← The Jim Acosta Show
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- [00:00]
Tom Steyer
Foreign.
- [00:08]
Jim Acosta
To the Jim Acosta show, it's another day that ends in why when it comes to Donald Trump building monuments to himself while ignoring the what's happening to working Americans in this country. Let's discuss with California Democratic Senator Adam Schiff. Senator, thanks for joining us once again. Appreciate it. You bet.
- [00:25]
Senator Adam Schiff
Great to be with you. Thanks for having me on.
- [00:27]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, you bet. And I saw, you know, I think people are kind of obsessed with this story. I'm focused on it, too, because it sort of, I think, you know, typifies where we are as a country right now, where Trump is building these projects. And he says to reporters earlier this week that he doesn't really seem to be focused on what's happening with working Americans, with the financial situation of everyday Americans in the country. And I'm just kind of curious what your thoughts on all of this are because, I mean, the Washington Post is reporting just today that the ballroom is coming out of the ground over at the White House complex. They are starting to actually build that thing. And, you know, your thoughts on all
- [01:10]
Senator Adam Schiff
this, you know, it's just stupefying when you think about Trump's primary criticism of Biden, and it was a devastating one, was that the president was, the former president was out of touch with the needs of Americans. When the former president would try to extol different developments in the economy or say the economy was good, he was, you know, Trump was able to just dump on him for being out of touch. And after that history and seeing the salience of that issue years ago, to put himself in a place where he is so oblivious to the pain that families are feeling is astounding. I mean, I can't imagine a time when inflation now is at a three year high with gas prices going up through the roof, when the issue I hear about all the time from constituents is all about cost of living. What is Donald Trump doing and saying he's building a billion dollar ballroom, first of all, that he promised taxpayers wouldn't pay for. But even if he hadn't made that promise, the idea that this is what's occupying his time is the worst form of political malpractice. And then he keeps saying things which reflect what he's thinking, that affordability is a hoax, that as he makes war with Iran, he never lets it enter his mind what the impact is on the cost of living for Americans in addition to it being so destructive for average families. It just shows an obliviousness that is beyond comprehension.
- [02:42]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, let's play that. I mean, I think this is one of the sound bites of the year, of Donald Trump saying this to a reporter, that he's not really focused on Americans financial situation. Let's play that and talk about on the other side. It's pretty remarkable American financial situation. I don't think about any, but I think about one thing. You cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That's all. That's the only thing. Yeah. I mean, Senator, it just sort of reminds me of, you know, there are those, those phrases or statements that a president makes from time to time or a presidential candidate makes from time to time that just comes back to haunt them and it just hangs over them. And this one, I think people, it's sinking in with people when he, that
- [03:27]
Senator Adam Schiff
he said this, I think it really is. I mean, it's hard to ignore when he just comes out and tells you and he doesn't really care about what you're going through, that he's not even giving it a thought, that he has different priorities. And for a president also who campaigned not only on bringing costs down, but not getting us involved in new foreign wars, regime change wars, Middle east wars, here he is picking this war of choice with Iran that is so undermining the cost of living argument he made during the campaign. And it just gets worse and worse. And then you see these efforts of the President to try to find some face saving compromise with Iran. And it looks like the compromise may look a lot like the jcpoa, that agreement that Obama reached with Iran over the nuclear program. Only Trump tries to distinguish this from that agreement that he tore up by saying, no, no, this time Iran really promises not to develop the bomb. As if that's a promise we could ever rely upon.
- [04:34]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, and I guess he's over in China right now. And you know, it seems to me, Senator, that the American position at the bargaining table with Xi Jinping is weakened because of what has taken place in the Middle East. What Donald Trump has done with this war of choice has revealed military vulnerabilities on the part of the United States, that an asymmetric, you know, environment can favor a much smaller country, as we saw with Ukraine and Russia. And I just wonder how much this is emboldening China and what the risks are in all of this.
- [05:11]
Senator Adam Schiff
I think you're absolutely right. He goes to China as a much weakened US President, a president who has alienated our allies, certainly our NATO allies and many other friends around the world who has embarked on this war that has really depleted US Stocks of missiles and artillery, well, predominantly missiles and other necessary equipment. And the result is that China understands that if it were to move on Taiwan, that the US has already extended, overextended itself. So Taiwan is more vulnerable. We're also economically vulnerable right now because high gas prices are killing us because of Trump's tariff wars with the rest of the world. Our farmers are in bad shape, and it has just had a cross cutting effect on our economy. So he goes to China, very much weakened. He wants China's help to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. China's not going to do that for free. The Chinese take a very long view of things and they know they're in a position now to extract some of the things they want. And what concerns me the most at this moment is what they may extract from this president is a presidential commitment to essentially throw Taiwan under the bus, to sacrifice Taiwan because of the weakened position of the president.
- [06:32]
Jim Acosta
And do you think that that could happen, that Taiwan could get thrown under the bus and we could see a Chinese take over? I mean, that to me, would have some pretty devastating economic consequences potentially.
- [06:44]
Senator Adam Schiff
It certainly could. Could it happen with Donald Trump? You know, you can never really estimate what he's capable of. So, yes, he could turn on Taiwan on a dime. He could say, why are we protecting this island? What are we getting out of it? Why aren't they paying us for our protection? Everything is transactional with him. China's much more important. Taiwan is small. He doesn't care about democracy in Taiwan. That's certainly not a factor for him. So can we rely upon him when essentially his only reason for being, his only overarching national security, foreign policy, domestic policy consideration is what is good for Donald Trump in this moment. Yeah, we have to entertain the idea that Taiwan is very vulnerable right now because the United States is very weak with a weak president.
- [07:39]
Jim Acosta
And I do want to get back to domestic concerns. I mean, there's been a lot of conversation about the weaponization of the Justice Department in recent weeks. You saw the indictment of James Comey, the former FBI director. Obviously, Donald Trump has threatened to go after you. And then earlier this week, we saw that the Department of Justice is essentially going after the Wall Street Journal. You know, this is what the Hill is saying. The Wall Street Journal on Monday said it received grand jury subpoenas from the Department of Justice for reporters records over media leaks connected to the US Israeli conflict in Iran. And it says, the Journal says they received those subpoenas on March 4th. Obviously, Trump doesn't like, you know, critical reporting on his handling the Pentagon's handling of, of the war with Iran. But this is again another example of the administration going after the press, going after the free press in America.
- [08:32]
Senator Adam Schiff
It sure is. And, and of course, this effort to go after this reporter and subpoena records comes on the heels of the President suing the Wall Street Journal over its reporting about Trump's birthday greetings to Jeffrey Epstein, something that has been borne out now by the production of the Epstein files or the partial production. It's also of a piece with the lawsuit against ABC and the lawsuit against CBS with the threatening of the licenses of ABC because of another Jimmy Kimmel joke that the President didn't like or the first lady didn't like. So we have never seen such a wholesale assault on the press. There's another common denominator apart from the use of the presidency as this leverage against the press, and that is that, though they are couching this in national security terms, this most recent effort where the Wall Street Journal, what that article was about, purportedly was General Kaine essentially warning the President of the difficulties of going to war with Iran. And presumably part of that is Iran's ability, even with a much weakened military, to close the Strait of Hormuz. Is that a national security issue that the President was warned, or is this an effort to protect the President from embarrassment? Because if it's about trying to protect the President from embarrassment, that is, you were warned. You did this anyway. That's, I think, another abusive use of the resources of the FBI to go after that reporter.
- [10:12]
Jim Acosta
Right, right. And the other thing that is, I think, very troubling to a lot of Americans right now is this redistricting effort that is happening all across the country. And it's sort of redistricting for me, but not for thee. Virginia has stopped the Democrats in Virginia from trying to redraw their congressional maps. We know in California they're, they're trying to do that to keep up with what Texas is doing. And, but there's, there's perhaps an unintended consequences aspect of all of this. Axios is reporting that maybe some of the Republicans are slowing down their role on some of this, especially in the Deep South. There has been some Talk that some 19 Congressional Black Caucus members could be affected by this. But there's also the potential, you know, ramifications of this in that Republicans may water down some of these districts so much that they could be impacted. They could end up losing their own seats. They could turn safe districts into competitive districts and so on. What is, what's your thought on all of this, it just seems like the entire midterm cycle could get thrown into chaos with all of these legal challenges. Some states get to do it, some states don't. Just wondering what your thoughts are, Senator?
- [11:22]
Senator Adam Schiff
Well, where this all began is Donald Trump, convinced that he was going to have his hat handed to him in the midterms, decided the only way he stood a chance of holding onto his power in the Congress was by gerrymandering the district. So he called on Texas to gerrymander, and they did. Now, in Texas, unlike California, where we have a ballot measure that required commissions, independent commissions, in Texas, they could just go to the Republican legislature and say, draw new maps. And they did. California responded by going to voters and saying, we're responding to Texas. Here are the new maps. Why do you think Californians embrace them? Reluctantly, I think, going down that road, but nevertheless seeing it as a necessity. Other Republican states followed suit, Virginia followed suit. And here's the thing, the Virginia Supreme Court threw out the new Virginia maps in a close, divided decision. They basically, after Virginians voted, decided to nullify the result of that vote. That will certainly advantage Republicans in the midterms. But the big decision, all this, was that voting rights decision, the Republican majority on the Supreme Court, and it's not a conservative majority, it's a Republican majority struck down, effectively a sexual voting rights act that has now made it possible to. To eliminate so many of these majority minority districts in the south and having exactly the impact of decimating the Black Caucus, as you mentioned. But here's the thing. If they try too much, if they overreach and they are overreaching, they're going to put their own incumbents in jeopardy. Because the way you create more Republican seats is by dividing the Democratic, taking the Democratic seats, chopping them up and distributing those Democrats in other districts that you hope to still hold. This election so far, if it follows all the special elections since Trump's election is likely to see a swing of the pendulum of 10 or 15 or 20 or even more points to the left to Democrats, I think a lot of Republican incumbents are starting to think I could lose my seat over this. And, you know, don't count me in for that.
- [13:39]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, no question about it. And, Senator, I can't help but go back to, you know, I went down to the National Mall earlier today, and I'm going to play a piece on this later on in the show, but, I mean, I could show a little video to the viewers and maybe you might be able to make this out, too. I looked at the reflecting pool project. It looks like a joke. You know, the way that they're painting this, it's splotchy, it's uneven, it's not even finished. I barely saw any workers down there. Makes you wonder if this is ever going to get done on time. He's built, he's trying to build an arch, he's trying to do all of these things, the ballroom project and so on. It just makes me wonder, you know, what's going on inside the mind of Donald Trump. He's up all night, on many nights, you know, tweeting so much that the next day he can't stay awake in cabinet meetings. And people, you know, might be tempted. Oh, that laugh this off. This is hilarious. And so on. This is the President of the United States, and I just, I wonder what your thoughts are on all this, Senator, because he's come after you for so many years and this is, to me, I've covered him closely. This is a different Donald Trump than during the first term. And I just don't know, you know, what's going on in his head that he's trying to do all of these weird projects. You know, it's, it's, it's kind of nutty. I just. What. Have you had a chance to think about this and. Oh, yeah, what are your thoughts?
- [15:01]
Senator Adam Schiff
I certainly have, yeah, A lot of thought into this because obviously I had very close encounters with him during his first term and he's much worse in the second term in every respect. I mean, the administration is much worse in part because they purged all the people of any independence or stature or gravitas. You know, instead of Secretary Mattis as Defense Secretary, we have this joke, Pete Hegseth, which is why we're mired down in a war in Iran. So him surrounding himself with sycophants now is resulting in these calamities like this war. But he's also completely untethered. And with every day, week, month that goes by, as he gets older, he becomes even more untethered. The night before this high stakes summit in China, he's up all hours of the night tweeting out this kooky, crazy, batshit stuff. And is that what he should be doing instead of preparing for this? Is that going to serve our national interest? All these vanity projects that he's doing, the new art or whatever the hell it is, the ballroom project. You drive around Washington D.C. you see these glowering banners of Donald Trump, and I don't know, is that his mug shot? We're looking at it is someone who thinks basically that he is now the federal government. It's all him, it's all about him. He can do whatever he wants, that there's no constraint. And that problem is just not going to get better, it's going to get worse. And unless the Republicans in the Senate and in the House, you know, find their backbone and begin to stand up to this insanity, it's going to just make life more and more difficult for the American people.
- [16:50]
Jim Acosta
And I can't let you go without asking a California question. Real quick. There's a, there's a primary going on for the gubernatorial nomination for the Democrats. And I'm just curious where your thoughts are. Have you, have you made a decision as to who you're endorsing in this? Maybe you're just thinking, let me stay out of this, that that might be the easiest thing to do, best thing to do, politically speaking. There are concerns out there that the Democrats could just yield the governor's mansion to the Republicans because of this fractured primary. Do you think, do you see that as a possibility? Are you worried about that? And who do you think is the best candidate at this point? If I could put you on the spot before you go.
- [17:29]
Senator Adam Schiff
It is a possibility that Democrats could get shut out because of this jungle primary system in which the top two vote getters go on to the general regardless of party. Now, that may have seemed like a good idea when it was taken up and passed as a ballot measure, but it can have very unexpected results in the governor's race where we have a dozen Democrats running and only two Republicans of any substance. The two Republicans could make the runoff if the Democrats all split the vote more or less equally. That would be catastrophic in a state that wants to choose a Democratic governor. Now, I think the only way I'm likely to get involved is if that probability increases that we could get shut out if we don't consolidate around a single Democrat. Happily, what we're seeing in the last couple weeks is at least one, if not more than one Democrat rising to the number one or number two position. So the odds of getting locked out are less. They are still present, but they're less. And as long as those odds continue to go down, I'm likely to stay out. But I do think we need to have a heart to heart as a party after this election because we've just come too close to calamity. And think about whether this jungle primary really makes any sense.
- [18:49]
Jim Acosta
Yeah. Because having a Trump ally in the governor's mansion in California, that would Be kind of a nightmare scenario, I would think, for the Democrats.
- [18:57]
Senator Adam Schiff
You know, I think it'd be nightmare for all Californians.
- [19:02]
Jim Acosta
Thanks, Senator. Appreciate your time. And you got to get going, but as always, thanks so much. I hit you with a lot of stuff, but it's greatly appreciated.
- [19:09]
Senator Adam Schiff
Can I just thank. Thank you for being such a arch defender of press freedom. Really not a more important time in our history than right now for the advocacy you've given for the press corps. So thank you.
- [19:22]
Jim Acosta
Thank you so much, Senator. Means a lot. Appreciate it. Safe travel, sir. Thank you.
- [19:26]
Senator Adam Schiff
Take care.
- [19:28]
Jim Acosta
All right. Yeah, we do appreciate the senator's time. Let's quickly go to Tom Steyer. He is running for governor of California. There he is, right there. Tom, thank you so much for joining us. And you know, I, you just heard Senator Schiff there say he's a little worried because of this jungle primary process, that the Republicans who were in the race could end up being the top two vote getters, and then the Democrats could be completely shut out of the runoff process. I know you're going to say that that's, that's not going to happen, Jim. Don't worry about it. But does this concern you or you think. What are your thoughts on that? Not to start off with a just a horse race question.
- [20:03]
Tom Steyer
Yeah, you know me too well, Jim. Of course I'm going to say that's not going to happen. But what I really want to say is this. Look, my job is just to run for governor. So my job is to outwork all the other candidates. It's to look as many Californians in the eye and listen to their story and make sure I'm representing them well and to make sure that it doesn't happen. Because, in fact, so many people respond to me. I truly do not think that's going to happen. I see this in a completely different way, and I think that people are starting to focus on it. There's a gigantic percentage of people are undecided who I think will all go Democratic. And I think that when the votes are counted on June 2, Senator Schiff is going to be very pleased. And I think that the truth is this race is about something different than people are talking about. I think, Jim. Yeah, I think this race is about the corporate interests who run this state and the politicians who serve them.
- [20:56]
Jim Acosta
Well, you've been a very successful businessman. You're a philanthropist. You're an environmental advocate. I will show the latest poll number from Emerson College. I mean, they do have. It's a very crowded field of of candidates right now. And, you know, it does show that you're neck and neck with Javier Becerra. Steve Hilton is in there. He's very Trumpy. I think he's, he's a Fox host, a TV host or something like that. And I mean, but it is tight. It's tight.
- [21:24]
Tom Steyer
Look, I think Californians, the big issue in California is Californians can't afford to live here anymore. That is the issue. And that has to do with housing costs, both rent and the ability to buy a house. It definitely has to do with health care. It's got to do with surging gasoline prices at the pump. And it's got to do with electricity prices where Californians pay twice as much as the rest of the United States of America. Look, Steve Hilton is not going to help you on any of those things. Steve Hilton has been endorsed by Donald Trump. He supports this war. He's claiming that they're gonna bring down gas prices when they've done nothing but move them up. He really has nothing to say in the state of California. And the truth is, Javier Becerra is someone who has taken the maximum amount of money from two big oil companies. He's taking the maximum amount of money from the strongest lobby against single payer healthcare. He said not one word about taking on any corporations. I think this is a very straightforward race, honestly, Jim, about whether Californians want change, whether they want to bring down costs, and whether they want to take on the corporations that are driving up those costs. And I'm the only person who's challenging.
- [22:40]
Jim Acosta
Yeah. And Tom, we're showing the gas prices out there. And for Americans who are feeling sticker shock and the other 49 states, you know, you really ought to travel to California because it's scary right now. And the gallon, gallon of gas, the average is almost 615 a gallon. And it's unreal, you know, and obviously in a lot of other places it's higher than that. What's your plan to bring those prices down?
- [23:03]
Tom Steyer
What I've said is this is a windfall profit to oil companies. The reason those prices are high is not because their costs went up a penny. The reason those prices are so high is there's a war in Iran that Donald Trump started for reasons which I don't understand other than to try and control the oil countries of the world that's driven up the price. It is literally a windfall profit to his oil and gas supporters. We have a windfall profits tax on the books. I think we should activate it and take those windfall profits and send them back to the people in California who did not, who are getting gouged. And the oil companies are willfully, gleefully gouging us at the pump because they can.
- [23:47]
Jim Acosta
And so, I mean, are there, are there a bit, Are there things you could do on day one that could start lowering those, those price.
- [23:55]
Tom Steyer
I literally would move to. There's a windfall profits tax that's on the books. We would literally just have to go to the legislator and legislature and activate it. And I would send the money directly to the people of California, not to the government, send it directly to the people who are being affected.
- [24:09]
Jim Acosta
Like rebate checks, that kind of thing?
- [24:11]
Tom Steyer
Yes.
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Jim Acosta
Yeah. Yeah, interesting. And, and I read a piece in the New York Times, and this is, I guess this is in line with what you've been saying, is that because you've been a lifelong environmental advocate, you've been, you know, fighting climate change through your philanthropy work. And, you know, a lot of folks right now, when they see the price of gas as high as it is, they may be concerned. Well, you know, I really can't afford to talk about climate change right now. I saw a New York Times story about you, Tom, that says that you're trying to make this connection with people that these, these issues are linked, that climate change, if you can tackle it, will bring down gas prices, if you can, you know, move Americans to. Move Californians to off of fossil fuels and so on your thoughts on that.
- [24:53]
Tom Steyer
Well, look, I know that you have had several opportunities to read my book, Cheaper, Faster, Better How We Win the Climate War. Look, the clean energy is cheaper right now by a lot. And the fact of what's going on in Iran shows not only that the cost of fossil fuels is much higher than the cost of clean energy, but they're also undependable. You really don't know where this is going? I mean that sincerely. I'm not just saying that we really don't know where this is going. And as I like to say, you don't have to put solar or wind through the straits of Hormuz. This is a dependability issue, it's a reliability issue, and it is a cost issue. And the cost curves have crossed. Honestly, Jim, I think Americans need to know. Clean energy per kilowatt hour is much cheaper than fossil fuels. Without fossil fuels paying the cost of bad air, air quality and health costs, without paying the costs of polluting our climate and raising the temperature of the world. And may I say, without paying the hundreds of billions of dollars a year that our armed services are used to protect fossil fuels, transportation around the world, which is just the breakdown in the Straits of Hormuz right now. This is hundreds of billions of dollars being spent by the US Government to protect fossil fuels. We don't need to do that if we're all solar and wind.
- [26:24]
Jim Acosta
But what can you do in California when the federal government is doing what it's doing? And Trump, you know, he took away the credits for electric cars and that has, I mean, that has an impact. You know, now people all of a sudden, they want a second look at electric cars and they don't get the credit anymore.
- [26:40]
Tom Steyer
Well, what I would say is this. Look, in California, owning an electric car from the day you buy it till the day you retire, it is cheaper than fossil fuel car right now because the cost of fueling it and the cost of maintaining an internal combustion engine is so much higher. What I would say is this. I triple California's incentive to buy EVs because we need to move off this as a state. Look, the future is clean electricity. That's the future. That's where China's going to. That's where every other place in the world is going because it's cheaper. And the technology around this transformation is invented in California. We should be leading this charge of driving costs down, driving electricity costs down for sure. That's why I'm taking on the electric monopolies. They're overcharging us. Driving down the cost of transportation for sure. The cars are here. Electricity is much cheaper than to juice up your car. Really, the world, the day of the fossil fuel is over. From now on, they are in decline perpetually. And it doesn't matter what Donald Trump says. Drill, baby, drill. I would translate to you as let's use whale oil, let's keep driving horse and buggies and let's insist on black and white TVs. These color TVs are crazy, man. We got to stick to the black and whites tried and true to America way. It's yesterday's news. Today's news is much cheaper, much more dispersed electricity generation and distribution.
- [28:11]
Jim Acosta
And I guess, can you get along with Donald Trump if you become governor of California? You would be the governor when the Olympics come to la. Is that something? Is that a prospect that you would be looking forward to having to deal with Donald Trump? I mean, that sounds like a real headache for being the governor of California.
- [28:27]
Tom Steyer
Well, you know, Jim, the job of a governor of California is to stand up for the California people against organized interests that threaten them with Violence that take advantage of them or that try to rip them off. And if you look at the federal government in terms of, from California's perspective, all of those things are happening. So can I get along with Donald Trump if he is a normal president who treats Californians as citizens for whom he is care and responsibility, sure, I can. But that isn't. He has said the people who don't vote for him are his enemies. And I would say to you that in the last month, he has gone online to say some of the very nice things about me that he said about you.
- [29:07]
Jim Acosta
Yeah.
- [29:08]
Tom Steyer
In fact, the very same, you know, intemperate, meaningless slurs that he used against you. He used against me. Look, he is. I, I think JD Vent said that they were going to withhold $1.3 billion from California yesterday because of unspecified corruption. These are not. You're saying, can I get along with that? These guys are attacking California and that's the truth. They're doing it through their ICE agents, They're doing it through money. They're absolute. And they're doing it by refusing, you know, we have a $55 billion claim against FEMA that they're refusing to pay from the fires in Altadena and Pacific Palisades last January.
- [29:49]
Jim Acosta
Yeah.
- [29:50]
Tom Steyer
Can I get along with them? The job of the governor is to stand up for Californians and I will do that job faithfully every single time.
- [29:58]
Jim Acosta
It sounds like that means taking them to court when you need to take them to court and so on.
- [30:02]
Tom Steyer
I think that that's just the tip of the iceberg. I think the truth of the matter is this is going to be a long term contrast between the vision they have for America and the vision we have for California. We're small d Democratic lovers, we're rule of law lovers. We are nonviolent. We are successful competitors around the world. We're half the growth of the United States of America. I mean, I don't know exactly how you perceive how he's coming across, but he's not someone who seems to love democracy. He seems to be attacking democracy in every single way he can.
- [30:40]
Jim Acosta
Oh, yeah.
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Tom Steyer
Not someone who's nonviolent. He's not someone who's, who is competitive and successful around the world. That I can see what I can see him doing around the world. The nicest word I can use is flail. I guess the other word I could use is fail. So I think there's a very distinct difference in how we see our society and the values of our society and what we stand for. And I think that that's, it's critical that people understand that we stand for what we think of as the traditional American values of liberty and democracy and rule of law and nonviolence and successful competition.
- [31:18]
Jim Acosta
Yeah. And just, I know you have to go. Just very quickly, there's a reality TV guy, Spencer Pratt, who's running for mayor of Los Angeles, he says, and he's got this AI video that shows Karen Bass as the Joker and all this stuff, and it's, it kind of caught fire on social media. So it's, it's pretty awful stuff. What was your response to that? I mean, what if he becomes mayor of la?
- [31:40]
Tom Steyer
Well, I don't know. Spencer Pratt, I haven't found any. I don't know enough about him to say anything positive or negative. But I do want to say this, Jim. I believe this is a time when people are looking for old fashioned integrity, transparency, honesty, and someone who's going to stand up to the corporate interests that are ripping them off. Someone who has the guts to take them on. The person who will stand up to the billionaires and the corporations and work for working people and make them pay their fair share. And there's only one person running for governor in the state of California who will do that, and it's me.
- [32:17]
Jim Acosta
All right, Tom Steyer running for governor of California. Thanks so much for your time, sir. Really appreciate it. Good to catch up.
- [32:22]
Tom Steyer
Thank you for having me.
- [32:23]
Jim Acosta
Thanks, Tom. Okay. And you know, this is a, I just want to show this poll one more time because it's, you know, we're sipping from a fire hose these days of dues and, you know, we haven't focused enough on what's happening in California. But look how tight this race is right now. Javier Becerra, who was the HHS secretary under Biden, he's in the lead with 19%. Then Steve Hilton, the Republican, then Tom steyer locked at 17%. And my understanding, the top two candidates, they go to the runoff. And so the fear had been when Eric Swalwell dropped out of the race because of that scandal, that the two Republican candidates could end up because there are so many Democratic candidates that the top two Republican candidates could end up becoming the only two candidates in this runoff. Now, Tom Steyer, it sounds as though he, either he or Javier Becerra will make that runoff perhaps with a Republican. But this, I mean, you can just imagine, this is why I thought there was an urgency to not only having Senator Schiff on, but Tom Steyer on. If we can get the Sarah and we'll do that too, to really dive into this, because having a MAGA Republican in the governor's office in California, obviously that would have major, it would have massive implications for the 2028 presidential race. So very appreciative to both Senator Schiff and Tom Steyer for coming on the show. And I, you know, as some of you, you guys have heard me say this many times on the show, that climate change is perhaps the most undercovered story in America right now. We're just not paying attention to it. In Washington next week, they're talking about the temperatures getting into the 90s in May. And so we're going to stay on top of it. So interesting to hear from Tom Steyer, who's worked on that issue for a very long time. I, I do want to tackle a couple of other quick things. I did go back. You know, I, I, am I becoming like an Ambassador to Washington, D.C. maybe I am a little bit. But when Donald Trump goes around town acting like a dictator and putting up all of these crazy things in his honor, you know, I just can't help but pulling out my phone and just, you know, going around town and just seeing how things look. A week or so ago, we reported on how, you know, they're talking about this crazy arch that he wants to build, the Arc de Triumph or whatever they're calling it. Basically, it's the Arc de Trump. That's, that's the nickname here in D.C. well, it is no longer theoretical. It is no longer hypothetical. It is no longer something that we can just talk about. It looks like it's starting to happen. It looks like they're starting to lay out the footprint for this arch to, to start taking shape, which is nuts because as far as I know, there's been no money appropriated to build an arch. There's been no process that I've seen publicly over whether or not we should build a 250 foot arch across the Potomac river right in front of Arlington National Cemetery. Has anybody gone to the veterans or the people who care for the cemetery and said, would you like a giant arch as you enter Arlington National Cemetery? What is that going to do to the traffic? And so on. And so I just want to play this because I, I was down, I was driving by and I noticed this and it's being reported that this is starting to happen. And let's take a look, let's take a look what I found. Okay, guys, I'm back over here just outside Arlington National Cemetery looking across the Memorial bridge into Washington, D.C. where the Lincoln Memorial is. You can see it over my shoulder. I'm seeing these two staging areas in this traffic circle right across from the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery. It looks as though Donald Trump is going ahead and having his administration build the arch without any kind of approval process. It looks like they're just starting to do this by setting up the staging area here. I'm going to stay on top of this. I'll keep you posted. We're going to monitor this to see if he's going to try to pull another fast one and do this on his own. And also, guys, an update on the reflecting pool project. I'm down here today taking a look at this. I'm just looking at the paint. It's pretty splotchy. It is not an even coat. And take a look around. I'm not seeing a whole lot of workers out here. Makes you wonder, are they ever going to get this thing done? Yeah, there's a little bird floating. It's a reflecting puddle right now on the National Mall, ladies and gentlemen. They have a reflecting puddle. There's a little bird that was splashing around in a tiny puddle. And besides that, the reflecting pool is like about 200 different shades of blue, depending on what degree, like what depth of paint, how many shades of paint they've laid down on the reflecting pool bottom. And it is just nutty stuff. That one person, the President of the United States, can just start going around town and saying, just going to build an arch over here and we're going to paint the reflecting pool blue over there. And, oh, the ballroom, which is tied up in court, we're just going to start building that anyway. You know, it doesn't matter that the Congress hasn't even passed the money. They, they want a billion dollars to, to do the security upgrades that Donald Trump bulldozed. He bulldozed a bunker there at the White House. And so they have to do security upgrades that's going to cost a billion dollars that hasn't even gotten to the Congress. But, but they're building anyway. So this is what happens in dictatorships and autocratic regimes, and it's happening in the United States of America. And, you know, I, I, it should piss people off. It should make people mad. I, I don't know. I get the sense that, yes, our viewers are pissed and our viewers are mad, but it should be a whole hell of a lot more of a controversy than what we're seeing right now. But because the Republicans have basically handed their, their balls, their backbones to Donald Trump, and he keeps, keeps them in a little case over at the White House that they, they just won't stand up to him. And we have a system in this country where the courts will say, well, you can't do that. And he just does it anyway. So that's what we're dealing with in Washington right now. So every time this stuff starts changing, guys, I'm going to go back out there, take some more pictures, because I don't know about you. I go on the network news, I go on cable news, I look at the newspaper, I just, is it me or is this not getting covered very much? There's, there's a little bit of coverage here and there. I see a couple cable stations, a little bit of coverage here and there. But I just, if, if somebody's just going to willy nilly start doing these wholesale changes in the nation's capital, I kind of feel like this should be covered. It's the capital of America. There should be something should be happening on my TV that says the crazy president is building crazy around the nation's capital like that. To me, that's a story. And I just think that it, it's nuts that we don't see more about it. So anyway, I'm just going to keep doing it. We're getting amazing feedback in response to it because people seem to be very interested in it as well. I don't know why the press doesn't cover it more. I guess they're, they're just all afraid of him and, and his media henchmen, Brendan Carr and Stephen Miller and all the goofballs that they have working for them. But I'm not, you know, I'm not worried about those, you know, if, if they're going to mess with our nation's capital, I'm going to go out there and report on it and I'm going to show it to you, the American people. I saw one other thing I want to tackle before we go. I saw a comment from one of the viewers. Yes, I read the comments as much as I can, especially from our substack and YouTube folks. They're very thoughtful comments on X, Maybe not so much because those are crazy people over there sometimes, but, but we love some of them. But there was a substack commenter who said, jim, I would like to get your take on what is happening with the war in Iran and this, this New York Times story in particular. So to the nice lady who suggested that I offer my take on this, I will. And this is what the Times is Reporting the the Trump administration's public portrayal of a shattered Iranian military is sharply at odds with what US Intelligence agencies are telling policymakers behind closed doors. According to classified assessments from early this month that show Iran has regained access to most of its missile sites, launchers and underground facilities. I just want to repeat that part. Classified assessments from early this month show Iran has regained access to most of its missile sites, launchers and underground facilities. Most alarming to some senior officials is evidence that Iran has restored operational access to 30 of its 33 missile sites that it maintains along the Strait of Hormuz, which means it could threaten American warships and oil tankers transiting the narrow waterway. People with knowledge of the assessment said they showed, to varying degrees, depending on the level of damage incurred at the different sites, that the Iranians could use mobile launchers that are inside the sites to move missiles into other locations. So, I mean, the long story short of all of this is that Donald Trump has been, lately he's been going out there and giving these talking points that he's somehow winning the war in Iran because he is degrading the Iranian military. That, it turns out, is horseshit. Pete Hegseth, the Defense Secretary, the self described secretary of War, as I like to call him, Secretary Axe Body Spray. And as, as my, as my team likes to remind folks, there's a very unflattering photo of Pete Hex, Pete Hexeth with a champagne bottle. Anyway, maybe we'll dig that one up and we'll, we'll put it up on screen for you. Pete Hegseth goes out into these Pentagon briefings and does the same thing that Donald Trump does. They try to justify here, it's right there. Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump try to justify what they're doing in the Middle east right now by saying that they have degraded the Iranian military. Well, folks, the New York Times is reporting that that may not be the case, that the Iranian missile capability has not only not been degraded, but they're in the process of rebuilding and reconstituting that capability to the extent that it will continue to threaten the Strait of Hormuz. What is the long and the short of that? Well, as we were showing earlier, these bananas, batshit crazy gas prices that everybody are seeing across the country. We can show the gas prices out in California one more time there. I mean, look at this. Can you imagine living in LA and you pull up to the gas station, it says 699 for regular unleaded, 6.99 for regular unleaded. Or you put in a, you fill up the tank and it's $96. What the actual. But, folks, you need to understand the reason why you are paying more for gas right now. There is only one person in the whole goddamn world who is responsible for you paying more at the gas station right now. There's one, one dude, one chump who is responsible for you paying for more for gas right now, and his name is Donald J. Trump. There is no other person on the face of the earth who is responsible for that more than he is. So you are. You are taking money out of your bank account, you are running up your credit cards, paying for higher gas prices because of him. And Donald Trump goes out to the cameras and he says, well, it's worth it. It's all worth it if Iran doesn't get a nuclear weapon. Well, Iran sure as hell wants a nuclear weapon now. Have you thought about that, Donald Trump? And according to the New York Times, their military capabilities have not been degraded, not, not to the extent that they've been bragging about that. Donald Trump. And Pete Hexseth, Secretary Body Spray, when he, when he talks about it at the, at the, at the Pentagon briefings, when he calls on the MAGA ringers and he brags that they've degraded the Iranian military. What about that, Pete Heth? What about that Secretary Axe Body Spray? Does that make you want to maybe, I don't know, chug a bottle of champagne? I don't know, maybe it's getting close to the end, end of the week, it's, it's five o' clock somewhere. But you're paying for this. You're paying for this because this fool right here works for another fool who fell for a case that had been made to American presidents over the last few decades, that you can somehow and take out the Iranian regime and it wouldn't be a problem. You can just do it like that, and it's just not the case. It's just not the case. And so now the United States is locked in. We're, we're now locked in to, I don't know, the long haul here. We're stuck at the, we're stuck at the bar, at the end of the bar, on a bar stool next to Pete Hegseth, trying to figure out how the hell we're going to get out of this war with Iran and how the hell we're going to get our gas prices back down again. And it does make you think that perhaps we've been played for suckers. When Donald Trump Went out on the campaign trail and said, drill, baby, drill. It's going to solve all of our problems. Remember when he said that we're going to take away your tax credits for the electric cars, we're going to take away your tax credits for combating climate change. All of those green policies that Donald Trump laughed at and scoffed at and said he's going to roll back because he said that they were wrecking the economy. Well, all of that got rolled back. All of those tax credits got taken away. They made it more expensive to buy electric cars. And then we get a war in the Middle East. And then we get a war in the Middle east that shoots up the gas prices. Does anybody, does anybody find that to be a coincidence? Isn't that interesting? As soon as those, as soon as those environmental tax credits and policies went away, we, we knock off the Venezuelans and we try to knock off the Iranians, and right now, Trump's getting his ass handed to him. So a very nice lady on Substack asked, what are my thoughts on all this? Those are my thoughts on all of this. That, once again, a lot of people in this country got played for suckers. Please, the next time a politician says, drill, baby, drill, will you please tell them what to do with themselves, where to put that drill? That would be what I would suggest. The next time a politician says, drill, baby, drill, you tell them, go drill yourself. Because that, that honestly is what we need to do with that expression. It needs to be consigned to the ash heap of political rhetoric here in the United States. But anyway, in the meantime, my thanks to Senator Adam Schiff for joining us today. Really appreciate his time. Very interesting insights into where he sees things, the state of play right now in Washington, D.C. also, my thanks to Tom Steyer. Very interesting discussion, Tom. Not backing down from his beliefs on climate change. Tackling. Tackling climate change and putting the environmental policies that really should be at the forefront of this country back on the front burner he's trying to do out in California. Very interesting conversation there. Of course, happy to have Javier Becerra, other candidates on as well, but did not want to ignore this very, very important race for governor of California. Imagine, we could have two Republicans at the top of this jungle primary, as they call it, and end up being the only two candidates on the ballot. That would send shock waves not only around California, but around the country. But in the meantime, still reporting from Washington, I'm Jim Acosta. Thanks for tuning in. I'll see you next time.