That's what you've been doing as a state senator and will carry forward as a congressional rep. Talk a minute about what Utah's first District is about. This is a new map. The last time there was an election for this seat, the Republican one was 63% or something like that. But it's much different now. And I understand the Republicans and some of the centrist Democrats even, are pretty upset about that. Talk a little bit about the constituency, what the demographics look like, and what this new map means for this race.
- [05:09]
B
Yeah, so this is just an entirely new set of maps that we got because we had a ballot initiative that passed a number of years ago that implemented an independent redistricting commission. The legislature took unkindly to that, overturned it, essentially there was litigation. And finally we got this decision that now has implemented a map that Kamala Harris would have won by about 24 points last year if it were in effect. And so just a massive change in the, in the polar opposite direction of what we did have. Really exciting for someone like me who already represents about 20% of the district. My state senate seat is entirely contained within that new district. Five of the cities that I represent, you know, are in the new district. So really excited to see that it is a young district. Utah is the youngest state in the nation. It is a progressive district. Utah's primary elect, Democratic primary electorate has been very supportive of folks like Bernie Sanders. So extremely happy to have his endorsement. And I think that is going to translate to, to a really good chance to win this seat in June in the primary. And then, and then it should be a fair, easy seat to win in November. We're gonna do a lot of work to bring down ballot candidates up because we have a super majority legislature here in Utah we need to overturn. But that's a, that's a different, a discussion for a different day. So, yeah, it's really exciting. I mean, we have, we have multiple universities in this seat. We have an electorate that is very excited about, you know, outdoor sports and outdoor recreation. That's a big pursuit of many folks here in Utah. We're very close to the mountains. That's, that's actually why I moved to Utah in 2009, is to be close to our public lands. And people want to see our deserts and our mountains, our forests protected, not sold off like Mike Lee has been trying to do. So I think that's, that's going to be an issue that people are concerned about. People are passionate about environmentalism. The Great Salt Lake has been a major concern. But then of course, cost of living type stuff and school funding, affordable housing. Utah has become a very hot place to live over the pandemic. And afterwards, people, a lot of people moved here. And so it's really raised the cost of living. We've got to address a number of different facets of that.
- [07:08]
A
Yeah, and it's all tied together. I found affordability, jobs, healthcare, childcare, education. It's all tied together. And let's talk a little bit about your progressive agenda, because I've been saying if you're a progressive candidate and you are thinking about running for something, this is the year to do it. We are seeing Massive swings in a lot of these special elections in the 2025 November election and follow on elections and Miami and Tennessee, you know, even, even way back In April, Florida 1 and Florida 6, we didn't win those, but we gained like 18 and 23 points respectively.
- [07:44]
B
And we won statewide seats in Georgia by 24 points for the Public Service Commission, which as an energy nerd. The Public Service Commission is very important.
- [07:52]
A
Yes, as an energy nerd. Let's talk about that. Let's talk about your progressive agenda because this is the year to get it done. Because energy goes into multiple facets of not just environmentalism and preservation of the planet and our public lands, but affordability as well. I mean, we're seeing a 13% increase in our electricity costs this year. So tie those two things together and tell us what you are going to do as a congressman from Utah's first to combat those increase in prices and increase in use in fossil fuel. And I mean, might as well throw the potential forever war against Venezuela in there for oil. So talk about your progressive platform on energy.
- [08:31]
B
Yeah, I think we've got to direct some of the angst at the billionaire class who owns the utilities and is taking profits out of the system rather than trying to reduce costs for our customers. I mean, our major utility here is Rocky Mountain Power, part of Pacific Corp. Which is owned by Berkshire Hathaway, which is owned by none other than Warren Buffett. And you know, he can afford to take a little bit of a haircut, but my constituents can't. We've got to address the costs that go into that. One of the major drivers of rising energy costs is actually transmission and distribution. So we haven't built enough transmission to bring new energy onto the grid, which is more cost effective, more affordable than like coal power that we've had. And so we need to make sure we can build that infrastructure, which sounds like it's going to get expensive, but if you allow a bunch of more affordable clean energy onto the grid, it's, it is going to even out and provide more stability. You're not going to see these spikes. For instance, Rocky Mountain Power asked our Public Service Commission for like a 30% increase in rates here in Utah. And, and that is a result of Republican policies. They've had control here for 30 years or so and they've done nothing to address these. And of course, now that they're asking for the rates, you know, the rate increase, these folks are finally getting tough and, and, and trying to say we're going to stop the billionaires from Taking those gains and, and actually try to reduce costs for customers. But they had years to address these things, and. And we haven't seen that happen. And so I think trying to move forward with, you know, wind and solar. Geothermal is a real nerdy, passionate subject of mine here in Utah, where geothermal energy can do all the same things, nuclear can, and do it in a way that is a little bit less polarizing for folks. So I think that's someplace we could be a leader that will also help us lower rates in the long term, at least.
- [10:15]
A
Yeah. And let's talk more about renewables, because a lot of times these big giant private electric companies and power companies, from what I've seen here in California, at least I'm sure this is true in Utah and pretty much anywhere else, they want to pass the cost of the climate crisis onto the customer. So when we have fires from downed power lines because of dry brush, because we're in a drought, because we're in a climate crisis, they want to jack up our rates for transmission and delivery and just the rate of the electricity or the gas itself in order to recompensate themselves for money. They should be spending to, you know, to combat the dangers of this, of fossil fuels and not just the use of them and how that impacts our planet, but that the fires and the downed lines and the safety problems. They want to cut all these regulations so they don't have to be safe, and then they want to charge us for when there's a fire. So talk about how you would push for more renewable energy. There's money in it. Rick Perry got rich in Texas on wind energy. So I don't understand. It's got to just be cruelty and digging your heels in on. On a bunch of bullshit to say, you know, I'll just like the. The oil money that's coming in. It's. There's plenty of money in the renewables. So how do you combat that as a congressman?
- [11:36]
B
Yeah, so there's a lot of facets to this. I think one of the main issues is that we see again, shareholders are benefiting, but not ratepayers. So there's this big distinction about who pays for things. You know, a lot of this happens at the state level, you know, as far as the prices and who approves prices for utilities generally happens at the public service commissions in the state. But there are certainly federal opportunities as well to work on things like insurance, you know, which has really driven the costs up. Utah is collecting. I think it's about $1 billion after legislation we passed here to basically give to Rocky Mountain power to ensure against fire, you know, wildfires and that sort of thing caused by their equipment. And so I would much rather see that paid for by at least in part by shareholders rather than ratepayers, which, you know, ratepayers. When I say that, that means everyday customers like you and me and the return on equity can be a lot lower. That's why Warren Buffett likes to invest in utilities, is because he gets a, basically a guaranteed like 10% or so. When they build a billion dollar transmission line, they're going to make $100 million back. That's guaranteed. Like, that's easy money for them. You just have to have, you have to have money to make money. You have to spend money to make money, whatever that saying is. So I think there's a lot of ways to play around with the monopoly structure. You know, these are monopoly utilities and to introduce some aspects of competition again, that can kind of get a little bit dicey. We've seen problems with some of that in the past. But energy markets are something we need to work towards. So, yeah, the monopoly aspect is really big here where we need to look at ways to reduce the market power of some of these big, big monopoly corporations that know they can get guaranteed returns and just want to build stuff. They want to build the most expensive stuff they can, and that doesn't translate to lower rates for customers. So that there are certainly things that the federal government can do to make bigger energy markets that, that allow us to bring more clean energy onto the grid across a wider sector and, and actually rely on, you know, resources in one place to serve power in another. When costs are lower in one place, when the, when it's dark and you're not using as much energy in one place, you might be able to pull from a different place. And the federal government has not been great about creating a framework where that really drives the market in states around the country. For the, for the, for instance, the west lacks a regional energy market that could actually reduce costs for customers. And that is something that the federal government, through the, through ferc, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, again, another one of those nerdy bodies at the federal level that doesn't get as much attention as I think it should, but credit to Sean, Representative Sean Kastin, who has made a lot of efforts to make FERC more interesting over the last couple of years. We need to do some reforms there that can promote some better energy policy, for sure.
- [14:21]
A
Yeah, make FERC sexy again and strengthen our antitrust laws. I think you can definitely do that and work with the Senate. Some of our senators, like Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, who are very astute at that kind of wonk, I think is very important. I want to talk about taxing the billionaires, but I need to take a quick break, so will you stay with me?
- [14:40]
B
I will be here for as long as you want.
- [14:43]
A
Excellent. Everybody stick around. We'll be right back after these messages.
- [14:47]
B
We'll be right back.
- [14:50]
A
Hey everyone, I am not letting huge phone bills take the fun out of the holidays this year. Mint Mobile is running a deal right now with 50% off all unlimited plans. That means you can choose 3, 6 or 12 months of unlimited premium wireless for just $15 a month. It is their best offer of the year and it makes it easy to give your overprice wireless bill the Scrooge treatment and keep more money. Let's thank Mint Mobile for supporting this episode. Make the switch@mintmobile.com DailyBeans if you've been waiting for the right moment to switch, Mint Mobile's best deal of the year is Live Pick a 3, 6 or 12 month unlimited plan for just $15 a month. You get high speed data and unlimited talk and text on the nation's largest 5G network. Keep your current phone number, keep your phone, keep your contacts. No contracts, no nonsense, just clean pricing. One of our show producers signed up with an old Android phone he had lying around and within days he had a second number up and running. Thanks to Mint's quick SIM delivery and simple setup instructions for 15amonth. He says he's never had a more budget friendly second line up and running. It's totally great. So turn your expensive wireless present into a huge wireless savings future by switching to Mint Shop. Mint Unlimited plans@mintmobile.com DailyBeans that's mintmobile.com DailyBeans Limited time offer Upfront payment of $45 for 3 month, $90 for 6 month and $180 for 12 month Plan required 15 Do a month equivalent taxes and fees extras Initial plan term only. More than 35 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. Capable device required availability, speed and coverage varies. See mitmobile.com for details. Hey everybody, welcome back. We're talking with a Utah State Senator running for Congress to represent Utah's first District, Nate Bluein. And we left off talking about antitrust in these energy companies. The energy costs are soaring. We need to focus on renewable energy and put the cost on the shareholders instead of the ratepayers And I wanted to fold this into a discussion about part of your platform, which is tax reform, because a lot of stuff. First of all, the rich do not pay their fair share in taxes. I know they like to think they do because of the dollar amount they pay, but they don't pay the same nearly as much as we do in the percentage. So talk about how you would reform work in Congress with hopefully the Democratic majority to reform taxes, because we can do this with a budget reconciliation bill. We don't have to do this with a 60 vote threshold in the Senate. So whatever you can put together in the House, we could probably pass on budget reconciliation. So talk about tax reform.
- [17:13]
B
That is a good point. It's actually funny when I, when I talked to Bernie Sanders on the phone several weeks ago, in the process of him endorsing me, I think the two questions he really asked me were, you know, will you support Medicare for all? Which was a yes. And what do you think about, you know, taxing the billionaires? Essentially, I'm like, well, great, we need to, we definitely need to rebalance the system. So actually, just this last year in, in the state Senate, I introduced a bill that would have put a 1% surtax, so basically a separate 1%. The, the existing income tax in Utah, which is about 4.6% onto people making over a million dollars a year.
- [17:46]
A
1%, you thief. You.
- [17:49]
B
You thief. I think it would have hit 20, 000 or so people making. Yeah, over a million a year. So, you know, not a whole lot. It did it out as like the, the top point, 8% maybe, something like that. It would have raised $150 million for schools. And then I also would have made the earned income to the state earned income tax credit refundable, which would have returned about 65 million to working families. So I think those are really important things we could do. You know, I think at the federal level it is like you said, I mean, billionaires are paying like what, 8% or something? You know, where the, where the rest of Us are paying 20, 30% of our income to taxes. You know, they should be paying more and we should be paying less. I think that's, that's very simple to me. I don't know, I don't know what the cutoff is. Like, is it 500, 000 income? Is it a million income? We'll figure that out. I think there are plenty of smart economists who can tell us, you know, what to look at there and what the actual rates are. You know, I think in the past, in the 30s, 40s, 50s. You know, we were looking at, at one point it was like 90%. Maybe that's too high, but maybe 50, 60% is where it should be for, for people at the absolute upper echelon of the economy. I think we do need to have that conversation. We can reduce taxes for the vast majority of folks, increase the overall revenue amount by rebalancing that system and increasing the top, the marginal tax rates and spending that money in a way that helps the whole economy. I mean, you look at things like childcare, basic stuff that everyone needs that supports the economy. Frankly, the billionaires that are making money off of the backs of working people should be extremely supportive of making childcare more accessible because then, you know, you'd have more employees that can go to work and, and that, that, that's good for your bottom line. So I think we really need to think, think about things like that and, and move in that direction to, to make the system work better for, for average people. Because, you know, in, in many ways that will actually help with the billionaire class as well. And they're still, I mean, like, don't tell me that 5 million rather than 10 million a year that your drive to do better becomes that much less. Like, I, I just hear that argument. Oh, there's, there's no incentive to, to keep spending the capital for the billionaires if they're making, you know, $4 million less a year. It's like, that's, that's crazy. If you really are that thrilled with the money, then you're going to keep doing that regardless of what that amount is. And, and I think that argument does not hold water in the real, in the real life. Just like the argument about billionaires fleeing New York City because we now have Mamdani is the mayor is a ridiculous argument.
- [20:22]
A
Yeah. Well, think of all the money that Republicans could save on trying to keep more of their money by not spending it to try to keep more of it. Boggles my, it's like union busting. They spend millions and millions and millions to bust up unions, but instead of just giving that money to the workers. But let's talk about affordability. Let's end on affordability because there's a few things that fall under this on your policy platform here. And we can start with, and you mentioned it briefly, Bernie Sanders. One of his first questions was, do you, will you support Medicare for all?
- [20:53]
B
That's how he said it.
- [20:54]
A
Let's talk about the affordability there because just this week, Republicans, enough of them signed The Affordable Care act subsidy extension. Mike Johnson's gonna be forced to bring it to a vote, but not until 2026. So then we have to add an extension to the enrollment period. But if we had Medicare for All, we wouldn't have to worry about any of this. Talk a little bit about how I think that this could be the year to get it done, this could be the Congress to get it done. Because I think we're gonna elect a lot more progressives and I think that we're going to have a pretty, pretty solid majority talk about it.
- [21:24]
B
Yeah, I mean, it's, it's common sense. We see most of the other developed nations have some form of single payer universal health care. It's time for us to move in that direction and stop having these arguments over subsidies. The Republicans hate to talk about subsidies. The Democrats are, I think, sick of talking about subsidies. Let's just, you know, make the system actually affordable. You can reduce costs by billions of dollars, maybe it's even trillions by getting rid of all that overhead that goes to the, the middlemen in the, in the process. You know, the pharmacy benefit managers and the, the administrators at these big hospitals and the insurance companies, all those things. I mean, there's so much overhead that.
- [21:59]
A
You could, they even have third and fourth party companies that are paid a shitload of money to process the payments that you make to the insurance companies. It's, it's astounding how much money we waste on, on third and fourth and fifth parties in our health care system.
- [22:12]
B
Reinsurance and I mean, all these different derivatives of derivatives and what, I mean, I don't even know. But yeah, the cost of drugs is too high, you know, the cost of, of insurance on a monthly basis is too high for folks. And we could really do a much better job by, by just making the pool bigger, you know, making the risk pool bigger by encompassing everyone. You could still, I mean, if you want to, like, I'm fine still having a private market. If the billionaire folks want to, you know, pay for some extremely expensive health care, go for it, but make sure we've got the right floor for folk, for the average folks that are struggling right now that, that are raising costs because they're, they're delaying preventive care and, and only seeking care in emergency bases and, and that's so much more expensive than just getting the treatment because you have good health care and because you don't need to worry about the cost. You're just going to go in and get stuff done when you need it. Rather than wait until your appendix bursts or something. And I think that's. There are so many of those things when, when you just don't deal with it, you don't think about it. But those are the stories we hear about. You know, I get emails about this stuff on a weekly basis as a state senator, so we could do more, spend less. And I think the vast majority, if not everyone, would be better off.
- [23:18]
A
Yeah. And it's not a true free market without a public option. If you want to use a Republican talking point, you really want the free market, then you should allow a public option to compete with the billionaires and the oligarchs.
- [23:30]
B
Well, I mean, the insurance market, obvious, or the health care, health care insurance, etc. Is definitely not a free market as it exists today. So yeah, there's, there's so many in there.
- [23:42]
A
Pretty highly unregulated as well. But that's, that's not a Republican talking point. Let's talk more about affordability with supporting affordable public college and trade school, strengthening public K12 education. Let's talk about your education plan.
- [23:55]
B
Yeah, so I went to community college. I mean I, I failed at the college the first time around. My GPA was like in the one point something range. And so I had to restart essentially. I went to Salt Lake Community College. It was the best experience of any of the educational institutions that I went to. Small classes, great teachers, just getting the basics done. It was cheap. I mean, it was like a couple thousand dollars a semester or something. And the return was just great. It was immediately apparent. So I think really pushing for students to go to those sorts of routes, whether it's community college or technical or trade school first and figure out what they're going to do. And then if they want to move up to higher ed or graduate school, great. But making sure that we have those affordable options for everyone because we certainly need, you know, skilled technicians, skilled labor in all sorts of sectors, manufacturing. We need to make sure we're building more here so that we, we can provide more jobs for our communities and hopefully reduce the costs and reduce the, the bad treatment of workers that we see across the globe. So I think those are all critical pieces when it comes to like K12 education. Utah is not doing well. Yeah, I mean, I'm sitting here in a high school right now and our teachers are not paid enough. Our per pupil funding is like 47th in the country or something. And, and it's time to, to change that. We have our current, our current representation at the federal level from Utah is pushing more incentives for school vouchers, which Utah has been embracing. And so we've seen hundreds of millions getting pulled out of public schools and going to private schools in recent years. The Supreme Court has actually said it's unconstitutional. And so that program is going to get held up, which is great, and I hope we can kill it for real. So we need to work on that at the federal level and reduce the incentives for public funds to be pulled into private schools that are being run by, you know, the same donors and billionaire class that are running everything else. So they're taking our money and running away with it and our kids are suffering and our teachers are suffering, and that's not okay. And yeah, we got to rebuild the DOE I mean, Trump has, has pushed that aside. That reduces protections for students in schools, you know, especially folks with disabilities, things like that. Got to make sure we, we make the system work for, for them as well. And Trump and the Republican administration has undercut all those things. So that's, that's, it's going to be interesting to work against the rest of our delegation. That's what I've said on a number of occasions, is we'll have five Republicans and one progressive Democrat if I'm elected. And, and I do not agree with those folks on many things. And I'm looking forward to working against them in many of the same ways that I've worked against the Republican supermajority in the legislature here in Utah already.
- [26:34]
A
Yeah, and they definitely want to privatize everything so that they can line their own pockets, whether it's the police force or schools or healthcare, et cetera. And let's talk about the final thing I want to ask you about here, housing. Because there's a huge privatization of housing in this country where billionaires and corporations are gobbling up properties. They want to blame immigrants, they want to blame migrants for the housing crisis. But I never had to go in against a bidding war with a non citizen. It's always a corporate landlord who wants to gobble up the property in my area, turn it into Airbnb or flip it and resell it at cash offers that nobody can compete with. And then price fixing the rent to box everybody out of rent or home ownership. So talk about what you would do in Congress as a legislator. I know that I think Kamala Harris had some plans along those lines to disincentivize, take away tax breaks for those kinds of corporate landlords, punish them for price fixing the rent. Are you going to put that back on track? What Are your ideas for solving the housing crisis not just in Utah, but as a United States representative in Congress as well?
- [27:42]
B
Yeah, you touched on some of the biggest ones. I think to me, the biggest specific thing that we can address is the algorithms that are basically causing us to bid against ourselves when it comes to housing. I mean, they are artificially increasing rents and home prices by digitizing everything, by looking at the entire market and price fixing things with an algorithm. And I think that's what we need to crack down on. The corporate ownership pieces I think is important. And you've seen, we've seen pockets of that happen in, in Utah and certainly in resort communities. We have some big resort communities in Utah. It has been very lucrative for like, you know, people to turn their home into an Airbnb and rent it for $5,000 a week, things like that. So that, that is certainly something to address. The legislature has not taken that on to the extent that I would like. And I think federal legislation would be warranted, especially for a state like Utah where some of those communities, the resort workers, the folks that, that should live in those communities are being pushed an hour out. You see this in like Jackson Hole, Wyoming for instance, but Park City, Utah, Moab, Utah, you see employees who are having to live further and further away. And this actually goes for families too. You know, Utah is a big family oriented state. It's a young state. You're seeing kids have to live an hour away from their families because there's no affordable housing near their childhood home where their, their grew up or they're. And they grew up. And you know, a home that might have been worth a hundred thousand dollars 30 years ago is now worth $700,000 and everything else in the neighborhood is too. And so you can't afford to rent or own. The ownership issue is a huge one. I think that's, that's how we've created wealth in this country is people have been able to buy into homeownership, that those homes have accumulated value over the years and then you have equity and, and you can, you know, sell it yourself or you don't have to pay rent or a mortgage anymore.
- [29:23]
A
At some point you can develop some generational wealth.
- [29:25]
B
Exactly.
- [29:26]
A
That passes, that passes down that so many people have been boxed out of too by the billionaires and the right and the corporations. I could talk to you, my friend, for like another hour, but I know that you got to get out of here. I know that you're there talking to the kids today. Maybe just one more quick thing and Then of course, anything else that you want to bring up that maybe I missed. But I'm, I'm a veteran, I'm a Navy veteran and I see my benefits slipping away. I see the wait times at the VA go. I just tried to make an appointment. I can usually make one here in a couple of weeks and the next available one is in May of 2026. Talk a little bit about keeping our promise to our veterans. I know you got a lot of veterans in your state.
- [30:03]
B
We do, yeah. And there's certainly been problems with the VA here and folks getting appointments in Utah. Yeah, I mean, I think we have to honor those, those promises we made. Like you said, there's there the va. I mean, it's the, probably the best example we've got of socialized healthcare in this country.
- [30:18]
A
And so that's why like people ask me if I'm Medicare for All, I'm like, no, I'm for a nationalized government direct health care system, no purchased care at all. There's still third parties in Medicare that I want to, I want to get rid of. And people are like, well, that's a little extreme. And I'm like, is it though? We already do it for 9 million veterans.
- [30:34]
B
The fact that we've got veterans, you know, living on the streets suffering with substance abuse disorders, you know, because of the things they went through and having to self medicate, I think that is a result of not having the health care that we need to. In many ways, the mental health care that we need, that's something else Medicare for all would cover would be mental health care. So making sure that those are all available to veterans and to everyone else as well, I think is, is critical and, but you know, I think there is some need to prioritize people who have given everything for this country and, and given or given so much and in many cases given their lives and, and that deserves, that deserves to be treated fairly and deserves to be, you know, homed and, and to not be pushed aside and forgotten about because we see that too much. I mean, I've been at, volunteered at homeless shelters and seen veterans come through and it's just so sad that we don't have a way of, and again, like this goes for everyone. Like in a country as wealthy as, as the United States, I don't think we need to be like pitting veteran veterans against everyone else. I'm certainly fine by saying veterans have given so many things in, in sacrifice to this country, but we can provide for veterans and immigrants and folks struggling with Disabilities and everyone else as well. There's no reason if.
- [31:49]
A
And working people.
- [31:50]
B
Yeah, and working people, we have enough if we balance the system in the right way. It is not trickle down economics. It is taking a little bit more from the folks who aren't even going to notice the difference and spreading it around a little bit. Maybe that's socialism, that's fine.
- [32:05]
A
But it actually saves money. It actually saves money in the long run. And I envision a world I think much like you as a veteran. I've, I've, I've long said I wish everyone had my education benefits and my, and my health benefits because I'm such a contributing member of society because of the GI Bill and because of, of healthcare benefits. But I think that in my, in my utopia, everybody has access to those things.
- [32:28]
B
Right.
- [32:28]
A
And, and we all thrive because it is, it's supposed to be bottom up and middle out and not trickle down.
- [32:33]
B
So that's how I have to sell it to people. Like it's got to be universal, you know?
- [32:36]
A
Yeah, absolutely. Is there anything else you want to share with anybody about your platform that maybe I missed and then of course let everybody know where they can find, follow and support your campaign?
- [32:46]
B
Yeah, I think we just covered a whole range of topics, probably many of the major things I would like to see dealt with if I'm able to represent Utah in Congress. Really exciting strides we need to make and would love to have support from folks in Utah and around the country. So you can find our website@nateforutah.com most of my social media is just nateforyutah.com I think my Facebook page is Nate for Utah, for the other socials, for Twitter, Blue Sky, Instagram and, and the rest of them. So yeah, we'd love to find people on there and love to have support. It's so important to have support from a wide range of folks because we are not taking corporate PAC money, we are not taking APAC money. And so to have small dollar donors from around the country is really driving the campaign. And it's really important to have taken those pledges because they are the promises that we need to take into Congress and actually change the laws so that we don't have to rely on those sort of things so that people don't have to make those pledges. It's just part of the system.
- [33:43]
A
Yeah, people powered campaigns over donor over donor class. So thank you so very much for joining me today. I look forward to talking to you again. Maybe we can catch up after you win the primary and see where your campaign's going from there and help you to the finish line. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Nate Bluein.
- [33:59]
B
Awesome. Thank you so much, Allison.
- [34:01]
A
Everybody, stick around. We'll be right back after these messages.
- [34:04]
B
We'll be right back.
- [34:09]
A
All right, everybody, welcome back. As you know, we couldn't do Fridays without John Fugelsang. It's Fuglsang Fridays here on the Daily Beans. So please welcome Mr. John Fugelsang. He's a New York Times bestselling author. He's written the Separation of Church and Hate. You must grab multiple copies for yourself in the little libraries around your town from your local bookstore, please. Also he hosts Tell Me Everything on Sirius XM progress channel 127, an incredible show. It comes on weeknights, 9pm Eastern, 6 Pacific. So check that out. There's also the John Fugalang show podcast, wherever you get your pods. There's the substack. There's Every. There are 900 ways to listen to this gentleman. So please welcome. I believe this is the final. Is this the final Friday in this year? No. Yes.
- [34:52]
C
I mean, we have to see if you're still speaking to me next week.
- [34:55]
A
This is the final Fugal sang Friday of 2025.
- [34:58]
C
Oh, yeah. Yes, it is.
- [35:00]
A
Please welcome John Fiegle. Saying hello, my friend.
- [35:02]
C
Oh, hi, Alison. And happy holidays to you and your. And your listeners. I feel like, Nate, I just blew in too, huh? Wow. What a year. What a carcass of a year. It's so good to be ending it with you with so many nice things happening towards the end.
- [35:20]
B
Yeah.
- [35:20]
A
And if we lived in normal times, we could do a yearly wrap up. But as it stands, we really only have time to talk about the news of the week. I know.
- [35:28]
C
Can you believe we lost Robert Redford and Diane Keaton? And there's no talk time for any of that. Let's talk about scotus. Yeah, it's just the. The. The what the f. Fatigue that defines this administration, which did the first time as well, you know, this non stop fire hose of malfeasance and double talk and jive. I mean, our outrage circuits are burned out. This is the Gish, Garop. This is flooding the zone. And I just want to thank you for being such a calming influence and for helping me get myself grounded and get perspective on everything's with. Without so many drugs. And thank you, that's what you've given me this year.
- [36:03]
A
And thank you for the many, many laughs because if we don't laugh, we'll cry. But we did get a little bright spot this week. A couple months ago, the Supreme Court, in the case of the National Guard deployment in the Northern District of Illinois, the Chicago deployment, asked the parties to please define what they think regular forces means as it pertains to Title 10, United States Code 12406. This is the law that Donald Trump and Stephen Miller were using to justify deploying the National Guard against American citizens in American cities. And it says that he can do that if the regular forces fail. And the Trump administration was arguing regular forces meant the local federal police. If they fail, then I can send in the National Guard and ice, too. But Marty Laderman, who's a very important voice in legal circles, he's a professor of law, he's a very, very, very smart guy, filed an amicus brief and said, no, regular forces means the military, and here's why. And he gave this long history of regular forces and its use in Congress and laws and what it has meant over the ages. And so that caused the Supreme Court to say, yeah, hey, hey, Donald Trump administration. Hey, Illinois, tell us what you think regular forces means. And I was like, this does not bode well for the Trump administration if they are asking what the definition of regular forces means. Because if it means the military, as Marty Lederman says, then the military hasn't failed in keeping the law and order in Illinois. So that means that he can't send in the National Guard. You gotta meet that criteria before you can send in the National Guard. And lo and behold, as much as I didn't want to be optimistic that the Supreme Court would rule against Donald Trump and his use of 12406 to authorize the deployment of National Guard. They did six to three. Of course, there were three dissenting opinions here, but, man, a majority in this Supreme Court ruled against the Trump administration. And it felt good.
- [38:12]
C
And you've summed it up perfectly. I kind of view this year at this point as being like, at the very beginning of January. My theory is that David lynch died and then took over for God. And it was a year of surreal gothic horror. But maybe he's got a happy, heartwarming ending planned for this whole thing. And to see this 63 decision with Gorsuch going over with the CRO Magnons, I mean, it was incredible. This is a pretty obscure statute. We've learned a lot about it in the past few months. I've learned a lot about it from you. But that he can only federalize the Guard when the regular military can't enforce the law. And they claimed, you know, regular forces means whoever we say. It's sort of like the argument was, well, I couldn't cook dinner with my gas stove, so I deployed the Navy Seals to make my dinner and take over the town and the Supreme Court. Literally, literally, two of these people got jobs from Trump. And they said this is untethered to fit facts. And what a beautiful way to end the year with this monster standing up to the mad scientist. You don't get to deploy soldiers because cities vote Democratic or there's a lot of black folks there or because Fox News needs B roll or because Stephen Miller needs to slip out into the night and feed. I mean, this is such a great way to end the year. We wondered how craven the Supreme Court would be because for me, Alison, it's all who in the Republican Party at this point is even realizing that history is going to be talking about this in history books like Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump don't seem to care, but John Roberts does. John Roberts is enough of a narcissist to not want to be a complete villain in the history books while still trying to preserve this upper crust white supremacy nonsense. And to see Alito and Thomas and Gorsuch, all of them just essentially saying the president should be allowed to deploy troops whenever his diaper fills up and he's in a mood. And it's a beautiful, sweet way to end the year. And it's a, it's a great aperitif for your, your Epstein files weekend too.
- [40:16]
A
Yeah. It just makes me concerned that now that they have exhausted the 12406 justification that they might use an Insurrection act justification in order to get around the Posse Comitatus act. Because that's what the Supreme Court was saying here. Say Posse Comitatus says you can't do law enforcement with the military. And, but that's what the Insurrection act does. And they've been taught Stephen Miller is frothing at the mouth to invoke the Insurrection act so that he, this administration.
- [40:43]
C
Using the Insurrection act proves that irony is the one religion that will never let you down. Or maybe it's hypocrisy. I mean, that would be like Donald Trump arresting people for adultery, you know, using the Insurrection Act. I mean, look, at this point I'm really content to accept the fact that, that Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth are gonna do a lot of things to make career military and law enforcement hate them even more deeply. So go take your best shot, Trump. Take your best shot in 26 it's only gonna help. It's only gonna make him bleed more. At this point, all of this is just a gut wound that is bleeding out, and it's gonna bleed out for the next 11 months, and the blood's gonna get all over all these poor Republican bastards who are trying to run for reelection in the midterms. If he tries it again to send more troops in, take these people in the National Guard away from their families and their communities and their jobs and make them go rake leaves in a different state, by all means, make the Republican turnout for 2026 even lower, Don, because at this point, I don't think there's career military who are going to be accepting this. Just like there's a lot of career FBI who have just about had it with their director. Smash that like button, brah. Kash Patel.
- [41:57]
B
Yeah.
- [41:58]
A
And now we're looking. Now we're seeing this happen at the Department of Justice. CNN has come out with exclusive reporting that they are pulling Department of Justice Assistant U.S. attorneys to force them to work overtime during the holidays so that they can help protect. Take a pedophile's name out of the Epstein files. They just accidentally stumbled across a million more Epstein files from the Southern District of New York, which is bullshit, because they actually went in in January and boxed up all those files and shut down the investigation that was fired the prosecutors and sent those files to D.C. in January. But now they're saying, oh, I guess we forgot we stole those files and shut down that investigation. We just found them. It's gonna be many, many more weeks before we even get close to releasing any amount of the Epstein files that we were required by law to release December 19th. So, hey, Department of Justice lawyers, where I'm sure the morale is already into the shitter. You're gonna have to stay and work over the holidays overtime to pull Donald Trump's name and his friends and friends and powers.
- [43:01]
C
Cover for child rape to cover for the child rape.
- [43:04]
A
Files to cover for child rape. Merry Christmas to you.
- [43:07]
C
That's one thing I'll say for these Democrats. They don't care what donor names show up. Bill Clinton made himself the moral leader this week. And did you enjoy it? Did you have the 90s nostalgia of watching Bill Clinton finally managed to get ahead of a sex scandal? It was great, man. Oh, my God, I want to go play hacky sack. It was like such a nostalgia blast. What we're witnessing here is not justice for the victims. This is information laundering. Okay, as we all know, no court has convicted Trump of Any crimes related to his good pal Jeffie. And these newly released documents, the latest batch of the vastly incomplete data dumps they've done. Keep in mind, all 119 pages of grand jury testimony are still redacted. More blackouts than my three way with Liza Minnelli and Courtney Love. But the pattern, the behavior, the panic and the COVID up that's going down right now in public view, I think. I don't think it's too early to say that. I mean, for those of us who weren't around for Watergate, this is the greatest presidential cover up in our lifetimes. And as I always say, the greatest things about America's fascists in the 21st century, I include the Bush and Cheney administration, is that they're all really stupid and they're really bad at it. It's the kind of mentality that would make Bari Weiss not allow a damaging but true and approved CBS segment on torture prisons to air.
- [44:30]
A
Ooh.
- [44:31]
C
But it still airs in Canada, so we all got to see it. These people are nincompoops. Cash Patel is a nincompoop. Somewhere in hell, you know this. Somewhere in hell, Jang Hoover's wearing a dress and he's embarrassed of what this guy's doing to his beloved bureau. But when these revelations come out, we just have to watch Trump. I mean, it's gonna be another year of this, and by God, that Jeff Epstein, he's gonna get a lot of Republicans out of office next year. Trump will never say survivors deserve justice, right? Like, he doesn't say that. He doesn't say release everything consistent with the law. He doesn't say, we have to let the investigators do their work. Now he's saying after a year of running on this, it's a distraction. Bill Clinton's a big boy. Thomas Massie's a lowlife. Look at my ships. I put names on my name on ships. I'm a draft dodger with my name on battleships. Why are people talking about the dead guy? And it's like, Epstein is dead. Ghislaine is in her comfy prison. When you're talking to your loved ones at Christmas, be sure to ask the right wing ones if they get in your face. Friends ask them, why is Donald Trump giving convicted child rapist and trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell special treatment? Pleasure. That's the only question you have to ask, Uncle Racist. I mean, Larry Nassar.
- [45:44]
A
Who?
- [45:45]
C
The pen pal. He's in Lewisburg. He's locked up. But the system that enabled them, the money and the access and the protection is very much alive. And Pam Bondi's DOJ is part of the system that is enabling them still. And I think most Americans would agree you can survive a scandal. Any politician can survive a scandal. What you can't survive is a cover up that insults everyone's intelligence. So stop and smell the train wreck, folks. God wants us to laugh at the end of the year. Between this and SCOTUS and Stefanik, there's lots of comedy for the good people.
- [46:21]
A
Yeah. And there's a lot of jumping ship as well. I just read a Wall Street Journal exclusive that the half the Heritage foundation is leaving and going to Mike Pence's nonprofit because they can't deal with what's going on with Trump. And they're like, Trump's over Trump. This is the end. He's, you know, he's good. He's a second term president. He's leaving office. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Elise Stefanik. People in Congress are jumping ship. Everybody is now distancing themselves the best they can while still trying to make sure they get their pardon. Susie Wiles from Susie Wiles from Trump and, and maga and they're going to this America first idea, the other, the original Nazi idea, the original KKK idea and saying they're moving, all moving toward that hate. But yeah, that Heritage foundation piece was really interesting.
- [47:06]
C
Oh my God. Who's going to pick Trump's next Supreme Court justice? Who's going to pick the next right wing Supreme Court justice if it's not.
- [47:12]
A
Trump Already said, I'm not listening to you anymore about Supreme Court justices.
- [47:16]
C
That's true. Well then, Scott Baio, here's your chance. You know, look, wow, I'm really, really sorry that, you know, watching the Heritage foundation against Trump, it's like watching this Turning Point USA Klan rally over last weekend. It's like, let's see, there's the racists who are also antisemites versus the racists who don't like antisemitism. And like, is it okay if I don't root for either side here? Is it okay if I wish a cutoff of unemployment benefits for Heritage foundation people? They're the ones who put us here in the first place. This is porn for the angels. They know how bad this is gonna be. And it seems extremely unlikely that Donald Trump is still gonna be president in January of 2029. So it's. And I can't, I gotta be honest, I can't wait when, when Man Baby leaves and Babyman takes over because JT Vance doing an impression of Ron DeSantis doing an impression of Donald Trump is not exactly gonna set MAGA on fire.
- [48:17]
A
No, I like. I like Will Ferrell's Harry Carey better than Harry Carey. So I think, you know, I think exactly right. Yeah. This is the opposite. The opposite effect. He's Pope. He's polling. J.D. vance polls in the gutter.
- [48:29]
C
Oh. Oh, he's. You know how hated he is. I heard the couch made him go sleep on the bed. That's what I heard. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
- [48:35]
A
Uh.
- [48:36]
C
Oh, no.
- [48:36]
B
J.D.
- [48:37]
C
Vance.
- [48:37]
A
His actual wife.
- [48:38]
C
J.D. vance. Oh, my God, his wife. Let's talk about some ladder pullers right there, huh? I just. Folks, you have to take care of yourself and go easy on the drugs and the alcohol and the processed foods. You want to be alive. For J.D. vance's kids to grow up and realize that their father is a Nazi racist against brown skin immigrants, it's just going to be the most perfect comeuppance because maybe, unlike Trump, his kids will care.
- [49:03]
A
Yeah. Well, I have to say. You think it's David Lynch's death. I think when that weasel got in the Large Hadron COLLIDER Back in 2016, something happened, something got fucked up, and we got sucked into this alternate timeline.
- [49:18]
C
The God Particle.
- [49:19]
A
Yeah, I remember the weasel and the Large Hadron Collider calamity.
- [49:24]
C
But for a second, I thought you were talking about Elise Stefanik. But that's a different kind of weasel. And again, there's more. There's more porn for the angels. Look at her. Look at this woman who lied for this guy, who torched her reputation for him, who embarrassed herself on national tv. And look what it got her. Look what it got this con removed.
- [49:41]
A
From it, got her time with her family.
- [49:43]
C
I mean, frozen out of house leadership, humiliated by Trump, dumped as his UN nominee, humiliated in her governor run. Her whole resume is like Karma wrote a LinkedIn profile. She got kicked off the Harvard Institute of Politics advisory board, Trump nominated for UN Ambassador and then yanked it. This is the most important cautionary tale we've had. If you sell your soul for power, make sure the buyer plans to keep you. Donald Trump does not do loyalty. Loyalty goes two ways. He does obedience. And I don't delight in the harm to anybody's career in the schadenfreude. But I'm sorry, I take a lot of hope in seeing these. Oh, no. I don't want to wish evil on someone or hurt on someone if they get fired. I wish three ghosts visit them on Christmas Eve and make them good.
- [50:26]
A
People, I'm not the deliverer of karma. I'm just the enjoyer of karma.
- [50:30]
C
And I get that. But you know, to me, the enjoyment comes from the knowledge that objectively at least, Stefanik, being in pain and humiliated aside, objectively, the lies didn't work. And complete blind obedience and being a Renfield blood slave to this mediocre Dracula did not pay off for her. And in that sense, it's a very important cautionary tale for everybody. These people can't even do basic fascism without tripping over the furniture. And Stefanik, you know what? I'm sure she'll get a job as a prompter monkey somewhere. But it's great to see people like this driven from politics because this kind of lies don't work.
- [51:09]
A
Yeah, agreed, my friend.
- [51:10]
C
And it's, it's also the, called the Ron DeSantis story, but that's another day.
- [51:15]
A
Well, it's always wonderful to talk to you. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season, a pleasant new year. We'll be back next week because there's no rest for the wicked. But speaking of that, speaking of the wicked, I actually, for many, many years now, I have been missing the ability to watch the movie Dogma. And it's out now. It's out again. You can watch it in 4K. It's a, what I think is a classic. And I watched it again this week. Thought of you, my friend. If you get a chance and you have the means and you definitely want to check out Dogma, it's just so well done and so funny.
- [51:53]
C
I want to thank you, Dr. Gill, for classing up the room all year long. And I want to thank all of your wonderful, deeply attractive audience members for being so lovely to me and picking up my book and helping me get to the New York Times list and coming to all the live shows. And listen, I, I really do believe I'm not an optimist. I'm a recovering cynic, not an optimist. But I really do believe that 2025, as bad as it was, 2026, is going to be a much better year because A, Trump is bleeding all over the place. B, these polls aren't going anywhere. C, Diane Keaton can't die twice. So I already know we're going to have a better year in 2026. And the midterms are coming and there's going to be a lot of Republican folk who are not going to be showing up to vote this year like they didn't in 22, like they didn't in 18 let's watch some bad guys turn on each other.
- [52:42]
A
Let's watch. Thank you so much, my friend. Everybody check out Tell Me Everything on Sirius XM progress channel 127, weeknights, 9pm Eastern, 6 Pacific. Make sure to grab your copy if you haven't already. I'm sure everybody has, but if you haven't, grab your copy of the New York Times best selling book, Separation of Church and Hate. I like to go to independent bookstores and order 10 of them and give them as gifts. Gifts and then put them in my free little libraries. It's an incredible book, so well written. Check out the John Fugal saying Show podcast if you don't get Sirius xm.
- [53:12]
C
And then of course, I don't recommend my book as a gift for right wing Christians. I recommend it as a gift for people who have to deal with right wing Christians. Your racist uncle will not like you for buying this book for him, trust me.
- [53:24]
A
Well put, my friend. All right, everybody, we'll see you next week and thank you again for listening. Thanks to Nate Bluein, who's running in Utah's first new first district. We can flip that seat Blue, I think with. Along with many, many others if the polling holds. And man, just. I hope everybody has a wonderful, safe and happy new Year. And we'll see you. Man. I can't believe the year's over. I'm so glad, though. I'm so glad it's gone because it was a. It was a doozy.
- [53:51]
C
Yeah, but I, but I thank you. I want to thank all the good people that helped me get through this year. I mean, seriously, thank you. And thanks to all the good white people, too. They don't get enough appreciation. They're. There's some decent white people in this cut. You wouldn't know it from watching tv.
- [54:04]
A
Well, finally you can say that.
- [54:06]
C
Yeah, finally. Isn't it great that I don't have to be ashamed to be white? And I can say merry Christmas. What a gulag we lived in a year ago. Good God.
- [54:14]
A
By the way, if you don't know, he's dogging on J.D. vance.
- [54:16]
C
Yeah, it's a great time to be stupid and racist, folks, but next year won't be.
- [54:22]
A
All right, everybody, until next time. We'll be back on your ears on Monday. Until then, please take care of yourselves, take care of each other, take care of the planet, take care of your mental health and take care of your family. I've been agitated and them's the beans. The Daily Beans is written and executive produced by Allison Gill with additional research and reporting by Dana Goldberg. Sound design and editing is by Desiree McFarlane with art and web design by Joelle Reader with Moxie Design Studios. Music for the Daily Beans is written and performed by they Might Be Giants and the show is a proud member of the MSW Media Network, a collection of creator owned podcasts dedicated to news, politics and justice. For more information please visit mswmedia.com msw media.