3579 - ICE Admits Defeat in Minnesota; U.S. Starving Cuba w/ Noah Kulwin & Brendan James

Summary

The Majority Report with Sam Seder

Episode 3579 - ICE Admits Defeat in Minnesota; U.S. Starving Cuba

Date: February 12, 2026
Host: Matthew Leck (in for Emma Vigeland & Sam Seder)
Guests: Brendan James & Noah Kulwin (Blowback Podcast), David J. Bier (Cato Institute)
Main Topics: ICE in Minnesota & Immigration Crackdown, U.S. Escalation Against Cuba

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on two major stories:

1. The apparent ICE retreat from Minnesota after a wave of protests and nationwide scrutiny of abusive immigration enforcement, analyzed via official statements and libertarian critique.
2. The escalation of economic warfare against Cuba, including severe fuel blockades led by the Trump administration, and how these are impacting Cuban society and broader U.S.-Latin American relations.
   Matthew Leck holds the fort for an ailing Emma Vigeland, with in-depth interviews featuring Brendan James and Noah Kulwin of the Blowback Podcast, who recently visited Cuba, and testimony from Cato Institute’s David J. Bier on immigration enforcement.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. ICE Drawdown in Minnesota: A Pyrrhic "Admit Defeat"

Segment: 00:13–15:17

• News Announcement:
  Matthew Leck introduces the recent, unexpected ICE statement about winding down their surge operation in Minnesota. Tom Homan (ICE “border czar”) gives a confused, halting press announcement—the drawdown is touted as due to "success" but veers into incoherent talking points.

  "He just sort of stopped talking mid sentence… It was a tongue error." — Noah Kulwin (04:40)

• Context & Skepticism:
  Leck breaks down why activists should be cautious before claiming victory:

  • ICE claims success, but locals know it’s due to unpopularity and unrelenting protests, not actual mission accomplished.
  • Ongoing public outcry despite police violence: "People continued to show up and protest… They’re not being made afraid, despite two people being murdered on camera." (05:10)
  • ICE still possesses a huge budget and institutional power, so future redeployments are likely.

• Larger Points on Immigration Hysteria:
  Leck and producers emphasize that

  • The ongoing crackdowns are political theater, not actually targeting serious crimes.
  • Republicans use immigrants as scapegoats for economic failures and as the bogeyman in their increasingly minoritarian politics.

  "This is a fever of hysteria that we are going through with immigration… That’s why we gave an agency with killer goons a budget greater than the FBI." — Matthew Leck (07:06)

Notable Quote

"Rather than a law enforcer, DHS has become the biggest lawbreaker in America today... [attacking] the 1st, the 2nd, the 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 14th Amendments to the US Constitution, the writ of habeas corpus, the independent judiciary, and much more." — David J. Bier, Cato Institute (09:37)

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2. U.S. Starvation of Cuba—Sanctions, Siege & Desperation

Segment: 20:24–48:22

Context for Escalation

• Following the U.S.-orchestrated kidnapping of Venezuelan leader Maduro, the Trump administration is threatening any nation that provides Cuba with fuel, notably oil.
• Cuba is facing rolling blackouts, children moved out of schools, and escalating humanitarian crisis.

On-the-Ground Testimony from Recent Cuba Visit

• Brendan James: Reports how sanctions snapped into place during their visit; chief Mexican fuel shipments canceled, and local anxiety surged.
• Noah Kulwin: Paints a bleak, siege-like picture—Cuba’s government and society under slow-motion attack with little clarity on U.S. end goals but clear human costs.

  "This has resulted in...a slow siege that is picking up steam in Cuba...massive power outages...not clear what the Trump admin is after beyond...see if they can foment a collapse of the government at the price of negatively affecting the lives of almost 10 million people." — Noah Kulwin (20:55)

International (Non-)Response

• Neighboring Latin American countries and even global players like China and Russia are offering token aid but publicly caveat their actions, hesitating to directly defy U.S. sanctions. Russia offers vague promises to send fuel "soon" (24:34).

Historical & Geopolitical Perspective

• U.S. hostility toward Cuba is nothing new: it’s rooted in a legacy of imperialism, dating back to Jefferson, the Monroe Doctrine, and consistent anti-communist efforts.
• Currently, the U.S. Cuba policy feels at once like a sign of imperial decline (a wounded animal is dangerous) and business-as-usual:

  "Just because something is in decline doesn't mean that it’s not dangerous...some animals get quite dangerous when they're cornered or sick..." — Noah Kulwin (25:06)

• The real policy drivers: Neocon holdovers like Marco Rubio (heir to the right-wing Cuban-American diaspora lobby, especially in Florida) are currently calling the shots, not Trump himself.

Right-Wing Cuban Exile Politics

• The Cuban-American diaspora (in Florida, New Jersey, NYC) exerts disproportionate, often extreme influence on U.S. Cuba policy:

  "The [diaspora] were a very effective, well-organized ethnic political bloc...a powerful force in some corners of American politics." — Noah Kulwin (33:12)

• Contrary to exile hardliners, current domestic Cuban politics are less divided than countries like Venezuela; reactionary organizing is centered in Miami and D.C, not Havana.

  "Any kind of [counter-revolution] power is in Miami and Washington...this is not like Venezuela." — Brendan James (35:56)

Attitudes and Hopes Within Cuba

• Most Cubans want an end to the embargo and normalization with the U.S., basic stability, and the freedom to live, work, and build relationships with family in the U.S.
• Bewilderment at why the U.S. cares so much, with sadness at the humanitarian toll.

  "They would like to have electricity all the time...Just a bewilderment about why does the US care so much? Why are they doing this?" — Noah Kulwin (38:50)

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Civil Liberties in Cuba—A Nuanced Take

Segment: 40:27–45:30

• When asked about Cuban civil liberties, both guests underscore:

  • External siege conditions (U.S. economic warfare, attempts at assassination, invasion, subversion, and terrorism) shape restrictions.
  • Critics focusing solely on Cuban civil liberties but ignoring Ukraine or other nations at war do so out of bad faith or ideological selectivity.

  "They're at war...No sensible country would be expected to dot the i’s and cross the t’s...when they're under threat." — Brendan James (40:55)

• Point that much of the "rights" critique serves to retroactively justify U.S. imperialism instead of addressing root causes:

  "It comes from the impulse to blame this on Marxism instead of American imperialism..." — Matthew Leck (45:30)

Current & Future Outlook

• No global actor seems ready to break the blockade.
• Immediate future for Cuba is “pain and suffering,” with the U.S. seeking to “do a Gaza in slow motion”—deliberate deprivation until the anticipated collapse.

"The immediate outlook is pain and suffering for Cubans. And we’ve not seen any country actually move against the U.S. edict...Let’s do a Gaza in slow motion. Let’s starve a place...and see what happens." — Noah Kulwin (46:16)

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Notable Quotes & Moments with Timestamps

• ICE’s Dissembling, Drawdown & Activist Resilience

  • "They can't occupy the city more...they can't stay occupying our cities forever. People hate this, and people are getting better and better at responding to it. And they're not being made afraid, despite two people being murdered on camera." — Matthew Leck (05:10)

• Cato Institute’s David J. Bier on DHS Lawlessness

  • "Rather than a law enforcer, DHS has become the biggest lawbreaker in America today...In less than a year, DHS has attacked the 1st, the 2nd, the 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 14th Amendments..." (09:37)

• Cuba Under Siege

  • "This has resulted in...a slow siege that is picking up steam in Cuba...massive power outages..." — Noah Kulwin (20:55)
  • "Just because something is in decline doesn't mean that it's not dangerous...some animals get quite dangerous when they're cornered and, or when they're sick." — Noah Kulwin (25:06)

• On U.S. Imperialism’s Consistency

  • “I think that you can't really look at what the US is doing in Cuba at this moment ... and say that it's all that different [from past decades’ interventions].” — Noah Kulwin (27:41)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• ICE in Minnesota/Immigration Crackdown: 00:13–15:17
• Cato Institute Immigration Testimony: 07:05–13:04
• Blowback on Cuba, Sanctions, and U.S. Policy: 20:24–48:22
• Civil Liberties in Cuba (Nuanced Discussion): 40:27–45:30
• Concluding Cuba Outlook/Plug for Blowback: 46:16–48:44

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Tone & Style

• Confrontational & Irreverent: The hosts—true to the Majority Report’s DNA—take an acerbic, anti-imperialist line, don’t shrink from calling ICE a “Gestapo,” and ridicule official pretexts.
• Empathetic & Humanist: Deep concern for those targeted by ICE or left to suffer in Cuba.
• Skeptical of Establishment Politics: Both Democratic and Republican inaction or complicity are called out.

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Episode Takeaways

• Both segments reinforce how U.S. institutions—whether ICE at home or foreign policy abroad—invoke law, order, and “humanitarianism” to justify violent, anti-democratic measures against marginalized communities and foreign societies.
• Activism and solidarity are possible, potent, and urgently needed, as ICE’s faltering in Minnesota and ongoing protests show—a rare flicker of hope.
• The Cuba blockade is not only ongoing but intensifying, with the added cruelty of “slow siege” strategies; even so, most Cubans hope above all for normal relations, not regime change.

For more on these stories:

• Interrogate the narratives (and numbers) around immigration “fraud” and enforcement.
• Follow the Blowback Podcast for deeper histories of U.S. policy in the Global South.

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Summary prepared for listeners seeking the essential arguments, highlights, and takeaways of this Majority Report episode, with careful attention to tone and speaker intent.

Transcript

[Emma Vigeland]

You are listening to a free version of Majority Report with Sam Steater. To support this show and get another 15 minutes of daily program, go to Majority FM please.

[Matthew Leck]

The Majority Report with Sam Cedar. It is Thursday, February 12, 2026. My name is Matthew Leck in for Emma Viland, who would usually be in for Sam Cedar. We are broadcasting live steps from the industrial, industrially ravaged Gowanus Canal live in the heartland of America, downtown Brooklyn, usa. On the program today, Brendan James, Noah Cole, one of the Blowback podcast talking about the Marco Rubio, Donald Trump starvation of Cuba. Also on the program, Trump threatens Republicans who may vote against his tariffs even though he could just override any legislation with a veto and give them the COVID of not supporting his insane tariffs. But he doesn't want anything like that. Also, the IRS is illegally sharing info on tax paying non citizens with the DHS ICE Gestapo that as ICE is losing hard drives that they're supposed to keep footage of detention centers on at the same time. Yeah, I can't find that hard drive that I had all those crimes, illegal movies. Yeah. Of crime snuff films on my snuff film hard drive. Got still looking for it. Might be at someone's house. And also Texas lawmakers sound the alarm on killings and torture at the Fort Bliss detention center. Look up any detention center near you folks, because you're going to want to be aware of any atrocities being committed in your backyards. Trump administration also continues its efforts to strip already naturalized citizens of their citizenship, something that had previously mainly been done for Nazis who lied about being Nazis in World War II. That sort of fraud is what typically has been looked at now. It's probably going to be like did you tweet anything negatively about Israel anytime in the past three years? The Pentagon, this is exciting news for everyone in America. It's struggling with the cost of living. The Pentagon is sending a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East.

[Noah Colwyn]

Oh nice.

[Matthew Leck]

So everyone can feel safe over there. And then finally, Kerry Prijin Bowler ousted as White House Religious Liberty Commission member following an anti Semitism row. We'll probably get into that in the fun half. Kerry Pugin was the Miss California who was sort of anti gay marriage and now she's sort of pro kanda. So in a way that's not acceptable for the Republicans who want to use anti Semitism as a big cudgel for their agenda. All that more on today's Majority Report. Folks, I apologize for being in here and Emma not being here. She is still under the weather. Get well soon. Emma hopefully back tomorrow, but if not, Sam will be back and maybe we can just give Emma some more time to recuperate. We have an announcement on something by a guy who's great at making these announcements, Tom Homan, the border czar. And let's let him sort of break the news here. This is something I hadn't heard about until it broke about two hours ago. And it's something that I don't want to rush to credit immediately, but I think it's still interesting to discuss anyway. Here's Tom Holtman with that.

[Tom Homan]

And success that has been made arresting public safety threats and other priorities since this surge operation began, as well as the unprecedented levels of coordination we have obtained from state officials and local law enforcement. I have proposed and President Trump has concurred that this surge operation conclude a significant drawdown has already been underway this week and will continue through the next week. We have a lot of work to do across this country to remove public safety risk who shouldn't even be in this country what. And to deliver on President Trump's promise for strong border security, mass deportation, law enforcement, take that again down from this or job.

[Matthew Leck]

It's like he, that wasn't a stream error, folks. He just sort of stopped talking mid sentence.

[Noah Colwyn]

It was a tongue error.

[Brian]

Maybe it was us. Let's give him another chance.

[Tom Homan]

Shouldn't even be in this country. And to deliver on President Trump's promise for strong border security, mass deportation, law enforcement officers drawing down from this surgery operation will either return to the duty station or be signed elsewhere to achieve just that.

[Matthew Leck]

Now, since Tom Holman was sent to Minnesota to basically change faces with James, with Bovino, they've been talking about this drawdown. And I don't think it should be credited that it's going to happen immediately or at all. But I do think it's true that they can't stay occupying our cities forever. And the other thing he mentioned, in addition to the success they've had killing two people, arresting hundreds of people who are just out there protesting the kidnapping of their fellow citizens, they can't occupy the city for more. And in addition to those things, like I said, he also mentioned the protests were making it difficult for them to stay in there. And there's a little bit of politics here because they don't want to show weakness and they so like they have to play politics both ways. There's an extent to which like people like us on the left, like I said, don't want to rush to credit this because we've heard this sort of thing before and even since Homan has got there, there's been horrific incidents. There was a car crash in St. Paul just yesterday. But also it is untenable. This is massively unpopular. People hate this and people are getting better and better at responding to it. And they're not being afraid, they're not being made afraid, despite two people being murdered on camera. And everyone saw it and the administration lied about it. And what did people do? They continued to show up and protest these people. They continue to play drums outside their hotels, continue to show up to the Whipple Building, which is a concentration camp once again in that area, which has a history of that going back to 1862. And it's really great. And let's move now to this Cato Institute guy. What's this fellow's name?

[Brian]

David J.

[Noah Colwyn]

Beer.

[Matthew Leck]

Yeah, and there's Cato Institute's not my preferred think tank, but on immigration they'll make points very well. And this is. Yeah, David Beer of the Kato Institute, Director of Immigration Studies. And he's talking about this concept of fraud which we're hearing a lot about. And it's important to know like a drawdown of the Gestapo still leaves a Gestapo with a budget greater than the FBI's annually. They're going to want to occupy more cities going forward. And the important thing is not that it's done in a orderly way, it's that it's not acceptable at all. This is a fever of hysteria that we are going through with immigration. There are two main planks. One, the economy is not delivering for normal people and there's no plans from the Republicans to make it through that. And also they are a minoritarian party in a democracy. So they need another thing to point to for why they lose elections. That's it. That's why we gave an agency with killer goons a budget grid in FBI so they can march around our cities pretending that there's a solution to those issues. But here's the Cato Institute guy, Member.

[David J. Bier]

Padilla and distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify. For nearly half a century, the Cato Institute's research has shown that people of any ancestry, background or birthplace can be assets in a free society. America's immigrants exemplify this truth. Despite often leaving terrible conditions abroad, immigrants work, start businesses and invent at higher rates than the US born population. Cato's recent analysis shows that immigrants reduced deficits by $11.5 trillion over the last 30 years, including about 140 billion in in Minnesota. Although Welfare fraud is a serious problem. Immigrants aren't to blame. Non citizens account for just 5% of welfare fraud losses, 31% less per capita than U.S. citizens. Rather than targeting entire ethnic groups, Congress should end the broken welfare systems, namely the oversight free aid to states that led to all the fraud in Minnesota.

[Matthew Leck]

This is the Cato Institute.

[David J. Bier]

DHS is an anti fraud. DHS is itself openly carrying out the largest fraud in the history of the U.S. immigration system. DHS and the State Department are raking in billions of dollars in immigration fees and not providing the adjudications that applicants are entitled to. For individuals for over 90 countries, half of all legal immigrants, the administration is simply not processing their applications. The burden of proof is already on these applicants. DHS and State can deny anyone who fails to make their case. Instead, this administration is pocketing thousands of dollars from hardworking Americans and their relatives, including spouses and minor children of US citizens and then not even looking at their applications. This is a scam. It is fraud. DHS's entire Minnesota operation is another kind of scam sold to the public on lies. DHS hasn't criminally charged anyone with fraud there. And 60% of its immigrant arrests in Minnesota have no criminal convictions or charges. DHS itself classifies just 8% of its arrests in Minnesota as the highest threat level. And 3/4 of arrests it classifies as not being a threat at all. Instead of arresting fraudsters, it's seeking to jail 5,600 legal vetted refugees, nursing mothers, single parents, long term residents already dragged away from their families without any evidence of fraud at all. Rather than a law enforcer, DHS has become the biggest lawbreaker in America today. In less than a year, DHS has attacked the 1st, the 2nd, the 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 14th Amendments to the US Constitution, the writ of habeas corpus, the independent judiciary, and much more. Every day, masked DHS agents detain Americans based on their race and demographics. They arrest legal immigrants for criticizing their foreign policy and Americans for recording them doing it. They threaten, assault and even shoot people for exercising their first and their second amendment rights. They break into our homes without judicial warrants. They sentence legal immigrants to foreign prisons without trials. They are trying to strip the citizenship of Americans born in this country. They detain people without lawful basis and they ignore court orders to release them. And of course they lie about all of it. Combating fraud and upholding the rule of law is important, but the public cannot have faith in that effort by the administration that regularly gets away with fraud, lies and lawlessness. Even the FBI.

[Matthew Leck]

I appreciate his anger there. And besides the point about fraud, which I would emphasize is mainly an issue with the contractors we put in charge. Oh yeah, I haven't been solo in a while. Yeah, yeah. Ryan's not used to the squidly diddly in it. The. It's very important though, the thing about the stats about even by DHS's own numbers, that they're not going after the high risk individuals. These new hires that you know are signing up for a bonus that they can set spend on a truck they can drunk drive in. They're not keen to go after the scary guys. They want to go after people who are like unarmed because they're going into a court or because they're at a school being a teacher's assistant because that's the easier way to get their quota up. And all of their propaganda DHS is, look at this rapist we took off the street. This is what the Democrats are afraid of. Well, first of all, cops can deal with those folks. That's what we have. Cops where we don't need to create a whole new goon squad federal Gestapo to go march around and shoot our citizens in the face and stake out schools. Because. Because some idea that if you're an immigrant, not undocumented person, you can commit rapes in this country, that's just not the case. And we don't need to. We can also lock them up in our own jails. Like this whole, this whole sort of thing is. Is absolutely ludicrous. But yeah, I mean it's. We're going to need a lot of people to break on this. And the Cato Institute, like I said, I'm not a fan of their libertarian politics. But on immigration, like even Chase Oliver, the candidate who Dave Smith stole the libertarian support for instead and gave it to Donald Trump, he had probably the best position on immigration of all the candidates in the 2024 race. We are going to be joined by Noah Colwyn and Brendan James to talk about Cuba in just a second. But I have some ad reads to do here first. Rocket Money. You've heard of this, Brian?

[Brian]

I sure have. I think we said on the last time we had this ad read that Rocket Money revealed that I was paying for rocket money since 2022.

[Matthew Leck]

That's how you know you can trust it. Because like I hate to tell you this, Brian, but you already got a Rocket Money subscription, the dual Rocket subscription. So yes, Rocket Money has helped us cut spending in a specific category, like a monthly Internet subscriptions. Rocket Money is a Personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings. And we'd like to thank Rocket Money for sponsoring today's episode. We already described how Rocket Money has helped Brian track his subscriptions.

[Brian]

I also caught a Bulwark subscription too.

[Matthew Leck]

I don't know how I got that. Yeah, that's rough. There was a substack that. I don't want to say who it was, but it's a journalist who has fallen out of favor. And I realized that I had briefly subscribed to that and kept the thing going. You got to pull the plug on that. Talk about. Oh yeah, yeah. The transaction categorization across accounts, customizable categories and tags reveal spending patterns and add context. This pattern of buying a lot of video games on Steam. Let Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals. Go to RocketMoney.com Majority to join. That's RocketMoney.com Majority. Do it folks. And another ad. I don't know if you had the same experience with this that you found out you already had a will, Brian, but definitely not right now. And for a while we've been experiencing economic uncertainty thanks to technology politics, tariffs and taxes and technology being AI and the market or recent market falls and spikes. Many of you, many of us are probably underinsured, overpaying and under protected. Especially if your policy is through your job. One way to protect your future is through life insurance with Select Quote. Yes, life insurance is something that especially if you're a father like Sam, probably an acute anxiety. Actually not probably. Definitely an acute anxiety for folks like that. And I know this has taken a lot of that worry away. For over 40 years, select quote has been one of the most trusted brokers in insurance, helping More than 2 million Americans secure over $700 billion in coverage. Their mission is simple. To find you the right insurance policy for your unique needs. They shop, you save. Unlike other one size fits all life insurance companies. Select Quotes Licensed agents work for you in as little as 15 minutes. They'll compare policies from top rated carriers to find you the best fit for you. And they work for you for free. Head to selectquote.com majority and an unlicensed insurance in a and a licensed insurance agent. I don't know why why I would have thought it said and a licensed insurance agent will call you right away with the right policy for your life and your budget. No medical exam, no problem. They partner with providers offering same day coverage up to $2 million without needing to visit your doctor, have high blood pressure, diabetes or heart disease. Selectquote has partners with policies designed for many pre existing health conditions so you get the protection you deserve. Life insurance is never cheaper than it is today. Selectquote they shop, you save, get the right life insurance for you for less and save more than 50% at selectquote.com majority save more than 50% on term life insurance at selectquote.com majority to get started that selectquote.com/majority. We're going to take a quick break here and we'll have Brendan and Noah in.

[Brendan James]

La. It.

[Matthew Leck]

We are back. Welcome back to THE Majority Report, folks. Returning to the show, Brendan James and Noah Colwyn of the Blowback Podcast. Guys, thanks for being here. I mean you're never really talking about that cheery of topics, frankly, when you're here. But we got another atrocity America's committing. So Cuba just for folks, let's start with you, Noah. Why is Cuba in the news right now as opposed to, say, our long term strangulation of that country?

[David J. Bier]

Sure.

[Noah Colwyn]

So in the wake of the kidnapping of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in early January, shortly thereafter, the US Began making noises about how Cuba was next on the list. And the way that it is manifested most dramatically is Trump's threat to issue massive tariffs on any company or sorry, any country that sends fuel in particular oil, most of all to Cuba right now. And consequently, because Cuba does not produce enough oil to keep its grid running and submit the needs of its own country, this has resulted in the, I mean, sort of a slow siege that is picking up steam in Cuba, which is, you know, kids are being sent home from school. There's no power. They have massive power outages as a result of this intensified action. And it is not clear what the Trump administration is after beyond just trying to see if they can foment a collapse of the government at the price of negatively affecting the lives of almost 10 million people.

[Matthew Leck]

And Brennan, can you talk about you've both returned from Cuba a couple weeks or a week or change ago. Can you tell folks why you were there and what you saw there?

[Brendan James]

We had heard that there was the probability of increased pressure on Cuba. And we thought we were also in Latin America to cover a sort of conference or summit in Bogota and Colombia. Oestro America, which sort of had was an interesting prelude to what happened in Cuba over the next few days because the summit was about increased cooperation or the goal of increased cooperation and solidarity at the moment of a lot of aggressive actions taken by the Trump administration, the kidnapping of Venezuela's leader being the most prominent. But then we got there, we got to Cuba and there was while we were there this new measure of cutting off the island from any of its regularly scheduled fuel deliveries, chiefly and most importantly from Mexico. So that happened while we were there. You know, it was just coincidence but we were able to speak to people and listen mostly to what the anxieties and what the expectations were going forward from this, this new move by the Trump administration.

[Matthew Leck]

And what, you know, that wider political context of the Caribbean states. I'm curious either of your perspectives on that because the Maduro thing like you.

[Tom Homan]

Said.

[Matthew Leck]

Claudia Sheinbaum in Mexico has been sort of lamenting the embargo. I'm not sure has she actually sent, I'm not sure what the status is of if they're going to send oil.

[Noah Colwyn]

But they're not, they've sent aid and there are a deliveries being made. I think the latest country to announce that they're sending aid is Chile and that comes on the heels of China and Russia. But nobody is sending oils. And all of the statements are qualified and caveated tremendously. You know, for example, the Chinese statement says that they will help Cuba to the best of its ability. And so none of these governments are, are seriously talked about sending oil against the American demands.

[Brendan James]

I believe yesterday Russia did say it would send fuel, quote unquote soon. But that's about all that the, at least the Reuters report that I saw said.

[Matthew Leck]

I mean that's the thing is like all of this acting in like, I mean maybe intensifying of American imperialism. I think it could be interpreted as weakness but it doesn't seem like the rest of the world is interpreting it that way. I'm curious your guys perspective on that.

[Brendan James]

Sorry. No, you go ahead.

[Noah Colwyn]

I think one way of looking at it is that just because something is in decline doesn't mean that it's not dangerous. And while it is true, I think that America's ability to project power in the way that it has, that made the 20th century, the so called American century. Well, that may be slipping. And we see evidence of, of how that kind of rot is, is growing from within day by day. You know, some animals get quite dangerous when they're cornered and, or when they're sick. And I think that many countries are understandably concerned about the capacity of the United States to deal damage in such a state.

[Brendan James]

When we were in Bogota for that summit, the, I remember the Mexican delegates were more from like the kind of bureaucratic, you know, government side of things. They weren't party leaders or sort of ideologically charged in their statements. They, they already seemed to be, you know, hoping for, yes, increased cooperation, yes, a defensiveness against any of these new volatile and destructive measures from the United States. But ultimately they sounded fairly pragmatic and moderate. What then happened was the concession, at least for the moment. A few days later, while we were in Cuba, Sheinbaum has been able to handle Trump pretty well during the second term. And I know the people we spoke to in Cuba hoped that there was some longer term plan to handle this and not simply have this be the end of the line, but it was. I don't think it's a contradiction in terms for this to be a weaker and more desperate version of Washington lashing out while still causing horrible damage and destruction in some of these places.

[Matthew Leck]

Yeah, America's been intervening, has its thumb on Cuba ever since the overthrowing of the Batista sort of plantation gambling regime. I'm curious how you would put this in the context of that long term, you know, strangulation of this country.

[Noah Colwyn]

Yeah. You know, Thomas Jefferson thought Cuba should have been an American state when, you know, the, in the sort of first waves, the first stirrings of American imperialism, as we kind of understand the term, expressed themselves. It was in the character of the same forces that brought about the Monroe Doctrine, which today we know Donald Trump has repurposed as the Donroe Doctrine. And this idea that American dominance over the Western hemisphere, United States dominance over the American hemisphere is perhaps a better way to put it, prevails for eternity, I suppose a pretty clear retrenchment in the face of clear shortcomings in its, in its, you know, against the fact that America's weaker than China and so forth. I think that that is the latest incarnation of, as you describe, what is a long heritage of us, I guess, impunity in dealing with the little countries that populate the global south. And that the US has pretty uniformly supported the most reactionary elements in, in order to prevent forces of social change and progressivism from developing. And in that respect, yeah, I don't think that you can really look at what the US Is doing in Cuba at this moment or doing to Cuba at this moment and say that it's all that different.

[Matthew Leck]

And this is sort of stuff that blowback covers, these sorts of, I mean, grand horrific events of imperialism. But it does seem like we're in a period of, like an end game. Whereas whether the west bank stuff and Gaza, the Maduro thing, I'm curious, like that's where we're at right now globally, isn't that right?

[Brendan James]

I think that there is in the case of Cuba, to stick with that for a moment. You know, you have this odd mixture of MAGA ism that's announcing everything as a bold and up until now, unconsidered, brilliant strategy to finally get American interests on the table for many of these countries. Yet it's coexisting with old fashioned neocon speak and ideology because Marco Rubio, who's an old neocon, he's, you know, I know he's tried on some different hats over the past few years, but when it comes to these things, and especially Cuba, because, you know, he himself is Cuban and dreams it's been his dream to preside over the fall of the Cuban government as it's existed since the revolution. He's the one actually calling the shots and making policy. And as Noah reported with others at was it dropsite Noah, you have to remind me the other day, he has been telling even his own president that, oh yeah, we're in touch with the Cubans, I'm handling it. Whereas the Cubans themselves have said we are not in any kind of dialogue right now, even though we would, they would probably welcome it. So the, even just the letterhead saying maga, but then all of the policy details being in neocon speak about the rescuing the Cuban people, delivering the Cuban people, a new government. That's the old school stuff of, you know, back to Kennedy and this continuity we've been discussing strangling the island so that it will, you know, burning the village to save it or whatever you want to call it. So it'll pass into a new phase of good relations with America and most importantly, new markets for America and its friends. But Trump himself, while I'm sure he's very ignorant of all this, he may be considering, without Rubio telling him what to do all the time, that this could be like Venezuela where they swooped in and they made a bold and, you know, to many people, horrifying gesture that then resulted in a deal getting made for the benefit of Americans, which would follow up, at least ideologically with the maga, you know, framing of everything. So is Trump thinking that we'll squeeze them until they're ready to pop and then I'll get, you know, some exclusive rights for America back into Cuba? I'll do a different version of what Obama did, which he welcomed in at the end of Obama's second term, but said it should have been a better deal, as he usually said about Anything, you know, Obama did, that's a very different track than Marco Rubio. And I don't know if anyone knows which track we're actually on or which which place will end up.

[Matthew Leck]

Yeah, I mean, I saw a tweet about Trump saying he didn't want to put Machado in power because she didn't have any sort of backing. And as like looking like being so unexpected. That's like a dog playing chess. And then immediately we have these sort of right wing Cuban. Let's talk about the right wing in Cuba first. I want to ask about the right wing, the Cuban right wing in America, because this is they've played a huge role for over a half a century since the Cuban Revolution. And Marco Rubio is I guess, one of the main figures in that now that history. Could you just historicize that a bit for us? Noah sure.

[Noah Colwyn]

So the Cuban American diaspora is an incredibly sort of potent and reactionary force in American domestic politics. The largest sort of population center of Cuban Americans is of course, southern Florida and Miami, but there are actually lots of Cubans throughout the United States, particularly in northern New Jersey and New York city. And the U.S. government essentially beginning in the early 60s with the, you know, kind of consolidation of the, of the communist government in Cuba, began cultivating Cuban Americans as kind of, you know, the like their own contras, their own counter revolutionary militias as well as soft political force as well, creating huge government funded propaganda outfits, make work jobs to essentially keep the anti communist cause going. And Florida also became a swing state for a quarter century plus a very valuable piece of contested political real estate every four years. And the Cuban Americans, you know, similar historically, you could argue to say, like Jews in New York City, they were a very effective and well organized ethnic political bloc in Florida. And the influence that they were able to exert over, you know, I mean the Bush family was very involved in the Cuba lobby and so forth. Like it became, as it became a constituent part of both political establishments also, much like the pro Israel lobby. And to this day there exists like a pretty well coordinated and powerful Cuban American diaspora among the American political elite and in media that are able to shape the dominant portrait that most Americans have of what life is like in Cuba, what its political leadership is like and why it's worth it for us to continue, you know, torturing that little island nation. Because many of them, yes, are directly descended or have ties in rolling back the clock in Cuba, but also many of them, I mean, it's become, it's a cause even bigger than the idea now. And the CubAmerica lobby is a, it is a powerful force in some corners of American politics.

[Matthew Leck]

Yeah, I mean, I think it's fast. I think it's an important example to point out in this day and age that like Zionism isn't the only right wing nationalism that has a, finds fertile ground in our political system. How about in Cuba? Did you notice much, was there a lot of Rubio supporters in Cuba when you were there?

[Brendan James]

I didn't spot any, but my eyes are going in my old age, maybe, maybe there was a lot of pro, pro Marco. We did hear a couple of people call him Little Narco. I don't even want to say that in case it pisses him off more. But yeah, I mean, there's a lot of, as you might expect, there's a lot of awareness of the position and the power that Rubio has in this new Trump government there right now. And we talked a lot about that with people. I think, I mean, as far as a right wing in Cuba, this is not like Venezuela. Cuba has had a much longer political and social sort of, you know, homogeneity since the revolution. Whereas in Venezuela you can, you have your like Venezuelan versions of Fox News where they called, you know, Chavez, you know, Hitler too, or, or maybe they like Hitler, but they called him Stalin too, or whatever. And you can kind of, you can actually see a more divided and nasty political showdown. That's not really the case in Cuba. So the center of power for any kind of reaction is in Miami and in Washington, which is partly why I think that there is this sort of wait and see attitude at the moment, at least from observers like us. But also, I'm sure maybe to a certain degree to Marco Rubio himself. I mean, he was really feeling himself that week we were there and a couple days after. But as we've all adjusted to with the Trump era, now eyes are on Iran. Tomorrow, maybe it'll be Greenland again. Maybe it'll be someplace totally new. So I think in order to build a consensus the way that the Bush administration, for example, did incredibly deliberately for the period of a year and a half, if not longer before the invasion of Iraq for some large scale or significant action against Cuba, right now it's just one of many plates that they've got spinning. And while people are very scared there, and we had some friends who said as we left, they said, hope to see again, either because they maybe have to move or they have to flee or something worse, it still doesn't entirely seem like the administration knows what it wants to do. Hence why Rubio says, oh yeah, we're having discussions and the Cubans aren't even privy to that.

[Matthew Leck]

Yeah. For folks wondering like, what Cubans want. I mean, I think generally the normalization of trade relations with the rest of the world. What other like sort of demands did you hear from folks? Or I mean, desires for like, did you hear from folks when you were there?

[Noah Colwyn]

I mean, I think a lot of it's the same as what anybody wants. You know, they really, they would like to have electricity all the time. They would like to have enough energy to run the country. They would like to, you know, for people who are starting businesses in Cuba to be able to like, do business internationally and bring in foreign exchange and help stabilize the economy and let it participate normally in the world economy. I think people would like it to make it easier to have relationships with people in the United states. Cuba is 90 miles off the Florida coast. And many Cuban families in Cuba are both, you know, linked by blood and by economics with family in the United States. And a huge chunk of what also has to happen is a process by which those relationships can be eased as well. To me, there's a very clear that when you just when you talk to people that, you know, there is a, at least I found an incredible sense of curiosity about what the average American thinks, whether or not they can really stand Donald Trump. And then also you know, a sort of, you know, a bewilderment about, like, why is the US care so much? Like why are they doing this? Because it isn't, it's not. The logic to them is even, you know, aside from just putting it in the context of history, I mean, we can all do that. That still doesn't answer the immediate, satisfy the immediate reality. And I think it's a very, it's a very, I mean, it's, it's. The sense of tragedy is heavy.

[Matthew Leck]

Yeah. You know, I asked that because we got a comment about civil liberties. And I have no shyness about talking about civil liberties in other countries. But I will warn folks that like when we're talking about places like Cuba or Venezuela, I can't. And I'm curious what your guys perspective is. I think it's ludicrous to divorce that from like say, how we've tried to assassinate their heads of state for years and years and years. But I'm just curious what you would respond to somebody who asks you to talk about civil liberties in Cuba.

[Brendan James]

Here's how I would respond. They're at war. If they're currently asking or piping up about civil liberties in Ukraine than I guess, power to them. They're checking everybody off the list. But if they're not currently talking about how there's no elections in Ukraine, how Ukraine has shut down free press, how Ukraine has had to curtail what was considered some kind of liberal order, I don't really see why they're so interested in Cuba, which is also at war, or Venezuela, which has been threatened by war, but actually had more liberties than this questioner may be aware. I don't know why they're so curious about the one case and not the other. And that, I think has been the mentality since the revolution hasn't just been assassinations, by the way, assassination attempts and successful assassinations. There's been obviously threatened invasions. There have been CIA operations and terrorism inside of the country. There have been homegrown terrorists from Cuba cuddling up with the US and then hijacking planes, murdering people, networks that stem from the United States trying to infiltrate Cuba. It's war. And no sensible country would be expected to dot the I's and cross the t's of an American observer popping off about it because they hear that, you know, there is that whole one party state problem there. What's that about? Well, I think a glance at the history answers that question and I would just say again, if you don't have a problem with the Ukrainians doing what they need to do in a time of war, then I don't know why you're picking on the Cubans.

[Matthew Leck]

Yeah, I think any liberal in America should be able to understand that war is not conducive to civil liberties in our current environment. Of the Department of Homeland Security. Yeah, go ahead, Noah.

[Noah Colwyn]

Well, I would, I would also add that it's like, you know, like we're not also just like, like what does it mean that they're at war? Like our government actively funds organizations, you know, whether it's, you know, historically been to the National Endowment of democracy, by the way, organizations that have been able to keep the lights on despite all the DOGE cuts to other organizations under this funding purview. Because after DOGE cut them, Rubio turned the money spigot back on for this stuff. You know, they actively, they are trying to sustain a narrative on social media about Cuba that like reality can't support and you know, like political prisoners exist in Cuba. As we said, it's both a country at war and our government, the government we ostensibly, you know, are supposed to have some influence over or at the Very least our implicated in by virtue of, you know, it's our government. We, where we have citizenship, where we vote, our government is the one actively trying to, you know, develop wedges in civil society there for the purpose of sowing enough disorder to lead to a, you know, spontaneous collapse of. Of the state there, leading to intense suffering more than we already have. It's just, to me not. Yeah, it's not a credible concern.

[Brendan James]

This is one of this. One thing that is very clear that we got while we were there is this is worse than the special period, which, if people don't know, was the period after the collapse of the ussr, which was thought to be maybe the high point of the apocalyptic breakdown of the socialist bloc. And any country that was left standing after that happened. For many years, it was thought that those were the worst times. They're behind us. After the Obama thaw, which was then interrupted by Trump, he slapped on turbo sanctions. Trump did. Biden did not remove them. Covid happened. Of course, in the middle of that, things got worse. And everyone was saying, this is as bad as the special period, if not worse. Now this is unprecedented, this level. And to say, I'm sorry, but to say from the comfort of your spot, wherever you are in America, you know, and say, well, are they letting people blog enough? I just, I just don't know where that impulse comes from. At least I can't, I can't speculate as to where that impulse comes from. So, yeah, that's not what we saw.

[Matthew Leck]

It's not a liberal. I think it comes from the impulse to blame this on Marxism instead of American imperialism. Like as if it's. They want to say it's just him doing a Stalin or Cuba doing a stall. And so we need. Americans need to save them for freedom. As, you know, Department of Homeland Security has developed into a Gestapo and we look at people's visas for if they've criticized Israel. Yeah. So how this has been going on. Where, where do we stand now with this policy? You've mentioned the sort of Marco Rubio obfuscation about whether there's dealings going on or not. Do you think this will ever penetrate Trump or is he just too distress? Like, what's the, what's the sort of outlook here?

[Noah Colwyn]

I think the, the immediate outlook is pain and suffering for Cubans. And we're, we've really not seen any individual country actually take steps to move against the US Edict that no oil go to Cuba. I think, you know, we, we shall see if the plight in Cuba is able to break through the American news cycle right now because I'll tell you, Cuba's already in pretty catastrophic straits and it doesn't really seem to be getting adequate attention in the United States. Not that there isn't a whole bunch of other worthy, you know, stuff for inclusion in the day's headlines these days, but the reality is that, you know, Rubio is surely able to get away with going over Trump's head and making sure that there is no negotiation going on, despite that evidently, at least in Trump's mind, being some part of the plan. Because like, you know, Cuba may, you know, it's, it's, it's a, it's a low intensity W for them. You know, they, they get to put on the sanctions, they slowly squeeze and hey, maybe they, maybe something happens that they, you know, because the Lord knows They've tried for 70 years through a bunch of other means that haven't failed. But, you know, let's try a new experiment. Let's do a Gaza in slow motion. Let's starve a place of any resources, any capacity for, you know, like the basic requirements for human flourishing and see what happens. You know, it's like that's the test. And whether the world, you know, acts against Trump, whether American politicians decide to act against Trump or at the very least apply some pressure, you know, motivated by the images and footage and real news, not fake news, but real news that we see come out of Cuba in the coming months. You know, that's as much as I can say with any certainty about what's coming if things don't change.

[Matthew Leck]

Brendan James, Noah Colwyn of the Blowback Podcast. What's the website people can subscribe to? Blowback.

[Brendan James]

Blowback Show.

[Matthew Leck]

Blowback Show. I am a proud subscriber of that show. It's, it's great. The most recent season on Angola and South Africa. Is there anything new announce coming up or you guys have been still been releasing on that series, isn't that right?

[Brendan James]

We will be announcing our seventh season very shortly, which will be coming out later in the year. But we have already announced a miniseries. It's our first time doing this, a three episode, shorter form miniseries about the low points, the points of tension, the points of conflict between the United States and Israel, because we all know it's a very close relationship, but it is not one that has not had its peaks and valleys. So that's the miniseries we'll be releasing in, I would say, early May.

[Matthew Leck]

There you go, folks. There's not a Smarter History podcast going. Thank you. Brendan and Noah So much for your time today, guys.

[Brendan James]

Thank you.

[Noah Colwyn]

Thank you.

[Matthew Leck]

All right, good to talk to those guys. I'm genuinely a huge fan of their work. Do we have Binder and Brandon in or do you want to take a little break?

[Brian]

They are not in just yet, but I bet Brandon's listening and I bet he'll log in right as I finish this sentence.

[Matthew Leck]

Okay, cool. Well I'll just plug my stuff.

[Brian]

Yeah, plug your stuff.

[Matthew Leck]

I guess I can stretch out and have a little mat time. Tomorrow we have a new Jacobin show. I'm not sure which of our interviews we are going to be talking about there so. But do subscribe to the Jacob and Meg YouTube channel. David Griscom and I were given the keys to that show which was started by Michael Brooks six years ago, seven some long ass time ago. And we've been building it up back up after a little bit of a hiatus and it's a very well polished show and I export it at very high quality and there's like Chirons and stuff. So check that out tomorrow at 10:00am Eastern Time and every Friday. And we also had a Left Reckoning. Left Reckoning which was on Tuesday. And I always forget what we do every week. But go check out Left Reckoning and subscribe to us on Patreon because we'll be doing a Sunday show, probably getting into some. We've been. If you're a Texas politics follower, you need to be following Left Reckoning because Griscom is all over the taller Rico Crockett stuff. He's all over Taylor Remt. He had a piece in the Jacobin show or Jacobin magazine about Remitt. You got something to say there, Brian?

[Brian]

You can finish your plug. I was gonna plug Emma's stuff too.

[Matthew Leck]

Yeah, go ahead and plug Emma's. What she got?

[Brian]

March 22, she's gonna be at the Dynasty Typewriter in Los Angeles, California doing a live Situation Room with Francesca Fiorentini. I think that's at 8:30 but tickets are still available. And you may be confused, Dynasty Typewriter is also the Hayworth Theater. So the, the marquee says Hayworth but it's actually called Dynasty Typewriter.

[Noah Colwyn]

Whatever.

[Matthew Leck]

It's like a. What do they call that?

[Tom Homan]

A.

[Matthew Leck]

In the Speakeasy. It's like a speakeasy show, right? And then code.

[Brian]

And then also Emma's hosting Griscom's book event in New York. I'm trying to remember. I'm looking up where that is.

[Matthew Leck]

That's true. I don't know if it's worth plugging, though, because that's all sold out. So you're going to just need to buy David Griscom's book, folks, because you ain't going to get into that event as far as I'm concerned. But David Griscom's book is coming out soon and it is selling well from what I can hear because people are very interested in hearing the lefty talk about Texas politics. Matt Binder, can you hear me?

[Noah Colwyn]

I can.

[Matthew Leck]

Can you hear me? We can in one second here. I think we might. We might have to re. Enter Bender into. Let's just take a real quick break here. And then we can. Not the fun half the. Just the news break so we can get the. Matt Bender. What do you have going on? Doomed and your other various media offerings.

[Noah Colwyn]

Just plug in Leftist mafia tonight at 8:30pm Eastern time at YouTube.com mattbinder all.

[Matthew Leck]

Right, well, check that out tonight, folks. We'll be back with Brandon Sutton and some. Some interesting clips to have a little bit of fun with. We'll see you in a little bit, folks.

[Noah Colwyn]

Okay, Emma, please.

[Emma Vigeland]

Well, I just. I feel that my voice is sorely lacking on the Majority report.

[Noah Colwyn]

Wait, whoa. Look, Sam is unpopular.

[Sam Cedar]

I do deserve a vacation at Disney World, so. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure.

[Brendan James]

To welcome Emma to the show.

[Emma Vigeland]

It is Thursday.

[Matthew Leck]

I think you need to take program for Sam.

[David J. Bier]

Yes, please.

[Noah Colwyn]

No, no, no. I'm gonna.

[Matthew Leck]

I'm gonna.

[Sam Cedar]

I'm gonna pause you right there.

[Noah Colwyn]

Wait, what?

[Sam Cedar]

You can't encourage Emma to live like.

[David J. Bier]

This, and I'll tell you why.

[Sam Cedar]

Who was offered a tour, sushi and poker with the boys. Tour, sushi and poker with the boys. Who was offered a tour?

[Emma Vigeland]

Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

Sushi and poker with boys.

[Matthew Leck]

What?

[Sam Cedar]

Tour, sushi and pokerman.

[Brendan James]

Tim's upset.

[Sam Cedar]

Tour, sushi and poker with tooth boys was offered with twerk Sushi and That's what we call biz. Twerk, sushi and poker with din boys.

[Emma Vigeland]

Right.

[Sam Cedar]

Sushi and poke.

[Emma Vigeland]

We're gonna get demonetized.

[Sam Cedar]

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.

[Emma Vigeland]

I probably am in a certain way. But let's get to the meltdown here.

[Sam Cedar]

Sushi and poker with the boys.

[Tom Homan]

Oh, my God.

[Matthew Leck]

Wow.

[Sam Cedar]

Sushi. I'm sorry. I'm losing my mind. Someone's offered a tour. Sushi and poker boys. Sushi and poker. I Think I'm like a little kid. I think I'm like a little kid. I think I'm like a kid. I think I'm like a little kid. Him like a little kid. Had this debate 7,000 times.

[Brendan James]

A little kid.

[Sam Cedar]

Think I'm like a little kid. I'm losing my mind.

[Matthew Leck]

Some people just don't understand.

[Sam Cedar]

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.

[Emma Vigeland]

That's not what we're talking about here.

[Sam Cedar]

It's not a fun job.

[David J. Bier]

Work.

[Unknown Speaker]

That's a real thing. That's a real thing. Real thing.

[Sam Cedar]

Willy Wonka.

[Unknown Speaker]

That's a real thing. That's a real thing. That's a real thing. That's a real thing. Real thing. That's a real thing that's offered.

[Sam Cedar]

Ladies and gentlemen, Joe Rogan has done it again.

[Unknown Speaker]

That's a real thing.

[Sam Cedar]

I think he might be blowing it out of proportion.

[Unknown Speaker]

Real thing that's got offered.

[David J. Bier]

Twerk.

[Unknown Speaker]

That's a real thing. That's poker.

[Matthew Leck]

Let's go, Joe.

[Sam Cedar]

Sushi and poker.

[Matthew Leck]

Take it easy.

[Sam Cedar]

Sushi and poker. Things have really gotten out of hands. Sushi and poker, boys. Sushi. You don't have a clue as to what's going on live YouTube.

[Emma Vigeland]

Sam has the weight of the world on his shoulders. Sam doesn't want to do this show anymore.

[David J. Bier]

Anymore.

[Emma Vigeland]

It was so much easier when the majority report was just you.

[Sam Cedar]

Let's change the subject, Drew. Rangers and Knicks are doing great now.

[Noah Colwyn]

Shut up.

[Emma Vigeland]

Don't want people saying reckless things on your program.

[Brian]

That's one of the most difficult parts about this show.

[Emma Vigeland]

This is the Pro Killing podcast.

[Sam Cedar]

I'm thinking maybe it's time to bury the hatchet.

[Emma Vigeland]

Left his best trump.

[Brendan James]

Pilot twerk.

[Unknown Speaker]

Don't be foolish and don't tweet at me.

[Noah Colwyn]

And don't.

[Brian]

The way Emma has cucked all of these people.

[Brendan James]

Love it.

[Emma Vigeland]

That's where my heart is. So I wrote my honors thesis about it.

[Matthew Leck]

She wrote an honest thesis.

[Sam Cedar]

I guess I should hand the main.

[Matthew Leck]

Mic to you now.

[Sam Cedar]

You are to the right of the unforeseen.

[Emma Vigeland]

We already found Israel. Dude. Are you against us?

[Sam Cedar]

That's a tougher question I haven't answered.

[Brian]

Incredible theme song.

[Brendan James]

Rumbler.

[Noah Colwyn]

Emma Viglen. Absolutely.

[Brian]

One of my favorite people, actually. Not just in the game, like, period.