← The Majority Report with Sam Seder
The Majority Report with Sam Seder
2512 - AOC Endorses Zohran; Neocons Disrupt Trump's Iran Talks w/ Trita Parsi
01:07:14
Happy Emmajority Report Thursday to all who celebrate! As if that wasn't enough, it's also AOC endorses Zohran Day, which comes the day after Zohran wipes the floor with Andrew Cuomo Day. We needed to bask in the glory at the top of the show and damn...
Loading summary
Transcript268 lines
- [00:00]
Emma Vigland
You are listening to a free version of Majority Report with Sam Steder. To support the show and get another 15 minutes of daily program, go to majority SM please.
- [00:14]
Matt Binder
The majority Report with Sam Cedar.
- [00:19]
Emma Vigland
It is Thursday, June 5, 2025. My name is Emma Vigland in for Sam Seder and 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 today, Trita Parsi of the Quincy Institute joins us to discuss Trump's negotiations with Iran. Also on the program, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez endorses Zoran Mamdani in the New York City mayoral race and says to rank him first. This is very good news. Trump implements travel bans on several African and Middle Eastern countries, including Afghanistan. A federal judge Bozberg again finds that the seekot detainees need to be given due process by the administration, setting up another Supreme Court battle. By the way, Kimmel Robergo Garcia. And they're still there. ICE detained more than 2200 people on Tuesday, a single day record, taking many of them from their scheduled immigration appointments, which appears to be a practice now. The US vetoes the UN Security Council's Gaza ceasefire resolution for the. I don't know how many times have they done it. Trump gets his his turn now. The only of the 15 countries to vote no. Wall street braces for a dismal jobs report on Friday as a private one finds that private job creation is hitting its lowest level in more than two years. Didn't they want a weaker labor market or a. Yeah, seems, I don't know. All putting all these private sector people out and and out of work or public sector people out of work. It's just interesting to me. Trump and Elon Musk face off over the big beautiful bill as news of their rift gets a bit louder. But there's one Democrat who thinks we should reach out to Musk, bring him back into the party. And by some I mean Representative Roana of Silicon Valley. Can we bring back snake emojis? Is that dumb?
- [02:56]
Matt Binder
Didn't work for me to imply that Elon was the type of criminal that Truman would have investigated on the Truman Committee when Roe was on left reckoning.
- [03:04]
Emma Vigland
He didn't. I guess he didn't take that to heart.
- [03:07]
Matt Binder
Really.
- [03:08]
Emma Vigland
Kind of just slid over money talks.
- [03:10]
Matt Binder
Water off a duck's back.
- [03:11]
Emma Vigland
Yep. Trump ramps up his war on Columbia and Harvard. He used the new authority to block international students from Harvard and says Columbia failed to meet accreditation requirements to protect Jewish students. Glad they threw all their students under the bus, right? Look at what it got them. Texas revokes undocumented students ability to receive in state tuition. The Bureau of Labor Statistics will cut back on its collection of data on consumer prices. You know, if we don't tabulate that prices are increasing, it doesn't exist. That's the Trump Covid model of imposing ignorance upon yourself. And lastly, yet another former Republican is running as a Democrat for governor in Florida. How many times are we going to do this? All this and more on today's Majority Report. Welcome to the show, everybody. It's an Majority Report Thursday. Hello to Russ, hello to Matt. Hello to you. We start off today, it sounds like maybe, you know, like I know we have an audience all across the country and in many other countries, too. But I was just talking to somebody last night about how many people outside of New York are paying attention to the mayoral race because it's really the first election since Donald Trump won the second time around that we have a true left wing person who has a shot, maybe more than a shot, because at 5am this morning, right before I should say the morning shows hit the air and they're going to be covering all the highlights of the debate, it was published in the New York Times that Alexandria Ocasio Cortez says to rank Zoran Mamdani number one. She also, I was thinking of ranking Adrian Adams second. And she's doing that, which was a bit surprising given how much Brad Lander has coveted her endorsement.
- [05:24]
Matt Binder
I'll just like own it that I thought she was waffling between wanting to endorse Lander and feeling pressured to endorse Zoran. And I was wrong.
- [05:34]
Emma Vigland
She, she was timing it right. Like there's this paragraph here that I think is, is really telling Ms. Ocasio Cortez this is further down. You may have to search. Ms. Ocasio Cortez and her aides spent weeks studying the race. They asked candidates to submit polling and opposition and strategy memos to make the case for their viability. She has faced criticism for not weighing in sooner. But a person familiar with her thinking said she had long planned for her announcement to coincide with the final weeks of the race when many voters are just tuning in. And then, you know, Adams and Lander are disappointed. But this was the strategy that we'd been kind of saying was more likely because she has the name recognition that would appeal to low propensity voters who the impact of the endorsement being closer to when voting starts is greater because that's when they're more likely to be tuning in. A lot of people who are really engaged in politics are really engaged in the Zoran Mamdani campaign. You have to get those other voters. So I found it to be pretty expertly done. And speaking of expertly done, last night, Zoran Mamdani destroyed Cuomo in the debate. But it wasn't even just him. Cuomo looked like he didn't prepare. He came out there with, like, an Israeli flag pin or a hostage pin that you could see from space. And I shouldn't even call it that, because although this guy could put this on the screen really quickly. This guy who. I don't know what his polling is.
- [07:02]
Matt Binder
But he's Whitney Tilson.
- [07:03]
Emma Vigland
Whitney Tilson? Yeah. Was, like, couldn't find the hostage yellow ribbon pin big enough on Amazon, so he had to make one himself.
- [07:12]
Matt Binder
This is just lunacy.
- [07:13]
Emma Vigland
I know. It's just obvious what they're doing.
- [07:15]
Matt Binder
Disgusting.
- [07:16]
Emma Vigland
It's not about the hostages. This is about using the hostages as a. As a. As a propaganda piece to continue the genocide. So we all want the hostages back.
- [07:27]
Matt Binder
Israel, the people who lead Israel's war machine, are very clear that the hostages are actually an impediment to fighting the.
- [07:33]
Emma Vigland
War, which is their number one priority.
- [07:36]
Matt Binder
And it'd be nice. I mean, even like, Haaretz, you know, notices that. It'd be nice if our political establishment could, you know, embrace reality at a certain point, particularly on the Democratic primary side of things.
- [07:48]
Emma Vigland
The good news is that it was mostly Mr. Whitney who will play it. Actually, I'll laugh about it. He thinks he could have convinced Biden. It seems like maybe to drop out sooner. Some main character energy coming from that guy.
- [08:02]
Matt Binder
I mean, where were you? Yeah, it's not like you were 18 when that was happening.
- [08:06]
Emma Vigland
It's so silly. But Cuomo just. It feels like he's running a campaign based on name recognition. He's running a lazy campaign that wants people to have as little information about him and about other candidates as possible, because that's how corrupt Democrats win in very safe blue areas in primaries. Speaking of aoc, that's how Joe Crowley kept winning with incredibly low turnout in her district. And she had a great ground game that got people out. And then she won that surprise victory despite being down by double digits in the polling leading up to that day. And I see very similar strong tactical thinking from the Zoran Mamdani campaign. And it's not just his great ads, as Cuomo was mocking him over last night. It's Also the strategy and how he's run a campaign based on small dollars and matching funds and Cuomo has not. This was one of my favorite moments of the debate last night where Cuomo is asked, or maybe Mamdani brings it up here, but about the $1 million that he received from DoorDash. For those who don't know, DoorDash, in a few years ago had to settle with for nearly $17 million with the city of New York. Letitia James led this case and found that from 2017 to 2019, DoorDash was stealing the tips that New Yorkers thought that they were giving to the drivers. We know when you, when you tip at the end of, when you get an order from DoorDash.
- [09:43]
Matt Binder
Oh, I always knew I was tipping the people who invested in the company.
- [09:46]
Emma Vigland
Right. They, they were taking that and not obviously telling the consumers who were thinking they were tipping their driver. They were taking that money and using it to subsidize the minimum wage that they were already paying them. So like say you get 50, the driver gets $15 for an order and somebody tips $2. That $2 would go back into the 15 so they wouldn't be making any extra money. They were stealing from their workers. And I give you that context to show what how Cuomo reacted when that million dollar donation was brought up.
- [10:25]
Matt Binder
Corrupt Cuomo.
- [10:26]
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Let's remind you guys that these are the people taking most of them your food to your offices and your homes.
- [10:31]
Andrew Cuomo
Mr. Mandan, you know, I find it ridiculous to hear Andrew Cuomo talk about how we need to regulate the apps when this is the very mayoral candidate who has a super PAC that received $1 million from DoorDash. How are you going to regulate DoorDash when they are giving you $1 million to influence your street safety regulations and your labor regulations. This model, this economic model is one that doesn't just incentivize E bike riders to break street safety laws. It often requires.
- [11:04]
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Mr. Cuomo, do you want to respond to that?
- [11:06]
Whitney Tilson
Yes.
- [11:07]
Emma Vigland
The.
- [11:08]
Whitney Tilson
I work for the people of the state of New York, the people of the city of New York. I don't care who gave me what I do, what is right. And that's how I.
- [11:17]
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
But you don't feel compromised.
- [11:19]
Whitney Tilson
That's how I always run my.
- [11:20]
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
But don't you feel compromised?
- [11:21]
Whitney Tilson
I just said the apps should be held responsible. They are the ones who should have to license the bike, register the bike. They should be responsible for the fees. They're the ones who are making the money.
- [11:31]
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Thank you, Mr. Blake.
- [11:34]
Andrew Cuomo
Thank you.
- [11:34]
Emma Vigland
Very much. We have to go to Mr. Blake.
- [11:38]
Matt Binder
Just want to make sure we internalize that. Andrew Cuomo just said, I don't care.
- [11:42]
Andrew Cuomo
Who gave me what.
- [11:44]
Emma Vigland
That's not a man who's actually going.
- [11:45]
Matt Binder
To break the corruption in City Hall. You need a new vision Right here to your question around E Bikes.
- [11:50]
Emma Vigland
That guy Michael Blake was the kind of dark horse star to come out of this, I guess. He had previously primaried Richie Torres in New York. 15. I don't know what his politics are more broadly. I'd have to look into it. But he sounded pretty good last night. And if Jamaal Bowman doesn't move over a district, I'm interested in this candidate maybe taking on Richie Torres. But, yeah, that's Cuomo just phoning it in, like, yeah, I don't care.
- [12:15]
Matt Binder
The apps should have. Should be held responsible by whom? The guy taking money from the apps to give them cutouts.
- [12:23]
Emma Vigland
Right. I mean, and it was like a record breaking amount being spent by a corporation in a mayoral race. I think I would have to look up what record that was breaking. But it's so clear. Cuomo has a history and had a history in Albany of corruption investigations into his top aides and into him. And then this is just on another level. That was one great moment. This also was. This is probably my favorite. This is a longer exchange when every candidate was asked about their biggest regret towards the end of the first hour of the debate. And to give you some context, Andrew Cuomo, Letitia James, the attorney, the New York State Attorney General, came up with a report in 2021 and found that Cuomo as governor, had undercounted COVID deaths in nursing homes by thousands. That was the margin to cover that up. And then she published that report, and then the Health Department after that, because the New York Attorney general found this, provided data that was like, actually, yeah, this is correct. Data that Cuomo had previously been covering up. And now because of that, the Trump administration is investigating Cuomo for lying to Congress about that. Obviously, it's politically motivated from Trump's side, but that is what they're asking about here. And Cuomo doesn't. Well, you'll hear what happens. Thank you, Mr. Mamdani. Biggest regret in your years in politics.
- [13:57]
Andrew Cuomo
You know, as a Democrat, one of my regrets is having trusted the leaders within our own party, leaders like Andrew Cuomo. Because what we've seen is that kind of leadership has delivered us to this point where we are under attack by an affordability crisis on the inside and a Trump administration on the outside and Democrats are tired of being told by leaders from the past that we should continue to simply wait our turn. We should continue to simply trust when we know that's very leadership that got us to this point. We need to turn the page for new leadership to take us out.
- [14:29]
Emma Vigland
Mr. Tilson, my biggest regret is that.
- [14:33]
Trita Parsi
I didn't see Joe Biden's decline and.
- [14:35]
Andrew Cuomo
Call for him to resign earlier. It wasn't until after the debate.
- [14:38]
Emma Vigland
All right, pause it. I'm sorry.
- [14:39]
Trita Parsi
One of the loudest voices we could.
- [14:42]
Emma Vigland
Have cut this answer out, but I just was so amused by the idea that this guy, this no name Whitney Tilson, thought that he could just call Biden up and tell him, like, drop out of the race.
- [14:53]
Trita Parsi
No one's saying that.
- [14:54]
Emma Vigland
No poll says that he looks like.
- [14:57]
Matt Binder
A ghost from courage.
- [14:58]
Trita Parsi
The cowardly Duncan publicly, nationally calling on him to step aside.
- [15:04]
Andrew Cuomo
But unfortunately, by then it was too.
- [15:06]
Trita Parsi
Late, and we handed Donald trump the presidency.
- [15:08]
Emma Vigland
Mr. Cuomo, your regrets all the years you've spent in politics.
- [15:13]
Whitney Tilson
The Democratic Party got to a point that we allowed Mr. Trump to be elected, that we've gotten to a point where rhetoric has no connection with reality, where a person who has served in government for several years. We passed three bills really quick.
- [15:30]
Emma Vigland
That's a shot at Zoran. Just so you know. So he. He can't say a regret personally, despite the numerous, numerous scandals, the DOJ investigation, the force resignation, tens of thousands of.
- [15:43]
Michael Blake
People that died in nursing homes.
- [15:44]
Emma Vigland
Yes.
- [15:44]
Matt Binder
How much policy did this guy block with his whole independent Democr Democrats caucus?
- [15:52]
Emma Vigland
Democrats that were Republicans every time did.
- [15:55]
Matt Binder
Not have legal weed in this state until he got ignominiously thrown from office for being a pervert. That's when we finally got all the stuff that he was suppressing. Yeah. Kind of a weird angle of attack.
- [16:08]
Emma Vigland
Yeah. And Adrian Adams goes at him in just a sec. But I had to point out the swipe at Zoran because that was the only guy he was really going at. And you just see why. It's a big thing. Go back like five seconds. Yeah.
- [16:21]
Whitney Tilson
Rick has no connection with reality. Where a person who has served in government for several years, only passed three bills, believes they have the experience and credentials to run the greatest city on the earth. And the Democratic Party seems okay with that.
- [16:39]
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Mr. Cuomo, this question was about your personal regret in your politics.
- [16:45]
Whitney Tilson
I said I regret the state of the Democratic Party is.
- [16:50]
Matt Binder
Yeah.
- [16:50]
Whitney Tilson
Not the question that we elected trump.
- [16:53]
Andrew Cuomo
Not the 15.
- [16:53]
Emma Vigland
No regrets when it comes to cutting Medicaid or health care. No regrets when it comes to cutting child care. No regrets. When it comes to slow walking PPE and vaccinations in the season of COVID to black and brown communities. Really no regrets. No regrets.
- [17:08]
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
We have to protect these retirees.
- [17:11]
Emma Vigland
Okay.
- [17:12]
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
We want everyone to be able to retirees.
- [17:14]
Emma Vigland
Okay. We want to respond to this, Mr.
- [17:16]
Andrew Cuomo
Cuomo, you only have a few seconds.
- [17:17]
Trita Parsi
Seconds.
- [17:17]
Whitney Tilson
Yeah, I understand, but it's not accurate. Medicaid went up under me. I led the nation under Covid. I pushed President Trump to give us everything he had every day. You expressed it, leading Covid.
- [17:36]
Emma Vigland
No regrets, Mr.
- [17:39]
Matt Binder
I'm sure that lie there, that it grew. Yeah. It would have grown more, but you cut it.
- [17:45]
Emma Vigland
Yep.
- [17:45]
Matt Binder
You have a growing state. Asshole.
- [17:48]
Emma Vigland
And it was. He was proposing it in the lead up to Covid. The, that it was for a responsible budget in, in New York State. As we're seeing the Republican slash Medicaid across the country, Cuomo should have a bumper sticker. I did it. I took your health care first. Or I tried to take your health care first. Yeah.
- [18:05]
Matt Binder
What month did Covid hit?
- [18:07]
Emma Vigland
It hit probably like February. I mean, it was.
- [18:10]
Matt Binder
He's still talking about March.
- [18:12]
Michael Blake
March was the day basketball ended. I'll tell you, one of the things that, that Cuomo did achieve in convincing Trump was to send that hospital ship. Do you remember there was like a ship that was like fitted to be a hospital and it had all these measures in place to prevent the spread of COVID He let that ship sit there empty and instead there was a bunch of people, elderly people, who had been tested positive for Covid, and he sent them back to the nursing homes. By the way, happens to have taken over the course of his career, hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from the nursing home industry.
- [18:44]
Emma Vigland
Yep.
- [18:44]
Michael Blake
Who only gets paid when the beds are full.
- [18:46]
Emma Vigland
Exactly.
- [18:47]
Michael Blake
Let that hospital ship go away, like without ever having treated a single patient. So that maybe would have been on that list of regrets.
- [18:56]
Emma Vigland
Should have been. Can we go through it a little bit? Because then that other anchor just follows up about the, you know, many women, like the over a dozen women that have accused him repeatedly of sexual assault. 13 women. The Department of Justice, by Joe Biden's Department of Justice found that, yes, he sexually harassed 13 women between the period of 2013 and 2021. They called it a practice of discrimination against female employees based on how he acted. And it was repeatedly done and it was non consensual.
- [19:34]
Matt Binder
And we should just underline that. You'll see the press say this is alleged. No, this was investigated.
- [19:39]
Emma Vigland
No, no. Alleged. It's been proven that people at home.
- [19:44]
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Must be wondering about your answer to this question, because we speak to voters throughout the city, and quite a few of them will say, I'm not sure exactly what happened with those sexual harassment cases. We know that you say you never sexually harassed anybody. You say you're running to restore efficient government and efficient leadership. But in the past, your leadership came with what more than one investigation concluded was a toxic work environment, especially for women. And some of those cases are still ongoing. So I just want to ask you, since we're talking about regrets, you have apologized to some of those women back when you were still governor. What do you say to voters now looking ahead to your potential mayoralty? Are you doing anything differently, and why should they believe that that same situation won't happen again?
- [20:32]
Whitney Tilson
Yeah, Melissa, let's just make sure we have the facts. A report was done four years ago making certain allegations. I said at the time that it was political and it was false. Five district attorneys, Democratic Republicans, short, tall, looked at it all across the state, found absolutely nothing. One case has been resolved. I was dropped from that case. I said at the time that if I offended anyone, I was unintentional, but I apologize, and I say that today.
- [21:09]
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
There was also a Justice Department investigation, but we'll move on because we're out of time.
- [21:14]
Whitney Tilson
Raised, but we also.
- [21:15]
Emma Vigland
That's good. Yeah. They were basically just moving on to the next person. In terms of regrets for the question. Yeah. He couldn't even come up with a. When you go into a job interview, you're supposed to come up with, like, a fake weakness. The dude couldn't even come up with. I regret that the Democrats.
- [21:31]
Matt Binder
I regret that you're all a bunch of losers and don't respect me enough.
- [21:35]
Emma Vigland
Right.
- [21:36]
Andrew Cuomo
I did everything right.
- [21:37]
Emma Vigland
And they indicted me. That's basically Andrew Cuomo.
- [21:41]
Michael Blake
He could have done also, like, something he could have said when, you know, the whole city, the state of New York, was, like, in a crisis and thousands and thousands of people were dying. I went on my brother's news show and joked about our mother's meatballs.
- [21:56]
Emma Vigland
Yeah.
- [21:57]
Michael Blake
And then sold a book praising myself as, like, the leader that the country needed at that moment. Maybe he should have said, I wish I would have been a little more humble.
- [22:05]
Matt Binder
He started with saying, I regret that, you know, Democrats allowed Trump to get into office. His response to those investigations is exactly Trump. It is. Oh, it's political lies aimed at me because I'm such a special person.
- [22:18]
Emma Vigland
Well, I mean, I think I've been joking. Calling Biden Blue Trump. Right. Just given his level of arrogance. But probably Cuomo, I think, takes the mantle because of his bullying, too.
- [22:29]
Matt Binder
That even more naked corruption.
- [22:31]
Emma Vigland
Exactly. Exactly. How long's the Israel part? We could do that in the fun half, or we could do that now. Let's just save that pretty short.
- [22:40]
Michael Blake
But we could do later.
- [22:41]
Emma Vigland
Okay. We'll save it for Bender and Brandon just because they may have some fun with it. But overall, I mean, it was just a bad night for Andrew Cuomo. I'm not sure how this turns the tide, but we see there's a lot.
- [22:56]
Matt Binder
Of his support comes from people who aren't paying attention.
- [22:58]
Emma Vigland
Exactly.
- [22:59]
Matt Binder
Once every four years.
- [23:00]
Emma Vigland
That's what's. That's what's. That's what's really hard. But the thing. That's why the AOC endorsement is so significant. And hopefully she does a rally with him, too, at some point, bring more news, attention to those very voters. Because, you know, like, he's got, like, these parts of Brooklyn locked up. Right. It's more about voters who are gonna just go and vote for CUOM based on name recognition. So we shall see. But overall, we had a good night for Democratic politics here in New York. We will be talking to Trita Parsi in just a second. We spoke to him. Recorded that conversation around two hours ago. But first, a word from our sponsors. Smalls is one of our favorite sponsors. It's one of Matt's favorite sponsors with his cats.
- [23:52]
Matt Binder
Yeah, I would say it's one of my cat's favorites.
- [23:53]
Emma Vigland
Okay.
- [23:54]
Matt Binder
I feel like I'm spoiling them a little bit, but they. They can't get enough of the stuff.
- [23:58]
Emma Vigland
Smalls is just. This podcast is sponsored by Smalls. It's cat food that you can feel good about. What's. What's the name of your cat? Matt.
- [24:10]
Matt Binder
I don't want to give away that information.
- [24:12]
Emma Vigland
Okay, fair enough. We'll use a co. We'll use a code name then. But this podcast is Marcel. Well, Marcel, Matt's cat. He's been saying to us off air how much they enjoy the ingredients. If your cat has some digestive issues, if they're throwing up their food, if they're picky, yes, they need a diet upgrade. Well, everybody's been there. You should check out our next sponsor, Smalls. This podcast is sponsored by Smalls. If you're a listener of this show, you know that Matt's cat, Sam's new cat, they can't live without smalls. To get 50% off your first order plus free shipping. Head to smalls.com and get and use our promo code majority. Smalls cat food is protein packed. It's made with preservative pre ingredients that you find in your fridge and it is delivered right to your door. That's why cats.com named Smalls their best overall food. And if you're still not a believer, New York magazine called Smalls the best cat food according to veterinarians. While buzzfeed said my cats went completely ballistic for this stuff. What was it like, Matt, when you first gave Smalls to your.
- [25:19]
Matt Binder
I mean, they just, they scream at me as I'm preparing it. You take it out of the fridge. There's, there's a couple types. There's the pates which are refrigerated, which, you know, they feel like they're getting human food, which is maybe not the best lesson, but they get excited about that. And also my cats, I mix dry and wet food for both of my cats got tuxedo and a Russian blue and they love there's a broth that you can squirt on the dry food. Again, like, I spend more time preparing.
- [25:46]
Emma Vigland
My cat's food than your.
- [25:48]
Matt Binder
I just do the air fryer. But yeah, you squirt this stuff on the dry food and they go insane for it. Like it's leftovers put on the ground.
- [25:56]
Emma Vigland
And Smalls also has a bunch of amazing treats and snacks that you can add to your order. You can get snacks to supplement the food that you get for your Smalls box. And after switching to smalls, 88% of cat owners reported overall health improvements. That is a big deal if you have a particularly picky cat. Smalls has a sampler, so your cat can try everything that Smalls has to offer. And the team at Smalls is so confident your cat will love their product, you can try it risk free. That means that they will refund you if your cat won't eat their food. So what are you waiting for? Give your cat the food that they deserve. Head to smalls.com and use promo code majority at checkout for 50% off your first order plus free shipping. That's the best offer you'll find. But you have to use our code majority for 50% off your first order one last time. That's promo code majority for 50% off your first Order plus free shipping. In the show notes below, we will have the link to this 50% off your first order. Head to smalls.com and use code Majority. And lastly, Delete Me is a service that I started using before I even joined the Majority Report. And then when I found out they were a sponsor, I was like, nice. Because I can speak to how effective and how great Delete Me is. It just takes so much stuff off my mind. It makes it quick, easy and safe to remove your personal data online at a time where surveillance and data breaches are common enough to make everyone vulnerable. And then obviously I talk about politics on the Internet, so I gotta be buttoned up with this kind of thing. Well, Delete Me does all the hard work of wiping you and your family's personal information from data broker websites. DeleteMe knows that your privacy is worth protecting. Sign up and provide DeleteMe with exactly what information you want deleted. And their experts take it from there. We want to thank Delete Me for sponsoring today's episode with Delete Me. I protect both my personal privacy and the privacy of our business here. As someone with an active online presence, privacy is really important to me. And Delete Me is just super easy. I don't have to think about it. I signed up years ago and it's still working. I check on it occasionally. It gives you little reports about what data it's called. But it's just important because, I don't know, over the next three and a half years, it's very unlikely we're going to get some like big tech reign in on these kinds of scams. So protect yourself. It's important. Take control of your data and keep your private life private. By signing up for Delete Me now at a special discount to you get 20% off your delete me plan by texting majority to 64,000. The only way to get 20% off is to text majority to 64,000. That's majority to 64000 message. And data rates may apply. Again, we will put this in the descriptions down below. If you Text majority to 64,640, you get 20% off your delete Me subscription. All right, quick break and when we come back, you'll hear our conversation with Trita Parsi. We are back and we are joined now by Trita Parsi, executive Vice President of the Quincy Institute, author of four books on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle east with a focus on Iran and Israel. Trita, welcome back to the show. It's always great to have you.
- [29:45]
Trita Parsi
Thanks so much for having me.
- [29:47]
Emma Vigland
So the Trump administration has been engaging in talks with Iran since, I guess around March or April. At this point, Iran has initially expressed some skepticism, obviously because Trump withdrew from the Obama negotiated Joint Comprehensive Plan of action, the JCPOA, in 2018. But now that we are in the present, can you. Well, before we get to the present, can you take us through that history of what the JCPOA was then, Trump withdrawing from it and where that takes us right now?
- [30:23]
Trita Parsi
Sure. So, you know, the Obama administration, together with Russia, China, France, Germany, and the U.K. i mean, it was a different era then because, you know, all of these countries apparently could work well together back then, negotiated this deal that was really historic. Imposed significant restrictions on the Iranian nuclear program. They had to ship out 98% of their enriched uranium. They went down from 22,000 centrifuges to only 5,000. They could only have 300 kilos of low enriched uranium on their soil at any time. You need 1200 kilos in order to build a bomb. They had the most intrusive inspections with the IEA being inside of the Iranian program at every different level with instruments. So we're not talking about, you know, dudes running around with blue helmets and, you know, checking things, actually have instruments inside the program that would measure things, send it remotely to the iea, so the IEA would detect any discrepancies right away, essentially. And Trump pulled out of that deal. And he pulled out of that deal because he wanted to destroy Obama's legacy. But he also, at the same time, wanted a different deal. He wanted a deal. He was not entire neocon. It was just against deals. I mean, at the end of the day, Trump seems to want to deal with almost anyone, but he was sold this strategy by Bolton and Pompeo that was based on the idea that you pull out a deal, you impose maximum pressure sanctions, you force the Iranians to come begging for a new deal, and by that, you have killed two birds with a stone. You got rid of Obama's legacy and you got a better deal. Now, Bolton and Pompeo, of course, knew that maximum pressure strategy and zero enrichment objectives, which is part of the strategy, would lead not to a new deal, but to further deterioration, further escalation, and eventually to war. And that's exactly what they wanted. Trump, I think, fell for it because coming from his Manhattan real estate world, it kind of made sense. Instead of renegotiating the deal from inside, you just pull out. You really pressure the other side and they'll come back and want a different deal that is better for you. Doesn't work that way with international, with nation states, and it doesn't work that way with states on issues that they view to be pivotal to their national Security.
- [32:49]
Emma Vigland
Yeah. Could we just pause for a second, Trita, to just expand on that? So that was essentially a neocon poison pill by Bolton and Pompeo, which is notable because it appears to be a very similar dynamic now with Marco Rubio, likely. And this maybe was a part of the Mike Waltz firing, too, trying to do the same thing, manipulate Donald Trump into a more hawkish position in order to basically make the negotiations with Iran break apart.
- [33:22]
Trita Parsi
I think you're absolutely right. And I think it very much had to do something with Michael Watts being fired. In fact, the first person that was fired that was pushing this was Brian Hook. He was fired on day one, but Waltz was still there. And they managed to get Trump to sign a presidential memorandum on February 4 that actually reinstated maximum pressure, talked about zero enrichment, et cetera. And that was a shock. And when Trump signed it, he even said that he didn't want to sign it, didn't kind of believe in it, but that he actually wanted a deal. So it was clear that that struggle was still going on, but he nevertheless signed it. And that created some problems. But eventually, the two sides came to the table, because the letter that Trump eventually sent to the Iranian Supreme Leader must have contained something that gave the Iranians the belief that there was value in talks. And in the beginning, the US Side was actually very constructive, was not looking for zivo enrichment. But after an interview in which Witkoff mentioned that the deal would be based on restrictions, the Iranians would have enrichment at 3.67%. The hardliners in Washington, the Friends of Israel in Washington, as well as the Israelis, started to directly attack Wyckoff. And they pointed out that the JCPOA also limited the nuclear enrichment to 3.67%. And they said that this is essentially the same deal as Obama's deal. And that was an argument that seemed to have gone under the skin of Trump. The difference, of course, is at the end of the day, of course there's some similarities because we're still living in the same universe with the same laws of physics. You're not going to have limitation to their program that allows them to do civilian nuclear production. That doesn't go up to 3.67%, but distance through, you know, the talks off. And then suddenly you started seeing that Witzkoff started talking about zero enrichment. Marco Rubio did very much. So Trump just did it a couple of days ago. And now they're at an impasse, because at the end of the day, the Barneys will not compromise on this issue. This is something that the US has tried for more than 25 years. And every time we try, the end result was, is that we didn't get a deal, which meant that the Iranian program grew further. And when we managed to get restrictions, we had delayed those restrictions because we spent so much time banging our heads against the wall in the pursuit of this fantasy, which at the end of the day was a poison pill that Pompeo and Bolton put in there because they knew it wouldn't work, it would cause the collapse of talks and it would bring the US and Iran towards war. And incidentally, twice under Trump, Iran and the US were at the brink of war. And as you remember, at one point, Trump had ordered attacks on Iran. Last minute, he changed his mind and said that he doesn't want to do it. Bolton had left the office before Trump changed his mind, and he was super happy. He was at home when he found out that Trump had changed his mind and there would not be an attack. And he wrote in his book that he was devastated by the fact that Trump did an attack. So it tells you very clearly.
- [36:42]
Emma Vigland
I mean, coming out, Bolton's like, north Star is going to war with Iran, which, I mean, maybe Trita, for people that don't know, can you give people context as to, like, how much larger, say Iran is than Iraq, how much more capable they would be in terms of fighting us? This would be the kind of war that would devastate not just Iran, obviously, and the entire region, but this country here at home.
- [37:07]
Trita Parsi
I mean, this is a country that is what, three times the size of Iraq, population of 80 plus 85 million people, major army obviously weakened in the region because of what happened to Hezbollah and the fall of Assad, undoubtedly. But on the other hand, also shown that its actual deterrence capabilities, primarily based on its missile capabilities. And despite the official narrative in Washington, which is that Iran's attacks against Israel back in 2024 were unsuccessful. Behind the scenes, the Pentagon talks about a completely different story. The attack on October 1st, you saw a large number of these Iranian missiles penetrate all layers of Israel's air defenses and hitting their targets. And that means that they went through the arrows, the Patriots, the David Sling, the Iron Dome. And as a result, the Israelis asked for the US to deploy Thaad air defense systems in Israel, which means that the US not only put the stuff there, but also put roughly 100American soldiers there to operate them. They wouldn't have asked for that if the Iranian attack had not been effective. And the Pentagon incidentally upgraded or revised upwards their casualty Estimation in case there would be a war between the US And Iran after that October attack, I would presume that they did so even more after a single Houthi missile provided to them by the Iranians. So this was not a barrage of 30 or 100 missiles in which a few of them went through. A single missile went through and hit Ben Gurion Airport. And that one also then breached the Thaad defense system. So the first time our Thaad system went up against one of these missiles, it failed. So I think we're in a situation in which it's very clear this war would be a complete disaster. Incidentally, take a look at what Tucker Carlson tweeted yesterday about this. Who is channeling the anti war sentiments of the Trump base, which he makes it very clear not only that this war would be a disaster of all the negatives that would come from it, but also he goes to the core of this issue and says that the enrichment issue is essentially a poison pill and Trump should drop it at a very sensitive time in the negotiation. He comes out not just with a generic anti war message, but a specific demand for enrichment to be dropped, zero enrichment to be dropped.
- [39:34]
Emma Vigland
It's been interesting to see because Tucker Carlson and gosh, I'm forgetting. Maybe I'll look it up as we're going along here. He's been issuing a variety of different warnings over the past few months, which seems like, I wonder who he's the mouthpiece for in the administration or who wants this information out there. I'd be very curious to hear that. But in terms of the uranium enrichment reports now say Iran is close to 60% purity, weapons grade is 90% purity. And the JCPOA, the Obama negotiated initial Iran deal had it like the, basically the threshold at what, 3 and change percent? That's the, the, I'm forgetting the exact percentage, but.
- [40:19]
Trita Parsi
3.67.
- [40:20]
Emma Vigland
Thank you. Yeah. And so that's quite low. That's quite low.
- [40:24]
Trita Parsi
That's quite low.
- [40:25]
Emma Vigland
Can you agree that? Yeah, right.
- [40:28]
Trita Parsi
Yeah. And they. So that's the level of enrichment you need to have in order to produce fuel rods for civil nuclear reactors.
- [40:36]
Emma Vigland
Right.
- [40:37]
Trita Parsi
And they agreed to go down to just that in the jcpoa. They have agreed to go down to that in a new deal with Trump as well. So we can easily get them back to that. And there's nothing wrong with that, even though Obama did the same thing. But if the insistence is on zero, that's when we will probably end up in a scenario in which they will continue the 60% enriched uranium, and we will have some sort of a gravitation towards a military confrontation.
- [41:07]
Emma Vigland
And the Houthis. Right. I wonder how you think that the negotiations with the Houthis play into this, given their ties with Iran. Because the Trump administration pissed off the Israelis by directly engaging in negotiations with the Houthis and almost going over the top and praising their resilience, which is a benefit to the Houthis as they kind of try to, like, cement their power in Yemen. How does that, the Yemen conflict and the Trump negotiations with the Houthis play into the Iran negotiations, as well as Israel's fury at that?
- [41:51]
Trita Parsi
Let me first say, part of the reason why Trump said those things about the Houthis is essentially because it's true. The Pentagon was quite struck by how resilient the Houthis were. And, I mean, for 45 days, the US threw almost everything it had at the Houthis, and it didn't make a difference. And there were several instances in which the Houthis might have also ended up killing American soldiers and blowing up major American weaponry. So it was a very futile exercise. It was a huge mistake for Trump to go in in the first place. And this is part of the reason why Waltz was also fired, because he was a key champion of going into Yemen. I want to give Trump credit, though, because in most cases like this, when an American president starts or enters into a stupid war and realizes that it's a stupid war, they don't pull out. Instead, they just keep on going for years and years, hand it over to the next president, in order for that president to have to deal with the headache of declaring a withdrawal and trying to spin it as a victory. Instead, Trump just did it. He said, this is a victory. Pulled out, didn't tell the Israelis about it. And when he was asked as to whether the agreement also included that the Houthis would no longer attack Israel, he said no. And he said that he didn't care if they did. Which shows that when something is very important to Trump, he doesn't follow the American conventional wisdom of deferring to Israel or looping in the Israelis in a manner in which the Israelis would get a veto on what the US Decides. He just went ahead and did it on his own. And I think, ultimately that is what he should have done. It's better to him actually correcting that mistake than to just double down on it, which most American president, unfortunately, would have. Now, what is fascinating in all of this is that that mediation took place also through the Omanis, who talked to the Houthis, and there was some pressure from the Ibanis on the Houthis. Now, the Houthis are not a proxy of the Iranians by any stretch of the imagination. So it's not as if they just follow what the Iranians say. The Iranians have some sway, but they don't have a veto over the Houthis. But one Arab diplomat who was involved in this told me that there wouldn't have been that agreement with the Houthis and Trump had there not been a beginning. At the time, I think he said three rounds of constructive talks between the US And Iran.
- [44:21]
Emma Vigland
How so? We've established what Trump's kind of motivations are, is that he wants a deal. He likes to think of himself as the deal maker. I mean, the art of the deal, it's not that hard to figure out, even though I think it blows people's minds in Washington and even mine to an extent, that someone could be so ideologically untethered and just be interested in this kind of personal brand. But it's unfortunately for, like, it's an indictment on the Democrats and the Biden administration that this is an improvement to a degree over what we've seen over the past two. The past two years of the Biden presidency. And it's like, so Trump wants a deal. There's no deal. That's that without Iran enriching uranium at a low level for civilian use. But my question to you is, is it possible that Trump is letting Israel kind of continue to this genocide in Gaza not just because of his donors, not just because, you know, American mercenaries are conducting these honey pots and slaughtering Palestinians and there's some financial incentive there. We all know he doesn't care about the Palestinians, but does he not want to, like, doubly piss off the Israelis as he pursues this deal with Iran? Is that part of it, too? Because the Palestinians, they have nothing to offer him. But if he can do this deal with Iran, that flatters his ego and he's interested in this Nobel Peace Prize, that's what he gets out of that.
- [45:51]
Trita Parsi
So essentially, what you're pointing to, is there a risk that he is letting the Israelis do whatever they want to do in Gaza because he wants to focus on Iran. And I think there is a risk that that is taking place, but I think there are also alternative explanations, and they're not mutually exclusive. I think one of them essentially, is when it comes to Iran, when it comes to the Houthis, he actually cares about that issue. He didn't care about the Houthis until the Houthis started hurting the U.S. but then when that happened, it became a priority for him. And once it was a priority, he didn't care about what the Israeli position was. Iran is a priority for him because he wants to make a deal. It is, for many different reasons, important for him. And as a result, he's engaging the Israelis, but he's not letting them completely dictate. Although the Israelis have been effective in getting under his skin when it comes to zero enrichment. And that may prove to be fatal, unfortunately. But we have nevertheless seen that he has a far greater degree of independence than Biden had on this issue. I mean, when he summoned Netanyahu to the White House, many of us feared that it was because they were going to plan some sort of attack. And it turned out instead that he brought him there. And then in front of the cameras, he told them, on Saturday, we're going to meet with the Iranians. And you could see how shocked Netanyahu became. So, and no other American president has treated Netanyahu this way. In fact, the Obama administration went out of their way to brief the Israelis on every detail of the negotiations. Wendy Sherman, when she was in Europe conducting a round of talk, she would not fly back to Washington. She would first fly to Israel, brief the Israelis, then fly to Washington. So State Department officials actually didn't get the full briefing until after the Israelis got on it. The Obama administration stopped doing that when US Intelligence picked up that Ron Dermer, the US Ambassador back then, was actually taking advantage of these briefings in order to spread tidbits of information in a disingenuous way to Congress in order to sabotage the negotiations.
- [47:59]
Emma Vigland
And that's around the same time that the Republicans went around Obama and invited Netanyahu to speak at Congress, which was a huge scandal because that's the president's purview.
- [48:09]
Trita Parsi
Exactly. So, yes, Obama goes out of his way to be as transparent as possible with Israelis within Netanyahu government, and they repay him by using that information to sabotage the talks. Now, Trump doesn't do this. And going back to your earlier question, yes, I mean, there's a lot of different things that are highly problematic. There's a lot of style issues that I think just comes with the way Trump does. But as Biden's own envoy, Rob Malley, said in an interview with New York Times, he said that he thinks that Trump has a better chance of getting deal for a simple reason, that he wants a deal. Whereas Biden was always lukewarm about a deal. He was lukewarm about a deal with Iran because he didn't want to have any tensions with Israel the manner Obama ended up having. So he essentially defers to Israel instead of pursuing US national interests. He didn't do anything to correct and revive Obama's deal with Cuba either. And that would have had no political cost. So you had a president that really abandoned diplomacy in so many different ways, including on Ukraine. Ukraine would have been a much better situation today had the Obama administration, the Biden administration actually been serious about starting negotiations, which does not mean that you necessarily end the fighting, but you actually conduct some parallel negotiations. There would have been a much better situation today if a deal had been struck back then rather than a deal being struck now.
- [49:33]
Emma Vigland
And that was a part of this Biden foreign policy that was and we're repeating this on the show, a good amount. But I think people should internalize it, a World War II relic mentality of the alliances built from that framework. And we're seeing how there are some things that need to change, including like Europe needs to be more responsible for their own security. This is where you can these paleo conservatives, perhaps we have some overlap here. Like the United States should not be this was the critique of NATO expansion, for example, that I think some on the left like myself are very sympathetic to that critique. But Biden tripled, quadrupled down on it. And in addition to the worldview being what he promulgated and that being a starting point that I think set us back, he also refused to negotiate with our enemies basically at all, which Trump does in his own way where it's self dealing. But I'm much more encouraged by and I can't believe I'm saying this but like a more diplomatic approach under Trump than on Biden where he's just we only, you know, will talk to Hamas via mediators, although I think they did speak to them directly, but made sure the Israelis didn't know about it at some points like, you know, Russia just military militarism as opposed to brokering these talks. There's more hope in this area at least to come to some sort of endpoint here.
- [51:00]
Trita Parsi
I agree And I think what you have seen is that in the Trump America first circle there has been an adoption of realism and restraint as the guiding star for their foreign policy. I personally hope that that also happens on the left because there is a lot of things that the left wants to achieve on foreign policy that actually can come can be materialized by adopting such an approach, which first and foremost means The United States no longer seeks to have military hegemony globally. When we take away that fundamental overarching approach towards the world, a lot of things open up for opportunities for diplomacy and other things that the left also wants. And this is a very strongly held view on the right as well amongst those who have adopted this, which is clearly the American first crowd there. And I think what I'm really worried about is that instead the Democratic Party goes in the opposite direction as a reaction to what Trump is doing instead of.
- [51:58]
Emma Vigland
Did you see that Chuck Schumer video, Trita?
- [52:01]
Trita Parsi
I was just gonna go and talk about that.
- [52:02]
Emma Vigland
Exactly, Go for it.
- [52:03]
Trita Parsi
I mean, if that is the line that the Democrats end up adopting and what Hakeem Jeffries and others are saying, then we're gonna see the Democrats truly turn into the foreign policy party of Liz Cheney and adopting new conservative notions, which again is not a huge leap from where Biden actually ended up being. He didn't start off there in the beginning of his presidency. I think that would be an absolute disaster. So I think, you know, that fight is not over. In some ways. It hasn't even started because I'm not really seeing any major leaders emerging yet on the Democratic side. But I think it's going to be a crucial debate. And I think one of the critical things that left should do is to really look at realism and restraint. I know it's self serving, I'm representing the Quincy Institute, this is our grand strategy. But I think the left would really find it being tremendously rewarding for the type of things that are important to them.
- [52:58]
Emma Vigland
Well, I couldn't agree more. And it is just looking at our politics, it's unbelievable that I first got engaged in politics because of Obama's opposition to the Iraq war. And I thought that the Democrats were the side that would be fighting against this slaughter where we killed up to a million people. And then you have the Biden administration facilitating this genocide and our leaders doubling down on a foreign policy that I don't know what the popularity is, but especially with among the base, it's probably more unpopular with the Democratic base than it is the Republicans. Yeah.
- [53:33]
Trita Parsi
And I think, look, Biden lost this election in such a disastrous way. So there almost wasn't the type of a deep analysis that was needed in order to be able to identify a few key factors because there were just so many factors. He was wrong on so many different things. But I do think that when and how that deeper analysis made and some analysis already been indicating this direction which showed that not Only was Gaza an important element of this, but also Ukraine, not because the democratic base was against Ukraine, but because there was an uncomfort with the degree to which it had just become about military support, no diplomacy, no exit strategy, all of the different ingredients that would lead this to some sort of an endless war. And that is not popular with a democratic base either.
- [54:27]
Emma Vigland
I know we don't have you for too much longer, Trita, but I just wanted to ask you a little bit. You mentioned Syria and Assad and that affecting Iran's position in the region, the fact that he's now out of power, what is the status of, like, the power vacuum there in Syria and how that is potentially playing into our talks with Iran?
- [54:54]
Trita Parsi
I don't think it has much of a direct impact on the talks with Iran. It does have an indirect impact in the sense that Trump lifting all of the sanctions on Syria, which no one thought any president could do, but he just issued a general license and just said all of it is going to be gone. And of course, implementation of it is key now. So we'll see what happens. But I think that may have, on the one hand, sent Iranian a signal, which I'm sure they're not happy about, because at the end of the day, Jelani was the head of Al Qaeda in Syria. This is not someone who we can say really has transitioned because we have been able to observe over a long period of time that he really is a different person. So the speed in which this is going, obviously, I think a lot of folks inside the Trump administration itself are a bit uncomfortable with. But on the other hand, the promise of sanctions relief to Iran if the Iranians agreed to a lot of nuclear concessions, I think actually got a boost because it showed that Trump actually is willing and capable to go much further than any other president and just go through all of the red tape to deliver sanctions relief. So in that sense, I think it could actually have a bit of a positive effect, because the credibility of American promises was not only weak under Trump, because of course, he walked out of the jcpa, but it actually became very weak under Biden as well. And something needs to be done to restore that. And with what he has done on Syria, it may actually have taken a step in that right direction.
- [56:23]
Emma Vigland
Well, this is, for me, a little bit more unexpected in terms of some of the opportunities that we have here, but we'll see if Trump follows through. Like, I have my. My doubts about how about Rubio and what he's going to. To try to push in these negotiations. Given his hawkishness. But like, for at least Trump has this like I've been burned before kind of mentality about it.
- [56:49]
Trita Parsi
And I think you're absolutely right. There is a very, very intense struggle taking place inside of the administration between those who favor a more realist realism and restraint foreign policy, America first and people like Rubio. And the latest moves that we have seen in just the last couple of weeks, particularly what happened at the nsc, indicates that the wind is in the sail of those who want a foreign policy that is very different from what Biden pursued and very different from what George W. Bush pursued. But of course, things can change. If there's anything that would be the hallmark of the Trump administration is that hardly anything is ever stable for very long.
- [57:28]
Emma Vigland
Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute, you can read his books on the subject. Really, really recommend the work over there. And responsible@responsible statecraft.org Right. That's how you check it out. Thanks so much for your time today. Really.
- [57:43]
Trita Parsi
Thank you so much for having me. Appreciate it. Thank you.
- [57:52]
Emma Vigland
We are back. We are going to wrap up the free part of the show. Head into the fun half. Thank you to Trita Parsi for coming on and talking to us. Making some time this morning.
- [58:05]
Matt Binder
I mean, if you are a member of the Majority Report, you could do worse than just searching Trita's name in our archives and going back through, listening through all those. Like ever since I started here, he's been one of my favorite foreign policy guests.
- [58:18]
Emma Vigland
Completely just clear eyed and nonpartisan in a way that is like, I think essential in this area given how bipartisan the military industrial complex is.
- [58:32]
Matt Binder
And in a way that's not sort of naive and you know, taking say things at face value but also not close to, say, opportunities. And I mean, it's another thing where Liz Warren has sort of played Trump like this too, saying, you know what, let's just get rid of the debt ceiling.
- [58:49]
Emma Vigland
Right?
- [58:50]
Matt Binder
Screw that thing. If we're like and that those sorts of opportunities should be sought in even in this circumstance.
- [58:57]
Emma Vigland
Absolutely. Folks, it's your support that makes the show possible. If you can please become a member. Join the MajorityReport.com it's easy. You can support this show for the price of, you know, a fancier cup of coffee a month. Although I don't know prices. I feel like even the fancy coffee now we're like talking $8 or whatever here in New York, but not mine. Duncan, now you're dunking. I get it. I know. But you can what's going on here?
- [59:34]
Matt Binder
World war is breaking out between Elon and Trump.
- [59:36]
Emma Vigland
Oh yeah, we will be getting to that in the fun half. Gosh, that's great. That's great.
- [59:43]
Matt Binder
It's great. And then I'm pretty sure I predicted on this program that the public is going to turn on Elon and then right in time for the Democrats to embrace him and to make Trump look cool for standing up to the rich guy that ruined everything.
- [59:57]
Emma Vigland
Oh my God. Well, Ro Khan is the one leading the charge about reintegrating Elon back into the party. We will talk about that in the fun half. Matt, what's happening on Left Reckoning?
- [60:11]
Matt Binder
Yeah, Left Reckoning. David and I. David's back from right, finishing up his book. So we'll be doing a Sunday show, just the two of us. Patreon.com left reckoning coming up this weekend we had Alex Jordan and Courtney Rollins on Tuesday night from the Quincy Institute. In fact, they have a show why Are We Always at War? I believe it's called on YouTube and talk about that sort of thing in stock trading by congressional representatives. So yeah. Patreon.com left reckoning.
- [60:43]
Emma Vigland
Let's bring in Brandon if we have him read some IMs while we're bringing him in. Kentucky boy listening this interview and wondering if Biden had a PhD in fucking up foreign policy or was he just that good? He was just that good, baby. I liked that it was his foreign policy speech, the same one where he mixed up Putin and Zelensky, but you had the Biden partisans hyping it up after that because that was his post debate. A big speech was to talk about Aukus or whatever.
- [61:18]
Matt Binder
It's pretty gross to watch. Just the depraved level of. Yeah, like, like just saying things because your political future relies on. It's like all the different candidates in NYC that were like, yeah, you know who the most effective Democrat is? Cory Booker or Hakeem Jeffries. Like you're saying that because you need favors from that person.
- [61:38]
Emma Vigland
Right, right.
- [61:39]
Matt Binder
Like no honest person would say that.
- [61:40]
Emma Vigland
Yeah, exactly right. Hello, Brandon. Hello, hello. How are you? What's happening on the discourse? All that good stuff.
- [61:49]
H
I'm doing very well. I actually just finished up streaming a little bit later than I anticipated before coming on here. But today we covered the ever changing tariff situation going on with Trump administration. We watched Michael Knowles interviewed Viktor Orban, the prime minister of Hungary after going to cpac.
- [62:12]
Matt Binder
Orban's anti gay. Sorry.
- [62:15]
Emma Vigland
Oh, right, yeah. Wrong guy.
- [62:19]
Matt Binder
Never mind.
- [62:20]
Emma Vigland
Wrong guy. Right.
- [62:21]
Matt Binder
Yeah. So must be the wrong guy must be. I guess that was just his real. Sorry, Brandon, go ahead.
- [62:27]
H
Well, I mean, they seem to have a productive conversation nevertheless. And then we talked about the Dutch government kind of right wing coalition collapsing. So really good stream. Go check it out. That will be streaming again tomorrow on the Discourse with Brandon Sutton on YouTube and Twitch. So, you know, be there or be square.
- [62:48]
Emma Vigland
Hell yeah. All right, we're going to bring in Matt Binder here and he will give us an update. There he is. This is Mike.
- [62:57]
Andrew Cuomo
Hey, how are you?
- [62:59]
Emma Vigland
Yes, hear you. Great. How are you, Binder? What's happening on your many shows?
- [63:05]
Trita Parsi
Oh, just go to YouTube.com mattbinder It'll all be there. And then Leftist mafia tonight at 8:30pm See you all there then.
- [63:12]
Emma Vigland
You guys gonna be covering the debate from last night?
- [63:16]
Trita Parsi
Probably.
- [63:16]
Emma Vigland
Yes, yes. We played some clips up front, but we did save some goodies for you guys in the fun half. We'll get into that.
- [63:24]
Trita Parsi
Oh, perfect.
- [63:26]
Emma Vigland
So we'll head in now. We'll take your calls on the other side. I'll give you the number when we open up the phone lines. See you there.
- [63:37]
Trita Parsi
Okay.
- [63:37]
Andrew Cuomo
Emma, please.
- [63:38]
Emma Vigland
Well, I just, I feel that my voice is sorely lacking on the Majority Report.
- [63:42]
Trita Parsi
Wait, whoa.
- [63:43]
Matt Binder
Look, Sam is unpopular.
- [63:45]
Andrew Cuomo
I do deserve a vacation at Disney World World.
- [63:47]
Trita Parsi
So.
- [63:47]
Andrew Cuomo
Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to welcome Emma to the show.
- [63:50]
Emma Vigland
It is Thursday.
- [63:53]
Matt Binder
I think you need to take over for Sam.
- [63:54]
Andrew Cuomo
Yes, please. I'm, I'm, I'm going to pause you right there.
- [63:57]
Emma Vigland
Wait, what?
- [63:58]
Andrew Cuomo
You can't encourage Emma to live like this and I'll tell you why. Who was offered a tour, sushi and poker with boys? Tour sushi and poker with boys. Who was offered a tour, sushi and poker with the boys? Twerk, sushi and bulker.
- [64:16]
Emma Vigland
Tim's upset.
- [64:17]
Andrew Cuomo
Twerk, sushi and bulker with the boys. It was offered with twerk sushi and that's what we call biz. Twerk sushi and bulker with two boys.
- [64:27]
Emma Vigland
Right. Twerk sushi and we're going to get demonetized.
- [64:31]
Andrew Cuomo
I just think that what you did to Tim pool was mean free speech. That's not what we're about here. Look at how sad he's become now. You shouldn't even talk about it. I think you're responsible.
- [64:42]
Emma Vigland
I, I, I probably am in a certain way. But let's get to the meltdown here.
- [64:47]
Andrew Cuomo
Sushi and poker with the boys. Oh, my God.
- [64:50]
Matt Binder
Wow.
- [64:50]
Andrew Cuomo
Sushi. I'm sorry, I'm losing my mind. Who was offered tour sushi and poker with the boys. Logic Tour. Sushi and poker. I think I'm like a little kid. Think I'm like a little kid. Think I'm like a kid.
- [65:03]
Emma Vigland
Tour.
- [65:04]
Andrew Cuomo
I think I'm like a little kid. Think I'm like a little kid.
- [65:05]
Trita Parsi
Add this debate 7,000 time.
- [65:07]
Andrew Cuomo
A little kid. Think I'm like a little kid.
- [65:09]
Trita Parsi
A little kid.
- [65:09]
Andrew Cuomo
Think I'm like a dick. I'm losing my mind.
- [65:12]
Matt Binder
Some people just don't understand.
- [65:14]
Andrew Cuomo
So I'm not trying to be a dick right now, but, like, I absolutely think the US should be providing me with a wife and kids.
- [65:22]
Emma Vigland
That's not what we're talking about here, all right?
- [65:26]
Andrew Cuomo
It's not a fun job. Twerk.
- [65:28]
Emma Vigland
That's a real thing.
- [65:29]
Andrew Cuomo
That's that real thing.
- [65:29]
Matt Binder
Real thing.
- [65:30]
Andrew Cuomo
Willie Walker. That's a real thing. That's that real thing. That's a real thing.
- [65:35]
Matt Binder
That's a real thing.
- [65:36]
Andrew Cuomo
Real thing. That's a real thing. That's that offered work. Ladies and gentlemen. Joe Rogan has done it again. That's a real thing. I think he might be blowing it out of proportion.
- [65:49]
Matt Binder
Real thing.
- [65:49]
Andrew Cuomo
That's poker, boy. That's a real thing.
- [65:54]
Matt Binder
Let's go, Joey.
- [65:56]
Andrew Cuomo
Sushi and poke with boy.
- [65:58]
Trita Parsi
Take it easy.
- [65:58]
Michael Blake
Work.
- [65:59]
Andrew Cuomo
Sushi and poker. Things have really gotten out of hand. Sushi and poker with the boys.
- [66:06]
Emma Vigland
Sushi.
- [66:06]
Andrew Cuomo
You don't have a clue as to what's going on live.
- [66:09]
Matt Binder
YouTube.
- [66:10]
Emma Vigland
Sam has the weight of the world on the shoulders. Want to do this show anymore?
- [66:15]
Matt Binder
Anymore?
- [66:16]
Emma Vigland
It was so much easier when the majority report was just you.
- [66:20]
Andrew Cuomo
Let's change the subject.
- [66:22]
Trita Parsi
Rangers and Knicks are doing great now.
- [66:24]
Emma Vigland
Shut up. Don't want people saying reckless things on your program.
- [66:27]
Matt Binder
That's one of the most difficult parts about this show.
- [66:30]
Emma Vigland
This is a pro killing podcast.
- [66:32]
Andrew Cuomo
I'm thinking maybe it's time to bury the hatchet.
- [66:34]
Emma Vigland
Left his best Violet twerk.
- [66:36]
Andrew Cuomo
Don't be foolish and don't tweet at me. And don't to the way Emma has.
- [66:41]
Matt Binder
Cucked all of these people.
- [66:42]
Emma Vigland
Love it. That's where my heart is. So I wrote my honors thesis about it.
- [66:48]
Trita Parsi
You wrote a lot of ste.
- [66:50]
Emma Vigland
Yes. I guess I should hand the main.
- [66:52]
Andrew Cuomo
Mic to you now. You are to the right of the unpause.
- [66:55]
Emma Vigland
We already found Israel.
- [66:57]
Trita Parsi
Dude.
- [66:57]
Emma Vigland
Are you against us?
- [66:58]
Andrew Cuomo
That's a tougher question.
- [66:59]
Emma Vigland
I have an answer to God.
- [67:05]
Andrew Cuomo
Incredible theme song.
- [67:06]
Emma Vigland
I bumbler. Emma Viand. Absolutely one of my favorite people, actually. Not just in the game, like period.