2484 - Immigration Judge Arrested, Tariff Tizzy w/ Krystal Ball

Summary

The Majority Report with Sam Seder - Episode 2484: Immigration Judge Arrested, Tariff Tizzy w/ Krystal Ball

Release Date: April 25, 2025

In episode 2484 of "The Majority Report with Sam Seder," host Sam Cedar engages in a comprehensive discussion with Krystal Ball and Emma Vigeland about a series of escalating political and economic crises under the Trump administration. This episode delves into the arrest of a Wisconsin county judge, the ramifications of Trump's tariff policies, the introduction of a controversial meme coin, and the internal dynamics within the Democratic Party. Below is a detailed summary capturing the key points, discussions, insights, and conclusions from the episode.

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1. FBI Arrest of a Wisconsin County Judge

The episode opens with shocking news about the FBI arresting a county judge in Wisconsin for allegedly obstructing immigration proceedings. This incident is portrayed as a significant escalation in the administration's approach to immigration enforcement.

• Emma Vigeland [28:47]: “It's a significant escalation. I don't think there's any doubt about it.”

• Sam Cedar [27:17]: “Arresting a judge seems maybe like an important moment.”

This arrest signals a troubling trend towards undermining judicial independence, potentially intimidating other judges across the country to align more closely with the administration's immigration policies.

2. Trump's Fiscal Policies and the Introduction of a Meme Coin

A substantial portion of the discussion centers on President Trump's economic strategies, particularly his imposition of tariffs and the introduction of a controversial meme-inspired cryptocurrency.

• Krystal Ball [13:35]: “This is bribery. This is just like the old scandals where donations directly influenced access and favors.”

• Sam Cedar [35:44]: “The potential for grift is unprecedented. You've never seen anything like this.”

Trump's offering of private dinners to top investors in his meme coin is criticized as a blatant example of corruption and pay-to-play politics. The hosts argue that this move not only undermines ethical standards but also exacerbates economic instability by prioritizing the interests of a select few over the broader population.

3. Impact of Tariffs on the U.S. Economy and Global Relations

The detrimental effects of Trump's tariff policies are extensively analyzed, highlighting their impact on U.S. farmers, manufacturers, and international trade relations.

• Emma Vigeland [42:03]: “They have plenty of cattle and beef and more regulated, so they don't want our dirty meat.”

• Sam Cedar [35:44]: “The potential for grift is unprecedented. You've never seen anything like this.”

China's retaliatory measures, such as canceling U.S. pork exports and restricting rare earth metals, are discussed as factors that further strain economic relations and contribute to a volatile global market. The hosts emphasize that these tariffs undermine the very goal of revitalizing American manufacturing, leading instead to economic chaos and increased costs for consumers.

4. Corruption and Authoritarian Tendencies

The episode delves deeper into the overarching theme of corruption within the Trump administration, linking financial malpractices with authoritarian governance styles.

• Krystal Ball [13:35]: “This is bribery. This is just like the old scandals where donations directly influenced access and favors.”

• Sam Cedar [35:44]: “The potential for grift is unprecedented. You've never seen anything like this.”

The administration's actions, including the use of cryptocurrency for illicit gains and the aggressive enforcement of immigration laws, are portrayed as steps toward consolidating power and undermining democratic institutions.

5. Democratic Party's Internal Struggles and Leadership Shifts

The conversation shifts to the Democratic Party's response to these crises, highlighting internal divisions and leadership challenges.

• Emma Vigeland [58:07]: “AOC and Bernie have really taken command... providing the intellectual framing... while others like Slotkin are trying to undercut it.”

• Sam Cedar [73:49]: “Chuck Schumer's actions reflect the challenges the party faces in rallying against the Trump administration's authoritarian tendencies.”

The hosts discuss the rise of progressive leaders like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), who are positioning themselves as the voice of the Democratic base against the administration's policies. In contrast, establishment figures like Rahm Emanuel and Alyssa Slotkin are depicted as struggling to maintain party unity and effectively counteract the administration's narrative.

6. Leadership Changes: Schumer and Durbin's Retirement

Significant attention is given to recent announcements regarding leadership changes within the Democratic Party.

• Krystal Ball [73:49]: “Chuck Schumer asked if, dude, now that you have no roommate, what are you doing? And I think it's time for me to pass the torch on to another candidate.”

• Sam Cedar [75:42]: “I think people like Slotkin see that and say, okay, I'm gonna make it look like I'm having a fight by saying the word fight and tough in football.”

The retirement of prominent senators like Dick Durbin and discussions surrounding Chuck Schumer's future leadership role are analyzed as indicative of the party's ongoing struggle to adapt to the current political climate. These changes are seen as both a response to and a catalyst for the Democratic Party's evolving strategies to combat the administration's policies.

7. Implications for U.S. Democracy and Future Politics

The episode concludes with a somber reflection on the broader implications of the discussed events for American democracy and future political developments.

• Emma Vigeland [68:50]: “This is the power of the oligarchy frame... It encompasses not only the assault on democracy but also it's a material critique as well.”

• Sam Cedar [80:58]: “Our chat is enabled, folks. I love it.”

The hosts express concern that the administration's authoritarian tendencies, combined with corrupt financial practices, threaten the foundational democratic institutions of the United States. They warn of a potential erosion of democratic norms and an increase in power consolidation under the current administration, which could have long-lasting effects on the nation's political landscape.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• Krystal Ball [13:35]: “This is bribery. This is just like the old scandals where donations directly influenced access and favors.”

• Emma Vigeland [28:47]: “It's a significant escalation. I don't think there's any doubt about it.”

• Sam Cedar [35:44]: “The potential for grift is unprecedented. You've never seen anything like this.”

• Emma Vigeland [58:07]: “AOC and Bernie have really taken command... providing the intellectual framing... while others like Slotkin are trying to undercut it.”

• Sam Cedar [73:49]: “Chuck Schumer's actions reflect the challenges the party faces in rallying against the Trump administration's authoritarian tendencies.”

• Emma Vigeland [68:50]: “This is the power of the oligarchy frame... It encompasses not only the assault on democracy but also it's a material critique as well.”

---

This episode provides a critical examination of the Trump administration's recent actions, highlighting concerns over judicial independence, economic instability due to tariff policies, and the rise of corrupt financial practices. Additionally, it sheds light on the Democratic Party's internal challenges as it seeks to effectively counteract these threats to democracy and economic well-being.

Transcript

[Sam Cedar]

We are back. Oh no we're not. Hey folks, start of the show and today's show is sponsored by one of my favorite sponsors, SunsetLake. Sabade.com wait, this is like the old one. Well, this is still pretty good. Sunsetlakesebade.com use the code. Left is best. You get 20% off. They just had their 420 sale so I hope you tried out some of their tinctures or smokables or pre rolls or the the key for the gummies or their vet new vape or some of their micro dose with a little micro dose attached or some of the.

[Emma Vigeland]

Dad.

[Sam Cedar]

They also. Yeah I know it gets ridiculous. It just gives me an opportunity to do a bad accent. But during their 420 sale we had mentioned that they were going to donate 4.2% of the 420 sales to the Last Prisoner Project which was founded in 2019. It was founded out of the belief that no one should remain incarcerated or suffering the collateral consequences of offenses that are now legal. They brought together a group of justice impacted individuals, policy and education experts, leaders of the world's criminal justice drug policy reform to work to the end of fundamental injustice that is America's policy of cannabis prohibition and the war on drugs. Their dedicated team works tirelessly to achieve our goal of freeing the tens of thousands of individuals still unjustly imprisoned and creating a front end systemic reform to our criminal legal system. The Last Prisoner project they donated $4,000 from those sales and the Majority report will be matching that. Just another reason why I love this company. They are Mostly employee owned, $20 minimum wage when they're in harvest season. They have great farming practices, integrated pest management, no pesticides, regenerative farming. And they have and their movement partners, they've donated literally tens of thousands of dollars. Last Prisoner Prisoner Project, strike relief funds. They've engaged in mutual aid, they help food pantries, Planned Parenthood, the list goes on and on. Check them out. It's they're great products, third party tested. 20% off with left is best. Do yourself a favor and check these guys out. And now time for the show the Majority Report with Sam Cedar where every day's casual Friday. That means Monday is casual. Monday, Tuesday casual. Tuesday, Wednesday casual hump day, Thursday casual Thirs, that's what we call it. And Friday casual Shabbat. The Majority Report with Sam Cedar. It is Friday. What is it? It's Friday, April 25th, 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, the heartland of America. Downtown Brooklyn, usa. On the program today, Crystal Ball, co.

[Crystal Ball]

Host of Breaking Point breaking Crystal Kyle.

[Sam Cedar]

And friends and Crystal Kyle and friends. Also on the program today, Trump Patel FBI arrests a Wisconsin county judge for supposedly obstructing immigration grab and snatches. Also on the program today, China bringing Trump to his knees on tariffs. Pete Hegseth caught using unsecured Internet line in his Pentagon office to avoid government record keeping laws. Meanwhile, Trump regime bout face and has decided to refund women's health so women's health can be studied well. There's still mostly sixes. So Trump approval ratings sink across the board. And one brief defining moment, Trump's footsie with millionaire tax shows there is no such thing as a MAGA populist movement. Trump's biggest corrupt pay to play hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Trump coin for a dinner ice admits it arrested Khalil without a warrant. Rubio eliminates the office that oversees climate talks. Coincidentally, new report, coral reefs suffer an 80% bleaching incident. National Science foundation director quits in wake of a 55 cut to the agency. And the Department of Transportation sidelines its own lawyers who question their own case on the New York City congestion pricing attack. All this and more on today's Majority Report. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen.

[Crystal Ball]

This Casual Friday.

[Sam Cedar]

Casual Friday. Thank God.

[Crystal Ball]

I'm really, I've already forgotten. You need some help this morning?

[Sam Cedar]

Definitely do.

[Crystal Ball]

Grandpa Shambles Friday.

[Sam Cedar]

Exactly. It's been, it's been quite the week, ladies and gentlemen, quite the week. So let's get into it. The. I can't even find my sound sheet now. Oh, this isn't. Donald Trump announced a couple of days ago. Let's be clear, he spent like something like 25% of his time golfing. And are we up to $100 million worth of golfing trips already in the first hundred days? That's impressive. I mean, I lived through the George W. Bush era and we thought that was impressive. This is really impressive.

[Crystal Ball]

Yeah. I mean, his athletic performance, it's got to be studied how he's just trying to keep his body in fine tune by, you know, rigging tournaments on his own golf course.

[Sam Cedar]

Really important to stay in shape so that you can do this. That's what's really important. Yeah. And he's spend it, you know, close to $100 billion on his golfing. They reinstated the $10 million that it required for the first and biggest NIH study of women in this country. And I don't want this to be lost on anybody. The idea that the first major study of women's health in this country by our government started in the early 1990s should make everyone like it should be a reminder as to just how far out or not so far out we are from women being second class citizens in this country.

[Crystal Ball]

Especially given the posture of this current administration towards women's rights. And as they begin to adopt policies like, you know, floating Viktor Orban style kind of subsidization that keep women in the home. That seems to be where one orientation of the administration. But I can't believe, I mean they reinstated it because it was couch cushion money and the blowback was enormous.

[Sam Cedar]

It's one golf outing you care about menopause. I never heard of it.

[Crystal Ball]

Right, right.

[Sam Cedar]

And so that's where we are today. The ProPublica has called this next story about Donald Trump offering private dinner for people who buy the most amount of his coin is that it's a meme coin. Have some. Oh, I'm sorry. Meme coin.

[Crystal Ball]

We had Jacob Silverman on yesterday to talk about it. I mean the level of just obvious corruption here, it's like, I don't know how else we can say it a different way.

[Sam Cedar]

That's all you're selling.

[Crystal Ball]

Yeah, he's selling access just right in front of our faces. So.

[Sam Cedar]

Well, but I mean selling, I'm selling a, a commemorative coin. So it's not corruption. What's interesting is to watch like, and let's be clear, I don't think that anybody's going to vote against Donald Trump at the end of the day because of his corruption. Because if that was the case, he would not have, he would not have been the candidate in 2024. They probably wouldn't have voted for him the first time around. It is, it's always fun though, watching sort of like the next round of Johnny Come lately he's too like I can't believe this is going on and the sort of the corruption. But Galloway's not a particularly like worst case version of these folks. But it is relevant insofar as it creates a sense that Donald Trump has some vulnerability and it ties into the obvious corruption that was all centered around Doge and center around the crypto people. Like anything in my mind that makes people understand that the entire crypto world is about enriching a small amount of people at the expense of everything else. And everything else is frankly just bs. Here is Galilee on with Anderson Cooper. Anderson Cooper. We've seen anything like this offer of a Private dinner with the President, United States for investors, the top investors in a meme coin. Essentially, if you buy enough meme coins, you get accents. I mean, is this not pay to play? Oh, we see it everywhere. We see it, we see it. If you want to go to Glastonbury or Coachella and buy a high end ticket, you get, you can pay enough, you can get a, you know, a mean greet with Taylor Swift. What we've never seen is like, like the. To even compare those two things to me is bizarre.

[Emma Vigeland]

Right.

[Sam Cedar]

Like, for the White House is so much better. Right. I don't, I mean, like, yes, I think that the vip, VIP access at some of these shows is not my favorite dynamic, but it's not equivalent because you pay a ticket to go see the show. The President is not a performer that is like, it's a fundamentally different species, don't you?

[Crystal Ball]

He's the host of the Apprentice. It's a meet and greet for the host of the Apprentice, which is his most.

[Sam Cedar]

Come behind the scenes and see how we shoot the, the, the room, the conference room scenes. Erica.

[Crystal Ball]

It's public service, but it's just so, like, it's supposed to be public service.

[Emma Vigeland]

Not.

[Sam Cedar]

Want to create an analogy. The analogy is some other bribery scam.

[Crystal Ball]

Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

They turned the White House into a Tesla dealership, like three weeks ago.

[Crystal Ball]

Exactly.

[Sam Cedar]

With Taylor Swift. What we've never seen is that you can buy access like this to the President on this kind of scale where essentially he's opened a Swiss banking account and whoever's put in the most money into that Swiss banking account gets invited to a dinner at one of his country clubs. What's interesting here is not the 220 people that are going to show up at this, but the people who don't. Because I think the potential here for grift is, is just unprecedented. We've never seen anything like this. Potential for grift. Pos. This is so blinkered. This is grift. This is not a potential for grift. This is bribery. It is bribery. I'm old enough to remember the scandal of the Lincoln Bedroom where the Clintons. Bill Clinton, would have top donors to his campaigns stay at the White House. This is putting money directly into Trump's pocket.

[Crystal Ball]

Yep.

[Sam Cedar]

This is not like, this isn't potential for grift. This is bribery. This is like, even if he gets nothing in return, it is, it is grift.

[Crystal Ball]

Because the crypto is such a thinly veiled, like, even token or item that's in between the money and Trump like in Trump 1.0, he had his hotel rooms that were getting rented by the Saudis and by other people that wanted to curry favor with him. But now, like, okay, at least there's a hotel physical room here. This the World Financial. What's the name of the crypto exchange? That here, I have it written down. World Liberty Financial. This is a crypto company that was started by Don Jr. Eric, and the son of one of those. One of his donors. I'm forgetting who it is. Oh, no. Wyckoff, the Envoy. And they don't even have coincidence. They don't even have a platform. They started it in August 2024, and Trump was publicly saying, I'm not a part of this. And now he's just openly a part of it. So it was obvious what they were doing.

[Sam Cedar]

But anyway, it's this meme coin has a market cap of now two and a half billion dollars. He owns 80% of it. So in the three months since the inauguration, the President has increased his wealth. Approximately $175 million a week, I believe, or 700 million a month. We've never seen anything like this. Okay, there's potential drift. There's potential for grift. I get it. I know what it looks like. But I worked hard for that $170 million per year. Trust me. Trust me. It looks like Grift. There's potential. I'll concede that. Why don't you make your meme coin, Scott? I think the problem is the optics.

[Crystal Ball]

Right. Doesn't look good.

[Sam Cedar]

Haters.

[Crystal Ball]

I know. I guess we don't respect the grind.

[Sam Cedar]

Some breaking news. Former Congressman George Santos will be canceling his podcast going forward as he is sentenced to seven years for fraud in a New York courtroom. So if you were a fan of his podcast, I'm afraid that's probably going to be on hiatus. This is clearly censorship, and I would just say it's like legalized comedy.

[Crystal Ball]

Cancel culture is out of control.

[Sam Cedar]

That's a hole in my week, not being able to listen to George Santos. I don't know who Matt Gaetz is going to have on a show anymore, but there it is.

[Crystal Ball]

Santos may die of a broken heart in prison. Seeing Trump's grift like this, this is just the. This. That's the pinnacle of what he wanted.

[Sam Cedar]

He watched so Trump could run.

[Crystal Ball]

Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

In a moment, we'll be talking to Crystal Ball co host the Breaking Points, as well as Crystal Kyle and friends. First, a couple of words from our sponsors. All three products today I have used in the Literally in the past, like four weeks. First off, it is spring. That is when things bloom. It's also one of the best times to plant new plants, new shrubs, new trees. Fast Growing Trees is the biggest online nursery in the US with thousands of different plants and over 2 million happy customers. I am one of them. They got plants for your yard. They got fruit trees, they got privacy trees. They got shade trees. They got flowering trees, they got shrubs. You can get like the Bloomerang. I got one of those years ago, which is a lilac like tree bush type of thing that blooms now and then comes back in July.

[Crystal Ball]

The boomerang part of that, that's what the Bloomerang. Very nice.

[Sam Cedar]

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[Crystal Ball]

No.

[Sam Cedar]

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[Crystal Ball]

Very defensive about it.

[Sam Cedar]

All right, whatever.

[Crystal Ball]

I mean, I mean who knows.

[Sam Cedar]

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[Emma Vigeland]

Always a pleasure, guys. Thanks for having me.

[Crystal Ball]

Great to see you.

[Sam Cedar]

So it's just this story just broke this morning that a county judge in Wisconsin was arrested by the FBI for allegedly protecting an immigrant in her courthouse. Now, it has been very controversial, or at least, you know, it certainly was eight years ago, the idea of not arresting immigrants, undocumented immigrants or anybody else for that matter, in like courthouses, there's been a couple of places because you want people to be able to go to courthouses. There is a societal interest. I mean, this is why we have, you know, why we give undocumented in some states licenses. This is why we don't allow local police in many places to engage in, you know, immigration sweeps. Because if you have a portion of your population that is not participating in things like reporting a fire or reporting a crime or going in and adjudicating something, your society is starting to break down a little bit. But arresting a judge seems maybe like an important moment.

[Emma Vigeland]

Yeah, it's a significant escalation. I don't think there's any doubt about it. And I don't know if you guys probably saw this footage that came out of a court courtroom in Charlottesville, Virginia, where an immigrant had just actually had his charges dropped. And then agents of the state who would not identify themselves would not show a warrant, one of whom was fully masked, you know, apprehended him and pulled him out, even as his lawyers and other bystanders are trying to protect him, trying to say, who are you with? What's your name? What's your badge number? And so Those sorts of things have been playing out around the country and we don't know all the details here yet. But I mean, one thing that was interesting to note is that the FBI director, Cash Patel, he's the one who originally posted this tweet saying that they had arrested this judge. He then deleted the tweet. So not sure what is going on there. But you know, zooming out, I've been saying, and this won't be any surprise to you guys, as Trump becomes less popular, we're going to enter an even more dangerous phase of this presidency because rather than being able to try to garner any sort of public political support, he's going to have to engage in increasingly ever more authoritarian and fascistic tactics. And I think this could be seen as part of that ramping up. And it's not an accident that it comes as his poll numbers across the board, including on things like immigration, really fall.

[Crystal Ball]

Yeah. And also I think it's a way to send a message to immigration judges too. Where or not immigration judges, but judges across the country, I should say. And it doesn't have to just be limited to immigration, but this is how the Mafia operates, right, where they're intimidating this woman, this judge in Wisconsin, and they're trying to make an example out of her so that other judges across the country are maybe a little bit more favorable to the administration. Cuz that's basically where they're. The only thing that has the brakes on this administration so far has been the court system and the judiciary.

[Emma Vigeland]

Yeah. And you know, there was one piece of good news. I don't know if you guys saw this, but the Trump administration has just been mass canceling the immigration status of foreign students. And they were facing an overwhelming onslaught, some 50 plus lawsuits across the country that they were just losing one after another after another. And they actually backed down on that and are reinstating the status of these foreign students. So you're absolutely right that even though they've been willing to, you know, outright defy the courts to, you know, misinterpret what the Supreme Court is saying, what district court judges are saying, etc. It still is the only place where you've had a sort of meaningful organized resistance. And it was interesting. You may not know if you guys have had a chance to read the Time magazine interview with Trump, which was all over the map, but they asked him about the Supreme Court unanimous decision with regard to, hey, you got to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. And Trump first of all claimed that his people didn't tell him that that ruling went against him, but he wanted to make it clear that he did not want to defy the Supreme Court. Now, in reality, they are defying the Supreme Court, but it's at least interesting to me that he doesn't want to be seen as brazenly like directly defying the Supreme Court and at least wants to put some rhetorical flourish on the direction they're going in.

[Sam Cedar]

I mean, I believe him that they didn't tell. We saw there was footage that came out with Stephen Miller, hands down, and I'm not convinced that that wasn't the first time that he heard that. But I think, like, what, what is, what is really clear that. And I think the poll numbers are part of this. We should say that. I think it's the first time that he is net negative now on immigration, only by a point or two. He's net negative every other dozens of points on just about every other issue. I mean, well into the teens in a lot of this and sometimes even further a net negative. But I think what we're going to start to see is the, the pace and the ambition of different parts of what was the overall agenda move at a different pace and start. And there's going to be. It's unclear to me, like, it's quite obvious that Stephen Miller, and I think you can see that in the context of the Hegseth signal chat or maybe the first one with the Atlantic where it's like Miller comes in and he's the guy who has the last word, the voice, the president on attacking. On attacking Yemen.

[Crystal Ball]

Yemen, Right.

[Sam Cedar]

Like, this is. That's sort of outside of his portfolio. I mean, granted, they're not, you know, white people that we're attacking. So maybe that's why he, he has a say in that.

[Emma Vigeland]

Yeah, his portfolio is just evil doing. Evil doing against evil doing Miller.

[Sam Cedar]

Exactly. But this, this, I mean, I can't help but think like there we're going to start to see different agendas in and how they're represented by different people within the Trump administration. Because Trump is quite clearly just like, he's just, he's so far removed from all of this. It seems to me at this point.

[Emma Vigeland]

I think the only area that I would say he's not far removed from is the tariffs. That seems to be like the part that's totally his. Yeah, that's what he is. He's into. He's making these insane decisions. He's inventing calls that he didn't even have with his Chinese leadership, like, I think that's all him, but I think you're right.

[Sam Cedar]

200 deals.

[Emma Vigeland]

On the 200 deals. Well, could you tell us about any of them? No, no, I can't reveal.

[Sam Cedar]

I can't reveal that. I should also announce that I personally have made 300 tariff deals.

[Emma Vigeland]

Wow. Congratulations, Sam. Well, I just got on the. Off the phone with President Xi. He's doing great, you know, and we also made roughly 3,000 deals together, so.

[Sam Cedar]

Well, we're doing great. Who the deals are.

[Crystal Ball]

Yeah, you revealed too much.

[Sam Cedar]

You're learning. But, but I do think that, like, we're going to start to see that because, you know, the Doge stuff has now, it seems to me, fallen away and they've fallen back to their sort of, like, Alamo position, which is the, the Russell vote mechanism of destroying the administrative state. It's all, you know, we had someone on the other day who was a former Doge, and just because she was with the US Digital Services, and she said this, this, this next wave is all RIF stuff, reduction in force, which actually is a mechanism, rather than the Doge, which was just go in and fire people.

[Emma Vigeland]

Yeah. And hack into systems and. Exactly, yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

And. And which is not to say that it's any better. In some ways, it's even worse because it's like they've mapped this out, how they're going to do it from a legal standpoint, but it feels like the tariff stuff, like you say, is Trump's baby, but he's. It's fallen apart for him now. Like, it's, it's as if. It's as if Peter Navarro didn't know what he was talking about there. He's getting warnings now. Like, I have a. You know, there's a half a dozen stories that are out there today of, like, he was surprised that all these shipping containers from China, basically, they're not sending stuff, like, they decided it's just not worth it.

[Crystal Ball]

Right.

[Emma Vigeland]

Whereas, did you see the impression he.

[Sam Cedar]

Was just going to make a lot of money as they come in?

[Crystal Ball]

Yeah.

[Emma Vigeland]

Did you see the Jeff Stein report, that now they're meeting about these rare earth metals?

[Sam Cedar]

Yes.

[Emma Vigeland]

They're like, oh, shit. Like, China cut those off. That was the most obvious, the most obvious tactic China would take. It's like, you didn't think about this. This didn't occur to you before now. I mean, not that that surprises me, because all of this attempt to sane wash him or, oh, actually, you don't understand the grand Plan and the 4D chess and the treasury bonds and the de dollarization. We're going to use a stablecoin to, you know, be able to prop up the dollar, whatever that was going on. Trump likes tariffs because he likes power. He likes to be put in the position of having these people come to him and have to ask for what they want and him being able to bully him. He, he likes that. And so that's what he likes about tariffs. Now I think other people in the administration had different ideas of what this was going to be about, whether it's oh, we're going to bring the manufacturing jobs back, whether it's oh, we're going to try treasury yields down, which that completely and utterly failed. There were some chamber of Commerce types that were like, we're going to use the threat of tariffs to actually get to 0% tariffs. Which, you know, was, it's like, okay, well then you could have just stayed in TPP I guess, if that was ultimately your goal. But for Trump, I think it really comes down to vibes and control and power. And I also think that truly the connective tissue and this gets to, you know, some of the comments in the Democratic Party about oligarchy, et cetera, truly the connective tissue between all of these things is just an all out assault on the working class. You know, they, terrorists are deeply regressive. They've been feeding insider info to close, you know, Wall street executives, et cetera, who can benefit from these massive market movements. They're going to give a huge tax cut to the rich. Doge is all about destroying the government's ability to regulate so that business can treat workers however the hell they want. And so that you have no access to social, social safety net benefit programs, even if you technically are entitled to them. So, you know, that to me is the most cohesive way of understanding an actual project here.

[Crystal Ball]

And the tariffs also, I think you're right that it's about him consolidating power and also wanting people to come to him so he can be the dealmaker. But there's also the insane, almost conservative ideological thing that might be behind it where he may be getting some backing from Looney Tune, like gold standard conservatives like, who think this is a way to basically eliminate the income tax. That's a way that he talks about. Right, but he talks about McKinley and this era as a time waxing poetically about how there was no income tax at this time and how tariffs could be replacing that. I mean, that's not going to happen. Right, obviously. But I do think he thinks that way.

[Emma Vigeland]

Yeah, well, and not only were, was there no income tax at that time, there was next to no, like labor regulation at that time. You know, people who want to champion this policy, like the Batya's of the world, want to evoke images of the 1953, like the Peak of post war manufacturing in America when these were good regulated union jobs. By and large, Trump's not saying that. Trump's saying, hey, let's go back to the turn of the century and when we didn't have child labor laws to deal with, when, you know, people, it was much more of a Dickensian type atmosphere. You're talking Upton Sinclair, the jungle. You're talking Triangle, shirtwaist fire. You're talking extremely low wages, extremely dangerous, extremely dirty. These were not good jobs. Trump wants to put American workers back in this sweatshop era race to the bottom. He's not looking to clearly to rebuild some sort of working class power. Quite the opposite. And in that way, his interests with the tariffs are quite aligned with the interests of whether it's Elon Musk or any of the other favored oligarchs.

[Sam Cedar]

It really also does feel like they did not understand the dynamic between China and us. I mean, it's as if, like it never occurred to them say like what percentage of their exports are coming here and that they didn't occur to them like they might be able to make up that 12% other places like they can play hardball with us. I mean on some level it feels like Iraq in many ways. The Iraq invasion and occupation, the US Invasion and occupation of Iraq revealed the United States in many respects as a paper tiger. And it feels like this moment with the tariffs, regardless of if we go back to what the status quo was six months ago, is also now revealed the sort of like that there's a bit of a, from an economic standpoint, we're a bit of a paper tiger because the idea of apparently like Bloomberg reported that American meat exports there was 12,000 metric tons of US pork was ordered by Chinese. They canceled it. And you know, our system is just not prepared to absorb like who do we sell to? And I think like Australia doesn't want our meat.

[Crystal Ball]

That's the thing that they were upset about. And it's because, no, they have plenty of cattle and beef and also it's more regulated so it's safer. So they don't want our dirty, our dirty meat.

[Sam Cedar]

The.

[Emma Vigeland]

Well, I would, I would say too that, you know, a preview of this was when we threw the entire economic sanctions playbook at Russia thinking That that would cause, you know, severe economic contraction and potentially regime collapse within Russia. And you know, not, not going to say that it was nothing for them, but they were able to sustain that, to withstand that far better than most economists, but than any economist I saw expected. And you know, part of that is that Russia and China and the BRICS coalition in general, but specifically those two nations, they have recognized that their dependence on the US and on our financial and banking system and these sorts of things, that this was a vulnerability for them. So they've been preparing. And so, you know, China also had a little bit, I think we threw all of that at Russia, this incredible sanction regime that also helped them to game out what this could potentially look like for them.

[Sam Cedar]

And apparently, according to Financial Times, Beijing basically said, you gotta cancel all your unilateral tariff measures before we even engage in trade talks. Like, I mean, they're, they're basically saying, we're not sitting down with you unless you go back to zero. And you know, it is, I, it's going to be interesting to see like, you know, if Trump, I think there's probably like a three week window that we're already going to see some type of, of we're going to see the implications of this within two or three weeks. Right? Like however long the supply line sort of cycle was, however much slack there was in there, that's going to run out. And I think that's like basically the timeline. If he doesn't do reverse by then, it's just going to get worse and worse for him and for frankly farmers and other manufacturers. And it's all, it's going to be a mess.

[Crystal Ball]

And manufacturing jobs. We just saw intel and I know that they've had problems for a while, but they're laying off 20% of their workforce and you're seeing like, I think it was the, the Richmond fed of the 12 fed districts was projecting incredible losses of manufacturing jobs in particular. So like this is going to have an effect and people are going to feel that in real life, as Trump says, this is about bringing manufacturing back. And I wonder what the political implications are of that. Just because Trump has a very, he has a high floor, like I don't know if he gets down to 17% disapproval ever or something like that because he has this cult following, but maybe that's what does it right when we start to lose jobs and if the economy really gets into a deep recession. I don't know what you think about.

[Emma Vigeland]

That, Crystal, but I really don't know. To me it's still an open question because I think you're right to say we can't project what we've seen in the past about how high his floor is into this administration, because this administration is qualitatively different than what we saw in Trump 1.0. And also, you know, typically when leaders face some sort of a crisis and they have to manage it and it goes well or it goes poorly, usually there was some sort of an external factor that at least contributed to that crisis. The fact that this is wholly 100% self generated is really an extraordinary thing. And Sam is exactly right. You have been digging into this, like transport and logistics, Twitter, like these guys that follow the trucking industry or that manage the ports and these sorts of things. And apparently, you know, it takes about 30 days to get cargo from China to LA. That'll be the port where you first start to really see things head. And then it's about 45 days to Houston and then other places, you know, the timing is a little bit different, but we're coming up on that now. One thing I'll say is that some of these businesses anticipated, they knew some sort of tariff regime was coming. They increased their inventory in anticipation of that. So that will, in the near term, give them a little bit more, you know, wiggle room and a little bit more flexibility. But even if he completely walks back now, which is not happening yet, even if he completely walks away now, I think there's going to be a tremendous impact. We all saw the way in Covid. You can't just snap your fingers and have these things go back to normal. There's going to be a massive impact from this. You had Walmart and Home Depot and CEOs of these companies go to Trump and say, hey, we're a couple of weeks from having empty parts. You know, shelves like this is, this is getting very real. And if you're a small business owner, you just, you don't have this. A cushion. You don't have a cushion. And maybe you thought, okay, maybe he's serious about 10 or 20% tariffs. Here's how I can plan, here's how I can deal with that. When you get to 145%, like, it's over, it's done, there's nothing you can do. There is no way you can withstand that. And so you'll see a number of small business bankruptcies. You'll see them getting wiped out. You're going to see prices going up. Amazon sellers are already hiking their prices now. Like, that's what's really wild is we're in this sort of in between period where we all know it's going to hit and it has not hit yet and nobody knows exactly how severe that's going to be.

[Sam Cedar]

It there is that like you can see the tide going out and that's like this is like we're tsunami time. But we just don't know how much you have to run up the beach at this point to get to high ground. And I mean, I don't know in any other context I would ever even have this thought. But he's so, I, he's, he's so I think like mentally unpredictable. One wonders if as he's getting hundreds of millions of dollars coming in with this meme coin thing if he's going to fully sort of be able to wrap his, his head around or care about the implications of the, of the terrorists, of the tariffs. I mean if Miller has been effective in shielding him from the idea that he's been basically telling the, his administration has been telling the Supreme Court we're just not going to pay attention, you know, building whatever sort of like I think the Supreme Court at the end of the day wants to do what is consistent with, you know, Republican and conservative ideology. But there's still some of that like wait, we're judges type of mentality. I wonder if he's not shielded from that. Like we feel like, I feel like we're one good critique of Besant away where if like Navarro gets a line in like did you see the shirt he was wearing today? And Bessant goes and then Navarro's back into the Oval Office totally. And you know, because Musk is gone, I really do think this is sort.

[Crystal Ball]

Of like, oh, so Stephen Miller, he's Stephen Miller seems like the shadow president. But then Navarro is all over the tariff stuff. But like to that point in that Time interview, his quote was I love the concept of a millionaire tax hype but it quote may not be acceptable to the public. So like that. The point is, is that that's how detached from reality he is. He's how he used to be able to be a very effective crowd surfer. But since he lost the election, he has had no tether to any sane society, to any sense of like liberal New York, even like elites. Right. And he's been holed up in Mar a Lago in Oannville. He doesn't even understand that like you the I know they're not going to do this millionaire tax hike, but you should know that that's a Good thing for you politically, if that's what you care about.

[Emma Vigeland]

His. His view of the public is like the billionaires in his cabinet. That's where he's getting his reading from. He's like, well, they probably won like it, so we're gonna avoid it. I mean, yeah, the. You know, one of the things that I've been thinking about is all of these people are so brain poisoned. They're so, like, online brain poisoned. And I think one of the qualities of having that particular illness is that everything becomes sort of unreal to you, you know, so, like, the massive carnage that you are perpetrating on the global economy and small businesses and on workers and what it's going to do to prices. Like, it feels like nothing is really real. Like nothing matters. You know, that's always what nothing really matters.

[Crystal Ball]

Nihilistic presidency.

[Emma Vigeland]

Yeah. And so I think. I think it's that. I think also in Trump's first term, he did some tariffs much, much, much more limited than what we're talking about here. But there was an economic, like, economist were really concerned about what those tariffs were going to do and the price hikes and what would it mean for farmers, et cetera. And they did have negative impacts. I mean, farmers had to be bailed out under Trump 1.0. But I think in his mind, he's like, well, it didn't come to this catastrophic end that everyone predicted. And so I think he just doesn't, you know, he just thinks he can do anything and that it will never have the consequences that the experts are really predicting. And, you know, this plays into his view of the polls being wrong and those sorts of things. So I do think that there. Plus he's a psychopath, so that doesn't help things. And I think there is just a total disconnect from the actual impacts of his policy. He definitely doesn't care whether or not Republicans win the midterms. I mean, he's not trying to work through Congress. He's doing whatever he wants on his own. So what difference does it make to him whether or not Republicans have control of the House, have control of the Senate? And as I said before, you know, I think you're going to see increasingly authoritarian tactics and police, state taxes, and we're already seeing plenty of that. But I think that's going to continue to get ramped up as his popularity slips, and there's more and more need for him to crush dissent and assert total control and dominance.

[Sam Cedar]

I mean, I think just to expand on what you're saying, like I think, you know, I wonder if part of what drives him on the tariff front is that Biden maintain those tariffs and in some places, you know, whether it was through like the CHIPS act or the Iraq expanded on them, and he needs to sort of like, I'm going to be more than Biden. And. And then on the flip side, in terms of what we're going to see in terms of authoritarianism, like in, in Trump 1.0, it felt like whenever there was any type of scandal, and there was a ton of scandals in that first term, I wonder if people remember how many people had to resign by. Even by this point. I think there was like three or.

[Crystal Ball]

Four, five resignations, like barely last previous.

[Sam Cedar]

And but like, the guy from Oklahoma was at the EPA was already talking about using like his. And yeah, I mean, there was multiple people who had to be jettisoned. They're not going to jettison anybody. They're basically in for. I think, you know, Hegseth could literally be projecting war plans, you know, on a, on a screen on the Pentagon, and I think he would be fine. But in that iteration of the Trump administration, they immediately went to attacking a black person. Like, it was like, I mean, I can't remember, like, all the different. There was like a half a dozen, whether it was, you know, the squad members, whether it was Kaepernick. I mean, there was so many. And I think they're going to use immigrant immigrants in that same way this time. Time.

[Emma Vigeland]

Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

And I think they're hoping with that, that's going to be their elixir, I guess, to get out of, I don't know, a bad news cycle. Well, perspective.

[Emma Vigeland]

He thinks his biggest mistake in the first term was like, ever listening to anyone about anything. Yeah, I mean, that's what, in the off season, while they were out of office, the whole plan was, okay, whatever guardrails were in place last time, we may need to make damn sure none of those exist this time around. And this actually a core sort of MAGA movement belief is that the problem with Trump 1.0 was that you had, you know, John McCain there to give the thumbs down on the health care. You had people like Jared Kushner, Mark Milley or the Deep State or Esper to rein him in when he says, hey, let's shoot protesters in the knees. Like, that is their assessment of what went wrong in Trump 1.0. So they took a, a very intentional. That's part of what Project 2025 was very intentional effort to make sure that whether it's Republicans in Congress, whether it's law firms, whether it's the media, whether it's universities, whether it's the courts, these things are not going to stand in their way this time. And, you know, that's what Schedule F is about as well, making sure you only have loyalist sycophants in place so that this time around, if Trump says, hey, I want to do the Insurrection act, there's not going to be anyone there to say, here's why that would be really horrible and you shouldn't do it. And, you know, that's what seen you couple that with, of course, the fact the Supreme Court gave him blanket immunity, more or less, and you have someone who is just completely unhinged, absolute ID and going to go to the most maximalist places he has ever imagined. You know, just one other note on that. This is a point that Emily Tashinsky, who I work with, made that I thought was astute, which is on the terror, specifically, if you actually wanted to do a real, like, industrial protectionist policy involving tariffs that has some intelligence, some, you know, some sort of intellect behind it, you would have brought back Robert Lighthizer. Like, whether you agree with his ideology or not, this is a guy who's thoughtful, knows what he's talking about, could do something that was actually coherent. But you don't go with Lighthizer. Instead you go with Howard Lutnick and Peter Navarro and these types. Navarro is a complete ideological crank who, by the way, just got out of prison and so is also in this, like, yolo, burn it all down mode. Lutnick seems to just be a complete idiot. And then you've got Besant there to try to, like, sanewash the whole enterprise. So I thought that was an interesting indication too, of even Lighthizer, because he had some level of intellectual independence, even though he was aligned with the stated MAGA protectionist goals, even he couldn't be brought into this administration.

[Sam Cedar]

I mean, that's interesting. I think, again, I think you're right. The number one factor to get hired was is how much resistance are you going to put up? Or, you know, am I going to be. Are there going to be leaks about this? Which is why we're not seeing those same leaks this time, because they're all just loyalty was just their number one, I guess, credential that they needed to get the job. Let's. I want to just turn before we go and hold you a little longer, if you don't mind.

[Emma Vigeland]

Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

The flip side is how the Democrats are responding to this. And there is clearly a fight going on at the Democratic Party right now. It's unclear to me exactly where everybody lines up. But on, you know, we're watching Rahm Emanuel, you know, get out there, and Slotnik complaining.

[Crystal Ball]

Slotkin.

[Sam Cedar]

Slotkin. Sorry.

[Emma Vigeland]

Yeah, Slotkin.

[Crystal Ball]

Alyssa Slotkin.

[Emma Vigeland]

You made me shot myself, too.

[Sam Cedar]

Whatever.

[Crystal Ball]

It's okay.

[Sam Cedar]

She, you know, arguing that people don't know what the word oligarchy means. And all these. All these idiots are showing up on this massive tour, apparently without any idea of what they're going to see.

[Emma Vigeland]

Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

And. And. And then, you know, I. I can't quite figure out what's going on with Martin and Hogg. Yeah, the. At the dnc, I don't know if Hogg is looking for candidates on the same sort of criteria that I would be.

[Crystal Ball]

I heard him say progressive, which was encouraging. But I would like to know more information about, you know, what the credentials are for the primary challengers.

[Sam Cedar]

Yeah, I don't. My. I'm. I'm. That's just the branding tool at this point.

[Crystal Ball]

Yeah.

[Emma Vigeland]

I'm David Hogg. Curious. Let's say that.

[Sam Cedar]

Yes. Well, I like the idea of primaries, and I like the fact that, like the dnc, there is at least someone at the DNC who realizes we need to have a little bit more churn than we're having, you know, with our candidates. It's just unclear to me what, you know, his credentials are in that instance. What is your sense of how this fight is breaking down? Like, what's the next step? I mean, it feels like there's Bernie and AOC who are staking out a vision for where Democrats go. Booted is on his tour of podcasts, which, sure, let a thousand flowers bloom, but where is the, you know, the person that I want to vote for going on those podcasts? What's your sense of that? Or is it just too nascent?

[Emma Vigeland]

I know. I think there are some interesting dynamics developing. I mean, so, first of all, the immediate instinct from most Democrats after Trump's victory and the quote, unquote, vibe shift was to run and hide, capitulate, vote for the Lake and Riley Act, Mika and Joe to run to Mar a Lago, et cetera. And so the people who really stepped in the breach were mostly on the left. I mean, it mostly was Bernie, aoc, you could name a few others. Maxwell Frost, Jasmine Crockett is not exactly where we are. But, you know, you had a few people emerge, and Bernie and AOC have really taken command. They provided the intellectual framing. They've given people Something to do by, you know, showing up at these big rallies and being in solidarity together. And so I think they've been really, really important. And you also have a sense, sense that, okay, the way that the establishment Democrats were fighting Trump, it didn't work, right? It was a failure. And meanwhile, you know, it starts to become pretty obvious that some of the things that Bernie was saying were correct and had enough juice to fight the fascist onslaught that we're seeing now. Whereas the liberal approach, the, you know, embodied by Biden, embodied by Kamala, did not have. Have enough strength to meet the moment and did not offer enough of a narrative, an oppositional narrative to what Trump and the, you know, and his fellow fascists are ultimately pushing. So I think the Democratic base, mostly they just want people to who are putting up a fight because they feel themselves under threat. But I also think they have become ideologically more radicalized on a broad variety of issues. I mean, you see this in Luigi posting. You see this just in terms of, you know, their. The way they're showing up these town halls and the issues that they're talking about, where they are in Palestine, all of those sorts of things. And so, you know, for. I've been watching some MSNBC lately, and for some of these hosts, that is very uncomfortable that Bernie and AOC are really the leaders of the Democratic Party. And, you know, the Rahm Emanuel wing of the party is never gonna be okay with that. Doesn't matter what. And so people are starting to reveal which side of this divide they're ultimately on. Some of the people like I have to give credit to, like Nicole Wallace, I think she genuinely sees Trump as a fascist threat, genuinely sees Bernie and AOC out there doing something successful and is like, great, let's go with that. And then I think you see other people like Alissa Slotkin, who clearly sees something that's working and wants to try to undermine it. And, you know, it's going to be. I think we're going to have more people revealing themselves over the coming months of who is going to say, okay, this is the direction that is working, that people are responding to, we can do something with, and who are going to actively try to undercut it also, like the abundance agenda. People kind of, you know, fit into this somewhere as well. But. But, yeah, I think, I think that's where I see things shaking out. And, you know, the last thing I'll say is that I've been thinking about recently is it goes back to the millionaire tax thing. Trump says, you know, the public won't support a millionaire tax. He also said that it would be very disruptive. Imagine this man saying that this would be too disruptive and millionaires will lose the country, leave the country, et cetera. I saw someone saying, listen, if you actually polled millionaires, would you rather get taxed a little bit more through a millionaires tax like something or a wealth tax and the AOC or Bernie would propose, or would you rather have this insane trade war that could literally destroy the entire global economy? Like there is no doubt what they would pay pick. And so I think that Trumpism right now is making a more left wing solution not only more necessary for a Democratic base, but more palatable across the board. Because you see the alternative is not only a loss of democracy which business doesn't really care about, not only rise of fascism, but a complete potential economic devastation that is also unacceptable. And so it reminds me of the way that the F that, you know, the FDR coalition was able to come together as like, okay, well if you business leaders don't get on board with this, where you're having to be, yes, tax more and yes, fund more of a social safety net, the communists are either going to take your shit or you've got the fascists waiting in the wings as well. Now some of the business would have gone with the fascists, but enough was able to come together that you're able to create this durable coalition. So I think there are some, some remarkable political possibilities that exist right now that did not exist in the past. However, I'm also acutely aware that we have to even get to that point. And I am worried about, you know, even being able to make it to elections that are free and fair enough, that people genuinely have a choice of the political direction of the future.

[Sam Cedar]

We're going to talk later in the fun half about this millionaire text because to me what it shows is like fundamentally there is no populist movement amongst the Republicans. There may be a faction, you know, Steve Bannon may have some vision for this, but fundamentally there's just no way they're going to raise taxes on wealthy people. It is a Republican party. He is a Republican president. He still needs them. On some level. He dallied, you know, he played footsie with it for a day or two. Somebody brought it up in the White House and it was immediately leaked in every, you know, Republican stalwart jumped on and including Mike Johnson. But the thing in terms of with the Democrats that is really different now than I think was eight years ago in 2017 at this time it was something like 60% of Democrats. If you asked them, what do you want Democrats to do with the Trump administration? They would have said compromise, compromise, come to a middle ground on, on legislation, et cetera, et cetera, etcetera. It is completely flipped now. Yeah, and I think that is a. I think that's like, in part because of Trump, but I think it's also, in part, in terms of, like, generationally people understanding where the Republican Party is. And the only people going out there, like you say, who were taking a polarized position was AOC and Bernie and, and the, you know, Chuck Schumer goes in, it's like, well, we gotta fund the government because it's the only way I gotta get on my anti Semitism tour. And the. I think people like Slotkin see that and say, okay, I'm gonna make it look like I'm having a fight by saying the word fight and tough in football. Yeah, but, but she's not really having that much of a, you know, it's all got to be on the process stuff, which I think is very important, obviously. And I really do think that Trump is a, an authoritarian threat. But on a policy level, what legislation would she do that the Republicans aren't going to do? In some fashion, she may temper the distribution of tax cuts and whatnot, but I'm just not. There's no clear, polarized lines. They'll say, you know, kitchen table issues, but they won't.

[Crystal Ball]

They never define what that is.

[Sam Cedar]

It's just like, it's fascinating. What should we be talking about? Kitchen table issues. What are those?

[Emma Vigeland]

Right.

[Sam Cedar]

Well, we should be talking about more.

[Emma Vigeland]

This is the power of the oligarchy frame is that encompasses not only the assault on democracy, but also it's a material critique as well. And so that's why I think it's actually the perfect framing, because you can hang not only the, you know, tax cuts for the rich on it, you can also hang the, you know, mass deportation with no due process into a foreign gulag and assault on all of our rights. The insider trading, you know, doge and the defenestration of the regulatory state so the big business and the favored oligarch class can do whatever they want. There's all sorts of, you know, pieces that the Trump administration is fomenting right now that fit squarely into that framing. And again, it's. It's both about your rights and democracy, but it's also has the right sort of divisive politics that is around a class critique. And so I Which is exactly why these Alyssa Slotkins of the world say, oh, no, not that. Let's not talk about that. Right. Because it's uncomfortable for her and, you know, whatever part of the Democratic Party that she represents. And I'll be watching Pete very closely because I do think, I mean, Pete has rhetorical skill. You know, I think he came off pretty well in that podcast. He can go into Fox News, etc. But I'm very skeptical of him and, you know, expect him much more to align with the sort of Alyssa slot came winning the party. I could easily see a sort of like, AOC versus Pete Primary coming at us in 2028.

[Sam Cedar]

I wonder if Slotkin would appreciate more, like, eat the rich campaigns.

[Crystal Ball]

That's what.

[Emma Vigeland]

Everybody understands that. Right?

[Sam Cedar]

I mean, like, that's so my kitchen table. I don't get it. Yeah. Actually eat the rich. It's too complicated.

[Crystal Ball]

Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

Like, I mean, I, you know, substitute what you want for the word oligarchy.

[Emma Vigeland]

Right.

[Sam Cedar]

It's a, it's. It's impressive that she's trying to make that argument in Michigan, of all places.

[Crystal Ball]

Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

Right. I mean, because you get a little bit higher union density there and people. That's not a word. That people are so, I guess, bizarre for people in Michigan. I know. That's. We'll see how far that goes. Crystal Ball, thank you so much for your time today. People will put a link, obviously, to Crystal Kyle and friends and to Breaking Points. Appreciate your time.

[Crystal Ball]

Doing great work over there.

[Emma Vigeland]

Oh, thanks, you guys, too. Always great to see you.

[Crystal Ball]

Great to see you.

[Sam Cedar]

Should we play this clip from Chuck Schumer or we'll wait.

[Crystal Ball]

Do you want to do it in the fun app? You want to do it now?

[Sam Cedar]

Let's do it. I know. This is too, too fun. It's Friday. Come on. Can't delay the Chuck Schumer gratification.

[Crystal Ball]

Yes.

[Sam Cedar]

This is it.

[Crystal Ball]

We're going to be very aroused.

[Sam Cedar]

Folks are going to get aroused with this clip. And I'm putting you on a notice right now. One thing you should know going into this, I don't know if they're still roommates in Washington, D.C. but Durbin and Schumer were roommates literally in D.C. yeah. You know, I maybe, maybe do like, a bunk situation. I don't know if they had bunk beds or, you know, it was more like the Odd Couple when they first came to D.C. they were roommates and there was some talk that, like, they may have been rivals to follow Harry Reid on some level. Dick Durbin has announced his retirement Now, I think Durbin is a little bit older than Chuck Schumer.

[Crystal Ball]

He is, yeah. But this is a big one because he was one of the 10 that voted for the dirty continuing resolution. Right? Durbin was one of those 10. Can we just double check and fact check that, Russ, if that voted to with Schumer to keep the government open. But. And everybody there was not up for reelection in 2026 or retiring like Sheehy in New Hampshire. And now Durbin formally announced it, but it was speculated because he's literally 80 years old.

[Sam Cedar]

And here is Chuck Schumer asked if, dude, now that you have no roommate, what are you doing? And I think it's time for me to pass the torch on to another candidate.

[Emma Vigeland]

But have you given any thought to, to a more specific timeline when it comes to passing the torch yourself? Are you even giving that some thought right now?

[Sam Cedar]

Right now I am focused on showing the American people how bad Trump's economics are for them, how he is putting our democracy at risk. And I am totally focused on that. As you said, I was out on Long island today. I have visited all six, the Bailey six of the seven Republican congressional districts talking about tariffs, talking about the economy, talking about how bad cutting Medicaid would be, particularly in our rural areas. That's my focus. And I think it's time. No. So I have a couple of issues with this. Not surprising. I think this is an uncontroversial statement. The question of antisemitism has been the biggest fig leaf and cover and mechanism for the most authoritarian, to this date, authoritarian machinations by the Trump administration. You have people who are disappeared. You have people who are arrested without warrants. Mahmoud Khalil arrested without warrants. You have universities defunded. You have an attempt to have a consent decree over Colombia, all in the name of fighting antisemitism. And Chuck Schumer biggest tour so far this year, to the extent that it wasn't canceled, was on his anti Semitism.

[Crystal Ball]

Book reinforcing the framing of the fascist Trump administration as it locks up student activists for their speech. That is what the opposition leader of the Democrats was doing. And he may have some more liberal veneer on it, and he may give some lip service to the Palestinian struggle or their suffering currently. But fundamentally, the whole premise of his book reinforces the ideology that a fascist administration is employing, employing right now. Liberal Zionists are fascist enablers now, period.

[Sam Cedar]

I will say this. You know, it would be one thing, you know, if Mahmoud Khalil was scooped up by ICE in New York and his wife wasn't a citizen, you know, she was a citizen, let's say, living in the state of New York. Then one would expect Chuck Schumer, not Ed Markey from Massachusetts or other politicians going and speaking out and trying to visit with him and whatnot.

[Crystal Ball]

5.5 Democrats. Yeah, yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

It turns out though, actually Khalil was arrested in New York. I mean, so he's out on Long island explaining to people how the tariffs are going to hurt them. Yeah, the. Which I'm sorry, the idea that you. If I was not going to rerun Election, I wouldn't be able to just. Let's just like to do both. Wait, if you're running for reelection, isn't that a split focus on your number one mission of telling how bad the economy is? It seems to me that Dick Durbin announces now so that it's not a distraction and he could do more of his work and focus on his work. Like, imagine if Chuck Schumer did not have to go hat in hand time and time again to Facebook or Meta or to all these people on Wall Street. Imagine if he didn't have to do that. If we could take that off its place and, and really allow him to focus. We really allowed him the focus. Like, how does even a reporter asking him this question not see the contradiction? Wait, running for reelection is not splitting your focus at all.

[Crystal Ball]

Yeah, like, give me a break.

[Sam Cedar]

Answer the question. Just say, I don't want to, I don't want to talk about it. Yeah, I would say maybe the stump. Like, there's different things you have to do, Chuck. There's the stump speech in Long island or wherever, and there is the long term strategy for your party.

[Crystal Ball]

Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

Those are two things you should be able to juggle at the same time.

[Crystal Ball]

The leader, the leader of the Democrats in the Senate. I just wanna remind people about that. Not that he's acting like a leader. I mean, Chris Van Hollen pantsed this dude. Like, I mean, that's how it's done. And I don't know who the next leader of the Democrats will be in the Senate. Chuck Schumer's on borrowed time, but Van Holland definitely threw his hat in the ring with that. And like, even if he doesn't end up being in leadership, the point is, is that it, like, he, Schumer, got embarrassed by somebody who actually decided to use the bully pulpit to oppose Donald Trump and to demonstrate it and do so with action. And now you see other Democrats, Democrats following. So.

[Sam Cedar]

All right, folks, we're gonna head to the fun half. Just a reminder, it's your support that makes this show possible. You can become a [e-mail] when you do not only get the free show, free of commercials, but you also get the fun half and you help this show survive and thrive. Join themjorityreport.com Also, the risk of splitting focus. Just coffee co op fair trade coffee, hot chocolate. Use the coupon code majority get 10% off. Help our friends out in Madison, Wisconsin. I don't know what county that judge was arrested in, but just coffee. Always involved in these issues. And a lot of the people who work there, they work at a co op. I mean, in, you know, they're doing this stuff. Check them out. Just Coffee Co Op, 10% off. Coupon code majority Left reckoning. Yeah. Next week on left Reckoning Tuesday, we have Vincent Bevins on talking about his great piece in the nation on Brazil's mst, the movemento semtera landless workers movement. We recorded that yesterday, but it's. We're. We were gonna put it on Sunday, but it's so good we're gonna to release it for everybody on the public show. But check out The Sunday Show. Patreon.com left reckoning. David and I are going to be talking about some clips and stuff. So wait, you keep the bad stuff for members and you put the good stuff out? Exactly. Okay, see you in the fun half. Three months from now, six months from now, nine months from now. And I don't think it's going to be the same as it looks like in six months from now. And I don't know if it's necessarily going to be better six months from now than it is three months from now, but I think around 18 months out, we're going to look back and go like, wow, what? What is that going on? It's nuts. Wait a second. Hold on. Hold on for a second. Emma, welcome to the program. Matt who? Fun pack. What is up, everyone? Fun path. No, M. Keen, you did it. Fun path.

[Crystal Ball]

Let's go, Brandon.

[Sam Cedar]

Let's go, Brandon. Fun hack. Bradley, you want to say hello? Sorry to disappoint everyone. I'm just a random guy. It's all the boys today.

[Emma Vigeland]

Fundamentally false.

[Crystal Ball]

No. I'm sorry. Women.

[Sam Cedar]

Stop talking for a second. Let me finish.

[Crystal Ball]

Where is this coming from? Dude?

[Sam Cedar]

But. Dude, you want to smoke this? 7A. Yes. Hi, me. You're safe. Yes. Is this me? Is it me? It is you. Is this me? Hello? Is this me? I think it is you who is you. No sound. Every single freaking day. What's on your mind?

[Crystal Ball]

Sports.

[Sam Cedar]

We can discuss free markets and we can discuss capitalism. I'm gonna go libertarians. They're so stupid. Though common sense says of course.

[Crystal Ball]

Gobbledygook.

[Sam Cedar]

We nailed him.

[Crystal Ball]

So what's 79 plus 21?

[Sam Cedar]

Challenge. Man, I'm positively quivering. I believe 96. I want to say. 8, 5, 7, 2, 1, 0. 8, 5, 5, 0, 1, 1 half. 3, 8, 9, 11. For instance.

[Crystal Ball]

3, $400. $1900.

[Sam Cedar]

5, 4, $3 trillion.

[Crystal Ball]

Sold.

[Sam Cedar]

It's a zero sum game. Actually. You're making me think less, but let me say this. Call it satire.

[Crystal Ball]

Sam goes satire on top of it all. Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

My favorite part about you is just like every day, all day, like everything you do. Without a doubt. Hey, buddy. We see you. All right, folks, folks, folks.

[Crystal Ball]

It's just the week being weeded out. Obviously.

[Sam Cedar]

Yeah. Sun's out, guns out. I. I don't know.

[Crystal Ball]

But you should know, people just don't.

[Sam Cedar]

Like to entertain ideas anymore. I have a question. Who cares? Our chat is enabled, folks. I love it.

[Crystal Ball]

I do love that.

[Sam Cedar]

Gotta jump. Gotta be quick. I gotta jump. I'm losing it, bro. 2:00, we're already late, and the guy's being a dick. So screw him. Sent to a gulag.

[Crystal Ball]

Outrageous.

[Sam Cedar]

Like, what is wrong with you? Love you.

[Emma Vigeland]

Bye.

[Sam Cedar]

Love you. Bye.