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The Majority Report with Sam Seder
2464 - Stephen Miller's Admin & Society Folding to Fascism w/ Heather 'Digby' Parton
01:21:52
It's Friday! Sam and Emma welcome Heather 'Digby' Parton back to the program for a look at another very busy week in news. First, Sam and Emma run through updates on HHS’ mass firings, Dem lawmakers’ demand for the release of the abducted Tufts...
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- [00:00]
Sam Cedar
Hi folks. Today's episode is brought to you by one of my favorite sponsors. That's right. Sunsetlakesabeday.com youm gotta get the product to know why I don't say those, those, those three letters in the way that most people do. The coupon code left is best, will get you 20% off. They have such an amazing wide array of Seba Day products. They have tinctures, tinctures that help you sleep, tinctures that make you feel calm, tinctures that are 600 milligrams, tinctures that are 750 milligrams all in between three different flavors of the tinctures. They also have smokeables. They got a new vape cart as well. They got keef pre rolls, flour. They have lotions with Saba Day. They have solves with Saba Day. They have gummies, gummies with Delta Nah and Tha. And once they get the AI, they'll figure out what I'm doing on YouTube. But that, that's, that's what it's going to ultimately have to be is I'm just going to have to do the whole ad in my Gaga 9 pay. Here's the point though. Sunsetlakesebide.com They're a great company. They have given literally tens of thousands of dollars to things like refugee resettlement, carceral reform, strike relief funds, food pantries, Planned Parenthood, the list goes on and on. They're a great company. They have great business practices, $20 minimum wage, mostly employee owned. They have great farming practices, no pesticides. They use integrated pest management, regenerative farming. So they take care of the soil and all of their product third party tested. So you know exactly what's in it and you know what you're looking for. I like it. I found after a while that it's the Saba Day and the SEBA and together is the thing that makes me go to sleep and that is worth a million dollars. But it's not actually, it's much cheaper than that. And then you get 20 off with the coupon code left is best. Sunsetlakesebade.com check it out now. Time for the show the Majority Report with Sam Cedar where every day casual Friday, that means Monday is casual. Monday, Tuesday, casual Tuesday, Wednesday casual hump day. Thursday casual Thirz, that's what we call it. And Friday, casual Shabbat. The Majority Report with Sam Cedar. It is Friday, March 28, 2025. My name is Sam Cedar. This is the five time award winning Majority Report. We are broadcasting live steps from the industrially ravaged Gowanus Canal in the heartland of America, downtown Brooklyn, usa. On the program, it's Casual Friday. Heather Parton, you may know her as Digby. Both the salon writer and the proprietor of the Uber blog Hullabaloo, will be joining us to look back on this most recent travesty of the week. Also on the program today, huge cuts at Health and Human Services. They're going to leave the agency ultimately with less than three quarters of its personnel that it has now. Democratic lawmakers demand a release of disappeared Tufts student. Trump claims tariffs to go into effect next week as Canada preps for life with hostiles at its southern border. Meanwhile, Trump targets the Smithsonian programs because of their improper ideology. Senate Republicans vote to remove caps on overdraft fees. So good news, you're no longer going to be your freedom is no longer going to be encumbered by caps on how much you have to pay when you accidentally overdraft.
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Emma Vigland
The right wing populists have got it locked down.
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Sam Cedar
I will also add that also banks will now have the freedom to go back to their practice of time shifting the checks that you cut so they can increase the overdraft fees. Freedom tastes so good. HUD refusing to pay back pay to court ordered reinstated probationary employees. And a federal judge orders hiccup Seth Waltz and Gabbard Vance and Rubio to preserve their Houthi texts. And that judge, incidentally, the honorable Judge Boasberg.
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Emma Vigland
Yes, that guy King.
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Sam Cedar
They don't have the greatest luck when it comes to the lottery of judges. Meanwhile, panicked over the Pennsylvania special election results. Elise Stefanik nomination to the UN Scrapped. And Trump weighs in on the Wisconsin Supreme Court race. Trump also signs an EO demanding government agencies cancel their union contracts. All this and more on today's Majority Report. Welcome ladies and gentlemen.
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Emma Vigland
It is casual Friday, ostensibly very casual.
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Sam Cedar
I mean, I don't know, I feel like the my flight or flight fight or flight response is going to be activated for the next like four years, maybe three and a half or more. We'll see.
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Heather Parton
We will win.
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Sam Cedar
My God. Honestly, like I, it is, I have on my phone now several screen grabs of him doing that in different points just because I'm so enraged by oh.
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Emma Vigland
What is like a motivation. Motivational.
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Sam Cedar
It's type of wallpaper. Yeah.
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Emma Vigland
Got to get that pump in. I mean inspirational.
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Sam Cedar
The, the cuts. He was on Twitter last night bemoaning some cuts to something. I can't remember what it was and I just want it to be like you a maybe I did tweet out. I can't remember.
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Unknown
I pretty sure you did.
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Sam Cedar
I think I did like you. You did this. The reason why we have to tell people about these cuts is because it's hard to know if you're just an average person who is trying to make ends meet or trying to get Social Security checks or whatever it is. You don't have time to read every story about every cut at every agency and understand the dynamic that they're doing this despite the fact that there's some court actions against it, but they also have some latitude to do this. They are shutting down the government. They are. When you fire one quarter of the staff at hhs, the services provided by the Health and Human services part of our government, you are shutting down our, our government. But if you're on the receiving end of these benefits services, whatever it is, the likelihood that you are savvy as to what's going on and understand, oh, this isn't a problem with government, this is a problem with the administration is very slim. Which is why Chuck Schumer in basically letting them off the hook, giving them license to do all of this without accountability, because there is no political accountability for this. It's insane. With that said, fortunately, we are still in an era like between now and 2026. We're in an era where only. Well, I should say not only, but there is an advantage to high information, having high information voters and high propensity voters. And that's what the Democratic constituency has. They have a core group of voters who are very intense, very specific about voting, are on top of all this stuff. The Republicans have a wider, slightly group of voters who know less. This is just data. I'm not maligning anybody.
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Emma Vigland
But that was on exit polling for why, you know, Trump won in 2024 and why or how or how the midterms in 2022 weren't indicative because high propensity voters turn out for that. A lot of people just came out for Trump and left the rest of the ballot blank. And when you look at, you know, factors that cut across those low propensity voters, it's usually people that are lower information. The exit polls get a majority of their news from social media or don't consume news at all.
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Sam Cedar
We know that people who don't follow politics more than will more than likely vote for Trump. However, the other day in Pennsylvania, there was a couple of. One was a House seat, House race, and one was a state Senate seat. In the state Senate seat, it was a plus 15. Trump had won by 15 vote 15% in just, I don't know, five months ago, six months ago. And a Democrat won that seat by a hair. But that's a 15 point swing in the House seat the Democrat had won or Harris had won, I think by, I can't remember what it was, eight or something to that effect. And there was another. And this person, this Democrat had won in that seat, won by like 23. So that gives you a sense of like. And it's a very rough thing. And it's almost. The perception that it creates is almost as important as the reality of it. But it has got the Republicans panicked. On Tuesday, there is a incredibly important Supreme Court race in Wisconsin. We had Ben Wickler on a couple of weeks ago to talk about this. Voting is open in Wisconsin. Go and vote right now. Hang up your radio or computer and the phone and go and vote right now. Make sure you vote in that race. And in Florida, there are two House districts that were vacated, one by Matt Gaetz because he had an invitation with prosecutors and so he had to leave. And the second was Mike Walz's place and Mike Walls. Who knows how long he'll be around these days.
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Emma Vigland
Right.
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Sam Cedar
These two seats, Florida's first and sixth districts, they're slam dunks for Republicans. Except for maybe that next week there's.
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Emma Vigland
Been some polling that shows that particularly in that six district which Waltz vacated is that basically it's within the margin of error that that Democrat is polling and that that Democrat's name is Josh A while running against. Well, I can't read my own handwriting, but a Republican in that district.
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Sam Cedar
And I just want to make this clear, this is not speculation on our part. This is, or to the extent that it is, here is evidence that the Republicans are very, very worried about this. Elon Musk is going to Wisconsin and offering like a million dollars to anybody who signs his petition or something like that.
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Emma Vigland
That's legal in this country.
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Sam Cedar
And they're. I don't know how worried they are about Florida, but they are worried about these seats. And Elise Stefanik, perhaps one of the. What's the word for least? Integrity. Is there a word for that? I mean craven.
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Emma Vigland
Yeah.
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Sam Cedar
One of the most craven members of Congress, maybe politics. She has just gotten off her. Her final Instagram tour, reminiscing on her congressional career.
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Emma Vigland
Oh, it was.
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Sam Cedar
She was touring her district. Say goodbye. I was, I was part of the Republican House leadership. But now I'm moving on. I'm going to be the ambassador of.
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Emma Vigland
The UN to bigger and better.
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Sam Cedar
And you know, you know who that is. Like a huge step if you want to go from Congress into the presidency. What do you need? International relations hail. I mean, Nikki Haley, before she, you know, ruined her chances of going further in the Republican Party by having brown skin. Elise Stefanik is looking at that. That's the ticket for her. Bye, bye. Congress. I'm leaving. Except what? Pennsylvania. Go.
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Kayleigh McEnany
Congresswoman Elise Stefanik joins me with more. Congresswoman, you know, a lot of people praising your action today.
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Sam Cedar
I just want you to look at this. Whenever you see a politician come on with a smile that seems to be literally surgically implanted on their face, you know, they are enraged and upset because their people have said you cannot let anybody see that you're upset about this. So put on a huge smile. And every, you can tell, like the strain in her upper lip is so intense in making sure that those two corners of her mouth do not drop.
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Emma Vigland
It's actually good news. It's actually good news.
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Unknown
Especially my birthday today.
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Sam Cedar
Oh, my God. This is exactly what I wanted. I can't believe it. This is like 45, 45 level chess.
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Kayleigh McEnany
Congresswoman, you know, a lot of people praising your action today as selfless, as really heroic for the agenda of President Trump. I want to pull up this razor thin House majority. This is what we were looking at here. 218 to 215 is the narrow majority to 18 to 213 rather, which means Republicans can only lose two votes on any given piece legislation. A senior White House official told our Peter Doocy that when you look at this, this seat that you are in could have been vacant for most of the year. We don't have time to waste. They were referring to Governor Kathy Hochul, who is no friend of the Trump administration and would like to hold your seat open as long as possible. There were a lot of political realities at play, and I'm hoping you can take me behind the scenes into exactly how this transpired and what the thought process was.
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Elise Stefanik
Well, thank you, Kayleigh. First of all, I was honored to have earned that nomination by President Trump and I'm proud to be one of his top allies on Capitol Hill. This goes back to fighting against the witch hunt, impeachment. It goes back to being the first member of Congress who endorsed him as well as leading the charge in so many ways to combat anti Semitism, which, of course, he is taking action on today. I know the stakes as an elected representative for New York's 21st district and as a previous member of leadership in the House that We need to secure the border, cut taxes, unleash American energy independence, and deliver these historic results on behalf of the President because of this tremendous mandate that the American people gave him. So I have been proud to be a team player. The president knows that. He and I had multiple conversations today, and we are committed to delivering results on behalf of the American people. And as always, I'm committed to delivering results on behalf of my constituents.
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Sam Cedar
Pause it for one second. So you understand what she's saying here. She's, she's implying that like I, I had to keep saying to the president, please let me go back to Congress and not have this position because I need to protect our majority. She is so angry about this. She was angry that they were delaying her.
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Emma Vigland
That's what the Times reported, was that she was like, what's taking so long? Oh, yeah, I guess she must be thrilled to be going back to the House.
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Sam Cedar
And here's the other thing. Her position of leadership in the House, they gave that to somebody else. She's not on any committees, so they'll probably bump somebody, but she's going down. She's actually taking a step down. She is so mad. It is delightful. And also, you know, it's clear she doesn't want to be there, so she's up for a challenge.
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Emma Vigland
I hope that puts a target on her back. I also liked how Kayleigh McNaney, who's filling in for Hannity, tries to set her up so nicely about how she was the first to endorse Donald Trump. Yeah. This time around, the first time around, she came into Congress as basically a very Trump critical Republican. And because she has no principles at all except, you know, going after students for standing up for genocide and college administrators, she flipped on that, too.
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Kayleigh McEnany
What was the timeline on this? Did this all transpire today? Was it a long and thought out conversation? There's a lot of factors. There's, of course, the key election in Florida on Tuesday. There's Kathy Hochul's part in this. There's the notion that your seat has an open. Does not have an open primary. So there's a lot of factors. You know, what was the timeline of this? Was this a quick decision or one that was long and thought out?
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Elise Stefanik
Well, as you know, Kayleigh, I have been. I had my hearing the day after the inauguration. The hearing went incredibly smoothly. It passed by voice and there's been universal praise for the nomination. The reality is, as Democrats, as we see in New York State, it is totally corrupt. Kathy Hochul started threatening to move the ball on the election day, you see a highly, highly politicized radical left trying to do everything they can to defeat the president. And this is about stepping up as a team. And I am doing that as a leader to ensure that we can take hold of this mandate and deliver these historic results, that we can pass this reconciliation bill which will have tax cuts, it will have border security, American energy independence. And importantly, I look forward to continuing to hold higher education accountable for their failures, as well as all of my work on the House Armed Services Committee and in the national security space that I have been known for at the highest levels in Congress. So it really came to a culmination today. But it was a combination of the New York corruption that we're seeing under Kathy Hochul, special elections and the House margin. And look, I've been in a House, it's tough to count these votes every day. And we are going to continue to defy the political prognosticators and deliver victory on behalf of President Trump and all right, whatever.
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Sam Cedar
Dark Cassie, it's going to be interesting to see if she, what position she gets in the House leadership. They're going to have to create a new position for him for her. But that means that she's going to have to share.
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Emma Vigland
Anti Semitism.
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Sam Cedar
There's enough craven, Craven ism to go around. But this is absolutely delightful. So, so glad to see her personal dream stifled. Although this was a potential Democratic pickup, no doubt. I mean, this is the Republicans are paying attention to this for better or for worse. And so that's where we're at. Go vote. Vote in Florida, vote in Wisconsin. The election is on Tuesday. Not sure what the early voting rules are in Florida, but certainly I know you can go vote in Wisconsin right now. In a moment, we're going to be talking to Digby about this week's news. I guess before we do, a couple words from our sponsors. This is a sponsor that I was using for years and then became a sponsor that I'd say that's happened with about a half a dozen or so of our sponsors. And I love that. Fast growing trees. It's springtime, folks. Now, I know there's a little bit of controversy. When's the best time to plant? Early spring or early, you know, sort of mid to mid fall. 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- [27:51]
Emma Vigland
It'S.
- [28:39]
Sam Cedar
We are back. Sam Cedar, Emma Vigland on the majority report. Those are the delta towns of the. I can't remember who did that.
- [28:52]
Unknown
But.
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Sam Cedar
It'S the Digby theme song. It is Heather Parton, writer at Salon. You may know her as Digby, the proprietor of the blog Hullabaloo. Digby, always great to see you.
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Unknown
Thanks for having me. Glad to be here.
- [29:12]
Sam Cedar
Let's start with signal gate. It is.
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Emma Vigland
I saw someone im din and called it whiskey leaks, which is pretty.
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Unknown
I like that.
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Sam Cedar
Yeah, I like that. And it's interesting because it's the first scandal, I think of the Trump administration. And by scandal, I mean one that Puts them on their. On their heels a little bit. And. Well, I don't know, give me your sense of it. I mean, I mean, it shows the incredible incompetence and. A, incompetence and B, you know, it was in Project 2025 to do everything you can to avoid any type of, like, government transparency and, you know, prevent FOIAs in this instance. The other part about this is that the SIGNAL stuff was set to delete in four weeks, so they wanted no record of this whatsoever.
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Unknown
Right. And I think it's pretty clear just from the fact that every single top member of the administration's national security team and more were on that call. I mean, all of them were there. I mean, and none of them raised this as, you know, a concern. You know, should we be on signal? Or maybe we ought to take this to a, you know, a skiff. I mean, whatever. None of them said a word about it. So clearly they do this all the time. That was the only explanation that I could come up with that made that make sense to me because nobody said a word. And everybody knows that classified information or talking about war, any kind of, even the policy discussion was sensitive information that they should have been having in private. And the fact that they put it on signal just says to me that they're doing it. They have been doing that this whole time. And we have no idea how much of whatever these people in this top national security echelon of the administration have been talking about. But just consider the things that are going on in the world having to do with Ukraine and Russia and the European split on, you know, the split with our allies, Greenland pet tariffs, it's all part of that. I mean, every. All of this stuff that's going on and they're, you know, I just have to assume now, and I think everybody is that there are people around the world who have heard all this. I mean, these people are so stupid that they, you know, just basically didn't even. They don't understand how SIGNAL works. And Pam Bondi made it clear she does. Still doesn't understand it.
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Sam Cedar
Oh, let's play. Do we have this clip of Pam Bondi while.
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Emma Vigland
While Matt pulls that up? Just to add to what you're saying, Heather, like, there was. This is not getting enough attention, but there was Andrew Feinberg in the Independent, basically reported, and it's one source, but I'll just want to read this paragraph. The decision to refuse government it help during the months before Trump returned to office was made in part to avoid the mandatory record keeping that comes with using official resources, according to some familiar with Trump's thinking at the time. The independent understands, according to this source, that Trump's decision was driven by his memory of how emails sent and received by his 2016 and 2017 transition team were later released to groups that made FOIA requests for them and to DOJ investigators under the command of then Special Counsel Robert Mueller during the probe into alleged ties between the president's 2016 campaign and the Russian government. So it appears like he said, Trump 2.0. This time we're not using official channels. I don't want any records of anything we're doing. And that's why this might be the tip of the iceberg of this story, is that they're trying to avoid record keeping, which is the law across the entire administration.
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Unknown
Well, consider his. The fact that Trump is basically incredibly hostile to the Presidential Records Act. You know, going. Just looking at what happened with his, the Mar A Lago search and the records and the, you know, the back and forth. He fired the national archivist because out of, you know, vengeance and anger of what he had, quote, been through. So, yeah, I have no doubt that that went down. They just said, no paper trail. We're not doing that anymore. And, you know, one of the things we have to remember about this, too, and I think it's pretty clear, is that, you know, this sloppiness about classified information and transparency and what have you, this is the kind of thing that Trump has been doing from the very beginning. I mean, you go back, he would refuse. I read an article as recently as, like, early 2020, when I was researching this, that had Trump had still refused to give up his personal phone and they had begged him to do it. He never did. I mean, he kept. Kept it. I'm sure he's doing it right now, I'm sure. And he doesn't use signal. This is, you know, I'm sure he's just using the regular old text messaging on his phone and they can't get him to stop. Think about what he did down in Mar A Lago when he read the Iran war plans to a couple of writers who were there interviewing him. He showed it to them. He, you know, this is. He told some Australian billionaire down at Mar a Lago one night about the American nuclear submarines and the. And the billionaire went and told dozens of people, including reporters about it. This guy has never, he just doesn't believe, you know, he told Kislyak and Lavrov in the, in the Oval Office about some Israeli Classified information, very closely held stuff. He shared that with them, kind of, hey, listen, guys, the qt, you know, got some, you know, want to hear something juicy? And this is how he treats this stuff. So why would anybody, why would Pete Hegseth or any of the rest of them have had any, you know, real sense that this was an important thing? Now, anybody else, anybody normal that he would have hired for these jobs would have independently understood that this is a very bad idea. But these are all, you know, these are all just toadies. And, you know, they're just whatever Donald Trump wants is, you know, that's all I care about. And, you know, furthermore, I think that one of the things that struck me about this, that I haven't heard a lot of discussion, there has been some, is just the policy discussion itself. Setting aside the fact that they use signal that they sloppily put Jeffrey Goldberg on the call and all the rest of it, the policy discussion that they were having on that call with J.D. vance questioning, you know, whether or not they should go ahead with this and the Europeans don't deserve it, and why are we doing this? Shouldn't we put it off for a month? And Hegseth being the eager beaver, you know. Well, I agree, however, we need to, you know, we're the only people in the planet who can do this, who can protect the shipping lanes or what does he call it, Freedom of navigation? I guess they, you know, whatever. But it. In listening to that or reading it, and I read it really closely a number of times, it didn't sound to me, maybe you can correct me if I'm wrong, that they really knew if Trump had signed off on this.
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Sam Cedar
Oh, they did not. In fact. Go ahead.
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Unknown
No, no, I was just going to say that they didn't know. And they were kind of thinking, well, maybe, you know, don't tell. You know, it's kind of like, I won't say, J.D. vance even said at one point, well, I won't say anything. If you guys agree that we should go ahead. I'll keep it to myself if that's the consensus. And they kind of. And then Stephen Miller came in like the voice of God in this conversation and said, well, what I heard was a green light, and this is what we're doing. And then he said, you know, yes, we'll make the Europeans and the Egyptians pay, blah, blah, blah. And that was the end of the conversation. So Stephen Miller, you know, apparently in these situations, in these meetings, you'll often find somebody who sort of is considered to have the voice of the President. That's one thing. It's another thing when nobody knows exactly what the President actually agreed to or whether or not he was going to agree to it. And did he sign off or didn't he? And then Stephen Miller is the guy who is basically calling the shots. That kind of freaked me out. I have to say. I'm sitting like him. I don't even know why he was on the call.
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Sam Cedar
But here's the interesting part. I think he was on the call to do exactly what you said. Here. Put this up on the clip. The after. At one point later in the conversation, Michael Walz adds Miller. And that's when Miller comes into the conversation.
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Unknown
Oh, right.
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Sam Cedar
Walls was added. Miller, after all of that conversation was happening is basically to go to. Must have gone to Miller and said, you know, Hegseth, you know, Vance seems reluctant to do this, and hegthus, you know, he's just so drunk that he's probably just going to go with whoever says to do what. And so Miller's got to come in and put down the hammer. I mean, I was really struck by this situation. Like, it does really feel like Miller is brought in to sort of be the heavy in this situation. But also, they talk about targeting a civilian building without a bat of an eye. Yeah, nothing there is.
- [38:34]
Unknown
Well, you know, don't mean to interrupt, but, you know, that. That. That Hegseth has put out a, you know, an order that they are no longer. That the previous. The previous edict that they would take civilian casualties into account when they're putting together operations like this. He says no more. We don't. We're not doing that anymore. There's no necessity to take civilian casualties into account. And not that, you know, I mean, let's face it, across all administrations, this has been a very cavalier thing, but now they're not even paying, you know, they're not even going to look at it. They consider it some kind of DEI or something. So this is very bad. And yeah, they were. They just didn't bat an eye at that. Just fine. Yeah. Get the girlfriend.
- [39:17]
Sam Cedar
It also feels like we don't really know the reason why this happened in reading this because there does not seem to be, you know, even Vance is like, we could wait a month on this. It doesn't seem like they're going back and forth. It seems like the urgency to do this is coming from outside of the knowledge of almost anybody on the call. And, you know, I suspect it has to do in Israel. It's now being reported, provided you know, the intel for this attack, I suspect there is another agenda that is not expressed in the, you know, like, we're all of a sudden, like, we're going to. I mean, even Vance is like, wait a second. So you're telling me we're going to do this for the Europeans ability to ship stuff. I don't quite get it. And Hegseth is just raring to go. Well, Stephen Miller comes in and basically says, we're doing this.
- [40:25]
Emma Vigland
But what also strikes me in the conversation is how Hegseth plays both sides the entire time and is entirely indecisive. Like, you see how he is just. Just there as I think he's easily blackmailed for Trump. But. And just. And there to just basically be a yes, manitoty, as you said.
- [40:42]
Unknown
I didn't think. I don't think that they. That he's taken seriously even by this very unserious group.
- [40:47]
Sam Cedar
I mean, even by himself.
- [40:49]
Unknown
I mean, he's clearly on there to.
- [40:51]
Sam Cedar
Go, like, hey, guys, I'm supposed to do this, right? Like, what are we doing? Yeah, there's a lot of lack of confidence in what he's doing in this instance.
- [40:59]
Unknown
Absolutely agreed. And then doing the whole, you know, putting pathetic and, you know, that the Europeans are pathetic and in capital letters and, you know, I mean, the whole thing obviously was just amateur hour from top to bottom. Hegseth being particularly amateurish in this waltz, being the second most. Well, maybe the first most, considering what he did. But, you know, when you look at this, I mean, one of the other things that I think is also interesting to look at is the fact that they didn't know what Trump wanted. They weren't sure, what are we doing here? Just as you said, Sam, that maybe, you know, there was. There were other outside influences and nobody was really aware of what was going on there or why this thing was happening. Also that they didn't know what Trump wanted or whether or not he'd actually signed off, et cetera, et cetera. One of the things that really interested me was when the story broke within. I mean, it had been out for two or three hours at the time they asked Trump about it. They had. Goldberg had also asked the White House for commentary. I mean, he didn't. He didn't publish that without calling and asking them to comment on it. So the White House was aware. They didn't tell Trump. Now, I don't know whether or not they thought. And I believe him. I mean, I know. I can tell when he's lying about stuff like that. He Has a tell. He's kind of like, you know, oh, no, I didn't know anything about it.
- [42:18]
Emma Vigland
I didn't know anything.
- [42:18]
Unknown
He goes, yeah, this time he really didn't know anything. I don't think he knew that this had happened. He seemed like, what are we talking about here? What? You know, I mean, it struck me as being pretty real. They didn't tell him about it. Now, I don't know if that's because they didn't think it was any big deal and it wasn't going to blow up or whether or not they just didn't tell him. And as the day wore on and then the next day when he had the meeting with all the ambassadors and had Waltz do his little, you know, genuflect and belly crawl to, you know, take responsibility. Take responsibility. He's out of it. I mean, he seemed really out of it. More out of it than I've seen him before. And for one thing, we know he doesn't understand the technology. I mean, that's clear. He's going, well, he had a bad signal. We had a signal that didn't work, and he was wrong. Guy was on the call and et cetera. You know, I mean, he did. Obviously doesn't understand that part. But I don't think, and I see this more and more often in various settings, he is not. He is not all there. And, you know, he's still Trump and he's still saying his stupid stuff and he's still doing the usual thing, but there's something really going on there. I think that is more obvious by the day.
- [43:30]
Sam Cedar
I think he's just trying to enjoy his golden years.
- [43:32]
Unknown
Yeah, well, true. He's in. Yeah. He's retired.
- [43:35]
Sam Cedar
I mean, honestly, I do think. I do think he's like, all I got to do is show up for an hour a day, answer questions. It doesn't matter how I answer them, because they're all, no. And nobody presses me. I'm. My best attribute is basically going, I'm not talking to you anymore. Your question. And then he goes and plays golf.
- [43:58]
Emma Vigland
He's checked out. I mean, and also, we've now said, I made this exact point yesterday, that we've elected the oldest person ever now three consecutive times to the presidency. Trump the first time broke the record. Then Biden. And then Trump broke Biden's record.
- [44:12]
Unknown
And just getting older.
- [44:14]
Emma Vigland
Yeah, and he's just getting older. And that. That weird interview he did with Laura Ingram in the Oval Office where they toured around and he talked about the decor and, like, the curtain that he put up in front of the Declaration of Independence, he is losing it, I think. And when to bring it back to the signal chat. Stephen Miller, I think, is running this show, and that's what I think is really scary like that.
- [44:40]
Unknown
I think so, too.
- [44:41]
Emma Vigland
Can we just put up that graphic of what the White House tweeted out yesterday? This disgusting image that will be in history books. This AI image of. I sent in this chat of an ICE officer putting, you know, arresting a woman who's depicted as being undocumented from the official White House account.
- [45:01]
Unknown
Oh, my God.
- [45:02]
Emma Vigland
So that's. That's Stephen Miller, right? Like the. The. The El Salvador prisons and the photo op with the shaved heads. He's. He's basically the de facto president in this area. I mean, we have that Elon Musk may be kind of waning a little bit because of the legal battles, but Stephen Miller, this is his.
- [45:20]
Unknown
Even war plans in Yemen. Steven Miller's in charge. I agree with you on this, because some. I think that he is. He's the, you know, the voice on Trump's shoulder. And I think he's the one who. And by the way, the deportations thing with, you know, going to the El Salvador prison, that was his baby. That was reported. You know, people have sort of said, well, it was Marco Rubio. Marco Rubio did set it up. He went and met with the president of El Salvador and set up the exchange agreement. But it was Miller, along with Kristi Noem, who is turning out to be quite the good little fascist. The two of them were in the White House when that whole thing was coming down with the deportations. They wanted to keep it secret so that they couldn't get that the stay from any. So that a court wouldn't know about it. But it leaked. It leaked that Trump had signed that executive order late on Friday night to, you know, call them, you know, trend Aragua gang, a terrorist organization. They had already called it a terrorist organization, but to invoke the Alien Enemies act, and he had done that late Friday night, and they wanted to keep it under wraps so that they could get the planes off before anybody knew about it. It leaked, and it got into court, and that's what ended up happening with them, you know, sort of ignoring the judge's order, et cetera, et cetera. Everybody knows about what's going on there. That was Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem in the White House doing that. That was not Marco Rubio, I'm sure. Trump was, I think, at Mar A lago I don't think he knew anything about it. And this was those two doing that. So I agree with you completely, Emma. I think Stephen Miller is running things on a day to day basis. You've got Susie Wiles who's, I don't know, she's kind of handling the paperwork or something and you know, sort of there's a pretense that she's the Chief of Staff. Stephen Miller is the Chief of Staff and he is, you know, he's the Edith Wilson of this, of this administration. Because to me what I see in Trump, and you're absolutely right, that bizarre interview with Laura Ingraham, I mean, it just kind of made my skin crawl. I have to say, first of all, what he's done to the White House is just grotesque.
- [47:34]
Sam Cedar
I mean, it's no longer drab.
- [47:36]
Unknown
Oh my God, the gilded everything. Yeah, it just doesn't really work for me. I'm sorry. You know, and then putting the curtain curtains on this fake deck, he says this is the Declaration of Independence. Like it's the real thing. No Declaration of Independence is, you know, under, under, you know, it's sort of vacuum sealed, you know, highly secured. The real one, he put a fake Declaration of Independence in the White House and put curtains over it to pretend like it's being protected or something. I don't even understand it. Yeah, it looks like the door. I mean, it really freaked me out, I have to say. It was very, very disturbing.
- [48:14]
Emma Vigland
It was bizarre. Yeah.
- [48:16]
Sam Cedar
Let's talk a little bit. I mean, I think the best way to sort of transition to also what's going on in terms of like broadly with immigrants and sort of this, you know, where we are on the road to fascism. And the thing that's interesting about this scandal. Right. I mean, and you know, know people, I've definitely had conversations with the people who are like, you know, we're not Talking about the 53 people who were killed by our bombing. We also aren't, haven't been talking about the fact that we've been bombing, I think every day since that first attack, which was almost two weeks ago now. Or was two weeks ago.
- [49:02]
Unknown
Oh, very successful, Sam. Very, very, very successful.
- [49:05]
Sam Cedar
I mean, I mean we're in this era where like there's so much news, there's so much to, you know, that people are worried that like you're keeping your eye on the wrong things. I wonder about. There's two things that sort of dovetail here, you know, one is where is the opportunities to stop what's happening, you know, like, we still have atrocities going on in Gaza on a daily basis. We have these attacks on Yemen. There's crazy ass stuff going on in Turkey where they like literally kidnap the mayor, you know, like disappear a mayor, the political rival.
- [49:49]
Emma Vigland
Right.
- [49:50]
Sam Cedar
And they're, you know, starting to like. And that may be where we head in the future, but this scandal shows why the President wants cronies all around him. Because in, in the first Trump era, this would break open because somebody would be like, you know, in Marco Rubio almost is playing this role, but he's still being a good little boy. Somebody would go like, hey, I'm not part of this. This is ridiculous. And I said I'm out. And you know, whoever it is, Rex.
- [50:26]
Emma Vigland
Tillerson in the first hundred days.
- [50:32]
Sam Cedar
And not only, not only did some of these people resign before they resign, they're feeding stuff to the press.
- [50:39]
Emma Vigland
Yeah.
- [50:39]
Sam Cedar
And there's leaks all over that administration. Not this time around. Nobody. You were not getting any inside information about this stuff at all. As far as I can tell from the reporting that's absent.
- [50:53]
Emma Vigland
And except that one meeting where Rubio and Musk blew up at each other. And you know who was clearly leaking? That is Rubio.
- [51:00]
Sam Cedar
Yes.
- [51:00]
Emma Vigland
Right.
- [51:00]
Sam Cedar
But aside from that, like, we're not getting the kind of like leaks that we got. And that's all by design. That is all by design. That is what Donald Trump wanted. And I think that's also why he's checked out on some level because he's like, he did his pre production jobs essentially, and now he can just sort of coast through this, which again, they've gotten rid of all the apparatus to whistleblower and they're going after lawyers who protect whistleblowers, they're going after lawyers who represent immigrants by saying, you know, if you've filed a frivolous legal action against the US government and the metric they're using is did you lose? And it goes back eight years. And so they're going to start to sanction immigration attorneys. They're. You wrote in one of your pieces this week in Salon that the thing that's sort of surprising you is how quickly some of these institutions are folding. Like universities, like media outlets, like law firms talk about that. Because I think like we, I don't know if we're in. We are a fascist nation, but we are getting this conversation. It's. It's irresponsible not to have this conversation anymore.
- [52:23]
Unknown
Yeah, I think so. I mean, we're perilously close that the institutions actually have. I have to Admit. I mean, I'm surprised. I thought that. But, you know, I'm not sure why. Because we watched the entire Republican Party turn into nothing more than the political arm of Donald Trump's MAGA movement. And they have no institutional integrity whatsoever. The Senate, the. The majority in the Senate and the House, they. They have no sense of their own prerogatives under the Constitution. They could care less. Whatever. Whatever. Or they couldn't care less that. Whatever Donald Trump wants. But I didn't really think. I mean, universities, law firms, you know, corporations that have shareholders, media companies, these are all very, very powerful institutions in our society, equal to the government in many, many ways. I mean, they have a tremendous amount of money. They have influence. All of them, in their own way, have the means to resist being, you know, treated like Donald Trump's lackeys. And yet there. Many of them, I mean, there are exceptions, of course, and I don't want to paint with too broad a brush. There was, I can't remember who, Wilmer Hale, I think today just said they're not going to buckle to Trump's threats. The law firm, WilmerHale. But. And there are others, but for the most part, these big firms, these big law firms, Columbia University, which is known since I was a kid, Columbia was the hotbed of student protest and dissent. It was known for it. And here we have them completely caving to Donald Trump over now. You know, obviously there are. There are aspects of that, and we know what that stems from, you know, tremendous pressure from donors and over the Israel, Palestine protest last spring and all of that. So we know where a lot of that's coming from. But the law firms are doing it, too. And that has nothing to do with Israel and Palestine. That is just purely about, you know, Donald Trump's personal revenge over his troubles and the fact that they want to cow them in order to stop them from defending people against the government. And you have corporations racing, absolutely racing to be the first in line to get rid of their DEI programs. And, you know, just to take a minute about dei, I really think it's important because we've lost. I think the thread on this DEI stems directly from the 1970s, 1965 Civil Rights act and the idea that we were not going to discriminate against, you know, various protected classes of people. Over the years, DEI has developed as we realized that it wasn't enough to just decree that you couldn't discriminate. There was. It became a realization that our society was going to be equitable, that we needed to take Extra steps to try and ensure that that discrimination, a lot of it, which is subconscious and systemic, would be changed. This was not controversial for, you know, really my lifetime, all of our lifetimes. It really wasn't controversial. This was a normal part of the business world and universities and various other institutions. And this came out of a guy named Chris Ruffo, this complete, you know, horror show of a pro. He is the. The Goebbels of, really of. Of the mega movement.
- [55:56]
Sam Cedar
He pushed the crt, too.
- [55:58]
Unknown
Push the CRT to. And dei. And he's been very open about why he's doing this, because he knows that this is an organization, you know, this is an organizing principle for the right. And they've pushed this now to the point where all kinds of, you know, any kind of outreach, any kind of, you know, awareness of trying to be inclusive of people, you know, of difference other than, you know, I guess, white Southerners. I don't know who the. Who the baseline is on this anymore. And the speed with which this is taking place in corporate America has actually stunned me as much as anything. They are racing to say, we are getting rid of our DEI programs and that, you know, what does that mean? Exactly. It's not just, you know, having some meeting where everybody's brought in, said, you know, everybody needs to be aware of, you know, being nice to other people in the workplace or whatever. It's these things that people seem to be so annoyed by. This is the very basis of the 1965 Civil Rights Act. And that is what they're basically attacking. So that's a digression. I just wanted to say that that's another aspect of this cave that's really disturbing to me because what we're seeing is all these Wall street, you know, these guys were saying, yeah, you know, I can say the word pussy now in the workplace. Yeah, you know, that kind of stuff. And these big institutions, I really thought CBS News or abc, you know, settling with Trump over complete, nonsensical lawsuits, that they would have some, you know, sense of their own prerogatives, their own power within the society to say, no, the government doesn't get to tell us what to do. Right. This used to be, if nothing else, it was a right wing idea, you know, get the government out of our lives. You couldn't tell businesses how they could run their business. You couldn't tell law firms what they could do. And so this is because this has become a big surprise to me, and it is one of the most chilling aspects of this, because if all These people with power are refusing to fight back. You've got the Republicans in Congress refusing to fight back. You've got the Democrats who are, you know, sort of suspended in amber and basically, you know, doing the bare minimum to even say anything.
- [58:17]
Sam Cedar
What we will win.
- [58:19]
Unknown
We will win because the Republicans are.
- [58:21]
Sam Cedar
Going to be, well, rest.
- [58:22]
Unknown
They're going to come around. I swear to God, when they, any day now, they're going to come around.
- [58:27]
Sam Cedar
This is what's interesting because this dynamic that you talk about. Right wingers have always said this is why you don't want a powerful government. Right? Because they will exercise this and you know, Michigan ends their DEI things but you also have the government intimidating law firms. I mean these are big law firms and all of these, these, you know, Jeff Bezos.
- [58:55]
Unknown
Right.
- [58:55]
Sam Cedar
The interesting thing here, and I think like, you know, maybe we gotta wait for people to write books about this and it's a little bit early for people to make these type of analyses. But the a, when it's a right wing government, all of these entities you're talking about are operating under one principle. And that is what is not going to cost us money, right? I mean, what is not going to cost us money? It is like we are watching the sort of the failure of capitalism in the face of right wing authoritarianism. I mean that is the problem because these, all of these players we're talking about would not have the same response to a socialistic government or administration, I should say, that was trying to pull these same things because they are in that position protecting their money and they're, they're going, they're the, the, the agenda for them to protect their money is to not listen, is to fight against. Right? Then you see lawsuits, you can't force us to provide contraception in our insurance for, for people, you know, et cetera, et cetera. And I mean this is where I think like the, the failure. I mean this is an indictment of.
- [60:22]
Emma Vigland
Capitalism and liberal institutions. Right. As right.
- [60:26]
Sam Cedar
And, and it is interesting the dynamic that the right wingers always talk about. You don't want a government too powerful because then it becomes oppressive and authoritarian. Well, only if it is a right wing government because there is an incentive structure within the private sector to fight against a, an authoritarian leftist government. But they don't have that same incentive structure to fight against a right wing authoritarian government because the right wing is not coming for their money. The right wing is coming for, you know, maybe they're coming for a vigilante, but they're not coming for their money. Or their capacity to extract resources. On the contrary, they're making it easier for these entities to extract resources from a society. They're just coming from their freedom of action or their freedom of expression or their freedom of association. And people don't value that. These institutions do not value that as much. Even the law firms. Even the law firms, which all of those people have ostensibly told themselves at one time or another. In these law firms, I am an integral part of society. I'm not like just the player. I'm woven into the fabric of society. Even those law firms are not protecting their civil rights as much as they are protecting their earning capacity.
- [61:54]
Unknown
Well, and just to put up a finer point on that, I just read a whole thing about the Paul Weiss, the, you know, the spectacular cave on the law firm front. They had always been known and one of the reasons they were targeted as a big democratic law firm, Right. They were the ones that, you know, all the Democrats would use. And they were involved in all these, you know, big cases. But that's changed in the last four years. It said in the article, I think it was in the New York Times, they've been taking on major corporate clients and that has become their big revenue. And they have some big, I can't remember the guy's name, some big wheeler dealer lawyer who's at the top of their corporate division who they poached from some other law firm and brought him over. And he brought over all these big clients like ge, you know, big, really big, big clients. That's what's, that's exactly what you said, Sam. That's what's driving them. Their business as they know it now is just being inserted service of the corporate of corporations. One thing that I find interesting about this, though, is that one thing we know about Donald Trump and apparently all the people around him is that he is economically illiterate and is making economic decisions that make no sense even for big business. Now, granted, they'll get their tax cuts, I think. Yeah, I think we can probably count on that. And maybe that's all they care about. Tax cuts, tax cuts. There's nothing else here but what Trump is doing to the economy with his tariffs and with breaking up all these alliances in various ways all over the world. The global economy is in, you know, it's very unstable because of what he's doing. It's not just unstable because it's unstable. I mean, that can happen and, you know, somebody can be at fault for that or not. This is directly a result of him, of his actions and his decisions, because he doesn't understand how economics works. I mean, he just doesn't. He's, he's really, really ignorant when it comes to that. And there's no changing his mind, so he doesn't understand it. So that this golden goose that's there, I mean, this incredible bull market that has been going on for the last few years, that, that is in extreme danger right now because of what he's done. And, you know, you're looking at, you know, consumer confidence report came out today that is just absolutely in the dirt. I, in this country are not confident about what's going on and that's going to have a big effect. Tariffs on autos, all this stuff. So, you know, that's the part I don't get. And what I have come to the conclusion, and this is probably pretty, I don't know, a lot of people think I'm just full of it. But I think that these people around him, people like Scott Besant and Howard Lutnick and, you know, I mean, forget Peter Navarro, I mean, he's just a nut. But you know, people who you would otherwise, I mean, Howard Lutnick, who seems like a crazy man to me, ran Cantor Fitzgerald for 20 some odd years. I mean, he's not like somebody who was just, you know, came out of nowhere. So he was obviously a serious player billionaire. In fact, the whole administration is full of billionaires. And I think, you know, they know that what Trump is doing with tariffs is ridiculous. They know that this makes no sense. They think, but they have concluded and I can kind of understand why they have. Trump has gotten away with absolutely everything in his life and now in his political life particularly, he was impeached twice January 6, lost an election, came back, you know, avoided every legal accountability for anything that he did. That hat that he wears that says President Trump was right about everything, I think a lot of these guys have just concluded that that's true. There's something about him. And they're just, you know, they're hitching their wagon to him because they think that even though they know for a fact that, that half the stuff he says is complete and utter bullshit, that somehow or another he transcends that and will bring them, you know, will bring them the success that they think. And they like all the other stuff about him, by the way. They love the immigration and all that.
- [66:03]
Emma Vigland
Can I present an alternate theory, Heather? I think some, some in the administration have drank the Kool Aid, but like Lutnick in particular wants to cash in, right? Like so he put his two sons, who are in their 20s, to head Cantor Fitzgerald in his absence and he cantro Fitzgerald. Gerald has heavy investments in cryptocurrency and commercial space.
- [66:23]
Unknown
And there is that. Yeah.
- [66:25]
Emma Vigland
And like my, my guess is that those folks in particular besant to they don't care if the economy crashes because their areas of like where most of their investment is, is outside of the traditional economy. Cryptocurrency is just speculation. So like they can just basically put the country into shock therapy like Naomi Klein so presciently wrote about almost, you know, whatever, 15, 20 years ago. And they can buy everything up on the cheap because they're making all their money in a separate pool of just basically speculation that's completely under regulated. Lutnick is maybe lucky like he's up there with one of the worst people in this administration because he's just there for that purpose.
- [67:10]
Sam Cedar
I think this is, I think this is obviously too, this is all speculative, but I think that's exactly right. You're looking at people who have a ton of money. And the one thing that I think they would all say to a man, and vast majority of them are men, is you make your money in the dips. And these are all finance people. It's not like, you know, these are not big manufacturer, you know, industrialists. I mean that, I think that's a big, I think that is like an important thing to keep in mind. These are not industrialists who are coming in and they're not, they're, these are not coming in from like, you know, this is not Rex Tillerson, CEO of ExxonMobil. Of ExxonMobil. Type of like these are people who have made all of their money in finance. And every time, I would imagine almost 90% of the times that they're making their money it's because they bought on the dip. And so I think there's a lot of opportunities for them personally and the circles in which they run in, like, I think there's like, you know, these are people at this level of wealth. You are inoculated by recession, recessions from recessions, I should say. In fact, all you see when you see a recession is an opportunity to go in and buy up more. You know, whether it's like the fires in la, that's an opportunity. Cuz I've got the cash and I'm gonna go in, I'm gonna buy up all this land. It is all of that happened during.
- [68:46]
Emma Vigland
COVID too happened during the Great Recession. And you're especially inoculated if you're in the administration. So like the rest of your buddies may like, that's why you hear these quotes to, to Jeffries that the Silicon Valley guys are pissed because they're not in on it. Right. Like they won't be able to get ahead of whatever crash happens. And that's why they're so happy to go along because there's no oversight on the corruption. And they will get richer, all of them, in their time in the administration, even if the economy crashes is my guess.
- [69:17]
Unknown
And if the crypto market, market, you know, finally crashes, which it will, they'll get bailed out by the government. They're setting that up.
- [69:24]
Sam Cedar
Well, they're setting that up right now.
- [69:26]
Emma Vigland
He wants to create a strategic reserve of crypto which, which, which would take taxpayer money to artificially inflate and create a floor for cryptocurrency, which was supposed to be an alternative to fiat currency, but now we need the government with its, with fiat currency to stabilize it.
- [69:44]
Unknown
It's right.
- [69:45]
Emma Vigland
It is. I mean, to say we're in late stage capitalism is almost an understatement here in terms of the level of robber Barrett. Like the robber barons here are, but they are just out of control. But they're not like the robber barons of, you know, the Gilded Age where they at least build our damn, built our damn railroads legacy worth having. Yeah. These guys are just speculators.
- [70:08]
Sam Cedar
Yep. And I also think too, you know, having lived some years in small towns, small cities, politics to a lot of people is really just a mechanism to extend their business interests. And like you become, you get on the county board of supervisors because you're going to provide like the contracts to your favorite food distributor and, and they're going to throw you some work on. It's just a mechanism in which to extend your, you know, your business. And I think, you know Donald Trump more than any other president I think we've ever had, that's the way that he perceived this. And I think he just perfected it in, in his second Trump administration. Heather, we'll put a link to those two pieces in salon.com I mean, I think, you know, the next time we talk, it's probably going to just be marginally worse than it is today.
- [71:11]
Unknown
No doubt that goes without saying. It's not, you know, that's no doubt. But, but just wait for the new, for the, you know, the new jobs reports, new economic reports, all this stuff. The things are starting, going to start to shake up a little bit, I think, among the public. And that's going to be interesting when.
- [71:29]
Sam Cedar
We signed off on Wednesday or Wednesday after the with the results of that Pennsylvania thing like these. And you and I have seen this for four decades now, those special elections, while they can't necessarily predict what's going to happen in the midterms or the upcoming elections, they have a power in and of themselves to change the behavior of I mean, we just saw it with Stefanik. It's she's not going to the UN now because they're afraid of losing that seat. Seat. The next step is if Wisconsin ends up going to the, to the liberal as opposed to the conservative. Justice. They don't have parties there. If by any chance the Democrat wins one of those seats in Florida or makes it a close race, we're getting closer to that moment where we may see some of the frontline Republicans. Republicans make the determination that despite the fact Elon Musk has all the money in the world to throw at them in a primary, maybe it's like they're like right now they're not between a rock and a hard place. They're between a rock and a slightly softer place. But if, if, if Democrats are winning these special elections, they're picking up 15 points just generically speaking. That's going to make it really a rock and a hard place. And it's going to, it's going to impact the well, it's going to be.
- [72:59]
Unknown
Interesting as we watch this because the budget negotiations are starting now and this is going to go on for months, but that is going to have an impact. The Stefanik thing is a definite canary in the coal mine. They're seeing something in those internals that made them do that because poor Elise, she is just devastated. I mean, she's so upset she was going to get a beautiful the penthouse.
- [73:22]
Sam Cedar
And I'm not upset. I'm not upset.
- [73:25]
Unknown
I'm not upset.
- [73:25]
Elise Stefanik
It's perfectly fine.
- [73:28]
Sam Cedar
Why are you accusing me of incomplete?
- [73:38]
Unknown
I mean, think what she gave up. I mean, this is one of the most glamorous jobs you can have. It's in Manhattan, the big penthouse. She bought a whole new wardrobe. She had a total makeover. I mean, she was ready for the big Manhattan social scene. And now, now she's stuck back in her, you know, shitty condo in D.C. and God knows, you know, so, yeah, so they had to do that and they did that to her, which I couldn't be happier about. But they are. They're nervous about it. And we are going to see now, you know, over the course of the next few Months, you know how? Well, I, I don't think, you know, obviously the institutions are completely unreliable. Let's not, let's get that out of our heads. If we thought there was going to be any help, it's going to come from the grassroots routes. And if the, the crowds that are showing up for Bernie and AOC are any indication, if these town halls are any indication, the Tesla demonstrations are any indication, at the very least, the engaged and active people on the, on the left, in the center left, they're, they're actually getting off the couch. So maybe, maybe that'll make a difference. I mean, what else can we do? Yeah, I mean, this is it.
- [74:42]
Sam Cedar
I just love, I just love the idea of Stefanic.
- [74:46]
Unknown
Me too. That made me laugh out loud when I heard it yesterday. I'm not kidding.
- [74:50]
Sam Cedar
I can't wait to spend another winter in Schohari.
- [74:56]
Unknown
I know, I know. Couldn't happen to a nicer gal. Oh, gosh.
- [75:01]
Emma Vigland
So sad. So sad.
- [75:03]
Sam Cedar
All right, Heather Parton, Digby, always a pleasure.
- [75:07]
Unknown
Thanks for having me. Glad to see you guys, guys.
- [75:09]
Emma Vigland
Yep, you too.
- [75:11]
Sam Cedar
All right, folks, going to take quick break, head into the fun half of the program. Just a reminder, it's your support that makes this show possible. You can become a member at join the Majority Report.com when you do, you not only get the fun half, but you get the free half. Free of commercials. Also, don't forget just coffee. Just coffee co op up there in Wisconsin. You know, I will tell you, I say this with 100%, 100% assuredness that 90% of the people working there and just I'm covering myself because I don't want to say 100%, 90% of the people working at that co op in Madison Woods Constantin making coffee for you. They are out there whipping votes right now for this election in Wisconsin. If you are in Wisconsin, go vote. If you're in Florida, go vote. Those two House races, Florida first and sixth. It is like just a weird dynamic that actually like had the knock on impacts of these special elections carry so much weight. Not, not just in the fact that it would narrow the congressional a majority that they have, but also in terms of the how it changes the behavior of some of these lawmakers and even also in the Democratic side, like, you.
- [76:43]
Emma Vigland
Know, oh, it might embolden them in the same way. Like we talked about how protests can make it so like on behalf of the federal workers so that it increases morale within the federal workforce so they don't resign or quit. You know, hold the line. Don't resign the that like when you stack these kinds of wins, it gives everybody more confidence. But what Elon Musk is doing, what's he up to right now? He. Oh, wow.
- [77:14]
Sam Cedar
What's this?
- [77:16]
Emma Vigland
So I guess he's headed to Wisconsin, Right? But he deleted this tweet saying tweeted.
- [77:23]
Unknown
Out in the middle of the night. On Saturday night, I will give a talk in Wisconsin. Entrance is limited to those who have voted in the Supreme Court election. I will also personally. I'm not doing enough stuttering. But I'll also personally hand over two checks for a million dollars each in appreciation for you taking the time to vote. This is super important. Teddy Schaeffler says Musk has deleted this tweet from 1am about his upcoming talk in Wisconsin. The rules surrounding these checks have drawn some legal scrutiny.
- [77:50]
Emma Vigland
Yeah.
- [77:51]
Sam Cedar
Oh, I can't. I can't.
- [77:52]
Emma Vigland
Can't imagine why lock them up. Doesn't Elon Musk have an active case in front of the Wisconsin Supreme Court right now? I'm almost positive, yeah. Tesla's been suing Wisconsin after the state blocked him from opening a dealership there.
- [78:10]
Unknown
So.
- [78:12]
Emma Vigland
And then he's giving state doing terrorism.
- [78:14]
Unknown
Against the Tesla dealership.
- [78:16]
Sam Cedar
Yeah, Matt, Left reckoning.
- [78:20]
Unknown
Yeah, left reckoning. We had Jeet here on the program. Check out the Sunday show patreon.com left reckoning. We're talking about a little bit of a Texas history.
- [78:29]
Sam Cedar
So check that out, folks. See you in the fun half. You are in for it. All right, folks. 6446-257-3920. See you in the fun half.
- [78:47]
Heather Parton
Are you ready?
- [78:54]
Sam Cedar
Sent us this.
- [78:57]
Unknown
Alpha males are back, back, back, back, back. Boy is back. And the alpha males are back, back.
- [79:04]
Sam Cedar
Just as delicious as you could imagine.
- [79:07]
Unknown
The alpha males are back, back, back, back, back. Boy back. And the alpha males are back, back, back, back.
- [79:14]
Heather Parton
Just want to degrade the white man alpha. All of it.
- [79:21]
Unknown
Alpha males are back, back, back, back.
- [79:25]
Sam Cedar
Snowflake says what?
- [79:26]
Unknown
The alpha males are back.
- [79:29]
Heather Parton
You are a madman.
- [79:31]
Unknown
And the alpha males are back, back.
- [79:33]
Sam Cedar
Oh, no. Sam Cedar.
- [79:35]
Unknown
What a. Wow.
- [79:36]
Sam Cedar
What a nightmare.
- [79:37]
Unknown
Nightmare.
- [79:39]
Sam Cedar
Yeah. Or a couple of them. Just put them in rotation.
- [79:41]
Heather Parton
DJ D. Well, the problem with those.
- [79:43]
Unknown
Is they're like 45 seconds long, so I don't know.
- [79:45]
Sam Cedar
There.
- [79:46]
Unknown
Enough. A little break.
- [79:48]
Sam Cedar
That's nonsense.
- [79:50]
Heather Parton
See, white people doing drugs. They look worse than normal white people. And all white people look disgusting.
- [79:55]
Unknown
And the alpha males psych them them.
- [80:01]
Sam Cedar
Oh. Snowflake says what, what, what, what, what, what, what?
- [80:11]
Heather Parton
Snowflakes as what a hell of a lot of bank.
- [80:16]
Unknown
A hell of a lot of bank. A hell of a lot of bank.
- [80:20]
Okay.
- [80:21]
Heather Parton
I'm making stupid money.
- [80:23]
Unknown
Hell of a lot of bank. A hell of a lot of bank.
- [80:33]
Sam Cedar
All lives matter.
- [80:36]
Unknown
Have you tried doing an impression on a college campus?
- [80:40]
Heather Parton
I. I think that there's no reason why reasonable people across the divide can't all agree with this. Psych.
- [80:47]
Unknown
And the alpha males are back, back, back, back, back, back. And the Africans are black, black, black, black, black, African. And the alpha males are black, black, black, black, black, black and the Africa back, back, back.
- [81:04]
Heather Parton
When you see Donald Trump out there, doesn't a little part of you think that America deserves to be taken over by jihadists? Keeping it 100. Can't knock the hustle. Come on. Them. Them things I do for the bigger game plan. By the way, it's my birthday. It's my birthday. Happy birthday to me, Jew boy. I have a thought experiment for you.
- [81:26]
Unknown
And the alpha males are back by Africa. Black black alpha males are black, black Africans.
- [81:36]
Heather Parton
Come on, come on, come on. Someone needs to pay the price for blasphemy.