← The Jim Acosta Show
The Jim Acosta Show
I'VE HAD IT!! JENNIFER WELCH AND ANGIE "PUMPS" SULLIVAN JOIN JIM TO TALK EPSTEIN, TRUMP & CANKLES!
00:40:10
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- [00:00]
Jennifer Welch
Foreign.
- [00:06]
Jim Acosta
Welcome to the Jim Acosta show. And it's another day that ends in Y, in Donald Trump's cover up of the Epstein files. It's another day that ends in Y and Trump's assault on American democracy. And it's another day that ends in Y and Trump hiding his health issues. But I'm joined by two guests who have had enough of all of that. They are Jennifer Welch and Angie Pumps Sullivan. They are the host of the I've had it podcast, which is killing it on YouTube. Much more famous or infamous than I am. They're in all of these other places. They're now on Substack, which is very exciting. And welcome to Jennifer and Angie. Great to finally talk to you guys. I feel like this is long overdue.
- [00:45]
Jennifer Welch
Angie?
- [00:46]
Angie Pumps Sullivan
Yeah, we're big fans. We loved you on CNN before CNN got weird.
- [00:52]
Jim Acosta
But, you know, everything's weird now.
- [00:56]
Jennifer Welch
That's true.
- [00:56]
Jim Acosta
And I've had it with that.
- [00:57]
Angie Pumps Sullivan
I've had it with that.
- [00:59]
Jennifer Welch
It is, it's weird being an American right now.
- [01:03]
Jim Acosta
And I want to jump right into this. And I'll just go, Jennifer, you're sitting next to me in the boxes here, so I'll go with you first. But I mean, we saw something yesterday which I think, you know, a lot of Americans are catching onto, which is Donald Trump is just full of crap on the Epstein files as these women are up on Capitol Hill speaking out, being very brave. These survivors, their families speaking out, being very brave. He's over at the White House saying it's a hoax. And I was just wondering what, what you both thought of that and where things are going. Because, I mean, I, I've been covering this since they tried to sweep this under the rug, what, back in July. But Jennifer, your thoughts? We'll just jump into it.
- [01:45]
Jennifer Welch
I think a lot of this is intentional and it's his authoritarian play. I think, number one, he's trying to cover it up because he's, as I like to say, cankles deep in the files. Number two, anytime he can demean anything other than the oligarchy or the patriarchy, he does it and he does it on purpose. He wants to be an exhibitionist about, look at how cruel we are. Look at how we're treating these victims. That is a part of the psychology of an authoritarian and how they display their cruelty and minimizing and dehumanizing and otherizing people. So they're making a spectacle of people's pain. And it's the point. Ridiculing them is the point.
- [02:29]
Jim Acosta
Yeah. No, there's no question about it. And Angie, I mean, I mean to point out Trump's hypocrisy is sort of like, I guess it's sort of like pissing into the wind, but I'll do it anyway. Last it was last September, almost to the day, it was maybe a few weeks after today, a year ago, when he said he was going to be the protector of women. Play that and then I'll get you to comment on the other side.
- [02:52]
Donald Trump
Told me about four weeks ago. I was saying, no, I want to protect the people. I want to protect the women of our country. I want to protect the women. Sir, please don't say that. Why? They said, we think it's, we think it's very inappropriate for you to say so. Why I'm president, I want to protect the women of our country.
- [03:09]
Jennifer Welch
They said.
- [03:19]
Donald Trump
They said, sir, I just think it's inappropriate for you to say pay these guys a lot of money. Can you believe it? I said, well, I'm going to do it whether the women like it or not. I'm going to protect them. I'm going to protect them from migrants coming in. I'm going to protect them from foreign countries that want to hit it hit us with missiles and lots of other things.
- [03:40]
Jim Acosta
Angie, remember that, that way. It was so God awful at the time and it sounded more like a warning than a promise.
- [03:48]
Angie Pumps Sullivan
I think it is a warning because Donald Trump does not value women. Women are interchangeable to him, you know, wives, people that work for him. He, he fundamentally, I think, does not like women. He doesn't like anybody, but he particularly doesn't like women. And we live in a state where it's a complete abortion ban and he's, oh, I'm states rights and all that. Well, no, women are dying, they're bleeding out, they're having to go to other hospitals. It's an assault on poor women, but he doesn't value them. And neither did Jeffrey Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell. And what I found super interesting about the women, the victims speaking yesterday was the relationship between Ghislaine Maxwell and Donald Trump. Because we haven't, I mean, everybody knows if you are alive on planet Earth, you know, Donald Trump is in the Epstein files, you know, they're best friends, you know, they did shady together. But for her to put Donald Trump's name in Ghislaine Maxwell's mouth, particularly with his behavior, like, I knew it, I'm sure you knew it. But for maga, that had to have been hard to hear.
- [04:51]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, I Mean, and Jennifer, I mean, one of the survivors said yesterday that Jeffrey Epstein liked to brag about the friends that he had. And the one he bragged about the most was Donald Trump. I mean, this is who he is and he is the one. There's one person standing between where we are right now and seeing the Epstein files. It's him. He's the only one.
- [05:12]
Jennifer Welch
And I think it's important to point out when there are tells that Trump has, like during the footage that you played where he says, sir, sir, you immediately know that conversation didn't take place when he leaves it. The second thing is there are two people that he has wished well. He said about Elon Musk, when Elon Musk is the one that tweeted, the reason you're not going to get the Epstein files is because Trump is in the epicenter of them. Trump's response was, I wish Elon well. And I thought when I heard that. Who else did he say this about? He said it about Ghisain Maxwell. Well, what did Ghisain and Elon Musk have in common? They both could ruin Trump. They both have the goods on him. So we have to kind of read, you know, the tea leaves with him. And this man consistently surrounds himself with sexually depraved people. He himself is sexually depraved. I know that Mag is somewhat acting shocked, but in a way, they kind of voted for this. This is the grab him by the pussy guy. This is the guy who tried to give a microphone a job. This is a guy who brags about seeing underage girls. So for those of us that even mildly follow the news, none of this is a surprise. But of course they were good friends. Of course, Epstein bragged about having him. And then the whole birthday book thing. I think I've read that Ghislaine is the one that fed that to the Wall Street Journal to kind of send a warning shot to Trump that, hey, I've got more goods on you.
- [06:43]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, well, and, and Angie, I mean, one of the things you just said a few moments ago, you're. You're down south, you're in a state where abortion rights are not protected anymore. Just to delve into the both of you a little bit, because the, the folks out, the very few people out there who have not heard of the. I've had a podcast. Where are you? And why is that important to what you do?
- [07:05]
Angie Pumps Sullivan
We are in Oklahoma. Oklahoma City. And we have.
- [07:09]
Jim Acosta
Great city.
- [07:09]
Angie Pumps Sullivan
Yeah, yeah, it is a great city. But the politicians here, they are. I mean, obviously we know about Ryan Walters. They're super religious and it's a Republican super majority and has been forever. It's the worst place for women to live in the country. 50th in education. And Ryan Walters, our superintendent, wants to do the culture wars. And women are losing health care in rural towns, like people, cities that voted for Trump. They no longer have access to any type of ob GYN care because doctors are leaving the state. And I'm like, this is what happens when you take medical decisions out of the hands of doctors and scientists. This is what you're left with. But they all voted for him. You know, hand Trump, maga, the whole nine. And so I just. In Oklahoma, we have a real problem with people voting against their own interest. And I think we've seen that with America at large. Like, we want to vote for billionaires even though we're blue collar. We want to vote for men even though we're women. Like, we, we don't care about the issues. We care more about the culture wars. And I would think this would be a wake up call to maga, but I kind of don't know if it will.
- [08:24]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, well. And I mean, to that point, Jennifer, there's a video that you did recently, or there's a clip of you that went viral recently where you talk about these, these cultural issues. And I saw this clip and I thought, because I've traveled all over the country, I've been to Trump rallies in all, almost all 50 states, north, south, east, west. And it's exactly what you were saying, Angie, about people voting against their own interests for, I guess, for cultural reasons. And Jennifer, you have a real problem with that and you had it with that. I want to play a little bit of it and let's chat about it, because, I mean, this one is a rip, roar and good time. Let's watch this.
- [09:03]
Jennifer Welch (clip)
Get your fat asses over to Cracker Barrel. Quit watching NBA basketball. Quit watching sports that are dominated by African Americans. Quit going to Mexican restaurants. You want white culture, you go live in it. You live in it, bathe in it. Go to do all the white culture stuff. Get your Bible thump on. Go get in the dunk tank at the mega church after you watch your mega preacher drive off in his Rolls Royce and then go, you know, to the shoot range and go shoot. But do not participate in any of the. That makes America cool. And what makes America cool is multiculturalism. And if you want a triple Trump and you want to browbeat dei, you want to browbeat gay people, and you want to browbeat black people as you've been doing for 400 years. And you want to browbeat this generation of immigrants that come over here and open up businesses, earnestly pay their taxes. You want to demonize them and call them rapists and felons and all this when the felon is the teeny weeny mushroom piece of cankles McTaco tits at the top of the ticket. I have had it from top to bottom.
- [10:19]
Jim Acosta
There's just no question what, what brought that on? Let's talk about this. It's a hell of a moment and it resonated with a lot of people.
- [10:29]
Jennifer Welch
What I love about this is you kind of said it the way the therapist would. Jennifer, let's talk about this. Yeah, I do want to talk about it, Jim, because when you live in a state that is a MAGA super majority and has been so for a couple of decades, if you listen to their logic, our governor Kevin Stitt, after he won his second term, went on television and said, I dedicate every square inch of this state to Jesus Christ. And what Governor Stitt is doing is he is weaponizing his faith against all these people in rural Oklahoma. The only sense of culture that they have is that church. And so he is using, he's, I call it Christian signaling. You know, they accuse us of virtue signaling the right Christian signals. And they say things like, well, the good Lord, this and you know, Mike Johnson and Caroline Levitt with her cross. They're, they're good, good Christian folk. Meanwhile, they're doing the exact opposite of the things that are very important to the central character of the religion that's practiced in this state, which is Christianity. And I'm not religious at all. I never have been. And I have found that people, the, the religious voters in MAGA super majorities, they operate on a lot of fear and their religion is weaponized against them to scare them. They get scared of trans people, they get scared of immigrants because they live in a very white culture society. But then they're dying to go to an OKC thunder game, they're dying to go to a Mexican restaurant, they're listening to Freddie Mercury or maybe some hip hop music and it makes are their lives better. But if we were to listen to these MAGA Republicans, that wealth trickles down and all of these, if you turn your life over to Jesus, then the top 10 states would be all of the southern states. And Jim, the data is in. And they have had MAGA super majorities for a couple of decades now. Yeah, the trickle down has failed them. And these are the bottom 10 states. These are parasitic states that are parasites off of New York, of California. And politicians in the Democratic Party have got to start speaking to these people very, very clearly. You have been lied to and your faith has been used and weaponized against you. And Democrats need to not fear calling out Christian hypocrites. I think they have. They brought their faith to the table, and we need to respond accordingly. And look no further than the governor of Kentucky, who won on in a very red state because he didn't throw trans people under the bus. He said his faith taught him and instructed him not to bully those kids. And he won In Kentucky, Mitch McConnell land. So there are lessons that the Democratic Party can take here. And we need to start branding these red states the way the Republican Party has branded blue cities, because this is where all the suffering is happening. This is where all the crime is happening.
- [13:33]
Jim Acosta
Well, and Gavin Newsom has been pointing that out with Trump sending in the National Guard and the Marines into places like Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, that the cities with the most crime, with the highest crime rates are in red states. There are places like St. Louis and Memphis and places in Louisiana and so on. And I guess, Angie, I mean, it boils your blood, too. And this is what drives both of you, is that you are. You are running up against this on a daily basis. You. You kind of are in the MAGA universe. You're. You're surrounded by it at all times.
- [14:03]
Angie Pumps Sullivan
We're in the heart of the Maggie universe. And I have, I have young adult children. And what flabbergasts me, and I was raised evangelical, the whole nine. Spiritual warfare, all of it. And my parents are still like, snort Fox News every single day. Guns, God, the whole nine.
- [14:25]
Jim Acosta
Yeah.
- [14:26]
Angie Pumps Sullivan
And so having been raised in that. And I see now it's every. Everything that I was taught growing up on how I was supposed to behave is the exact opposite of what we're doing now. And the lack of empathy. And so, like, we're in it. And what amazed me is my kids are like young adults. These parents know that women are dying. They're bleeding out. Doesn't mean they were, you know, unwed pregnancy or teenage moms. These are women that wanted children that had a complication with their pregnancy.
- [14:58]
Jim Acosta
Right.
- [14:58]
Angie Pumps Sullivan
And they are willing to put politicians in their child's, you know, ob GYN appointment, risk their fertility, risk their lives. And what I see the insulation is, is being white and having money. So when you are white and have money, those problems don't apply to you. And it's okay for you to ignore it and dehumanize people because you're better. And that's something that, having left religion, evangelical culture, I, the entitlement and the judgment. And I'm better than you.
- [15:29]
Jim Acosta
Yeah.
- [15:30]
Angie Pumps Sullivan
I don't have to worry about your problems. And so it's, it's really gross and it makes me mad. And if you got me started on Mike Johnson, my head would fall off and I would be dead for five years and I would still be talking about what a hypocrite is.
- [15:43]
Jim Acosta
It was Mike Johnson who sent the House home early over the summer. And I just asked the Christian conservatives out there, who call yourselves Republicans, call yourselves maga. Donald Trump is in the Epstein files. He's mentioned multiple times in the Epstein files and talk about things that I've had it with. I've had it with reporters not asking Donald Trump the question, why are you in the Epstein files? Can you please explain where you appear in the Epstein files and in what way? Because I think, I mean, until we get those answers, this, this kind of is not going to go away. And the other thing that's not going away is are these questions about his health. And you've both been very, I think, very colorful in your descriptions of his health issues. The cankles, the, the, is it the taco tits? Is that what we call it? Am I allowed to say that? Forgive me.
- [16:29]
Angie Pumps Sullivan
Yeah, you're allowed to say it.
- [16:31]
Jennifer Welch
You can be a part of the club. It's fun to bully conservatives. We need to bully them more.
- [16:36]
Jim Acosta
And, and, and he was, he was in the Oval Office and they had to show him the video of the, of the window opening up with the bag going out the window. Was that the Diaper Genie? What was that? I don't know.
- [16:48]
Jennifer Welch
This is, this is a catastrophe. I mean, it is a complete catastrophe. This man is clearly in cognitive decline. And kudos to Gavin Newsom because he just recently asked Grok on Twitter, does repeating yourself over and over, is that a sign of dementia? Which he does. He has his, he rolls out his greatest hits windmill, Hannibal Lecter, you know, he gets on a few things. Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. And now he's saying that Epstein hoax. I mean, he's about a ten hit wonder is the max that we're going here. And I think the 10 hits are reducing more and more. But what enrages me, Jim Acosta, is when you were there in the White House, you would have already asked, what are the bruises on your hands?
- [17:31]
Jim Acosta
Yes, your ankles.
- [17:32]
Jennifer Welch
Are swollen. And you have a lot of your former colleagues who wrote books about Joe Biden and you know what Free press, you know, old president, sometimes he seemed slow. We all saw what we saw. Yeah, it's not even comparable to what we're seeing right now. And he is actively dismantling democracy. He says he can do whatever he wants because he's president. There haven't even been any follow up questions about that.
- [17:59]
Jim Acosta
He says a lot of people want a dictator. He says, well, it means reducing crime. A lot of people, nobody wants a dictator. Has anybody gone out and said I would like to have a dictator? I mean, maybe there are a few people in MAGA world who want a dictator. But nobody goes out and says I want to have a dictator. It's totally. And I completely agree with you. I think Peter Doocy on Fox asked Joe Biden if he was going to die. Like every day of the week Joe Biden was in office. And this nonsense that. We never covered it, Angie. I mean we covered, I feel like we cover Joe Biden being old all the time.
- [18:31]
Jennifer Welch
Oh my God.
- [18:32]
Angie Pumps Sullivan
Every day. Look at that clip you played of him a year ago in his McDonald's outfit or his trash truck. There's a huge difference between that and what we have now. Like play them side by side. But here's another thing. I, I mean my expectations of the press are so low, no offense, because you cannot both sides. Fascism, in my opinion.
- [18:53]
Jim Acosta
Yes.
- [18:54]
Angie Pumps Sullivan
Or white supremacy and all that. But I want, I want someone just to raise their hand and say, which seven wars have you stopped since in the last nine months of the country? I mean like baby steps, baby steps.
- [19:08]
Jim Acosta
Please. Dump the chump. We call it stump. I, I say play stump the chump with Trump. Ask him questions, basic questions like that. They're apparently doing it today with RFK Jr talking about Cova. They asked him how many people died from COVID He couldn't, he couldn't answer the question. He wouldn't answer the question because he said he's either he's got problems, he's got a brain worm, or you know, he's in cognitive decline or he's just nuts. It's. And this whole administration is stocked with these kinds of guys, pumps.
- [19:37]
Jennifer Welch
And I always say that it's like a prerequisite. The more depraved you are if you've sexually assaulted somebody, if you have a brain worm, if you staged a bear homicide in Central park, if you, you know, your mother's writing you letters to go to rehab because you're an alcoholic. And your preacher says, yeah, let's do away with the 19th amendment. Welcome, you're perfect. And we interviewed on our podcast that dropped today. Her name is Ruth Ben Ghiat and she is a NYU professor. Wonderful, obsessed. And a lot of this is the point of authoritarianism. It is to completely surround everybody with you that matches your moral collapse. You can look no further than Marco Rubio. But here's something that we should be talking about a lot. We have this theory that everybody that gets in Trump's orbit or votes for him three times, they're worse off of a person than they were before. Like Trump makes people worse. And this is exemplified the most by Ted Cruz. Think about Ted Cruz 10 years ago. Oh my God, could Ted Cruz get worse? You'd say it's impossible. He's the worst MFER on the planet. There's no way he could be worse than he is right now. Yeah, God damned. The MFER is a million times worse.
- [20:51]
Angie Pumps Sullivan
Unbelievable.
- [20:53]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, we take the Ted Cruz that went to Cancun. I mean, if we could have him back.
- [20:57]
Jennifer Welch
Exactly.
- [20:57]
Jim Acosta
He's even worse now.
- [20:59]
Jennifer Welch
Totally. It's. It's crazy how despicable and, and, but Ruth says that this is, this is a part of it. It is. Look at how morally depraved I am and look at how humiliation exercise. Look at how they've all fallen with me. And that's a part of the optics of authoritarianism. So I think that's important. When they do those three hour circle jerks, you're so great.
- [21:23]
Angie Pumps Sullivan
You have a great face.
- [21:24]
Jennifer Welch
It's just so cringe worthy. You know that there's a point to that and there' humiliation exercise to that. Where he sits there and he watches everybody humiliate themselves and stoop to his level or lower.
- [21:35]
Jim Acosta
Yeah. How broken can you be where you need the cabinet of, of the. Of the United States of America to go around praising you. It is just so weird and sick. And I don't want to take up all of your time because I know you guys have been so generous in spending time with me today, and I really appreciate it. But I want to know how did this get whole thing get started? Because you're just suddenly superstars and you're everywhere and everybody's talking about you and so. But did this, how did this. Were you guys at like at the bar or were you. I mean, did you know each other when this happened?
- [22:08]
Angie Pumps Sullivan
We have been friends for 25 years.
- [22:10]
Jim Acosta
Okay.
- [22:10]
Angie Pumps Sullivan
We raised our kids together. We, I mean, I hired her decorate my House when I was pregnant with my third child. She hadn't even had her second child. So that's how long this goes back. And we have been like two peas in a pod. Like, she insulted me immediately, and I fell in love with it because I was like, oh, my gosh, that's real.
- [22:32]
Jennifer Welch
Like, I insulted your interior design. I am an. But not that big of an. I want to quantify how big of an I was. So she calls me over to her house, and my husband and Angie practice law together. And that's how. How I was introduced to her.
- [22:50]
Jim Acosta
Okay.
- [22:50]
Jennifer Welch
And I walked in, and she said, I have terrible taste. You can do you want. And so, I mean, just. Just take a look. And she has a dining. Her dining room is right in the entry. And you know how, like, old people put, like, the brown protector on top of the wood.
- [23:06]
Jim Acosta
Yeah.
- [23:06]
Jennifer Welch
Table. Like your grandma would do it pumps. Was like, 30, and she had that on there. And I'm kind of looking at that. And then she had this portrait of a silk flower arrangement. It's a real grandma, and she's, like, 30 and cute and fun and young. I was like. Like, oh, my God. I can tell you have no taste, because the only thing worse than silk flowers is a portrait of silk flowers, and you have both. And that's before you get to the dining table cover top.
- [23:31]
Jim Acosta
Oh, no.
- [23:32]
Jennifer Welch
Yeah. So I kind of spit truth as the aforementioned Angie.
- [23:37]
Jim Acosta
And did Jennifer help?
- [23:39]
Angie Pumps Sullivan
Oh, my gosh. It was amazing. And I will say, as good as she is at podcasting, and she is fabulous at podcasting, her designs are amazing. Like, her. Her interior design stuff is incredible.
- [23:52]
Jim Acosta
And so. And it's just taken off from there. And you started the podcast about three years ago.
- [23:57]
Angie Pumps Sullivan
Is that October 26th was our first.
- [23:59]
Jennifer Welch
Like, is that our anniversary? I was thinking, you know that in your heart.
- [24:05]
Angie Pumps Sullivan
I do. I know it in my heart. But to be fair, Jim, we were. We were on a reality TV show on Bravo in 2016 and 17, and. And so that was over, but we were still friends. And so our kids were like, y' all should do a podcast. And we were like, okay, whatever. But anyway, so there was that little bit. But it's so funny because Jennifer, now they introduce her as an actress, which I just found out about.
- [24:31]
Jennifer Welch
No, no, no. I'm not an actress. It was a miss. I was on MSNBC the other night, and I'm sitting. Molly. John Fast is introducing me, and she was like. Like, Jason Selvig is there. And Jennifer Welch, she's an. An actress. A Podcaster. When she said actress, I was kind of like, that's really not true. I'm an interior designer. But, yeah, that wasn't.
- [24:52]
Jim Acosta
We're not podcasters, but we play ones on TV or something like that. And I love Molly, by the way, so.
- [24:57]
Angie Pumps Sullivan
Oh, my God.
- [24:59]
Jennifer Welch
She was just reading from the prompter. But. And I meant to go back and correct it, but, you know, from tv, like, they tee me up, then they play a clip, and by the time they got to me.
- [25:07]
Jim Acosta
But anyway, everybody's forgotten at that point. Well, nobody can forget what you guys are doing, right? I mean, you're just crushing it. And are you surprised by the success of it, that people are really just, you know, like the other day with the McTaco tits, what was the thing that you. The. The cankles and the cankles.
- [25:25]
Jennifer Welch
You know what? I'm both. I'm both surprised, happy, and then somewhat disappointed at how novel we are that there aren't as many white women speaking out like we are. Women control the economy. Women are the spenders. Women do the bulk of the raising of the kids. And so I'm hopeful that our messaging is giving permission structures to white women and other people to open up their minds and be more accepting and fight for the marginalized much in the same way, but for good. That Trumpism gave racist permission structures to feel a little bit more comfortable being racist, etc. So we want to be the. The opposite end of the spectrum. And. And some. I know that there are a lot of women and men out there that were raised and told, this is what you have to believe. This is the political party. You have to vote. But we're critical thinkers, our species, right? So you're probably thinking, wait a minute, they're deporting, they're kidnapping people from Home Depot. Those people aren't raised rapists.
- [26:35]
Angie Pumps Sullivan
They're.
- [26:35]
Jennifer Welch
They're buying hammers and nails. So we're hopeful that. That maybe us being messengers of, you know, two women that have careers, that have had children, that live in the buckle of the Bible Belt, we are boots on the ground as to how devastating Republican and MAGA policies are for people. We're hoping that we can be credible messengers and provide a permission structure to help inject some good into the cult culture and make it, you know, a good thing to support marginalized people and to say things like, none of us are free until all of us are free and fight for the most marginalized person and don't bully them. If that happens to be a trans kid, don't be a dick, for God's sake.
- [27:19]
Jim Acosta
Exactly. Yes. God, thank you. I know. And, and, and Angie, it's. I guess you, you, you both make it more palatable. This, this brand of politics, this I've had at politics that you're bringing to the table if, if people who look like you, sound like you live like you think. You know, I've been wanting to say this for a while, and maybe I'm not comfortable doing it around my husband or, you know, my friend group or whatever, but I. This is how I feel, damn it. I've had it.
- [27:51]
Angie Pumps Sullivan
Yes. And I do think people love to complain together. I mean, people are bonding over the, the premiere podcast, the flagship podcast, if you will, which is like complaining, and now it's complaining a lot about politics. But I do think, I don't know that we intended it at the beginning, but we see people that are like, wait a minute, they're right. Why are we bullying trans kids? Like, you know, why are we doing that? And it's, I think just anecdotally, people have, in my circle have been more ready to step up and say, you know, I don't, I don't want to hear the, the racism coding jokes that happen in white circles in a place like Oklahoma. So hopefully that helps. But we did break a lot of MAGA hearts in the beginning because we kind of gave off Fox News vibes and people thought we were funny. So, like, I'm funny and they're, you know, middle age, blonde hair, accent sense. Of course they're maga. So we did get a lot of.
- [28:52]
Jim Acosta
They really had their bait and switch there.
- [28:58]
Interviewer at RFK Jr. hearing
But that's good.
- [28:58]
Jim Acosta
I love that. I think that's perfect. And I love, I love the message about being more kind. You know, I think what Trump does, I wrote about this years ago. He tries to normalize and sanitize nastiness and cruelty and in particular to marginalized communities. And we, it. I think the way out of this is to pull people out of it. And you both do that beautifully. So kudos to both of you. Thank you for all that you do. And I've had it, too, so thank you for having it or not having it.
- [29:30]
Jennifer Welch
Thank you so much. Jim Acosta. This is so cool. We love being on your show and we'd love to have you on ours.
- [29:35]
Jim Acosta
I will do it anytime, please. Anytime. Jennifer and Angie, thank you so much. Really appreciate it. I've had a podcast. Love it. But great to see you.
- [29:43]
Jennifer Welch
Bye.
- [29:44]
Jim Acosta
Bye. Take care. Well, I mean, you know, there is something very crafty going on down in Oklahoma City. And it's, It's a city, and I wasn't making that up. I've been to all 50 states, and I've been to Oklahoma City a number of times to cover political rallies and you name it. There's just wonderful people down there. And they do have a really damn good basketball team down there, too. And I love the fact that Jennifer and Angie, they. They walk the walk, they talk the talk. They're unafraid to speak their minds in the reddest of red states of America. And we need more of that in this country and to, to talk to people in, in ways that break through culture barriers. You know, Jennifer is absolutely right. You know, why are people who, who support these mass deportation rates going into Mexican restaurants and sitting down with their families and being served by people who, you know, if they were out on the street, they might call ICE and say, go get this guy. Enough of that. Enough of that cruelty. And as I've said on this show many times, Donald Trump wants his cruelty to become your cruelty. And what Jennifer and Angie are doing with the. I've had a podcast is they are taking a sledgehammer to that, that in their own backyard. And that takes a lot of guts. And that's why I've been wanting to have them on this show. When I saw Jennifer and her Cracker Barrel rant, I said, this is perfect. And it's a perfect opportunity in a vehicle to have them both on. So I hope everybody got a kick out of that. I have to say one more time before I wrap this up, RFK Jr. RFK Jr. Did you guys see this at his hearing earlier in the day? Matt, Matt, I think we have the clip. I believe we have.
- [31:35]
Interviewer at RFK Jr. hearing
Do you. Do you accept the fact that a million Americans died from COVID I don't.
- [31:41]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Know how many died.
- [31:43]
Interviewer at RFK Jr. hearing
You're the Secretary of Health and Human Services. You don't have any idea how many Americans died from COVID I don't think.
- [31:50]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Anybody knows because there was so much death data chaos coming out of the cdc and there was incentives, and these are models.
- [32:01]
Interviewer at RFK Jr. hearing
You don't know the answer of how many Americans from COVID This is the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Do you think the vaccine did anything to prevent additional deaths?
- [32:12]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Again, I would like to see the data and talk about the data.
- [32:17]
Interviewer at RFK Jr. hearing
You have had this job for eight months, and you don't. We don't know the data about whether the vaccines.
- [32:23]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
And that's the problem, is that they didn't have the data. The data by the Biden administration absolutely.
- [32:29]
Interviewer at RFK Jr. hearing
Tells who is politicized. You're saying the Biden administration politicized all the data. Go back to what can. Well, just fire Dr. From Surgeon General.
- [32:40]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
They fired Dr. Grant. They fired all the people who questioned the Orthodoxy. They fired Dr. Gruber.
- [32:46]
Interviewer at RFK Jr. hearing
Dr. Kauz, Chairman, Secretary of Health and Human Services doesn't know how many Americans died from COVID Doesn't know if the vaccine helped prevent any deaths. And you were sitting as Secretary of Health and Human Services. How can you be that ignorant? Like you know, I remember when we went to the hearing with you, I asked you about community health centers. You didn't know what role they play. I've been visiting community. I'm glad you you got one.
- [33:14]
Jim Acosta
Unreal. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. We have a clown. We have an absolute clown as the Secretary of Health and Human Services. An absolute clown. And God help us if there is another pandemic in this country under his watch. I mean he did not know the answer to the question how many people died from COVID during the pandemic According to Johns Hopkins, if you can believe Johns Hopkins. I mean RFK Jr has trouble believing anybody but himself and the cockamamie crazy ass ideas originating in his brain worm ridden head. There were a million 123, 836 deaths from COVID during the pandemic. That's according to Johns Hopkins. You know, if you need a post it note and you need to, to tape it to your forehead, RFK Jr. Do it. But again, and I've talked about this on my show, talked about the town hall earlier in the summer, we have a secretary of the Health and Human Services who thinks it's okay to go to tanning salons, thinks it's okay to swim in sewage in Rock Creek Park. Remember he took his grandkids swimming in the creek at Rock Creek park. Even though it's, it's teeming with just all kinds of disgusting filth. It's a creek running through an urban environment. Who would do that? And yet he has, he has these wacky wackadoodle ideas when it comes to vaccines. He's an anti vax kook and he's running Health and Human Services. And, and there were so many important moments during the hearing when he was being asked these questions, being peppered with questions. But it RFK Jr. Was, was told by Senator Raphael Warnock, you are a hazard to the health of the American people. I mean that was a very important moment. But to me the moment that crystallizes that hearing is that exchange between Senator Mark Warner of Virginia and RFK Jr. Do you know how many people died? He can't even say that he knows how many people because he has so many crazy ideas about what killed what during the COVID pandemic. That is who is running the nation's public health in the United States of America, ladies and gentlemen. It is somebody who is a clown. It is somebody who belongs in the circus. It is somebody who should have makeup and, and not orange makeup, but white makeup and red lipstick and juggling balls and tooting a horn. A full blown clown has no business being the Secretary of Health and Human Services. And God help us. God help us if there's another pandemic in this country. How many people would die? And now what do we have? We have anti vax nuttiness running wild in this country. You have the state of Florida saying we're not going to have any more vaccine mandates. So kids are going to be able to go to school without being required to have your regular vaccines that kids have always been required to have before going to public school. What is that going to lead to? We have measles outbreaks in places like West Texas. You have cases breaking out in other parts of the country because of this madness. It is anti Vax madness. And I, you know, Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who is a doctor who had the decisive vote to confirm RFK Jr was grilling RFK Jr at the hearing earlier in the day, asking him whether he thinks Trump deserves credit for Operation Warp Speed. Which I've said on this show, I've said it many times, he does deserve credit for Operation Warp Seed. He also deserves all kinds of scrutiny and blame for undermining it. But he, that did happen during his presidency. And RFK Jr. Said, yes, he deserves credit for that. But then he wouldn't say that COVID vaccine saved lives. He is a walking, talking contradiction when it comes to these important public health issues. And I'm sorry, but if you can't even say with a straight face how many people died in this country during COVID you are a clown and you have no business being the Secretary of Health and Human Services running the nation's public health. All right, guys, I really just want to, wanted to get that out there. I did not want to let that go by the wayside of all the issues. I mean, I covered Covid when I was a chief White House correspondent. It's an issue that's near and dear to my heart. I saw the anti vax anti science just craziness sweet this country. And it resulted. If you listen to people like Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dr. Deborah Birx, important vaccine experts, important experts when it comes to infectious diseases, they will tell you that the way Trump mishandled Covid costs lives. The undermining of science costs lives. I wanted to make sure that we call out RFK juniors. No business being the secretary of Health and Human Services obviously should be fired, but Trump's not going to fire him because Trump himself said he wanted RFK Jr to run wild on public health. So if there are deaths, and there will be deaths, those deaths are on their hands. If people are dying from preventable diseases that could have been stopped because of the safe use of vaccines, then those deaths are on their hands. God help us. My thanks to Jennifer and Angie from the I've had a podcast. They are just terrific. Please check them out. And they're now on Substack. So if you're watching on Substack, please subscribe. If you're watching on YouTube, make sure you subscribe to this program. All of your likes and subscriptions help a great deal. Thanks again, everybody for watching. Still reporting from Washington, I'm Jim Acosta. I got some big guests coming up. Stay tuned. Big guest. I want to give it away just yet coming up in the next day or two. So stay tuned for that. See you soon. Take care. Bye.
- [39:05]
Angie Pumps Sullivan
Bye.