← The Majority Report with Sam Seder
The Majority Report with Sam Seder
3563 - Canadian Labor Victory; Resisting Trump's Invasion of DC w/ Lisa Gilbert
00:54:51
It's Newsday Tuesday on the Majority Report On today's show: Canadian Union of Public Employees President Mark Hancock tears up a government order demanding Air Canada workers end their strike and return to work. Two days later a tentative...
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- [00:05]
Sam Seder
Hi folks. Today's episode brought to you by my favorite sponsor, Sunset Lake Saba Day.com if you use the code left is best, you get 20% off. Why are they my favorite sponsor? Is it the lifted tea which I am taking a four pack on my vacation.
- [00:28]
Emma Vigland
Very nice.
- [00:28]
Sam Seder
So that I can hang with the kids, as it were, and relax? Or is it because all of their SEBA Day products are grown without pesticide and they use integrated pest management and regenerative farming practices that they developed with the help of UVM up in up in Vermont where they're from? Or is it maybe because their tinctures help me sleep, their solves work on my eczema, but they also help with your muscles. Their seven day fudge and seven day coffee are great treats. Or because of their smokables? Or is it because they're movement partners having donated tens of thousands of dollars to things like refugee resettlement, carceral reform, strike relief funds, plan Planned Parenthood give directly. I mean they've done it all. They're a great company, great products and they give you 20% off with the coupon. Code left is best. Longtime fans of the show. Somebody actually yelled that at me on the street. Oh, that's pretty fun. Sunset Lake sabade.com check it out. You will not be disappointed by their products, I promise you. Now it's time for the show the Majority Report with Sam Cedar. It is Tuesday, August 19, 2025. My name is Sam Seder. 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, Lisa Gilbert, co president of Public Citizen and founder of the not above the Law Coalition on Trump's federalizing or I should say sending in a federal militia into Washington D.C. also on the program today, 24 hours out, Russia already backing out of Trump's imaginary peace summit. This as Russia continues to pound Ukraine. Zelensky leaves with some security promises but few guarantees. Meanwhile, Trump continuing to insist he can change mail in voting despite the Constitution thing. Air Canada to resume flights as defiant union forces an agreement. Texas Democrats meanwhile forced to consent to police escorts in Texas if they wanted to leave the chambers. California moves to go forward on its redistricting plan. DOJ starts to share Epstein files with Congress as witnesses are brought in, including Bill Barr. I'm sure he was completely honest about his relationship with with Epstein. Hamas agrees to a ceasefire proposal. Israel remains quiet. Dan Bongino gets a babysitter at the FBI Andrew Cuomo reveals he's courted Trump's support in the mayor's race of New York City. And speaking of Trump, the Trump slump spreading beyond the Vegas strip. Now all this and more on today's Majority Report. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen.
- [04:36]
Emma Vigland
It is Newsday Tuesday.
- [04:39]
Sam Seder
Emma was freaking out about me doing this with my pen beforehand. We need her.
- [04:45]
Emma Vigland
Oh, you gotta introduce my face. There she is. Yes.
- [04:49]
Sam Seder
Yeah, I was doing this and I saw you freaking out.
- [04:51]
Emma Vigland
Well, I mean, I cormier was distracting. The tapping of the pen was distracting. I'm just. I look out for our podcast.
- [05:01]
Sam Seder
You are having an emotional breakdown right now.
- [05:05]
Emma Vigland
Some people have, you know, sensitivities. I understand it's difficult sometimes when there are two different audio streams going crossing you can't focus.
- [05:15]
Sam Seder
Well, I understand why people are hesitant to have you in rotisserie leagues and whatnot. I got 30 seconds into the show.
- [05:28]
Emma Vigland
No one is in the. Maybe they'll know eventually.
- [05:34]
Sam Seder
We're also going to have a special guest on the program later in the program in the fun half, our special middle school correspondent will be here to give us an update on some of the issues and maybe find out where he stands on the potential of, you know, the mayor's race because that has a big implications for snow days. And so middle school kids are highly invested.
- [06:03]
Emma Vigland
We need his expertise.
- [06:06]
Sam Seder
This story out of Canada. It's pretty impressive show of union strength and determination. The about 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants were on strike on. They are public employees. Should be clear. Air Canada is a national airline. And on Saturday, the Canadian Union of Public Employees President Mark Hancock was responding to a work order from the Canadian Industrial Relations Board. I guess more or less the functional equivalent of our National Labor Relations Board. Their labor law is obviously different than ours. However, this board had basically said the strike is illegal. You got to get back to work. And here is that there the union president of Coop. I don't know how you pronounce it, but the Canadian Union of Public Employees in Toronto at the Pearson Airport. This was Saturday.
- [07:29]
Matt
This is the cirb order. Here's what I'm supposed to do. I'm expected to say stand down. I'm expected to direct you to go back to work. I'm expected it to end this strike. That ain't happening, my friends. Not on my watch. Not now, not tomorrow, not ever. I stated pretty clearly when this strike would end. I said it clearly then and I will say it clearly now. This strike, well. And when we get a collective agreement that works for our members.
- [08:31]
Sam Seder
And of course, you know, if a, if an employer knows that the government's going to step in and end a strike when it starts to be coming painful for the employer, it really diminishes the power of a union. Unless, of course, that union says.
- [08:52]
Lisa Gilbert
We'Re.
- [08:52]
Sam Seder
Going to defy this order. And yesterday, Monday during the day, Hancock was, I don't know if he was in the Cube national offices, but here he is yesterday talking about that order that was still in effect as of yesterday afternoon.
- [09:22]
Mark Hancock
There's no limit. We're going to stay strong. We're going to stay committed to making sure that those workers can do the job that they love doing and actually be able to afford a roof over their heads to afford caring for their families. And if it means folks like me going to jail, then so be it. If it means our union being fined, then so be it. We're looking for a solution here. Our members want a solution here. But that solution has to be found at a bargaining table.
- [09:58]
Sam Seder
And then late last night, I don't know how late it was, the Air Canada brought him back in. They had meetings and as of last night, they struck a deal with the union. It remains to be seen if the union's going to, if the membership is going to ratify it. I don't know the details of the deal, but it is a good, I mean, it's. The more that we see unions, labor fighting and if not winning, I can't assess this, this deal, obviously I don't even know if the, the details have been released in any way. But this type of fight inspires other people to fight. And you know, you'll recall Sean Fain had about a year or two ago made a call for general strike on May Day of 2028 and was calling on all sorts of unions to sign contracts and have them end. Right around that time.
- [11:17]
Emma Vigland
I was reading that a lot of what this dispute centers around is that these, that Air Canada pays flight attendants when the planes are, you know, either taking a trip or are in motion and they're trying to get pay as more traditional employees, which seems to make total sense. And wasn't it true that last year Trudeau intervened in the dock and railway rail strikes that labor was really unhappy with at the time? So I wonder if, and I just don't have the expertise to know this, but if the Cupe national president here kind of learned from that, what happened last year under a different labor leader.
- [12:07]
Sam Seder
I'm being corrected, I guess. Air Canada went private in 89, but still had public sector union as its employees. And I'm also being told it's pronounced coupi, like the mayo, but I don't know what mayo.
- [12:25]
Left Reckoning
That might be a joke.
- [12:26]
Emma Vigland
Qp.
- [12:28]
Left Reckoning
I wouldn't take that as face value.
- [12:30]
Sam Seder
Oh, it's qp.
- [12:31]
Emma Vigland
Qp.
- [12:33]
Sam Seder
So there it is, people in Canada writing into us on the IM saying that all the Canadian news coverage of the strike was so incredibly anti strike.
- [12:46]
Emma Vigland
Sure, I don't doubt it. All of. I mean, it's always often even here in the US it's the same thing. It's geared towards economic disruption and disruption to consumerism. And that same way the rail strike was. Yeah, I mean, and that's what neoliberalism is where like we don't. And in the United States, we don't have robust social services. We have a very threadbare safety net that the Republicans just took a hammer to. So what keeps our society kind of together under over the past few decades has been basically kind of cheaper goods. And so that's how our press orients their coverage of the health of our economy. I wish that they would do so in North America around like the health of people's lives and workers lives and their incomes. So that seems to be a problem in Canada and in the US.
- [13:43]
Sam Seder
Qp, ims public sector union steward here sharing the Air Canada story with members as proof you can violate the government order not to strike, achieve your goals and win. This is, I mean, this is the point of acts like this. I mean, and you know, it's analogous to the stuff that we've been talking about in terms of how you fight authoritarianism. One act, regardless of its material consequences in that moment, can spur other acts that end up providing more actual genuine material consequences. They're not mutually exclusive. But just understand that any point, particularly in the context of what we're about to talk to Lisa Gilbert about, when we have, you know, ICE and other feds prowling the streets of D.C. in military vehicles. These acts of defiance empower other people. And what may seem meaningless very well may be. Just use the analogy. You want one link in the chain or one little butterfly wing that may ultimately make real change. You know, the butterfly.
- [15:17]
Emma Vigland
A butterfly effect.
- [15:18]
Sam Seder
Right?
- [15:18]
Emma Vigland
You're a big Ashton Kutcher fan. You're always talking about it.
- [15:21]
Sam Seder
I have no idea about Ashton Kutcher, his involvement in that, whatsoever he did. Dude, where's my car? Right?
- [15:28]
Emma Vigland
Yeah, I was super shocked you didn't even know the name that I knew.
- [15:32]
Sam Seder
Because I had a buddy who was actually offered that role oh, really? Yeah. And he said, he got up and he said f that and walked out. Ross Rockley. All right, in a moment we're going to be talking to Lisa Gilbert, co president of Public Citizen and founder of the not above the Law Coalition. I am just hours away from vacation. I don't know if that's coming across at all. Hey, not at all, boss. We've got a lot of stuff. We've got a lot of stuff.
- [16:09]
Emma Vigland
Despicable.
- [16:10]
Sam Seder
We've got a lot, we've got a lot of great ideas for our merch shop that we're going to roll out. You don't roll out. Remember what they said about the Iraq war. You don't roll out a new product until September. But we're going to be rolling out a couple of new products on our merch store. And am I anxious about it? Do I have my normal level of anxiety about it? Does it keep me up? No, because that's the easy part. Our merch store store, when we come up with the product, getting it up and actually getting it to market, as it were, on the merch store is easy. And for years I held off because I thought it would be a huge pain in the butt. But Shopify made it completely easy. It was a total game changer. And oh boy, oh boy, have we made the bank on that merch store. But Shopify has made it absolutely easy for us. It's the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world, from household names like Magic Spoon to brands just getting started. What was the I'm not doing anything. Shopify has hundreds of ready to use templates to help you build an online store to match your brand. Whether it's beautiful, edgy, minimalist, little garage band, always looking for an upgrade, here, Shopify is packed with AI tools to help you put together product descriptions, page headlines and even enhance your product photography. Best yet, Shopify helps you manage inventory, international shipping, processing, returns and beyond. It integrates with IRL sales. So we did a live show. We sell some T shirts there. We our inventory is integrated. We we can put our stores that integrates with all social media. If you're ready to sell, you're ready for Shopify. Turn your big business idea into a cha ching. With Shopify on your side, sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com majority. Go to shopify.com majority shopify.com majority There you go. We'll put the link in the podcast and YouTube description. Quick break. When we come back, Lisa Gilbert co president, Public Citizen and founder of the not above the Law Coalition. It we are back. Sam Cedar, Emma Vigland on the Majority Report. Pleasure to welcome to the program. Lisa Gilbert, co president of Public Citizen, founder of the not above the Law Coalition. Let Lisa, let's just start with this, like give us a, a slight timeline or brief timeline of what's happened in D.C. and what authority the president is using to essentially, you know, invade D.C. i think in the way that the word invasion is thrown around, I think this is pretty appropriate. What just lay that out for us.
- [20:17]
Lisa Gilbert
Yeah, I too think that the word invade is appropriate. So what we've seen is a manufactured crisis. You know, they have claimed that there is out of control crime in the District. As someone who lives here, I can tell you that that is not accurate, that violent crime is actually at a 30 year low. And you know, there was a explicit incident that they used to tee off of calling up fake state of emergency in D.C. which allowed, you know, Trump to, you know, move forward with trying to federalize our police under the Home Rule act, which gives them the ability for 30 days in this, you know, fake state of emergency to take over the police. And then beyond that, they are using an authority they do have which is to call up the National Guard. And then in addition, over the last couple days, we've seen a request go out to friendly states where, you know, allies, Republican allies are choosing to send additional State Guard to D.C. so, you know, we've, we've seen that happening. South Carolina, West Virginia, Ohio, announcing that they're going to be deploying hundreds of National Guard members to Washington all in support of this power grab, which, you know, again is completely unnecessary.
- [21:44]
Sam Seder
All right, so let's just start with the home rule that's unique Obviously to Washington D.C. there was an attempt to take over to replace the police commissioner and just walk us through how that was stopped and like where, where that leaves us and what happens. And then I guess then the follow up would be what happens after the 30 days. But that's a separate, is that part of the home rule or what is the constraint on that 30 days? And that is, is that unique to D.C. as well?
- [22:21]
Lisa Gilbert
That is unique to D.C. that is, that is all part of the Home Rule Act. So as you know, D.C. is unfortunately not a state. So we have less prerogatives, privileges than those that are. However, the Home Rule act is what gives us the ability to function, you know, in a lot of ways, you know, as something that is more relevant than just a city you know, we have powers, we have our own police force. And so, you know, that is what is being taken advantage of here. You know, there has always been this additional authority, you know, to federalize if needed under the Home Rule act, sort of, you know, go above and beyond what you would be able to do in a state. And in this case, you know, it is that you can proclaim that there's an emergency and then for 30 days take over the police force. And so, you know, it's again, you know, dubious legality in this moment because there is no crisis, there is no emergency. At the end of 30 days, if they want it to continue, Congress will need to affirm that there is an emergency, that there is a reason to take over the police, which. Which, as we said, we don't believe there is.
- [23:29]
Emma Vigland
But how replicable is this elsewhere? I mean, this is almost asking you to expand on your answer here, because obviously, so unique. But we're seeing them test out their authoritarian impulses and desires in a variety of different contexts. They tried in la. This DC thing seems to be an attempt to kind of reassert their efforts here. Like, if you could just differentiate between what they're trying to do in other cities and what's happening in D.C. yes.
- [24:02]
Lisa Gilbert
You'Re right to say that D.C. is unique. You know, the Home Rule act is something that's present here and special conditions of an emergency nature need to exist for them to be, for the administration to be able to force, you know, federal purposes on top of our Metropolitan Police force. You know, a crime emergency allows them to do that, if there truly is one, but again, limited to no more than 30 days without congressional approval.
- [24:31]
Sam Seder
Lisa, can I stop you? Can I, can I just introduce. Because is there a standard for what constitutes an emergency? I mean, or is there basically that a gray area where a, you know, there's a grace period where you have the 30 days before you need to actually prove there is an emergency. Because like you say DC crime, 30 year low, and that was last year, and from last year to now, it is down 26% year over year from where it was at a 30 year low. I mean, so there's just no possible rational way to argue that that's an emergency unless you're, you know, it's an, it's. We have urgently low crime or something like that. But so is there no adjudication of that? Or is it just like you get 30 days to pretend there's an emergency and then you have to justify it?
- [25:32]
Lisa Gilbert
It's a great question. I mean, under the Home Rule act, it is, as you say, there's this moment where they can initially declare that they see an emergency. However, at the 30 day mark, if they try to extend, there is the potential to sue or to push back if we don't believe that there is one. And I think all empirical data would tell us that there isn't one. And in fact, the constant consequences of having, you know, troops on the ground unnecessarily, of having this sort of heightened alarm in the city, it's causing other problems, it's causing economic problems for our city. It's, you know, sort of challenging us here for our own feelings of safety as residents. You can, you can feel the heightened alarm which was not present before this fake emergency was declared. But until we reach that point, that 30 day mark, there isn't a particular litigation strategy. There are other things that are happening. You might have heard Representative Raskin introduced a resolution to try to just end the emergency now. So that's something we're supporting. And, and obviously if it could pass, that would be a way to move faster.
- [26:37]
Sam Seder
Is there, are there prophylactic measures that other cities can take? Like, like, because feels like this is part of a, a longer sort of plan where the boundaries are pushed and then we're going to go to another city and we don't know which one it is. But I suspect they have a list of five. They've more or less said it, you know, whether it's like Baltimore or Chicago or New York or Detroit or something like that. Philadelphia, where they're probably just waiting for, you know, I don't know if it's another, if it's big balls, goes on a trip to Philadelphia and gets bugged there or whatever it is, but they're waiting for some excuse. Yeah, there's other things that are being done now by these other cities or other groups or to get some type of, like, I mean, I don't know what the mechanism would be.
- [27:40]
Lisa Gilbert
I mean, it's a, it's a great point. I mean, aside from what we were just discussing the sort of unique characteristics of D.C. that give them extra tools. Obviously we saw earlier this year what happened in Los Angeles, you know, the deployment of the National Guard. You know, that's something that can happen in other cities, not just dc. And it's very clear that this is part of Trump's plan to sort of, at least in DC's case, take over a capital city. And, you know, that's a proven authoritarian move and threaten to do so in other places as well, where he perceives enemies or where there is dissent against his other authoritarian policies. So certainly we view this as part of a pattern of many other affronts that we've been witnessing. You know, attacks on NGOs, on judges, on universities, all the different pillars of society that are, you know, being threatened by Trump's moves. You know, this is just a piece of the variety of ways that he is attacking democracy.
- [28:39]
Emma Vigland
Oh, well, have you heard from, you said it briefly how businesses are being harmed? I'm seeing some reports that reservations and business activity in D.C. is down as Trump is bragging that it's up. But I also know that some of the data may not be fully comparable to last year because it would maybe restaurant week. And so it's not necessarily one to one, but could you clarify just what the impact is on the activity in the city?
- [29:09]
Lisa Gilbert
Yeah, I think some of that is still being unpacked for reasons you've said. And also that August itself is a sort of low intensity time in Washington where many people go away. So, you know, we don't usually expect an economic bump in this moment. That said, it is far less than what was experienced this week last year. You know, I think right now we have a lot of anecdotal reporting though, from folks, particularly in areas that are near some of the checkpoints that have been set up, that their, you know, bars and restaurants are being impacted around the U Street area, around the sort of Union Station area, et cetera. So I think we're still figuring out exactly the empirical metrics, but certainly we've got lots of stories from folks who can just walk into their business where they expect a certain amount of traffic on a Friday or Saturday night and.
- [29:59]
Sam Seder
They'Re seeing far less, I would imagine. It's also hard to disaggregate from the loss of tourism, that is international tourism that would probably be there in D.C. so. And is there just got this question from an immersion, is there a cool off period? In other words, could they leave the city and then redeploy two weeks later and keep doing this?
- [30:29]
Lisa Gilbert
It's possible. You know, I think, you know, they have a particular premise for the emergency. They've declared right now, this, you know, faux violent crime rationale. They could use something else. They could say there's another reason, there's another emergency. I mean, we've seen Trump use the word emergency very liberally to try to achieve lots of things that he wants, you know, on the climate side, you know, and other issue areas. Emergency is how they move the policies they want. So it would not surprise me if that's something they try to do if they're thwarted by Congress on this particular reason.
- [31:03]
Sam Seder
And do we have any idea of. I mean, I know that it was reported that there was about 120, I think it was FBI agents who were reassigned to do foot patrols at night. Doesn't necessarily sound like something that an FBI agent would be trained for per se. But do we know who's making up this federal force? Because there was talk in the first Trump administration, particularly what went down at Independence Square, that there was a lot of like federal correctional, corrections officers, federal prison guards who had been assigned to these sort of policing functions, which is not at all what they're trained for, it seems to me, I'm curious, do we have any sense of like exactly who these people are?
- [32:03]
Lisa Gilbert
I don't think we do. I mean, I think a huge part of the problem right now is it's a scrum of different types of law enforcement on the streets. And obviously the masking that we're seeing makes it hard to identify particular persons. The sort of lack of identification. You know, often things just say police, and that could be referring to lots of different sorts of enforcement. So a lot of what we're learning is sort of anecdotal people piecing together, trying to understand. But no, I don't think we have a complete picture at all of who is where and when.
- [32:40]
Sam Seder
Is there anything else that we should know about this that we should be on the lookout for? I would imagine this is gonna ramp up into the midterm elections. I mean, because all of this seems to be less for Washington D.C. and more for the rest of the country. Some audience out in the country to make it seem like these urban areas are hell holes and Trump's going in and cleaning up up without really any investment in what's actually going on in these cities. I don't, I mean, that's the thing is like, I don't at the end of the day think it matters how much people in Washington D.C. are inconvenienced, terrorized on some level, or their businesses go under. I don't think that even plays into anything that they're calculating because they're just going to go out. I mean, Trump is already like lying about, like just bald faced lying about what's going on there. And with the images, that's all they need. I would imagine we're going to see this in one or two other cities between now and November 26th. What, what else should we know about this?
- [33:54]
Lisa Gilbert
Yeah. Well, I would agree with you that it certainly seems like something they're testing in multiple places, and if they succeed, they'll continue in cities, jurisdictions, localities. I think the important thing to do is actually what this conversation is evidencing. Just talk about it. Talk about the contrast. Trump talks about safety, but if he cared about that, he would stop kidnapping immigrant neighbors. He would fund Medicaid and schools and snap. He would take care of people, and he would be talking about this in a very different way. And I think just the contrast message of a fake crime emergency leading to, you know, this incredible concentration of police force and army force and power, which is actually making people less safe, in contrast with the scary, unethical, unsafe actions that his administration has been taking and talking about it in every venue we can and drawing a through line between those types of activities and what authoritarians do worldwide.
- [34:59]
Sam Seder
Lisa Gilbert, co president of Public Citizen, founder of the not above the Law Coalition. Thanks for your time today. Really appreciate it.
- [35:07]
Lisa Gilbert
Thanks so much.
- [35:08]
Emma Vigland
Thank you.
- [35:10]
Sam Seder
All right, folks, we got a little bit of time here. Let's talk about city and Donald Trump again. Yeah, new story out. Remember a couple weeks ago, it was reported that Andrew Cuomo had a phone call with Donald Trump. He tried to downplay it, but new reporting now. Apparently, some of Andrew Cuomo's supposed supporters out in the Hamptons think he's a real D bag and decide to throw him under the bus a little bit.
- [35:50]
Emma Vigland
That's fun. Whoever's the source for this stuff for Politico, very much appreciate your service, but.
- [36:00]
Sam Seder
I think they should be awarded the key to the city if Andrew Cuomo loses in November.
- [36:05]
Emma Vigland
Zoron will do that after obviously converting us to Sharia law first. That's number two on the priority list.
- [36:11]
Sam Seder
Yeah, it'll be the sword of the city. So, apparently, was this Politico, right?
- [36:19]
Emma Vigland
Yeah.
- [36:20]
Sam Seder
Got hold of a what appears to be a secret recording of Andrew Cuomo at a Hamptons fundraiser this Saturday. This past Saturday, I should say. And this is like, what, his 55th time in the Hamptons since he lost the. No, I don't know if it was actually. Fourth, really. Fourth time. Fourth time in the Hamptons raising money since he lost the. The primary. Which credit where credit's due. Right? Like, you want to do your fundraising where you can also mix in your vacation as you're running so hard. Exactly. The mayor.
- [37:06]
Emma Vigland
It's like when Adam Sandler shoots all those movies in Hawaii. It's like, dude, you just wanted to go To Hawaii.
- [37:11]
Sam Seder
That's exactly. And so they have. Basically, they haven't done the entire transcript, but there's a lot here. It's political rights. Andrew Cuomo is counting on President Donald Trump and top Republicans to tell the party faithful to vote for Cuomo for mayor if they want to stop Zoran Mamdani and not to vote for a Republican nominee, Curtis Sliwa. So essentially, Cuomo would become the Republican candidate in this race.
- [37:50]
Emma Vigland
Right.
- [37:50]
Sam Seder
Which is not. I mean, one does not have to stretch the imagination.
- [37:57]
Emma Vigland
It's like the idc, he's IDC Cuomo, which is like, you're secretly a Republican but don't present as such.
- [38:05]
Sam Seder
Exactly.
- [38:05]
Matt
To win it.
- [38:06]
Sam Seder
And there you go, Cuomo told the crowd at this Hamptons fundraiser, according to audio obtained by Playbook. We can minimize the Sliwa vote because he'll never be a serious candidate.
- [38:22]
Emma Vigland
Cuomo says, that's rich coming from you.
- [38:25]
Sam Seder
Well, what's also interesting is that, like, just think of what the opposite would be. We can't compete with this other guy because he's a serious candidate. Like, like, he, he really is so desperate now. And then he goes on to say, and Trump himself, as well as top Republicans will say, the goal is to stop Mamdani and you'll be wasting your vote on Sliwa. So I feel good about that now.
- [38:58]
Emma Vigland
It gets worse.
- [38:59]
Sam Seder
Oh, it gets worse. And it's interesting to me that Cuomo has this. Knows what Trump's playbook is going to be. I mean, it's almost as if they have worked together on it. And here's the thing, though, before you get all uptight, it's not like Donald Trump is a transactional guy. It's not like Trump is the type of guy who says, I ideologically have an investment in someone other than Mamdani winning, therefore I'm just out of the goodness of my heart and a belief in you should be sincere and support who. That's why I'm going to give you support. Andrew Cuomo has nothing to do with wanting something in return.
- [39:49]
Emma Vigland
No, he would never.
- [39:51]
Sam Seder
Never. Politico goes on to say publicly Cuomo has shunned the idea of getting any help from Trump. Cuomo said he declined an endorsement and denied the New York Times report that he'd spoken with the president about the race. Well, this is weird. It's almost as if Cuomo's been lying in public. Weird. But Cuomo seemed hopeful for the president's help behind closed doors, speaking to the more Trump friendly crowd gathered at media mogul Jimmy Finkelstein's home in Southampton. Another co host, former New York City Council President Andrew Stein, briefed Trump last night last month on how Cuomo would be competitive in the general election, according to the Times.
- [40:33]
Left Reckoning
Get your wallet out.
- [40:35]
Sam Seder
This is the, this is the best part about this. There was a, in the New York Times story from, like that that reported this, that, that Stein and Mark Penn had tried to lobby the President Trump on the idea that Cuomo's got the best chance in the general election, was also in there that Mark Penn, who is the scummiest of scumbags, incidentally, like the scummiest of scumbags. He was Hillary Clinton's guy, but meanwhile was also campaign managing a race. I think it was like in. I can't remember if it was Bolivia or like, while he was doing Hillary Clinton's race.
- [41:24]
Emma Vigland
Yeah, he, like, he's the CEO of this company, Harris X, and they released this poll for Fix the City the day before the primary that had Cuomo leading 52 to 28, and he lost 56 to 40, 44.
- [41:40]
Matt
So this is one minute to win it.
- [41:42]
Emma Vigland
But this is a junk poll guy who's like, right wing.
- [41:45]
Sam Seder
Yeah, he's. He also, in addition to lobbying Trump that, like, he should back Cuomo in the general, Penn also was running a PAC for Cuomo and getting paid. So in other words, this is just Mark Penn sucking money out of, like, Cuomo donors and people here. So I'm in favor of that. Although, you know, Mark Penn just enriching himself by just spewing bile all over the place.
- [42:16]
Lisa Gilbert
But.
- [42:17]
Sam Seder
All right, here is Cuomo again. We're going to go back to Cuomo. This is from the tape that Politico presumably has. Let's put it this way, I knew the president very well. Cuomo said, I believe there's a big piece of him that actually wants redemption in New York. Aw, redemption in New York, huh? He feels he was rejected by New York. We voted for Clinton, we voted. Bill de Blasio took his name off of things. So I believe there will be opportunities to actually cooperate with him. I also believe that he's not going to want to fight with me in New York if he can avoid it. Well, we know how he's going to avoid fighting with you in New York. You've already made a deal with him. You've already capitulated. If you support me and get people to vote for me instead of Sliwa, we're good. Whatever you want, buddy. That's what's going on here.
- [43:16]
Emma Vigland
When he says there will be opportunities to actually cooperate with him, what that means is for immigrant New Yorkers, we are going to sell your. You over to ice, to this mass deportation Gestapo. If I get. If I win and you have, like, I forget this councilman's name. I had sent this previously, but there were a lot of protests over the weekend. I'm going to try to find his name. Brief in a second here.
- [43:41]
Sam Seder
Assemblyman.
- [43:42]
Emma Vigland
Yeah, sorry. Assemblyman Robert Carroll was. Is calling on Kathy Hochul to shut down the power at 26 Federal Plaza because they technically the federal government.
- [43:52]
Sam Seder
Sorry, it's number four in the sound sheet. We have it.
- [43:54]
Emma Vigland
Oh, okay. Well, I mean, we don't need to, but it's just as an aside to point out like, like the federal government owns that building, but the state has the power to turn off and on their power. Like, these are the kind of tactics that I would love to see Democrats in the state do to protect immigrants from being snatched by ice. And then this is the exact opposite of what we want. A guy who's going to come in and say he's going to cooperate with this fascist administration.
- [44:22]
Sam Seder
And it's quite clear that there is a quid pro quo on quid pro Cuomo on the table right now. And Cuomo is just setting it up. He is setting it up and he is sort of like testing how he's going to sell it after the fact. This is about Cooper. He doesn't want to fight with me. Well, the reason why he doesn't want to fight with you is because he doesn't need to. It's because you've already capitulated. You're literally on the same team. Where's the fight? Curtis Sliwa said, why don't we have a debate and see how many Republicans go with Cuomo? Sliwa said, in the streets, we have a word for that. Fugazi.
- [45:13]
Emma Vigland
I love New York politics.
- [45:19]
Sam Seder
I mean, it's really.
- [45:21]
Emma Vigland
He's like, I'm going to out Italian you right here in ink in Politico.
- [45:25]
Left Reckoning
It's like warriors.
- [45:29]
Sam Seder
Mamdani's campaign said since he's too afraid to say it to New York, his faces will make it clear. Andrew Cuomo is Donald Trump's choice for mayor, without a doubt. But I'm less. I'm not only concerned. It's not a question of whether Trump would prefer Cuomo or this person. It is Cuomo is actively going to be working with Trump and actively owe him something. Never mind the billionaires that will Support Cuomo. Never mind the New York state Republicans, the real estate lobby, the Ken Langone types, the charter schools, the tax cuts for corporations. He's going to owe Donald Trump what that, what he owes him, we don't know. But this is, I mean, this isn't just Donald Trump's preference. This is his essentially representative in New York. Cuomo also wants to get Eric Adams out of the race so the anti Momdani vote isn't split among them. Adams won't allow himself to be a spoiler. Cuomo said at the fundraiser if that happened, he'd have to move to Florida.
- [46:50]
Emma Vigland
Afterwards or just move back to New Jersey.
- [46:54]
Sam Seder
Cuomo is so obsessed with moving to Florida.
- [46:57]
Emma Vigland
I know, just go.
- [47:00]
Sam Seder
You just said yourself, this was amazing. Didn't Cuomo say, like, two months ago, if Imam Ghani wins, I'm going to move to Florida so you and Adams can go down there together, buddy.
- [47:10]
Left Reckoning
Also, Adams wants to move to Israel.
- [47:13]
Emma Vigland
What'd you say?
- [47:14]
Left Reckoning
Adams wants to move to Israel.
- [47:15]
Sam Seder
He's already said, and Cuomo is so. Cuomo is so, like, he is so petty and so small. He's saying that Adams would be responsible for Mamdani winning. It's Cuomo who is the candidate who, who has like completely shot the, the bed that was made for him by all the billionaires. Like, now he wants to blame Adams. You couldn't even beat this guy in the. Adams wasn't in the primary, chief.
- [47:48]
Emma Vigland
Yes, exactly.
- [47:50]
Left Reckoning
It's like blaming the Celtics for the Thunder winning the final.
- [47:52]
Sam Seder
Exactly. Adams, who eviscerated Cuomo in a statement, was not happy. He said Cuomo is an embarrassing double digit loser who couldn't beat a socialist and his failure created this entire scenario. Yeah, he should stop lecturing others, drop out of the spotlight and maybe start by giving his daughter back her apartment. So that was the best thing that Eric Adams did as mayor. Right there. That was it.
- [48:26]
Left Reckoning
You said Penn.
- [48:27]
Sam Seder
Right.
- [48:28]
Left Reckoning
Mark Penn, you know, his buddy Douglas. Was it showing?
- [48:33]
Sam Seder
Yeah.
- [48:34]
Left Reckoning
In the Hill, Zora Mumdani is a political risk Democrats shouldn't take. And you look at like his bio, it's like he started this firm with Penn in the 70s. He took $40,000 from a Ukrainian guy for introductions to Hillary Clinton. Like, these are, these are crooks.
- [48:51]
Sam Seder
Well, total crooks, but total scumbag crooks.
- [48:54]
Emma Vigland
But it's funny that you mentioned the Hill because that, that Jimmy Finkelstein, the guy who he was at the fundraiser with, I'm pretty sure they have connections to the Hill. Yes, it was. Yeah, he was the former owner of the Hill.
- [49:14]
Mark Hancock
Jesus.
- [49:17]
Sam Seder
All right, folks, that's it for the free half of the show today. The first one that we have done under an hour probably in months, if not years.
- [49:27]
Left Reckoning
Feels weird. We should extend it another 20 minutes.
- [49:30]
Sam Seder
I probably. And just in wrapping up, I probably will end up doing that. No, folks, it's your support that makes the show possible. You can become a member by going to jointhemajorityreport.com when you do, you not only get the free show free of commercials, but you also get the fun half. Get the IMs in the fun half. Also, don't forget AM Quickie amquickie.com three times a week, email in your news, email a news breakdown in your email box and you can upgrade to five times a week. Whitney and Corey doing a great job giving you the day's news. Also, don't forget the Discord majority. Discord.com I think we have over 15,000 people in there at least now. I think it could be past that. Check it out. Great resource for you. And of course our merch shop shop majorityreportradio.com com we're going to take calls in the fun half of the program today. And don't forget, just coffee, co op, fair trade coffee, hot chocolate, use the coupon code, majority get 10% off. We will be featuring in the front half. Our special middle school correspondent will be joining us later in the program. Matt. Left Reckoning.
- [50:54]
Left Reckoning
Yeah, Left Reckoning. Tonight, the final two interviews we had from the DSA convention with Kelsey Bond, who's running for City council down in Georg as a DSA member for affordable housing, expanding public transit, and also two members of the National Political Committee who won their NPC election. So they'll be on DSA's National Political Committee talking about what that means tonight, 7:00 Eastern. We are about 2,000 and some change shy of 50,000 subscribers for Left Reckoning on YouTube. So it would be nice to get there. If you're not subscribed, go do that.
- [51:34]
Sam Seder
All right, folks, 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 gonna be the same as it looks like in six months from now. And I don't know if it's necessarily gonna be better six months from now than it is three months from now, but I think around 18 months out, we're gonna 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. Fun Hat.
- [52:10]
Matt
Matt.
- [52:12]
Sam Seder
Fun Hat. What is up everyone? Fun Hat. Nomi Key. You did it. Fun Hat.
- [52:19]
Emma Vigland
Let's go, Brandon.
- [52:20]
Sam Seder
Let's go, Brandon. Fun path. Bradley, you want to say hello? Sorry to disappoint everyone. I'm just a random guy. It's all the boys today.
- [52:30]
Lisa Gilbert
Fundamentally false.
- [52:31]
Emma Vigland
No. I'm sorry.
- [52:32]
Lisa Gilbert
Women.
- [52:33]
Sam Seder
Stop talking for a second. Let me finish.
- [52:35]
Emma Vigland
Where is this coming from? Dude.
- [52:37]
Sam Seder
But. Dude, you want to smoke this? 7A.
- [52:41]
Emma Vigland
Yes.
- [52:44]
Lisa Gilbert
All right.
- [52:46]
Sam Seder
You're safe. Yes. Is this me?
- [52:52]
Lisa Gilbert
Is it me?
- [52:53]
Sam Seder
It is you. If it's me, hello, it's me. Think it is you. Who is you Goes out every single freaking day. What's on your mind?
- [53:06]
Emma Vigland
Sports.
- [53:07]
Sam Seder
We can discuss free markets. And we can discuss capitalism. I'm going to go smell libertarians. They're so stupid. Though common sense says. Of course.
- [53:15]
Emma Vigland
Gobbledygook.
- [53:16]
Sam Seder
We bailed him.
- [53:18]
Emma Vigland
So what's 79 plus 21?
- [53:20]
Sam Seder
Challenge? Man, I'm positively quivering. I believe 96. I want to say 8 5, 7, 2, 1 0. 35. 5 011%. 3, 8, 9, 11.
- [53:29]
Left Reckoning
For instance.
- [53:30]
Emma Vigland
$3,400. $1900. 5, 4.
- [53:33]
Sam Seder
$3 trillion. Sold. It's a zero sum game. Actually.
- [53:38]
Emma Vigland
You're making me think less.
- [53:39]
Sam Seder
But let me say this. You call it satire. Sam goes to satire.
- [53:45]
Emma Vigland
On top of it all. My favorite part about you is just like every day, all day.
- [53:50]
Sam Seder
Like everything you do. Without a doubt. Hey, buddy. We see you. All right, folks, Folks, folks.
- [54:01]
Emma Vigland
It's just the week. Being weeded out. Obviously.
- [54:04]
Sam Seder
Yeah. Sun's out, guns out. I. I don't know.
- [54:10]
Emma Vigland
But you should know.
- [54:14]
Sam Seder
Just don't like to entertain ideas anymore. I have a question. Who cares?
- [54:20]
Left Reckoning
Our chat is enabled, folks.
- [54:22]
Sam Seder
I love it.
- [54:23]
Emma Vigland
I do love that.
- [54:26]
Sam Seder
Gotta jump. Gotta be quick. I gotta jump.
- [54:28]
Matt
I'm losing it, bro.
- [54:31]
Sam Seder
Two o', clock, we're already late and the guy's being a dick. So screw him. Sent to a gulag.
- [54:38]
Emma Vigland
Outrageous.
- [54:39]
Sam Seder
Like, what is wrong with you? Love you.
- [54:43]
Matt
Bye.
- [54:45]
Sam Seder
Love you. Bye. Bye.