Seneca Project's Tara Setmayer rips Trump's Tesla informercial at the White House and talks about empowering women plus Brian Karem on press access issues in covering Trump.

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Jim Acosta Show – Episode Featuring Tara Setmayer and Brian Karam

Title: Seneca Project's Tara Setmayer Rips Trump's Tesla Infomercial at the White House and Talks About Empowering Women Plus Brian Karam on Press Access Issues in Covering Trump
Host: Jim Acosta
Guests: Tara Setmayer (Seneca Project), Brian Karam (Veteran Journalist)
Release Date: March 12, 2025

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Overview

In this compelling episode of The Jim Acosta Show, host Jim Acosta engages in a robust discussion with Tara Setmayer of the Seneca Project and veteran journalist Brian Karam. The conversation delves into the troubling transformation of the White House under President Donald Trump, the precarious state of press access, the alarming job losses among federal employees, and the critical efforts to empower women and preserve democracy. The episode is rich with insightful analysis, personal narratives, and a passionate critique of current political dynamics.

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1. Tara Setmayer Criticizes Trump's Tesla Infomercial at the White House

Timestamp [00:55 – 02:06]

Jim Acosta opens the conversation by referencing Tara Setmayer’s recent Substack post, which lambasts President Trump for turning the White House into a "tacky infomercial set" for Elon Musk's Tesla. Tara expresses her disdain for the hypocrisy of Trump's public support for electric vehicles while simultaneously implementing policies detrimental to federal employees.

Notable Quote:

Jim Acosta [00:55]: "Trump was busy turning the White House into a tacky infomercial set for Elon Musk's failing Tesla empire."

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2. Impact on Veterans and Federal Employees

Timestamp [14:40 – 15:43]

The discussion shifts to the significant layoffs among federal employees, many of whom are veterans. Tara highlights the severe impact of these cuts, emphasizing that veterans constitute a substantial portion of the federal workforce and are now facing unprecedented job losses.

Notable Quote:

Tara Setmayer [14:55]: "Donald Trump is the first president in history to abandon our veterans and their families. And people need to know this."

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3. Tara Setmayer's Journey from Republican to Independent Advocate

Timestamp [02:06 – 07:57]

Tara shares her personal journey from a long-time Republican to resigning from the party in 2020 following Trump's refusal to accept election results. She details her disillusionment with the party’s shift towards MAGA ideologies and her subsequent founding of the Seneca Project. Her narrative underscores the moral and ethical compromises she witnessed, leading to her decision to fight for democracy and women's rights independently.

Notable Quote:

Tara Setmayer [04:19]: "I look at so. And he wasn't the only one. There were so many of my Republican friends and colleagues and people who I respected, who I thought were honest people that sold out."

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4. The Role of the Seneca Project in Empowering Women and Preserving Democracy

Timestamp [30:56 – 36:27]

Tara discusses the inception and mission of the Seneca Project, a bipartisan organization aimed at galvanizing women, particularly those right-of-center, to combat threats to democracy. She highlights the project's impactful campaigns, including the viral "American Girls" ad, which celebrates women's contributions and underscores the necessity of safeguarding democratic values.

Notable Quote:

Tara Setmayer [31:15]: "We started the Seneca Project last June. ... One of our crowning achievements was an ad called American Girls, which was the final, our final election ad that went uber viral."

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5. Brian Karam on Press Access and Challenges in Covering Trump

Timestamp [38:20 – 44:54]

Brian Karam provides an insider's perspective on the deteriorating press access under Trump's second term. He explains how Trump aims to control the press pool, limiting access to non-traditional media and excluding reputable outlets like the Associated Press (AP) and Reuters. Karam emphasizes the detrimental effects of these actions on journalistic integrity and transparency.

Notable Quote:

Brian Karam [40:22]: "What they're doing is controlling the access. The White House Correspondents Association doesn't even call it the press pool anymore because they've lost control of it."

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6. The Exclusion of AP and Reuters: Implications for Media Freedom

Timestamp [42:30 – 47:17]

Jim Acosta and Brian Karam delve deeper into the exclusion of the AP and Reuters from the White House press pool. They argue that this move undermines the foundational principles of free press and accountability, drawing parallels to authoritarian regimes. The conversation highlights the necessity for collective action among media organizations to resist such undermining of press freedom.

Notable Quote:

Jim Acosta [42:56]: "The White House is now in charge of the pool. ... There has to be some sort of collective action, a full-blown boycott."

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7. Trump's Alignment with Tech Billionaires and the Erosion of Democratic Norms

Timestamp [11:10 – 20:50]

The discourse broadens to examine the symbiotic relationship between Trump and tech moguls like Elon Musk. Tara criticizes Musk's involvement in political maneuvers, suggesting a quid pro quo arrangement that destabilizes democratic institutions. She also touches upon broader issues such as the potential authoritarian ambitions of tech elites and the convergence of tech and political power.

Notable Quote:

Tara Setmayer [13:30]: "Elon Musk did that because he just out of the goodness of his heart? No, it's a quid pro quo."

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8. The Twilight Zone-like Reality in Trump’s Administration

Timestamp [11:57 – 24:42]

Jim Acosta and Tara discuss the surreal and chaotic nature of Trump’s administration, likening it to the "Twilight Zone." They highlight the erratic policies, blatant disregard for established norms, and the president’s unpredictable behavior, which collectively contribute to a destabilizing political environment.

Notable Quote:

Tara Setmayer [11:57]: "It feels like the Twilight Zone. How the hell did we get to a place where Donald Trump is doing an infomercial for Elon Musk?"

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9. The Future of Media Coverage and Democratic Accountability

Timestamp [44:54 – 60:54]

Brian Karam and Jim Acosta explore potential strategies to combat the White House's attempts to control media access. They discuss the importance of maintaining independent journalism and the role of reporters in holding the administration accountable. The conversation underscores the critical need for media solidarity to preserve democratic accountability.

Notable Quote:

Brian Karam [58:54]: "You are there to be the immovable object or the irresistible force. ... Ask the tough questions. Stand up and be counted."

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10. Concluding Thoughts and Call to Action

Timestamp [60:40 – 64:02]

Jim Acosta wraps up the episode by expressing gratitude to Tara Setmayer and Brian Karam for their invaluable insights. He emphasizes the collective responsibility of journalists and advocates to resist authoritarian tendencies and uphold democratic principles. Acosta also highlights upcoming initiatives and encourages listeners to stay engaged with the Seneca Project and other independent media efforts.

Notable Quote:

Jim Acosta [61:27]: "This is a duck. Whack, whack, whack. And they're only like 12 animals. And so with Trump, it's like, you pull the string and the thing goes around."

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Key Takeaways

1. Preservation of Press Freedom: The episode underscores the critical threats to press freedom posed by the Trump administration’s attempts to control the press pool and exclude reputable media outlets.

2. Impact on Veterans: Significant layoffs of federal employees, many of whom are veterans, highlight a concerning disregard for those who have served the country.

3. Empowerment and Democratic Integrity: Tara Setmayer’s transition from Republican to independent advocate emphasizes the importance of standing up for democratic values and empowering marginalized groups, particularly women.

4. Influence of Tech Billionaires: The collaboration between political figures like Trump and tech moguls raises alarms about the potential erosion of democratic institutions and the rise of tech-driven authoritarianism.

5. Call for Media Solidarity: The conversation advocates for collective action among media organizations to resist administrative overreach and uphold the principles of independent journalism.

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Conclusion

This episode of The Jim Acosta Show offers a profound exploration of the current political landscape, emphasizing the erosion of democratic norms, threats to press freedom, and the vital role of independent organizations like the Seneca Project in safeguarding democracy. Through passionate dialogue and firsthand experiences, Tara Setmayer and Brian Karam provide listeners with a critical perspective on the challenges facing the United States today.

Transcript

[Jim Acosta]

And we're live right now. Welcome to the Jim Acosta Show. It's a different start time today, so hope everybody got the message that on at 2:00 Eastern today, it's 11:00am on the west Coast. I'm actually on the west coast, which is why things are a little bit different today. You can see with me right now is Tara Settmeier. I'm so happy to be talking to Tara. She and I have been friends, buddies for a very long time. And I've been telling the viewers that one of the things that's fun about this substack thing is I'm getting to reconnect with my friends, you know what I mean? And there's no TV gobbledygook getting in the way. I can just like reach out to you and say, tara, let's do a live. And you're like, okay, let's do. And there's no. We've cut out the middleman. Talk about cutting out waste, fraud and abuse.

[Tara Setmayer]

Yeah, we've done. Kidding. And it's completely unfiltered. Right. You don't have any overlords that are, that are kind of patrolling what you can and cannot say and who you can and cannot have on your show, so.

[Jim Acosta]

Exactly. Exactly. Well, Tara, I wanted to talk to you about your substack post. And Tara's on substack now, which is terrific. You wrote about Elon Musk and Donald Trump over at the White House. And you wrote, while Trump was busy turning the White House into a tacky infomercial set for Elon Musk's failing Tesla empire, tens of thousands of federal employees, many of them veterans, were being thrown out of work again. And I do want to start there because, I mean, we did think that perhaps one day Trump would turn the White House into a tacky Trump casino, but he turned it into a used car lot. And, you know, let's dive right into this because, I mean, first of all, just the shamelessness of parking his crappy Teslas on the North Lawn of the. I mean, that right there, you know, and Trump saying, oh, I'm buying one of these after he was out on the campaign trail trashing electric cars anyway.

[Tara Setmayer]

Right?

[Jim Acosta]

I know all of that bullshit hypocrisy, putting that out of the way. You have been laser focused on these veterans who have been getting. Getting laid off as part of these Doge cuts. Take the conversation wherever you want to go, Tara, because, I mean, it's just outrageous on multiple levels.

[Tara Setmayer]

On so many levels. And just before we get into that. I just want to say how proud I am of you, Jim. And our friendship has really meant a lot to me. When we were colleagues at CNN for all those years, that's how I got to know you. And you've always been a standup guy. And when I decided to get into the substack world because a lot of people were telling me, you got to get on substack, I was like, what is that? And so when I finally started to see right, I was like, I had no idea. I thought it was like a glorified newsletter. I had no idea. All this very cool, you know, capabilities and, and all of this community here. I was looking for a name for my substack and because everybody had these like really cool names. Unless you're like, you know, a big deal like you, where you can just use your name and it's fine. But I was like, what's going to be my substack name? And I, you know, it was important to me because I felt that my substack would, was going to be an extension of me and my beliefs and who I am. Kind of an all encompassing for all the work that I've been doing in the pro democracy space, not just with women, but just in general of being someone who's always been a voice that people could trust. And so the word uncompromised came to me because I was watching so many people sell out and compromise themselves. And when you made the decision to basically tell CNN to stick it, I thought, you know, that Jim is one of the people who in this moment was unwilling to compromise when it mattered most. And so you were really one of the inspirations for why I chose the name Uncompromised. So I just wanted to let you know, thank you. The influence that you've had and that your integrity and being a standup guy in this moment matters to so many people because that means a lot. A lot of people have gone the other way. So thank you for that and thank you for being one of my inspirations.

[Jim Acosta]

Thank you. And you've always inspired me and we'll talk about the news in a second. But Tara, you know, one of the things, and I see this comment, every once in a while somebody will comment and say, how come you don't have any Republicans on? I have Republicans on. Tara Settmeier, I don't know if you consider yourself silly Republican, but you were a Republican. You worked for. Was it John McCain up on Capitol Hill?

[Tara Setmayer]

No.

[Jim Acosta]

Who did you work for on the Hill?

[Tara Setmayer]

I Actually worked for a member of Congress from California who was a Reagan speechwriter for many years and who a lot of. Who lost his damn mind, unfortunately. And he. No, he did. And I felt very. I'm very heartsick about that because my seven years with him were glorious. Seven years? Years. We did amazing work when I was there. I was on Capitol Hill from 2006 until 2013, and it was wonderful. But I didn't agree with him on everything. He was very wrong. I never agreed with him fully on Russia. And that turned into a whole other thing with. With Russia moving forward.

[Jim Acosta]

I think I know who you're talking about. We won't get into all that. That's a saga.

[Tara Setmayer]

Yes, it's a saga, but it breaks my heart because he was actually a very good person and funny and great, treated us wonderfully, and the stories were amazing. And what he gave me, he gave me much authority to do good work. He wasn't one of those members of Congress that was so egomaniacal that it was all about them. And, you know, it wasn't. I was his communications director, and he let me do television on his behalf and on issues that mattered to us. Like, that was unheard of on Capitol Hill. He let me get involved in legislative issues, and I was able to be basically like an Aaron Brockovich type of advocate for Border Patrol agents who were unjustly prosecuted back in Texas in 2007 for shooting an illegal alien drug smuggler. It was an absolute travesty of justice what happened to those guys, Ramos and Agents Ramos and Compian. And he gave me the full power of the congressional office to rally the troops and get a national, like, righteous anger of the national, you know, media and people to help convince George W. Bush to commute or pardon these guys. They got 11 and 12 year sentences. And after two years of fighting for them, in one of his final acts in office, he actually commuted their sentences. Thanks. My work and others. I didn't do it by myself, but he gave me the opportunity to lead that effort. And it's still one of the proudest accomplishments of my adult career that I was able to save those guys in their lives and their home with their families and, you know, and to see him turn into a MAGA apologist and like. And just sell out was heartbreaking for me. It's like. It's like Invasion of the Body Snatchers. You know, I look at so. And he wasn't the only one. There were so many of my Republican friends and colleagues and people who I respected, who I thought were honest people that sold out. And that all kind of leads back to the, the uncompromised moniker that I have embraced because I never compromised myself and I. And at great cost. I could have been very easily, you know, a multi millionaire with a lot of these other people who sold out and just did it for the money or just did it for fame and fortune. And I'm like, I'm sorry, what I see going on here is so wrong. It's un American. This is not the country that my great grand. That my grandfather fought for in World War II, or that my husband serves as a federal officer, or that my grandfather served as a police officer. Like, what the hell are we doing here? And my Jersey girl DNA would never allow me to sell out.

[Jim Acosta]

And, well, good for you.

[Tara Setmayer]

Here we are. Here we are.

[Jim Acosta]

No, no. And I'm so glad you told us that story because, you know, people come from different experiences, different walks of life. You're now at this as a very independent voice in, you know, in the information marketplace, information sphere, whatever you want to call it, this independent journalism movement that's happening, independent media movement that's happening in this country. So I love it that you're here.

[Tara Setmayer]

Thank you. And I did quit the party, by the way. I finally quit.

[Brian Karam]

You did?

[Jim Acosta]

You did you finally quit?

[Tara Setmayer]

I quit in 2020, the day after Donald Trump refused to accept the election results. I was very. I almost quit the party about three or four times during Trump's first term. But my good friend Michael Steele, former RNC chairman, talked me out of it a bunch of times because he said, listen, he's a good guy. I love Michael. I've known him since I was a wide eyed, bushy tailed, very Young Republican. For 25 years I've known Michael and he's always been a standup guy. And I always respected his wisdom and his candor and I knew that he always had my best interest at heart. And I would say to him, michael, I'm struggling. How do we stay in the party after, you know, Charlottesville? There's good people on both sides. How do I stay in the party after Helsinki when Donald Trump took the side of our enemy against our own intel community? How do I stay in a party where he talks about people who came here from shithole countries, as you know, Right. How do I stay. How do I stay in a party that had women literally chasing down senators, begging them to listen to their experiences as being sexual assault survivors and victims and them still voting for someone like Brett, Kat, and ought to be on our Supreme Court. How do I stay in a party that continues to push conspiracy theories and told people to shove bleach up their ass as a way to cope with COVID You know, we've got refrigerator trucks of people dying in the streets of, you know, in hospitals in New York City and across the country. How do I stay in a party that advocated a stand back and standby to domestic terrorists and militias that were, you know, supporting Donald Trump and threatening the American people if he didn't win? I mean, you know, and Michael, the.

[Jim Acosta]

List goes on and on, right?

[Tara Setmayer]

It goes on. And he kept saying, we have to stay in because if we don't, then the crazies are going to take over and we're never going to have, you know, the Republican Party will never recover. And I thought I said, okay, reluctantly, trying to fight the good fight from within, trying to be kind of like a conscience of the party from within. I tried. And, you know, there were a handful of us, never Trumpers from the very beginning that tried to sound the alarm and we realized that people didn't listen. No, the malignancy of Trumpism just ate away at the core values of the Republican Party that I, that I was a part of, that I thought, you know, existed. And once the constitutional crisis part of this started to happen and the Mitch McConnells and Kevin McCarthy's of the world were still rationalizing it, and that wasn't even enough for them, I said, I'm out. I'm done. Sorry, Michael, can't do it with you anymore. I am done. And I hope the party burns to the ground. And I've never looked back.

[Jim Acosta]

Well, and this is why I love having you on, because you don't mince words. And the other thing, too is, is that this is not political. And I've been talking about this on my show. The Great American Pushback. That's what I've been calling it. It's not political. People are, oh, the resistance, oh, the left, oh, the liberals. All the Republicans are showing up at Republican town halls. Yes, people are flooding into Bernie Sanders events. It's all across the political spectrum. And I'll tie it back to what we saw yesterday over at the White House with Donald Trump turning the White House into a Tesla car lot.

[Tara Setmayer]

Oh, my God.

[Jim Acosta]

People across the political spectrum are saying no to Elon Musk. Yes, he helped Trump buy the election for $290 million. And yes, he's taken a chainsaw to the federal government. But people are hopping mad about it. And they're not Taking this lion down. And I just thank God. What are your thoughts on all this? What have been your thoughts on Doge and what Elon Musk is doing? And it kind of almost. It feels like the Twilight Zone, just, I guess, like everything else that Donald Trump does, it feels like the Twilight Zone. But how the hell did we get to a place where Donald Trump is doing an infomercial for Elon Musk? I guess it's. What, to try to pump up his stock price or something, because that thing has been taking a hit. What have been your thoughts on all this? It's the damnedest thing.

[Tara Setmayer]

It is the world turns upside down. It is the Twilight Zone. On ketamine. It is. Or maybe Adderall, depending on the day. A little of both. Right. You know, it kind of ties into where we are now, you know, and why I wrote what I wrote yesterday, actually, even why I'm wearing my NASA shirt today because of cuts being made to NASA, to our scientists and to our astronomers and, you know, women and minority scientists and astrophysicists being let go because of DEI bullshit. I mean, it's just really hard to fathom now. I can't say that a lot of us didn't warn that we would be here.

[Jim Acosta]

We did.

[Tara Setmayer]

Donald Trump and MAGA wrote it all down for everyone in product 2025. They literally spent four years preparing to do exactly what they're doing right now. I don't know why so many Americans were unwilling to believe their own eyes and ears and believe what Donald Trump said. He said he was going to do this.

[Jim Acosta]

He did.

[Tara Setmayer]

Once Elon Musk came on the scene and started throwing money around to the tune of, like you said, 200 to $300 million. Even though that's chump change for Elon Musk, who's the richest man in the world. That ain't chump change in a presidential election. I don't think there's ever been a single donor that has spent that much money to buy a presidential candidate, ever.

[Jim Acosta]

Ye.

[Tara Setmayer]

And that's thanks to Citizen United. And that's a whole nother conversation. But you think that Elon Musk did that because he just out of the goodness of his heart? No, it's a quid pro quo. And we saw the quid pro quo right there live on television on the South Lawn of the White House yesterday. Elon, the free market, which Republicans used to believe in the free market, said, we don't like Elon and what he's doing. So we're not gonna buy his stupid shitty cars anymore. And so the, the, all this uncertainty and all this that's going on and kind of like the Nazi salutes and, and calling American citizens parasites and we're going to cut security. Like all of this stuff that Elon's been doing, the weird like ill fitted shirts jumping around and all of this, like people are going, wait a minute, wait, wait, wait. I'm not going to give my money to this, to this guy. I'm not giving my money to this. So they've decided, no, we're not supporting Tesla and the stock has plummeted and I think Elon's lost what, $1000-000000-00000, dollars in. It's wild, right? And so this was Donald Trump doing the bidding of his number one benefactor. Yeah, right.

[Jim Acosta]

No, there's no question about.

[Tara Setmayer]

It's disgusting.

[Jim Acosta]

And I know you've been focused in on veterans losing their jobs. I just saw this Market Watch reporting the number of United States veterans with jobs plunged by 175,000 last month. And the share of veterans who are either unemployed or have dropped out of the workforce completely jumped by a full percentage point. That's Market watch quoting the U.S. bureau of Labor Statistics. And Terrence, the reason why I brought up the Republican thing earlier and got your bio wrong, so forgive me for that.

[Tara Setmayer]

That's okay. I mean, listen, it was my brand for 20. I mean I was a Republican for almost 30 years, 27 years. So it's easy to, you know, I was, I was very well known as a, as a Republican voice.

[Jim Acosta]

I mean I, I've been around for a while. I've been around the block or two. Republicans always, I thought it was part of their stock and trade to defend veterans, to put their arms around the veterans to, I mean Trump literally like bear hugs American flags at cpac. I'm being diplomatic when I describe it in those terms.

[Tara Setmayer]

Yeah.

[Jim Acosta]

But you know, and to see these veterans just getting laid off left and right at places like fema. I talked to one last week. She was laid off at her job at female. And to me it almost sounds like it's like a political suicide mission that they're on right now.

[Tara Setmayer]

I don't know what between veterans and like cutting Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid, like what are we doing?

[Brian Karam]

And literally is.

[Jim Acosta]

And having Elon Musk talking about Social Security being a Ponzi scheme. He said that the other day. And I'm just, you know, like in Trump, you know, not saying, you know, whether or not we're going to have a recession, he's kind of cagey about what in the world is going on. Is it just that he's, now he thinks he's a one termer and that's it, he's done and so he can just do whatever the Effie wants? I don't, listen, I can't figure it out.

[Tara Setmayer]

I think there's a lot of things going on here. Donald Trump doesn't think he's a one termer. Let's not, let's, let's remember that there is a movement to try to get him to never leave office. Right. They want to amend the Constitution. They're talking at cpac, this most recent cpac, they had the banners and signs about third term. Like they're, they're serious.

[Jim Acosta]

Like, yeah, they are.

[Tara Setmayer]

They're serious about this. And, and just like people kind of like to joke and laugh off some of the crazier things Donald Trump has said. No, no, no, no. We are way past laughing at anything crazy that Donald Trump says. He means it and he doesn't have the guardrails around him that he had the first term. And so we need to like take it all seriously. This whole thing with, with what they're trying to do now with just basically dismantling and decapitating our federal government and our way of life here is all part of a much bigger, more sinister, I hate to say plot here. There's a reason Donald Trump is surrounded by these tech bros. People like Peter Thiel who basically bought and paid for the vice president and J.D. vance. For those who don't know they should.

[Jim Acosta]

We don't talk about that enough. You're right.

[Tara Setmayer]

That's right. Pay attention to J.D. vance's journey here, okay? How Peter Thiel has been bankrolling him since his days graduating from college at Yale. Okay? Somebody just doesn't give someone 10 and 15 million dollars for nothing. And this weirdo tech bro, like tech feudalism philosophy that Peter Thiel and these other billionaire tech bros believe in this guy Curtis Yarvin, who's a very dangerous wacko that believes in dismantling democracy.

[Brian Karam]

Right.

[Tara Setmayer]

He thinks we should be in like tech state monarchies run by tech CEOs. He thinks this, he thinks democracy shouldn't be. He said, he wrote that the American people need to get over their dictator phobia. This is the guy that is the political guru of Peter Thiel and J.D. vance and these people that are in Trump's orbit now. Do I think Trump is in on this philosophy? No, he doesn't have a philosophy. He's A nihilist. He doesn't really. He just doesn't. He. It's all about himself.

[Jim Acosta]

It's all transactional.

[Tara Setmayer]

That's right. He's kind of like the toddler that they're using that happens to be in power. You know, he's the Manchurian Candidate. Like, let's just give him this over here, make him three men and a.

[Jim Acosta]

Man baby or something like that.

[Tara Setmayer]

That's right. But there's other things going on here. And so all of this kind of just, just like, as Steve Bannon calls it, this muzzle velocity. Velocity flooding of shit of what's happening and just this, this. The speed at which they're doing it, which I'm a little. That I'm a little shocked about. I didn't think it would be this fast, but that's, that's what's going on here. These guys are pulling the strings and the American people need to be aware of it because then it starts to make more sense. Same thing with this obsession with Greenland. Like, I was like, what the fuck? What is with this Greenland or I don't know, Canada. I do know because.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, please.

[Tara Setmayer]

I started to go down the.

[Jim Acosta]

Like I said, you went down the rabbit hole.

[Tara Setmayer]

The rabbit hole. This whole like tech bro feudalism thing. And this is part of kind of like the Christian nationalism has its own like, yeah, nefarious things that they want. Like with, you know, making women subservient and taking our, you know, our, our right to vote away and no fault divorce and making us all be, you know, fertility vessels and stuff like that. Very Handmaid's Tale. That's the Christian nationalist side of stuff.

[Jim Acosta]

Right? Right.

[Tara Setmayer]

The tech bro side of this is different. They want, like I said, they want these weird.

[Jim Acosta]

A lot of those guys seem like they don't have sex. I mean, and that, that seems to be part of the problem. It's kind of an incel. Thing.

[Tara Setmayer]

I. Yeah, there's that. And they, they have this weird obsession with living forever. And they want. They want these like pure race things and they want to start. They want to repopulate the earth with their people.

[Jim Acosta]

Do some of these guys just need like a girlfriend or a boyfriend or like a. Try a speed dating night at a local bar or something.

[Tara Setmayer]

Something they didn't. Where they weren't loved enough by their parents. They're all, they all need group therapy, trauma therapy.

[Jim Acosta]

We can get them some love.

[Tara Setmayer]

And all of them. I know, like, we don't have to, we shouldn't have to suffer because they didn't get their proper, like, trauma therapy from their shitty parents growing up. Up.

[Jim Acosta]

But a lot of us had bad prom nights, you know, it's not like you got to take over the world because of that. Don't get. Don't take it out on the rest of us.

[Tara Setmayer]

I know. I mean, it's like, where we're. Where we're at now. But that's like. Politico did a story on this about Greenland. It was like. It was like a. A political PM newsletter. Kind of write up on this that I happened to catch on a Saturday night about Greenland and that this is, like, some kind of part of their weird, like, philosophy that Greenland is one of those places that they want.

[Jim Acosta]

It's cold as there. I don't. That you're going to take over Greenland. And then. Have you been there? Like, when Don Jr. Don Jr. Went there, all the pictures were inside, so, you know, like, I didn't see him, like, cold. And it's freaking cold there.

[Tara Setmayer]

The northern lights, I'm sure, are really cool. I would love to go to Greenland. I would love to go there. I think it looks cool. But they're a sovereign entity, right?

[Jim Acosta]

Some of the visitors there. Maybe it's. It's all the snow. They're just looking around and they're. Look at all this white stuff. No, you can't. You can't snort it. I'm sorry.

[Tara Setmayer]

Yeah, sorry.

[Jim Acosta]

You'll get a brain Freeze.

[Tara Setmayer]

Don Jr. That wasn't the trip you thought you were going on. Look, this is all part of their, like, weird imperialistic takeover. They. They want this whole, like, North American thing. And so it is beyond. Just don't let them bullshit you into. Well, it's because of strategic reasons that we need Greenland. We don't need to take over Greenland for that. We already are. Like, yeah, we're friends with them already. We already have strategic alliances. We don't need to. To take them over. That's not what America does. That's what Russia does. That's what China does. That's not what America does. So that's. And this stuff about Canada and calling Canada the 51st state, and everybody just kind of shrugging that off. That's not a joke either. It's not.

[Jim Acosta]

Okay, well, let's. Let's. Let's. Let's hit the pause button because I want to ask you about this, because maybe I'm off base on this. You're a political guru. You know this stuff really well. If the. First of all, what kind of world are we in now where we've pissed off the Canadians. That's one thing.

[Tara Setmayer]

I know.

[Jim Acosta]

They're like our best friends. It's like we've pissed off our best friends. The other thing, though, is it is so politically stupid to. For a Republican or for MAGA to want Canada to be the 51st state. Wouldn't they have, like, as many electoral votes as California or something? Yes, and then they would vote for the Democrats. So I just, you know, like, they, they're not going to vote for you, Donald Trump. Like, so I don't know. I mean, should we talk to the Canadians and be like, you know, Justin Trudeau, this Carney guy, can we try it out for a few cycles? And then you go back, you go back to being a country. I'm kidding. To my Canadian friends, I'm not saying make them the 51st, but you know what I'm saying? Like, they don't think this stuff through. And Donald Trump doesn't think things through. He just.

[Tara Setmayer]

No, yeah, he reacts. And I think that he's using this whole tariff thing as kind of like, again, like a toddler that found a new toy. They realize, ooh, I can press this button. And this makes me, oh, I'm the big, big boy now. If you don't do what I say, I'm gonna. Like, it's insane. This is insanity.

[Jim Acosta]

It's kind of a cnc. Remember the C and say where you would pull the string. This is a duck. Whack, whack, whack. And they're only like 12 animals. And so with Trump, it's like, you pull the string and the thing goes around. Windmills cause cancer, and you pull the string and it goes around Hannibal Lecter. That's kind of what Donald Trump is. And he does 51st state. And I don't think it's.

[Brian Karam]

It's.

[Jim Acosta]

It's. He's an old guy. It's like Grandpa. You know, you have the same conversation with him a few times, right?

[Tara Setmayer]

You know, except that Grandpa has the nuclear codes and access to the greatest, you know, fighting machine in the world, in our military that's now run by a Fox News host. Like, like this is. And we've got a borderline Russian asset as our dni. You know, with our intelligence, no wonder our allies are like, sorry, but we're gonna have to make contingency plans here until America gets their. Gets their shit together.

[Jim Acosta]

Because you're also so strong on this UK Ukraine issue. Tara. What I mean, because this. It's been reported today that Ukraine has sounded open to a Ceasefire. But now the Kremlin is saying, you know, you know, let's see how it goes. I mean, they're not really. It doesn't sound like they're open to this. And so. Right. Why, why, why is it that, you know, why is Trump pressuring the Ukrainians to. To go first? They're not the ones who. Yeah, all right, you know why. I know, but I was trying to tee you up.

[Tara Setmayer]

So we listen, we all know why. Donald Trump is in a bromance with Vladimir Putin. He wants to be like him so badly, and he has this weird love affair. It's. I call it a political throuple with Putin and Kim Jong Un.

[Jim Acosta]

Oh, God. They're like, that's a visual I did not need.

[Tara Setmayer]

I know, I know. I probably like blah, but I'm just saying, proverbially, because the guy does not respect democracy. Donald Trump and MAGA hates everything that makes America great. They hate everything about it. Because what they're doing to our country and who they're. Who Donald Trump is allied with is so polar opposite of everything that America stands for. It is a polar opposite slap in the face to our grandfathers and great grandfathers who traversed oceans and shed blood on other continents during World War II to protect democracy and protect American values and the values of freedom. Donald Trump is the antithesis to that. What a slap in the face.

[Jim Acosta]

And Elon Musk is calling Mark Kelly a traitor. I saw you wrote about it.

[Tara Setmayer]

Oh, my God, yes, I did.

[Jim Acosta]

I talked to Steve Schmidt about this yesterday, and Steve and I went off and it is so vile and sickening.

[Tara Setmayer]

It's unspeakable. It goes back to. And it kind of like, ties in, you know, with the fact that how. How could we possibly not be on the side of Ukraine 1000% right? Like our Ronald Reagan is about to spin out of his grave and jump up out of it and run down Pennsylvania Avenue into the front door of the. Of the White House and let, like, smack Donald Trump and go, what the hell are you doing? I can't even imagine. And all these Republicans that prided themselves on the Reagan shining city on a hill, and that's what attracted a lot of us to the Republican Party, that the importance of our allies and our strategic position in the world, that's gone for once. Because either Donald Trump is. It's the love affair with Putin because he wants to be like that, because he's a sicko. But also, God knows, I don't know, does Putin have something on him? We've always Wondered because it's. It feels very like, well, that you see that, like, how did you into it?

[Jim Acosta]

I've been calling that the Scooby Doo mystery. You know, like, one day we're going to pull the. The head off and it'll be old man Withers from the haunted amusement park. And he would have gotten away with it if it hadn't been for those meddling kids. But I sort of feel like one day we're all going to figure out that mystery. Like, why is it that Donald Trump. Trump, just at every turn, he sides with Vladimir Putin. And I do love your Reagan, your Reagan theme, because it's making me think that a. A Reagan zombie revenge film would be like a block. It would be a summer blockbuster. It would just. It would be so good.

[Tara Setmayer]

Yeah. I mean, I think people would, you know, a lot of people who were, you know, my Democratic friends are like, God, hell with Reagan. But they're like, we would take Reagan back in a heartbeat if it meant stopping this, this slippery slope with like, to, to authoritarian. Hell with gasoline draws on that we're on thanks to Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Which brings us back to what you were talking about with Mark Kelly. With Elon Musk having the audacity to call Mark Kelly a traitor. Are you kidding me? I mean, are you effing kidding me? This guy who comes from Nazi grandparents who left Canada to go to South Africa because they felt more comfortable in apartheid. That's who Elon Musk was raised by, okay? In that family. That guy, this guy who gives the Sig Heil twice on the inauguration Day, is. Is the guy that. That our country is entrusting, that the President of the United States is entrusting with revamping our entire government. That guy has the audacity to call Mark Kelly, who is a hero. He is a guy who gave his entire life to service. He served in the Navy as an aviator. He. I wore my NASA shirt for this conversation in honor of Mark Kelly and his twin brother. So not only is Mark.

[Jim Acosta]

I love them both. They're great. Yeah. And who doesn't love an astronaut, right?

[Tara Setmayer]

He's not the only badass in his family. His twin brother was also a Navy pilot and an astronaut. And Mark Kelly is married to Gabby Giffords, who survived a mass shooting.

[Jim Acosta]

That's right.

[Tara Setmayer]

An assassination attempt on her life. Serving this country as a member of Congress. So you know what? Elon Musk can go fuck himself. Has with some nerve calling Mark Kelly a traitor. But yet Donald Trump isn't The traitor after he pardons the real traitors on the January 6. Perpetrators and the proud boys and all of that. Where the hell are the Republicans who claim to be the back, the blue and to claim to be pro veteran and pro, you know, all of those things that make America great? Where the hell are they? They're okay with that. This, this is why I quit the party and I hope it burns to the ground because they've turned themselves into a fascist authoritarian group of hypocrites that have abdicated everything about the oath of office that they took. And so I, I have no patience for it. And in the substack I wrote, I kind of combined all of this because my, my organization, the Seneca Project, we, we started last year, my co founder and I started last year as a bipartisan group that, to galvanize women, particularly right of center, to help save our democracy. Because we saw what was happening with women's rights and what, you know, post Roe and all of what was going on and we were like, okay, no one else is really doing this and we need, we're messengers.

[Jim Acosta]

We need this, right?

[Tara Setmayer]

We need messengers and we need killer messengers. And so you know, I come from the. As you know, I come from Republican world and I was a political communications person for almost 30 years. There's. I understand how Republicans fight. I'm also from Jersey, so we know how to fight. Okay.

[Jim Acosta]

I know. I don't mess with Jersey.

[Tara Setmayer]

No, you don't mess with New Yorkers or New Jersey.

[Jim Acosta]

I don't. I don't. Yeah.

[Tara Setmayer]

And my co founder, Michelle Kinney, she's from New York, she's a New Yorker. So we combined, you know, she came from Democratic world, I come from Republican world and we, we've said we're going to take our skill set as killer communicator and ad makers and messengers and message to women about the importance of this election and also the importance of saving our democracy because it was, it's all encompassing. Right. Women are a vital having. Making sure that women have equal rights in a democracy is important to that. That's why they come for women's rights in authoritarian regimes. That's why they try to subjugate women. They want to take our rights to vote away. Right. So that's how we start. Obviously the election didn't go the way we wanted. We did see some down ballot success which was great. Now we started very, very late in the game. We were, we had to make a decision to break away and do what we wanted to do because we felt that it wasn't being done in an honest way. And so we wanted to do it in an honest way. And so that's why we started the Seneca Project last June. We're relatively new, we are a super pac. So we, we, we run off of the generosity of the people who donate to us and we're grateful for the people who have. And we were able to make some really powerful quality ads and videos and to get them out there. One of our crowning achievements was an ad called American Girls, which was the final, our final election ad that went uber viral. I mean, we had no idea. We knew it was going to be a powerful message, but we had had no idea that it was going to take off the way it did. And to be a new organization and to have American Girl touch so many people, I mean, Hollywood celebrities, I mean, it was unbelievable how many people. I was out to brunch two weeks ago with my husband and I had one of my purple Seneca Project hats on and the waitress said, oh my gosh, is that the group that did American Girl? And I said, yeah, that's my girl.

[Jim Acosta]

That's great.

[Tara Setmayer]

The co founder, she said, I cannot tell you how touched I was by that ad. She said, I sent it to everyone in my family. It made us cry. It made us proud to be women. It was inspirational to my daughters. Like, thank you so much for doing that. And I teared up right there because I was like, wow, it reminds you that what you do has impact. So we just re released American Girl as part of Women's History Month because a lot of people also wrote in and asked us to explain a lot of the historical references is and who some of these trailblazing women were in that ad. So if you guys want to follow Seneca Project on all our socials, it's there. But we also decided that we needed to going into this new political reality.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[Tara Setmayer]

Shift focus a little bit. We've expanded our mission. We've abandoned the bipartisan part of this because unfortunately there, there really are no Republican good faith actors on the other side right now. We welcome them in. Like if people are willing to denounce what the party's doing. Right. We're with. Because this affects all of us. It affects all of us. This transcends party lines. The hell that we're living through this nightmare, it transcends party lines. And as MAGA is finding out, Right. They have fucked around and now they're finding out. They're in the finding out stage. All these MAGAs that voted for Donald Trump Thinking they were going to own the libs. Guess what? You're getting owned too. Because as you mentioned earlier.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[Tara Setmayer]

Veterans are being overwhelmingly impacted. They're 30% of the federal workforce. A lot of these people who thought that they were, you know, that it was going to be those people, those libs over there that were going to get owned. No, because you are losing your jobs, your communities are losing their government contracts and services. And what. And now people are going, oh, wait, is that. I don't think this is what we voted for. Maybe, maybe some people did, but most people did not. So for Seneca Project, we decided to expand our messaging, you know, focus to not just women, because that's still very important. We still see what's going on here. And we are a women led organization, coming from the perspective of women. But we are also capable of talking about other things. And some of those. We're leaning more into the democracy side of stuff now because it's so important that we were like, it all cascades from there. We lose the democracy. Nothing else matters. We put out an ad called Unsafe as soon as we saw the, you know, the plane crashes. And then like at the same time, they're cutting FAA and air traffic controllers. Like, do you feel safe in Trump's America? We put out an ad on Ukraine called Useful Idiots because we saw that disgusting display of what Donald Trump did to Zelensky in the Oval Office. How dare he. Right? We put that out and then we put out in partnership with Marshall Marcus Flowers, who ran against Marjorie Taylor.

[Jim Acosta]

I remember. Yep.

[Tara Setmayer]

Yeah, he's an army veteran because we watched what's happening to our veterans. We're going, this is not okay. Veterans are the, like, what are we doing? And we put out an ad that's out now called Betraying the Brave. And that's what I wrote my substack on. Because literally, Donald Trump is the first president in history to abandon our veterans and their families. And people need to know this.

[Jim Acosta]

They need, they need to know it. Well, I, I'm so glad we did this. I'm so glad we got you on the substack live. Let's keep doing this. Let's keep the conversation going. I've been talking about doing, doing a. I would love to do a town hall style event. I'm kind of working on this. Tara, I think, I think you would be perfect for this. Let's do it. And, and we'll do it as a joint venture with the Seneca Project, which I think is a fantastic organization. Everybody follow Tara on substance. Stack She's a little new to the place, but we'll show her around and show her a good time. But it's always great to talk to you, Tara. I just love everything you had to say today. Really appreciate it.

[Tara Setmayer]

Thank you, Jim. You're the best, and I appreciate what you're doing. And it takes people like us as the messengers. We can't rely on the Democratic leadership or we can't rely on corporate media. No one's going to save us but us. That's it. Count me in. Anywhere that I can be helpful with that. I appreciate you, Jim. Thank you.

[Jim Acosta]

Thank. Thanks, Tara. All right. Great to see you. All right, that's Tara Set Meyer, everybody. And she, I mean, Tara made so many amazing points that I knew that if I just let her go, she was just going to take, take the. Take it by the horns, and she really did today. I'm really, really appreciative of Tara Seyer and, and everything that she does. Let me bring in. I'm going to try to bring in Brian Caram now because Brian and I, we worked at the White House together. He and I have been friends for years. And, you know, Brian and I were, I mean, let's just face it. We were in the trenches together over there during the first Trump administration. They pulled my press pass. Then they went after Brian Karam's press pass. And one of the reasons why I've been wanting to talk to Brian is because of what we've been seeing over there. There he is. There's Brian Karam right there. Brian, good to see you. Hey, buddy.

[Brian Karam]

Good to see you. Jim. How you doing, brother?

[Jim Acosta]

Good, good, good. I was just teeing you up and talking about how you and I were in the trenches together during the first Trump administration. They went after my press pass. They went after your press pass. And I do want to talk about some of the other items in the day's news, but first and foremost, I want to ask you, because you've been there covering the White house during Trump 2.0, and I'm glad they didn't let you through the gate. I assume that you got through times.

[Brian Karam]

They let me through the gate. They would like to listen to me. But, you know, I'm putting together a documentary, the First Hundred Days of Chaos of Donald Trump. So I have been there off and on. I find it amazing how he did learn from his interaction with you and me in his first term. He's not going to try and pull our press passes anymore. He's just going to limit access to the pool. He doesn't do the chopper talk sessions like he used to. He doesn't face. He doesn't face the open press. He hasn't been to the briefing room. He spent three years in his first term not going to the briefing room. It was Covid that drove him there. And so he's had very limited access to. And meanwhile, he's telling you that he's going to control the people that are in the pool because he wants greater access to the people that don't aren't normally in the pool, and he wants to give them greater access. And you and I both know that's a lie. If he wanted greater access, he could merely march his fat butt 75ft down the hall, walk into the White House press briefing room.

[Jim Acosta]

That's right.

[Brian Karam]

And there are 150 people there. Only 12 or 15 of them are in the pool. And everybody else, he doesn't have to call on the pool. He doesn't have to call on the first two rows. He could call on everybody else and they'd be happy to, to offer him a question. But it's just he pretends to be transparent. And really what he's about is obfuscation and lies, and you and I both know that. But he's not going to come after it because you beat him in court. I beat him in court. He doesn't want to face that in court again. He's just going to limit access.

[Jim Acosta]

But he's throwing the AP out and the AP has sued him, the Associated Press, you know, one of our most respected institutions in America, doing great journalism over there. And you know what? What have been your thoughts on that? I have some thoughts on that. I mean, to me, it's a dangerous slippery slope that we're on right now. He bans them from the press pool, bans them from the Oval Office, bans them from Air Force One. And now you have the White House trying to pick and choose who is in the press pool.

[Brian Karam]

Yeah.

[Jim Acosta]

And you ended up with that goofy situation the other day with Zelensky, where Marjorie Taylor Green, Greene's boyfriend, which I don't remember the guy's name. All I know is people call him Marjorie Taylor Greene's boyfriend, is asking Zelensky why he's not wearing a suit, which is the dumbest, stupidest.

[Brian Karam]

It's a ridiculous question.

[Jim Acosta]

So what is going on with all that?

[Brian Karam]

Well, first of all, that is a ridiculous question considering the day before Donald Trump's shadow, President Elon Musk or Donald Trump or Donald Musk or Elon Trump, whatever his name is, showed up in, in a cabinet meeting in a T shirt that said tech support and a bro hat that said so you're going to give. That was a formal cabinet meeting now. And I would remind you that Yasser Arafat, Winston Churchill, most of the members of the Saudi family show up at the White House, and they don't wear suits either. So it was a garbage question. And he's. If you watch, there are even times where they start out some of these questions from some of his sycophants start out with, you know, you're the greatest thing since sliced bread. You can make rainbows jump out of your butt. Gosh darn, how can you be better as a president? The questions are maniacal. And for you and I, you know, we both grew up Sam Donaldson as our mentor and Helen Thomas, those people would hold everyone accountable. And you're not getting that in this press office anymore. It's. What he's doing is controlling the access. The White House Correspondents association doesn't even call it the press pool anymore because they've lost control of it.

[Jim Acosta]

Well, Oliver Darcy reported this a couple of days ago in his brilliant status newsletter. It's a terrific newsletter. He wrote that Eugene Daniels, the head of the Correspondence association, essentially told the members that. That the White House is now in charge of the pool. Yeah, it's not the whca, it's not the press. The White House is in charge of the pool. And to me, those are grounds for a revolt. I mean, honestly, I'm with you there.

[Brian Karam]

And by the way, Eugene, let's call it what it is, Eugene. For the first week of this presidency, he himself was publishing the President's schedule because they didn't have anyone on their staff to, you know, the daily guidance that we get of his schedule. The president of the WHTA was doing the job of the White House. So he. At that point in time, you've lost all credibility with me. So we're not there to do their job. They're there to answer our questions.

[Jim Acosta]

And I like Eugene, I'm not close to. I'm not in there every day, so I don't know what's going on. But when the Correspondence association is saying, well, no, you know, the White House is in charge of the press pool. Now, that to me, at that point, that's when all the news organizations need to say, hey, White House, you know, we would love to come in there and cover you every day, but we're just not going to show up today. Or, you're not getting your TV cameras in the pool today. To me, there has to be some sort of collective action, a full blown boycott. I suppose that won't work because you'll have some people who won't cooperate.

[Brian Karam]

Well, what you'll have is if you and I stood there and boycotted it, which would be our want. And your first move would be to, yeah, you know, I'm gonna boycott. He'll just fill it with sycophants and cameras of his own liking, and then it's just propaganda. Like the presidential pep secretary. She's not a press secretary. She's. I wouldn't even say she's a minister of propaganda. She's just merely a pep secretary. I'm waiting for the pom poms in the cheerleading outfit, because that's all that is. And calling on people that he likes. So the only real thing I think that you can do is, is what the AP has done is do what you and I did and sue them and go after them.

[Jim Acosta]

See if that has, it has some sort of effect. But the judge in the AP case, correct me if I'm wrong here, he did not give grant them immediate relief. And so they're still kind of boycotted at the moment. Is that.

[Brian Karam]

Yeah, well, to your point, this is where they should have had Ted Boutros, our attorney on this case, because there were several. There were several people, I think even Ted, May I maybe speaking out of turn, who said, listen, they wanted immediate relief. They went in for a tro, temporary restraining order, because they said they couldn't do their job unless they had the access. But they waited a week or 10 days to file it, so it kind of weakened their argument. And so if filed, well, if they had filed that immediately, I think they would have gotten the relief. But their case isn't dismissed. And the judge, if you read what the judge said and what the judge has said, they still think that the White House is on a slippery slope.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, he seemed open to their arguments, which is good. But you know, what you need is you need immediate relief on the part of the ap. And so what do you think it's going to take here? I mean, I saw that statement from Caroline Levitt the other day where she put out this statement explaining what they were going to do with the press pool. And she said, well, don't worry, TV networks, you guys are still fine. You're going to go in there and you're going to get your pictures and everything. And it seemed to me that sort of revealed a little bit of A pressure point or vulnerability on their part. And if the TV networks were to say, listen, you're going to screw with the ap, you screw with us, you screw with the ap, the TV networks aren't going in there. And oh, by the way, when Fox was getting harassed a little bit by.

[Brian Karam]

The Obama White House, we all stood up for them.

[Jim Acosta]

The press came in and stood up for Fox. So Fox, you have to stand up for the ap. I think the networks need to stand up for the AP to get their butts back in there. Because to me, he should not be able to get away with this. That's just.

[Brian Karam]

No, well, I agree with you. Not only should he not be able to get away with it, he should be punished for it. Because the fact of the matter is he's destroying what's left of free speech any way that he can. He claims he's for free speech, and yet there's a guy with a green card at Columbia University who's facing detention because he exercised his free speech. By the way, they don't let the AP in. They're exercising their free speech. And for those who don't know, and it's worthy of remembering why the pool was set up, the AP and the print people are the ones that, that provide us the observation and the facts that we use in broadcasting often.

[Jim Acosta]

That's right.

[Brian Karam]

Now, the cameras take the pictures, but it's that reporter on the ground. And there was a reporter the other day who approached someone in the print pool and said, why are you sitting there just watching what's going on in the Oval? You can't hear them. I'm not going to bother with it. And he goes, because that's my job. Observation.

[Jim Acosta]

That's what you do.

[Brian Karam]

That's what you observe. You write down, you let people know what's going on. And for those who don't know, the pool was originally set up, it was a dead pool. If something were to happen, catastrophic to the president, someone wanted to be and needed to be a witness to it. So anytime he's in the public eye, he is before a camera or a reporter so that we can at least observe and be an independent observer of what goes on. It was later prostituted into many press conferences where he would, and Trump is the king of doing that, manipulated that small group. But the fact of the matter is our job is to observe and report. And so the print shoulders a lot of that. So when you remove the AP and you just have cameras that. He loves the cameras, you're right. That's a Great pressure point. And we should jump on board the AP and go, look, you want us there, By God, they've got to be there.

[Jim Acosta]

That's it. Exactly.

[Brian Karam]

Yes.

[Jim Acosta]

And to me, they just, they're trying to get away with turning us into Hungary. They're trying to turn us into a kleptocracy where the dear leader appears, he gets the sycophantic media outlets asking the questions that he wants to hear. That's not how we do things in this country, folks. That's not the United States of America. And for the MAGA folks out there who are like, oh yeah, hell yeah, yeah, let me throw this one at you, Brian. And I'm sure you saw this. When Zelensky was in the Oval Office, the White House almost let in a representative from tass, the Russian state media agency, and they were going to. And they blocked the AP and Reuters from being involved in that spray in that photo opportunity. What kind of world are we living in where TASS is going to get in and not the AP and Reuters? Now apparently, apparently when it was called to the White House attention, they said the task. I couldn't get in there. But this White House was gonna let the Russians in there, but not the AP and Reuters.

[Brian Karam]

The Russians can come in, but not the Americans because transparency, if that makes any sense to you, what kind of BS is that? Yeah, well, here's the thing that bothers me the most about that is not only only how they're administering it, but who is administering it. The people in this White House. You have a 27 year old PEP secretary with no gravitas and everyone underneath her has no experience. So they're not. I mean, even Trump won, had people like Judd Deer and others that we could rely on. Yeah, it's a pros and experience to give.

[Jim Acosta]

You also had Spicer and you had Sarah Huckabee Sanders, but, you know, not everything's perfect enough.

[Brian Karam]

Oh yeah, her.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. I mean, Caroline Levitt kind of makes Sean Spicer look like a Rhodes scholar. I mean, I will say, you know.

[Brian Karam]

And that's hard to do, brother.

[Jim Acosta]

I mean, it's, I'm watching these briefings and I'm thinking to myself, well, because I was toying with the idea when I started the subsect, maybe I should go get my press pass back and go in there. But what, what in God's name would that do? I mean, you're just asking somebody questions. It would be like asking, I don't know, like going to your local high school and asking the Kids there about Kim Jong Un and stuff. No, I mean, might even be more.

[Brian Karam]

Well, she doesn't understand what a tariff is. You saw that yesterday. They don't know what a tariff is.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. And she got mad. She said, well, how dare you question my economic know how and my ability to talk about tariffs? And so. Well, you're the press secretary. You ought to know about these things.

[Brian Karam]

And that's our job to question you about your knowledge. That's right.

[Jim Acosta]

And Donald Trump doesn't know what a tariff is either. By the way, if this just in. Donald Trump does not know what. Donald Trump does not know what a tariff is. He thinks it's like, you know, pieces on a, on a, on a checker's board. And, you know, he's saying, king me. You know, I just put a tariff on your country. King me, me. And, you know, these other countries are like, okay, hey, you know, I don't know if you realize this, but we can do tariffs too. And then he comes off the next day or a few hours later, he says, okay, now we're not going to do these. It's pretty remarkable what's been happening over there, Brian. And I just wonder, what do you think? How do you think some of this plays out? Because, you know, internationally. Well, I mean, you know, he's put, I mean, politically for Donald Trump. I mean, he's put Elon Musk in charge of this Doge project. It has gone spectacularly awful for off the rails.

[Brian Karam]

Yes.

[Jim Acosta]

Tesla stock has dropped. Donald Trump's stock has dropped in the polling. And I'm just. Where do you think this goes from here?

[Brian Karam]

Well, first, let's go back to what you said about going back to the press briefing room. If you and I showed up on the same day, I think we would probably cause a you, me and a few other others that we know of that gave him grief. And if he showed up in the briefing room and we were there, we might induce him to have a spasmodic attack of biblical proportions. But nonetheless, with that being said, what do I, I expect internationally, it's horrific for the United States. U.S. aIDS is, you know, these were our eyes and ears. So we are blinding and deafening ourselves to the plight of the world. They don't like us anymore. Our allies don't like us. How does this play out here locally in the United States? Well, here, how it will play out, I think, is that the tariffs are gonna crush the economy. And when Donald Trump said. When Donald Trump said what on Sunday, I can't rule out that there would be a recession, by God, on Monday, the stock market reacted to that pretty sternly.

[Jim Acosta]

Unreal.

[Brian Karam]

And then he came out Tuesday and doubled down on it. I don't think he has. So in speaking to his niece Mary, Mary Trump says she believes that there's always a method to his madness. And at some point in time, I think that's true. I mean, there are those who believe he wants to level it all, declare a national emergency and then cancel elections so he stays in office. That's the extreme. Could that happen? Well, with Donald, anything could happen. But I also think he's, I think he's delusional as hell. You and I both know from that first administration, there were times when he just didn't make any sense. And he just, he speaks out of his rear end and then he tries to double down and back it up. So it could be that as well. The method to his madness is his madness.

[Jim Acosta]

People are like, oh, it's three dimensional chess. No, he's eating the chess pieces.

[Brian Karam]

No, he's the dog who eats the sauce.

[Jim Acosta]

That's what he is.

[Brian Karam]

Yeah.

[Jim Acosta]

And it's, and it's stuck somewhere in that intestinal tract. And by golly, it's going to cost a lot to get that sucker out. But not to get too vivid here.

[Brian Karam]

But, but I like the imagery. You're going in the right direction.

[Tara Setmayer]

Yeah.

[Jim Acosta]

I mean, it's a dog eat dog world, there's no question about it.

[Brian Karam]

But, and we've got milk bone shorts.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, yeah, no, no, there you go. Exactly. Tip your bartenders and waitresses. But you know, I, I just getting back to this press pass thing, I just, to me, it's going to take something. And this, this idea that the networks and the press corps and so on, they're going to treat Trump like a normal conventional politician and president. I mean, we saw the coverage. Why, why? We saw the coverage around his speech before the joint session of Congress. Donald Trump is coming out of the White House now he's getting in the beast and he's going to go down Pennsylvania Avenue. And, and I kind of thought when Melanie Stansberry, the congresswoman, had that sign up that said this is not normal, I thought I said that. She just put her finger on exactly what is going on right now.

[Brian Karam]

I love the dry erase board.

[Jim Acosta]

Normal. This is not normal.

[Brian Karam]

Well, and you know, for me, and I know you have to feel this as well, the most frustrating thing for me is someone who's new to this going, gosh, if we only saw this coming. And that's when I want to pick up the phone and call you and go, hey, Jim, didn't we see this? Not only did we see this coming.

[Jim Acosta]

We saw this for four years.

[Tara Setmayer]

Yeah.

[Brian Karam]

For every day for four years from the moment he walked down. I tell you what, if you didn't realize what you were in store for the moment he went after a reporter, a poor reporter who had physical problems when he went after that reporter, if you didn't understand right then what Donald Trump was about, then you would never see it coming. But for those of us who had to cover him on a daily basis, for those of us who were in front of him, for those of us who got kicked out of press conferences called fake media said, you know, I told him if they let him in here, he nothing but trouble. Which you and I both got on a number of occasions. Fake media pointing at all of that.

[Jim Acosta]

Enemy of the people.

[Brian Karam]

Yeah, yeah, the enemy of the people. If you didn't get that. But then again, remember, you and I were both there when some of the reporters in there said one thing privately and another thing publicly.

[Jim Acosta]

Well, and that does raise a good point. And I love my friends over there at the White House press corps, and everybody has a job to do, and it's a hard job. And so, you know, sometimes folks aren't there behind you 100%, but they were behind us during some of that. And maybe things are said differently privately, but I think now people are starting to see what happened to you and I individually four years ago can be broadened out and happen on a much larger scale in a way that can be very dangerous for our democracy if we're going to have a situation in this country where the President of the United States, his people can pick and choose who is in the White House press Corps or who is in these sensitive situations like the Oval Office, Air Force One, and get to ask these tough questions that, my friends, is, that's just not America. It's not who we are.

[Brian Karam]

And you know, to your point, and this is, I always go back to Ben Bag Dickian and for those. And I've talked to young reporters who say, what do I do? And I go, I'll go to another one of my mentors who was Ben Bagdikian. And his quote is, never forget that your obligation is to the people. It is not at heart to those who pay you, to your editor, to your sources or to your friends, to the advancement of your career. It is to the public. And if you will remember that when you're in there or as Helen Thomas once said, and I mean, either she stole it from Harry Truman or Harry Truman stole it from her. She. He said, brian, if you want a friend, get a dog. Your job is to hold these people accountable. And so I take that seriously. I know you did. I know others do. But for those young reporters who don't get it, let me explain it to you in terms you can understand. You are there to be the immovable object or the irresistible force. Pick your metaphor. Ask them the questions. Sometimes Sam would say, brian, I'm never worried about you being rude. I'm more worried about the reporters who won't ask the question.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[Brian Karam]

And that's. To me, that's exactly right.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, I agree with that. And to me, in this time, in what we're dealing with right now, they're announcing that they're cutting the Department of education by 50%. You have Elon Musk referring to Social Security as a Ponzi scheme. You have Trump.

[Brian Karam]

What's cryptocurrency?

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. And he's calling Zelensky a dictator, and so on. In this moment, there's no such thing as being too tough on Donald Trump.

[Brian Karam]

No, no, there's no such thing.

[Jim Acosta]

I'm sorry.

[Tara Setmayer]

Well.

[Brian Karam]

And your access isn't going to be increased by being a sycophant to Donald Trump. There's a young reporter I know who talked to another reporter that you and I both know a couple of days ago, and he was making a joke that put us all, you know, it's like, come and get our office space. What are you going to do? And he said, don't do that. Don't do that. He goes, well, that's how I, you know, I'm trying to loosen them up, and that's how I make sources. Well, look, pal, let me explain it to you in terms you may or may not understand. It doesn't matter how much butt you kiss of Donald Trump. It's not gonna get you greater access. And you don't want. That's not what it's about. And you don't want access to his butt. So stand up and be counted.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. Access Hollywood is not just a TV show about the entertainment industry. Industry, but.

[Brian Karam]

Right. Well, you know what James Carville said, and I still. I stick to it to this day. He says, you know, D.C. is Hollywood for ugly people.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. I tell you, you know, if you don't laugh, you'll cry. Well, Brian, great to talk to you. I'm glad we caught up. Let's keep doing this. Next time. There's a big update over at the White House with this press stuff. Let's you and I jump back on and let's maybe try to get Ted Boutros. He would be right. I think he would be great.

[Brian Karam]

And, and, you know, you and I are talking about some speaking engagements that I would love to have.

[Jim Acosta]

I know we want to reunite with Sam Donaldson and Sam, by the way, for the folks who are still watching and appreciate everybody staying with us. Sam is still sharp as attack and is just fantastic. He is.

[Brian Karam]

And he just celebrated his birthday. His birthday is one day before mine, so we reach out every day. Yeah, his, his is the 9th and mine is the 10th. So this was on the 49th day of Trump, and mine was on, on the 50th day of Trump.

[Jim Acosta]

Wow. How about that?

[Brian Karam]

Yeah, he, he, he closed out seven weeks. I started the eighth week. I, I don't know where we're going from there.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, well, I would say happy birthday, but, you know, it's another day that ends in Y, I guess, just like every other day.

[Brian Karam]

There you go. Well, Jim, it's always, it's always, you know, fun to be around. You know, it's always fun to hang out with you, brother.

[Jim Acosta]

Let's do it again. All right. Great to see you, Brian. Thanks a lot, lot. Appreciate it, buddy.

[Brian Karam]

Later.

[Jim Acosta]

See you, sir. All right, Brian Caram, veteran journalist. Take no kind of journalist. My kind of, my kind of guy. And, and I'm so glad we got a chance to talk about Sam Donaldson a little bit because, you know, I, I, it's true what Brian was saying. And I, I came up the same way. I was raised the same way, which is, that's what this is about, that these are the kinds of folks, folks you want to be like Sam and Dan Rather. And you know that, you know, that's, that's how I grew up in this business. And those are the two guys that I really wanted to emulate coming up in the earlier days of my career. Maybe we can try to get Sam on Substack. That would be just phenomenal. We could try to do that. I think that'd be a lot of fun. Thanks, everybody, for watching today. Really appreciate it. I also want to, just in case folks are watching this podcast or listening to this podcast, because don't forget, it gets recorded, goes on YouTube, goes to Apple podcasts, goes Spotify and other places. Earlier in the day, I did a special report. It was a special edition of the Jim Acosta show, the Great American Pushback. And we were live with Lauren Windsor the filmmaker Lauren Windsor and I put that out earlier today. The recording has gone out if you want to check that out. Lauren was actually live from a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, protesting the Doge cuts. She was fantastic. She was putting on state lawmakers. She put on Anderson Clayton, who was the head of the Democratic Party in South North Carolina, excuse me. And she and Lauren just absolutely crushed it and gave us sort of a live picture right here on substack of what was going on on at that rally. So it we didn't have that in this edition of the Jim Acosta show that was on earlier today, but the one that we put on at 12:30, if you want to go back and find that recording, you can see what Lauren did with us there. That was terrific. That was a really a lot of fun. So my thanks to her, my thanks to Tara Settmeier. Tara was fantastic today. She is wonderful and going to be doing a lot more with her in the future as well. And of course, my thanks to Brian Carman and thank you everybody for watching. Still reporting. And as I was saying earlier today, I am in San Francisco, the great city of San Francisco, but I'll be back in D.C. next week. But still reporting, I'm Jim Acosta. Have a great day, everybody. Thanks a lot.

[Tara Setmayer]

Bye.