Molly Jong-Fast and Rick Wilson weigh in on Trump's speech and the censure of Rep. Al Green (D-TX).

Summary

Summary of "The Jim Acosta Show" Featuring Molly Jong-Fast and Rick Wilson

Podcast Information

• Title: The Jim Acosta Show
• Host: Jim Acosta
• Episode: Molly Jong-Fast and Rick Wilson weigh in on Trump's speech and the censure of Rep. Al Green (D-TX)
• Release Date: March 6, 2025
• Description: "Don't give into the lies. Don't give into fear. Hold on to the truth. And hope."

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Introduction

In this episode of The Jim Acosta Show, host Jim Acosta engages in a deep and fervent discussion with guests Molly Jong-Fast and Rick Wilson. The conversation centers around recent political events, including former President Donald Trump's latest speech, the censure of Representative Al Green (D-TX), and the broader implications of current Republican policies. The dialogue weaves through topics such as economic strategies, border policies, the impact of legislative actions on veterans, and the Democrats' response to Republican maneuvers.

Trump's Economic Policies and Market Reactions

The episode opens with a humorous attempt by Jim Acosta to incorporate music, leading into a light-hearted exchange that sets the stage for a more serious discussion about President Trump's economic strategies.

Tariffs on Mexico and Canada

• Jim Acosta highlights Trump's recent decision to postpone tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods, referencing a report from The Washington Post: "Trump postponed for one month imposing tariffs on certain Mexican and Canadian goods that comply with the North American Free Trade Treaty" ([02:18]).
• Rick Wilson critiques the administration's inability to effectively legislate: "They don't even try, right? They don't even try to legislate" ([07:13]).
• Molly Jong-Fast points out the cognitive dissonance in Trump's approach: "Tariffs will make us the richest nation on earth... but we're going to wait" ([02:50]).

Market Instability

• The guests discuss the adverse effects of Trump's policies on financial markets, noting a "third straight day" of volatility ([02:18]).
• Jim Acosta reflects on Trump's reliance on market performance: "He just thinks that it's like his poll numbers. It's almost the same thing as his poll numbers" ([03:43]).

Cognitive Dissonance Among Trump Supporters

Molly Jong-Fast explores the internal conflict within MAGA supporters, questioning the sustainability of Trump's economic promises: "It makes me wonder, what's the policy here? Is the policy here to do tariffs, or is the policy to get the market to freak out and then bounce back and give him that sense of affirmation or something?" ([03:07]).

Censure of Rep. Al Green (D-TX)

A significant portion of the discussion focuses on the recent censure of Representative Al Green for disrupting Trump's joint address to Congress.

• Jim Acosta expresses frustration: "Donald Trump doesn't get censured for calling Elizabeth Warren a Warren Pocahontas. And it's like, you know, I guess this is all Congress can do at this point" ([10:04]).
• Molly Jong-Fast criticizes the Democrats' approach: "The whole lesson Democrats should learn occasionally is shut the fuck up and form a shield wall, like Republicans do" ([11:03]).
• Rick Wilson agrees, emphasizing the performative nature of the censure: "I just. I'm going with Rick on this, that it's just stupid" ([11:14]).

Impact of Border Policies and Government Cutbacks

The conversation shifts to the implications of Trump's border policies and the broader cutbacks within the federal government.

Border Policies

• Rick Wilson discusses the lack of a clear path to citizenship and the detrimental effects of systematic cuts: "What Trump is doing... is starving the border because, so there won't be judges, so there won't be money" ([06:19]).
• Molly Jong-Fast highlights the real-world impact on communities and veterans: "You're going to have natural disasters... we have to have a path to citizenship" ([04:29]).

Government Cutbacks

• Jim Acosta brings attention to significant layoffs and their ripple effects: "Trump's efforts to pare down the federal government workforce left a mark on the labor market in February with announced job cuts at their highest level in nearly five years" ([22:18]).
• Molly Jong-Fast explains the broader economic consequences: "If you fire 200,000 or 500,000 government employees in Washington, you're going to impact 5 or 6 million jobs on the East Coast" ([23:06]).
• Rick Wilson expands on the impact on sectors like military contracting and national labs: "The national labs all over the country... they're getting devastated" ([24:26]).

Democrats' Response and Messaging Strategies

The guests critique the Democratic Party's current strategies in countering Republican actions.

• Molly Jong-Fast advocates for a bias towards action: "You cannot go wrong in American politics right now by having a bias for action" ([34:00]).
• Rick Wilson and Molly Jong-Fast discuss the need for effective messaging and public engagement, citing examples of successful town halls and the importance of highlighting real issues:
  • "Like some of my staff is out in Colorado and they went to Jason Crow's town hall... It was like such a refreshing thing" ([40:18]).
  • Jim Acosta emphasizes the need for Democrats to harness public frustration: "But when you have veterans coming off of active duty... What comes with that slippery slope is the toleration of cruelty towards other human beings" ([39:37]).

Social and Economic Consequences of Republican Policies

The discussion delves into the social ramifications of ongoing Republican policies, particularly those initiated by Trump and now managed by Elon Musk.

Impact on Veterans and Federal Agencies

• Molly Jong-Fast criticizes the treatment of veterans: "But it is, it's very dark and I'm very proud of the way it came out... these thousands of jobs mean that hundreds of facilities that treat veterans in rural areas are going to close" ([42:25]).
• Jim Acosta shares a personal anecdote about veterans being unfairly terminated: "She's a disabled veteran... she applied for a promotion... you get an email... you're out. That's it" ([43:05]).

Public Reaction and Corporate Involvement

• The guests discuss public backlash against Elon Musk's administration-related actions: "We're seeing a ton of that, which I think is... another externality that is not gonna help anyone" ([21:28]).
• Rick Wilson mentions the negative sentiment towards corporate involvement in politics: "How does the Wi-fi bad on Amazon?" ([28:12]).

Notable Quotes

• Jim Acosta: "Don't give into the lies. Don't give into fear. Hold on to the truth. And hope." ([Intro]).
• Rick Wilson: "It's kind of twisted, the idea that there's a policy. Right." ([03:07]).
• Molly Jong-Fast: "You cannot go wrong in American politics right now by having a bias for action." ([34:00]).
• Jim Acosta: "We cannot go down that road and we can talk about, he wants to be a dictator and he wants to be an autocrat, an aspiring autocrat." ([28:20]).
• Molly Jong-Fast: "It is not reforming the VA, it's just, it's ending." ([42:25]).

Concluding Remarks

Jim Acosta wraps up the episode by reflecting on the themes discussed, emphasizing the need for humanity and rejecting cruelty in politics. He urges listeners to engage in conversations about the impact of current policies on vulnerable populations, such as veterans and migrants. Acosta underscores the importance of maintaining a common sense of humanity and rejecting the normalization of cruelty within American politics.

Jim Acosta: "We cannot go down that road and we can talk about, he wants to be a dictator and he wants to be an autocrat... One thing we lost in this country... the United States of America, is supposed to be on the side against cruelty." ([38:10]).

Molly Jong-Fast: "You cannot go wrong in American politics right now by having a bias for action... legislative, pr, messaging, all, it hit, hit, hit." ([34:00]).

Rick Wilson: "The National labs all over the country... they're getting devastated." ([24:45]).

Jim Acosta thanks his guests, Molly Jong-Fast and Rick Wilson, for their insightful contributions and closes the show with a call for continued vigilance against cruelty and division in American politics.

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Conclusion This episode of The Jim Acosta Show offers a comprehensive analysis of recent political developments, highlighting the detrimental effects of Trump's policies on the economy, border security, and veterans. Through candid discussions, Molly Jong-Fast and Rick Wilson provide critical insights into the shortcomings of Republican strategies and advocate for proactive Democratic responses. The conversation underscores the urgent need for policies rooted in humanity and compassion, steering America's political landscape away from cruelty and division.

Transcript

[Jim Acosta]

Welcome to the Jim Acosta Show. This is reminding me of Shine Bound.

[Rick Wilson]

She just played him like a fiddle.

[Jim Acosta]

She's a badass. She is. But, you know, this whole backing down thing is reminding me of a little song. I don't know if you guys have heard this before. I'm attempting to play music on the Jim Acosta show for the first time, but it just. Let's just see if I can do this here. It's good.

[Rick Wilson]

It's got a very nice low rent feel to it.

[Jim Acosta]

Can you hear it?

[Rick Wilson]

No, but we'll pretend we'll hear. We hear it. Oh, yeah. He will back down.

[Jim Acosta]

It's Lara Trump. Yes, this is the lar.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

Come on, man. Human rights violations matter. You're going to be in the ha. If you.

[Jim Acosta]

Wait, let me go check on Duke.

[Rick Wilson]

That poor dog. Is that her singing?

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, that's L. Trump covering Tom Petty's classic.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

Is that. What is that the word you used for that? For that sound pattern comes out of her mouth hole.

[Jim Acosta]

I, I'm sorry to everybody for doing that. I, you know, my dad used to.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

Say, so if, if one of us was singing off key, my dad would say, hey, who says that song? You say, oh, Tom Petty, and go, let's keep it that way.

[Jim Acosta]

Let's keep it that way. That's exactly, that's. That's a very dad thing to say. Okay, I, I turned it off immediately. I know people are saying that's a crime against music. It's true. Yeah.

[Rick Wilson]

It's not good.

[Jim Acosta]

It was a crime against podcasting on my part, but it just illustrates the.

[Rick Wilson]

Point, you know, so Claudia Sheinbaum. Let's talk about Claudia Sheinbaum for a minute. Let's do it. Not to get to talking about something that is at all relevant here, but is what's happening now that every world leader has figured out how to manipulate Trump. And that is why Mexico does not have tariffs, but Canada does.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

No, no, he backed off on the Canada tariffs about it.

[Jim Acosta]

About. He just backed off on the candidate. I mean, the Washington Post reporting Trump postponed for one month imposing tariffs on certain Mexican and Canadian that comply with the North American Free Trade Treaty. The latest swerve in the roller coaster of US Trade relations. Roiling financial markets for a third straight day. I mean, I guess they realized, oh, yeah, we cut a trade deal the first time we were in office. Maybe we should, you know, does that make us look stupid here by doing this now? Kind of. Yeah.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

Yeah. You know, I have a, I have a thought about this, and I've been pondering this all day. Trump's got two sensitivities, his own polling numbers and the market. And he got a little reward when the market went back up when he announced these temporary delays, and now he'll get a bigger one tomorrow. But the problem that I have is this cognitive dissonance with Trump and maga. It's like tariffs will make us the richest nation on earth, will bring in trillions of dollars, but we're going to wait.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, exactly.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

Greatest economic theory of all time. Why are we not doing it right now, Donald?

[Jim Acosta]

And it makes me wonder, what's the policy here? Is the policy here to do tariffs, or is the policy to get the market to freak out and then bounce back and give him that sense of affirmation or something?

[Rick Wilson]

It's kind of twisted, the idea that there's a policy. Right. He wanted to do tariffs because he doesn't understand how they work. Everyone said, don't do it, it's going to crash the market. He said, no. You had Lutnick out there being like, maybe you won't do it. Maybe you will do it. Because he was watching the market move. Then they said, then the market cratered for two days in a row. And since Trump lived and died by the Dow, he said, all right, perhaps we won't do these totally stupid idea for another month. In a month, you'll forget how badly the market reacted and you'll do it again.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. And the market tanking the last couple of days. I know for a fact from my days covering the White House, there is hardly anything in the world that will freak them out more than the market going down for a few days in a row. I mean, he just thinks that it's like his poll numbers. It's almost the same thing as his poll numbers. And Rick, it just makes me wonder, did the tariff thing just get unveiled on Tuesday as a way for him to have something to say at that speech before Congress? I mean, it just seems to me like of all the chest beating that he did, two days later, you back down. I mean, isn't there, I mean, inside of MAGA world a tiny bit of a sensation that maybe he's just not that tough of a guy as he makes himself out to be.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

Not that they'll ever admit to, but I think you're right. I think there is. And again, they can never admit to it, but they have slowly come to the realization that maybe the Art of the Deal guy is not so great at this and that he's not really all that much of a mass. Again, it's that cognitive distance on the one end. They're like, yeah, these terrorists, we're going to be tough. We're tough. Trump can do it. He's the toughest. And then it's like you don't understand the art of the deal, the 47 dimensional quantum chess he's playing. And then it's right back again to he's tough. And I feel bad for them on one level because they have to whipsaw back and forth, back and forth all the time. And I think with the slow realization inside, MAGA also is that other people get to play in this game. It's not like Trump gets to punch them in the face and run away. Canada goes, all right, well, we'll increase the price of fertilizer. We won't buy Teslas. We won't do this. We'll cut off American liquor and Canadian stores. How about that? Mitch McConnell, are you feeling good now?

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

So, you know, the counterparty thing is something they just, they just intellectually couldn't grapple with it. And MAGA is not having to like, figure out other people get a vote when Trump does stupid stuff. Yeah.

[Jim Acosta]

And Molly, I mean, the other night, Trump, one of his big applause lines and it was reposted by the people at the White House and NRCC dudes and all these other folks. You know, all it took was changing a president. You know, that was one of their lines from the other night. And yet what we're seeing, seeing this week is that, you know, this guy is like a weather vane. You know, it just, he just goes which way the wind blows. How is that tough? How? I mean, there's not.

[Rick Wilson]

So what I would say about the border situation is. Right, yeah, look, there were, there, there needs to be a path, right? There needs to be a path to citizenship. What we've had, what we have now is like almost no path, Right. They're starving the border because, so there won't be judges, so there won't be money, so there won't be, you know, like, this is actually an expensive thing. And what Trump is doing. And again, this is the weird, I think the weirdest part about this legislation, this, this administration is they cannot legislate their way out of a paper bag. So they don't even try, right? They don't even try to legislate. So, you know, like, obviously a border bill like the one Chris Murphy negotiated last year, which Trump said don't enact because it will take away my one really good issue, right? Exactly. That this is clearly a situation that.

[Jim Acosta]

James Lankford signed onto by the evidently.

[Rick Wilson]

Money and legislation noted liberal, James Lankford.

[Jim Acosta]

Right.

[Rick Wilson]

Money and legislation need to be on the docket, and they're not, because these guys can't legislate to save their lives and they don't want to. Now the question, I think is, as we sort of keep going with this, you're gonna keep having these conflicts with Doge and the federal government. Right. Like Doge is cutting things that Congress is supposed to cut, theoretically. Right. Doge is doing this sort of illegal dance where they're trimming things that aren't theirs to trim. So eventually the courts are gonna say, you know, as they have been, you know, nyet. And then you're gonna have this constitutional prices. And you're also gonna have. You already have a Congress that is so. They're so castrated at this point by Elon Musk. I mean, I don't know if you guys saw this reporting that they were asking Elon if they could vote on things, but the Republicans in Congress, so they have given away all their power now. So the question I think is, can they even come back from that?

[Jim Acosta]

I know, and go ahead. I mean, Rick, I want to hear both of you and Molly, thank you for getting us into the discussion about the speech. Because to me, it was sort of like one of those Cash Patel, Donald Trump in Wonderland, or fantasy world with Donald Trump, King Trump. It was, you know, the whole speech was like, let's go into the Enchanted Forest with Donald Trump as he spins a tale about the way things are in his mind. And then there's the cold hard reality of like, okay, terrorists just. They just not going to friggin work, man. It's just not going to happen. You know, solving the border, as Molly said, is tough. And so at the end of the day, he's left with what, you know, which bathroom people use.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

I kind of felt like I had a vibe off of Trump on that speech the whole night. It was like the big heavy metal band from the 80s that's now playing state fairs.

[Jim Acosta]

Spinal Tap. Yeah.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

You know. Right. It's like, yeah, we were curating a smaller audience, but it felt like it was a lot of fan service. A lot of like throwing red meat to the bass.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

And a lot of, you know, a little bit of own the libs in there too, because that's always an error.

[Rick Wilson]

A lot of own the libs in there.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

That's all was actually right. It is a lie.

[Rick Wilson]

Wouldn't clap for Me, Even if I cured cancer. But you're not curing cancer. In fact, you're right, but in fact, you're.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

In fact, you're making.

[Rick Wilson]

Yes. Research.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

Yeah, yeah, Jim, it is. It is like. It is like, welcome to my alternate reality. I'm Donald Trump, and I, you know, there. Everybody gets a unicorn in a sports car. It just doesn't. It's not the world as it is. It's the world as. As he sort of, kind of vaguely imagines it should be.

[Rick Wilson]

Right.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, let's talk about the Democratic reaction to it, because earlier today, I mean, I still can't get over this. The House voted 224 to 198 to censure Al Green for disrupting Trump's joint address to Congress this week. You know, he had the cane and all of that. And, you know, to me, it's like, okay, I know we've had the discussion, all of us, about Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert and so on, you know, but Donald Trump. I mean, Trump doesn't get censured for calling Elizabeth Worst a Warren Pocahontas. And it's like, you know, I guess this is all Congress can do at this point. This is all performative bullshit.

[Rick Wilson]

You go, Rick.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

Yeah, I just. I just find the whole. The whole lesson Democrats should learn occasionally is shut the fuck up and form a shield wall, like Republicans do. Right. Don't even accept the premise of their bullshit.

[Rick Wilson]

Yeah, fuck you.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

We're out of the room. You know, let the Republicans have a party line vote on this, and it becomes nothing. Some of these Democrats are like, I'm in a marginal district and I've gotta be nice. No, you don't.

[Rick Wilson]

That's stupid. Yeah.

[Jim Acosta]

And 10 Democrats voted with this. 10 Democrats voted with us, apparently. Yeah.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

Yeah.

[Rick Wilson]

I just. I'm going with Rick on this, that it's just stupid. And, like, it is that thing where they open the door to just, you know, well, we may not be right. And this is the thing again. Like, this is the thing that I get mad at Democrats for all the time. Right. Is they're more concerned about their message than getting their message out. They wanted to want to get it perfectly and nobody gives a fuck. Right. Like, and so they don't perfect out the window. Yeah. And so you have, like, you know, you have Jeffries say, you know, being like, it's Captain Chaos. It's like, no, just talk. Just get the message out there. Don't worry about, you know, Trump is the only person who should do nicknames, I'm sorry to tell you.

[Jim Acosta]

And Democrats are just kind of in the wilderness right now. And that maybe that was what the illustration was the other night at the speech, but really they don't need to be right now, Rick. They kind of are playing with better cards than maybe folks really thought to two weeks ago or four weeks ago. I mean, the whole friggin country is hopping mad. People are jumping out of their goddamn seats to. You know, everybody's waving a frigging cane right now over these Doge cuts over, you know, cancer research cuts at the nih. Apparently there were cuts over the CIA today. Does anybody think that this bullshit makes any sense at all? And people are going nuts. And so why the Democrats should be harnessing that right now, it seems to me.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

No, you go, look, America is giving the Democrats a path to a victory in the House, at least right now on a silver platter. You know, if they're not out there talking every day about Trump cutting the veteran suicide hotline and 80,000 votes and putting it on Donald Trump, not just Elon and the Doge idiots, putting it on Trump. Donald Trump cut veterans aid. Donald Trump is screwing our farmers. Donald Trump is screwing our firefighters. Donald Trump is closing down the National Weather Service just before hurricane season. Donald Trump is. Because then that's why Trump told the Cabinet today, oh, you guys are in charge of the firings, not Elon.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

Because he is starting to sense this, that this is a path for Democrats. They need to beat this down every day. And that is Trump's fault. He's hurting America. He's hurting you.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. And Molly, I mean, when the Republican House leadership is saying to their members, don't hold any more town halls, it's like, okay, things are going really well. Things are going swimmingly.

[Rick Wilson]

Adam. Jeff Dolson had a very smart op ed in the New York Times where he said, stop, you know, and actually, I think this is right, too. He said, foreign aid is not as popular as Medicaid. So tell that. You know, say, right, the reconciliation that the Republicans passed in the House of Representatives cuts $880 billion from Medicaid over 10 years. Okay? That is going to mean your rural hospital, that is going to mean your nursing home that your mother is in. I mean, that is going to change what the topography of this country looks like. And you know what Donald Trump did today? He said, I'm gonna close the Department of Education. So that will mean Title 1 funds, that will mean Title 10 funds, that will mean, you know, Pell Grants I mean, they are. These are things where you're gonna go to your public school and there's gonna be no special ed programs.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. Well. And if you could pardon me for a moment to do my newscaster y thing since Molly teed it up, talking about the Education Department, the New York Times reporting, Mr. Trump is. And I know. Why did I say Mr. Trump. Trump is preparing to sign an order that would Instruct Secretary Linda McMahon. And every time I say Secretary Linda McMahon, I don't know. Does an angel get its wings to begin dismantling the Education Department? The reason why I'm reading that headline is because the Washington Post. Aaron Blake, who is so good at the Washington Post, he's excellent. He points out an Ipsos poll last month found that Americans opposed proposals to dismantle the U.S. department of Education about 2 to 1. 63 to 32%. 63 to 32%.

[Rick Wilson]

He also writes about how unpopular the January 6th.

[Jim Acosta]

Yes, 83%.

[Rick Wilson]

The January.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

Right.

[Rick Wilson]

Nobody wants.

[Jim Acosta]

I have the numbers.

[Rick Wilson]

Right. And the reason that Trump won was because, you know, they looked at Project 2025 and people said, oh, this, we don't want any of this. And he said, okay, I'm not going to do it. Right. And everyone's like, well, why would he lie?

[Jim Acosta]

Exactly. Trump's policies are unpopular. This is like an old Johnny Carson bit. How unpopular are they? Weird, wild stuff. Weird, wild stuff. 83% opposed Donald Trump's parts of January 6th defendants. 70% of Americans oppose the administration's move to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. 70% opposed dismantling the National oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 62% in one poll and 74% in another opposed Trump's plan to take control of Gaza. 67% opposed freezing funds for public health agencies. As many as 65% opposed trying to take the Panama Canal. 64% opposes 25% tariffs on goods from Canada. 60% in one poll and 64% in another poll opposed trying to make Canada the 51st state. And I could go on and on. I'm just. I'm just. God bless you, Aaron Blake at the Washington Post for putting that out there. People are shitting all over the Washington Post, but they still got good people like Aaron Blake. That is a damning indictment of everything he has said and tried to do since coming back.

[Rick Wilson]

Right. I agree.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

Molly was exactly right. They looked at Project 2025, and I know for a fact. Tony, Tony, the pollster pulled all Project 2025.

[Rick Wilson]

By the way. Everything is just for one second, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but it is literally like, I cannot believe we're doing this again. Like, do you just have moments where you're like, how are we doing the sequel of the same thing every.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

Every minute of my day? I go, the fuck is this? Haven't we been to this movie once before? Didn't we? I know, look, I mean, they polled and then. So Trump immediately jumped out and said, this isn't my plan. And you notice what happened in the Right. During the campaign. Oh, no. No one would ever do that. That's absurd. How dare you suggest such a thing. Yeah, it's going to be Agenda 47, not Project 2025. And they went through this whole song and dance. It was always the plan. We all knew it was always the.

[Jim Acosta]

Plan, always a plan, always.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

But it is wildly unpopular. And when you make Elon Musk and his weirdo little insojungender, whatever they're called, go out and do this and chainsaw through these departments, it makes it worse for them, the deployment of this idea. If I was in charge of this thing, it would be quiet, it would be subtle, it would be slow, it would be under the radar. But it would be worse because nobody would have that boiling point moment. And America is furious. People do not want to have to make mom and dad or grandma move back home in the spare bedroom.

[Jim Acosta]

That's right.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

They don't want, they don't want kids to have freaking measles in this country.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

They don't want all of this garbage that Trump's trying to shove down their throats in a, in a, in a, like a three month period with Elon at the helm of it. It doesn't, it's aesthetically and politically not working for him. But hey, he should continue to do as much for himself in that regard as he wants to, because I'm here for him. Crashing his numbers down 11 points in 30 days. It's, it takes a lot to do that.

[Rick Wilson]

So is that Trump's numbers or is that Elon's numbers?

[Molly Jong-Fast]

Well, that's Trump's numbers. Elon's numbers are much worse than Trump's. Yeah, I saw some polling on Elon the other day that was just like, this is not the guy you invite to a party at this point. He is unpopular.

[Jim Acosta]

He's like, he's about as popular as the old owner of the Washington Commanders slash Redskins, Dan Snyder. You know?

[Rick Wilson]

Well, maybe what you see with Elon and why you see people are angry is you see these town halls, right? People Freaking out of town halls. But you also see like the graffiti, you know what I mean? Like the endless anti elon graffiti. And I feel like the fact. And also then you have people burning Tesla's showrooms, which no one want. Don't do violence. Don't damage property.

[Jim Acosta]

Don't do that.

[Rick Wilson]

Don't do that, don't do that. If you're in France, where the French are very fiery, let me tell you. But yeah, so we're seeing a ton of that, which I think is.

[Jim Acosta]

It's pretty cool. I've seen these bumper stickers people are putting on their Teslas now with the no Elon through it. Or I bought this before Elon Musk went crazy.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

I knew he was an asshole.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, I mean, that's usually. That's not a good sign when people are putting those kinds of stickers on his product.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

No, I mean, look, you saw the numbers. It's down 75% in Germany, down 65% in France, down 50% in the US and all of Elon's power is derived from the power of Tesla stock. All of it is derived from that one thing. The fact that he's the richest man in the world is because Tesla stock is basically operating like normal automakers. They operated at about a 10 times valuation or about a 4 times valuation. Tesla's at about a 10 times. So he's on paper, phenomenally wealthy. He's burned through about a quarter of that phenomenal wealth in the last month because the stock price of Tesla's just taking a beating. The market is teaching it a lesson. And it's because they don't like the externality of the guy supposedly running the big sophisticated car company becoming one of the most hated men in America.

[Jim Acosta]

Right?

[Molly Jong-Fast]

It's not a great look.

[Rick Wilson]

It's why corporates. I'm sorry to interrupt you. It's why corporations don't get involved in politics. Right? I mean, there's a reason that if you're on a corporate board, they don't want you going on Twitter. Right? Or they don't want you going on cnn. I mean, this is, you know, there's. Because it's just another externality that is not gonna help anyone. And so I do think that is Right. I also think I'm still not convinced why they're. I mean, I get that they're cutting the federal government to pay for this tax cut that they. But. But I still don't understand. It's Donald Trump. He's the king of debt. Why doesn't he just grow the deficit. I mean, that's where it's going anyway. Like, I just don't understand the cutting. Ultimately, it doesn't really reflect him well.

[Jim Acosta]

And I saw a very spooky headline today, cnbc, saying that Trump's efforts to pare down the federal government workforce left a mark on the labor market in February with announced job cuts at their highest level in nearly five years, according to this one outplacement firm. The Firm reported that U.S. employers announced 172,017 layoffs for the month, up 245%. I wish I had, like, a little graphics thing. I'm going to try to do this at some point. Up 245% from January and the highest monthly count since July 2020, during the heightened uncertainty of the COVID pandemic. This is like Elon Musk is like a pandemic.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

He's like a plague. Yeah, no.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. Some kind of communicable disease. I don't, you know. Yeah.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

So I had a very smart friend of mine, he's a commercial real estate guy, Very, very astute observer of the economy, done very, very well in this country. And he said what they didn't figure out was if you fire 200,000 or 500,000 government employees in Washington, you're going to impact 5 or 6 million jobs on the East Coast. There's a big effect and whether we can argue all day about the size of government, blah, blah, blah, but just doing it the way they're doing it, this chainsaw method, it's going to crash the D.C. real estate market, which is going to crash the D.C. commercial market. It's going to sales. It's going to blow a big hole in the overall economy. And you can't blame Joe Biden for this one. If you're Donald Trump. No, Biden's cloth. Biden didn't cut the government. Trump and Musk did.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. And Rick. And it's not just D.C. i mean, yes, people are totally freaked out in the D.C. area, but think about, like, those towns where there might be a national lab or, you know, Alabama. Hasn't Katie Britt basically, like, sounded the alarm, like, please leave my state alone.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

I heard today that John Cornyn has been very much like, calling Trump's people, like, please stop what you're doing. You don't understand how much military contracting Texas has.

[Rick Wilson]

Yeah.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

You understand how many private sector jobs are in bases and military contracting in Texas. And they're getting devastated. And so.

[Rick Wilson]

Yeah.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

And that's happening everywhere. And you're right. The national labs all over the country. The national labs and universities who have federal research contracts.

[Jim Acosta]

Yep, that's right.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

And they're. And they're not for transsexual mice, people. Yes. They're realizing, like, in the state of Florida, there's about $30 billion of university money that flows through the system every year, and about a third of that is federal grants, and they're all going away. And these universities are like, what are we going to do? We're going to either raise the hell out of tuition or we're going to close huge programs.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, right. And I mean, to me, you know, he campaigned as this, you know, economic wizard, you know, Gandalf or something, you know, Lord of the Rings. And, you know, and as it turns out, it is turning out to be an epic failure. The idea of the tariffs. You want to talk about a constituency coming forward and throwing a monkey wrench into his tariffs? I mean, it was the automakers who essentially started this party this week after Trump did his thing. The automakers said, wait a minute, you know, this is going to hose Michigan. And so, of course, Trump putting his finger in the wind and thinking, oh, battleground states. Oh, yeah, dummy, I can't screw over the battleground states. You know, starts rolling back the idea of, you know, what may affect the automakers, which got the whole thing going with Mexico and Canada and so on. And so, to me, it just. Are we finally going to put this ghost to rest, this corpse in the grave? That he's somehow like a whiz with the economy? That he's Doug Henning with the economy?

[Molly Jong-Fast]

Jim. I wish I could say yes. And the first time I came across this, we were doing some focus groups for a certain famous pair of old Republican brothers back in 2015, in December, because everybody was like, we got to get rid of this guy. We can't let this guy. And we sat in focus groups all over the country, and people said, he's the richest man in the world. He's the smartest man in the world. He's the best negotiator. He's a businessman. We need a businessman. He saw that TV show. I saw it on the. And it was the Apprentice. It was 15 years of the Apprentice beating into their brains. The character he played on TV was the guy they wanted for president.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[Rick Wilson]

I want to ask you guys a question.

[Jim Acosta]

Sure.

[Rick Wilson]

So the. The Dow is down, the S and P is down.

[Jim Acosta]

Yep.

[Rick Wilson]

And crypto is down.

[Jim Acosta]

Crypto is down.

[Rick Wilson]

Crypto is. Despite the fact that Donald Trump wants to pump it up, it's down. So riddle me that.

[Jim Acosta]

The crypto bros are definitely freaking out as well. That's my understanding.

[Rick Wilson]

Talking to see it.

[Jim Acosta]

But not that I'm. Yeah. Not that I'm plugged into all the crypto bros, but I know a few and they're freaked out. And I think, honestly, they were doing quite well under Joe Biden. I don't know if anybody saw what bitcoin was.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

You noticed that, right?

[Jim Acosta]

Without Joe Biden starting his own crypto coin. Crypto was doing great under Joe Biden and was supposed to be Hunter coin.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

Corn pop coin.

[Jim Acosta]

Well, sore subject. Maybe we shouldn't. Maybe don't call it. Name it after Hunter, but corn popcorn.

[Rick Wilson]

Really bad.

[Jim Acosta]

Yes. We'll say Delaware coin or Wilmington coin.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

Track coin.

[Jim Acosta]

There you go.

[Rick Wilson]

I'm sorry, Jim, but you have opened the door to Rick and I just being terrible. I was gonna say Amtrak coin.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

I like it.

[Jim Acosta]

That would be nice.

[Rick Wilson]

And it has terrible food and bad WI fi.

[Jim Acosta]

Okay, that's exactly right.

[Rick Wilson]

How does the WI fi bad on Amazon?

[Jim Acosta]

I don't know. I don't. And honestly, if Trump is watching and there's no way he is, but, like, if he wanted to get all the libs on his just like, fix the damn WI fi on the Acela and you know, he would win Washington D.C.

[Rick Wilson]

He would keep my people say Dayenu. Yes. That's all you need to do here. Yes.

[Jim Acosta]

All right, well, we're devolving, which is what I was hoping.

[Rick Wilson]

Don't worry. We're happy to do it.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

Don't worry. Molly and I. Molly and I can get off track and get.

[Rick Wilson]

And get very easily.

[Jim Acosta]

And you need, like, a decoder ring to figure it out.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

Yeah, but right off the rails.

[Rick Wilson]

Well, it is. I mean, it is true that Trump and I always say this when I'm yelling at people about how why are Democrats not doing more messaging? Donald Trump had. Did so much messaging that he could say bacon and his people would know what it meant.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. No, it's so true. I mean, he's talking about the Tucker Carlson decoder ring that you would need to watch the Tucker Carlson show on Fox when they were that batshit crazy. And there's. They're only slightly batshit crazy now. But can we finish? I just want to finish the conversation on Al Green. So you guys were thumbs up or thumbs down on Al Green, and what is it? What do Democrats do? Because I know we ask this question every time we talk, and people ask this question every day, and people go up to Molly at the Starbucks, right.

[Rick Wilson]

Answer to Al Green, which is, you don't give them an inch. You say, al Green. What are you talking about? Why did you cut the NIH funding? What are you doing for Medicaid? You don't even give them a fucking inch. You just say, I see that you guys passed $880 billion for Medicaid cuts. What the fuck is that?

[Molly Jong-Fast]

Yeah, we'll let you have a vote on Al Green if you let us have a vote on.

[Jim Acosta]

There you go. Yeah, there you go.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

You can. You can look at one thing about Republicans, and I've told people this as a former Republican over and over again. Look where they spend money, because they never spend money on things that don't work. And look what they do when someone attacks any member of them. Steve Bannon always had a rule. Why did Nazis get in the gop? Because Steve Bannon had a rule that everybody adopted called no enemies. To my right.

[Jim Acosta]

Yes.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

And unfortunately for the Democrats, even like Nick Fuentes.

[Jim Acosta]

But anyway.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

Yeah, yeah, according to Democrats. So a lot of them are like, well, if I throw this guy over the. Over the fence. What he did. And look. Yeah, what Green did. I don't want to hear a fucking word about decorum with Marjorie Greene's wearing a baseball cap in that.

[Rick Wilson]

It's also bullshit. I mean, this has never been about decorum. I mean, Elon Musk is. Is. Is he ignoring court orders or is he just about to ignore court orders, but is doing ille stuff against decorum?

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, I mean, and. And when Trump said, oh, the days of unelected bureaucrats ruling over your lives is over. And then, like the camera, like the C SPAN cameras, I don't know if it was that moment or almost that moment cuts to Elon Musk and he's like stuffing something in his pocket or something.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

And I'm like, you know, trying not to do it.

[Rick Wilson]

No, he was drinking the tiny water. He was drinking that tiny bottle of water.

[Jim Acosta]

Bad hand. Bad hand. Don't do it.

[Rick Wilson]

Call it a stiff arm salute.

[Jim Acosta]

Oh, boy, the rolling salute.

[Rick Wilson]

The ADL wants us to know it wasn't anti Semitic.

[Jim Acosta]

It was just Steve Bannon hailing a cab. That's all it was. It was just taxis stop.

[Rick Wilson]

As a Jew, I feel that when they start making this stiff arm salute, it might be my time to leave the country.

[Jim Acosta]

That's time to check out. No, there's no question.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

Don't worry. They're going to be throwing out refugees. Refugees. First we'll get. We'll have some. The the, they won't state it publicly, but the signs will be there.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[Rick Wilson]

Yes, yes.

[Jim Acosta]

No, but the thing I, the thing I wanted to say about Al Green, and this goes back to you guys talking. I think it might have been Molly talking about balls, which I think is fine to talk about balls. Molly's talking about. It's almost like some of these guys, it's not like they were castrated. They just never had balls to begin with. You know, remember the old James Carville line he said once said about Hillary Clinton, if Hillary Clinton gave one of her balls to Barack Obama, she'd still have two. You know, it's like, which is one of the best Carvalisms. I know people are not happy with Carville these days, but that's one of his best ones. And, you know, like some of these guys in the gop, they just don't have it. And Rubio, I mean, Trump went after Rubio at one point during the speech, and it was like, well, we know who we're going to blame if things go south. And he looked at Marco Rubio. And I just thought to myself, you know, at least Al Green showed some balls. And I know people are like the cane. And they just don't like the way he went about it. And Democrats holding the signs and so on. I just think some, I think that's where, that's where people are right now. That's where people, they just want you to do something. I'm kind of let live and let live in this moment right now, maybe because I'm hoping folks that way about me, but I'm very live and let live about this kind of stuff because people are furious and they have a right to be.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

Look, I say this a lot. You cannot go wrong in American politics right now by having a bias for action. Yeah, you should have a bias to take action. The idea of wait and see, sit around and see what happens, wait for the train wreck, wait for the car crash. I disagree with that fundamentally because what we have seen over and over again is when Trump has a car crash, the Republicans, Democrats caused the car crash. Now let's cause another car crash. So you pay attention to the first car crash.

[Rick Wilson]

Yeah.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

The bias for action should be primary in the thinking of Democrats right now. And sometimes those actions will be to stop stupid things from happening. Yes, they should be. They should be demanding things on the floor, they should be demanding things in committee, they should be demanding things in the courts because you've got to have a. You can't just count on the courts. Remember, we've all learned the lesson. You can't count on the courts to stop Trump. You have to have a full court press. You have to do all the things everywhere, all the time. So legislative, pr, messaging, all, it hit, hit, hit. And if you ever take a day off, they will do 20 kinds of fuckery the minute you take your foot off their neck.

[Rick Wilson]

You know what, Can I just interrupt for a minute? Melanie Stansberry from New Mexico, the ranking.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

Member, best of the night, I thought.

[Rick Wilson]

Honestly, right, the ranking member of doge. I have watched the Doge subcommittees. They are pretty incredible for how stupid they are and also amazing for how stupid they are. But I did think she hit just the right note, because the truth is, the guy is an aspiring autocrat, right? Like, this is not normal. This is not what presidents do. It's not what Bush did, it's not what Reagan did, it's not even what Nixon did. So obviously it is in fact not normal.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, it is. And I thought she was. I thought that was a very good moment for her. And I thought that, you know, was a good indication as to what the Democratic response would be for the night. And then it was just sort of all over the place. But you know, this, that one Republican lawmaker who ripped the sign out of her hand, I just thought to myself, why hasn't that guy been censured? Isn't that like kind of assault or something? Like, what the hell? I mean, it's just disgusting. It's just absolutely despicable, you know?

[Molly Jong-Fast]

You know that, that moment, to me, like jerking the sign away.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

A lot of that, I think. I think the Republicans were showing America a lot of what I call the Saddam rule. Don't be the first guy to stop clapping when Saddam is talking.

[Rick Wilson]

Right?

[Molly Jong-Fast]

They were all acting out to try to get Trump's attention. Like, oh, that guy clapped loudest. He was standing up sooner, this guy. Cuz that is the shitty autocratic ways, you know, the wannabe dictator. The dictator, curious guy. These people are all conditioned now to behave in a way that is over the top. And America watched them do that. And they go, what is wrong with that guy? Yeah, what's wrong with Lindsey Graham out there now? Like, just like, oh, I would trust Trump with anything, with my life, my love. I mean, it's so, it's so theatrical that people are like, okay, stop, just pass the fucking transportation. I want the Republicans. I don't want grandma to starve. I don't want kids to not have schools to go to do the Right thing. They don't care about the drama. They want it to end. The chaos is really weighing, I think, on a lot of these folks.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, well. And I thought Stansberry signed. This is not normal. I mean, it also spoke to. The moment of. This is Donald Trump returning to the scene of the crime. Donald Trump returning to the place where he wanted to go overturn the election in 2020. And it is not normal. It's not normal for him to be up there giving a State of the Union speech or whatever the hell they were calling that the other night, and he's in office for five weeks and he gives an hour and a half long speech. I mean, this was all.

[Rick Wilson]

I think it was the longest one of those speeches in modern history.

[Jim Acosta]

It was so long, Fidel Castro rose from the grave and said, wrap it up, you know?

[Molly Jong-Fast]

Right, right. It was write me a Castro speech. You know, make a maga.

[Jim Acosta]

I just, you know, and I think that's what she meant. And I don't know. I asked for her to come on. I'd love for her to come on, but, you know. Yeah, the Doge stuff is not normal and the tariff stuff is not. All the stupid policy stuff is not normal. But just seeing him there is not normal.

[Rick Wilson]

Not normal.

[Jim Acosta]

It's not normal.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

Yeah, it is. I mean, and it was also like a. Like a. Like a tidal wave of lies, which is, well, you know, for sure on brand for Trump, but it. In a time when Americans now are feeling the country's on the wrong track, that the economy's going the wrong way, that trusting each other is at a record low, trust in institutions that are record low. And you have Trump up there doing the same old act, the same act we've seen now for a decade. Lie, lie, lie. Divide, divide, divide.

[Jim Acosta]

Sad.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

Elvis really speaks to the Democrats not having their act together, that they're not repeating the things that he's doing to people as a mantra every minute of the day.

[Rick Wilson]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jim Acosta]

And people can say what they want about Nancy Pelosi now. There's a lot of. A lot of people giving her hell and whatnot. But when. Remember there was that State of the Union speech where she kind of admonished her side from saying anything. And there was like that little moment where she's like, don't say anything. It was like when your mom tells you, shut the hell up.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

Right.

[Jim Acosta]

You know, and everybody listened and they were like, okay. And the Dems were just sort of all over the place. And I'm not. Again, I'm very Live and let live about this. It just seems to me, it seems Hakeem Jeffries is of the mindset. Maybe he's of the James Carville mindset. Let's not do anything. Just let Trump do it to himself.

[Rick Wilson]

I understand he needs to be messaging.

[Jim Acosta]

More, and it just seems to me they need to be a bit more organized.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

I don't know why he's not on TV every single night.

[Jim Acosta]

And why is that? Do we know why that is? We don't know why that is.

[Rick Wilson]

I mean, I've asked them and they're like, we're. They don't like it when I ask them that.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, don't ask.

[Rick Wilson]

I have asked them. I text Justin every day and I'm.

[Jim Acosta]

Like, and Hakeem Jeffries is, I mean, one of the most talented, I mean, just impressive people out there.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

He's good on tv.

[Rick Wilson]

He should be good on tv.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

So get on tv.

[Rick Wilson]

Yeah, get on tv. Get on. You know, they're just not doing enough. It's the Biden. It's Biden world all over again. Except with Biden. The, you know.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

And, you know, and, and, and the Democrats who, who are out doing town halls are getting these enormous crowds. They're getting huge crowds of people. They're able to start telling their story. Like, like some of my staff is out in Colorado and they went to Jason Crow's town hall the other night. Something like 1800 people show up. You know, they overflow rooms. And, and I like the way he did it because it was just like very nuts and bolts. He just, yeah, they're going to cut 800 vet care positions in Colorado. And those are suicide hotline guys. Those are medical claims guys. Those are burn pit remediation and all these things. It was like such a refreshing thing. It wasn't ethereal. It wasn't way up in the clouds. He was like, nuts and bolts. Yeah. We're not going to do these road projects now because Trump's killing them. Yeah, we're not going to do, you know, we're not going to get this Chips and Science act funding for this university because Trump killed it.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

And I think Democrats should take a lesson from that. And Jeffries should be leading from the front.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. Well, and I had a disabled veteran of the Air Force who was at fema. She was laid off from her job from fema. I had her on a couple of days ago. And it's absolutely appalling. I mean, who in the hell over at the Trump White House thinks it's a good Idea to lay off any veterans in any agency of the federal government. I mean, Rick Wilson, you like to do ads for the Lincoln Project. I mean, talk about chat GPT. You just hold up chat GBT to it to the TV screen and it writes the ad for you. You don't even have to.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

We, we have, we, we had a funny ad today, but we have a very serious ad coming on Monday.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

That is about the impact on veterans. And it is, it's very dark and I'm very proud of the way it came out. But it is, it is a message that I think people need to hear. If you say, as a Republican, as a maga, we care about our veterans, we care about our military service members, we care about their lives after they served. Then what Trump and Musk are proposing right now of cutting 78,000 jobs at the VA.

[Jim Acosta]

It's crazy.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

It's not reforming the VA, it's just, it's ending. Thawing through.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

And they're going to close thousands, they're going to. These thousands of jobs mean that hundreds of facilities that treat veterans in rural areas are going to close.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

It is not great.

[Jim Acosta]

And this lady that I was talking to, I mean, it just. When you have veterans coming off of active duty and they're looking for a job, and this lady said she had this one job and she deployed to Hurricane Helene and she was out there for 40 days, and then she applied for a promotion. Her name was Aileen, and she got the promotion in January. And then she got an email on President's Day that said, you're out. That's it, you're done. I mean, what a disgusting, disgraceful way to treat our veterans.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

Unbelievable.

[Jim Acosta]

And it just bugs the shit out of me. Just bugs the living shit out of me.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

You know, one of the things we lost in this country, I think, under Trump is because there's always a crisis, always a drama, always a horror. We've almost become, like, inured to some of. We've almost kind of like, numb to how bad these things are, but these things are truly grotesque.

[Jim Acosta]

Yes.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

And it's like the Republicans attacking Amy Comey Barrett because she voted in a legal case to not have shit in the water our kids drink.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

It's insane what their standard is now. It's like you've got to be with the full program of arson and destruction of everything that can help any American or you're not a faithful Trump supporter. It's just, it's repulsive.

[Jim Acosta]

And then Alina Habo was over at the White House the other day. And she said, well, maybe some of these veterans aren't fit for work. Aren't fit for a job.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

And I was just like, as I probably said, a time or two in my life, Alina Habo can go fuck herself. But, I mean, that was outrageous. And again, if somebody in Barack Obama's.

[Rick Wilson]

Circle had said that, I'd said that, forget it.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

24 hour a day, cut coverage and there would be crowds in D.C. with pitchforks and torches.

[Jim Acosta]

That's right.

[Rick Wilson]

Why do Democrats hate veterans?

[Jim Acosta]

Right. Yeah.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

Right? Crazy.

[Rick Wilson]

Yes. Tell me.

[Jim Acosta]

I know. I was just gonna say thank you both so much. I really appreciate it. Absolutely.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

Love.

[Jim Acosta]

You guys are wonderful as always, and have us back. We devolved and then we came back to a good place and we were serious there at the end. Yeah, it was the whole thing. But great to talk to both of you. Thank you so much, my friend. Thanks for having us.

[Molly Jong-Fast]

We'll see you again soon.

[Jim Acosta]

Take care. All right. Bye. Bye. And. And I think Rick and Molly were both terrific as always, and just had amazing, amazing thoughts on what's happening right now. And I think Rick was hitting on something there at the end that I guess I'll talk about for a moment or two, which is, are we conditioning ourselves to tolerate cruelty? Is that what we're doing right now? Are we conditioning ourselves to tolerate cruelty? And it goes back to what Molly was saying at the beginning of this about the border and so on. The toleration of cruelty towards migrants during the first Trump presidency. And it's continuing now. I wonder, and I. Maybe it's not by design by the Trump people. Who the hell knows? You can't get inside some of their twisted minds. Certainly not people like Stephen Miller. But what's happening right now with these Doge cuts is subjecting our fellow Americans to cruelty. And my thought is we should never, ever in a million years even fathom for a moment that we should be in the business of subjecting one another to cruelty. And perhaps it's the cruelty being shown to our veterans that is opening our eyes to this. Perhaps it's the cruelty shown by cuts to cancer research that are likely coming at the NIH that are opening our eyes to this. But I just. That is what gives me pause in all of this. We cannot go down that road and we can talk about, he wants to be a dictator and he wants to be an autocrat, an aspiring autocrat. I tend to agree with those assessments. I think that's what it is. But what comes with that? What comes with that slippery slope is the toleration of cruelty towards other human beings. And the America that I grew up in, and I've talked about this time and again and I'll talk about it right now. The American way of life, the United States of America, is supposed to be on the side against cruelty. And when you're tossing military disabled veterans of the Air Force out of FEMA because Elon Musk wants to dance around with a chainsaw on stage like an overgrown child, I think we've, we've lost the plot of who we are as a country. And you know, I know the folks who are watching this and chiming in, I appreciate that very much. But I encourage all of you when you go out there and you talk to people and, and you talk to a Trump person here or there, ask them, did you vote for laying off military veterans who are working for the federal government and working in places like FEMA and being deployed to natural disasters? Because I, I personally, I want those people there. Because you know what? We're going to have natural disasters, especially with climate change, which by the way, is a topic I haven't spent enough time on in this incarnation of my show. But we cannot be in the business of tolerating cruelty. That's just the baseline for me and it's something that I'm glad Molly and Rick kind of, and this is why I love talking to them, is we start batting things around and maybe things get a little crazy, we start saying silly things and it's fun and so on. But they really helped me get to a place where I'm thinking about what's important and it's, you know, Rick was saying, I'm a former Republican and Molly obviously comes at this from a progressive point of view. I've always been kind of a down the middle type of guy a little bit one way or the other. Been a journalist my whole life. So I've just, that's just maybe a little bit how I'm wired. We talk about my politics and that's not, that's not what I want to do here. But whatever walk of life you are coming from, it should be about people. It should be about a common sense of humanity. And I see somebody saying yes, but going high doesn't work, they go low. I totally get that. I totally get that. You're right. 100% thousand percent, you're right. But I do think at the end of the day not to inject any religion into any of this, but I, I, I'm of the mindset that we're all God's children. That's. That's just. That's how I'm wired. That's how I'm made. You don't agree with that, it's okay. You can also boil this down to being a part of one human family and taking care of one another. And part of that means no cruelty. No cruelty. We're not going to be cruel to one another. We're just not going to do it. Thanks, everybody, for watching. My thanks to Molly and Rick. I made it one of those days where I was just going to let them go off and have fun. But until next time, reporting from Washington, I'm Jim Acosta. Have a great evening, everybody. Take care. Bye.