2454 - Schumer's Folly & Democratic Revolt w/ Jeet Heer

Summary

The Majority Report Episode 2454: Schumer's Folly & Democratic Revolt with Jeet Heer

In Episode 2454 of The Majority Report with Sam Seder, host Sam Seder delves deep into the escalating political crisis surrounding Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's handling of the Republican budget vote. With guest Jeet Heer from The Nation, Seder examines the potential for a significant revolt within the Democratic Party and the broader implications for American governance.

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1. Republican Budget Vote and Schumer's Strategy

As the Republican-controlled Senate prepares to cast its budget vote, Sam Seder introduces the central conflict: Schumer’s apparent willingness to concede to Republican demands, which could incite a mutiny among Senate Democrats.

Notable Quote:

Sam Seder ([00:03:50]): "Meanwhile Democrats across the ideological divide start talking of a 2028 AOC primary run against Schumer."

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2. Internal Democratic Party Tensions and Revolt

The episode highlights growing tensions within the Democratic Party. Several senior Democratic senators, including Dick Durbin and Angus King, are retiring, signaling potential shifts in party leadership. Raphael Warnock has called for new leadership by mid-year, reflecting dissatisfaction with Schumer's approach to budget negotiations.

Notable Quote:

Harris Faulkner ([00:35:31]): "The party is splitting open. ... The House Democrats are listening to their constituents while the senators think they have the luxury of ignoring voters."

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3. Guest Analysis with Jeet Heer

Jeet Heer provides a comprehensive analysis of the situation, emphasizing the Afghan union's unexpected resistance to the continuing resolution (CR) and the broader lack of support among federal workers. He argues that the Democrats lack effective strategies to leverage their position against the Republicans' aggressive budget plan.

Notable Quote:

Jeet Heer ([00:12:05]): "Have the most skin in the game on precisely the terms you're enunciating. And they said the fact that this CR has no protections that will actually be followed means that we can't support."

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4. Implications of Passing the Budget vs. Government Shutdown

The core debate centers on whether Democrats should support the CR to prevent an immediate government shutdown, which would lead to severe disruptions and potentially empower Republican and billionaire interests like Elon Musk. Supporters of the CR argue it prevents chaos, while opponents believe it legitimizes harmful Republican policies.

Notable Quote:

Dave Rubin ([00:12:47]): "The shutdown would allow him [Elon Musk] to cut $2 trillion out of the federal government. ... the shutdown makes things harder for all the things we believe in."

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5. Call to Action and Democratic Response

Sam Seder urges listeners to call their senators to oppose the CR, emphasizing that even a few "no" votes can create political leverage against the Republican plan. This grassroots effort is supported by federal workers' unions, which advocate for maintaining government operations without severe cuts.

Notable Quote:

Sam Seder ([00:06:10]): "And the message is easy. Two things. No on cloture, no on the Republican budget, no and no."

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6. Leadership Crisis and Future of the Democratic Party

The discussion extends to the future of Democratic leadership. With key figures retiring and internal dissent rising, there is speculation about potential leadership changes. Co-hosts suggest that new leaders like Chris Murphy could emerge to replace Schumer, who is seen as increasingly out of touch with the party's base.

Notable Quote:

Harris Faulkner ([00:36:57]): "This is a time where the Democratic Party is seeing a real potential leadership change ... rewarding those who are willing to fight rather than appease the Republican agenda."

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7. Conclusion and Call to Action

Episode 2454 captures a pivotal moment in Democratic politics, highlighting internal struggles, leadership challenges, and the high stakes of the upcoming Senate budget vote. With Jeet Heer’s insights, Sam Seder and his co-hosts navigate the complex dynamics threatening to reshape the Democratic Party and the direction of American governance. The episode serves both as an analysis of current events and a rallying cry for Democratic voters to engage actively in preserving the integrity of federal institutions.

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Key Takeaways:

• Schumer's Strategy: Chuck Schumer's approach to the Republican budget vote may lead to internal conflict within the Democratic Party.
• Democratic Tensions: Retirements of senior senators signal potential shifts and dissatisfaction with current leadership.
• Grassroots Mobilization: Listeners are encouraged to call their senators to oppose the CR, supported by federal workers' unions.
• Future Leadership: Speculation about emerging Democratic leaders to replace Schumer amidst growing internal dissent.
• High Stakes: The outcome of the budget vote could significantly impact federal operations and the broader political landscape.

For those seeking to understand the intricate power plays within the Senate and the future trajectory of the Democratic Party, this episode offers a detailed and engaging exploration of the current political upheaval.

Transcript

[Sam Cedar]

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[Emma Vigland]

Call, call, call, keep calling.

[Sam Cedar]

Meanwhile Democrats across the ideological divide start Talking of a 2028 AOC primary run at Concierge Schumer, San Francisco. U.S. district Judge orders federal agencies to rehire tens of thousands of of the probationary employees who were fired. Remember, probationary employees includes not just new employees to the government, but also people who have recently gotten promoted. In other words, some of the best employees. A second district judge, this time in Baltimore, orders a mass reinstatement of those fired workers. Fired federal workers even beyond the probationary ones. Judge Chukan, U.S. district for D.C. orders Musk and Doge to hand over documents so there's some transparency to what they're actually doing. Meanwhile, Trump signs off on the Republicans quest to cut Medicaid in their next year's budget. And Trump will reportedly invoke wartime Alien Enemies act, the one that justified Japanese internment camps in this country during World War II to carry out mass deportations. Protesters crash Trump tower in support of Mahmoud Khalil's release. And Putin rejects a ceasefire. Lastly, US And Israel, they're sending out feelers in order to ethnic cleanse Gaza and send Palestinians to Africa. True story. All this and more on today's Majority Report. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen.

[Emma Vigland]

It is casual Friday.

[Sam Cedar]

Yeah, we're hyped up. It's not that casual.

[Emma Vigland]

No.

[Sam Cedar]

Do we have that Chiron down below? We're going to put a Chiron right here. You have an hour and about five minutes, I suspect a little bit more to flood your Senate offices with messages.

[Emma Vigland]

Yep.

[Sam Cedar]

And the message is easy. Two things. No on cloture, no on the Republican budget, no and no. And particularly if you are in Nevada.

[Emma Vigland]

If you Nevada senators are, are not, have not, are rumored to be, yes, but that they've been quiet about it, particularly ever since this has been a mass backlash from the most centrist House Democrat all the way up to the squash.

[Bradley]

Jeff Stein just tweeted out 4 minutes ago based on my DMs. Today, a large number of federal workers are livid with the Senate minority leader mortified.

[Sam Cedar]

Penguin just imdis. Just now. I'm a federal employee. A shutdown couldn't happen at a worse time for me personally. But I'm in fully supportive one. Democrats need some leverage, some semblance of powerful ones. Keep calling friends and that's.

[Emma Vigland]

That lines up with what the union is saying too.

[Sam Cedar]

Well, let me just get these. Tell the senators as we go through this.

[Emma Vigland]

Yep, two senators from Nevada, Rosen and Cortez Masto. Call both of them if you're in Nevada. Peters in Michigan, who's retiring and is being cowardly even though Tina Smith in Michigan, in Minnesota is voting no and she's also retiring.

[Sam Cedar]

Jean Shaheen, also retiring.

[Emma Vigland]

New Hampshire.

[Sam Cedar]

Angus King up in Maine.

[Emma Vigland]

He's 80, so probably retiring.

[Sam Cedar]

Dick Durbin in Illinois, and he is also expected to retire. Shots in Hirono in Hawaii, people aren't sure what they're doing as far as last we knew. Hawaii apparently has a ton of federal government workers. And Klobuchar John Ossoff confirmed that he was a no vote.

[Emma Vigland]

Warnock has been kind of bullish and he just said about a half hour ago that come 26 and 28 might be time for new leadership for the Democratic Party.

[Sam Cedar]

I mean, yes, an understatement if there ever was. M.J. s 16. Sam, does the fact that Schumer and Fetterman are clear yes votes indicate this has something to do with the ability to continue to fund Israel? I don't think so. I think that it they may share some donors, though.

[Emma Vigland]

Can I my theory here is, is that so Jilla Brand, it's not committed that she's going to vote yes to for cloture, which is the wrong thing. But the reporting after the show yesterday was that she was heard screaming at the top of her lungs at the rest of her caucus and the reporters could hear it from the hallway. And my assumption here is, is that she just got reelected. She is now the head of the sec, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, I think is the acronym, but in charge of getting Democrats reelected in the Senate. She's extremely close with Wall Street. It's why she's one of the most pro crypto Democrats. And they are panicked right now because Trump's tariffs are sending the stock market into a free fall. And when we have a government shutdown, the stock market does take a plunge. So they're saying to Schumer and, and to Gillibrand, hey, hey, hey, let's just stabilize things here. And the implicit understanding is we'll write you fat checks later on because you're the adults in the room. But what we're trading away is the ability of Elon Musk to continue to illegally tinker with the budget when it's not his purview, nor is it the executive branches unless they, you know, file under the Impoundment act. And that takes 30 days. And the entire House, except for one Democrat voted against it. And the Senate led by Schumer's hanging them out to dry.

[Sam Cedar]

All right, let's play this clip of Schumer. We're Going to talk more about this with Jeet here. I will say, you know, we're getting some IMs saying that voicemails are shut down. The, the DC, the Minnesota senator, DC phones are down. Long hold times at the switchboards. Yes, this is a very good sign. You can also look up your local offices for your senator. So look for the New York offices of Schumer and Gillibrand. If you can't get through to their DC Offices, look up the local offices in Vegas, and I mean Vegas in Nevada. I got Vegas on the mic, so that's a way you can get through. We have the switchboard up right now. But call your local offices as well. And you know what? Double up because they're, they're not gonna have time to like, cross reference lists. So it's not a bad thing to have the. You call and flood the local offices, the in state offices and the DC offices. Here is Chris Hayes interviewing Chuck Schumer last night. And you need only look at some of the tweets or blue bleeds that Hayes has been putting out to know his perspective on this too. Everyone is just sitting around. Cannot believe this is the strategy.

[Jeet Heer]

You know, the Afghan union, which is the largest union representing federal workers, they're in, they won a big victory today in federal court about those probationary employees who were fired. They came out against the cr, which really surprised me.

[Sam Cedar]

Right. These are the people that seem to.

[Jeet Heer]

Have the most skin in the game on precisely the terms you're enunciating. And they said the fact that this CR has no protections that will actually be followed means that we can't support.

[Sam Cedar]

It if the people whose livelihoods are.

[Jeet Heer]

On the line say, you cannot go along with this thing. Why are they wrong?

[Dave Rubin]

I understand why they're so upset with the cr, but I disagree with them because the shutdown would be worse for their employees. They could just eliminate huge portions of government workers automatically. They could eliminate programs automatically, which they can't do on the cross. The CR has certain spending and they can screw around with it and they will. These guys.

[Sam Cedar]

Pause it. Wait a second. Pause it right there. The reason why there's these court cases, the reason why there have been tens of thousands of federal workers fired is exactly under the exact same legal structure that exists now. So, you know, he tries to align through that, to just glide right through that. Well, they can do it either way. They could play with the spending. Yes, that's what they're doing. What has been going on since January 21st is a rolling government shutdown and one that is unconstitutional, illegal, separate things. And it is, they have no leverage to stop this. You can wait for the court cases, but in terms of like the politics and the statutes, they have no way to stop this.

[Emma Vigland]

Except for if Senate Democrats do their job and the House Democrats, all except one, voted and put themselves on the line even in Trump districts, as AOC has said. And Schumer is throwing them all under.

[Dave Rubin]

The bus, has certain spending and they can screw around with it and they will. These guys are sons of guns. They're going to do everything they can to hurt the government. You know what they've talked about? Elon Musk, this billionaire who cares nothing about taking people's Social Security away. This guy says that he wants to cut $2 trillion out of the federal government. A shutdown would allow him to do it. And here's another point. There's no exit ramp. Anyone who wants the shutdown, I've asked them, well, how do we get out of it? Guess who it's up to to get out of it. Donald Trump. Elon Musk, DOGE so it's a horrible.

[Sam Cedar]

Posit for a second. So, so there it is. Schumer just says that everyone he's talked to knows that if we do not, if we, if the government shuts down, that the one person or three people or three entities who can turn the government back on won't do it. So in other words, he's conceding right there that he understands that politically speaking, they will take the blame for it. And this is where we're at right now. This is, this is the government is under assault. There is absolutely no reason to believe, and the Republicans have said this. They know they have two years. There is no reason to believe there is any way to stop this. This is, is, this is like the one time where I agree with an accelerationist thing, because the fact is this, we are on a locked in path right now, but and it's going to exist over the two years. And so we either have it happen now in a, in a way in which it is where that where the Republicans will have to put the brakes on.

[Emma Vigland]

But it's not accelerationism. It's like the motivation behind a strike. Like if you get a contract where the terms are dog crap, at some point you do have to strike. And that's what this government shutdown would be good.

[Dave Rubin]

ELON musk, DOGE so it's a horrible, it's two bad alternatives. And I respect people who actually want, you know, don't want it Vote for the cr. It's awful. But with the alternative being a government shutdown, that's even worse.

[Jeet Heer]

Wall Street's here's the other sort of way that I've heard people phrase this. Right. Democrats don't control any part of the government. So there's not a ton of leverage. The one thing they have leverages in the Senate where you need a filibuster proof majority on a cloture vote, that there's essentially an unconstitutional assault on the government right now. And I think you would agree with that.

[Sam Cedar]

There is assault on the constitutional.

[Dave Rubin]

These guys are the worst and we got to fight them every step of the way. As we say in Brooklyn, Chris, every step of the way.

[Sam Cedar]

But, but look Russell, but he's telling.

[Jeet Heer]

People on the floor we are not even going to listen to this cr.

[Sam Cedar]

This is a piece of paper that.

[Jeet Heer]

We will impound and rip up the moment it's passed.

[Sam Cedar]

If that's the case, how is voting.

[Jeet Heer]

For cloture not essentially an imprimatur on.

[Sam Cedar]

The very same assault on the constitutional order?

[Dave Rubin]

They're already, even without this criminal. They're already doing it.

[Sam Cedar]

Right.

[Dave Rubin]

Okay. They are going to. They did it to the Department of Education. But I can tell you I've been through shutdowns before. It's not that this CR is good. It's not that voting for it is good. It's horrible. But the alternative is worse. And we have to look just the month ahead and see how bad a shutdown would be for all the things we believe in and how I'd say Trump and Doge and Musk and vote. They're like drooling with happiness and desire to get a government shutdown. They pause it.

[Emma Vigland]

I'm so sorry. That is that he said that to start the interview and he just said it a second time. That is an abject lie. Donald Trump was whipping votes for the continuing resolution in the House. He threatened a primary challenge against Thomas Massie if he didn't go along with it. Chuck Schumer is basically saying that the Republican bill, Donald Trump doesn't want it to pass. This morning Trump truth doubt a social and social out of truth thanking Chuck Schumer for his support for the continuing resolution. He really has a funny way of showing it that, you know, by threatening House Republicans that don't vote for it and by praising Schumer for supporting it. Apparently House Republicans don't want it to pass. Well, he also says in it right. That Republicans will do whatever Trump wants but also they're passing the continuing resolution.

[Bradley]

They have the power to tank it if they want. If they want a shutdown.

[Emma Vigland]

So Thune and Johnson, even though apparently they always do whatever Trump wants, they're also passing this continuing resolution against his wishes.

[Sam Cedar]

CNN reported yesterday it was a full court press from the White House.

[Emma Vigland]

Yep.

[Sam Cedar]

VP JD Vance came to the Capitol on the morning of the vote where he warned House Republicans GOP would be blamed if the government shuts down. Person in the room told cnn. Vance told members that the party will lose momentum on Trump's agenda if the stopgap spending bill fails, specifically pointing to border security and political momentum. It's weird when a political party talks about politics. That's just me editorializing. He also vowed the White House would claw back spending in other forms, including through wonky process known as recessions, a move conservatives cheered. Another person said, I mean, it's hard to know if Schumer is just this out of touch or lying. It really is, because who does he think he's lying to? It's, you know, it's like, it's not like normies are involved in the sort of like the minutia, this stuff. They're not going to hear his lying explanations. And no one he's talking to. They just want Chris Hayes in this instance. Yeah. Not, not the reporters. No one believes what he's saying.

[Dave Rubin]

Good drooling with happiness and desire to get a government shutdown. They've said they want it. Why not doing anything good. I'll tell you that. These guys are authoritarians.

[Jeet Heer]

Let me just say with this in one second.

[Sam Cedar]

I think the theory of the case.

[Jeet Heer]

For people that don't want Democrats to vote for cloture is that Americans don't quite understand what's being done to their government. It's being done in this sort of haphazard fashion.

[Sam Cedar]

The stories are sort of getting out.

[Jeet Heer]

You know, there's this forest service worker who got laid off for no reason, and there's this veteran who's got a.

[Sam Cedar]

Traumatic brain injury, who's got a clinical trial, but that the shutdown would be.

[Jeet Heer]

A way of actually calling the question. And here's what I would just offer.

[Sam Cedar]

It seems to me that the demand.

[Jeet Heer]

That makes the most sense here, and I'm not a US Senator, is for.

[Sam Cedar]

The Republicans to vote on a rescission.

[Jeet Heer]

Package that enunciates the cuts Doge has.

[Sam Cedar]

Done as opposed to allowing an unelected co president unilaterally eviscerate the American constitutional power of the purse.

[Emma Vigland]

Exactly.

[Dave Rubin]

Well, the bottom line is the Republican Senate is in total obeisance to Trump. They're not going to oppose it.

[Sam Cedar]

Guess who else is in total obeisance to Trump?

[Emma Vigland]

You there.

[Sam Cedar]

Like, honestly, everything he's saying he is.

[Emma Vigland]

But saying the CR against his wishes, apparently. They're both in total obesience to Trump, but they're all. They also want a government shutdown.

[Sam Cedar]

Just let him. Oh, God.

[Emma Vigland]

Good job, Chris Hayes.

[Dave Rubin]

Senate is in total obeisance to Trump. They're not going to oppose him in any way. And. But if they allow Trump to make the kind of drastic cuts that I greatly fear in a government shutdown, they'll be culpable as well. And make no mistake about it. Make no mistake about it. Ask yourself again the question, why does Musk and Trump and Vote want this vote? Already has plans on how to slash the government far worse than slashed in the cr. Much worse. Every program, every part of government would be at their disposal, their wicked disposal. So that's the problem here. It's not that the CR is good, it's horrible. And all things being equal, we should have opposed it. But the alternative being a shutdown makes things worse and I believe much more.

[Sam Cedar]

What scenario is all things being equal? Like you either. You are basically saying there is absolutely no, no circumstance, because I don't know where there could be a more relevant circumstance. You certainly will not find the trans. Ideological coalition, if you will, ad hoc coalition of people who want to vote against the CR in agreement. I can't imagine another circumstance where aside from Chuck Schumer, you got like, Iglesias and that's about it.

[Emma Vigland]

Neera Tanden's against this. Like all of the, every, all the resistance liberals, you know what, they actually want you to resist. They're aligned with the left here.

[Sam Cedar]

There is no if. There's, if there is no other circumstance where one would ever vote against the continuing resolution, if it wouldn't be this one. So everything he's saying, like all things being equal. What are you talking about? This is absurd.

[Emma Vigland]

But he betrays it by saying, I've been through a government shutdown before. It's because he's acting like it's business as usual and it's not. And that's when we talk about how he's incapable of meeting this moment. That's what this is.

[Sam Cedar]

Should we play any more of this or. I mean, it's just absurd. Call. I know voicemails are shut down. Call local offices. Call this. You know, the statewide offices. They'll have one in the capital of your state. They'll have one in D.C. but they'll also have a couple of local offices around too. So try that. We're going to take a we got a couple of sponsors and then we'll be talking to Jeet more about this. I could use some right now. Saul's been sick lately. I've been a little bit sick too. One of the things is great for a sore throat I've always taken is honey, except for since I discovered Manicora honey, I have stepped up this game. Manicura honey is the best tasting honey you will ever try. It has a constant consistency like no other honey you have ever had. It's rich, it's creamy, it's sort of like almost like Carmelli. And it has incredibly powerful nutrients to support immunity and gut health. 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Got a quick break and then we'll be back with Jeet here, national affairs correspondent for the Nation. We are back. Sam Cedar, Emma Vigland on the Majority Report. It is a pleasure to welcome back to the program Jeet here, national affairs correspondent for the Nation magazine. G we are about 45 minutes from at least the scheduled vote in the Senate on they're calling it a continuing resolution, but it really isn't. I mean it is a just a Republican budget. There's enough that's changed in there that I think it qualifies as a Republican budget. It's a different. It's not a continuing resolution.

[Emma Vigland]

You called it the Doge Empowerment act on Twitter, which I think is pretty apt.

[Sam Cedar]

But I think the actual impact of it is that it is basically empowering. Dogecoin. Yeah, give me your.

[Harris Faulkner]

By the way, it's not just, you know, Sam, that's saying this. Donald Trump is saying this. Like he's like chortling on social media like, you know, thank you Chuck Schumer. Like, you know, you've given us everything we wanted.

[Sam Cedar]

And I mean this is. But just walk us through. You were just saying when we came on and Nancy Pelosi came out and called out Chuck Schumer.

[Harris Faulkner]

Yes.

[Sam Cedar]

And you know, now she's from San Francisco so she's completely. But give us your perspective on that.

[Harris Faulkner]

Like I do think that there is actually opening up a serious divide in the party between, you know, the Senate and Democrats and not just the Senate Democrats. Basically Chuck Schumer and a few kind of centrist in his circle and the rest of the party. And it's very notable that like you know, like Nancy Pelosi. Yes. San Francisco.

[Sam Cedar]

But like I was joking about that.

[Harris Faulkner]

But every House Democrat as basically including Hakeem Jeffries is basically like not on board for this. And one is seeing a kind of, you know, if one is unkind, you would say, you know, the rats leaving the sinking ship. But or more you know, properly like the sort of stalwart, you know, vote blue no matter who blue maga diehards. They're not on board for this. I did one saw last night like an incredible array of characters who have defended like you know, all the worst compromises that this party has made over the last 20 years suddenly say like, okay, this is too much. You know, and I will mention, yeah, I mean your listeners are I think very savvy on social media. But you know, Neera Tandon, who in addition to having been worked as a staffer for Joe Biden is the only person in the world who has ever been denied a cabinet level position because they tweeted too much. And specifically they tweeted over the last eight years in constant battle against the left wing of the party against so called Bernie Bros. And suddenly like Neera Tanden is saying like, you know, what the hell are we doing? What is Schumer doing? This is the one leverage that they've ever had. They have, and they're giving it up. And this is like really bad politics.

[Emma Vigland]

Can I read some quotes from the centrist Democrats? If you want.

[Sam Cedar]

Yeah, well, read these quotes. But I want to get your take on how much of this, like, there's always some, like, you know, senators, congresspeople out there. I mean, the congresspeople had the ability to take this vote and really have it have no implications because they knew it was going to pass anyways. And a lot of times that's a way politicians hide. Let's hear these quotes. And then I just want to get your assessment as to, like, how sincere the reactions from these people sound. A lot more sincere.

[Emma Vigland]

Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

Than just covering their vote.

[Emma Vigland]

Well, they're putting their name on the record. This is just a short aside, but like back uplin, Schumer is misreading the moment I wrote this down. Steve Cohen, longtime Democrat from Tennessee, I think it doesn't look good for the leader. And you have Seth Moulton, who is like the most centrist, pro military, industrial complex Democrat imaginable, going on the record to criticize Chuck Schumer and the article that we haven't gotten to yet, and we will, I'm sure, later on the explosive article in CNN about how her even centrist Democratic House members are urging AOC the primary. Chuck Schumer, is it the divide between the House Democrats who every two years are responsible for voters and the ivory tower Senators who the ones who are rumored to be voting yes on cloture, are either retiring or aren't up for four or six years? I've never seen such a divide between both the two chambers and fury from the House Democrats.

[Harris Faulkner]

The party is splitting open. And I mean, before you read the quotes, I just want to emphasize there's that material difference between if you're in the House and in the Senate, it's every two years. And if you're in the House, you hear from your constituents a lot and you have to pay attention to them because your vote is coming up and you have to raise money. And these are the people that are getting like at the town halls, getting an earful because. And they are, they are much closer to the base of the party and are hearing that like the real anger. And it's anger not just from people that watch the Majority Report and have been staunch progressives all along, but from mainstream centrist Democrats, you know, who had supported Joe Biden, but who are Freaked out, frankly. Rightly so, about what Trump and Musk are doing, who see what Trump and Musk are doing as an existential threat to American democracy, who basically believe what Democrats have said, that, you know, this is like a fascist threat, and then suddenly see their leader say, this is a fascist threat, but we will surrender and not use our leverage. That that is what is happening. The House Democrats are listening to their constituents and the senators, because they're not up for a while. They think they have the luxury of ignoring voters.

[Sam Cedar]

All right, let's. I want. I want to just do a little experiment here. Let's steel man Chuck Schumer's arguments, which is an experiment, because I have never done that for Chuck Schumer.

[Harris Faulkner]

I think of writing a column about this, like, well, you know, like, just make the best possible case for Chuck Schumer.

[Sam Cedar]

He said one of them. He said. And I'm going by some of his tweets and also what he just said. We just played a little clip of his interview with. With Chris Hayes last night. If we enter a shutdown, Congressional Republicans would weaponize their majorities to cherry pick which parts of the government to reopen. So in other words, they would. I'm not sure how they would do.

[Harris Faulkner]

That, but they're already doing that. I mean, this is what Musk is already literally doing. That's what Doge is about. Like, you know, like, they're shutting down.

[Sam Cedar]

They're shutting down, like, Social Security Administration offices, HHS offices, and then they're reopening them in red districts or red states.

[Harris Faulkner]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He said. He's saying that this will empower. This will. If we do that, if we had the shutdown, they will do what they're already doing. So we have to vote for this bill, which will empower them to do what they're doing even more. So like, just. I mean, that argument does not apply.

[Sam Cedar]

And I would say, like, there is the only argument. I will say this. I think that there is a more legal path for them to do what he's suggesting if they shut down the government. Like, there are provisions for the OMB during a shutdown to deem which agencies are. Are essential or to presumably open up certain things. But it seems to me once you have it within a legal framework, then you have the opportunity to do some politics around it.

[Emma Vigland]

But.

[Harris Faulkner]

Exactly. And I actually think. I mean, if you're going to steel man Schumer's argument, and I think, like, you know, from stuff he said and Carville has said and other People have said, I think actually the strongest argument is that they think that this is for the courts, that the courts, what Trump is doing, so. So blatantly illegal. The courts will shoot it down. And they have been shooting it down, and that is, like, the place where the battles can be fought at. And I think that some people counter, well, what if Trump ignores the courts, as he claims he's going to do? But actually, if you actually look at it, some of the legal analysts I've read are basically saying that that's not going to happen. And it's not happening because it's not just a matter of Trump. If the court say something, you have to have these government bureaucrats executed, and these government bureaucrats don't want to be the ones to take the fall for Trump. Right. So the courts. So from the Schumer, the best argument for Schumer is, is that we have an instrument to stop Trump. It's the courts, and that's much more effective than doing the shutdown now. But I think what you were leaning towards, and you can spell it out, is even if you do that, you have to, like, make a political argument so that you can, like, you know, like, build a majority in support of that. But.

[Sam Cedar]

Well, I mean, assuming that the courts have the ability to actually enforce what they're suggesting, which is, you know, increasingly difficult, it seems like, because the fact of the matter is the longer it's drawn out, the more you're destroying these agencies anyways.

[Harris Faulkner]

Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

And every time, at least we have had a CR or we've had a government shutdown, there's always a provision to try and make people hold back, going back retrospectively. If they don't, it is because Republicans are blocking it. Like, you know, like, this is a political fight at this point, the material difference between what Doge is doing now and what they have indicated they're going to do in the future and a government shutdown, what they could do legally during a government shutdown, the material difference, it seems to me, is almost too small to measure.

[Harris Faulkner]

Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

But the political difference is massive. And also setting the precedent that you're forcing them to do this through legal channels, which makes it far more transparent and far easier to argue against politically.

[Harris Faulkner]

Yeah, yeah. No, I think that's right. And I'll say a further point on that political argument. Like, you could actually use the political battle to help the courts as to say you could use the shutdown to get the Republicans to put in a provision saying that if the courts decide something, the Trump administration has to obey it. Right. Like you can use the leverage that you have to strengthen the power of the courts. But beyond that, it is an aversion to politics. And we've seen this like over the last, you know, at least the last 10 years, maybe even longer, where the Democrats really prefer to avoid doing politics and to have the courts do their dirty work or do their, you know, carry out, execute their agenda. And I think one saw that with all the sort of Mueller investigation stuff, you know, going after Trump in the courts, which was justified, but which was not ever a substitute for like actually doing politics against Trump. And it is the belief that, you know, we ourselves have no legitimacy, we have no power. We have but that there are these bipartisan, universally beloved institutions, the FBI and the courts that can carry it out. And at the root of that is a real aversion to politics. It is an aversion. Basically you have people who are deeply conflict averse. And I sort of understand that. I don't like to get into arguments myself. But if you have a personality, you should not actually go into politics. You should find another line of work, become an accountant. Like, I actually don't know why they.

[Sam Cedar]

Have taken that, that risk averseness. Because Emma has a theory that the reason why you're seeing Schumer and Gillibrand. And I could see I can come up with a scenario where Schumer's like, you know, I'm going to do this to service my frontline Democrats who can't vote against. I'm just, I'm steel manning him now. But Gillibrand, that's a weird coincidence. I mean, these are two blue states.

[Harris Faulkner]

Here and she is New York. I mean, that's.

[Emma Vigland]

Yes, but she's also the head of the dscc. Right. So she's worried about fund. She has two incentives here. It's the one that I said earlier where these are the Wall street senators. Right. And she's really in bed with crypto. So I think now that she knows her career is kind of. Jonathan Cohen made this point now she's not going to be president anymore. Her 2020 run fell flat. She's just not no longer has the pretense anymore of being a progressive. So she's just all in with Wall street, all in with crypto. And they are panicked about the Trump tariffs and the destabilization of the economy and why and what government shutdowns do. People may not realize this is that it freaks the stock market out, even in the best of times. So it would be a compounding effect of the insanity that Trump is wreaking on the economy. So what she and Schumer are hearing are just be good stewards, help stabilize this thing and we'll reward you later. And that's what I'm thinking is happening.

[Harris Faulkner]

Yeah, I want to add another aspect to this, which is that Gillibrand kind of got burned by being a progressive, especially on the MeToo stuff where she took a very strong stance against Al Franken. And that was actually, I think, the right stance and I admire for it, but also really burned her with the donor class who are not happy with that. I think that actually contributed to some of the problems she had in 2020 in terms of getting donors. And I think that everything that she's done, not just on this issue, but other stuff, including her comments on Como, basically indicate that she's trying to make nice with the donor class to fix up those bridges. And I think that is her political trajectory that she kind of has seen that if you're so dependent on donor money and you really take a stance that's against them, that's not good. And it's especially not good, frankly, if you're thinking of maybe not running again, having a kind of future career that might benefit from having friends in Wall Street.

[Sam Cedar]

I mean, that to me makes the most sense in this situation. And also, like, I mean, I'm saying the donor class, because they're, you know, they understand the importance of government functioning to their business interests, they're also risk averse. I mean, it is this sort of like consultancy class, like corporate mentality.

[Harris Faulkner]

Yeah. To speak more about the New York Democrats, I mean, basically there's a little bit of history to this, which is that coming out of the 2020 election where Biden didn't do as well as he had hoped and the Democrats didn't, you kind of had this new political formation that consisted of these sort of popularists, people like David Shore, Matt Iglesias, teaming up with the sort of crypto people and with the sort of Zionist. And what these groups all shared was a belief that the Democrats had gone too far to the left, had become too dependent on small donor money and that you needed to push back. And Iglesias and Shore provided the ideological rationale, the crypto people and the sort of Wall street money provided it, and the sort of Israel lobby provided the already existing political infrastructure. And this was basically a counter revolutionary formation within the Democratic Party. And it was designed to basically push the Democrats back to the right. And one saw it especially, you know, in the sort of squad members that were defeated, Bowman and Cori Bush, Corey Bush, but, but more broadly, like just, you know, the type of people that they promote. And this political formation is particularly strong in New York, you know, as you, because of the sort of closeness of Wall street. And that is basically the New York, you know, the dominant faction in the New York Democratic Party. And it's why they suck.

[Sam Cedar]

I love the idea of like, we really got to do something about we're getting too much a small donor.

[Harris Faulkner]

The third way. In their report on like fixing the Democratic Party, they say we have to rely less on small donor money. Yep. Like if you don't get small donor money, then what money are you relying on? It's basically saying we have to be more reliant on, on crypto and Wall Street. And you know, Schumer and a lot of these New York Democrats are very heavily involved in all this stuff. And so weirdly, even though New York, you know, is seen as a blue state, it is the epicenter of a sort of counter revolutionary political formation within the party.

[Sam Cedar]

Continuing on to steel man Schumer, this, this is the theory that I just find to be fascinating. He said, like, if you do not fight this now, what do you think is going to happen in six months when they come back with next year's bill, which we now know at the very least, Trump has signed off this week on essentially the Republicans going in and cutting Medicaid. And they say, he says, according to Steve Dennis, and I think he's a reporter for Bloomberg, Bloomberg. Schumer tells me Republicans might try to jam Democrats again in September, but thinks Trump will be less popular then and Republican appropriation might be more willing to stand up to him, but they refuse to do so now with a photo.

[Emma Vigland]

Of him sitting effing blinkered.

[Sam Cedar]

Can you get, like, as soon as I hear those words, I hear Obama talk about the, the, the fever is going to break. Biden says the fever is going to break. They all say it's all going to go away. Trump is going to alienate these people. And like, what, What? Like what? Like in the white world.

[Harris Faulkner]

Yeah, I mean, this idea of like, that there is a faction of Republican moderates who will break with Trump and fix things and that we have to like, appeal to them and we have to like do all our politics to like elevate and like win over these people, I think belongs not in the field of politics, but psychopathology and in particular of delusions. I think you've talked on the show before, but Chuck Schumer literally has imaginary friends. He calls, you know, this, about this.

[Sam Cedar]

The we're starting a program next week on this where we, we're going to interview a Bailey every week from New York State.

[Harris Faulkner]

Yeah. And these are like, you know, well, first of all, I love the fact that his imaginary friends, he first called them the O'Reilly's, but then he thought that's too ethnic and you'll call them the Baileys. So his imaginary friends, is that right?

[Sam Cedar]

I don't know about that part of the story.

[Harris Faulkner]

Yeah, originally they were called the O'Reilly's. And so basically his imaginary friends are not just sort of centrist Republicans, but centrist Republicans who are Irish people passing as white. So, so he has these imaginary friends in his mind. He has a whole scenario for them. George Bailey is a fireman. The wife works part time in insurance because that's what women do in modern America, work part time to support their husband.

[Sam Cedar]

Her kids, meanwhile, are like having kids of their own. She's still not going to go back into the workforce, according to her.

[Harris Faulkner]

That's right. That's right. Yeah. And these are like, you know, like they're swing voters. They can go either way. And if the Democrats are strong, I, he would say invented the Bailey, the oreillys Baileys during the war on terror. And it was like, or these are the people who love waterboarding. And we have, I mean, like actually, I mean, if I really want to come down on this, it's basically anti Irish bigotry. Like he is like sort of positing the Irish as this Neanderthal class that are not very intelligent, can be easily swayed and love violence.

[Sam Cedar]

This is, I did not know that Mr. Bailey was a fireman in this, in Chuck Schumer's mind. But, but I will say this. I mean, it explains on some level the idea that he is using firemen in the wake of 911 were, you know, were obviously one of the most sensitive class of people in New York to what took place on 911 because they all knew somebody who died in the towers or there. And, and the level of sort of knee jerk anger that is associated with that. I mean, you know.

[Harris Faulkner]

Yeah, I have to, unfortunately, I just quickly checked the link and I have to offer correction. O'Reilly who changed his name to Bailey because he wanted to be seen as white as he works for an insurance company and his wife is a part time firefighter. No, his wife work part time for a doctor's office. I think the insurance company think it's significant because this explains why we cannot have universal Medicare because Tex Schumer's imaginary Irishman passing as white is, works for insurance. It does not want to hear about Medicare for all. So, so correct. All the fireman stuff was. That was a brain glitch on my part.

[Sam Cedar]

But the big thing about, about Schumer assuming that Trump is going to be less popular in September, and he might be, he might not be, but he might be. And maybe he's five points less popular, maybe he's eight points less popular, maybe he's down in like Joe Biden territory in terms of being unpopular. But it also completely discounts something that I just don't understand, how they don't understand this. Elon Musk is out there as Trump's enforcer with an unlimited amount of money to deploy against any lawmaker who breaks in terms of like the primaries and September still not close enough to 2026, where, where, where Elon Musk couldn't dump in $10 million in the way that, you know, you or I go and purchase a book essentially and, and change the dynamic in a primary race in the Republican Party. And all of those Republicans have to be completely sensitive to that. So it may be the case that Trump is less popular, but that does not necessarily translate into less sort of like into, you know, a wobbly spine, as it were, for these Republican lawmakers.

[Harris Faulkner]

No, no. And then we've seen anything over the last 10 years, the trajectory is for the Republican Party to become more pro Trumpist and maga. And this Elon Musk thing just like adds to that. But the dynamic is like, if you stand up to Trump, then you get exiled from the party. Right? And so therefore, to put your, and this has happened to anyone, any of these great Republican champions that the Democrats have elevated, like Liz Cheney, like Kissinger, like they all get exiled from the party because Trump will come out against them and will use his social media power and his MAGA fan base. And so therefore, like you're putting yourself all your faith in a faction that has already been defeated, that has already like, you know, has like no power whatever and on. So, so, so, so it's a non existent faction within the Republican Party and which can never really arise again because of Musk and Trump and also voters who are literally figments of your imagination. That is the premise and basis of his strategy. And I gotta say, like, you know, we're trying to seal man him. That seems like a bad bet.

[Sam Cedar]

Oh my gosh, it seems so crazy. And then what was fascinating is that and I don't even know if they've maintained this fiction they're going to offer. They're insisting, and this is what Schumer got, was a vote on a 30 day cr to punt. And the vote's obviously going to lose, but they're going to be allowed to vote on it and it's going to lose. My guess would be 4753 and Schumer is going to call that a win. We got the vote on something that they already knew was losing. And in what world do they think this? Does Schumer think this provides them cover? Because, you know, there's a, there's this huge disconnect here, right? Like the thing that's changed even in the, you know, the 20 some odd years where, where things got somewhat more, where information got more democratized, right? You had blogs and this and that, but blogs didn't reach the same sort of like didn't have the same reach as social media does in many respects. But it seems to me now that anybody who understands and could be aware that there was a 30 day, a vote on a 30 day CR that they convinced the Republicans to have. For that to mean anything to anybody at this point, they need to have a certain amount of savvy and awareness. Like, you know, this. I would say like half of our audience, 3/4 of our audience is probably aware, okay, they get what that means and they get. But I would say almost one to one, the people who are aware of that little dynamic are also capable of realizing like it's completely meaningless. It's a total fig leaf. It means nothing.

[Harris Faulkner]

Yeah, no, no, absolutely. And I mean this goes back to what we talked about before, about the sort of, you know, centrist libs turning against this. But there used to be, you know, this class of yes Queen Democrats who will take symbolic victories, you know, like Nancy Pelosi doing the clap and they'll say like, yes Queen, you know, and like you're a traitor to the Democratic Party if you say that as really a symbolic victory. Well, you know, like at this moment of crisis and this is a real change, like all those people are no longer satisfied with symbolic victories. And these were like, you know, your hard line soldiers who like, if they had been Japanese would be fighting in the Philippines until in the 1930s, 60s and 70s, those people have like, you know, like given up the ghost. They realize, you know, like the, the emperor has led us down a bad path and has destroyed, destroyed everything that we ever fought for. And they will no longer, yes, I mean, tech Schumer does not have. Yes. Clean Riz. Let's just put it that way.

[Sam Cedar]

Yes. And I'm glad you use Riz there. My kids. You could place the age of our kids exactly by your use of that. And you, sir, are a, you have Sigma Riz for using that term. But the scenario where Schumer, Gillibrand. But maybe three or four people who we anticipate to vote for cloture don't vote for cloture. You know, like the, the vote supposedly going to happen in about 15, 20 minutes. There is some talk that there is and I think. Would you say Mark, Josh Marshall suggested this.

[Emma Vigland]

It was actually David Dayen.

[Sam Cedar]

Oh, David Dayan said that one senator could hold up a unanimous or deny.

[Emma Vigland]

Unanimous consent for a time agreement, basically.

[Sam Cedar]

Could, could deny unanimous consent, which would delay things because right now, in terms of the reports we're getting back from our listeners who've been calling all of these offices, all the voicemails are shut down. The, the cat. The Capitol switchboard. Switchboard shut down. And so this is. They're getting inundated with calls.

[Harris Faulkner]

Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

If there's another 12 hours, they're going to get more calls. And so putting. But putting aside, let's say there's a, there's a mutiny in this. Let's look at the other scenario, which is more likely that seven or eight Democrats vote for cloture. They go to on to vote, and then they all vote against except for Fetterman and Schumer. They'll vote for the Republican budget. Where do you think this goes after that? Because there doesn't seem to me to be, as far as I can tell, any major legislative sort of conflict that will happen until the Republican budget. I mean, it's, they're not going to do anything until they get this Republican budget squared away.

[Harris Faulkner]

So they think they can lay low here. That this was actually their moment of leverage. Right.

[Sam Cedar]

Yeah.

[Harris Faulkner]

And some of them, like earlier in the year were saying, you know, we don't have any leverage, we don't have any power. But, you know, like, once the budget comes up, we'll have leverage. Right. So, you know, the one time that, the one time they have leverage, they don't use it. And basically, I mean, I think that basically this is why we're seeing an uprising and politics will move away from, from whatever, you know, expecting them to do anything. And we'll move within the Democratic Party. How do we get rid of these guys? How do we get rid of consumer.

[Sam Cedar]

I mean, that's the thing is that it seems to me you're going to have six to eight months of, yeah, we got nothing to do.

[Harris Faulkner]

Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

And so where are we going to? You know, there's no fight against the Republicans, at least in that.

[Harris Faulkner]

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Sam, I have to correct you there. Chuck Schumer has a new book out. He will be going on a bookstore. So he actually does have something to do.

[Sam Cedar]

Oh, no. Chuck Schumer does. But I'm saying everybody outside of the Senate, like, I think all that energy is going to go somewhere.

[Harris Faulkner]

And I think it would be a pity if Chuck Schumer's book tour were suddenly inundated by thousands of angry Democrats.

[Sam Cedar]

If I could go on to Poly Market and make a bet right now, I would. That is a bet I would take.

[Emma Vigland]

Well, I did tweet out the LOC for next week for his book tours, just in case, you know, people, we.

[Sam Cedar]

Have a lot of readers in our audience.

[Emma Vigland]

He'll be in Baltimore Monday, he'll be in New York City Tuesday, he'll be in Washington, D.C. wednesday, he'll be in Philly Thursday and Saturday, he will be in the Bay Area. So take with that information what you will.

[Harris Faulkner]

So, but, but, but, yeah, I mean, basically, yeah. I mean, yeah, we're in agreement. Like, the larger dynamic will be that this angry mass of Democrats, you know, like, the only way the energy can turn is against the party now, which is why, like, in a lot of ways, I mean, I think like Kim Jeffries, you know, like, let's just say he's no Nancy Pelosi, but he's actually shown more political intelligence than I would have expected. And that. And Chuck Schumer hasn't because, I mean, for whatever reason, Schumer is much more insulated from public opinion.

[Sam Cedar]

Well, he's not running again until 2028. And for all you know, he may not. This could be his swan song.

[Emma Vigland]

And with.

[Harris Faulkner]

I think he's going to die in office. I mean, I think he.

[Emma Vigland]

Oh, God. But, but if, but I mean, aoc, if he doesn't resign, is going to primary challenge him. It seems pretty, pretty clear. And you had. And my guess is that he's going to basically see the writing on the wall and probably say, this will be my last term. And then that seat is open her. Because with this, he can't withstand this. I mean, I'm. I try not to get ahead of my skis. I infamously thought Kamala would win easily, and that was wrong. But there is a scenario Here, where Schumer has signed his own kind of the end of his own political career, at least as leader of the Democrats. I think that that's eventually going to happen, regardless of how this closure vote goes. Because I'm sorry, the base is outraged right now. And my dream scenario for the next half hour is, or I guess if they are able to extend this vote, is that Schumer, Gillibrand, Fetterman, maybe a few others go out on a limb and the rest of the party saws off that limb and they fall off the tree. Because there's a chance that if there. If there are people that are smart political actors who have been eyeing, say, Senate Majority leader as, or leader of the Democrats in the Senate, that they start to whip some votes privately and say, this is how we get rid of this guy, and then we can get elevated to the top of leadership. It's just Machiavellian stuff.

[Harris Faulkner]

Yeah, I mean, I think that's a possible scenario. I've learned not to underestimate, like, you know, like, how Democrats will stick with, you know, bad leaders and bad politicians, you know, despite the fact that you have much more severe situations than this where, you know, like, they've. They've actively lost all mental faculty.

[Sam Cedar]

So, I mean, honestly, Dianne Feinstein was chairing these crucial committee hearings in the Judiciary, and it was. I mean, everyone must have known, like, she doesn't know where she is.

[Emma Vigland]

I'm saying it's a dream scenario.

[Harris Faulkner]

Yeah, Yeah. I mean, the question is, I mean, I think there's a leadership crisis. The question is, is there. At what point do we reach a critical mass where there's enough Democrats that are angry that they will overthrow the system? Because until now, the rule has been it's my turn, right? You know, like Hillary Clinton, it's my turn. And then really, Joe Biden, it's my turn. And, you know, Dianne Feinstein, it was her turn to Gerry Connolly. And even, I think Dave Weigel, a friend of the program, mentioned this case in Texas, I believe there was a Congress person who had died and cancer and replaced by another politician whose turn it was, who also had cancer. This is not Connolly. So this is like, you know, this is a party that's deeply committed to seniority towards keeping the people who have power in power. But at some point, I think it's unsustainable. Like, I. Now, the question, I think steel milling Schumer, right? Like, I think his thinking is, like, you know, like, people are going to forget this, right? That, like, you know, in 2026, we'll get back at least the House, so we might actually get the Senate, and then we can really go after Trump. And Trump will become very unpopular, and then I'll be the hero, and then the Baileys will love me and, you know, the fake Irish will be my friend. And so that is his dream. That is Schumer's dream thing. And I actually don't think, you know, given who he is and the fact that he's reached this pinnacle, he's not going to ever.

[Sam Cedar]

No, that's the problem with all of these senators. It was the problem with Barack Obama. They all had a formula that got them to where they are, and so they assume you always have to follow that formula.

[Harris Faulkner]

Yeah. Part of the problem with Gerontocracy is that the mental world of these people is in the past. Right. Like, I'm willing to think that people like the Baileys existed maybe in the 1970s, that they were some people he had met at a party and, you know, wanted to be imaginary friends with, but, you know, like, they don't exist now, and these sort of moderate Republicans that are going to turn on Trump don't exist now. But Chuck Schumer's mental universe is not the world that we live in, and it hasn't been for a long time.

[Sam Cedar]

Let me ask you one last question that is related to that. The, the. The Democrats fealty to seniority, and we should say in the, in the Republican caucus. It's not the same way.

[Emma Vigland]

No, no.

[Sam Cedar]

That way.

[Bradley]

Yeah.

[Harris Faulkner]

They're real political party.

[Sam Cedar]

Well, what do you think that is? I mean, you know, like, why is that? Is it because. Is it a generational thing? Is it something that, that, that, like, why that fealty to seniority? Or is it just simply. I mean, I can understand how it works. It's like, well, we've been here, so we're all going to vote to empower ourselves because we're here, you know. But is it because there was never a class of Democrats that came in where they have the. Like, there was not enough turnover. Like, the Democrats never lost as many seats. So, I mean, if everybody comes in in the same wave, then I can see you have more of an argument of, like, we're not going to do this by seniority, because nobody's got seniority. And so it's not.

[Harris Faulkner]

Yeah, I mean, I think the Republicans had been, like, out of power. I think it really goes back to the 90s where the Republicans have been out of power for a long time, and There were a bunch of people up and comers like Newt Gingrich who saw the opportunity, who saw that, you know, like, if we overturn not just the Democrats, but the older generation of Republicans we can bring in, that's my opportunity, that's my Machiavellian moment to rise. Right. And the Republicans are, and I should say, not just the Republicans, like you actually go to like political parties all over the world and they are interested in maintaining power. And one thing they do is if a leader is unpopular, you push them out. Right. You put out even Margaret party loses.

[Emma Vigland]

The election, leadership resigns and they get fresh leadership.

[Harris Faulkner]

Yeah. And you are here kind of the Trudeau right. Like the liberals wanted to win the next elections. Like, this guy's unpopular, let's get rid of him. Let's not wait for a disastrous debate where he's like openly senile in front of millions. But the Democrats a didn't have that moment of like, you know, like, we're out of power, this is the way we can seize power. But more, I probably, I think it's this aversion to politics and it comes from being an ideologically diverse party. That is to say, the Republicans are pretty like more unified in their commitment to the right, whereas the Democrats have centrist liberals and now a left faction. And within that context, like, you think, like you don't want to have internal battles, so you just have a principle of seniority and you don't have to have internal battles about politics and where we should stand.

[Sam Cedar]

Yeah, it just happens automatically.

[Harris Faulkner]

It happens automatically. And I think that that is like, it's a grave kind of mistake. And actually I think that also explains the fact that it's a non ideological party and it also explains why conflict averse people like Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries rise to the top because they're the ones who can talk to all different factions and claim a kind of technocratic expertise and then claim, although clearly they do have preferences and factional things, but they try to disguise it more and they try to avoid political fights within the party that would make the party have to choose and to take a strong stance. Those are the types of people that rise in this political party. Now, having said that, I just don't think that that's sustainable. I mean, what we've seen is that that model has lost to Donald Trump twice, has created this situation where you're having the, you know, basically a government that's committed to overturning the Great Society and the New Deal through executive fiat and I think enough Democrats, including, you know, the near attendants of the world, including like, you know, the center string of the party who are like, just like realize this is not sustainable, we have to change. So I would have, I think that, you know, if there's ever a Tea Party moment for the Democrats, if there's ever a moment where like, you know, you could get an outside takeover that challenges them and primaries them, I think, I think that's it. And I think the work of the next like few years is going to be to try to build the infrastructure to do that.

[Sam Cedar]

Jeet here, national affairs correspondent for the Nation magazine. I had wanted to talk about your piece in the Nation about COVID We just the 13th yesterday was in fact the five year anniversary of New York City shutting down. And but we'll have to wait. You know, it doesn't always have to be on an anniversary.

[Harris Faulkner]

That's how we can have another occasion. Yes.

[Sam Cedar]

All right, Jeet here. Thanks so much for your time. Really appreciate it.

[Harris Faulkner]

Always great to be on.

[Emma Vigland]

Yep. Thanks, Jeet.

[Sam Cedar]

Folks, we will. Let's just do a freebie Friday. We're here and the vote has not taken place yet. Right. You can call Gillibrand's office if you're in New York in her Hudson Valley office. This is 845-875-4585. So that's 845-875-4585. If you're a New Yorker. We're probably in that zone of like you can call really any of these centers from anywhere. But call Schumer's office, call Jill Brand's office, call your senator's office. Because even if they've already said we're voting no on cloture, the, you know, they're going to be asking their staffer what's happening at the op and they're like, we can't, we can't use the phones. Phones are shut down because we're getting so many calls. And they walk onto the floor and they're like, things are getting crazy. So this is, this is what we want. Like it's not again, likely or unlikely that they're going to vote no on cloture in enough numbers to actually prevent this bill from getting to the floor. But we'll see.

[Emma Vigland]

We'll see. I mean, it's pretty unprecedented just to give people an update on like some of the news in the past hour. I mean, the Pelosi called out Schumer and basically criticized the, the strategy. Over 50 House Democrats voted or wrote a letter criticizing Schumer's strategy. And Raphael Warnock was asked about Schumer and said, I think, I think I said this earlier, but I think come 26, 28 will get some new leadership, which is essential. I mean, it's a shot across the bow. So I don't think Schumer was anticipating this, but I don't know why he wouldn't be. It wouldn't have.

[Sam Cedar]

But yeah, it's an also an interesting choice that he went out yesterday late in the day and basically said, you know, I'm lying down. Like he, I think he anticipated some because you don't generally, you know, you try and set the table for these things if you think it's going to be a problem. And he was trying to get out there and get his argument out there first as to why they were going to capitulate in this manner. And so this, that is what. Oh, yeah, no, we, oh, we could call Gillibrand right now.

[Emma Vigland]

I guess that's. We could do that. Yeah.

[Bradley]

See if she's got any meme coin advice.

[Sam Cedar]

Oh, let's play this clip. This is a clip right now.

[Emma Vigland]

Now, breaking news.

[Sam Cedar]

Basically, Michael Bennett.

[Emma Vigland]

Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

From Colorado is not one of those people that you anticipate is going to be in the vanguard of a partisan fight.

[Emma Vigland]

Right.

[Sam Cedar]

Colorado still purplish state. It's getting a little bit bluer over time. Obviously, I think it's a blue state.

[Emma Vigland]

But both him and Hickenlooper are voting against the cloture and the cr.

[Sam Cedar]

But there has always been this sort of like, I mean, you know, maybe part of it is like I still consider it purple and it just because I'm old. But you're not getting the vanguard of like fighters, partisan fighters from Colorado.

[Emma Vigland]

They're not members of dsa.

[Sam Cedar]

Exactly. Or frankly, you know, like the Progressive Caucus.

[Emma Vigland]

Right.

[Sam Cedar]

Bennett, if you had asked me like a week ago, there's going to be eight Democratic senators who are going to vote in favor of this Republican budget because partisanship is so bipartisanship is so important. Bennett would be on my list of May, you know, maybe.

[Emma Vigland]

Right.

[Sam Cedar]

But apparently CNN's reporting that that is not the case. Here is Ken Klimstein clip, something from.

[Emma Vigland]

CNN just oh, I guess this was earlier this morning.

[Sam Cedar]

Earlier this morning.

[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez]

Now, according to Democratic Senate sources I've.

[Sam Cedar]

Been talking to, the biggest frustration inside.

[Jeet Heer]

The Democratic Caucus isn't just Schumer's decision.

[Sam Cedar]

But the indecision most of the week.

[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez]

The lack of clarity about what Democrats.

[Sam Cedar]

Should or would do played out in.

[Jeet Heer]

A series of private Senate Democratic Meetings.

[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez]

That got pretty intense. In one notable moment, I'm told that Senator Michael Bennett of Colorado, who has not been shy about his frustration with.

[Sam Cedar]

His party leadership in the past, erupted during one of those meetings. Two sources familiar with the moment tell.

[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez]

CNN that Senator Bennett accused the Senate Democratic leadership, his leadership of having, quote, no strategy, no plan and no message on this spending bill.

[Sam Cedar]

Now, according to, I mean, and here's the thing is that like when I hear that there was no plan the week going into this, it definitely feels like he is getting pressure from donors because nothing that's happened right now has been unpredictable. We've been talking, I mean we all knew when the deadline was. We've known for at least two weeks what was going to be in this continue so called continuing resolution which turned out to be worse than a continuing, a clean continuing resolution. At one point Democrats were we're not doing a clean continuing resolution. We want an affirmative statement that you're going to abide by this. Because if you're not going to actually respect Congress's ability to appropriate money. We've written on the budget that, you know, Department of education gets $10 billion and you come in and say, well we're going to cut 5 billion after you do it. What's the role of Congress? So two or three weeks ago the general talk was like we can't have a clean budget resolution, a continuing resolution. We need one that says like an affirmative.

[Emma Vigland]

Get some guardrails.

[Sam Cedar]

Affirmative guardrail.

[Emma Vigland]

But people may not know what clean CR means. Right. Which is just basically keeping the government open for a shorter period of time using the framework from the previous, using.

[Sam Cedar]

The exact same budget numbers. But that's existed in the year before.

[Emma Vigland]

Yes, but that's not what the Republicans did here. They did, they are trying to push it through because it helps enable Muff's and Trump to continue even different than that.

[Sam Cedar]

They cut, they're cutting, basically Washington D.C. has to cut a billion point six from their budget with this. They cut in other places and you'll see it reported. I can't remember what the number was a $13 billion which you know, in the great scheme of things is not necessarily huge, but it's actually $26 billion annualized. They add 10 billion to defense, which is actually 20 billion annualized. And on top of which, not only did they offer a, not offer an affirmative vow that we're going to actually respect the appropriations that we're voting on now, they're on the floor being quite clear that we will not respect even these appropriations that we're pretending to make. So they're guaranteeing more cuts to this budget and basically saying this is window dressing. This just gives us the air coverage to the air cover to cut all.

[Bradley]

Of these agencies the other thing it does. And again, we have to ask if Chuck Schumer and Fetterman dislike this, given their support for their weakness on the abduction of Khalil. But fair, the Federation for American Immigration Reform or a My opinion, a white supremacist anti immigrant group, says one of the most positive changes in the bill is the funding increase for ICE. The new CR allocates $9.9 billion to ICE, 485 million more than last year. These additional funds will be critical in addressing ICE's budget shortfall and help helping to carry out the Trump administration's removal efforts. ICE was facing a severe budget shortfall as President Biden left office.

[Emma Vigland]

It's insane that this is included. I mean that the and that Schumer is backing it. But I really, I think that they are panicked about how the market looks right now and they're anticipating a reward from donors if they stabilize it. And Chuck Schumer didn't get the memo out to the rest of his caucus apparently that hey, Wall Street's in my state, buddy, so I'm gonna look out for that either way. And when he claims on Chris Hayes that he's backing up the federal workers when the literal union that represents them, the largest, largest, as Hayes pointed out, says we want you to oppose this continuing resolution. I mean Schumer don't tell the federal workers what is good for them when the union is.

[Bradley]

I know, we know it's better for you.

[Emma Vigland]

I mean that this is. The Democrats should be sponsoring bills after this on the floors of the House and Senate named after federal workers and veterans who have been fired by this administration. But we can't even get the leader of the Democrats to listen to the union. It's astounding.

[Sam Cedar]

Do you Want to play AOCs on.

[Emma Vigland]

Tapper or do a quick break and then can we. Can I be back for that? I just. We're not no freebie Friday.

[Sam Cedar]

Let's do some IMs. Also do we have that Larson speech? It is in the the slack David J. Cedarista 2011 left voicemails for both. Mr. Letter. Every senator I called identified my as myself as a federal worker. I told them I wanted to vote no one close or did the shutdown the government and everyone I worked with did too. Oh, okay. Trav from Reno. Emma, your closing message on the Emma Jordy report yesterday made me think about my own experience about my stance on the Iraq war. In my friend group. My buddy and I were the that frat guy. And we both recently apologized to our Emma for how we treated her during that time. We are grateful for those who had the moral clarity at the time and the grace not to disown us. Left his best.

[Bradley]

That's fascinating.

[Sam Cedar]

Rosen is a no on cloture. That's according to Nassau county spokesperson. Can we get that? Can we get that verified? That is a. She was in the quiet. She's a no on cloture. That's. It's confirmed. All right. That's great. I would imagine that means that Cortez Masto may also be a no on cloture. She just won. I don't know. Rosen just won. But Cortez Masto I think is not up until 2028. So Alex from Michigan. Sam, there's a reason why terrestrial radio used to make calls on air. It's great radio. I love this live call your senator segments shows exactly how easy it is.

[Bradley]

I think it also like helped kill time on the radio too, maybe a little bit.

[Sam Cedar]

That's not why we do it.

[Bradley]

Of course not. No. We'd be doing it all the time if so.

[Sam Cedar]

Mjs16 Sam, he didn't. He did have that NYT op ed ready to go, which indicates even his initial no vote was a total canard. I'm not sure what that's about. Midwestern trench. Did you see that picture Nina Turner posted of Schumer and Trump? Absolute turncoats.

[Emma Vigland]

She reposted it for me from a 2017. I posted it, but I didn't post the date. It was just more a symbolic post of like. So Nina repost. I think that was me. I mean, not to take credit for.

[Sam Cedar]

It, but Milton Apathy, Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat that I trust, is basically saying they had no choice but to vote for cloture. I'm surprised. I was a little surprised by that too. He was also the one pushing the sort of fig leaf we're going to vote for 30 day continuing resolution. Like it. Like, give me a break.

[Emma Vigland]

So did. Did you say. I heard you say Rosen's voting no.

[Sam Cedar]

Rosen's voting no right now on cloture or the CR on the cloture. Here is Representative John Larson. This is from like two days ago, I think from Connecticut talking about this. The dynamic that's going on right now within our government. We're an equal branch of government and you start off with A blather. And yet, look at the empty seats here. Where's Elon Musk? I'm sure he's a genius and is a very credible person because of the wealth he's accumulated, but that does not put him above the law or the responsibility. Responsibility to come before this committee in this Congress. If he's so great, if these plans and all the fraud and abuse that he found are so eminent, why isn't he here explaining it?

[Harris Faulkner]

You know why?

[Sam Cedar]

Playing video games. He's out to privatize Social Security. He's been on television the last couple of days talking exactly about Social Security, Security, Medicare and Medicaid and what he intends to do privatize it. The American people, some of them may have been born at night, but not last night.

[Emma Vigland]

Yeah, nice. There we go.

[Sam Cedar]

Here is Chris Murphy, also from Connecticut.

[Emma Vigland]

This is my pick for new Senate leader for the Democrats. I'm putting that out into the universe.

[Sam Cedar]

He here he is explaining why he is voting no on cloture.

[Jeet Heer]

So I want to tell you why I'm voting against the Republican funding bill when it comes up for a vote tomorrow. You deserve to know the stakes here. First of all, you get this. Trump has a plan and he's implementing it to destroy our economy and our government, to create a crisis that allows him to hand our government over to his billionaire friends and to suspend our democracy. I wish that weren't true, but it is. The question then is this, does the funding bill make it easier or harder for Trump to implement that plan? Now, I judge that it makes it easier and so I can't support it. The basics here are this. Republicans are in charge, right? They need Democratic votes to pass a funding bill, but they never negotiated with Democrats. They didn't even try. They wrote their own partisan bill, they filled it with all sorts of right wing shit. This isn't a continuing resolution. It doesn't just continue last year's funding, even though the press is reporting it that way. It makes big changes to law and they're all changes designed to make it easier for Trump to implement that plan to destroy our country. For instance, it makes massive cuts to housing programs, to Social Security, to programs for health care for working families. That paves the way for Musk to advance his illegal assault on those government services. It gives Trump brand new spending powers, for instance, the ability to start new military programs that haven't even been authorized by Congress. At this moment of crisis, that sounds like a really dangerous idea. And it takes key guardrails off of presidential spending authority. That allows Trump and Musk to more easily move money from one account to the other. Now, listen, Trump and Musk are going to keep acting illegally no matter what this funding bill says. Whether we stop them, that's going to be up to the courts and up to our ability to mobilize people all over the country against their agenda, which is deeply, deeply unpopular. But by passing a bill that makes their plan easier to implement, Democrats risk putting a kind of bipartisan veneer of endorsement on their campaign to give our government to the billionaires and to destroy the rule of law. And I just won't be a part of that.

[Sam Cedar]

I. We've heard Chuck Schumer's claim on this, that he's banking on Donald Trump being weaker in September. And then somehow, I don't even know what they're supposed. I don't even know how that works, because in September, it's going to be a reconciliation bill. So there is no filibuster. So, in other words, the Republicans will need no Democratic votes to do anything. In fact, not only would they not need any Democratic votes, they can lose two or three votes.

[Emma Vigland]

Yep.

[Sam Cedar]

This is really, I mean, like. Like the idea of a Republican senator voting against a Republican budget in 2025, maybe even in the 21st century, you know? You know, maybe I could see Mike Lee or Rand Paul. Rand Paul, when it was absolutely guaranteed that it's going to pass. They will vote, they'll be released to do that. But I mean, beyond that, it's just insane. Understand, that's what Schumer's strategy is, to wait to September, hope that Trump's numbers are low enough that some Republican senator says, it's in my best interest to vote against the Republican approved budget. This is insane.

[Emma Vigland]

He's also overestimating Trump's popularity right now. Right now. I mean, like, he. Yeah, okay, he slipped a whole 50% approval in most polls. Like that is for a honeymoon period. Extremely low. He's in the bet on the best of days. A deeply divisive figure in this country. This is not Reagan 84. He didn't win in an overwhelming landslide. He got less than 50% of the popular vote. And they're not going to fight him on a dirty continuing resolution that basically opens the door to cut health care, to cut funding for Washington, D.C. and formalizes Elon Musk's illegal takeover of our budget and federal government. You know, step down, Schumer.

[Sam Cedar]

Eleven people arrested in Schumer's office. Sunrise, Sunrise movement. Great job.

[Emma Vigland]

Great job.

[Sam Cedar]

Here is AOC on Jake Tapper's program last night. And she's making the case against, you know, for the Senate to reject say no on cloture, essentially block the Republican budget bill. And. Well, listen to this.

[Jeet Heer]

And Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Acosta Cortez of New York joins me now in the studio. Congresswoman, thanks so much for being here. So on social media, you've been urging people to call their senators, tell them to vote no on cloture, which allows the bill to go forward for a vote of just a simple majority, and to vote no on the vote for a simple majority on the Republican bill. What do you say to the counterargument of, like, a government shutdown hurts the country, hurts the people you represent from the Queens and from Queens and the Bronx.

[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez]

Absolutely. And that is why House Democrats have laid out a plan, as well as several Senate Democrats laid out a plan to keep government open for another 30 days as Republicans negotiate a deal with Democrats in order to have an extended government funding bill.

[Jeet Heer]

But the House would have to come back into session, right?

[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez]

I mean, but House Democrats are in town. I mean, we're afraid of working. Is that the problem here? That the idea that, God forbid, members of Congress have to fly back and do their jobs? I mean, genuinely. Come on.

[Jeet Heer]

So Chuck Schumer, I guess, the Senate Democratic leader your pause it for a second.

[Sam Cedar]

I just want you to contemplate, like, let's just stay here. Jake Tapper is actually, like, bringing up, like, well, I mean, Johnson, Mike Johnson specifically sent Republicans home as a way of creating leverage. And Tapper just swallows that as if it's like, wait a second. Understand how many people in this country are on call by, like, you know, Walmart to come in for a shift that they're not aware of at any point. Like, I mean, the idea that legitimate. It is a legitimate. It is a legitimate sort of like a dynamic in our government that, like, well, we have a crisis, you know, in terms of the budget, which of course was orchestrated. They could have dealt with this six weeks ago or five weeks ago. I mean, they knew. They set the date and people have left town. I mean, are you really suggesting you're gonna vote against this when some people might have to fly back and just.

[Emma Vigland]

A really good look for her to be able to say that and make that case that she wants to do her job.

[Sam Cedar]

You'll be laughing in his face.

[Emma Vigland]

And let me just be a bit of a political nerd for a sec. What she did yesterday was expertly done. After this appearance, there was a CNN article that came out that basically previews that she is going to primary Chuck Schumer if he doesn't resign. And we've been wondering what she's setting herself up for. Is she going to try to run for president? It seems clear she's going to try to run for Senate. And what was included in that article was how many centrist House Democrats are urging her to do that because of how unhappy they are with the lack of fight in the Senate when they're up for reelection every two years, putting themselves on the line with votes, trying to oppose the Republicans and doing so. And when the Senate turns around and they have no risk except, you know, from their donors and they throw them under the bus. So she's developing like a political kind of, she's getting the backing of her House colleagues in this effort. And this was coordinated yesterday.

[Sam Cedar]

Evan says on the IM two senators called seriously easier than I thought. Just left the message. Very easy to do. Let's continue.

[Jeet Heer]

Chuck Schumer, I guess the Senate Democratic leader, your senator, said at this meeting that he is going to vote for cloture. He is going to vote to allow there to be a simple majority vote. You think that's wrong?

[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez]

I believe that's a tremendous mistake.

[Sam Cedar]

Why?

[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez]

I think, well, first and foremost, the American people, if anyone has held a town hall or has seen what has been happening in town halls, American people, whether they are Republicans, Independents, Democrats, are up in arms about Elon Musk and the actual gutting of federal agencies across the board. This continuing resolution codifies much of this chaos that Elon Musk is, is wreaking havoc on the federal government. It codifies many of those changes. It sacrifices and completely eliminates congressional authority in order to review these impulsive Trump tariffs that he's switching on and off. And on top of that, for folks who, who are concerned about effectiveness in government, this Republican extreme spending bill removes all of the guardrails and all of the accountability measures to ensure that money is being spent in the way that Congress has directed for it to be spent. This turns the federal government into a slush fund for Donald Trump and Elon Musk. It sacrifices congressional authority and it is deeply partizan. And so to me, it is almost unthinkable why Senate Democrats would vote to, to hand the few pieces of leverage that we have away for free when we've been sent here to protect Social Security, protect Medicaid and protect Medicare.

[Sam Cedar]

You have should also add in this bill there is a provision that would prevent Republicans for having to vote on Trump's tariffs.

[Emma Vigland]

Oh, she says that later in the interview, she brings that up.

[Sam Cedar]

Yeah. Do we have it? You want to play?

[Emma Vigland]

I'm not sure if I included in the. It's okay.

[Sam Cedar]

It. There would have been an obligation for the Republicans to sign off on these tariffs.

[Emma Vigland]

Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

So the Republicans know this is a way to basically disarm any potential sort of, like, vote that they have to take that might be damaging to them in 2026. I mean, it's just fascinating to see how much Chuck Schumer is giving away, politically speaking.

[Emma Vigland]

Did you hear. This is just. I thought you'd appreciate this. She said the Republican extreme spending bill. Another Democrat would have come out and called it MAGA Trumpy. She just. She was.

[Sam Cedar]

So she understands who she's gonna have to run against.

[Emma Vigland]

Yeah, well, I mean, I get it, but, like, she's also just very disciplined. Interview and, like, what was on message the entire time. Do we have that second part where she's asked explicitly about the Schumer primary? Do you want to play that?

[Jeet Heer]

Yeah.

[Emma Vigland]

Yeah. People should watch this whole interview if they get the chance. It's. It's, like, very juicy.

[Jeet Heer]

The job Democratic leaders are doing. Not just Senate Democratic leaders, but also Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the House, your fellow New Yorker, in terms of standing up to Trump.

[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez]

Well, when we look at this vote around this government funding bill that we saw this week, Leader Hakeem Jeffries was able to keep the entire House Democratic caucus united and together, except for Jared Goldman. Right. Every single House Democrat, including every single House Democrat who won a Trump district, except for one out of over 200, voted against this deeply partisan extreme Republican spending bill, not just because they're Democrats, but because they know it's bad for the country. This bill is bad for the country. And so I think that in terms of Democratic leadership in the House, we've seen that result in the House. I think it's time that we see similar results in the Senate.

[Jeet Heer]

Would you. What do you think of the job that Chuck Schumer is doing? Would you ever challenge him, do you think?

[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez]

I think that what we need right now is a united Senate Democratic Caucus that can stand up for this country and not vote for cloture and not vote for this bill. And I think that the strength that we have is, in this moment, reconciliation. And all of the Republicans do not need Democratic votes for that. They need it for this. And so the strength of our leadership in this moment is going to demonstrate the strength of our caucus. And I cannot urge Enough how bad of an idea it is to empower and enable Donald Trump and Elon Musk in this moment. It is dangerous and it is reckless.

[Jeet Heer]

Well, you just talked about the strength of your leadership. Chuck Schumer just said that he's going to vote for cloture. Not only the Democrats can do it, but he's going to participate in it.

[Sam Cedar]

Does that mean that you think he's.

[Jeet Heer]

A weak Senate leader?

[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez]

I think that that would be a mistake. But we have, we have time between now and tomorrow. And I hope that individuals that are considering that reconsider it. I genuinely do. I don't think it's what New Yorkers want. I don't think it's what the country wants. This is genuinely not about Democrats or Republicans. This is about deep cut cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. This is about the evisceration of the federal government. This is about codifying the looting that is happening at the behest of Elon Musk in order to pay for his tax breaks for billionaires. And we have a responsibility to stand up for it. That is why people elected us and that is our responsibility to them right now.

[Sam Cedar]

All right, I'm just looking at Jake Sherman, Politico.

[Emma Vigland]

Punchbowl.

[Sam Cedar]

Punchbowl. Question for Leader Jeffries. Is it time for new leadership in the Senate? What do you think? Jeffrey says I don't think there.

[Emma Vigland]

It's time to have that argument right now. But I do think that many members are very happy. Okay. I'm not looking at the screen. That's my guess.

[Sam Cedar]

His next question, he offers zero support for Chuck Schumer. That's real.

[Bradley]

That's what Joe Biden would call daylight.

[Emma Vigland]

Well, the past the torch Joe Little people were retweeting me criticizing Schumer. They formally called on him to step aside. I mean, I just want to read this quote that I was alluding to earlier that a member said that Democrats were, quote, so mad that even centrist Democrats were, quote, ready to write checks for AOC for Senate. This was the, the, the article that came out yesterday about her potential primary, potentially primary him. And now 50 House Democrats have written a letter criticizing Schumer's decision. Nancy Pelosi just came out and criticized Schumer. Now Jeff Freeze says next question. I don't think it's. This is a fluid situation, but it's not out of the realm of possibility right now that this is the end of Chuck Schumer's ability to effectively to lead the Democrats in the Senate and that they open this up to maybe younger people. Someone like Chris Murphy who can communicate and do partisanship. Someone like Michael Bennett, who I would think, you know, would be an option. Klobuchar is probably next in line, but I do not think she would be a good. Good choice. I don't know. At the end of the day, I don't know how he can withstand this. I mean, for four more years. No, I.

[Sam Cedar]

This. This. This may not be the end of him, but it's probably the beginning of the end of him. He is not going to enjoy that book tour.

[Emma Vigland]

Well, ensure it. I mean, if you are in any of the areas I listed. Baltimore.

[Sam Cedar]

Oh, don't plan to go. Go see if you can get a ticket now.

[Bradley]

It's like 40 bucks. 45 bucks.

[Emma Vigland]

Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

Oh, is that right?

[Bradley]

Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

No, the Baileys.

[Emma Vigland]

Well, there's a special guest I love.

[Sam Cedar]

About the Baileys is they always pay to go to book tours.

[Emma Vigland]

They're up.

[Sam Cedar]

That is one of the. One of the things that they really do. They. They love to read and they love to pay.

[Bradley]

You gotta buy the book.

[Sam Cedar]

A book tour.

[Emma Vigland]

Do you know who his special guest is at the New York City book tour stop? Why don't you guess?

[Sam Cedar]

Well, I already know who.

[Emma Vigland]

Oh, damn it.

[Sam Cedar]

Of course. It's Richie Torres.

[Emma Vigland]

It is Richie Torres.

[Sam Cedar]

Yes. One of the things the Baileys say is that one, I want to pay a lot of money to see a book tour because it's so worth it. We love a book tour. And then one of their biggest draws, of course, is Richie Torres. Everybody loves Richie.

[Emma Vigland]

Everybody.

[Sam Cedar]

And. And he is. Excuse me. I can't read the Bailey papers. They love it. Oh, we have. We have a breaking clip of Chuck Schumer. Now, will you pull up that clip without the. Yeah. And here he is. He's on the steps, and he's cheering. Keep the audio down there. Ready? Yeah. There he is. He's yelling. We will capitulate.

[Emma Vigland]

We will go on vacation.

[Sam Cedar]

We will capitulate. Bailey coin. Bailey coin. We will capitulate. We will capitulate. We will capitulate. Buy my book. Buy my book. Buy my book. God. Oh, I gotta take a break. I gotta walk away now. Buy my book.

[Emma Vigland]

Oh, God, that freeze frame. Look at him. Look at him. Just put it up. Oh, my God.

[Sam Cedar]

Gold rush. John says that Schumer's book, New Book, is selling for $10 million per cop. We didn't do great on the actual volume, but I will tell you, we great. We made a lot of money.

[Bradley]

Quality over quantity.

[Sam Cedar]

Yep.

[Emma Vigland]

Jefferies, we Are not afraid of a government funding showdown and we will win that showdown, is what he's saying today.

[Sam Cedar]

Well, we will not. We will not have that showdown. We will not have that showdown. We will not have that showdown. We will. Liz Cheney, why are you so aroused right now? Tim Pool's plunger. Last thing Schumer did with his majority seat before Trump came in was pushed through a bill targeting Palestinian protesters or Palestine protesters. What is the latest on the vote? I mean, the vote was supposed to happen 45 minutes ago.

[Emma Vigland]

I don't know.

[Sam Cedar]

I, you know, a delay in the vote is good. Good. It's either good insofar as that it means that the senators. There's more time for you to call your senators right now. Local offices, Washington offices. Call both. It's super easy. It is super easy. And all you got to do, tell them, I want my senator to vote no on the, on the, on cloture and no on the continuing resolution. And, and by saying no on cloture, you are indicating that you are actually following this. This was. I did an internship for one summer in a Quincy congressman's office, and it was actually during the omnibus tax overhaul bill in 1986. And my job was to answer the phones and write down what they say. What they say.

[Emma Vigland]

I did this at Gillibrand's office, too, as an intern.

[Sam Cedar]

I had two jobs. One was to do that. The other was to get the congressman, because the drinking age was 18 in D.C. at the time, to get the congressman three packs of merit Lights and a case of Bush beer. And, and I was like, oh, my God, this dude drinks the same beer I do. He was from Quincy. And, and there was a formula. Every person who called was worth, like, X number. I can't remember what it was. Constituents. If you wrote a handwritten note, it was also like an even higher number of constituents. If it was a typewritten one, then it was a little bit lower because they assume that you got it and just sort of filled it in and redid it. But, you know, these days, someone to pick up the phone and call and then know what they're talking about with the continual resolution. This, I mean, I should say the cloture. This gets them nervous because then they realize, like, oh, I don't know if we're going to be able to get away with claiming. Well, I voted for cloture because I just thought it should be an up and down vote. Incidentally, I am old enough to remember when people like Schumer and whatnot were like, we can't get rid of the filibuster because if we do, we won't be able to stop some of the worst things that the Republicans could do.

[Emma Vigland]

Yep, yep. And the filibuster's here and they're refusing to use it. Right. So when you're calling and you're talking about cloture, what you know is, as Sam is saying, it means you're highly engaged and you're. You may punish them. Right. So it's, it's. But, but yeah, I mean, I'm restating what you just said.

[Sam Cedar]

Northern spy. Yes. Call into White House. I was on my way to work and heard center. Whitehouse might be a. Yes, please. Pulled over, called White House and Reid's office, then re upped my membership to the majority report. Keep up the good work. Thank you. Thank you for both.

[Emma Vigland]

Yep.

[Sam Cedar]

Josh from Alabama. Hey, Mr. Crew. I want to offer a minor critique regarding a segment from yesterday that included clips of Interview with Senator Tuberville. Tuberville is a clown and certainly deserves condemnation for his policy stances. But I think it's counterproductive to mister's mission of spreading leftist progressive politics. When you make fun of the way he talks. I'm not going to read anymore. Did you just hear me mock Schumer? It is just.

[Emma Vigland]

I'm sorry. It's just fun to do the accent. It's not that deep.

[Sam Cedar]

I know mockery of the south was not your intent, but the reality is the segment could easily be used by the right to discredit your message by labeling you as coastal elites.

[Bradley]

Let him go for it.

[Emma Vigland]

Yeah. I mean, what is comedy illegal?

[Sam Cedar]

Don't be a snowflake. Don't be a snowflake.

[Bradley]

Like, that is not what I'm concerned about them use as propaganda. I would feel slightly bad if some Southerner saw that and took the wrong message of it as an audience member. But I think they should also probably grow tougher skin. But as far as, like, them using it against us, please.

[Sam Cedar]

Yes, no, I understand your point.

[Emma Vigland]

No, yes. Right. I mean, and I think it's a different thing if you're like making fun of somebody in a classist way using a Southern accent like that. Like I've, you know, there, that's Yankees do that on occasion. I've heard it before. But we're punching up and making fun of Tuberville and just imitating his cadence.

[Bradley]

If he had a Mass Hole accent, we'd be doing a mess.

[Emma Vigland]

We just did it with Chuck Schumer.

[Sam Cedar]

Molly Gray. Gray Jetty says the Congressional switchborg won't let me ask for my senator. Puts me straight to the whole music for six minutes and counting. Go team. I mean, that's great because they know. They know it's not Republicans calling up to like, I want, you know, vote for the continuing resolution. While you're on hold, get on your phone or your computer and look up where a local office is.

[Bradley]

They have them all over the states. Right. There's one in Moorhead, Minnesota, for Klobuchar.

[Sam Cedar]

Oh, yeah. No, there should be all over the state. Igor Bobick of HuffPost. Gillibrand is not answering any questions today. Weird. Weird. Very weird. Do we have sound from that Jeffries thing? No.

[Emma Vigland]

Where there is sound, he said at the podium.

[Sam Cedar]

Oh, let's watch this.

[Emma Vigland]

Here he is.

[Sam Cedar]

Is it time for new leadership in the Senate?

[Eric Weinstein]

Next question.

[Sam Cedar]

Oh, boy. Leadership in the Senate.

[Eric Weinstein]

Next question.

[Emma Vigland]

He didn't really say. He didn't stop that one. Oh, come on.

[Sam Cedar]

This is the. You have right now a nascent argument in the country that Republicans are attacking government. And it's quite clear that Chuck Schumer has been planning all along to cave in this way. And by planning, I mean that was his intention. There is no other plan. The best they could come up with is like this fig tree, fig leaf thing to cover it by with the 30 day CR and we'll convince them to allow us to vote and lose this other vote and it'll be proof that we've won.

[Emma Vigland]

He, I mean, he thinks so little of the American public. He thought he could do this performative, you know, 30 days CR and then end up voting for cloture and no one would know this.

[Sam Cedar]

That's exactly what they thought.

[Emma Vigland]

Yep.

[Sam Cedar]

And if you were planning to really leverage this, if you had not listened to James Carville's advice, don't do nothing, just sit back, give it 30 days. Incidentally, I think that 30 days he made that comment and it's public comment. Right. I mean, we're meant to hear it. He made that comment. What was it, two weeks ago, conveniently meaning you gotta wait two more weeks after continue. In other words, don't do anything.

[Emma Vigland]

Yep.

[Sam Cedar]

Let him hang himself. If a, a Democratic leader in the Senate who was committed to fighting what Donald Trump, Elon Musk Project 2025 is doing is they would have created a narrative over the past month and a half. They are shutting down elements of our government. They're shutting down parts of our government, and they're doing so illegally. And the courts are stopping them. But they're still Doing damage to our government. They're shutting down our government. They're shutting down our government. They're shutting down our government. That's what you would say over and over again. And so when people show up at these town halls that the Republicans are doing, they would say, you're shutting down parts of our government. And when people who are just sort of like, don't follow this stuff so closely, hear the echoes, it's just in the ether. They're shutting down parts of the government. And then when you get to this vote today and you say, we're not. We're not participating in your shutting down of the government, and the government shuts down, who gets blamed? Look at the anger in this. Representative Chuck Edwards in North Carolina. This is a. This is in Asheville, North Carolina. They were hit with a. You'll remember a hurricane and massive flooding. And there was a massive amount of propaganda put out there that FEMA wasn't doing the job. All this stuff.

[Emma Vigland]

I mean, in Nashville, it's like an artsy area. Right. So. But it's still in a state that's definitely purple, but very important. Senate race in 2026. Right. That's the Senate race with not. Gosh, what's the name of the North Carolina.

[Sam Cedar]

Thom Tillis.

[Emma Vigland]

Tillis. Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

And so this is that there is anger towards fema. There was supposedly. There were. There was attempts anyways to propagandize and say, you know, FEMA is not doing anything. I think maybe people think ground realized it. But this, these are people who are angry because the federal government is being shut down. And they can feel angry. And this isn't from the shutdown. This is from what Doge has been doing. And here is Representative Chuck Edwards, Republican North Carolina in the 11th district, and he is confronted by a constituent who is a vet. Yep. Your job that you were sent there to do, represent us all. Thank you. Thank you for that feedback. To be clear. All right, pause it just so the. You know, you can leave it up. There he is now signaling to the sheriff, go arrest this guy. Go get him out of here.

[Emma Vigland]

The veteran.

[Sam Cedar]

Yep. And he goes on after that to. Is this the press conference afterwards or is this right. Right after that. Okay. Yeah, this is. Oh, yeah, this is him as he's leaving here. He reinstated for at least 45 days.

[Harris Faulkner]

And.

[Sam Cedar]

And then. And then there would be another. And then there would be another process to. To evaluate where we're at there. Yeah, One more. I feel like this is not productive with everybody yelling at me. I mean, you are Having an emotional breakdown right now. The question.

[Emma Vigland]

The quest, the question, the.

[Sam Cedar]

Questions are coming out of the box one at a time.

[Bradley]

I'm answering those for you.

[Sam Cedar]

You're not going to like a lot of them. And you, and you certainly will have the right in the next election to cast your vote based off of what you hear coming from me. Now, he reinstated, he went out then, you know, to do a press conference outside of there and keep it so that he could get his message out. And apparently there was a lot of protesters still outside the, the, the gym. And, you know, credit where credit is due, the vast majority of Republicans now have stopped doing these press conference or these town halls because they're afraid of.

[Emma Vigland]

Wasn't that a directive from the party? National directive.

[Sam Cedar]

But I think some of them are like, well, I'm going to keep trying it, and I think you'll see less and less. But the point being, why are they shutting these down? Why are they shutting down these town halls? They are shutting down these town halls because their constituents are mad that parts of the government are being shut down. Like, half of the narrative is already in place in a way that, you know, I've never seen before, that if you want to say the Republicans are shutting down the government, it's already out there. Like, this is in generally. Look, I am not, you know, I am relatively hesitant to say shut down the government over X, Y or Z.

[Emma Vigland]

Well, you're sympathetic to the idea that.

[Sam Cedar]

There'S a lot of federal workers who are going to deal with it. It undermines our government. But this is already happening.

[Emma Vigland]

Yes, right.

[Sam Cedar]

Like it's like, for example, ready happening.

[Emma Vigland]

One of the issues with, with government shutdowns is that, like, air traffic is, or air flying is not as safe because, like, you have like this rolling shutdown. And sometimes there's. There's shortages with air traffic controllers. People aren't getting paid. But we're already seeing that happening right now. Planes are on fire and falling out of the sky. And Elon Musk is trying to replace FAA workers with dope, with space X people. So why. I mean, all of the worst stuff that happens during a government shutdown is being done piecemeal right now, but more permanent. And just sometimes, as I said to start the show, sometimes you have to go on strike. Sometimes you have to go on strike. And that's essentially what this mentality is. And to extend that metaphor is just to say, well, it's not even a metaphor, but the union for the federal worker supports it. Democrats voting against this because, well, they don't know everything. Right.

[Bradley]

My donors have something.

[Emma Vigland]

That's what Schumer.

[Sam Cedar]

Yeah, we've got donors.

[Emma Vigland]

We've got donors, but the markets.

[Sam Cedar]

All right, let's turn just for Cortez Masto. So she's a yes. Voting on clot.

[Emma Vigland]

That's pathetic. So they're splitting in the. In Nevada. Rosen just got reelected. Right. So Cortez Masto's up in four years.

[Sam Cedar]

I don't know if it's. I don't. I have a feeling she is 2028. I'm 2028. Yeah.

[Emma Vigland]

Yep. Yeah. She was reelected in 22.

[Sam Cedar]

So, Noel from Sam Fran. This Carville line is really sticking across him. I'm not criticizing. I'm just not used to hearing really is it really is they roll over and die, don't do anything. It's just so stupid.

[Bradley]

I mean, I tweeted out, like, I don't know, way before that that they were just going to follow the playbook set by labor in the uk, which is let Boris Johnson and their string of psychos and the Tories exhaust themselves and their credibility so you can just win by default. That's the way that they love to.

[Emma Vigland]

Win, but that's how they've operated basically my entire life. So I don't know.

[Bradley]

And that's why the world is in such great shape right now.

[Sam Cedar]

Let's just change topic for a moment as we wait to see what's happening with the votes here. Protesters occupied Trump Tower yesterday.

[Emma Vigland]

We played a little bit of the footage. Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

And up in Albany, there was also. Was that Zoran Mamdani?

[Emma Vigland]

Oh, we did play that. Yes. Yeah. He confronted Tom Holman.

[Sam Cedar]

This is from Trump Tower, just so you see the protests that are taking place here. Okay. And for those of you who can't see. Lot of people wearing red shirts. We'll talk about that in a moment. These. These were not MAGA shirts, I should tell you, but Fox News covered this.

[Emma Vigland]

Wow.

[Sam Cedar]

Yeah. And these are people who are protesting the. The disappearing and now the detention of Mahmoud Khalil. He is a legal resident of this country who was a negotiator with Colombia about, you know, from the protesters who were protesting Israel's genocide and they were protesting on behalf of Palestinians in Gaza. People know by now he's got an eight month. He's got a child on the way. His wife is eight months pregnant.

[Emma Vigland]

She's an American. And he's married to an American. Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

He is locked away in. Is it Tennessee? I think it is Louisiana. Louisiana. Sorry. It's from New York. He was just sort of disappeared there, and people didn't know where he was for a long time. If you look at the. It was the warrant or the justification of it written up. It's absolutely garbage. It's fascinating, this document. Maybe we'll show that in a moment. But here's Harris Faulkner. This is how much they have to lie about what's going on here.

[Emma Vigland]

So you hear them chanting, free mah food. Free them all. I'm wondering, Ari, who are they all? And if the world is watching our nation right now and they know us as is, you know, a bastion of free speech, so on and so forth. When you hate, when people feel under.

[Jeet Heer]

Threat because of what you're saying.

[Sam Cedar]

Pause it for a second. She's. I don't know if she's looking at the monitor.

[Emma Vigland]

Mm.

[Sam Cedar]

But there's a lot of these. These red shirts have the slogan not in our name. Weird. What does that mean, Weird? All right, let's keep. Go back just a little bit and we'll hear her, like, you know, talk about what, how she.

[Bradley]

Hateful individuals.

[Sam Cedar]

Hateful. Let's see.

[Emma Vigland]

And they know us as, you know, a bastion of free speech, so on and so forth, forth. When you hate, when people feel under threat because of what you're saying, that's actually not protected speech.

[Jeet Heer]

That's right.

[Emma Vigland]

And look at some of the signage in here. I mean, the hate is real.

[Sam Cedar]

Pause it for one second. One second. Actually, so called hate speech in and of itself is not, I don't believe, contrary to the First Amendment, certainly, you know, like it.

[Bradley]

Well, what if somebody says never again for anyone.

[Sam Cedar]

Well, I mean, putting that aside that there isn't a hate speech on display here, there would be a lot of people in jail just for their Twitter, their tweets at me. I can tell you right now, if hate speech was a problem, you should.

[Bradley]

Get some kind of fee for turning people in for some of that stuff.

[Sam Cedar]

So let's hear her say this again.

[Emma Vigland]

And look at some of the signage in here. I mean, they hate Israel. They hate Jewish Americans. They are anti American.

[Sam Cedar]

Now, hold on, I just want to just clarify something. They hate Jewish Americans. Let's listen to that again. I just want to pick up on that.

[Emma Vigland]

And look at some of the signage in here. I mean, they hate Israel. They hate Jewish Americans.

[Jeet Heer]

They are anti American.

[Sam Cedar]

Okay, here is the irony of her saying that. She. As she's saying they hate Jewish Americans, there's a shot of all these people wearing red shirts. These people are all Jews. That she's saying hate Jewish Americans, including.

[Emma Vigland]

A friend of the show, Noah Colwyn, who got arrested as part of these demonstrations. Shout out to him.

[Sam Cedar]

They are from a group called Jewish Voice for Peace. And those hateful signs that they have up, they have holding say things like opposing fascism is a Jewish tradition.

[Emma Vigland]

Well, have you considered that she's trying to protect them from self hate because sometimes the. Harris Faulkner.

[Sam Cedar]

Yeah, exactly.

[Emma Vigland]

Hope of the Jews.

[Sam Cedar]

Harris and I can speak. Speak from personal experience. Don't fall down that self.

[Emma Vigland]

Oh God, I didn't even get it.

[Sam Cedar]

Wormhole, believe me. Oh, oh. Did she say anything else after that is. Yeah, yeah, keep it good. They. They hate Jewish Americans and they hate Americans. Jewish Americans.

[Emma Vigland]

This is not Israel, you idiot.

[Jeet Heer]

Big points here.

[Sam Cedar]

What?

[Jeet Heer]

I'm going to start with the speech facade. The myth that this is about speech. What happened to Malik Mal, Mahmoud Khalil had nothing to do with speech. It has everything to do with creating an encampment that is where Zionists are prohibited, where Jewish students are not allowed to walk on their own campus. These are crimes. These are deportable events. These are things that we would never tolerate. As for all these people who are now in Trump Tower, I hope that this administration will do what the Biden administration did to the January 6th people who want walked inside the Capitol. They have the technology. Get their faces, match it up with the database. And if any of them are non citizens, every one of them is trespassing. They all should be deported from this country too.

[Emma Vigland]

Wouldn't they be trespassing anyway if they are causing people to fear. There are people who pay to live in that residence. There are businesses on that. Oh no, this is not a safe situation. If you are Jewish in that building, do you think feel safe?

[Sam Cedar]

Pause it for a second. I'll tell you something I don't know except for during, and I will say not even as an adult, but as a child. I was in a building during Yom Kippur in Rosh Hashanah with more Jews than in that. That's the only time at the high holiday services they'd have all the entire congregation go into the, the Worcester Auditorium. But I don't think I've ever been in a building with more Jews that wasn't a Jewish holiday. And even the temples I go to now for sure, I don't think there's that many Jews. I actually think that's probably one of the safest places to be if you're Jewish.

[Bradley]

Well, the risk that Jews face there are that they would get Arrested for protesting Israel by the police.

[Emma Vigland]

Yeah, I might not feel safe in Trump Tower either. I mean, gosh, what, what fascist is going to roll through and, I don't know, come at you or something like.

[Sam Cedar]

Literally as she's saying that she is juxtaposed in the split screen with opposing fascism as a Jewish tradition sign.

[Emma Vigland]

She, I don't know she ever said.

[Bradley]

The name of Jewish voice in this.

[Emma Vigland]

Which makes me think it's deliberate.

[Bradley]

Deliberate.

[Emma Vigland]

I think it's deliberate.

[Sam Cedar]

I mean, I'm sure it's deliberate by somebody. I'm sure they also don't have to say anything to her. And she just like going on, you know, this is instinct.

[Emma Vigland]

Who is her guest? Who's.

[Sam Cedar]

Oh, that's Ari Fleischer.

[Emma Vigland]

That's Ari Fleischer.

[Sam Cedar]

J. Fleischer, one of the most odious. No, he did not. On the contrary. Okay, this is. And first off, people, to the extent that anybody was charged with trespassing on January 6, it was always a secondary charge after violence or inhibiting the functioning of our government.

[Emma Vigland]

Yep. They're modern McCarthyites. And did you see how we've conflated Zionists and Jew within like the first time?

[Bradley]

Because what they are referring to is, at least in Colombia, there were agitators who were kept out of the encampments by protesters. But everyone who would know that the statement they kept Jews off the campus is as false as what Faulkner is saying here because all of the protesters themselves were Jewish.

[Sam Cedar]

This breaking Haley Talbot at cnn, Klobuchar is a no, that's a big.

[Emma Vigland]

Because she is in the leadership team under Schumer. It's, I believe it's Schumer. The next up is Dick Durbin and then next up is Klobuchar.

[Sam Cedar]

I mean, this indicates to me that they're feeling a lot of pressure. And the question is so, so Schumer is. And I don't even know if he has this level of control of his caucus. My guess is probably no releasing people who would otherwise vote. And by releasing, I use that loosely because Schumer is not the type of Senate leader who's going to make anybody do anything. He's going to service them. He is a concierge as opposed to a leader. But there were people who are probably doing favors and Klobuchar is in the leadership and she would feel some obligation to provide some room. And so if they get this, if they vote for cloture, my guess is we're going to get down to like, they're going to have no Vote to spare.

[Emma Vigland]

But. But my concern then is that Rand Paul flips back.

[Sam Cedar]

Oh, Rand Paul will flip back. I think Rand Paul will probably flip back. What's going to be interesting is if they're able. They want to be able to have one more vote than they need from the Democrats. And I'm saying the Democrats themselves who vote.

[Emma Vigland]

This is. Jake Sherman laid it out pretty well. This is the path to closure that they need. Now, Schumer, Fetterman.

[Sam Cedar]

I thought Bennett was a no.

[Emma Vigland]

Well, that's what I'm saying. These are the people who are. Oh, Bennett's a no. Okay.

[Sam Cedar]

So I thought Bennett was a no. I didn't. We just hear that.

[Emma Vigland]

This is very. It's all, you know, it's very difficult to say. Very difficult to say.

[Sam Cedar]

I thought Slotkin was basically saying the other day, too, that she was a no, but maybe.

[Emma Vigland]

I mean, is Gary Peters gonna be a no even though he's retiring and she's not? Bennett's a no. Yeah, so. So. So Sherman is. Is not. Doesn't have his count. Correct.

[Sam Cedar]

But here's the thing. What they don't want, what the Democrats don't want, the Democrats who are going to vote yes on cloture, in other words, to allow the bill to proceed. What they don't want is they don't want to vote and have every one of their votes needed. So if they need. If the Republicans need seven votes to feel safe, these Democrats are going to want eight votes. Now, if I'm retiring, I don't have to worry about it as much. But you don't want to have anybody come at you and say, if you had voted no, then you would have stopped this bill. You want there to be one other voter, one other vote, and that way you get protection. I'm not the reason why it was. Even if I had voted yes.

[Emma Vigland]

Yeah. But I mean, this is, I think, also Klobuchar, basically seeing the writing on the wall with Schumer, and she wants to take out her position.

[Sam Cedar]

Hope springs eternal.

[Emma Vigland]

But he's in trouble. It's not hope. Like, I mean, I'm sorry. Jeffries just threw him under the bus. It's a matter of time. It's a matter of time.

[Sam Cedar]

Oh, yes, that I would agree with.

[Emma Vigland]

But she's having to think about, like, do you know, is there a leadership overhaul? Or can I just. Can I rise to the top because of my seniority? I hope that's not the case, because I don't think she's a very good politician. But she may Be good as like a Senate kind of bipartisan person. But we need a leader in the Senate right now.

[Sam Cedar]

Let's do one more clip. What should we do here?

[Emma Vigland]

I'm looking now.

[Sam Cedar]

Do we have any notion of when the vote's going to be?

[Emma Vigland]

It was supposed to be over an hour ago. Taking a look.

[Sam Cedar]

Let's do the Eric Weinstein. Is that one funny? We haven't, we haven't heard from Eric Weinstein in so long. This is where, where has he been? He's got to be busy and I mean, Peter Thiel. Is he still working for Peter Thiel? He's got to be very excited.

[Emma Vigland]

Yeah. Where's he at now? Was. He was the brother. I always get them confused. He's maybe the more sane Weinstein. That's correct.

[Bradley]

I mean, that's very difficult to say.

[Emma Vigland]

Okay. But I know this is the one.

[Sam Cedar]

Who thought that he invented or had discovered some new physics and you have.

[Bradley]

To go on his discord in order to find it because he's not going to do it. Put it through peer review.

[Emma Vigland]

Peer review. He's also the guy that said that the vaccine has to be good for the COVID vaccine because Israel gave it to their population. And by definition, whatever Israel does is a moral choice.

[Bradley]

Well, that was better reasoning than his brothers who was just an anti vax psycho.

[Emma Vigland]

That's what I'm saying. The more sane one.

[Eric Weinstein]

I am getting so much abuse out there from people on the right and nobody on the right stands up. I'm just like, wow, you guys are a bunch of cowards. You can't even stand up for your friends who you fought shoulder to shoulder with. And in particular, I'll be entirely honest, one of the most off putting things I ever heard in my life is that when you look at people who've been fighting the war longer than you are, and then you say, well, you know, you didn't endorse. Did you ever call? Did anyone ever call?

[Jeet Heer]

Never.

[Eric Weinstein]

Not a single phone call. Nobody cared about my endorsement. Eric, I have to tell you, you know, you don't get any apologies or. Yeah, well, you don't get any. Someone coming around and saying, oh, I should have done this. No, no, that's what I'm saying. I'm saying that you have, you have an opportunity.

[Sam Cedar]

Pause it for a second. Now, I just wanted to be clear. Here he is, he is saying that he's getting grief from his friends on the right because he wasn't endorsing Trump. And Ruben doesn't understand what he's Saying, and it's hard because he's trying so gently and he's, he's mad that he's not being embraced by his new right wing friends in some way.

[Emma Vigland]

So I found, I was, when he said this, I was like, oh, is he going to criticize? Is he going to do a Lincoln project thing and criticize how the Republicans just cow. How the Trump. No, it's just about his personal anger.

[Bradley]

Completely personal delusions of grandeur.

[Sam Cedar]

Go back. Oh yeah, these guys, the. I can only imagine what the Weinstein brothers mom was like, oh my God. I mean, I think she must have like when these guys came home like from school and like, oh my God, look at you. You can't, you came back like, oh, did you just take a poopy? Well, yes. Then you did that so well for a 14 year old.

[Harris Faulkner]

Good for you.

[Sam Cedar]

And you wiped yourself. I mean these guys really.

[Emma Vigland]

I mean narcissism is probably hereditary. Is what we're discovering.

[Bradley]

Maybe some environmental sort of leak or that.

[Emma Vigland]

Yeah, exactly.

[Eric Weinstein]

Well, either way, getting the war longer than you are. And then you say, well, you know, you didn't endorse. Did you ever call? Did anyone ever call?

[Bradley]

Who are you?

[Jeet Heer]

Never.

[Eric Weinstein]

Not a single phone call. Nobody cared about my endorsement. Eric, I'd have to tell you, you know, you don't get any advice.

[Sam Cedar]

I pause. Everyone's like, I just so fantastic. Like he's what? What Weinstein's saying. Go back to the beginning of this clip too. What Weinstein's saying is, he's saying they're mad at me for not endorsing, but nobody came to solicit my endorsement because I'm Eric Weinstein. Why didn't anybody come and say, you know, President Trump didn't call me, the children's didn't come, I didn't get invited to Mar A Lago. Or maybe he did, but I didn't. Even if I went to Mar A Lago, I didn't get invited.

[Bradley]

That'd be funny if Russell Brand got the invite and he didn't.

[Sam Cedar]

And then Dave Rubin, of course, whose brain is almost like you can almost not measure his brainwaves, they're so small and so almost non existent. Thinks that Eric is asking for an.

[Emma Vigland]

Apology and yeah, but I like the how under, under all of it. Eric doesn't question at all that he might not matter that much.

[Sam Cedar]

Well, he does say, he does say on some level like, you know, nobody cared about my endorsement begs the question.

[Bradley]

Of why should they?

[Emma Vigland]

Right? But that's the second part of It. He can't go there.

[Sam Cedar]

My new physics explains it all, but you need to, you need to be a paying member of my discord to find out. But here's Ruben trying to be all salty like, you know how this game is played and in fact, then why he's like, I'm not talking about that game. All right, but go ahead.

[Eric Weinstein]

It's out there. Yeah, from people on the right. And nobody on the right stands up. And it's like, wow, you guys are a bunch of cowards. You can't even stand up for your friends who you fought shoulder to shoulder with. And in particular, I'll be entirely honest, one of the most off putting things I ever heard in my life is that when you look at people who've been fighting the war longer than you are, and then you say, well, you know, you didn't endorse. Do you ever call? Did anyone ever call?

[Jeet Heer]

Never.

[Eric Weinstein]

Not a single phone call. Nobody cared about my endorsement. Eric, I have to tell you, you know, you don't get any apologies or. Yeah, well, you don't get any. Someone coming around and saying, oh, I should have done this. No, no, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that you have an opportunity. If my endorsement mattered, like when they called Bobby, Bobby said, I have things that I want. I had things that I wanted to know, I wanted. What are you gonna do about universities? What are you gonna do about science? You know, to hear Chris Rufa go off about, you know, we're gonna stick it to the Ivies, I'm like, well, I understand getting rid of the woke. I understand getting rid of the dei, understanding all these things, you're gonna destroy the crown jewels of American science. Who are you exactly? You know, my, my claim is you have. Do you think there's much left there at the universities?

[Emma Vigland]

Oh, my God.

[Eric Weinstein]

Go to a seminar and, you know, look, I go in economics, I go in mathematics, I go in physics, and I go in biology.

[Sam Cedar]

Yes.

[Eric Weinstein]

There's so much great stuff happening in universities. I'm a huge critic of American universities, but the current group of people doesn't know anything about what they're destroying. Posit, you know.

[Sam Cedar]

Was this not predictable? We have literally 40, 50 years of Republican assaults on universities. Like way before woke or DEI those terms were ever invented. Republicans have been trying to attack universities and education as a fundamental pillar of their project since the 1960s, early 70s.

[Bradley]

William F. Buckley wrote a book that put him on the public spotlight called God and Man at Yale.

[Sam Cedar]

I mean, right? This has Been ongoing. And to be like, I'm really surprised.

[Emma Vigland]

Well, also, he's kind of doing the half thing that Sam Harris has been doing or Sam Harris has been kind of excommunicated from the right because he thinks that Trump is a lunatic and he was pro COVID vaccine, which, like, I don't like Sam Harris.

[Sam Cedar]

Well, Sam Harris say, I never was on the right. I just have an intense hatred of Muslims.

[Emma Vigland]

But they came up together as a part of the idw. Right. And so they're still buddies, I would guess. And Weinstein here is really saying, like, okay, well, I still supported Donald Trump, but no one came and asked for my endorsement. Like, I'm in Sam Harris no man's land now, but I did all the right things.

[Bradley]

Name recognition between him versus Robert F. Kennedy. Little bit of a gap, I think.

[Sam Cedar]

Oh, do you think, do you think that Bobby Kennedy was able to move more votes than Eric Weinstein? Huh? Interesting theory, Matt, but I need to see some evidence, and I guess you don't have any. Do you really think that, like, people, I mean, the Weinstein name, oh, incidentally, he's not related to the one who is in prison. And the Kennedy name, I don't know, political royalty. It's an interesting theory. I'm going to have to ideate on that for a while, but continue.

[Eric Weinstein]

The current group of people doesn't know anything about what they're destroying. You know, the USAID stuff, well, that's a laundry list of weapons. We're trying to destabilize regimes. And now you can see that, you know, we were trying to destabilize our own people. Yeah, right. You have to ask, can I at least get a hearing with, like, what are these things? If you just go line items, as I said, you wouldn't want to do after October 7th if you were auditing Israel, say, why are we providing pagers, walkie talkies and tech support to Hezbollah? And, you know, because that's part of, like, the secret statecraft that we were up to. And the fact that it's cancerous, the fact that it's wasteful, the fact that it's immoral and illegal and all these sorts of things. Those are very important facts. But you do have to realize that you can't just keep saying sunlight is the best disinfectant in vox populi vox a day. Does this just get us back to.

[Sam Cedar]

I don't even know if I understand what he was trying to say.

[Bradley]

Is he criticizing how they went after usaid?

[Sam Cedar]

It seems it's unclear to me, he's, I think he's saying, like, we can't make that transparent. I don't know. Yeah, I can't quite tell. I think he's trying to be, you know, somewhat. He's trying to walk some type of razor's edge and get attention out of it. Yes.

[Bradley]

But at usaid, this is from a devex, which I've never heard of before. Devex.com But USAID staff shred as many documents first and reserve the burn bags for when the shredder becomes unavailable or needs a break, according to an email written by Erica Y. Carr, the acting Executive Secretary of usaid. So even if you want to get, which I think would be useful, getting to the sort of things he's talking about within usaid, where it's weaponized against other countries, you wouldn't want to tell them to use burn bags and get rid of all.

[Sam Cedar]

Incidentally, patently illegal. There is a government Records Act. You are not allowed to do that because the U.S. citizens have a right to have that information preserved, A, and B, maybe even made public to be determined by a judge, the judiciary, you know, whether this stuff is. Meets certain criteria.

[Bradley]

So that's why we have expectations for the JFK documents, for instance.

[Jeet Heer]

Go ahead.

[Eric Weinstein]

Well, you got it already. No, no, no. You said you can't have a panther in the china shop that selectively knocks over the china. And you and I have been sort of. It was just like one of the most insightful things. We don't have to agree on it, but my claim is it's very dangerous to do what we're doing right now. And if we were having, if we did it with more care, I'm directionally very much in favor of. You know, when I was asked by Constantine Kisson, what is Trump going to do? I said, he's going to renegotiate the world. This is the third founding of the Republic. We had Washington, we had Lincoln, and we have this. And you're pleased about that. It's just you just won. So that's the interesting thing. I sense you're pleased about directionally every which way is going. You'd like some sort of more of.

[Dave Rubin]

A barrier or something.

[Eric Weinstein]

Can we do this like adults? Do we have to signal to all our allies, you'll have no idea where we're going to be. We need to do a lot more assurance, explain to people why things are going on. I have no idea from outside whether this is as crazy as it looks, whether there's method to the madness. I understand Some of it I don't understand. Other. And the thing that I keep getting from so many people who do have connections, like, you know, I haven't been to Mar A Lago. You've been to Mar A Lago. I don't know what's going on inside of this thing. So everybody who's outside of this, it's very golden, it's very gone. That the issue is if you can't pick up the phone to call your own friends who fought the same.

[Sam Cedar]

Oh, my God. This is all I know it's fascinating about this is we're just hearing him complain that he's not getting the information he wants. He is not talking about, like I thought when he said your allies, like, why isn't Trump communicating to other countries around the world? Or. And I just realized that he's basically saying, how come no one's calling me and telling me what's going on?

[Bradley]

I'm sitting here looking at my phone, waiting.

[Sam Cedar]

I'm waiting. I'm not invited to Mar A Lago. And then of course, Rubin has to say, well, I've been. And it really, it's, it's very gold. No, no, I'm. My point is that no one's calling me and keeping me on the inside.

[Emma Vigland]

Isn't that kind of how, like, we see this in media? And it's just, I guess I'm naive about it. There are so many people that when they feel like they're not in the in crowd in some, like, political area of, you know, whatever, they're not getting the guests they used to, they change their politics.

[Sam Cedar]

That's exactly what's going on here.

[Emma Vigland]

Like, it's all motivated by personal connections. And the idea that.

[Sam Cedar]

Always been that for him too.

[Emma Vigland]

I know, but like the idea that. But I guess there's so much running on the right. The idea that anyone would get into the media space except to have, like, conviction about something.

[Sam Cedar]

Well, what are you going to do?

[Bradley]

Be one of these guys that says, like, yes, I agree with all these other people and that Trump is doing everything great. That's not how the Weinsteins are built. They're built different.

[Emma Vigland]

Yeah.

[Bradley]

There's a quote here from. Well, it comes from a racist guy or guy who used to be racist, who I think probably still is racist now. Richard Henania. But one of his sources tweeted or gave this to him. I'm an NIH funded biomedical scientist with conservative leanings. I know at least a dozen scientists, a small closeted minority who voted for Trump largely because of Frustrations with DEI and extreme wokeness that had permeated every aspect of the university. Each one of us deeply regrets their vote for Trump and are utterly ashamed of it. We are absolutely horrified at how mindlessly destructive this admin has been to the scientific institutions. They are single handedly destroying the STEM dominance us established over decades. Average Americans simply, this is their elitism coming through. Average Americans simply do not realize that we are now on the verge of a precipitous decline in stem. We all admit that the warnings about Trump MAGA were on target and the thing we argue about now is whether the damage is even reversible. All the lefty overreach was annoying as hell, but the MAGA disdain for science is 100 times worse.

[Sam Cedar]

I would, I would address these NIH funded biomedical scientists that their predictive ability in terms of what's going to happen with experiments leaves a lot to be desired. Now, as scientists, they probably appreciate doing this experiment and getting all the data. The problem is, however, this is probably one experiment that you don't want to engage in because it very well may be irreversible. I mean, the, and here's the problem is you have this stuff going on and there's, you know, look, I don't know how we would ever explicitly quantify how many people there are out there, like these NIH scientists, like the IRS workers in St. Louis, like, you know, the people who are not going to get contracts, like the farmers, whatnot, who are regretting their vote. And of course the other people who sort of anticipated this would be a problem. But what Chuck Schumer is doing, he is making it absolutely impossible for Democrats to sort of nationalize the sentiment, to make it like a cohesive movement and make it very clear how Democrats are in opposition to this. And it will take a national movement if you have any hope, and I think the hope is minimal, if you have any hope of peeling off 1, 2, 3 members of Congress to make them somewhat reluctant to pause and be like, I'm not sure I should go along with this because I'm in a, you know, purple district in New York or I'm in a purple district in California, or I'm in a purple district in, you know, whatever, Illinois, wherever it is. I don't know if I should do this because it's making it very hard for me. I think it's unlikely you're going to peel them off because of this threat from Elon Musk. But man, you got to try.

[Emma Vigland]

You got to try because this stuff.

[Sam Cedar]

Is not Going to just. There's not going to be a cohesiveness that is going to impact every congressperson around the country unless it becomes a national message. You cannot rely on the different pockets around the country. And if you had spent the time in creating this narrative of what Elon Musk and what the Republicans and what Project 2025 was doing in terms of basically shutting down parts of the government you could easily transition to. They're shutting down the government. All we got dropped is the parts. Because the reality is, too, that when a government shutdown happens, there are some things that still function. It is a complete failure of leadership by Chuck Schumer. And, you know, it very well may be that everyone who believes it's a complete failure of leadership, which, you know, sort of feels like now the majority of the Democratic Party needs to do what Chuck Schumer has been incapable of doing in his entire career, which is. And Democrats generally are bad at doing that, is take the loss and make it the basis of a victory in the future. Lemons? Lemonade, whatever. Do we. What's our update? We have any idea what's happening?

[Emma Vigland]

Nothing since. Yeah. I mean, this vote was supposed to.

[Sam Cedar]

Happen an hour ago.

[Emma Vigland]

Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

Which leads me to believe that at the very least, they're still scrambling to make sure that they got the votes.

[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez]

Yep.

[Emma Vigland]

Yep.

[Sam Cedar]

Usually when they got the votes, they take the vote, basically.

[Emma Vigland]

Per of NBC News says that the only three who've said they vote yes publicly are Schumer, Federman, and Cortez. Masto. I think Gillibrand is a. Yeah. Is gonna vote yes, too. So. But Gallego clarified that he's, you know, he also, when he said no, he meant the CR and cloture, which some of them are trying to get cute. Right. Like, so Gallego says, yeah, I don't get cute with this shit, basically. So he. He's. He's. He's.

[Sam Cedar]

I don't get cute with that shit now. Yeah, he's trying to be a little cutesy about it. But, but, but both.

[Emma Vigland]

I mean, Gallego and Kelly are doing the centrist thing, and they're both knows.

[Sam Cedar]

So in every. And this is why you got to keep calling, because every centrist, every frontline Democratic senator in Arizona is, you know, sort of frontline Democratic senators. Nevada is, too. We got that. The split. Every one of them that doesn't say, yes, I'm doing this provides less cover for those who do. It makes it harder. That's why I'm really surprised about the Nevada delegation splitting.

[Emma Vigland]

I am, too. It's interesting because I mean both. Both Georgia Democrats have come out on the right side, both Arizona Democrats have come out on the right side and I think I would not be shocked to Cortez. Is Cortez Masso a part of like Emily's List or something like that? I mean that could make sense. That's Jill Brown has deep connections there. I don't know.

[Sam Cedar]

I don't know.

[Emma Vigland]

I mean, she's sucking up to Jill O'Brien who's the head of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee. Maybe that's just a theory. I don't know. Who will decide who gets all that money and where it goes?

[Sam Cedar]

Doja to do do Sam Lines are super busy sometimes don't connect both DC and local but got through to Pres. Padilla and Schiff in California to stay no on cloture and CR Piper, did you say what Durbin is voting? We have not heard. Dave from town says settle in Mr. Crew order a bottle of Irish whiskey before it costs $400. Micah in Berkeley Schumer keeps saying the courts will be shut down in a shutdown, but that's not entirely true. No, it is not. My fiance starts for a vaccine startup. My fiance says Tim Pool's unemployment claim, the medical director, president execs all voted for Trump and now they're getting worried about their NIH grant. Amazing.

[Bradley]

It's people who have tough time paying the bills who I think we should be a little easy on. But sorry guys, you are scientist yeah.

[Emma Vigland]

You should have known better.

[Sam Cedar]

Idiot.

[Bradley]

You stupid assholes.

[Sam Cedar]

Well sometimes you need to do the experiment to find out. You don't want to assume I tried.

[Bradley]

To read the research first.

[Sam Cedar]

Clem the people are aroused. Chuck Schumer literally a month ago. I'm Ron Paul Ryan Blue sky posts are called Skeets Sam wish. Oh is that a joke? Thanes Darwin this argument from Schumer is like the head of the SPD in Germany in 33 said, well I've got to vote for the Enabling Act. Can you imagine what Hitler would do without the actual dark soul? Quite the change of tune from Schumer's shitty billionaire buddies. Tick tock. When he actually has to do something for once. Built in apathy. It's in God's hands now. Sledge and sickle. Schumer and his feckless leadership should have been primaried long ago. Schumer. What Schumer's like classic move is is tacking to the left. Well you know, a year or two out from the election. Yeah.

[Emma Vigland]

So for folks wanting to keep track. Here is the latest. Basically, it's the. The maximum, maximum amount of votes with the public declarations that Schumer can get is 11, including himself. So that's dwindling a little bit. I can send this updated chart. So now it's basically Durbin, King, Shaheen, Hassan, Schatz, Peters and Hirono that are still extant. That are still extent extant. Gillibrand is still technically extant, but I think we know how she's going to go.

[Sam Cedar]

Okay, so you're saying we haven't heard from Peters yet.

[Emma Vigland]

Here it is, basically. So that's, that's who.

[Sam Cedar]

Ccm, of course. Kathleen Cortez Master. Okay, so there's four, probably with Gillibrand.

[Emma Vigland]

Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

And then they need three more.

[Emma Vigland]

They do need three more out of Durban.

[Sam Cedar]

King Shaheen Hussen, although.

[Emma Vigland]

Because they would need three more. If you believe that Rand Paul will cave.

[Sam Cedar]

He will cave, right? If they need him.

[Emma Vigland]

Yep. But that's what I'm saying. They would need him in that, in that scenario.

[Sam Cedar]

It's going to be tough because I can see Durbin doing this as a favor to Schumer. They have been longtime friends. And if Durbin's leaving office, he's 80. I don't know what's going on in northern New England. King, Shaheen and Hassan.

[Emma Vigland]

I mean, King is 80. He just got elected.

[Sam Cedar]

White House is. No. Huh. Okay.

[Emma Vigland]

Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

White House was going to try and be part of that group.

[Emma Vigland]

I, Shatz and Hirono, I'm just perplexed. Like, I understand their concern because their government shutdown would disproportionately harm their state of Hawaii because of how many federal workers are there. But the union is saying that they don't support the cr.

[Sam Cedar]

Well, I don't know if we're going to be able to do this much longer, but if. When the vote comes up, we'll hop on YouTube and do a stream. Before we go, folks, we've got some, some news. The show for the past couple years, I don't know when it was exactly that we came out of.

[Emma Vigland]

Can we bring the chart off? Hold on.

[Sam Cedar]

Oh, I'm trying to think of like when we got back into the studio, but. Or I know when I did, like in the wake of COVID but part of the process of, you know, we're five years out from the lockdown, but maybe, you know, really two or three from when we really got out. You came on in October.

[Emma Vigland]

November of 2020.

[Sam Cedar]

Of 2020.

[Emma Vigland]

Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

Oh, Jesus.

[Bradley]

And you got you. It was just you two in here for a while.

[Emma Vigland]

Right.

[Bradley]

With like shower curtains.

[Emma Vigland]

There's a shower curtain hanging from that rod. I'm looking above to protect us well from each other. It worked. We. I don't think either of us gave each other coven in the end.

[Sam Cedar]

No, we didn't. Never did. Matt gave us all Covid at one point. But part of the, you know, the challenge was like getting back to some semblance of. Of normalcy. And Brandon left us sometime around that. All the dates my brain has gone to mush. And we were very lucky to have Bradley show up and help us sort of like re. Re readjust and rejigger as we, you know, started to come out of like the sort of the. The COVID post Covid world. And which is not to say that Covid is not still a problem. I do suggest that you take all precautions long. Covid is a real bitch. And the more that you get exposed to Covid, the more likely you're to catch it. And it affects your immune system. But I'm saying as a social issue, I'm speaking about it as like a social dynamic. And we had to adjust to a new video system and reop it. And Bradley has been a huge part of basically getting us back to normal and growing and started doing video guests.

[Bradley]

Too, at wrangling all the video guests, which was a new thing.

[Sam Cedar]

Yeah, we started doing that was back before COVID We would just do audio calls I don't think we ever had. We would just have a picture Chiron and a Chiron. And Bradley is moving on. And I just want to take this time to acknowledge the great work you've done and the.

[Emma Vigland]

What a camera angle.

[Sam Cedar]

Not so much on the camera work, but the. The great work you've done and the encyclopedic memory you have about congresspeople across the country. It's sort of shocking in some respect how encyclopedic that knowledge was.

[Emma Vigland]

It also extends to like college football players from like 10 years ago or something like that. Like the third string running back on X team.

[Sam Cedar]

I've never. I've never ever wondered about a college football player probably in my entire life. Except for like one guy from Holy Cross, like 30 years ago, or Gil Fenerdale, I think his name was.

[Emma Vigland]

I'm shocked. He was Irish.

[Sam Cedar]

Yeah. Yeah. It's hard to believe. But Bradley, literally, you can be like, what. What's going on in Iowa? Oh, well, in the fifth district and you know, that type of thing.

[Bradley]

Who's ex representative? Oh, they're from this place.

[Sam Cedar]

Exactly.

[Bradley]

I've never heard of them before in my life.

[Sam Cedar]

And we'll, we'll miss Bradley. I know you guys are gonna miss Bradley hearing from him. But the nature of this show, we've had people, a lot of people come through and I will say our producer emeritus crew goes on to some pretty prestigious things that people like go and work for Bernie Sanders. People go out and getting their PhD and in health policy and start their own show shows.

[Bradley]

Meme coins.

[Sam Cedar]

Meme coins.

[Emma Vigland]

That's your next venture.

[Bradley]

Bradley Coin.

[Sam Cedar]

Bradley is about to introduce his. His. His meme coin pre rug pull. Yeah. So I want to. And apparently according to buckets and buckets, Bradley is the only one who can pronounce western New York cities and towns correctly. Here is a shofar for Bradley.

[Harris Faulkner]

Thank you guys.

[Bradley]

It's been a, it's been a thrill of a lifetime, truly this last almost four years and I'm very, very grateful for my time with all of you.

[Harris Faulkner]

I'm hoping I won't be a stranger.

[Bradley]

To the audience too.

[Harris Faulkner]

To all my friends in the YouTube.

[Bradley]

Chat mods, Twitch mods, discord mods, thank.

[Harris Faulkner]

You for everything and I love you all and hopefully remember to think about me when I, when I, when I leave. Don't forget me is all I want.

[Bradley]

Is what I want to leave you.

[Sam Cedar]

With no, you will be ensconced in the Ameriti. We just need funding for the. The museum or the funhouse.

[Bradley]

The funhouse song sort of work as that.

[Emma Vigland]

Yeah, exactly.

[Sam Cedar]

That's true. DSA in Atlanta we love you Bradley. Good luck hack all things Bradley is very poggers Twitch chat loves you. The circus in town. Will Bradley's chuckle be in the background? Best of luck Dave from Lynn Bradley. No thanks Obama Steve Austin say it ain't so. We'll miss you Bradley. NASA county spokesperson Bradley gonna miss you. Noel from San Francisco. Great job Bradley. I'm sad to see you go. Wish you best of luck. No recovery mind surprise you don't think about football players more. Sam left his best Kentucky leftist. Bradley just started off as just some guy. Now he's leaving us as a legend. Best of luck. A goat quibbing. Bradley, you the king. Wish you the best. Ashman Bradley goaded Kunapa dad. Aloha Bradley. It's getting. I can't even keep up with now it's keep going down. I mean the. This thing's moving so fast. Charlie jerk. I'm voting no on Bradley leaving. I will Ryan. I'll miss Bradley's laughter in the back. Mikey, love World class independent media producer. Bradley. Tom Cotton's beard says I will miss his sonorous voice. Someone says the school day's over. You're still on. It's moving. Honestly, moving so fast I can barely keep up with it. I didn't open up the atium today. Jibber jabber. No, not our favorite random guy. Farewell. Bradley. You were just a truly a regular guy. Punch drunk pulpit. I remember Sam hyped up the Bradley reveal so much more before he started. And damn, did he live up to.

[Emma Vigland]

The hype that was so ridiculous. I remember the whole week. It was like a countdown to the reveal.

[Sam Cedar]

Tater Tot. What are Bradley's future plans? Tim Pool, you're having an emotional, emotional breakdown right now. Smart B. Oh, also, Bradley goaded Ginger Squatch. Getting my vasectomy reversed so I can have a boy to name.

[Emma Vigland]

Stupid.

[Sam Cedar]

Not your state rep. Can I get a chauffeur for my wife? She's a citizen. Answer today. Mind pillow. I'll miss you, Bradley. Love to hear every time you jumped in the conversation, whether it was about politics or football. Always a good take. Vinnie from Buffalo. Bradley the goat of all time. Charlie jerk. Call your senators. Vote no on Bradley leaving. We'll miss you. Thank you. I mean, on and on and on. Let this fill up. Hopeful one. Emma, we're crying too.

[Emma Vigland]

I wasn't crying. Oh, I tried to hide it so much more sleepily. This.

[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez]

We need you to be mamala of the country.

[Emma Vigland]

Oh, I wish I could help that thing. But yes. I love Bradley. I want to talk about it.

[Sam Cedar]

You do? All right. Bradley, thank you so much.

[Harris Faulkner]

Thank you.

[Sam Cedar]

Commissary privileges for you as emeritus producer last a lifetime. No more rationing of the desserts or the salad or anything of the buffet. It's a full on. You get to have multiple ones per day at the commissary and go up. And your tables, of course, are bused now, so you get all the emeritus privileges.

[Harris Faulkner]

It's what I was jealous of when Brendan left. Yes.

[Sam Cedar]

I mean, he really.

[Bradley]

He's down the commissary right now.

[Sam Cedar]

He really abused. He really abused it. All right, folks. Oh, Tater tot. One last poly market drop for Bradley.

[Emma Vigland]

Oh, yes.

[Sam Cedar]

Margot from Mass. Losing Bradley is losing one of the only Housewives watchers too. Don't I know sports and politics Quality, Nebraska. Please let Bradley know I'm crying because he's leaving. It wouldn't hurt if he. If he didn't matter. Gold rush. John, Emma's not crying. Eric Weinstein live for the polymark studio in la.

[Emma Vigland]

Very nice.

[Sam Cedar]

Does Bradley have a Blue sky handle to follow?

[Harris Faulkner]

Yes, I do.

[Bradley]

I need to look at it.

[Sam Cedar]

I'll put.

[Harris Faulkner]

I can put it.

[Bradley]

I. I haven't really posted on it.

[Sam Cedar]

I do though.

[Emma Vigland]

It's. It's much better than Twitter these days, but.

[Sam Cedar]

Oh. Squirt Cobain. Tim Pool announcing he's leaving YouTube the same day Bradley leaves.

[Harris Faulkner]

No way.

[Bradley]

You guys got a special little thing planned, don't you?

[Harris Faulkner]

Yeah, sorry guys, we're weird to announce it now.

[Sam Cedar]

Risa, Bradley, come hang out in the Discord one time. All right, folks. Bradley, great job today, this week, last four years, almost. Matt, Emma, great job this week. Thanks folks. We will see you on Monday.

[Harris Faulkner]

It might take a strength like I.

[Sam Cedar]

To get to where I want But.

[Harris Faulkner]

I know somehow I'm going to get there I wasn't looking when I just.

[Sam Cedar]

Got caught between the truth and the light bar Finding out won't make me.

[Harris Faulkner]

Feel any better.

[Sam Cedar]

Yeah, I know the clock is ticking in but the meds.

[Harris Faulkner]

Are gonna kick in and my pilot.

[Sam Cedar]

Light shining bright I get somewhere the choice was made for the option where you don't get paid for the road that bends before it finally breaks you.

[Harris Faulkner]

I guess somehow I lost my drive.

[Sam Cedar]

Between the 101 and the 5 do you know how far the teacher takes you? Yeah, I know the clock is ticking.

[Harris Faulkner]

But the man's not gonna kick in and my pilot light shining bright It.