Could Texas Go Blue? My Discussion with Under the Desk News Star V Spehar and Maria Teresa Kumar

Summary

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The Jim Acosta Show – May 27, 2026

"Could Texas Go Blue? My Discussion with Under the Desk News Star V Spehar and Maria Teresa Kumar"

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Episode Overview

In this lively episode, Jim Acosta explores the unprecedented political climate ahead of the 2026 midterms, focusing specifically on the possibility of Texas turning blue. Acosta is joined by V Spehar (Under the Desk News) and Maria Teresa Kumar (Voto Latino) for candid, often irreverent commentary on the state of American politics, Texas Senate races, shifting demographics, the spectacle of Trump’s White House, the Latino vote, and issues at the border. The discussion weaves in both sharp analysis and satirical observations, capturing the absurdity and stakes of the current moment.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Trump’s White House Spectacle: The UFC Birthday Bash

• Opening Banter ([00:00-02:29])
  • Acosta and Spehar riff on Donald Trump’s plans to hold a UFC-style fight event on the South Lawn of the White House for his 80th birthday, replete with a Star-Spangled Arch and an octagonal cage. The tone is incredulous and mocking.
  • Acosta: "It's gaudy, it's trashy, it's tacky, it's pure Donald Trump...this is for Donald Trump's 80th birthday." ([03:17])
  • V suggests Trump's over-the-top events are a reflection of insecurity and a desire to "redecorate American history" at taxpayer expense.

2. The Texas Senate Race Upset: Cornyn Out, Paxton In

• Republican Turmoil ([05:27-07:23])
  • Trump backs Ken Paxton over John Cornyn, despite Paxton's baggage and Trump’s pattern of supporting whomever appears to be winning.
  • Spehar: “You can't like gently resist authoritarianism and absurdity. You have to forcefully [resist].” ([07:23])
• Democratic Chances—Rise of James Talarico ([09:51-12:50])
  • The Republican Party's own attack ads against Paxton reappear now that he’s their nominee. GOP desperation is apparent as they attack Talarico with dubious claims (veganism, being transgender), signaling their anxiety.
  • Spehar: “He’s the poster boy for what they project to be their own values...he’s standard, you know, family values guy, and he’s considered progressive in 2026.” ([11:25])
  • The Democratic candidate Talarico is positioned as a principled, values-driven alternative.

3. MAGA Politics: Corruption Without Competence

• Trump’s Disregard for Midterms & Economic Issues ([13:46-15:32])
  • Trump openly declares he doesn't care about the midterms and has little concern for economic distress.
  • Acosta: “It is certainly corruption without competence. That’s how I’ve been describing it.” ([09:00])
  • Spehar: “Dictators don't care...He feels overly strong in the idea that he will remain in power and comfortable until he dies.” ([14:28])
• The Future of Democratic Strategy
  • Spehar: “It has to be accountability before reconciliation or Donald Trump will be right in thinking the law doesn't apply to him.” ([14:28])

4. Youth Voter Realignment & Political Culture

• Younger Voters Moving Away from Trump/MAGA ([15:32-18:46])
  • Shift driven by social acceptability, opposition to toxicity, and desire for honest community.
  • MAGA branding seen as “cringe” or “dopey shtick” (“jester maxing”).
  • Spehar: "There was a time when young men...felt a lot of power and community around wearing the red hat and being maga...and then they realize that girls don't like that and so they're less willing to do that." ([16:25])
  • Disillusionment with figures like RFK Jr. adds to generational rejection of gimmicky, inauthentic leadership.

5. The Latino Electorate: A Sleeping Giant Awakens

• Demographic Shifts and Voter Motivation ([21:42-24:15])
  • Maria Teresa Kumar highlights rapid Latino population growth—over 500,000 new eligible Latino voters since 2024 in Texas.
  • Kumar: “The reason that Texas has received additional congressional seats...has been because of the growth in the boom in the Latino population...and they never give it to the Latino population.” ([21:42])
  • GOP redistricting may have backfired, making more districts competitive.
  • Latino voters motivated by both policy (affordability, immigration reform) and reaction to Republican "mismanagement and mishandling" of the state.

6. Voter Suppression, ICE, and Organizing for Turnout

• Suppression Tactics and Democratic Response ([24:15-27:48])
  • Texas Republicans, led by Paxton, suppressed 4 million mail-in votes in 2022, mostly in urban/Latino areas.
  • Urgent need for voters to verify registrations and "make a plan" to vote for maximum turnout.
  • Kumar: "If someone makes a plan to vote, they pledge that they're going to vote, their chances of going out to vote increase by 80%." ([24:15])
  • Community organizing includes recruiting poll workers and rides to polls in Black and Brown neighborhoods.
• The ICE Issue & Political Fallout ([29:48-33:39])
  • Democrats should emphasize humane, practical reforms; voters want order at the border but reject cruelty.
  • Mass detentions and profit-driven detention system criticized as “the biggest grift under the guise of immigration reform.” ([40:00], Kumar)

7. Government Overreach: Pepper Spraying a Senator

• ICE Abuses and Democratic Accountability ([33:39-39:48])
  • Sen. Andy Kim pepper-sprayed by ICE while monitoring protests—used as an example of unchecked enforcement.
  • Kumar: “First of all, Senator Kim was there doing his duty as a senator... But imagine that if there is impunity for taking down a US Senator... what other recourse do everyday people have?”
  • Acosta and Kumar criticize Democratic leadership for lack of forceful response.

8. The Sleepy Commander-in-Chief: Trump Dozes, Nation Suffers

• Questions on Trump’s Fitness & Revelry Amid Crisis ([41:58-45:00])
  • Acosta points out Trump’s frequent public dozing and contrasts that with the urgent issues Americans face.
  • Acosta: "He used to call Joe Biden Sleepy Joe... well, Dozy Dozy Donald or Snoozy Donald or whatever we're going to call him. I sort of prefer the nod Father..." ([44:10])
  • Concludes the administration is focused on vanity spectacles rather than real problems.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• “[Trump] is just trying to redecorate American history in a way that I'm really looking forward to tearing down when he's no longer the President.”
  — V Spehar ([04:03])

• “You can't like gently resist authoritarianism and absurdity. You have to forcefully [resist]...”
  — V Spehar ([07:23])

• “He's the poster boy for what they project to be their own values... he’s considered progressive in 2026, whereas this would have been like a Paul Ryan kind of guy almost back before.”
  — V Spehar on James Talarico ([11:25])

• “It is certainly corruption without competence. That’s how I’ve been describing it.”
  — Jim Acosta ([09:00])

• “Dictators don't care... he doesn't need the MAGA rabble anymore because he knows...he doesn't have to get elected ever again.”
  — V Spehar ([14:28])

• “There was a time when young men...felt a lot of power and community around wearing the red hat and being maga...and then they realize that girls don't like that...”
  — V Spehar ([16:25])

• "If someone makes a plan to vote, they pledge that they're going to vote, their chances of going out to vote increase by 80%."
  — Maria Teresa Kumar ([24:15])

• “It is, I would say, the biggest grift under the guise of immigration reform, where people are making so much money in the face of us cutting Medicaid, cutting school lunches...”
  — Maria Teresa Kumar ([41:00])

• “[Trump] used to call Joe Biden Sleepy Joe...well, Dozy Dozy Donald or Snoozy Donald or whatever we're going to call him. I sort of prefer the nod Father...”
  — Jim Acosta ([44:10])

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Important Segment Timestamps

• [00:00]–[02:29]: Opening, Trump’s UFC birthday spectacle at White House
• [05:27]–[12:50]: Texas Senate race, GOP infighting, rise of James Talarico
• [13:45]–[15:32]: Trump’s disregard for midterms, MAGA party unity woes
• [15:32]–[18:46]: Young voters abandoning MAGA, pop culture/political crossover
• [21:42]–[24:15]: Latino voter surge, Texas demographic shifts
• [24:15]–[27:48]: Voter suppression tactics & civic engagement strategies
• [29:48]–[33:39]: ICE, immigration reform, and voter motivation
• [33:39]–[39:48]: Pepper spraying Sen. Andy Kim, lack of Democratic pushback
• [41:58]–[45:00]: Acosta’s closing rant—Trump’s “nod father” moments, symbolism of the UFC birthday bash

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Episode Tone & Takeaways

The episode balances biting satire (“Dozy Don,” “jester maxing”) with alarm at the electoral, cultural, and humanitarian crises unfolding in Texas and beyond. Both guests express hope that demographic changes, grassroots organizing, and GOP overreach could lead to a historic political shift in Texas, but warn that only forceful civic action and urgent Democratic accountability can counteract authoritarian drift and systemic grifts. The segment ends with a call to remain vigilant and active, lest “the circus” become the new normal.

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For more: jimacosta.substack.com

Transcript

[A]

Foreign. Welcome to the Jim Acosta show. And it's another day that ends in Y and Donald Trump doing batshit crazy things to the nation's capital here in Washington, D.C. joining me to talk about this today is V. Spear. She is the host, the star of under the Desk News. V, it's great to see you.

[B]

Yeah, great to see you, Jim. This is going to be you. I feel like we're getting together at a really good time because there's extra weird stuff happening.

[A]

There's extra weird stuff, and extra weird only scratches the surface, apparently. We took a tour down, down by the White House earlier today to take a look at how Donald Trump is going to turn the south lawn of the White House into a UFC fighting championship stage. This is all taking shape on the south lawn of the White House. And you know, I guess a lot of folks might think this is for the 4th of July, this is actually. And for the 250th birthday of America. It's actually for his birthday. It's for his 80th birthday coming up on June 14th. So this is happening very soon. But V, it's great to see you. I mean, your sense of like just the nuttiness that we're immersed in right now, it's, it's an everyday occurrence, it seems.

[B]

It's like make a wish for Donald Trump out there every single day on the American taxpayers dime. Last year for his birthday, he put together that military parade that he tried to claim was like for the army's birthday, was obviously for his. And this year he's going to have his big UFC cage match. Like, it's, it's odd to me and also I think, predictable. This is a guy who is in fact a WWE hall of Fame superstar. Donald Trump was inducted into, been longtime best friends with Vince McMahon fellow whose character I don't particularly appreciate. But Donald Trump seems to have no problem with. And it's no surprise to me that he wants to invite a bunch of dudes to hang out and watch other sweaty dudes roll around on each other. I mean, that just, that seems like what the GOP and the MAGA movement is about. Dudes toxicity and cold shower fireworks, those are like their favorite things.

[A]

Yes. And, and considering that this is going to be the middle of June, it may be very sweaty over there at the White House.

[B]

You live in D.C. i don't know how they're going to do the fight with all those mosquitoes and bugs and stuff. I mean, you're going to be like just absolutely. Face full of gnats under those lights.

[A]

Gonna need a lot of bug spray. That's true. And then they've got all the creepy statues around too. One of the. We, let's just do this. V, hang on for a second. Let's play. We did a little vignette down there. We'll show this to the. Just so everybody understands exactly what's happening with this UFC thing that they want to do down at the White House. Yes. On the grounds of the White House. Let's play this and then we'll continue to have this discussion. It's gaudy, it's trashy, it's tacky, it's pure Donald Trump. You can already see star spangled arch towering above the octagonal cage where they're talking about doing this Ultimate Fighting Championship event on the south Lawn of the White House. And they're not just talking about doing cage matches on the grounds of the White House. They're also talking about doing weigh ins for those cage matches over at the Lincoln Memorial. As one man told me earlier today, it's like something out of idiocracy. You would think this is for America's 250th birthday. No, no, no, no, no. This is for Donald Trump's 80th birthday. Trump thinks there's going to be about 4,000 people on hand to witness the spectacle. Think of it as gladiator battles inside a three ring circus. This is supposed to be the people's house. He's treating it like it's his house. Yeah, I mean, V, that's, that's kind of what it is. He, he's just been doing this non stop. There's the gold stuff that's all over the Oval Office. There's that walk of. He calls it the hall of Presidents or the Walk of Fame. I don't know what that is. Along the colonnade. It. And it's just strange. It's, it's. You want to laugh at it, but it's also disturbing.

[B]

Well, I mean, when your life is going poorly, what do you do? You redecorate your house a little bit. Maybe. Maybe it makes you feel a little better. When I'm having a bad day, I like, walk around home goods, pick up a pillow. That's going to fix all my problems. And Donald Trump is just doing that on a massive scale and at the taxpayer's expense. He's like, I feel uncomfortable with what's going on. I'm going to fix the columns. I feel unseen and like my legacy will be one of disasters and Economic troubles and war. I'll put my name on the Kennedy Memorial. He's just trying to redecorate American history in a way that I'm really looking forward to tearing down when he's no longer the President.

[A]

And that's going to be the key. Right. I mean, I think any Democratic candidate for president is going to be asked, are you going to tear all of this crap down? And the answer, I would assume, has to be yes, or else it's just not going to go well.

[B]

Has to be yes. And they got to, you know, this is what I want my taxpayer dollars going towards, because I can't imagine what a mess he's going to leave behind with all that gold applique he's done in just the West Wing. You got to imagine that the rest of the White House is looking pretty similar. Like, I'd love to know what the residency is looking like for him, how he has decorated that or there we've seen what Mar A Lago looks like and his bathroom full of documents. Like, you know, it's, it's going to take a little while to reset the White House to just a, a stately residence.

[A]

Right, right. It's going to take more than just, you know, a cleaning crew and, you know, some WD40 and, and some throw pillows. It's, it's, it's going to be a lot more than that. The other thing, too, V is, and you kind of indicated this earlier, is, you know, he's obsessed with all of this stuff, you know, like the National Mall, repainting the reflecting pool and everything else in the middle of a midterm cycle. When you one would think he would be concerned about, you know, how things are going with the midterms and whether his candidates are winning or losing or may win or lose. He threw his weight behind Ken Paxton. And yes, Ken Paxton did beat John Corden for the Republican nomination for the Senate down in Texas. But that's probably not the best thing for the general election.

[B]

I think it's great for the Talarico team. I think it's fantastic. Fantastic. When I heard Paxton won by like 26 points, I was like, great, that sounds like a much better person to beat than John Cornyn. And folks want to give Trump all the credit being like, oh, he's picking the winners and the losers. The American public is picking the winners and losers. And oftentimes the incumbent has become not the default person. People want for continuity. They want somebody fresh and new. So if that somebody fresh and new is Ken Paxton, and that's what they were willing to go with. I think it's less that Trump is a power player and more that people are disappointed in the folks that have been representing them for in some cases, far too many terms.

[A]

Yeah, no question about it. And I think there's, this is also the case. This, I saw this happen during the first term when I covered him is that sometimes he will just get behind the person that they think is going to win.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

And I think it became pretty obvious that Ken Paxton was going to blow the doors off of John Cornyn and that he was just in a lot of trouble. And John Cornyn made the mistake that a lot of Republicans have made, which is, and I've described it this way, I talked about this with Adam Kinsman the other day. It just sort of let's hunker down and wait it out and let's see if the storm will pass. And there's a slew of these Republicans who have tried to do that and it just didn't, it just did not work for them.

[B]

No, you can't like gently resist authoritarianism and absurdity. You have to forcefully. I mean, that's what I think of. So there's been a lot of discourse online about should we, as people who aren't MAGA Trumpists participate in the America 250 events? And I'm like, yes, because the ones you're seeing on television are, yes, his absurd, big, you know, self congratulatory MAGA themed events. But there's so much going on in this country that we still have to be proud of. And the thing that I am most proud of is when a fascist dictator wannabe king comes in, you pick up whatever weapon is near you. If that's your voice, if that's your dollars that you spend with and you fight back with everything you have against it. That's what this country is built on. And so that's how I feel. People who are winning elections right now are coming at it. You're seeing progressives do really, really well because they're not afraid to say things like, Donald Trump is an adjudicated rapist or I don't or Talarico will be able to say, I'm not interested in having Texas be led by a man who gave a pedophile a one day jail sentence. Like, there's just right and wrong in this country. And I do believe that we'll get back to it. Especially as now MAGA got their way and they're in a worse off situation. They feel Betrayed, they feel lied to, they feel used.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Maha as well, People who supported Bobby Kennedy also feel a little bit like, hey, we thought he was going to get in. And actually before being against private equity, being for clean air, water, and he has not done that at all for us. So this mega coalition that was great at campaigning but terrible at governing, I think we're seeing straight through them. Whether we supported them at any point in our life or always saw straight through them. And I think there'll be unit unity in that.

[A]

Yeah. No, it is certainly corruption without competence. That's. That's how I've been describing it. And you know, the other thing, too, in terms of Ken Paxton, the Republican Party did not want Ken Paxton to be the candidate they wanted.

[B]

Baggage.

[A]

There's so much baggage. There's a lot of baggage. And. And apparently the nrc, the campaign arm of the Senate Republican Campaign Committee, they were. They had put out an ad and anti Ken Paxton ad and then they had to quickly take it down because now he is there. He's their candidate to go up against. James Tillery going. I think we have that ad. We should play it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

This is what the Republicans were saying about Ken Paxton. This is the sound of Texas, and this is how it sounds under Ken Paxton. Scary music.

[B]

Is that Tom Hanks voice? Wow.

[A]

Yeah. So I guess the. So which Texas. The fight against crime was not going well under Ken Paxton, and the Republicans did not like him very much until now. Now they. They're back, they're backing him. But V. What's interesting is, is that you can sort of sense that there's a big freak out happening inside the Republican Party right now over James Talarico. They've been, they've been calling him a vegan, which I don't think he's a vegan. I think he eats meat.

[B]

He eats meat. I've seen him eat meat. He eats. He's. He's Texas vegan, which means he eats barbecue. So he's. Whatever that means. Stephen Miller called him transgender, but they're coming after Tel Rico so, so hard that, you know, they're scared. They know that they're like, how are we going to beat the boy next door with this guy who cheated on his wife of 39 years with a woman who looks like Cruella Deville and like, is just deeply, deeply corrupt and ineffective and horrible and not nearly as cute.

[A]

And he's. And Ken Paxton is kind of the Donald Trump of Texas. Yeah.

[B]

And what's amazing, somehow less charismatic, though.

[A]

Yeah, right, Exactly. A lot of baggage, a lot of personal stuff, a lot of incompetence, and the Republican Party running away from him, trying to run away from him as fast as they can and then not able to do so. It sounds a lot like Donald Trump.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And here's James Talarico. I mean, looks like the guy that could actually do this. What do you think?

[B]

I think in another universe, if you would have said that Talarico was the Republican candidate, I'd be like, yeah, he could probably hang with, with like the, the 2006 Republicans. He probably could. He'd be around there. But he is the poster boy for what they project to be their own values. This is a person who respects and appreciates and has studied God and religion. This is a person who reaches out to his neighbor. This is a person who doesn't talk shit and cares deeply for people and is a good, active listener. He's standard, you know, family values guy, and he's the. He's considered progressive in 2026, whereas this would have been like a Paul Ryan kind of guy almost back. Back before. So I think it's going to be really hard to beat Talarico when the Republicans whole thing is not substantive policy that actually helps people, but rather claiming to have the moral high ground. You cannot claim the moral high ground when it's Talarico versus Paxton. And so what are they doing? They're trying to say, oh, he's Talafrico, he's. He's vegan, he's transgender, he's all these things. And the thing I love, they're making stuff up and they'll have bot armies that go after him. But it's just, just so stupid that I don't think it'll work this time. And I think if there's any Republican out there, James or Cornyn included, who says, it's my job to try and keep my party in power and you're willing to line up behind Ken Paxton, I think you deserve to lose.

[A]

So, yeah, no question about it. And I mean, I think that Talarico has run a pretty honorable campaign. He, he has been very much in the corner of the LGBTQ community in Texas, and he's not running away from that. He speaks very passionately about why he has. Has this position, and I think that's going to be really an amazing campaign to watch. The other thing, though, about all of this is the way that Donald Trump and the, and the MAGA wing of the Republic, the MAGA Republican Party, got behind Ken Paxton. It fully demonstrates exactly what Donald Trump was saying in the Oval Office, they had one of these cabinet meetings today where they go around the table and they praise the Dear Leader. We have some of that video. But at one point, Donald Trump actually said that he doesn't care about the midterms. And if you don't, and if you don't care about the midterms, then you would get behind Ken Paxton and potentially lose the Senate for the Republican Party.

[B]

He's got a big birthday party coming up. He can't be dealing with the midterms.

[A]

That's true. But let's play this because it is like kind of an amazing soundbite to say broken down. They thought they were going to outweigh me. You know, we'll outweigh him. He's got the midterms. I don't care about the midterms. Midterms. Look what happened last night. That was the prelude to the midterms.

[B]

Marco.

[A]

Yeah. Margo's like, can I please be somewhere else?

[B]

I know, please.

[A]

Those memes of Marco Rubio when he's on the sofa, you know, but, I mean, but, but V, I mean, Donald Trump is demonstrating this, that he doesn't care about the midterms. He said the other day, I don't care about people's economic issues. You know, dictators don't care.

[B]

They don't care. He's doing fine. And all the people he speaks to, surrounds himself with and cares about tell him that he's great and that they're doing better than ever. And so that's what he thinks is true. He doesn't need the MAGA rabble anymore because he knows whether he's going to lie and say he doesn't think so, that he doesn't have to get elected ever again. He could either just choose to never leave office and start a coup and do whatever, but he feels, I think he feels overly strong in the idea that he will remain in power and comfortable until he dies. And that is true. If you get establishment Democrats who say, well, if we get back everything, then we should unify the country. No, it has to be accountability before reconciliation or Donald Trump will be right in thinking that the law doesn't apply to him and he doesn't have to care about the midterms or the average American or anyone else, because no one else is going to punish him or the people who did this to us. And I think that's gotta be the move for Democrats in these future elections. You have to be running on anti corruption and accountability, not just reconciliation. Not finding the middle, not being a mock moderate.

[A]

Right. No question about it. And I think what you said there is, is. Is really important in that Donald Trump may, yes, it may be a confession when he says, I don't care about the midterms, but in many ways it could be a threat, it could be a warning, because he is. They're already starting to meddle in the midterm elections, and I'm wondering how much of this resonates with younger voters. V, not to pick. Not to say V, speak on behalf of all young people, but V, speak on behalf of all young people. But younger voters have been shifting away from Trump and MAGA in droves. The polling has indicated just a massive change of direction there. What is it, do you think that is going on with that demographic?

[B]

You know, like clavicular, said Gavin Newsom Moggs and J.D. vance is subhuman. And it really comes down to what is.

[A]

Okay now, what did you just say? I don't know what that means.

[B]

What is socially acceptable? And I think there was a time when young men in particular felt a lot of power and community around wearing the red hat and being maga. Be in a lib. And then they realize that girls don't like that and so they're less willing to do that. I hear from so many of my friends, one of the first things that they're trying to figure out in the beginning is, are you maga? Because that says so much more than what they thought was a surface supportive MAGA and sort of a meme or a joke. And it's like people don't like that because what that represents is being anti woman, being anti lgbtq, being anti progress and democracy, being for corruption, being for crypto rug pulls and all these other things being being negative. So want to be a part of that anymore. And so clavicular, who's like this looks maxer right wing type person essentially also said that the Republicans aren't hot, they're not good looking, and so why would we aspire to be like them? And that comes from the gop. You reap what you sow. So much of their whole building of their infrastructure was about, like being strong and masculine and alpha. Well, now those young men that you were targeting at 12 and 13 are 18 and 19 and they're looking at Ken Paxton and going, paxton doesn't mock. Okay, Paxton's not a male alpha. He's not cool, he's not good looking. Why would I aspire to be like this guy? I'm not gonna put his name on my T shirt. He has, he has. No, he's got a low mandible ratio. I don't know, like all the things that they care about in terms of social circles. The other thing that the kids are catching wise to is that there are right leaning PACs and news organizations and influencers who are coming into Democratic politics and claiming to be progressives when they are not. They're just trying to muck up these primaries. And so I think that we're looking at a lot of what's going on with the money and trying to buy influence and inauthenticity. And folks are sick of it. They're done. They want community, they want to be able to get a date. They want to be proud of who they are, proud of their country. And you can't do that when gas is over $5 a gallon and you, you can't get health care, you can't buy a house, you can't do anything. Why would I line up for that guy? He promised me all this and he did none of it. I'm worse off.

[A]

Exactly. And then I think there, I think there's also, and I don't know if the word cringe is used anymore, maybe cringe is a cringy word to use. But when RFK is trying to handle snakes and he's being it just to me, I think the kids, the youngs, the, the young folks out there have figured out that this is sort of a dopey shtick.

[B]

It's dopey. It's jester maxing.

[A]

Yeah, it's just.

[B]

Nobody likes a jester. Maxer.

[A]

Yeah, this is, this is RFK Jr. Handling snakes. And I guess he's trying to show what a tough guy is by saying, oh, let me get these snakes out of here. And they're biting him. This is not a good look.

[B]

No, it's not. And it's it. This, this. I thought this was bad enough. And then right after that, the next newsletter headline from him is him saying that if you get circumcised, it makes you more likely to be autistic. And I just know that every man in the world was like, what? Like what? Like the majority of American men are circumcised. So are you saying that they're all autistic then? Sir, I don't understand like where you're coming from. Like all cults, they fail when the money gets weird or when the sex gets weird. And those are the two things that MAGA is trying to control right now. Is everybody's intimate life and their financial viability and folks don't stick around for that.

[A]

Yeah, and. And maybe we shouldn't take our. Our health information from a guy who picks up snakes until they are biting him repeatedly and swims in sewage and

[B]

swimsuits so he's got an upper decker in.

[A]

I mean, does the cold plunge in the jeans with Kid Rock. All of these things, these are cries for help. Well, V, thank you so much for helping us sort through the day's nuttiness. V. Spear with under the desk news. She's everywhere. She's more everywhere than I am, but I'll plug you anyway. You're doing great work and. And I just really admire all the fun that you're having with this moment right now.

[B]

Yeah. Thanks so much. We'll see you on my live stream next.

[A]

I would love to do that.

[B]

That'd be awesome.

[A]

And I will try not to looks Max or Mog or.

[B]

And no, you're already. You're silver foxing.

[A]

I'm silver foxing. Okay, perfect.

[B]

Perfect.

[A]

And that's a good thing?

[B]

Yes, yes. See you later. Thanks.

[A]

You're the best. Thanks a lot, V. Really appreciate that. We were talking about the midterms a few moments ago, and somebody I wanted to bring on to talk about that is Maria Theresa Kumar with Voto Latino. There's Maria right there. MT Good to see you.

[C]

Great to see you. My camera's a little funny, but I don't know how to fix it.

[A]

No, you're looking great. You're sounding great. Everything's perfect. And I'm so. I'm glad. I'm great. And I'm so glad that we're finally doing this. Oh, that looks even better. Wow.

[C]

There we go.

[A]

On the spot.

[C]

Look at that. I'm my own tech person. I could just quit all my jobs now.

[A]

No, no, no. I wish I could do that on the spot. I would definitely mess things up if I tried to do that on the spot. But I was just. I'm doing good. I was doing. And I was just talking with vsphere, who I. I put her in the position of speaking on behalf of the Youngs, which I shouldn't do. But the midterm results last night from Texas, I mean, that was part of the reason why I wanted to speak with you today because, I mean, this is. I didn't think I would see this again in my lifetime, but the Democrats winning Senate seat in Texas is now in play. Like this could happen.

[C]

Not only couldn't happen, I think it's you know, it's been long time coming. One of the things that folks don't realize is that in the last two decades, in the last two census, the reason that Texas has received additional congressional seats for each time the last 20 years, so basically a total of eight has been because of the growth in the boom in the Latino population. And they never give it to the Latino population. Right. They basically gerrymander it and say, oh, out of the four, you get one. So this time you just have such a growth of the Latino community along with, with an influx of young, educated professionals coming into Texas that I think is in play in a way that we've never seen before. Kim, just so that, you know, for folks listening, in just since 2024, there's an additional half a million young voters in the Latino community that have turned 18. Half a million. And if folks remember that really close race between Beto and Cruz, where Beto lost by less than 3%, that was a margin of difference of 600,000 votes. And so we're talking about people that are sitting on the sidelines saying, I am so fed up with the way that Abbott and other Republicans are, you know, are basically mismanaging, mishandling Texas, that not only is there the opportunity to bring in, yes. The professionals that are creating a new influx. Yes. And Latino voters, but quite frankly, with Tel Rico at the top of the ticket, a lot of moderate Republicans are saying, like, oh, my gosh, Paxton definitely does not represent my politics.

[A]

Right. And I mean, you know, the NRC, up until like, half a second ago, was running ads against Ken Paxton. That was how badly they did not want Ken Paxton. And I think part of the reason why Donald Trump got behind Paxton is because he saw that John Cornyn was going to lose. And you and I both know this is something that Trump often does. He will just, just get behind the candidate that's going to win and say, see what a genius I am. You know, look at all the influence and support that I have out there. But, you know, the other, you know, the problem with some of this, though, Ria, is that we could have a situation come this fall where it looks like some candidates are going to win, and then they don't win because Trump is meddling. And a lot of Republicans in some of these states are meddling in the midterms. They're redistricting. They're maybe putting ICE officers or National Guard troops outside polling stations and so on. What are your concerns in that regard and when it comes to redistricting in particular?

[C]

Well, first of all, I think that there is no doubt in my mind that we're going to have a potential of a massive turnout. But what you are citing is that is it going to be counted fairly? And for us at multilatino, one of the things that we're looking at very closely is like what did in Texas, as an example, what were the shenanigans that Ken Patchson helped lead last time? And there is a great piece of audio of Steve Bannon interviewing Paxton of the 2022 midterm elections where Paxton said the quiet part out loud, that he invalidated over 4 million mail in votes disproportionately in the Houston, Dallas urban areas. And you don't have to really read between the lines to say, whose votes did he decide that didn't count in that mail in? And so one of the things that we're eagerly asking people to do is that even if you voted last time, go make sure that you are on the ballot still, that your ballot hasn't been purged, even if you have to re register, that's okay. We have plenty of time. And then make a plan to vote. It sounds really silly, but we did all of these tests back in the day, and we found that if someone makes a plan to vote, they pledge that they're going to vote. Their chances of going out to vote increases by 80%. So all of a sudden you have a social contract with yourself. And it's kind of like your news, your New Year resolution, it actually sticks the first time for the first couple months. And then you're like, I forget about it. But so that's some of the stuff that we're trying to do. We are working with the Election Crisis Task Force, and we're identifying where are those potential flaws where ICE can show up and how do we prepare the community for it. For all those young moms and all those moms that have been helping in the immigrant rights community, shepherding kids to school, doing underground meal plans, and making sure that people get fed and all that, we're encouraging those moms to become not only poll workers, but also to sign up, to send to drive people to the polls in not their neighborhood, but in disproportionately black and brown neighborhoods. And that way we can make sure that again, the multicultural America that is definitely Texas has a shot of being realized as a true democracy. Because you're absolutely right. Every single thing that they've done, trying to disenfranchise young voters, moving polling places, you know, basically stripping people off the Voting rules, they've done all of that, and yet it still is close every single time.

[A]

Right. And I, and I think that it's almost like, you know, and I've talked about this on, on my show from time to time, that people have to make it their job to vote. Like, this is your job. Your job is to vote this fall. And it's sort of like going to the grocery store with a list. Like, be prepared. Don't just walk in and think you're going to remember everything you have on your grocery list, like, make a plan to go do this. And so I think that's perfect that you're describing it that way. I do wonder, you know, you know, since you are with Voto Latino, where the Latino vote is and how it's shaping up. I mean, because when I look at Texas, I look at places like Florida and maybe some other states as well, where these redistricting battles have gone on, there's the potential, and people might get defeated and think, oh, well, they've already, the fix is in. It's already done. There's no way my vote's going to count. Now, what people don't realize is that in some of these cases, and this may be the case in Texas, maybe more than anywhere else, they may have inadvertently made a lot of districts competitive. And now your Democratic vote may mean something in places where you thought they don't mean anything anymore. Is that your sense of it, too?

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

In Texas, it became upside down. I mean, remember that famous fight that Trump called Abbott and said, I want five congressional districts and he got them, but they're not exactly what he wanted. And what it means by that, and it's. What you're alluding to, is that the Latino vote has never been a fixed vote for either party. It's an absolute swing vote. And younger voters basically match their generation. The younger you are, the more likely you actually care more about policy. And are you going to alleviate the pain in your wallet versus a party that may not deliver? And what we're seeing right now is a whole pendulum swing from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party based on the ability to have affordable prices and to tone down what's happening around immigration and the racial profiling that so many Latinos, regardless of status, are experiencing. And so in Texas, that kind of happened. They basically did not read the room and they thought that they had solidified the Latino vote. And so they redrew these lines that basically grandfathered a lot of Latinos that didn't exist necessarily in that district for Example, and now there's more of them. And they're really angry. They're really angry at the president for mismanaging their wallets. They're angry because of the racial profiling, and they feel like there's been a trust broken. You know, even when you talk to young Latinos that were the ones that swung, you know, the young men that were, that, I would say the shiftiest ones, they basically said, look, he said he was going to do mass deportations of the people that were criminals. I have a friend or I know an uncle or I know someone. And it becomes really personal that, that, that bond, that trust that he lied is really, really deeply seated. And for us, what we're seeing is not only people shifting back, but more saying, we want change. And in Texas, Telo Rico has learned how to thread that needle between being progressive but also moderate enough that he can talk about religious values in a way that makes sense, that allows people to feel that there is a home for them in the Democratic Party.

[A]

Yeah, no, and I'm, I'm curious, what, how do you think the ICE issue is, is breaking down for the midterms? Because, you know, there are a lot of folks who are going to say, well, I want, want the border to be enforced, and I want there to be immigration enforcement and so on, but they don't want to see the heartbreaking stuff that we've been seeing, obviously, over the last year and a half. It's been absolutely outrageous and horrific to watch. And so how should Democrats do you think, talk about this issue going into the fall?

[C]

So this is where it gets tricky. And I mean, I sat down with a couple of senators last week, and one of the things that I was highlighting is that whether you like that are not, if you're living across along the border, when they saw streams of undocumented folks coming in and they felt insecure, Trump has solved that problem, more or less, that you don't have those throngs of individuals. And so what the Democrats should say is, we have been able to secure the border. They don't even have to mention his name, but the border is secure. There's not throngs of people. But our job right now is focus specifically on the people that are already here, and how do you provide relief from them? How do you make sure that the person has lived here for 20 years, that's paid taxes, that is an upstanding citizen, what are those pathways for them to come out of the shadows? And that does include being able to show that you've paid your dues and you've earned your citizenship. And so I think that the Democrats are missing a moment, Jim, that could solidify their base. And what I mean by that is that the last, last time in recent history that we saw such antagonism against the Latino community under the guise of Immigration reform was SP 1070 in Arizona. People forget Arizona was not supposed to be up for grabs for another 10 years. It flips solidly in 2020 and it will flip. And it basically, I would say because of the demographics and because of the recent memory of Sheriff Arpaio and how, you know, how unstable people felt, that allowed Arizona to flip purple. I would say that's why Virginia became purple. That's why Colorado is now blue. And that's, it was these anti immigrant laws. And imagine now every single population across the country that's Latino feeling that now's the time for them to build that base. You know, when we started doing our work in Texas, we were, it was very incremental. The first time out of the bat, we registered roughly about 10,000 folks. In the last two election cycles, we've registered over 300,000. And that's because people are hungry and angry. And if you get to, if you connect the dots of it actually does matter who's sitting in that chair to represent you, they're the ones that get galvanized. And we are seeing again among Latinos, their participation even during the Democratic primary, superseded that closer to not a midterm election turnout primary, but to a presidential primary.

[A]

So people are motivated, they're, they're, they're hungry, they're motivated.

[C]

And the Democratic Party right now, what they need to say, we're going to talk about affordability and we're going to talk about making sure that we are respectful to those people that you love, that making sure that you're American and their families come out of the shadows. Like those are the things that they need to hear. And businesses there, I mean, there's, I go around the country, I can talk to, you know, farm worker farmers or I can talk to CEOs of major companies. They all believe that we need immigrants. And they don't like the state of affairs where they can't fill the positions because all of a sudden people are too afraid to go to work or they don't want to get their H1B visas because they don't know if they're going to get revoked. And so there's a unique moment that we're experiencing, Jim, where people can actually do immigration reform. For the modern today, that would leave the Republicans in the dust.

[A]

No, And I think that, that people are seeing what's happening outside these ICE detention centers and just being absolutely mortified and disgusted by what is taking place in. In particular, I just want to show. We were talking to Senator Andy Kim about this yesterday. He got pepper sprayed on Monday outside the, this ICE detention facility in Newark. And there's now new video that has surfaced of Andy Kim. You can tell that the ICE officers, they knew that it was Andy Kim who was there. He's a United States senator, and they did this. Anyway, let's play this. Yeah, I mean, you can hear in the video that you hear the onlooker saying they tear gas.

[C]

I lost your audio.

[A]

Oh, can you hear me now?

[C]

I can't hear you anymore. I'm gonna go ahead and log out and come back.

[A]

Yeah, do that. Okay, Come back. I let's. As Maria's getting set here. Sometimes that happens. I, I put too many elements in the show and it causes chaos. But let's play it one more time because I want to show this to folks because it might have gotten clipped right at the top. Let's play it one more time. This is Senator Andy Kim and he was outside this ICE detention facility in New Jersey. And Maria, can you hear me now? Is everything okay? Yeah, there's just a little technical gremlin there, but so you can hear.

[C]

I think it's the audio that kicks me out, so I will do the. I'll just come back in.

[A]

Oh, okay. Okay. Did we lose her again? We lost her again. All right. Anyway, I'll, I'll explain what happens. So we had Senator Andy Kim, for folks who missed this yesterday, we had Andy Kim on yesterday and he was talking about how he was there trying to de escalate the situation and trying to keep the ICE folks away from the protesters and keep everything calm and peaceful and so on. And they were pepper sprayed, they were tear gassed. And you can see in the video. And I asked Andy Kim during this interview yesterday, was it very clear to the ICE officers that you were there, that you were a United States senator. He's absolutely 100%. When I saw this video today, Maria, it just struck me as it must have been painfully obvious to ice, totally obvious to ice that that was a senator, you know, from Washington. I mean, he's the senator from New Jersey. And he was there trying to de escalate a situation. And they, they, they pepper sprayed him anyway. And that's this to me, it crystallizes I think a lot of the outrage people have right now, which is these ICE officers, DHS people like Steven Miller, they don't care. And it seems like they switched out Mark Wayne Mullen. Now he's the DHS secretary. I guess he doesn't care either whether we're pepper spraying and tear gassing members of Congress.

[C]

Well, here's the thing, Jim. First of all, Senator Kim was there doing his duty as a senator. He was there to do oversight to make sure that people are taken care of. Let's not forget these detention centers are receiving hundreds of billions of our tax dollars. And so the congressional oversight is actually part of his job description. So he was doing that. But imagine that if there is impunity for taking down a US Senator, in the case of Senator Padilla, taking down and pepper spraying Senator Kim, what other recourse do everyday people have? What happens when the cameras aren't rolling? And this is where I will say that there is such a, a fault of Senator Schumer and the Democrats because they should hold congressional hearings immediately when they go after one of their own. They should make demands of better understanding what is happening. Because if they, if they allow ICE to continue crossing all these lines, they don't. They are not clear on what is not okay. What can we expect from everybody else? You know, one, the way I often describe it is, is that what folks don't realize the way Congress works is that literally Congress and the senators, specifically Congress, because they're the power of the purse, they're basically the board of directors to the cabinet members. Right? So it's actually their fiduciary responsibility to haul these people in and ask the really tough questions as executives who own the purse strings. And they're not doing that. And I do think that if they did, then the American people would recognize that over and over again that what is happening is highly unusual that you are going after. I mean, it's almost saying like, you know, you're going after your boss by pepper spraying them. I mean, plenty of people may want to do that, but there are consequences. And there's no consequences in this case?

[A]

No, and I agree with you 100%. I mean, it seems to me that the Democrats just aren't forceful enough in this. I mean, I just, I expected to be sort of overwhelmed and blown away by senators coming out of the woodwork today and saying, what in the hell is going on where you're pepper spraying us, where United States senators are members of Congress. But they're doing, as you said, they Tackled Alex Padilla. They've been roughing up other members of Congress and telling them they can't come into facilities and that sort of a thing. And I think this is where Donald Trump and Stephen Miller and this bunch, they just do not get it. The American people are not with them on this. They don't, sure, they don't want people coming across the border in droves and they want that tightened up and brought under control, but they don't want it to be just a, a wild scene where people are getting tear gassed or worse, getting killed in some cases like Alex Brady and Renee Good on the streets of American cities. I think they, they have, they are completely deluding themselves if they think the American people want that. They may want that, they may want to bring about this sort of fascist, authoritarian show of force, but the American people are, they want none of that.

[C]

And I think the more that the American people realize that we are basically using federal dollars, federal agents, our tax dollars to round up disproportionately workers.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

To fund private detention industry. I mean, that whole thing is mind boggling. It doesn't, none of it makes sense. And I do think that it's, it is a liability that they're going to face come the midterms. And the more that people recognize, I mean, right now we have roughly 6,000 dol. Thousand, eight thousand kids in detention that, who are minors. When you hear, okay, and Castro, when you talk to him, they don't have medicine, they don't have school, they don't have proper, proper meals. It's, it's abysmal because you can't imagine paying again hundreds of billions of dollars to an industry where they're not doing the minimum to making sure people are at least getting fed and are not, are not freezing every single night and that they have medical care. It is, it is, I would say, the biggest grift under the guise of immigration reform, where people are making so much money in the, in the face of us cutting Medicaid, cutting school, you know, school lunches. I mean, you go down the list and this is where these priorities are. And it's about building the tax dollar, the taxpayer, so that they could basically grift and make billions.

[A]

You're so right about that. There are so many grifts happening around D.C. right now. There's the cryptography. You know, there are all of the things that Donald Trump is doing to line his pockets and his family's pockets. That's a grift. And that there is this mass Deportation, grift, that is happening right now under our noses. It's happening every day. These private companies, these for profit companies that are running these detention facilities and I spoke to Andy Kim about this and he was saying, he was saying the exact same thing that this is, these companies are being paid to warehouse humans and this, and they are giving them the worst possible care because it's better for their bottom line. And I'm so glad you made that point, Maria. Theresa, Kumar. Let's do this again. Many times between now.

[C]

It's my first time.

[A]

I know.

[C]

I loved it. Thank you so much. Really, it means a lot.

[A]

You got it. Good to see, we'll do it again many times. Appreciate it. Good to see you. And I, you know, there's, there's a lot to get, you know, really pissed off about these days and, and I, I'm one of those, as you guys know, to just let her. But I, I will say that, you know, Donald Trump, he goes to Walter Reed yesterday, comes back, he says, I had a perfect, everything was perfectly, you know, done. I, I, I, I passed with flying colors his physical that he had over at Walter Reed. And then he goes into the Cabinet meeting today and he fell asleep again. We should show this video. He fell asleep. The, the nod father, as they call him. The, the dozer in chief. There's, there's so many different ways of describing him these days. There he is. The app will be available on all. Somebody talking there. He's just there. He is nodding off. And it will place the American dreams into the palms of the hands of parents. He can't stay awake. He cannot stay awake. He cannot keep his eyes open. He needs little toothpicks to keep the eyes open there. It seems to me in, in the Cabinet meeting and this, this is playing out almost every day. We're seeing this in the Oval Office. We're seeing this at various events. When he goes around, he just cannot stay awake. And yeah, I guess yesterday the White House was attacking some of my former colleagues at my old place and they were, I guess they were taking screen grabs of various anchors when they had, they had been blinking and saying, ah, see, they nodded off while they were doing their show and so on. I, I guess they were, they were, were they trying to gaslight everybody and make it seem as though anchors were nodding off. The reason why I bring this up is that they are trying so hard over at the White House these days to make what doesn't make sense make sense. They are sane. Washing that which cannot be sane washed and that is we have a commander in chief, we have a President of the United States who cannot keep his eyes open when the cameras are on him for these few opportunities, when he is actually doing something in front of the American people. And I just, at some point we have to ask the question. And I, and I do see my friends in the, the legacy media talk about this now. They're doing polls that show like 58 of the American people. Don't think he has the mental sharpness to be the commander in chief. But I honestly think we need to be showing this video on the nightly newscast. This video needs to be on all the social media. These images, these pictures of the commander in chief incapable of staying awake in public settings. This needs to be shown as far and wide as it can be as humanly possible. And what's astounding about this, what is, what is totally remarkable about this is that as he is doing this, they're going around the table and we talked about this before, but they did it again today. They're going around the table lavishing praise on somebody who cannot stay awake. And I guess Kelly Loeffler, who was a senator and has some, they gave her a bullshit job.

[B]

The administration, she's the greatest economy that the world has ever known. And I see that every week as I travel this country main streets across dozens of states from Alaska to Maine. Been in many of those states two or three times. I hear it everywhere I go. Please thank the president. President for putting us back on track. They thank you.

[A]

They, they. She goes on to say thank you. They love you, thank you for putting us back on track. But this is what Donald Trump is doing. We should show the video again. And for the folks who tuned in a little late, we should show the video again of the Ultimate Fighting Championship cage, the octagonal cage that they're building and the arches over this that they're building at the White House. I went up and got an aerial look at some of this earlier today and this is what they're doing on the South Lawn of the White House right now. It looks like something out of Mad Max where they're building. And, and I guess these big sweaty dudes are going to get in this cage and they're just going to beat the out of each other. On Donald Trump's birthday, he's turned, yes, ladies and gentlemen, he's turning 80 years old. We're celebrating an 80 year old man's birthday which, with guys beating the out of each other on the South Lawn of the White House. It is Idiocracy. I was down there earlier today, and a man, you know, he went to go see it for himself and he turned to me and he said, it's like a scene out of the movie Idiocracy. And that's exactly what this. Down the street from the White House, they have these creepy statues that are sitting on Freedom Plaza because Donald Trump thought it would be fun to have some creepy statues down the street of the White House. But this is why the man can't stay awake. He can't stay awake because he is doing things for his own benefit. He's doing things to, to, to get his kicks, to get his jollies in, in having his 80th birthday coming up, and he's not doing anything to tackle the problems of the American people. He is doing zilch to tackle the problems of the American people. And, and, and one would think if he's going to fall asleep on camera, he would be up all night working on that kind of stuff day and night, but he's not doing that. He's, he's, he's definitely not doing that. He's doing stupid things like preparing for an Ultimate Fighting Championship cage match on the South Lawn of the White House. And so, you know, as he said earlier today, I don't care about the midterms or I don't think about the midterms. No shit. We can tell because if you did care or you were thinking about the midterms, you would be doing things to address the problems of the American people as we speak. So I had to say something. I mean, Don, and forgive me if I do this too much, but I think it's necessary to mark when it happens each and every time as best as we can, when it happens, when Donald Trump cannot stay awake in front of the American people. He used to call Joe Biden Sleepy Joe. He used to call him sleepy. Remember that? He would say, you know, how could he be president? He's Sleepy Joe. Well, Dozy Dozy Donald or Snoozy Donald or whatever we're going to call him. I, I sort of prefer the nod Father, because he's, he does that sort of like, you know, he does this thing where he's just the, the lip droops and he's, he's passing out right in front of our eyes. But it's important. And I, and I, I'm starting to see a little bit more coverage of it on the legacy media, on the corporate media, but we're just, you know, this needs to be Seen. This is the President of the United States. He, he, he. We barely see him. We barely hear from him, and he can barely keep his eyes open through one. One, at one cabinet meeting. It's, it's pretty remarkable stuff. But anyway, great show today. Thanks for indulging me on going and taking a look at the, the crazy stuff that he's doing around the nation's capital. He's, they're building this, this monstrosity for this UFC cage match that they're going to do. That's in addition to the reflecting pool that they're painting blue and the arch, the, the, the, the triumphal arch that he wants to build over by Arlington National Cemetery in the ballroom. I, I think it's important to mark all of these things that are taking place because these are warning signs, ladies and gentlemen, that we have a President, United States, who cannot keep it together. We have a President of the United States who cannot stay awake. And you know, what's good for the goose is good for the gander. If, if, if Fox and Maga and Donald Trump and all these guys were going to give Joe Biden a hard time for that stuff stuff when he was in office, hey, it seems to me when it's actually happening, when it's really happening in front of our eyes, it needs to be called out. My thanks to V. Spear with under the Desk news earlier today. My thanks to Maria Teresa Kumar. Yes, that's right. Read the banner right there. Support independent media so we can continue to bring you stories like this. Be sure to, like, subscribe. It all matters. Hey, I'm going to a Bruce, Bruce Springsteen concert concert later tonight with some of my, my folks on my team. I'll try to send some pics from that and maybe we can all talk about the Boss tomorrow and see what, what a great time we had here in D.C. watching Bruce Springsteen. He is coming to do one of his shows here in the nation's capital to talk about how we should have no kings in this country, to talk about things like the, uh, the atrocities that were taking place in Minneapolis earlier this year. So I'll have some fun tonight. I'll recap it tomorrow and talk about it then. But in the meantime, still reporting from Washington, I'm Jim Acosta. I'll see you next time. It's gaudy, it's trashy, it's tacky, it's pure Donald Trump. You can already see the Star Spangled Arch towering above the octagonal cage where they're talking about doing this Ultimate Fighting Championship event on the South Lawn of the White House. And they're not just talking about doing cage matches on the grounds of the White House. They're also talking about doing weigh ins for those cage matches over at the Lincoln Memorial. As one man told me earlier today, it's like something out of Idiocracy. You would think this is for America's 250th birthday. No, no, no, no, no. This is for Donald Trump's 80th birthday. Trump thinks there's going to be about 4,000 people on hand to witness the spectacle. Think of it as gladiator battles inside a three ring circus. This is supposed to be the people people's house. He's treating it like it's his house.