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The Joy Reid Show
Trump & Pete’s Fat Generals Foolishness | The Joy Reid Show LIVE! Oct 01, 2025
02:02:41
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Joy Reid
Foreign.
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Well, hello there. Hello there. Hello there. Hello there, everybody, and welcome to the Joy Reid show. Now we have made it to midweek. Big up to Everybody listening on YouTube, Substack, Spotify. I see you in the chat. I'm looking at y' all in the chat. Bridget, Charles, all of the folks in the chat, thank you all for being here. Team TJRS members get a special big up. I want to do a bit of housekeeping before we get into the show in chief because I want to let you guys know so that you know, we do not have a show on this Friday. No show this Friday, but it's for a very good reason. Your humble TJRS team is going to be hosting a special screening of a fantastic new documentary film that image Lab media Group is a co EP on. The film is called when everyone Swims. It was directed by award winning documentary filmmaker Jared Harkness, our friend, and co produced by our very own Adrian Lopez. I want to show you guys the trailer. It's a really good and important film. Jason, let me know when it's loaded and then we will play it for you. I remember being at the beach with my dad. He said to me as we stared at the ocean, you know, you don't.
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Pete Hegseth
Have to fear the ocean, Mara.
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Joy Reid
You just have to respect it.
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Pete Hegseth
I was standing on the ledge.
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Joy Reid
I just, for the life of me.
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Pete Hegseth
Just couldn't get over the fear of the water. I thought my water literacy was where.
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Joy Reid
It needed to be in order to jump into the 20 foot end of.
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Pete Hegseth
The pool countless times before. I just felt myself come back up. There's this moment that I remember vividly saying, you're not gonna make it.
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Joy Reid
Let go. Just let go. He had done that jump a thousand times. He jumped, he landed badly, and he didn't resurface.
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And that was the last time I.
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Saw my boy alive. Drowning is the leading cause of death by injury for children in the United States ages 1 through 4. The second leading cause of death by injury for children in the United States between the ages of 5 and 14, and the third leading cause of death by injury for all Americans 24 and under. There's fear rooted in trauma, fear rooted in lack of access, fear rooted in resources not being afforded to families. A lady came up, was like, what is he even doing here? Shouldn't he be playing basketball? And my dad looked at me in front of her and said, don't you ever let anybody stop you, ever, ever. There were distinct barriers that were put in place why people have the fear that they have.
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Pramila Jayapal
I mean, there are lots of public.
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Pete Hegseth
Health issues that require so much to make a change. Whereas I feel like drowning prevention, actually we could move the needle pretty easily. Lately I've been trying to lead with a message of the water is amazing and showing people the amazing things you can do once you're able to engage with the water safely and comfortably. There are people that have a very dark relationship with the water. We represent a space that they've likely never seen before. Not only do we swim, but we swim really well. I asked myself, why do I do it?
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Elizabeth Warren
Why do you swim, Summer?
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Joy Reid
And I said, I swim because I love it. And then I looked up and there.
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Elizabeth Warren
Was a banner off to the right to sit Barcelona 92 at the Olympic rings.
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Pete Hegseth
I said, this is your last time.
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Joy Reid
In this pool at these games. Give it everything you have. Summer Sanders wins the gold medals at last.
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Pete Hegseth
Swimming means limitless potential.
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Joy Reid
It has shaped everything about me. I don't know who I would be without swimming. It changed the trajectory of my life.
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Pete Hegseth
It provided me with resources that I never had before. Swimming has given me literally everything. You can learn and empower yourself, but that doesn't really mean anything if you're not going to help others along the way.
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Joy Reid
I want to really give back to my community because of those who have done the same for me. The power of water pools can heal communities. So that is the film. That is the film. And we're gonna be screening this amazing film exclusively at Howard University, Howard university in the D.C. area as part of their Battle of the Burr annual championship swim meet. That happens on Saturday but we're gonna screen it on Friday. Now it is a ticketed only event so no trolls allowed. But if you're local and you wanna attend, we're gonna put a link in the description of the shows that you can attend if you are a local and you wanna come and see when everyone swims. It's a really great film. You're going to really love it. It's won awards. It's really fabulous. Okay. And we're going to making. We're going to be making some other announcements regarding that documentary and the access that we're going to provide our special team TJRS and subscribers too. So that's coming up soon too. Now, while we will not be live here on with you on Friday, I do want to announce that we will be doing earlier that day at noon on Friday a special team TJRS members only and paid substack subscribers chat. So we're going to do one of Those live chats. We're going to get all of y' all team members, y' all can ask me anything. We're going to talk about all kinds of good stuff. That's going to be at noon, you guys, not 7pm, not 6pm noon on this Friday, October 3rd. So if you can sneak off from work, if you have some time, you want to jump on and chat with us live, that's what we're going to be doing because at 6pm we're actually going to be at the screening. So I won't eat this Friday, just this Friday. This Friday. Then we'll be back exactly this Friday alone. We're changing the game a little bit. Noon Team TJRS members only and Substack Premium Subscriber chat. And then at 6pm we'll be at the screening and then we'll be back on Monday, normal regular time, same bat time, same bat channel. So hopefully that all makes sense. Also, I want to also do a little more Housekeeping on October 6th. We're going to have a special show, a two hour show where we're going to be breaking down all of what happened on October 7, 2023 in Israel, southern Israel and Gaza and and all the fallout that has resulted ever since. All the things that have happened in terms of the media, in terms of politics, in terms of international relations because of the October 7th attacks, that's going to be this coming Monday, October 6th. So I want to let you guys know those things, but also want to let you guys know, please hit like and subscribe to make sure that you don't miss any of that. And also you want to maybe hit that little bell on your screen. You can get applause for that. Absolutely. Yes. You can also hit that little bell on your screen if you're watching on YouTube and it'll give you an automatic notification and anytime that we go live. So you'll never miss anything. Okay, so that's the housekeeping. Now we have a big two hour show for you tonight. We are testing this amazing two hour format. The 6pm hour, the 7pm hour, including we're going to get some reaction to the literally batshit insane, crazy 2 hour Trump hegseth military Ted talk. Yesterday it was kind of a TED Talk. Yes, I watched it all so that you don't have to. And we're going to break it down. I want to give you guys a couple of bites on how that went. Here is, this is hilarious. This is Democratic Congressman of California Eric Swalwell's social media recap. Of the Pete Hegseth part of that presentation. Here, here.
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Pete Hegseth
That is all starts with physical fitness and appearance. If the secretary of war can do regular hard pt, so can every member of our joint force. It's completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon and leading commands around the country in the world. It's a bad look. It, it is bad and it's not who we are.
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Joy Reid
Yeah, you see the joke there because he's a drunk and Trump is fat. Yeah, we get it. We do love it. The Californians are like really like they're into the trolling. We got some more trolling later on in the show. I'm not going to tell you what it is, but there's a little bit more trolling at the end of the show. There's also the Donald Trump portion when it was his turn to speak, trying to like gin up a MAGA pep rally like, you know what he's used to whenever he speaks in front of his people and low key, kind of threatening the generals, admirals and other senior leadership who the regime forced to show up for the furor. And his deputy drunk. Here he is in his a little piece of his portrait.
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I've never walked into a room so silent before.
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By the way, before he got there, Donald Trump gave a press conference in which he threatened to fire any generals that he didn't like. So, you know, low key threats. But there's actually more to that clip. We're going to play that a little bit later in the show. And that's, you know, that's pretty much how it went. We're going to have a lot more of that, especially in our second hour beginning at 7pm we're going to be joined by a military veteran who has a lot to say about all of that madness and also the service of, of soldiers of color and of women soldiers who were specifically low key called out by Hegseth during his little TED talk yesterday. So we're also going to talk to one of our faves. Senator Elizabeth Warren will be here. We are super excited. We're going to talk to her about this shutdown madness and also the corruption that we're seeing in this regime. So really looking forward to that. That is in hour two. In this hour we're going to have the great Pramila Jayapal, congresswoman from Washington State. So she's going to join us to talk about all the things including the shutdown. So that's coming up in hour one. But let me get you caught up on some of the other news this week, Assata Shakur died this past week at the age of 78. Now, by the way, she was a year younger than Donald Trump, which is proof that the devil surely takes care of his own, because Trump is still walking around just seemingly fine, kicking live and kicking. Assata Shakur was a human rights activist who maintained until the end of her life that she was wrongly convicted in the killing of a police officer in a shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike decades ago in the 1970s. She was actually sprung from prison in this dramatic, daring prison break two years after she went to prison and fled to Cuba in and around 1984, where she spent the rest of her life. She wrote an autobiography there. She used to lecture at universities in Cuba. She continued to champion human rights there even after she went completely underground after she became the first woman on the FBI's most wanted terrorist list during the Obama era in 2013 with a $2 million bounty on her head. She survived with that $2 million bounty on her head from 1984 until she passed away this weekend. And Sidebar her presence in Cuba is part of the reason that the first Trump administration refused to take Cuba off the list of countries that the US Says support terrorism. It was because of Assata Shakur. She was also Tupac Shakur's step aunt and godmother. She's not his mother, she's his godmother. She and his mother, Tupac's mother, Afeni Shakur, were close friends. And Assata Shakur's brother Mutulu was actually Tupac's stepfather. So that's how they were related. People always wonder, what was the relationship between them? That is what the relationship was. The two women became friends as members of the New York chapter of the Black Panther Party, where several members took the name Shakur. Her real name was Joanne Chesimard, as any Public Enemy fan knows. And Assata was also part of the Black Liberation Army. Just so that you have all of that history. Sorry, I didn't mean to bump the mic. Now I want to read to you what I think are four really essential Assata Shakur quotes. Some of them are going to sound familiar to you, but a lot of people don't know her well enough to know her quotes. Here are the four quotes that I really love. 1. People get used to anything. The less you think about your oppression, the more your tolerance for it grows. After a while, people just think oppression is the normal state of things. But to become free, you have to be acutely aware of being a slave. Hmm. That's from her autobiography. Here's another one. No one is going to give you the education you need to overthrow them. Nobody is going to teach you your true history, teach you your true heroes, if they know that that knowledge will help set you free. Does that not feel like she could have written that today? Here's another quote. It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love each other and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains. I think that last line is the one a lot of people associate most with her. We have nothing to lose but our chains. That is the third Assata Shakur quote. And one more. Nobody in the world, nobody in history has ever gotten freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who were oppressing them. Also, very apropos to today, which brings me to our first story tonight. This new Trump regime is literally, literally having us living our worst case scenario. Like literally every bad thing that we worried about and predicted and made, warned people about. If Americans let that man back into the White House, is literally happening like 10 times as fast and 10 times as awful as any of us predicted. And a lot of us tried to predict it. This regime has all the 1930s things. They've got vile rhetoric demonizing immigrants as poisoning the blood of our country, saying that undocumented non white immigrants are poisoning the blood of the blood of our country, which Trump said. And it is language literally out of Mein Kampf. We just saw Stephen Miller give a speech, an hysterical sort of speech at that Charlie Kirk Memorial that could have been pulled out of a 1930s Nazi playbook in which he talked about, you have nothing, you build nothing, you create nothing. That's literally out of Nazi Germany language. He sort of cosplayed that language in his speech. These people have masked Gestapo agents harassing anybody, brown or black, that they choose to on the street. They are violent, insanely violent, and they're also seemingly indiscriminate. By now you've seen the video that I'm about to show you. This is an ICE Gestapo agent physically mauling a woman whose husband they were dragging away in a New York immigration courthouse where her children are watching and crying. Now, that ICE agent, and shame on all of those people who stood around and watched that happen and the other officers, that ICE agent who was unmasked for a change, but whose name you are not allowed to know, was initially relieved of duty. And ICE put out a statement saying that that behavior that you saw on that video was appalling and appalling and was unbefitting of the, the federal agency. But he was taken off his duty. But apparently after the Trump and Wathin thought about it, they put him back out on the street. They reinstated him. ICE agents like that man, almost always masked, have done this not just to moms and dads, literally in immigration court after their hearings, but also to senior citizens, old people, military veterans, cooks, dishwashers, construction workers, students at college who have the gall to be pro Palestinian or write op eds that the regime doesn't like. And, and yes, also U.S. citizens. Literal Marines veterans, U.S. citizens, literally anybody black or brown, that they want to get their hands on, and a few Irish and Canadian tourists just, you know, to be thorough. It's literal attempts at ethnic cleansing and brutality by state actors who we cannot even really verify are actual feds. I mean, for all we know, these are proud boys, oath keepers, 3 percenters, straight up gang members, boogly boys. How would we know? How would we know? They normally don't show id. They don't show their faces. Although thanks to a new California law, they're going to have to be unmasked in that state starting at the first of the year. But for now, ICE violence literally officially out of control. I want you to see this video. This is them physically abusing reporters. Get out the fucking elevator. Wow. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
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Pramila Jayapal
Oh, my God.
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Joy Reid
Who is that? Yeah, give him some room, everybody.
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So I genuinely hope that that journalist who actually was taken to the hospital, sues the crap out of the agency, the nypd, all the agencies, and if they can get the information on who those supposed agents were, sue them. Personally, I would love to test whether or not they have sovereign immunity like most federal law enforcement do. If NYPD acted that way, there'd be a $50 million lawsuit. They're going to kill somebody. Actually, they've already killed people. And that's just literally one of the reporters who have faced the physical menace of Trump, homan, nome and 50k in a kava bag. Homan's personal gestapo. There's a gentleman named Mario Guevara. He's an Emmy winning Spanish language reporter who covers immigration. He's been in law enforcement custody for 100 days. He was arrested back on June 14, the same day as Donald Trump's little fakey birthday party when he threw himself a military parade. And Mr. Guevara was reporting on a no Kings protest in the Atlanta metro area. He was in the county perfectly legally at the time of his arrest and he remains in custody even though all charges against him have been dropped. He faces imminent deportation to his native El Salvador, where he could face persecution. Guevara has not been silent. He wrote an open letter regarding his situation, which was published by the ACLU on their website. I want to read you some of that letter. As of today, Monday, I have been behind bars for 100 days, more than three months, locked up as if I were a criminal. I am aware of my legal situation. I know I am about to be deported from this country, a country I have loved and respected for more than two decades. Life is not always fair. If I am deported, I will leave with my head held high because I am convinced it will be from me doing my work as a journalist and not for committing crimes. That said, I will leave with a broken heart and my dignity tarnished because I have been humiliated by both federal and local authorities and I don't believe I deserve it. And because my family, the thing I love most in life, will be separated, although all of my loved ones know it has all been because of my passion for my work. The pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States says with liberty and justice for all. Right now, that is a fallacy. They should add, except for immigrants. Except a very sad and very true statement about a country where hating undocumented immigrants and documented immigrants, as long as they're not white, has it's replaced religion. It's become the religion of the right. They have a religious opposition to the presence of non white people in this country, particularly brown people. Now, we were going to have a guest from the ACLU here to discuss Mr. Guevara's situation. But literally there were new developments in the case this evening, which could mean that Mario Guevara could be deported as soon as tomorrow. So they're working on that case right now. Now, if you want to help, you can log to the ACLU's free Mario action at action.aclu.org send message Freemarie Guevara, or you can donate to Mario's family, GoFundMe, which we're going to put the links to both of those things in the show description. We're also going to throw that up on substack so that you guys can help him if you can. They're trying to separate this family for no reason. And this is actually related to the next story that I want to talk about. It is the government shutdown. As you may know, today's government shutdown day. Happy government shutdown day. Your federal Government, which you pay for with your tax dollars, is now no longer operating, for the most part, thanks to the people who run it, namely the Republicans, who control all branches of government from the Supreme Court to the House to the Senate to the White House. They control the whole government and they have shut the government down and they have done that, failing to do their one job, which is literally fund the government. And that failure begins in the House of Representatives, who by the Constitution is literally the part of our government whose one job is to be in charge of all the spending it has to emerge from the House, per the Constitution. But they're not going to do that. Instead, Speaker Mike Johnson is going on TV doing TV hits, arguing over things that are not real. And those things are related to the things I just told you about immigrants. Here he is last night on cnn, lying. We roll in the greatest hits on our social media. Yeah, I'm just saying that the point about giving people who are here illegally.
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Elizabeth Warren
Health care is not exactly what is in their proposal.
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Joy Reid
It is 100% what they're proposing. Who have legal status. And you're just referring on who's eligible. I looked at it actually, because I was curious about your argument yesterday. You should study the CBO's analysis that they just put out a few weeks ago. Yeah, I saw that. About the 1.2 million people. You're basically arguing about who has legal status, people who are seeking refuge here or, or something aside. No, I'm making sure that we are making sure in our provisions that we sign into law have ensured that health care benefits go only to eligible US Citizens. Chuck Schumer's proposal, federal law was not being enforced. That's the whole point. We had to fine tune that so that we could strengthen the health care program. That's what we did. Yeah. Okay, so that's a lie. It's a lie. Of course. Surprise, surprise, he's lying. Because what Democrats and Republicans are actually fighting about is the continuation of the Obamacare federal tax subsidies. If you are on Obamacare, Medicaid, which is an expansion of Medicaid, you receive subsidies from the federal government to help you pay your premiums. Those subsidies, which make Obamacare affordable for you, are going to expire in November. By the end of the year, they will be gone. And if they expire, the health costs of everyone who's on Obamacare, everyone will go up by as much as 75%. 75%. You're going to pay three quarters more than you pay now for your premiums. In other words, Republicans want to jack up the cost of health care for gig workers, freelancers, small business owners, and anyone else who relies on Obamacare for their health care. It is their backdoor way of gutting and repealing Obamacare again without ever being able to actually repeal it. They've been wanting to repeal Obamacare from the time that it was passed in 2010, with Republicans doing 60 some odd votes over the last several years trying to repeal Obamacare. They literally went to the Supreme Court to try to declare Obamacare to literally be unconstitutional. Republican states refused to expand Obamacare even though there was a 100% reimbursement for 10 years on Obamacare, which expired in 2020. Ten years of the federal government paying all of the reimbursement expenses. Red State still said we won't do it and literally went to court to say that it's unconstitutional to make them offer health care that people have to pay for in their states. Only states with Democratic governors are allowed to have Obamacare. And now, because they can't repeal it and people like it, they have now decided they're going to jack up the cost on 30 million Americans and hand them back over to United Healthcare and all the big insurance companies so they can jack up the prices and charge whatever they want. Because they hope that when your Obamacare prices soar, you're gonna beg them to repeal Obamacare. They think they can make it popular to repeal Obamacare by making Obamacare super expensive. And the way they're doing that is they're lying to you and claiming that the reason they've got to destroy Obamacare is because illegals are getting it. I just want to note for you that people who are undocumented can't get Obamacare. And you want to know how I can prove that to you? Because if you were an undocumented immigrant, how would you sign up for Obamacare? You'd have to fill out a form. You'd have to give your Social Security number. By definition, you don't have a Social Security number. How would you sign up? It's not even possible. People who are undocumented can't get Medicaid, they can't get Medicare, they can't get Social Security, and they damn sure can't get Obamacare. But what they will get is they gonna get treated. If they get hit by a bus or they get hit by a car or they get sick, they're going to go to the era, they're going to go to the ER because there is a duty to treat. If somebody gets sick or is going to die or their child can't breathe at night, they're going to go to the ER and then you're going to pay for it. They don't have Obamacare, which could have helped them pay for it. You're going to pay for it. So that means everybody's insurance costs are going to go up. And before I bring in our guests, I want to note that to me, there's a right way and there's a wrong way to fight this. What I would say is diabolical. Evil Republicans want to destroy Obamacare for you by using people's unhinged hatred of undocumented immigrants. They've turned illegals into the new N word. And so if somebody is an illegal, which is a completely racist term, then you're supposed to be more angry that they might get treated. You're supposed to be more angry about that than the fact that your can't afford your health care. Now, there are two ways you could fight that. There's one way with the NAACP and the Congressional Black Caucus, they put up this thing called no health care, no vote. They're basically keeping it super simple. They're saying, if you don't vote to extend those $1.5 trillion, the $1.5 billion in premiums, if you don't vote to extend the premiums for our Obamacare patients, we ain't voting for your stupid bill. Pass the budget yourself. Do it yourself. If you have the votes. You don't, good luck. And you shut the government down. That is Republicans shutting the government down because they're refusing to give you health care. It's not about illegal immigrants. It's about you. Now here's the other way, because I think that was simple, right? But now let's go to the not so smart way. Cue Chuck Schumer. That too many Republicans are lying through their teeth.
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They say, oh, the Democrats want.
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Undocumented immigrants to get health care, to get the federal dollars of health care. That is utter bull, and they know it. The law, the law prohibits undocumented immigrants from getting payments from Medicare, Medicaid, or the aca. There's no money, not a penny of federal dollars that are going there.
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So why do they bring this up?
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Because they're afraid to talk about the real issue, which is health care for American citizens. A standard Republican MO Is to make something else up, because the American people are on our side. Now, this week, here's what House Republicans.
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Sent out guidance to their members.
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They said, quote, not to make the message about health Care. Because Republicans lose that argument.
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They're right.
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Their position is callous, malicious, unpopular. So they're not only refusing to talk about health care, but apparently when they do, it's only to spread misinformation, to spread lies. I said this to Speaker Johnson in the Oval Office yesterday. Yeah. And he said he kind of smirked. That's all you're missing is. And he said he's kind of smirked. Joining me now is the chair, is the former chair of the House Progressive Caucus, Washington state Congresswoman and diehard progressive. For the people, Congressman. For the people. Thank you so much, Congressman. It is always good to see you.
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Pramila Jayapal
Good to see you, Joy. Good to see you. And no health care, no vote. That's where I no health care, no vote.
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Joy Reid
I think to me, that's simple. I'm like, keep it simple because people don't need like a long cause, a long explanation. But while I agree with part of what Chuck Schumer said, Congresswoman, it is, and I just said it, it is a fact that people who are undocumented can't get healthcare. But I feel like Democrats trying to be like, we, we're even crueler than the right. We won't let one single, solitary penny of our money go to giving those brown undocumented vermin healthcare. Like, to me, it's like you now are jumping on the wrong side of morality because I personally believe whether you're documented or not, you should get health care. Sorry, but if somebody gets sick, has cancer, has diabetes, has. Has a child that has sudden infant death, you know, sudden infant death syndrome, you know, that they could die in their sleep if somebody is sick in America. Are we saying that Democrats agree that they shouldn't get healthcare? Why is that the tack?
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Pramila Jayapal
Yeah. No, Joy, I mean, I've got the Medicare for All bill, right? Like, I believe that everybody should have universal healthcare. And it's not just a moral question. It's really what you were saying, that at the end of the day, if you have everybody getting healthcare, that means fewer trips for everybody to the emergency room. It means lower cost for everybody. And even if you look at the Obamacare subsidies, which it's absolutely true, we don't allow any federal dollars to go to undocumented immigrants getting those subsidies. But imagine, just for a second, forget about their life for just one second and imagine that we did. We don't. Unfortunately, in my view, it would actually bring down the costs for every single American because you have a larger pool of people that are buying in, which then reduces the, you know, Essentially, the risk for the insurance company. Now, of course, if we had Medicare for all that would be government insurance. We wouldn't have any private for profit insurance companies making big bucks off of people's.
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Joy Reid
You mean like most of the world, Congresswoman?
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Pramila Jayapal
Yes. Isn't that a terrible, crazy socialist idea that we would do what other countries do and actually provide insurance by the government rather than allowing these private insurance companies to game the system? Look, I mean, I think here's the thing. They don't want to talk about healthcare, number one. And if they do talk about healthcare, they want you to blame immigrants, like you said, instead of the billionaires that got the $7 trillion of tax breaks when they cut Medicaid funding and healthcare for 15 million Americans, right? They kicked 15 million Americans off of healthcare and slated all these rural hospitals across the country, all these nursing homes across the country to close because they wanted to give $7 trillion of tax breaks to the billionaires. They would like you to forget that. And what is the easiest way, in their mind, their crazy, just bizarre mind, to get you to forget that is to have you blame somebody else.
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Joy Reid
That's right.
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Pramila Jayapal
It's not the immigrants who slashed your Medicaid. It's the billionaires. It's not the immigrants who are taking away the ability for you to have lower premiums. It's the billionaires. So I think we just have to keep reminding people that this is about the fact that they slashed Medicaid, that they slashed healthcare, that they want your premiums to go up even more, and that the only people that benefit from all of that are these giant billionaire companies that are getting the tax breaks, giant wealthy billionaires and big companies that are getting these tax breaks and that will benefit no matter how sick you get.
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Joy Reid
I just want to read this again. I was trying to search it really quick. I have to read it one more time. This is my Assata Shakur quote. I'm like, these are the quotes that I'm literally saying sitting with and sitting with in this moment. And she said, people get used to anything. The less you think about your oppression, the more your tolerance for it grows. After a while, people just think oppression is the normal state of things. But to become free, you have to be acutely aware of being a slave when you have. I love this quote. Because what it's saying is this country, people have gotten so used to getting the worst healthcare in the Western world. The worst. The most expensive. Expensive, it's high quality if you can afford it. If you're really rich, you're a very.
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Pramila Jayapal
Small portion of people that can actually get it.
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Joy Reid
Exactly. I mean, we have the best.
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Elizabeth Warren
We got the worst.
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Pramila Jayapal
We have the worst maternal mortality rates. And you know, this certainly for black women, for women of color, it is horrific. Our mortality rates are terrible. And we have the lowest infant. The highest infant mortality rates. And that's all because we don't invest in healthcare for everybody.
- [33:16]
Joy Reid
That's right. And here's the thing. Can you just explain it to folks. Let's explain it to folks, like, in the most simple terms. Congresswoman, to me, think of healthcare, like, let's say it's like pulling. You know, like when you used to. Used to do it, a competition where people stood up on opposite sides of the rope and they kind of pull each other over. Right. You're trying to pull one side and they're trying to pull the other side. A tug of war. Thank you, Jason. A tug of war. So in a tug of war, the insurance companies are on one side, guys, the billionaires and insurance companies, they are on one side. They're very, very strong. They're very powerful and big on our side. The rest of us, what we are saying is, rather than put everybody on our side so we can pull against the insurance companies, we are saying we only wanna pull middle class and affluent people on our side. If you are undocumented, sorry, we don't want you to pull. If you are poor, sorry, we don't want you to pull. We're pulling with less of our full strength. Don't think of it as we're trying to give a gift to undocumented people. We're trying to get them to pull with us. Because if they're here working anyway, taking the risks in a meatpacking plant where they could get hurt or injured anyway, if they get sick, they're not pulling with you. They're going to the ER and you are going to pay for their health care. You should want to get even. If you don't have the moral compass to want human beings to live and survive, you should want them pulling with you because the other side is. Is very strong. Is that a fair analogy to you?
- [34:40]
Pramila Jayapal
It's a great analogy. And I'm trying to think about what the other piece to this analogy would be. Because it's not only that they're not pulling with us. Right. It's also that when they don't pull with us, it will actually raise costs because it's like they've gone over to the other side and they're pulling on the other side, because, you know, and so I think it's both the right thing to do morally because, remember, undocumented immigrants, immigrants of all statuses. Because there are actually a lot of restrictions on immigrants with legal status.
- [35:20]
Joy Reid
Yeah, right.
- [35:21]
Pramila Jayapal
Getting health care as well, even buying into the Obamacare subsidies.
- [35:26]
Joy Reid
There's.
- [35:27]
Pramila Jayapal
There's a bar for doing that. And so unfortunately, that's what exists right now is even for legal permanent residents, there's a bar on getting. You can buy in if you want fully, but you can't get any subsidies. So this is, you know, I think we have to think about this as what does it cost us to have people sick?
- [35:47]
Joy Reid
That's right.
- [35:48]
Pramila Jayapal
Right. And I'm talking about. Of course you and I agree on the morality of it, but I'm talking about just plain dollars and cents. What does it cost us to have people sick? And then what does it cost us to actually have a smaller group of people who are paying into the system? And therefore the costs end up being more. I gotta think about a good analogy. I like the tug of war one, and I'm gonna try to develop it for the next one. Come on.
- [36:17]
Joy Reid
But at the end, we're workshopping it right here. We're just gonna workshop.
- [36:20]
Pramila Jayapal
We're workshopping it. Exactly. But at the end of the day, I think the most important thing about this moment is that they don't want you to know that they are cutting your healthcare.
- [36:32]
Joy Reid
That's right.
- [36:34]
Pramila Jayapal
So that they can get richer and you can get poorer and sicker.
- [36:39]
Joy Reid
Well, and not only that, Congresswoman. At the same time, the sort of bevy of things that they're doing, You've got them going after Tylenol, while Dr. Oz is invested in a company that competes with Tylenol, While we've got RFK Jr. A former heroin addict, telling us that we shouldn't take vaccines. But, oh, weird, he sells supplements. They're literally grifting off of the declining and deteriorating healthcare of Americans. They're supporting things like more guns, more suicide, more gun injuries, more people accidentally shooting themselves and then maybe can't get healthcare for it. You see what I mean? They're actually making healthcare worse. And I wanna give one more example. In South Carolina, they are now pushing an extreme abortion ban, which, by the way, just had its first hearing today. This would effectively make contraception illegal. It would make getting an abortion an act of murder. It would subject women to the criminal justice system, even if they're a rape victim for getting an abortion. Those kind of abortion bans will proliferate throughout the United States that doesn't that actually also make healthcare higher because more women are going to die?
- [37:45]
Pramila Jayapal
Absolutely. And you know, this has been their agenda. They've passed bills trying to limit contraception and they, you know, they, they don't, they don't want you to get pregnant, they don't want you not to get pregnant. They don't want you to have a baby either. Basically, they want to be in control of our bodies and tell us exactly what they want us to do. But yes, on the cost side, everybody getting sicker makes everybody worse off. And, and that's health wise because also if you think about, you know, all of the services that people need, right. It's very difficult to sustain an economy around healthcare where just regular people can go get whatever healthcare they need. If you don't have any clinics that are open, if you're not providing birth control services, if you're not providing prenatal care. I mean, I was talking to my colleague Shamari Figures from Alabama, and he said the entire healthcare system in Alabama has been destroyed. Like the, there's no birthing clinic for a very, I can't remember what he said, but for a very far way, there's no hospitals.
- [38:50]
Joy Reid
Right.
- [38:50]
Pramila Jayapal
And so part of what they are trying to do is destroy the healthcare system, what little healthcare system we have left in this country that is available to everybody. And I think that this shutdown is interesting because they know that people don't like their big bad betrayal bill. They know that cutting Medicaid is bad. Even in states like Louisiana, which is Mike Johnson's home, our speaker, you know, not our speaker, the Republican speaker, Mike Johnson, his home state of Louisiana. 60% of the births in Louisiana, Joy, are funded by Medicaid. So when they slashed Medicaid, all of those constituents in that ruby red state of Louisiana are hurt. And so it's wildly unpopular. So when we say, well, we're standing up and Republicans are shutting down the government because they don't want to provide you with healthcare, they're like, oh, people might start to know the truth. So let's blame illegal immigrants. You know, that is always what they wanna do. They wanna blame undocumented immigrants who are working hard, who have been in this country without whom this country would collapse.
- [40:00]
Joy Reid
Come on.
- [40:01]
Pramila Jayapal
Without whom our economies would not work without, without whom we wouldn't have the billions of dollars that get spent by undocumented immigrants and immigrants of all legal statuses. And so, you know, they really are trying to destroy the healthcare system along with so much else and this grifting, I just have to say something about grifting because, I mean, he's talking about gold in the ballroom and during the shutdown, he's saying that his beautiful, brilliant golden ballroom construction is going to continue while people can't get health care and while they're furloughing 750,000 federal workers. So it is remarkable, absolutely remarkable.
- [40:44]
Joy Reid
Where are your priorities? Donald Trump needs his luxuries, dear. He needs his luxuries and he can't have to go without because the poors can't get health care.
- [40:54]
Pramila Jayapal
He's so important that people come and say, oh, what a beautiful golden Ballroom you have.
- [41:01]
Joy Reid
I'm expecting him to put like a fake Nobel Peace Prize in there. I'd be like, I really won the Nobel Peace Prize. This is my Nobel Peace Prize. It'll be here. Last question. I know. I'm going to be mindful of your time. The last question I want to ask you, and we know that Speaker Mike Johnson, who's having some. He's going through some things right now, quickly adjourned the House today rather than finally allow Adelita Grijalva to be sworn in the fear of her vote. As the 218th vote on the Epstein files is live. You can see how live it is with Mike Johnson predict. Do you think that Adelita will finally get sworn in this week and have you.
- [41:40]
Pramila Jayapal
She's not going to get sworn in this week. They're going to make it so that she doesn't get sworn in until after the shutdown. And, you know, because we were all on the floor yesterday, by the way. We, we were there. I mean, I just got home today, took a flight this morning to come back to my district to be with my constituents through the shutdown. But we were all there. And where was Mike Johnson? It's like, where's Waldo? You know, I mean, I can't find him. They're like having fundraisers with billionaires or something across the country. But we were all there and ready to get to work. But they sent everybody home. So we were on the floor and we tried to get the speaker to recognize us before he adjourned so that Adelita was standing right next to me so that we could swear in Representative elect Adelita Grijalva because she won her election. But they are terrified, absolutely terrified about what happens when we get that 218th signature on the discharge petition that says release all of the Epstein files.
- [42:47]
Joy Reid
And that is the million dollar question, the billion dollar question. What is Trump so afraid of. What is Mike Johnson so afraid of? I mean, at the moment, he's kind of afraid of Grindr, but I mean, I do have to comment on that. I will leave that right where it is. Congresswoman Pramila, Jaya Paul, always a pleasure. Thank you very much. Thank you.
- [43:04]
Pramila Jayapal
I'm gonna keep working, workshopping our analysis.
- [43:07]
Joy Reid
Keep workshopping. Yeah, yeah. Holler at me. Let me know what you come up with. We're gonna workshop it and we'll bring you back on. Thank you so much, Congresswoman.
- [43:12]
Pramila Jayapal
Thank you.
- [43:13]
Joy Reid
Much appreciated. All right, I want to let you guys know some of the things that are going to happen as a result of the shutdown. So I'm reading my laptop here and I'm just going through what Politico has on their website. It says if you're making plans to visit national theme parks, you're good to get in. Just don't expect to see many, if any staff clearing trails or cleaning toilets. The Interior Department, which oversees the National Park Service, is keeping park roads, lookouts, trails and open air memorials open during the shutdown according to the agency's latest contingency plan. But it's also furloughing 64%. 64% of its staff. 64% during the shutdown. That's not cool. Let's, let's talk about student loans. Student loan bills are still going to go out. Surprise, surprise. They're still going to make you pay your student loan bill. That is going to go out regardless. The Education Department doesn't want you to read books. They don't want you to read books by black gay people or, or women. However, you still got to pay your bills back. Let's look at defense. More than a million people serving in the US Military are now working without pay. So Donald Trump forced all of the generals to come fly all the way back to Quantico, Virginia to sit there. The generals and admirals are forced to sit and listen to a TED Talk with him and Pete Hegseth. But the military are now working without pay. So all of those National Guard federalized that Donald Trump has working cleaning up trash in DC and invading Chicago and doing all the things invading la. They ain't getting paid, y'.
- [44:40]
All.
- [44:40]
They're working now without pay. The Pentagon also cannot award new contracts or start new programs. What if Elon Musk is going to get upset because maybe he can't get any new contracts, but he's already got his existing ones. New commissioners overseas will new comm. While commissions. I'm sorry, while commissaries overseas will stay open. They and other services are busted on bases in the US Are now operating on a limited basis. Elective surgeries and procedures in military medical and dental facilities will now get postponed. So if you're in the military and you need some sort of medical treatment, that is going to be postponed. So that isn't good. If you look at taxes, the IRS is keeping all of its employees on the job, all of them, at least for now. So they're going to still expect you to pay your taxes. The billionaires who don't pay taxes, well, they don't have to pay anyway, so it doesn't really make a difference. But the IRS workers still get paid. Well, uh, let's see, let's see. A shutdown plan released Monday said the IRS would be able to use any special funding that Democrats enacted in 2022 to avoid furloughing any of its almost 75,000 employees for the first five business days after a funding lapse. So, no, they are not. They are going to get paid. They're not going to be working without pay because, yeah, you don't want an IRS worker working without pay. I don't want a soldier working without pay. You know, let's go to health care. Federal employees supporting Medicare, Medicaid and other mandatory health payments will keep working unabated. So HHS employees will also have to continue working. Those who respond to national emergencies are considered essential employees. They have to keep working. But overall, the Department of Health and Human Services is going to furlough more than 40% of its employees for a few months after. Is ICE still getting paid? Oh, you know, ICE is still going to get paid. If there's one thing that's still going to get their money, it's going to be the Gestapo. They're still going to get their money. Let's go to Veterans Affairs. The Department of Veterans affairs is not having being. Are not being hit like many other agencies due to its appropriations that are already were already awarded by Congress. Benefit checks will continue to proceed. If you're a veteran, you will still get your checks. Medical appointments at VA health centers will not be interrupted. So at least our veterans are going to be taken care of. Let's go to the Department of Energy. Trump has made fossil fuel production a top priority of his administration and, and he's not letting a government shutdown stand in his way. While the Interior Department is slashing two thirds of the staff from the National Park Service and the Secretary's office workers tasked with processing oil and natural gas Drilling permits and coal mining operations are still going to go to work. Got to get that oil, gas and coal. The Bureau of Land Management, which oversees millions of acres of federal land, has designated those employees as essential, according to two people familiar with the plan. This includes anyone processing applications for permits to drill rights away for fossil fuel projects and working on critical materials and coal issues. So basically everyone involved in despoiling our environment, drilling, oil, gas or coal, still working. Still gonna be working. Your healthcare, y'. All. Good luck to you. Trade mission. Many of the agencies responsible for assisting Trump with trade and tariff threat negotiations are being insulated from the latest funding lapse. So if you're doing the tariff stuff, working on the tariffs, you still get a check, too. Food, agricultural department, food safety inspectors stationed at the nation's and at the nation's. What is it? At the nation's meat and poultry slaughterhouses will remain on the job without a paycheck. So let me get this straight. The people who make sure that the meat and poultry, that the fish and chicken and ham and stuff that you're eating are not going to kill you, they're going to be working without pay. Now, the oil, gas and coal people are going to get paid, but the people who make sure that the meat doesn't have salmonella, that, you know the stuff doesn't have salmonella, won't kill you. They're going to be working, but they're going to work without pay. At least according to Politico, they're going to be working without paying. How do you feel about growing some livestock on? We may need to get a few chickens. The FDA, which oversees approximately 80% of the US food supply, will have to triage its preventative food safety work. And they're doing this while also jacking up your premium. So if you do eat some bad pork or some salmonella chicken, you can't even get treated because it's going to cost you too much. So you're just going to have to stay home and die because, you know, Trump's gotta have his ballroom. That work is gonna continue. Let's go to the tech industry. Federal Trade Commission. The Federal Trade Commission, the agency that's at the center of a handful of big cases against tech giants, plans to furlough all but the commissioners and a small group of essential staff, according to this agency's latest contingency plan. Meaning that the people who are actually overseeing to make sure that the AI giants and tech billionaires are not invading your privacy, violating the law, they are going to be going home. They're not going to be helping you anymore. How about the Wall street watchdogs? We know how that's going to go. Financial markets may not be affected by the shutdown, but some of the Wall street regulators are now on in a near standstill with rulemaking and most enforcement work on hiatus. So there'll be no more oversight of Wall street during the shutdown. What about our national cyber defenses? The nation's top cyber defense agency is getting emptied out during this shutdown. They about to get Buckwha. If you're China or North Korea or Russia, now would be a good time to try to hack the United States because our national cyber defenses will be shut down, emptied out. All of those workers going home on furlough because they are not as important as Donald Trump's $200 million ballroom that you're paying for. And let's just be clear once one more time, Jason. The Republicans and Donald Trump say that you shouldn't have to pay for a Guatemalan meat packer who gets his fingers chopped off at the meatpacking plant. That guy should not get health care. He should not be able to be treated and pay for his health care by being able to take out insurance. And if he's undocumented, he shouldn't be able to get an Obamacare plan whereby he would chip in to pay if his fingers get chopped off. But if his fingers get chopped off, he's going to have to be treated in the ER at your expense. It's going to cost you more. He's going to get treated anyway because there's a duty to treat. So instead of him paying into his treatment, he's going to get treated for free in the er. You're going to pay for it and then he's going to get deported because you know, he's brown. And then there are going to be fewer people in that meatpacking plant making sure that the meat that's now not going to be inspected to make sure it has salmonella is going to kill you. That dirty meat that you're going to eat, just praying that it's okay because the people inspecting it ain't getting a salary. You're now going to have to take the chance of eating, drinking, drinking milk, hoping it won't kill you. You're going to have to take a chance that the food you're eating has been properly inspected, but you're going to have lots and lots of oil, gas and coal, because Donald Trump's priorities are oil, gas, coal, letting the tech bros own you and own all of your data and do whatever they want to you. Bringing down our cybersecurity so that his friends in Russia and China can do as they will to us and his ballroom. That seems pretty accurate. Yeah, that seems like that's what a president should do. That seems exactly what you voted for. If that's what you voted for, you're getting it. You're welcome. We have a lot more coming up in the show in our next hour. It is a scary time to be. To be an American. It is a frightening time to be an American. Tourism is down. Our income from all the things that used to bring us joy and tourism, joy and wealth are all down. Tourism to the United States is down. I've heard it's down 50% in Los Angeles. Also down in New York, down in Florida. What did you say, Jason? I said, wow. Yeah. No, I mean tourism to the United States has been slashed to the bone. We now are a country that's being increasingly isolated when it comes to Israel. When it comes to Israel and Gaza, we're almost alone now in not recognizing the Palestinians. Our economy is trash. Our economy is absolute hot trash. Donald Trump says it's the hottest economy in the world. Yeah, it's hot trash, Donald. It's hot trash. But you are making sure that we have no cybersecurity protection. You are making sure we have no paid meat inspectors. You're making sure that, well, our national park, you can still walk through them, but there won't be anybody there if you get attacked by a bear and then if you get attacked by a bear in Yellowstone park because there's fewer park rangers on duty and you're just on your own wandering through the national park. Good luck paying for the health care that you're going to need. Because even if you live in a rural area, there's probably no hospital. Because they're going to close. They're going to close because they're not funding Medicaid, which is how rural hospitals stay open. Remember, rural hospitals are not profitable. The way they stay open is they get a check via Medicaid and they are closing those hospitals on purpose and then blaming it on, Wait for it, the illegals, which is, you know, their new word for the N word, everything is their fault. Everything. If you're, if you stub your toe, it's the illegals. If you had a bad day, it's the illegals. Anything that goes wrong in your life, they want you to believe it's either the illegals or the trans. The trans Kids playing sports, all 70,000 of them. In a country of 350 million people, all the trans kids playing sports, like one of them is good at soccer. And they're destroying, destroying the country. It's just them. 70,000 trans people. Ain't hardly any of them. There's like, there's more like performative drag queens in America probably than trans people. There's just. No, there's none of them. They're not there. But they're responsible for all your problems. And what Republicans want you to do is hate and blame those people. Blame undocumented immigrants and blame them. 70,000 trans people, one or two of them are good at sports. It's like one good trans swimmer. And they're like, she's destroying sports. That one one of them. You know, most people who play sports are trash at it, right? They're not good at it. There are very few people who are good at sports at all. And the one or two trans was good at it. Well, they're destroying all of the country. It's them. It's them and the illegals. Which is. I shouldn't even say it anymore on TV because it's like saying the F bomb or the N word. Well, good thing you're not on tv, but you shouldn't say it anymore. Absolutely. It's a freaking epithet. But they want you to think about them. Anytime that something goes wrong in your life, they want you to think about undocumented people, undocumented brown people. And what they're doing is they're letting these thugs, goons, demonize and brutalize them. They're brutalizing journalists, they're brutalizing anyone so that you will have this performative hatred of them so that you'll enjoy it like theater. Cause again, we talked about those when Adrian Carrascia was on. They're not deporting more people. They're just doing it in an uglier, more public way. And they're focusing on men between 29 and 49 who are brown. And they're grabbing them in very public places and putting a show on and making a spectacle of their torment. They're beating up women, they're beating up old people. And they're doing that to entertain their friends. Freakish base who get off on cruelty to non white people. Their kink is cruelty to non white people. And their other kink apparently is a lot of trans porn. Did you hear about this? That apparently MAGA right wing people are like super addicted to trans porn, while they also hate trans people. But they want you to think about how much you hate undocumented brown people instead of thinking about the fact that billionaires are stealing from you. Right. Robbing you, taking your data and making your healthcare impossible to afford and making your lives impossible to afford. There are definitely people to blame, but it's not undocumented immigrants who don't have anything. Work hard but don't get Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security, don't get to retire, don't get really anything out of this country and put everything in it. And they want you to be more angry that they might get hit by a bus and be treated in a hospital than that you might get hit by a bus and not be able to get treated at a hospital. You're both going to get treated. It's just you're going to pay for both you and them. Both you and the undocumented person will be treated at the hospital. There's a duty to care, but you're paying for both. You're welcome, MAGA and you're welcome, America. Okay. Coming up in our next hour, we're going to talk with Elizabeth Warren. I'm very excited about it, but we're also going to dig deep into the insane, the insane Clown posse, we should call them. And this was Pete Hagsen and Donald Trump, who forced every single military leader in this country that are based here and abroad to get on a plane and fly back imminently to the United States to go to Quantico, Virginia, to listen to a TED Talk, by Ted Cruz, by Ted Cruz, by Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump. It is bananas crazy. But we're going to play you a bunch of video for it because I know you don't. You didn't want to watch the whole thing, right? I mean, I didn't want to watch the whole thing, but I did it anyway. But in the meantime, what I want to leave you with in this hour of the Joy Reid show is that this game that's being played by Republicans with our budget, they've shut the government down. And again, don't. If anyone tells you that Democrats shut the government down, they're lying to you. And you only have to use your common sense to understand that they're lying to you. Democrats have no power. They don't control the House. They don't control the Senate. They don't control the Supreme Court or the White House. They only control about 22 states. And those states are trying to give health care to their people. If you live in a blue, they don't even control their own Messaging. Because they should be saying that right now. They don't even control their own messaging. They don't control anything. They don't control shit. And yet the Republicans who control everything and who brag about how powerful they are and how they control the entire world right now, they control the earth as far as they're concerned. Except they can't keep the government open. That is akin to white nationalists saying that they're the master race, but that they can easily be replaced by a horde of impoverished Guatemalan migrants. They're saying, you will not replace us. So you're saying that you're the master race, but also you're easily swept aside in society by a herd of impoverished brown migrants who walked 3,000 miles through the jungle. And then they said, well, Jews will not replace us. So let me start again. What you're saying is you're the. You are superior, you are white supremacist, and you're the master race, but a couple of Jewish people behind closed doors making a plan to allow immigration to increase is just going to replace you. And you have to do a whole white civil rights march in order to survive. That don't sound like very masterly. You don't sound very masterly. If you so easily replace by a bunch of impoverished people who walk 3,000 miles through the Darien. The Darien Strait. That would be Darien Gap. Darien Gap. Sorry, the Darien Gap, my bad. But if you're the. I mean, it sounds like you might be minor. Let's go on to second hour of the Joy Reach Show. Welcome back to hour two of the Joy Reach Show. I'm just saying white supremacy makes no sense. I'm just saying white supremacy makes no sense. You're like, you will not replace us. But the funny thing is, why are you so easy to replace? But replace them, where? Where would they go? I mean, where are they going? What are you talking about? That doesn't make any sense. I don't know. It's like, replace you? Doing what? You guys are in khakis, marching during the middle of the night. Replace those. Apparently you don't even have to go to work at 9am so you are so privileged that you have time to light a tiki torch, purchase a tiki torch, light it, and march through Virginia for no damn reason. But the Guatemalans and Hondurans are going to replace you, and you're afraid that the Jews are behind closed doors plotting it. It sounds like you might be too easy to replace. You need to be stronger and you need to buck it up. Because if you're easily replaced like that, well, you might have a problem. We might need to get you a civil rights movement. Let's go back with, let's go into our two of the Joy Reid Show. If you've not hit like and subscribe yet, we would so appreciate it. I want to thank everybody who's watching and listening on YouTube, Substack and Spotify. I want to take a peek at the chat right now. Lots of people laughing, but I think it's true. I wasn't trying to be mean. I'm just saying that they literally said, you will not replace us, as if they were in danger of being replaced. And yet they're saying they're superior to the people they claim are replacing them. And there's like 3% Jewish people in the country. There's not a lot of them. But they're saying they're going to replace you by getting poor brown people to march without shoes to America. And they're going to replace us. It's like, okay. Welcome to hour two of the Joy Reid Show. As I mentioned at the top of the show, our unqualified TV host turned defense secretary, Whiskey Pete. Whiskey Pete, except in whose hallucination is his department is now called the Department of War. A change that like the fictitious Gulf of America, only Congress can actually perform. Meaning it's just the Department of Defense. He commanded every single military general and admiral to leave their posts around the world and get themselves to Quantico, Virginia stat, all under one roof. You know, should our enemies choose to decapitate our entire government, including the commander in chief, they're all in one room, so convenient for them so that he and Donald Trump could hold what really did amount to a right wing TED Talk. So I did watch the entire insane thing yesterday so that you don't have to. You're welcome. And my chief takeaway is that Donald Trump is clearly delusional. The people around him are clearly feeding him a fantasy world, like probably showing him fake AI videos that are causing him to believe that cities like Portland and Washington D.C. are war torn hellholes that only he can save from the brown abyss. And he clearly believes that. Just like he's bought himself, you know, bought himself into believing that he's been president for like 10 years straight, including during the years when Joe Biden was living in the White House. That's the problem. When you look to look at too much AI, you start believing that. I think he believes that. So he probably believes. Did I do that yesterday? Wow. I think he thinks he's been president for 10 years. And I promise you I'm not making this up. I want you guys to listen to this. He essentially has eliminated from his consciousness. He can't handle the fact that he lost the 2020 election, so he's just erased it from his consciousness such that he seems to really believe that he's been President Literally since 2017. I promise you I'm not making this up. I want to play for you the piece of that long thing yesterday when he talks about being the 45th, 46th.
- [63:01]
And 47th president, we like to name it the F47. I said, let me think about it. Then after thinking for about two seconds, I said, okay, you know what that means, 47. I'm 47, so I'm 45, 46, and 47. You know, if you think about it, I just don't want the credit for 46. I don't want to have their open borders and people coming in from all over the world, including jails and mental institutions. I don't want that on my record. But I like, I like having it.
- [63:34]
We're the Lord. He's delusional. But that is not even the most bananas part of yesterday. Let's go back. I want to go back to Whiskey Pete, who kicked off the entire thing with his stage pacing, aggressive, you know, kind of, you know, General's retreat presentation. And he had gems like this one on fatness.
- [63:54]
Pete Hegseth
It all starts with physical fitness and appearance. If the Secretary of War can do regular hard pt, so can every member of our joint force. Frankly, it's tiring to look out at combat formations or really any formation, and see fat troops. Likewise, it's completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon and leading commands around the country and the world. It's a bad look. It is bad. And it's not who we are. So whether you're an Airborne Ranger or a Chairborne Ranger, a brand new private, or a four star general, you need to meet the height and weight standards and pass your PT test. And as the chairman said, yes, there is no PT test. But today, at my direction, every member of the Joint Force at every rank is required to take a PT test twice a year, as well as meet height and weight requirements twice a year, every year of service. Also today, at my direction, every. Every warrior across our Joint force is required to do pt. Every should be common sense.
- [65:03]
Joy Reid
I mean, most units, yeah. He basically said, yeah, people are too fat, they're too fat, they can't we can't have that. They need. They need to do pt. Has he actually seen Donald Trump? Can we put a picture of Donald Trump? Because he said he can't stand seeing all of these, these fatties. Whenever he goes like, that's Donald Trump. Like. Of course, he also couldn't leave out the other physical traits that irk him, given that he comes from tv. Enter beardos. He doesn't like beardos. He wants no more beardos. We going with this one? Here we go. Sorry, my bad. Here come the beard. C4. There it is.
- [65:50]
Pete Hegseth
This also means grooming standards. No more beards, long hair, superficial individual expression. We're gonna cut our hair, shave up, shave our beards and adhere to standards. Because it's like the broken windows theory of policing. It's like when you let the small stuff go, the big stuff eventually goes. So you have to address the small stuff. This is on duty, in the field and in the rear. If you want a beard, you can join special forces. If not, then shave. We don't have a military full of Nordic pagans, but unfortunately we have had leaders who either refused to call BS and enforce standards or leaders who felt like they were not allowed to enforce standards. Both are unacceptable. And that's why today, at my direction, the era of unprofessional appearance is over. No more beardos. The era of rampant and ridiculous shaving profiles is done. Simply put, if you do not meet the male level physical standards for combat positions, cannot pass a PT test, or don't want to shave and look professional, it's time for a new position or a new profession.
- [67:03]
Joy Reid
No beardos. No unprofessional. You know, you don't want anybody unprofessional like somebody who gets blackout drunk at Fox. Like you don't want that, right? By the way, has he seen J.D. vance? Jason, do we have a picture of J.D. vance? Because I kind of feel like J.D. vance might have a beardo. I could be wrong, but I just want to confirm it. Whether or not J.D. vance might indeed, he might be a beardo. Oh yeah. Yep. Sorry, J.D. your military service is over. But wait, there is actually more. Pete also wants the generals and admirals to know that there shall be no more of this woke bullshit about removing toxic leaders from his military.
- [67:38]
Pete Hegseth
That's why today, at my direction, we're undertaking a full review of the department's definitions of so called toxic leadership. Bullying and hazing. To empower leaders to enforce standards without fear of retribution or second guessing. Of course, you can't do like nasty, bullying and hazing. We're talking about words like bullying and hazing and toxic. They've been weaponized and bastardized inside our formations. Undercutting.
- [68:05]
Joy Reid
Wonder Dog said the brill cream is seeping into his brain. Wonder Dog in the chat said the brill cream is getting them. Yeah, okay. He's like toxic leaders. What's wrong with that? Just because you're a little toxic. Ah, nothing wrong with that, baby. We're gonna bring hazing back too. Here he is saying hazing back.
- [68:24]
Pete Hegseth
We will not use lose warfighters because we failed to train or equip them or resource them. Shame on us. If we do train like your warriors, lives depend on it. Because they do. To that point, basic training is being restored to what it should be. Scary, tough and disciplined. We're empowering drill sergeants to instill healthy fear in new recruits, ensuring that future war fighters are forged. Yes, they can shark attack, they can toss bunks, they can swear. And yes, they can put their hands on recruits. This does not mean they can be reckless or violate the law, but they can use tried and true methods to motivate new recruits to make them the warriors they need to be.
- [69:13]
Joy Reid
Yeah, and by the way, at basic as well. Okay, bye, Pete. And you know, by the way, the reason that they got rid of the hazing allowances inside of the military, even though he seems to be nostalgic for when. What was that movie, Jason? I can't remember the name of the movie. It was a black guy. Major. Major. Major Kane. Major Pain. Major Pain. He wants like that, that Major Pain era back of the military. He's like, clearly nostalgic for it, but I just want to note that he's claimed that he came up in that era, the non PC era of the United States military. He did serve in the military. Then how did he turn out like this? How did you turn out like this, man? You got accused by a woman of sexual assault. You made a settlement with this woman. You denied sexually assaulting her, but you paid her out a lot of money at least. Your former colleagues at FOX used to get blackout drunk to the point where they were afraid to put you on air. So you had those tough standards, bro. What. What happened? Why. Why did you turn out this way anyway, though? Back to his presentation, he said that the new standards of excellence in the he Gethian warrior military. Because they're warriors, the standards will be male. Here they are.
- [70:18]
Pete Hegseth
That are arriving at your commands as we speak and in your inbox today, at my direction, each service Will ensure that every requirement for every combat mos for every designated combat arms position returns to the highest male standard Only because this job is life or death. Standards must be met and not just met at every level. We should seek to exceed the standard to push the envelope, to compete, repeat. It's common sense and core to who we are and what we do. It should be in our DNA. Today, at my direction, we are also adding a combat field test for combat arms units that must be executable in any environment at any time and with combat equipment. These tests, they'll look familiar. They'll resemble the army expert physical fitness assessment or the Marine Corps combat fitness test. I'm also directing that warfighters in combat jobs execute their service fitness test at a gender neutral age normed male Standard scored above 70%. It all starts with physical fitness and appearance.
- [71:31]
Joy Reid
Yeah. And he said if women don't make it, they just don't make it. I want to also, by the way, go back to the hazing thing. The reason they got rid of the hazing rules, I think I started to say it, is that they. There was a study that found that extreme hazing actually led to increased incidences of suicide. So, you know, he wants to make suicide in the military grade again, apparently. And he wrapped it all up with an inspiring fusillade that left the generals just hooting and hollering with delight. Oh, that's their faces, by the way. They looked like, yeah, bullshit. That was the look on their faces. They were like, yeah, whatever, dude. They. He just got blank stares throughout much of what he said. But I want to give you his closing argument. This is C9 is close. He's big, close, big finish.
- [72:12]
Pete Hegseth
Move out and draw fire because we are the war Department. Godspeed.
- [72:25]
Joy Reid
And you just saw that this sort of his face just drop as no applause. They literally just stared at him. They literally just stared at him. Oh, that's Mark Milley. Oh, we miss Mark Milley. You go ahead and play that, Jason. Oh no, nevermind, we're not gonna play. We'll play it later. Mark Milley. I miss him so much. He actually negatively name checked Mark Milley. I, I wanted, I showed you that screenshot of the audience. Literally people just looked at him with just blank stares of just like, what the hell, let's go to C11. Like let me show C11. Because this to me is the most kind of endemic of, of really how people feel we're going to do C11. I just want to show it only because it's fun. There it is. Ti joke. I just wanted to show it ti joke. Because it's absolutely ridiculous. He is a joke. Okay? But then it was on to the main show. Donald Trump himself, who couldn't believe how rowdy the crowd was. How un rowdy I should say the crowd was when he took to the stage.
- [73:24]
Thank you very much, Pete. Great job you're doing too. Fantastic job. I've never walked into a room so silent before. This is very. Don't laugh, don't laugh. You're not allowed to do that. You know what, just have a good time. And if you want to applaud, you applaud. And if you want to do anything you want, you can do anything you want. And if you don't like what I'm saying, you can leave the room. Of course. There goes your rank. There goes your future. Thank you. Just feel nice and loose, okay? Because we're all on the same team and I was told that, uh huh.
- [73:58]
When you're, when they're a star, they let you do it, you know, it's giving something, Jason. It's giving something. I just can't put my finger on it. It's giving something.
- [74:05]
Again, Saddam is in no rush. He lights his cigar and then he asks out into the room what means should be used against these traitors. You know the answer, he says after a pause. There is no other way than the sword. The terrified party members in the theater hall begin to clap desperately. What else could they do? Saddam then gives an instruction to those assembled in the hall. When I have read out your name, you shall stand up, recite the party's slogan and lead leave the room. And so he begins reading out names.
- [74:46]
One by one.
- [74:46]
They must rise from their seats, say the slogan, and then they are led out of the room. They haven't been told where they're going or what's waiting for them on the other side of the door, but they probably have an idea. Most of the people, though, reluctantly do as they're told. One man, however, is clearly confused at his name being called.
- [75:04]
Me.
- [75:04]
I haven't done anything. He shouts as he stands up. Saddam doesn't even bother to look at him. He just coolly repeats, when I have read out your name, you shall stand up, recite the party's slogan and leave the room. And then. Nothing. The man just lowers his head and.
- [75:22]
Shuffles out of the room.
- [75:25]
Saddam continues until he has called out 68 names. He smiles and thanks those remaining in the hall for their loyalty. And then every, everyone stands up and once again Begins a desperate standing ovation. Relief. Some even begin to cry up on the stage. Even Saddam himself sheds a tear.
- [75:45]
Because, of course, the men who walked out were executed. That is the world Trump wishes he lived in. He wishes he was that kind of a monarch. He wishes he was Saddam Hussein. Of course, he's not. And the men who sat in that room did not applaud. They were not afraid. They did not give him the fear that I'm sure he wanted. Because before he walked in that room, by the way, he told the media with a chuckle that he's going to fire any generals that he didn't like and that he didn't enjoy being in front of on that day. So far, none had been fired, but none clapped, none applauded, none cheered. And I'm sure he was very, very angry. But he remained undeterred and he continued his speech. I'm gonna play you him banging on about his favorite word, tariffs.
- [76:28]
Wouldn't that be wonderful? That's why one of the first executive orders I signed upon taking office was to restore the principle of merit. That's the most important word other than the word tariff. I love tariffs. Most beautiful word. But I'm not allowed to say that anymore. I said tariff is my favorite word. I love the word tariff. You know, we're becoming rich as hell. We have a big case in front of the Supreme Court. But I can't imagine. Because this is what other nations have done to us, and we have, you know, great legal grounds, but you still have a case would be very bad. Something happened. But I said my favorite word in the English dictionary is the word tariff. And people thought that was strange. And the fake news came over and they really hit me hard on it. They said, what about love? What about religion? What about God? What about wife, family? I got killed when I said tariff is my favorite word. So I changed it. It's now my fifth favorite word. And I'm okay with that. I'm okay with that. But they hit me hard, but it is. I mean, when you look at. We've taken in trillions of dollars. We're rich, rich again. And they'll never be. When we finish this out. There'll never be any wealth like what we have other countries.
- [77:51]
Yeah. Then he goes into. And I mean, this is bananas. He goes into what he calls the other N word.
- [77:58]
And it was really a stupid person that works for him mentioned the word nuclear. I moved a submarine or two. I won't say about the two over to the coast of Russia, just to be Careful, because we can't let people throw around that word. I call it the N word. There are two N words, and you can't use either of them. Can't use either of them. And frankly, if it does get to use. We have more than anybody else. We have better. We have newer.
- [78:41]
Yeah, the other N word. I mean, that is the level of Donald Trump's mental acuity that he decided to joke about there being an other N word. Your president, ladies and gentlemen. He, of course, also couldn't leave out talking about Barack Obama and something he truly fears, which is, of course, stairs, legacy.
- [79:02]
We don't want that. Walk nice and easy. You're not have. You don't have to set any record. Be cool. Be cool when you walk down, but don't. Don't bop down the stairs. So one thing with Obama, I had zero respect for him as a president, but he would bop down those stairs. I've never said that. He'd go down the stairs. Wouldn't. Hold on. I said it's great. I don't want to do it. I guess I could do it, but eventually bad things are going to happen, and it only takes once. But he did a lousy job as president.
- [79:34]
Okay, this is in front of military generals. I just want to remind you, of course, there was also that election denial. He talked about creating, like, a Department of Peace that he's going to be the chairman of to create peace in the Middle East. All of that bizarre stuff. He also tried to get a shout out into the room. He tried to get the. You know, get the people in front of him to cheer. So. So he tried saying, hey, cheer for this general called Raisin Cain.
- [79:59]
Fantastic, by the way. I hope you all agree. If anybody disagrees, could I please have your hand? Who disappears at Raisin Cain is no good. Just raise your hand. I don't see any hands raised. All right, that means you're okay. That means that he's okay now. But I saw his results. You know, he. He took out.
- [80:20]
That means you're okay. Just go ahead and say raising King, everybody. Oh, you're not saying it. Okay. All righty, Let me keep it moving. Then he gets to the part where your drunk uncle at the family reunion decided that, you know what? He's for war because he's against war. Here's Donald Trump on war.
- [80:39]
When we go with the word war, and, you know, we want war because we want to have no wars, but you have to be there, and, you know, sometimes you have to do it. I sell.
- [80:50]
I have but not against a foreign country. Oh, no, no. He wants to wage war against Americans and he's quite proud of it.
- [80:57]
Only in recent decades did politicians somehow come to believe that our job is to police the far reaches of Kenya and Somalia while America is under invasion from within. We're under invasion from within. No different than a foreign enemy, but more difficult in many ways because they don't wear uniforms. At least when they're wearing a uniform, you can take them out. These people don't have uniforms. But we are under invasion from within. We're stopping it very quickly. What they've done to San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles. They're very unsafe places. Places. And we're going to straighten them out one by one.
- [81:39]
What does he have in his mouth?
- [81:40]
Be a major part for some of the people in.
- [81:42]
That's true. It looks like he has a monks. It's a war for ass cotton.
- [81:45]
Controlling the physical territory of our border is essential to national security. We can't let these people live. Last month I signed an executive order to provide training for Quick Reaction Force that can help quell civil disturbances. This is going to be a big thing for the people in this room because it's the enemy from within and we have to handle it before it gets out of control. It won't get out of control once, once you get involved at all, they all joke. They say, oh, this is not good. Fire department. I always put the fire department in because they're great. They're great. And I got 95% of their vote, too. That helps. When you get 95% of their vote, you always have to mention them, but they're great and they're brave. In our inner cities, which we're going to be talking about because it's. It's a big part of war now. It's a big part of war. But the firemen go up on ladders and you have people shooting at them while they're up in ladders. I don't even know if anybody heard that, but. And I said don't talk about it much, but I think you have to. Our firemen are incredible. They're up in one of these ladders that goes way up to the sky rescuing people. And you have an animals. Have you had enough shooting animals?
- [82:56]
I think I've had enough. I think you can stop there. I just have to say this before we bring in our guests. I really do feel like what we are witnessing now is somebody who is deeply, deeply in the throes of ongoing dementia. Clearly, Donald Trump's cabinet is just feeding a senior citizen just insane delusions that he is saving the cities, that he's doing this incredible job, that tariffs are working, that the economy is the hottest economy in the world. While they are grifting, while RFK Jr and Dr. Oz stand to profit from people replacing their Tylenol with supplements that they happen to invest in, the crypto and AI and oil and gas barons, they all get what they want. They're just dragging our client, our climate, to hell, dragging our earth to hell, getting dirty. Fossil fuel policies just greenlit. The crypto Nazis are feeding him with this sort of neo fascist insane insanity against immigrants. And they get him to perform like they're like marionette puppet all while he is clearly diminishing, while his family members are scooping up, you know, the spoils from the Saudis and the crypto barons. It's literally a giant grift that's being conducted with a diminished clearly president who's clearly not all there. Joining me now is Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. And Senator, thank you so much for being here. I have to tell you, I watched that entire thing from start to finish with Hegseth and Trump. The Hegseth one was dumb. The Trump one was actually disturbing. As a United States senator, is there, is there a conversation going on at any level about Donald Trump's mental acuity? He seems to me to be a man who is suffering some sort of early onset dementia or something's wrong.
- [84:40]
Elizabeth Warren
Look, Joy, the Republicans in the Senate just are. Whatever Donald Trump wants is what they want. They are just spineless and they don't want to do anything other than what Donald Trump wants them to do.
- [84:59]
Joy Reid
But behind the scenes, do they know that there's something wrong with him behind the scenes?
- [85:03]
Elizabeth Warren
They don't talk about it.
- [85:05]
Joy Reid
They don't talk about it. Let's talk about it at least when.
- [85:07]
Elizabeth Warren
There are Democrats around.
- [85:08]
Joy Reid
Right. When there are Democrats around. I was generally concerned. I mean, this man is in front of the United States military's highest officials and was banging on about needing a Nobel Prize and about tariffs and the other N word and just saying the most bizarre thing. And then he said he's going to invade American cities. And I don't even know what he thought they were going to say or do. Yeah.
- [85:29]
Elizabeth Warren
You know, though, this is the part that every time you try to get a hold of a piece of what's happening, the difficulty is that someone else comes in and talks to Donald Trump and it all spins around again. I keep thinking back to a Year ago, right now, Joy, a year ago, right now, Donald Trump was out on the campaign saying over and over and over he would lower costs for American families on day one. On day one was one of his signature statements, specifically groceries.
- [86:07]
Joy Reid
Oh, yes.
- [86:07]
Elizabeth Warren
And after he gets elected, he gets interviewed. And that first interview, they ask him, why do you think you got elected? And he said, because I promised to lower cost for families on day one. So here we are, we are at day 250. Cost of groceries is up, cost of utilities is up, cost of housing is up. Cost of school shoes and backpacks and baby strollers is up. And by the way, a big part of why those costs are up are because of tariffs. Donald Trump's whole tariff policy, remember those tariffs that are 10%, 15%, 55%, 100%, the tariffs are pushing those prices up. And then there's the one legislative piece the Republicans have done, and that's healthcare. And the Republicans, led by Donald Trump, are pushing the cost of health care through the roof. They are knocking 15 million people off health care and raising premiums for pretty much everybody else in the country. So that means a cost that was already out of control for a lot of folks, a system that was already broken. What Trump and the Republicans are doing is they're saying, hey, we're going to make it worse. We're going to take seniors in nursing homes, push them out in the street, Alzheimer's care, push them out in the street. We're going to take brand new babies and their mamas and say, sorry, no health care for you. We're going to take your neighbors, your friends, the ones who have to use a wheelchair or who need a home health aide to be able to live independently, we're going to say to those folks, sorry, not anymore, not anymore. And for just families at home who have a budget, who are already stretched to the edge, all those families who are borrowing a little at the end of the month, who can't seem to find the money to save, they're talking about right now, people are getting the notices that their health insurance premiums are doubling, are doubling in many cases. And that means for some families, they look at it and say, so what are we going to do? We're going to give up eating? Are we going to give up having health care? So these are people who are determined to push those prices up because they don't care. They don't care. They're off looking at, hey, we're doing tax breaks for billionaires, we're helping out the big tech companies. We're helping out the United Arab Emirates. Oh, and sending $20 billion down to Argentina. Yeah, after the Argentinian farmers just cut a deal with China that takes away from American soybean farmers and says you guys can just suck air that that market is now going to the Argentinians. And Donald Trump because he wants to prop up the unpopular leader in charge. Donald Trump is sending him $20 billion of your hard earned money.
- [89:49]
Joy Reid
Well, to say nothing, Senator. They're also apparently pledging eternal support, military support for Qatar. I didn't know that we were gonna have our troops put their lives on the line for Qatar. But I want to go back to. You're making an excellent point that the whole thing that the Democrats and Republicans are fighting about with regarding the Republicans shutting the government down is because Democrats said, no, you have to keep the premium supports for people on Obamacare. You have to keep those. You can't get rid of them. It's going to make it too expensive for people to have Obamacare. Republicans don't want to do that. But instead of being honest about not wanting to do it and saying we really would rather give the money to billionaires, they're on the HUD website, Senator, on the homepage of the Housing and Urban Development Department website, lying and claiming that Democrats want to give health care to undocumented people. As if letting people get health care is some sort of evil. But they're using racism against undocumented brown people, let's just be blunt. To try to trick Americans into being in favor of this. Isn't that a Hatch act violation? Yeah.
- [90:51]
Elizabeth Warren
Yes. And understand this, though. Understand the only thing that Republicans are saying now about health care is Democrats want to give it to undocumented immigrants, which is a lie. The law is perfectly clear. No undocumented immigrants get any access to Medicaid. They get no access to ACA supplements. None, 0, zip. But think about the fact that that's all they can say about health care. Do they deny that they're going to knock 15 million people off health?
- [91:28]
Joy Reid
Nope.
- [91:29]
Elizabeth Warren
Do they deny that people who are going to see their health care premiums go up by double or even more? Nope. Do they deny that rural hospitals are going to be closed? That community health centers are going to close? No and no. The only response they've got about health care is to lie. They got nothing else. And for me, that's why this is such an important fight. This is Democrats standing up on behalf of the American people and saying, we understand that you're having trouble making ends meet. And the one thing we are willing to go to the mat right now and fight for is to keep your healthcare costs from going through the roof. We're not asking for additional healthcare plans at this moment. We're not asking for more money for healthcare. We're just asking for the Republicans to put back in place the healthcare that people were still entitled to in June and that in July, the Republicans passed a law to take away.
- [92:41]
Joy Reid
And let me ask you this, because I think this is the concern a lot of Democrats have. They know you'll fight. They have no doubt that Elizabeth Warren is gonna go to the mat. On the House side, they know Pramila Jayapal and the Progressive Caucus are gonna fight. They know the Congressional Black Caucus will be with them. There are some doubts about the leadership in the Senate, if we're being blunt, you know, because Chuck Schumer did cut a deal before to reopen the government because there was, I guess, a genuine desire not to have the pain, pain of a government shutdown really kick in. But this time, are Democrats on the Senate side going to hold firm? No health care, no vote.
- [93:15]
Elizabeth Warren
So, look, we understand this fight all the way. I can only speak for myself, because that's the way the world works. But we have sharpened this fight down basically to a single ask, and that is roll back those healthcare cuts and follow the law. That's what we're asking for. Those are the two things, I guess you could say, that are on the table. We are agreed that this needs to be done and that we will stay in this fight. And Donald Trump is in the middle of hostage taking. I've never seen anything like it. An American president who actually says, if the Democrats don't cave in and give Donald Trump what he wants, which is a blank check, to make as many cuts as he wants, wherever he wants. If the Democrats won't cave in and do that, Donald Trump says, I'm going to impose a lot of pain. I'm going to cause a lot of people to hurt. He says he's going to fire a bunch more federal workers. Because it's good for the country. No, but because it will hurt people. He said today he's going to take away infrastructure money for bridges and roads for people in New York, American citizens who need those bridges, who need those roads. He says, I'm going to show you I will hurt millions of Americans if the Democrats don't give in. To me, that's the moment when you draw the line and you stand and you fight.
- [94:52]
Joy Reid
Amen. Amen. It is not Sunday. But you can get a hallelujah as if we are in church on a Sunday. Senator Elizabeth Warren, it's always a pleasure. Thank you so much. Stay in the fight and come back anytime.
- [95:02]
Elizabeth Warren
Take care.
- [95:03]
Joy Reid
Thank you very much. All right. For more on the outrageous Hegseth Trump Cavalcade yesterday. Joining me now is retired Lt. Col. Cleola Davis. She's the author of the upcoming book Forged in Battle and African American officers serving in the United States Army. Welcome, Lieutenant Colonel Davis. Thank you so much. Joy, how are you? Uh, Oh, I think she might be horrible. She might. She might be great. I think you might be frozen. We're gonna. Oh, there you go. You popped in for just a second. We're gonna try to let you get acclimated. I think you might be horizontal rather than vertical. So turn your camera. Just rotate your camera for us so that you will be right side up. So, yeah, just rotate your camera horizontally. Give it a. Give it a 180. Yeah, we're going to put you backstage real quick. We're going to have you rotate your camera so we can make sure that you're in the right position so that you can be seen properly. And we're going to put up a copy of the book as well. And I want to say before we get Lt. Col. Davis back in, what Elizabeth Warren was saying is really key, and I want you guys to really sit with it just for a moment. Donald Trump is threatening to destroy this country and bring it to its knees. Hurt people, take their health care, take their bridges and infrastructure, and take their jobs. If Democrats will not agree to allow Republicans to jack up the cost of Obamacare on 15 to 30 million people, he's saying, you either hurt these 15 to 30 million people or I'm going to hurt these thousands of people, millions of people. He's literally trying to force a terrible false choice. But either way, Republicans and Trump are trying to hurt y'. All. So sometime you're going to have to pick it up and figure out what they're doing. All right, now let's bring in Lt. Col. Davis. We've got her. Oh, she's. There we go. Yes, we've got it. What happened to you? Excellent. Well, we. We are here. We wanted to make sure that you were right side up and that you weren't sideways on the people. We want to make sure they could see you. So thank you so much for being here, Lieutenant Colonel Davis. I want to just thank you, Joy, for having me. Thank you for having me. Okay. Oh, I think. Oh, I think we might be for. Ooh, the wi. Ooh, the WI fi might be coming for us. Okay, let's try it again. Let's. Let's. Let's introduce her one more time. Are you here, Lieutenant Colonel Davis? Let's see if you can hear me. I am. How are you? I'm here. Perfect. Okay, we're gonna. We're gonna work through this bad WI fi because you might be in a low WI fi area, but I want to just get your response if you could. What'd you say there? What did you say there, Jason? Our bandwidth is really low. Her. Her bandwidth is really low. Oh, I. I could. I can barely hear Jason either. Okay. So I'm. I'm having a little bit of trouble here. No, I was saying her bandwidth is really low. Bandwidth is low. Got you. Okay, Low bandwidth. You got a low bandwidth Internet connection, but we're going to go ahead and work through it. I wanted to get your response to the forced TED Talk that Pete Hep and Donald Trump forced our military leaders to undergo yesterday. I tell you, Joy, I was also forced to look at it. And immediately when he started backstage. Nope, not going to happen. Okay, we're going to put the Lieutenant Colonel backstage. Oh, wait, we got you. Go ahead. Yes, I did watch that yesterday. And immediately as she started. Are you there? Okay, I'm going to put you backstage. We go put her backstage. Yeah, we're having some issues because her bandwidth is low. I think she might be in a place that doesn't have the strongest WI fi. She might be in a hotel room, because sometimes the WI fi in the hotel seems like it's going to be better than it ends. But if you don't get the upgraded version, I'm telling you right now, that's not that good either. Sometimes the upgraded version is better, though. It's stronger. Several times, trying to do a show. Well, you know, trying to do the show there, it didn't work for us. But sometimes if you get that upgrade, it's a little bit stronger because everyone in the hotel is using the WI fi at the same time. So if she's in a hotel, that could be the issue. Or in a very rural area. So let's try it one more time. We're going to try it one more time. We're going to give it one more time. All right, let's see if we can bring in Lt. Col. Davis. Let's see if we got her. Can you hear me? She looks frozen to me. Yes, we can hear you. We might. Okay, right. It may Be just that I'm sitting in and out. Yeah. Okay. Well, look, you guys first.
- [98:57]
Elizabeth Warren
Thanks for.
- [98:58]
Joy Reid
No, I think it's, I think it's your WI Fi, but it's okay. It's all good. Of course, of course. Well, I wanted to see if I could get your reaction in response to that weird pep rally that Pete Hag says and Donald Trump did with the, the forced pep rally that the military leaders were forced to. Forced to sit through. Well, you said it best pep rally. I mean, you're talking out about. Talking about a person who was a captain speaking to general officers, flag officers in the United States military. So, of course they were sitting there silently. I'm just going to, I'm going to turn the camera off and she can probably get her voice and see if that. Okay, we'll turn the camera off and we're going to see if we can just hear you rather than see you. Okay, let's see. Try that again. Okay. What I was saying is, of course, when you have. Nope, that's not going to happen today. All. I'm sorry about that. We're going to. You're. Could you call back in? Yeah, we're going to have you call. Okay, so come out and come back in. Lt. Col. Davis, we're going to have you go ahead, log out. We're going to have you log back in. We're hoping that we can get her in because we really want to hear from a member of the United States military tonight. We really think it's important to actually get the responses of military people. I will say that I've been watching a lot of the responses that I've seen online in social media. A lot of members of Congress who served who were appalled and disgusted by three things. Now, thing number one, forcing all of these members of the United States military to leave wherever they were. That means if they were in Guam, if they were in South Korea, if they were in Germany, they all had to hightail it back to the United States. And that is incredibly expensive. Forcing those leaders to, to come and, and fly all the way back. It was expensive. A friend of mine who was also a military veteran pointed out to me last night that when a general or an admiral flies back to the United States and comes to Quantico, they don't come alone. They bring their aids. They usually bring their, their, their chief, their highest sort of deputy. So you're talking about bringing thousands and thousands of people at federal taxpayer expense, having to get on commercial flights and, and get an emergency flight, which are expensive because they're last minute forcing them to spend all of that money, tax money, to fly back here. That's Thing one is the expense. Thing two is the fact that you put all of our military leadership in one room, every single general, an admiral, lieutenant general, vice admiral, they're all in the room with the commander in chief, with the Secretary of defense. That is a national security catastrophe. It's not just a risk, it's a catastrophe. You pre announced it. Everyone knows where you're going to be, they know what you're going to do, and they know what time it is. And you're literally doing it live on YouTube. So any adversary that decided they wanted to decapitate the military leadership of the United States could get them all at one time. That is insane. It is an insane idea from a national security standpoint. It put this country at catastrophic risk. Even when they do the State of the Union address, some cabinet members and some members of the Supreme Court don't attend. So that you have continuity of government. You don't put all of the military leaders from all over the world in one room at a designated time and then livestream it. If you're a terrorist, you're providing them an open opportunity to hurt the United States in a way that would be absolutely catastrophic. So that's thing two, and then thing three was the content. The content was crazy. If Pete Hegseth wanted to impose no beards, grooming standards and fitness standards in the military, you could have done that in an email, buddy. You could have sent an email. You could have done a zoom. You didn't need those people in front of you. They didn't clap for you. I guess you wanted it to be a pep rally. You didn't get it. They weren't trying to pep rally with you. They did not want to cheer for you. They didn't even want to hear you. And also, when you're talking about stuff that's denigrating women and people of color that serve, they're sitting in the audience. Some of them. Some of the first female generals that have ever been designated are sitting in the audience. There are black generals, not a lot, but they're sitting there looking at you like you must be out your mind. And. And they're also trained. Trained to fight against enemies, foreign and domestic. Their job is not to hoot and holler and cheer like those undisciplined troops did when Trump came and did a pep rally with them early this summer. Real military leaders are actual professionals and they are disciplined. They are not Going to hoot, holler and cheer for you. They don't have personal loyalty to you, fool Trump. They have personal loyalty to the Constitution, not you. But he wanted them to show loyalty to you. And the content of the conversation they had when they got outside, oh, you know, they were like, bitch, this. This dude, man. The colonels are here. The colonels. And you know, they were just like. This was some tomfoolery. You know, they were rolling their eyes and then. And I don't know if we can get the Lieutenant Colonel back in, but I mean. Oh, she said, okay, good. Lieutenant Colonel Davis, I want to get your take. Yes, so. So, I mean, between how political it was and how stupid it was from a national security standpoint. Your take first. I looked, I enjoyed it because it was a reform performance like you see in a movie. The person who is now the Secretary of War. Can you not see me? Cannot hear me. The Secretary of War was acting as if he was in a patent movie and playing the part. I think what we're going to have to do is invite the Lieutenant Colonel back another time. Oh, okay, I'm sorry, say again. Say that again. I said again. From what I could see, he was. The Secretary of War was performing as if he was Patton in the movie. And a lot of it appeared as if we were talking to a person who didn't have the experience it took to be in that job. Taking an opportunity to talk to senior leaders. Yeah. Okay, so what we're gonna do, we're gonna make. I'm gonna make a battlefield decision. I'm not in the military, but I make a battlefield decision. We're gonna invite Lt. Col. Davis back. Cause I wanna talk about her book. I wanna make sure that we get an opportunity. But this isn't gonna work in terms of the WI fi. The WI fi is just not gonna let us be great. Not on tonight, but I'll just continue my comments on this. We're going to invite Lieutenant Colonel Davis back. She has a terrific new book which I've actually just started reading today, which I do want to have her back on to discuss. So we'll definitely link to that book in the chat. But I'll just complete my thought in saying that the content of it was the most offensive part of it because you are doing blatantly political. There's a book, it's called Forged in African Americans. Officers Serving in the United States Army. An important topic that given the fact that blacks and women are who petex basically saying, you can't be in this Military, including black men who have razor bumps off and need a beard. He was like, no, no beard, no nothing. But yeah, the content was so political and it was like, it was like a campaign rally. And Donald Trump was doing this sort of weird, low energy campaign rally. And it's clear that he needs the energy of the crowd in order to perform. And he couldn't do it without them hooting and hollering back. Without that MAGA energy, he sort of deflates and he becomes this like your weird grand, your grandpa, when he's sort of diminishing and you're ready to put him in the home because he just can't keep a thought. And he starts to wander and his mind starts to wander. And I think what the lieutenant colonel was saying was he was acting like he was in a patent movie. Hegseth. But Trump was just acting like if a family member of yours behaved that way, you would be starting to research senior citizen homes. I'm sorry. He was wandering around. His mind was going everywhere. He, he was whining about a Nobel Prize. He made no sense. He was incoherent, talking about the other N word and Obama and just all sorts of drivel, just absolute drivel. I want to note that somebody in the chat, if you want to go back and say it again, someone in the chat was saying that the IDF is kidnapping the international flotilla. Jen Pollack, thank you for the $1.99. Thank you for throwing a tip in the till. Is also reporting that the IDF is in this moment kidnapping and detaining the flotilla, which I believe Spain is also one of the signatories to and is part of it. So this could be creating an international incident. This after several European countries actually recognized the Palestinian state. All right, so we're going to move on to our next topic because this one is kind of fun. We only got a few minutes left, so I want to make sure that I, that I, that I get to this. But I do want to thank Lt. Col. Davis and we're going to have Cleola Davis, we're going to have her come back. But meanwhile, meanwhile, I do want to note that while the shutdown was imminent and taking place, your speaker of the House. Well, he's not really our speaker of the House. The other speaker of the House, he literally adjourned Congress so that he would not have to swear in Alelita Grijalva, who has pledged to be the 218th vote to release the Epstein files. She ran on that. She won on that. In, in addition to some Economic promises that she made to her constituents in the state of Arizona. Adelita Grijava won the special election in September. She should be sworn in now during this session. But he's not going to do it, Mike Johnson, because she's promised to join with the four breakaway Republicans who voted for what's called a discharge petition. And what that basically is is a way that the minority can force a bill onto the floor over the objections of the Speaker. The way that the House of Representative works is that the speaker decides what goes to the floor and he is the only decider. But you can go around him using a discharge petition. And to get a discharge petition to pass, you need a simple majority. That would be 218 votes. With 218 votes, you can force a bill onto the floor. And the bill they want to force onto the floor is a bill that would release all of the Epstein files. There are four members of Congress who are already signed on to that discharge petition. Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky, that sort of gunned up from Kentucky, Lauren Boebert of Stupidville, Colorado. Nancy Mace of Trollville, South Carolina, and Beach Bleach, blonde, bad bill, butch fighter herself, Marjorie Taylor Greene, who on everything else are cuckoo crazy, but on this are like Die Hard. They are going to release the Epstein files. They are on it. They're being threatened. They're being threatened to the point where Massie now has a billionaire running a campaign to primary him and get him out of office. And where Marjorie Taylor Greene literally posted a I'm not suicidal post in case anything happens to me. One of those because she's so afraid because of how much pressure is being placed on them and the fear that whoever's behind Epstein files may try to hurt her. Let me play a video of Adelita Grijalava Yesterday. This is D1. It is day two here in D.C. look at me. I'm surrounded by all of this beautiful. These beautiful structures, these beautiful people all here to work and. Am I sworn in yet? No. Do I know when I'm going to get sworn in? No. Speaker Johnson has left the building. And unfortunately, what that means for us is Southern Arizona does not have a voice here to advocate for you. You also don't have services in district. I need to get sworn in in order for that to happen. Every day that I am here without being sworn in, Southern Arizona loses. Reach out to Speaker Johnson, let him know that I need to get sworn in. Yep. Amen. And now she also did some interviews while she was, you know, she. She might as well, try to get on some TV interviews. She did one with our friend, the Reverend Al Sharpton on Ms. Ms. Now.
- [109:56]
Congresswoman, you have the potential to be a critical vote on both spending legislation and the release of the Epstein files, something Speaker Johnson has gone to great lengths to block. How do you think this plays into.
- [110:11]
Your delay in being sworn in?
- [110:13]
And what do you think Republicans are so afraid of?
- [110:17]
Well, that's the big question, right? The American people want to know what is in these files. And when we see more and more of this hesitation, roadblocking my being sworn in, then you really have to wonder what is in those files that they want to hold so secret. And so I am hoping that there will be enough pressure and common sense will prevail and I can get sworn in, you know, on Tuesday when we have a pro forma day and I can get to work. That's what I want to do. And I will be the 218 signature on the, you know, pushing a vote for the Epstein files. And I think that that is also, unfortunately, playing into this. Well, and there you have it. Well, today is the deadline. Now, Tuesday is. The Tuesday she was talking about was yesterday, and today is the day that the House adjourned and basically shut the government down. But there's a guy who also created a deadline for Mike Johnson, and he posted what really kind of amounted to a. Well, he basically said, mike Johnson, you're going to release. You're going to put out the lead. Agree. However, in or else. Here is that Tik Tok video.
- [111:24]
Pete Hegseth
Hey, here's a message for speaker of the House Mike Johnson. Pay attention, bud. This is for Mike Johnson. If you're not Mike Johnson, you can keep scrolling or you can stay here and listen to what I have to say. Hey, Mike. You have until Wednesday to swear her in. Wednesday, or I will release your Grindr profile and your IP address. I bring receipts. You're not going to sit there and actively work against LGBTQ rights and democracy. It is treason. Yeah, I'm calling you out for treason. You have until Wednesday to swear her in and let democracy take its course. Or I will release your Grinder profile. And your IP address connects both to you. Mike, the choice is yours. Do the right thing, cuz I'm petty and I'm not above this. Go yourself.
- [112:37]
Joy Reid
And today is Wednesday. Today is Wednesday. But the guy who posted that TikTok appears to be getting like Marjorie Taylor green level scared. Let me play you his first update.
- [112:51]
Pete Hegseth
Well, to say the last 24 hours has been stressful. And chaotic would be an understatement. I have been talking with a lot of people, including a fantastic team of lawyers. And I want to assure everyone I am not a danger to myself or others. I am in a safe place. I have discussed this with other people. I am no longer the only person with this information. It is backed up multiple times. This in no way was a shakedown for anything. I stand to benefit nothing from this. I'm safe. My lawyers are figuring out next steps now and I'll be laying low.
- [114:01]
Joy Reid
And then he posted yet another update on today.
- [114:07]
Pete Hegseth
Okay, it's Tuesday, September. Sorry, yesterday 30th, 2025, at about 2:00pm Eastern Standard Time. In consultation with close friends, family and my attorney, we have decided the following steps are necessary. Any and all materials in my possession related to this matter have now been turned over to a trusted media authority, an investigative journalist, who will then vet the information and report as necessary. Any and all copies of this information that were in my possession are now out of my possession and have been turned over to several different sources. If anything should happen to me, this will trigger those sources to release that information as well. This is hard. This is something I never planned on. Obviously it got the attention. It did. Tik Tok has put a an account ban warning on my account and taken down that video. So I'm keeping you updated, as many people have asked me to do. I am not backing down. This is democracy. Democracy will prevail. They may get me in the short term, but in the long term, democracy will prevail. Now is the time for us to stand up and speak out for what is right. They can remove my videos. They can silence me. It's your turn. Please stand up for what's right. Get loud. Civil disobedience may be the answer here. The best thing you can do, and people have asked me this, is to go to the link in my bio and help my legal defense fund. This is going to be very expensive and lawyers like to get paid. This is in no way any type of grift situation. I need to pay attorneys. And if you can so do, please do. And if you can't, please share out that link. This is our democracy. We need to stand up for what's right and what's good and defeat this evil regime.
- [116:21]
Joy Reid
Now, I want to note that we cannot vet what that man has posted on his. On his social media. We have no idea. Would love to interview that gentleman if he's available. He has now said that he's reached out to a journalist we are working on our end to find out which journalist that is. We'd love to interview them. It's a very interesting story. It's an interesting tack. It is something that he is apparently doing to try to force the Epstein files to be released. But what I really do want you to sit with for a moment is the all out war that's being waged on the Trump side to stop these files from coming out. Especially as we've discovered that Epstein had pending potential meetings with all of these AI and tech billionaires, the Peter Thiels, the Steve Bannons. We don't know if he's a billionaire or not. Who knows what his finances are. The Elon Musk that he seemed to be rolling in circles that were the highest levels of financial and economic and political power. How did this math teacher become so powerful that whatever he had in his, you know, address book or in his log books is so dangerous and frightening that it is literally clearly got Donald Trump shook. And Donald Trump thinks he's the king of the United States and thinks he's been president for a decade. Straight through the Biden years. It's strange. All right, let's do a palate cleanser. Jason, should we do the moment of joy? Which one do you want to do? Let's do the moment of joy. We have two, we have two parts to our moment of joy. I first want to show you all the really idiotic thing that Trump MAGA White House World posted. I'm not going to play the video. I'm just going to show you the screenshot of it. It's this idiotic thing. This is what the president is posting on his personal truth social a really racist picture of Hakeem Jeffries dressed up in a sombrero and a mustache where I guess they're trying to say he's like forever Mexican because this is the way they're trying to lie and say that Democrats are trying to give undocumented people health care. But it's a stupid way to do it and it's just racist and dumb. I won't play the video. But it's also got Chuck Schumer lying and saying some AI stuff. Well, that's their negotiating tactic instead of actually meeting with the Democrats and finding out what they really want, which is to let Americans have health care. And also just racist. Sorry, it's just racist to constantly use undocumented people. And by the way, most Mexican Americans born here multiple generations because we took over Mexico. But the response from California's Gavin Newsome and his press team Chef's Kiss. We're going to play it for you. Here is their petty, petty, petty response. And it's our moment of joy.
- [119:04]
Pete Hegseth
Hello and welcome to my show, A History of Couches. I'm your host, J.D. vance, and we've got a special episode for you today. Some artifacts shape nations, others shape desires. Few shape both. The Chesterfield couch is one of them. Commissioned by Lord Philip Stanhope, the 4th Earl of Chesterfield, this sofa was designed for posture, elegance and control. Deep button tufting, rolled arms, a back and sides of equal height. A design that did not merely support the body, but contained it. Once reserved for aristocrats, the Chesterfield spread into libraries, parlors, and now living rooms worldwide. But it's allure has never diminished. There are rumors that I once had an encounter with a Chesterfield. People exaggerate, twist the truth, but when you sit on one, you understand where such stories come from. The Chesterfield isn't just furniture, it's an experience. And some of us know that a little too well. Thank you for watching A History of California.
- [120:06]
Joy Reid
And that is why J.D. vance, or at least A.I. j.D. Vance, will never get back into Pete Hegset's Department of War because he's a beardo and his Portland. I love it. Thank you for tuning in. Be sure to tune Be sure to hit like and subscribe and share. If you're interested in catching the When Everyone Swims screening at Howard University, we're gonna put the link in the show description below. We're also going to post it and the trailer on Substack. If you're a Team TJRS member or a reader or premium substacker, please do join us at noon on Friday for a special Members Only live chat. I'm going to answer any and all of your questions. It's an Ask Me Anything. We're also going to bring in the director of When Everyone Swims if he's around and available to do it. We do not have a show on Friday, remember. So this is what we're doing and we will see you on Monday night at 6pm 6 to 8 right here on the channel. Also want to point out that we are going to post on the channel tomorrow at 9pm we're going to simulcast the State of the People Power Tours debut show. That's going to be at 9pm right here on this wonderful channel. Thank you very much to the Is this the who said make sofa safe and kept away from JD again with $1.99 in the till. Bam. Thank you all very much in the meantime, have a great weekend. A great weekend. And we'll see you on Monday. On the very next the Joy Reid Show. Hit the music, Jason. Okay. Yeah.