← The Majority Report with Sam Seder
The Majority Report with Sam Seder
3591 - Trump bored of Peace; Leftists Surge 2026 Midterms w/ Alexis Goldstein, Anabel Mendoza, Junaid Ahmed
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- [00:00]
Sam Cedar
Hi folks. You know I have a cat. Had to give him some medicine as of re late. Was like a dropper and I didn't want to stick the dropper into his mouth because you can't do that because I'm just not good at that. But I, I mixed it with something and he drank it all. It is of course, Smalls broth. What is Smalls broth? Well, this podcast is sponsored by Smalls. Smalls is fresh cat food that is protein packed, made with protein packed recipes, all preservative free, 100% human grade ingredients that you'd find in your fridge and it's delivered right to your door. That's why cats.com named Smalls their best overall cat food for a limited time. Get 60% off your first order plus free shipping when you head to smalls.com/majority. Starting with smalls is easy. You just share info about your cat's diet, health and food preferences. Then Smalls puts together a personalized meal plan for your cat. No more picking between random brands at the store. Smalls has the right food to satisfy any cat's cravings. Like I said, Smalls also has these like packets of broth in addition to some other snacks. You can get some like, you know, freeze dried goodies for them and whatnot, and of course their food. But my cat goes crazy for any of the bird flavored Smalls food. And the broth is like an added treat so that my cat will like me more. It's basically it. I'm, I'm, I'm bribing my cat to like me. But it works.
- [01:50]
Michael Brooks
It's the only thing that works after.
- [01:51]
Sam Cedar
It's true though, right? Cats don't have the same sort of like just loyalty. It has to be very food based. After switching to smalls, 88% of cat owners reported overall health improvements. That's a big deal. The team at Small is so confident your cat's going to love their product, you can try it risk free. That means they're going to refund you if your cat won't eat their food, which is highly unlikely. Not to mention they're going to, they're going, they're, their coat is going to sparkle. Not sparkle, but you know what I mean. Stop. Stop guessing which meals will upset their stomach for a limited time because you're a majority report listener gets 60% off your first order plus free shipping when you head to smalls.com majority one last time. That's 60% off your first order plus Free shipping when you head to smalls dot com majority or will put that link in the podcast and YouTube descriptions now. Time for the show. It is Monday, March 2, 2026. My name is Sam Ceder. 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 we're gonna have three candidates running for Congress. Alexis Goldstein running in Maryland's 6th district, Annabelle Mendoza running in Illinois's 7th district and Junaid Ahmed running for Illinois 8th district. We've got primaries coming up in Illinois. Is that tomorrow?
- [03:50]
Emma Vigeland
Yes. North Carolina too?
- [03:52]
Sam Cedar
No, no, Illinois, I'm sorry, is the 16th. Texas tomorrow in Texas is North Carolina. Yes, 16th. I got lost my date because of course. Also on the program today, at Israel's behest, Donald Trump launches a meandering war against Iran. Iranian supreme leader killed, Other members of the Iranian leadership killed. Meanwhile, Oman's prime minister reveals Iran had just offered the Trump regime that it would go further than the jcpoa. That was on Sunday. Excuse me, last week. The Connor Massey war powers resolution will be on the floor of the House on Thursday. Tim Kaine to introduce his version of the war powers act in the Senate on Wednesday. War has 21% support from Americans. This as the Pentagon says there were no no evidence Iran was planning to attack the United States. Meanwhile other stories, West Virginia district judges are in near revolt over ICE operations in the state. This as reports immigration officials are moving raped immigrant underage prisoners to Texas so they can avoid preventing them from getting abortions as anthropic bows out of Pentagon requirements of humanless killing machines. Open AI steps in 153 dead from a U. S. Attack on an Iranian girls school. Meanwhile four U. S servicemen killed. Unclear how Israel attacks Lebanon. Iran attacks bases throughout the middle east. Back to this country. Austin mass shooting being investigated as a terrorist attack by the 20 something head of the counterterrorism bureau. Entry level job, I guess. New York Times. Trump is out of public view after the US launches a military assault on Iran. And Sam Seder's calendar says it's Trump's juice day time of the month. All this and more on today's majority report. Welcome ladies and gentlemen.
- [06:39]
Emma Vigeland
It is fun day Monday. Yeah, more like war time Monday. Yep, doesn't have the same ring to it.
- [06:47]
Sam Cedar
No, it doesn't, it doesn't. It doesn't rhyme in the same way. Where's my. What happened to my camera remote? Seems to be. Oh, here it is. Sorry about that. All right, just increasing my headroom just a little bit, if you don't mind.
- [07:06]
Guest or Interviewer (possibly a producer or secondary host)
The
- [07:09]
Sam Cedar
obviously war is broken out. It is really unclear as to why Donald Trump put out a taped message at I guess it was like 4am Saturday morning. He had pre taped it. He's down in Mar a Lago in the what they called the Situation Room in Mar a Lago, which we should tell you it's not like the Situation Room can go anywhere. There are reasons why they hold it in very secure areas in the most protected building in the country. Generally, that being the White House, it's
- [07:49]
Michael Brooks
got to be next to the Situation Bathroom where all the documents were held.
- [07:52]
Sam Cedar
Exactly. You recall actually back when those documents were found in the bathroom, he was offering plans to people at Mar A Lago, Iranian attack plans. But that was back in the day. I'm sure they've been updated by the Israelis for him at this point. But he went on to give a non live speech to not justify the attack on Iran. And this ongoing war with seemingly no parameters, no limiting principle, no agenda other than we're just doing this.
- [08:39]
Emma Vigeland
How dare you call this a war. How dare you call an offensive bombing campaign against a sovereign nation under the guise of it being defensive. How dare you call that a war. Because that's the line now. That's how much we've devolved. The Trump administration is claiming that this act is not an act of war. I wonder if Iran bombed an all girls school here in the United States and killed dozens of girls and hundreds of people if we would call that a war.
- [09:05]
Sam Cedar
They also assassinated the leader of Iran. I mean I, you know that to me, mobster belligerent. But here's Donald Trump explaining that we're going to lose some lives. We lost some lives. But you know, hey seeks to kill the lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties. That often happens in war. But we're doing this not for now, we're doing this for the future. And it is a noble mission. We pray for every service member as they selflessly risk their lives to ensure that Americans and our children will never be threatened by a nuclear armed Iran seeks to
- [09:54]
Emma Vigeland
their own intelligence has deemed that Iran was not close to getting a nuclear weapon, especially because this administration claimed that their nuclear weapons program had been quote, obliterated last summer when the Israelis bombed Iran. But this time around when we did too. And when we did this time around, though Netanyahu successfully lobbied the Trump administration high off his own supply after what they view as a successful operation In Venezuela, Netanyahu was able to appeal to our idiotic president to get more United States involvement in this bombing campaign in Iran because the last summer Israel actually took some significant hits when the Iranians responded to their act of aggression. So they need us even as they pretend to be the strong Israelis in the Middle East.
- [10:51]
Sam Cedar
CIA assessed prior to the Iranian attacks that Khamenei could be replaced. Khamenei can be replaced by hardline IRGC elements if killed. We had treated Parsi on, I think it was, I don't know, three weeks ago who made it clear that the Iranian government structure is not contingent upon one charismatic leader. Particularly like the idea that there wasn't a plan for the death of an 86 year old. This is not the U.S. senate, folks. They actually sort of like anticipated this stuff. So the idea that we, that this is any type of like regime change as a function of an assassination is absurd. And calling for the Iranian people to rise up when we have seen them rise up multiple times, only to get their resistance being met with incredible force, killing thousands is reminiscent to me of what George W. Bush or Herbert Walker Bush said to the Kurds In Iraq in 93, which was, rise up and we'll be there for you. And they rose up and they were obliterated. And the idea that Trump is going to take this to some type of ground war, which it would necessitate is absurd. And here is the part that's really disturbing. The lie about this being a defensive, you know, it's not preemptive because there was no contemplated strike by the Iranians nor capacity, we should say it's not even preventative because there's no reason to believe that a regime that is going to be around and far more defensive and far less reformed mind, to the extent that there was any reformers left in the Iranian government. But this, this coming from the Oman foreign minister faced the nation yesterday. Listen to what Badar Abu said. He said now he's in the United States. He has no reason to be lying about this. In fact, it's, it's a fairly, I would imagine, controversial thing for him to do, to come out and expose the fact that to the extent that we were afraid and had any legitimate concern that Iran was going to create a nuclear program, incidentally, Donald Trump pulled us out of the Iranian nuke deal. Apparently in the last meeting that they had with US Negotiators, Iran went even further than the JCPOA did in that they weren't talking about temporarily shutting down their program. They weren't even talking about, you know, temporarily stopping enrichment, but they would not stockpile it. And we'll explain what that means after we hear this.
- [14:41]
Alexis Goldstein
What has Iran agreed to, to you that they have never done before? Can you give us any sense?
- [14:46]
Guest or Interviewer (possibly a producer or secondary host)
The single most important achievement, I believe, is the agreement that Iran will never, ever have a nuclear material that will create a bomb. This is, I think, a big achievement. This is something that is not in the old deal that was negotiated during President Obama's time. This is something completely new. It really makes the enrichment argument less relevant because now we are talking about zero stockpiling. And that is very, very important, because if you cannot stockpile material that is rich, then there is no way you can actually create a bomb, whether you are rich or don't are rich. And I think this is really something that has been missed a lot by the media. And I want to clarify that from the standpoint.
- [15:56]
Alexis Goldstein
So explain that. So the enriched material, the things that could be used as nuclear fuel for a bomb, you're saying Iran would not keep on their own soil.
- [16:07]
Guest or Interviewer (possibly a producer or secondary host)
They would give it up.
- [16:09]
Alexis Goldstein
They would give it up.
- [16:10]
Guest or Interviewer (possibly a producer or secondary host)
They will not be able to actually accumulate that material that will enable them to create a bomb. There's no accumulation. So there would be zero accumulation, zero stockpiling. And full verification. That is also equally important achievement, I think, full and comprehensive verification by the iaea, which is the agency in charge
- [16:36]
Alexis Goldstein
of this file, the UN Nuclear watchdog. So you're saying all enriched material would be shipped someplace else, not Russia.
- [16:44]
Guest or Interviewer (possibly a producer or secondary host)
But no, no, the current stockpiles that
- [16:48]
Alexis Goldstein
still exist, the things that are still
- [16:50]
Guest or Interviewer (possibly a producer or secondary host)
in Iran, I think that there is agreement now that this will be.
- [16:53]
Sam Cedar
She doesn't understand what the implications of this are. And it's quite possible that the Americans they talk to are this stupid as well. The point being is that to. To develop a nuclear weapon, you need to enrich uranium, store it, enrich more uranium, store it, enrich more uranium, store it. Because your enrichment capacity is limited, you create this stuff for the bomb. Now, you may want to enrich stuff that you're going to use for, let's say, a nuclear reactor and in fact use that and have enrichment only for those limited purposes. But to create a weapon, you need to be able to stock, make stockpiles of this stuff. And so to the extent that they have any stockpiles now, they would get rid of those. But the issue is, going forward, they wouldn't stockpile, so it doesn't matter. And he goes on to say that with full oversight over the capacity to stockpile. And so he's saying enrichment is irrelevant at that point because it doesn't. Doesn't matter.
- [17:59]
Emma Vigeland
Right.
- [17:59]
Sam Cedar
If you're not stockpiling, because that's the only way you can make a bomb. And this tweet from Laura Rosen, longtime national security reporter. It became evident, listening to senior Trump administration official backgrounder yesterday, she tweeted this on, on Sunday, that they did not understand the Iranian proposal and that Oman foreign minister likely came to D.C. to meet with Vance and do interview with CBS to explain what he feared Kushner and Witkoff did not understand. Now, now it's possible they didn't understand it. It's also possible that they had caught the car.
- [18:48]
Emma Vigeland
Yeah.
- [18:48]
Sam Cedar
And were like, oh, we got to do this now. Now, there's been multiple reports as to why the timing of this took place. Supposedly at other times the weather was bad, that they had been preparing for this for an extended period of time, that they wanted to be able to assassinate Khamenei when he had this Saturday morning, regular Saturday morning meeting. I don't know if we'll ever know, but it's quite clear that there was a push for this, regardless of circumstance, to the point where, like, nobody seems to have even bothered to pretend or manufacture consent.
- [19:30]
Emma Vigeland
I mean, I mean, like, there was a multi, multi month effort to do, to manufacture consent for the Iraq war, which included pleas to the United nations, which included bringing Congress into the fold. Like the Trump administration here is acting, committing an act of war, not any pretense associated with it, which is a war that only 27% of Americans support. And he goes out there and says that Americans are going to die more. We already know that three, at least are dead, and we don't fully know the circumstances of that. But this is like, thematically, overall, the action of the Israelis and the United States and the Epstein class, represented by the Trump administration, a group of elites that understand that right now there's a shot clock because they've lost public opinion for good. So whether this is genocide, whether it's regime change, wars, whether it's destroying a
- [20:25]
Michael Brooks
state corruption nation that's, you know.
- [20:28]
Emma Vigeland
Yes.
- [20:28]
Michael Brooks
Friendly to you, which is what this is. You bought, you bomb everybody who could replace Khamenei and then also the police stations, you're trying to destroy the state.
- [20:36]
Emma Vigeland
So they know it's, they know it's lost for good, and they're acting with that urgency.
- [20:39]
Sam Cedar
We'll have more to say about this later. And obviously we're going to ask our guests, three candidates about their positions on this going forward. I can guess what it will be, but we'll hear it from them. Meantime, a couple of words from our sponsors. We all know health issues don't follow a 9 to 5 schedule with Zoc Doc. Having no time to book a doctor's appointment is actually no problem. So when you don't have any time for yourself until 11pm or you cut your finger making a midnight snack, or you have a late night heart to heart with your friend who pushes you to finally see the doctor, you can go to Zoc Doc anytime 247 and find a doctor that you love to make a health your make your health plan happen. Yep, even if it's way after hours. ZocDoc is a free app and website that helps you find and book high quality in network doctors so you can find someone you love. We're talking about booking in network appointments with more than 150,000 providers across all 50 states. Want to see your doctor in person? Great. Can do prefer a video visit? You can do that too. When you're ready you can see their real time availability. Click to book instantly. No phone tag, no waiting around. Appointments made through Zocdoc happen fast, typically within 24 to 72 hours of booking. You can even score same day appointments. I have used ZocDoc when I was on the road had a dental emergency. Find a dentist. Both Emma and Matt have used ZocDoc and my daughter recently used Octoc to find a a therapist. She's adulting now which is exciting. It's super easy. I'm not knocking my my daughter, but she did it. Thank you Brian. I'd like to thank ZOC Doc for sponsoring today's episode. Stop putting. The point is it makes it super easy. There is very little hurdles and she found a great doctor. Stop putting off those doctor's appointments and go to zoc doc.com majority to find it instantly. Book a doctor you love today. That Z O c d o c.com Majority ZocDoc.com Majority thanks ZocDoc for sponsoring this message. Incidentally, it's free. It is free for you. Also on the program this episode of Majority Report brought to you by Wild Grain. Wild Grain is the first baked from frozen subscription box for artisanal breads, seasonal pastries and fresh pastas. This stuff is fantastic. Unlike many store bought options, Wild Grain uses simple ingredients that you can pronounce. A slow fermentation process that can be easier on your belly and richer in nutrients and antioxidants. There's no preservatives, there's no shortcuts. Plus, all items conveniently bake in 25 minutes or less, no thawing required. Wild Grain boxes are fully customizable. In addition to their variety box, they have a gluten free box, a vegan box and a new protein box. I'm telling you, this stuff is delicious. I just, I, I immediately start remembering the smell in my apartment as I'm cooking the croissants, as I'm cooking the bread. And it's easy. You just literally take it out of the freezer, take it out of the bag, pop it on a baking tray and you're done. Couldn't be easier, but also couldn't be more delicious. Apple cider donuts. I had honestly an easy, quick, convenient way to make real bread and become a hero. People get impressed when you come out with that. Imagine having fresh bakery quality bread, pastries and pasta at home without any trips to the store. And don't just take my word for it. They have over 40,000 five star reviews. They have been voted best food subscription box by USA Today for three years in a row. For a limited time, Wild Grain is offering you $30 off your first box. I'm literally salivating. Plus, free croissants for life. When you go to wildgrain.com majority to start your subscription today, that's $30 off your first box and free croissants for life. When you visit wildgrain.com majority or you can use the promo code Majority at checkout. Check it out. We'll put this in the podcast and video description, YouTube description. Quick break. We're going to come back with our first candidate of three of the day, Alexis Goldstein, formerly at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, now running for Congress in Maryland's 6th district. We'll be right back. We are back. Sam Cedar, Emma Vigland on the Majority Report. Want to welcome back to the program. It's been a long time. Alexis Goldstein, she is a formerly of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, also formally. I think we first met 15 years ago when you were working on the Occupy Wall street policy document to deal with the financial crisis. You're now running for Congress in Maryland. Sixth. Give us a little bit of brief history of what you've been doing really for the past 15 years in the wake of leaving Wall Street.
- [26:40]
Alexis Goldstein
Sure. And nice to be back. Sam and hi everybody. So my career started on Wall Street. I was there before, during and after the financial crisis. And I sort of got to this point where I was like, what am I doing with my life? Right? All I do is make wealthy people more wealthy. And I quit in 2010. And the next year, really just a few months later, Occupy happened. And so I started showing up and I formed what I like to think of as like the Nerds, the world's nerdiest book club. And a group, small group of us who are like ex Wall street or lawyers. We were like, hey, there's a regulation that is out for comment called the Volcker Rule. Why don't we weigh in and try to make it stronger and try to push some reforms in the midd. All of this horrible probank stuff coming out of the administration. And so we wrote this really long comment letter. It was like over 300 pages with lots of very specific recommendations. And it was kind of a press, like the press, like the story, because they were like, not only can Occupy Wall street read, they can write. And they wrote 300 pages that we don't understand. And I'm from Maryland. I had gone to New York for college. And so this was sort of what pulled me Back to the D.C. metro area is I decided to move back and get a job trying to make Wall street, trying to rein them in essentially, and make the rules fair. And I was at this organization called Americans for Financial Reform for six years. And a big part of the work that I did there, in addition to Wall street reform, was student debt cancellation and pushing for student debt cancellation, which is obviously still an unfinished fight. And then in 2022, I joined the government for the first time in my career. Like, I'd worked in private sector, I worked in nonprofits. And here I was at the government at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was actually created by that 2010 law after the financial crisis. And it's really whole purpose in life is to help people who are getting ripped off by their financial firms and their banks. So it was a great job. Fast forward to 2025. USAID had just crashed and burned and been destroyed by Elon Musk. And me and my coworkers at CFPB noticed some people in the building that we didn't recognize, using at least one of our laptops. And so I decided to say hello and ask who they were and if they had the proper training to handle all of the sensitive data that the CFPB has on Americans. And they were like, we don't have to tell you our name. In fact, we're going to call security on you. So as you might guess, that was Doge. And they didn't Love that I asked them any questions. And so I was put on admin leave. I'd been on admin leave for the last year, and then two or so weeks ago, the CFPB fired me, essentially for doing my job. Because one of the things they tell you to do is protect sensitive data. Ask questions. If something is suspicious, you should please tell us. And so I was like, well, why don't I run for Congress? And so I threw my hat in the ring in Maryland, and I'm running against a billionaire and a mega millionaire in the Democratic primary, which is on June 23.
- [29:55]
Sam Cedar
A billionaire and a mega millionaire. Well, at least there's variety.
- [30:02]
Emma Vigeland
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Diversity. Ideological diversity.
- [30:06]
Sam Cedar
Tell us about the District and, like, and what your strategy is going to be to. To compete with a billionaire and a mega millionaire.
- [30:15]
Alexis Goldstein
Well, my strategy is definitely to be creative and to honestly to do some stunts if I need to. I do like a good stunt. So the District is like a D.C. suburb, if anyone is familiar with D.C. suburbs. There's a county called Montgomery County. The northern part of Montgomery county is the beginning of the sixth District, and then it goes all the way up to Pennsylvania and then all the way west to West Virginia. So it's actually a very big, honestly, very gerrymandered district. But there's a lot of. There's actually a lot of controversy in the District right now because in Hagerstown, Maryland, the DHS just purchased this enormous warehouse where they want to build a detention center, you know, an ice jail. And the Hagerstown community is sort of seen as more red, but people are really mad and showing up all the time. Hundreds of people outside of, you know, various elected officials, meetings, saying they don't want an ice jail in their community. So it's like a mix of sort of more rural western Maryland and also like D.C. suburbs, Maryland. But it's cool. The National Institute of Standards and Technology is in the District. There's a lot of federal workers in the District, and Maryland lost more federal workers than any other state after, you know, Trump 2.0 started.
- [31:33]
Sam Cedar
And it's generally a blue district. I mean, so the winner of this primary. And how many people are running in the primary?
- [31:42]
Alexis Goldstein
I believe six total. The main two are both sort of incumbents, if that makes sense. One is the current incumbent, April Delaney. The other is David Trone, who used to have the seat. And then if you go back even further, it was April Delaney's husband, John Delaney, who had the seat before that. You may remember him. He ran for president. And Elizabeth Warren, I do remember, destroyed him in a debate.
- [32:08]
Sam Cedar
Yes.
- [32:09]
Alexis Goldstein
What people.
- [32:09]
Sam Cedar
He was horrible. I remember that guy now. Oh, wow.
- [32:13]
Emma Vigeland
He's pretty right wing.
- [32:14]
Sam Cedar
Right.
- [32:15]
Emma Vigeland
Even to the right of Hillary in that, in that, in that debate, I believe. Yeah, Yeah.
- [32:20]
Alexis Goldstein
I think the district is much bluer than its past representation has been. And it's. That's only gotten more true over time.
- [32:27]
Sam Cedar
And what. I mean, just sticking with the district and then we'll. We'll sort of broaden it out to some other issues that are, you know, dealing with Congress, not the least of which is War Powers Act. But there's a lot, I would imagine, a lot of unemployment in your district right now. And a. What are the implications of that? And I would imagine sort of like cresting now because a lot of people coming off of administrative leave and now being like, officially let go by, you know, in the wake of a lot of these court cases that said that the government can do this. Well, how to address that.
- [33:09]
Alexis Goldstein
So it's definitely. People are losing their job because of the federal workforce, you know, being dismantled and attacked. But there's also, like, small businesses that are having trouble and trying to stay open because there's been increased ICE activity in northern Montgomery county in the district, there's a number of people who've already been abducted. And there's a lot of community support, in particular from an organization called Montgomery County Immigrant Rights Coalition. And there are different hubs of that throughout the state. But people are scared to go to the grocery store. People are scared to go to a restaurant. And so you have federal workers, you also have people that are small business owners or who work for a small business that are also having trouble. And I think the solution is we really need to build more public services and invest in things. And I guess we'll get to this. Right? But, like, why are we spending money to murder a bunch of school children in Iran instead of. The schools are really overcrowded in parts of the district, and they really need at least a few more schools just so that they're slightly less overcrowded. And that's one of the main employers right now in parts of the district is schools. A lot of people work for either a community college or to the local high school or the middle school. And I think that that would be a really helpful thing for the district, especially in the wake of all of this turmoil that is basically coming because the federal government is attacking everyone. But Maryland 6 is one of the people that it's attacking and trying to abduct people off the Streets.
- [34:38]
Sam Cedar
I, I have a sense, I have. I know what your answer is going to be on this, but the war's power resolution, but also further beyond the process in which the President attacks another country. Your perspective on this war?
- [34:56]
Alexis Goldstein
Yes, I do think it's an illegal war. They didn't seek congressional input. That is something that, you know, my opponents, April Delaney and David Trone have both pointed out. But I would go further than that. There was no consultation with the United Nations. I would also say that negotiations were ongoing and the best way, some people say, look, we have to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. We had a plan for that. Speaking of 10 or 15 years ago, in 2015, the Obama administration had this thing called the Iran deal, the jcpoa, because I'm from the DMV and we love our acronyms. But one of my opponents, David Trone, was initially opposed to that. And, you know, his statement and April Delaney statement following this attack is really just focused on the procedural question. And I absolutely think there's a procedural problem here, but I don't see why we should be spending all of this money paying some AI vendor to target the wrong people to murder a bunch of kids when there are so many people who need funding here. Like, it's absurd and it's, I think, a violation of like the norms in the international community for a number of reasons.
- [36:03]
Emma Vigeland
And just, I guess, relatedly, would you support the Block the Bombs act if you were to join Congress?
- [36:12]
Alexis Goldstein
What is the. Is that a House bill or a Senate bill?
- [36:15]
Emma Vigeland
House bill. House bill to block bombs to Israel. Would that be something that you would.
- [36:20]
Alexis Goldstein
Yes, I am, I'm not familiar with that bill, but I am pro. An arms embargo to Israel.
- [36:23]
Junaid Ahmed
Absolutely.
- [36:25]
Emma Vigeland
Awesome.
- [36:27]
Sam Cedar
I mean, you know, we could go down. I know there's obviously you. You're looking to restore and strengthen the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. I think we would be even better place in this country had a lot of the things that you were part of developing in that Occupy Wall street working paper had been implemented. What are you looking for in terms of like, just in fighting against a. Was it a billionaire and a multimillionaire or just a multimillionaire and a big millionaire?
- [37:06]
Alexis Goldstein
I mean, I'll have to double check, but it's definitely like a multimillionaire and a mega millionaire, if not a billionaire,
- [37:14]
Sam Cedar
what are the strategies you pursue? Like, what is it that you need at this point? Like, I would imagine, volunteers, infrastructure, etc. I mean, you have, I guess, three months, March, April, May, and then into June before the primary there. If people want to support what you're doing in Maryland, how would they do that?
- [37:39]
Alexis Goldstein
So you can volunteer for the campaign. If you go to alexis4md.com like for spelled out for m d.com we're going to be doing canvassing, we're going to be doing phone banking. We're going to try and just meet people where they are. It's a really big district, so we're going to need a lot of people to go to various parts. So yeah, if people want to support or even just chip in $5, you can just go to Alexis F O R M D.com we could use all the help we could get. And I think people are really excited. Right. Like people want something different for the district. There's a lot of really cool things in the district. Right. There's an amazing roller derby team. There's like all these libraries that are so beautiful and there's so much organizing happening at the local libraries. So I think there's a real hung for this. But we just need to get the message out.
- [38:26]
Sam Cedar
And particularly with districts that are this blue, they need to be. I mean, it's, you know, it's one thing you're running for, you know, Congress in Alabama, and I'm not necessarily going to get the, the Democrat that, you know, would appeal to someone like myself. But in a very blue district in Maryland, particularly one that has been, you know, so devastated by the conservative agenda of attack on a government, you would expect that we should have someone like you as our congressperson there.
- [39:02]
Alexis Goldstein
Yeah, I mean, I think there's an affordability crisis everywhere. But there's an affordability crisis in Maryland's 6th district too. Right. There's lots of concern with all of the new housing construction that's happened. Like some people have been leaving the sort of D.C. metro area and moving out to the district because they can't afford being in the core center. But that just raises cost people there. You know, food prices are up here just like they are up everywhere else. And so I just, I think that people are looking for someone that has a little, you know, I take the bus also, by the way. Eat your heart out, New York City. There are two counties in my dis in the district that I live in right now that are free. We have free buses in Montgomery county for the last seven months and free shuttle buses.
- [39:42]
Sam Cedar
Not possible. I thought that was. That only took place in like in, in, in China or what?
- [39:49]
Alexis Goldstein
Well, it's an interesting story. So they wanted to like harmonize the system with the DC system that had tap to pay and they did all this research and they were like, it's going to cost us so much money to do the tap to pay. It will take eight years for us to recoup the money it takes to transfer it. Or we could just not have fare collection. And so they were like, okay, let's just not have fare collection. Problem solved. And you know, ridership is up. And it's cool because the people who take the bus in Montgomery county in particular tend to be people who make, you know, like $30,000 a year. And, and now they have one less thing that they have to pay for.
- [40:28]
Sam Cedar
That's awesome. It's good to know that that's possible. I thought that was magic. Alexis Goldsey again. It is. Alexis for f o r maryland.com Alexis
- [40:40]
Alexis Goldstein
for maryland.com you could also go to elect alexis.org if that's easier for you to remember.
- [40:46]
Sam Cedar
All right, well, we'll put at least one of those link that in our podcast and YouTube description. Thanks so much for your time today. Good luck. Keep us updated.
- [40:55]
Alexis Goldstein
Great to see you all.
- [40:56]
Sam Cedar
Great to see you as well. All right. Bye. Bye. All right, folks, we're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we're going to be talking to Annabel Mendoza. She is an immigrant rights organizer and she is running to represent Illinois 7th congressional district in a primary that takes place in about two weeks. We'll be right back after this. We are back. Sam Cedar, Emma Vigland on the Majority Report want to welcome Annabelle Mendoza to the show. She is running for Illinois 7th congressional district. And Annabelle, we just want to first play this clip. This is you at a a 7th District Democratic primary debate and addressing your opponents.
- [42:24]
Annabelle Mendoza
I'll never take a single penny from corporate PACs or Apex. Not now, not ever. But I want to be very clear that there are candidates up here who are but sold. Melissa Conyers Urban is one of them. And I'll tell you right now, Melissa, you should resign from your post because you have been a horrible city treasurer. And on top of that, you also take APAC money and you are not here to represent the interests of the people that are right before you. In addition to that, Jason Freeman didn't have the courage to show up. Guess what? He's getting AIPAC aligned money as well. And you know, Anthony, I really like you. But I also know Michael and Carrie Sachs gave you $7,000 and they are some of APAC's biggest donors. So I want to know if you're going to return that money.
- [43:04]
Junaid Ahmed
I'll get Jesse.
- [43:05]
Sam Cedar
Okay.
- [43:11]
Emma Vigeland
So would you describe yourself as a wallflower?
- [43:15]
Annabelle Mendoza
Yeah, exactly. That's the perfect description of me, clearly. Yeah. Thanks for sharing the clip again.
- [43:23]
Emma Vigeland
Yeah, I mean, I love that clip. I saw it went viral. You calling out your opponents for taking APAC or like Israel aligned. Why did you think it was important to point that out and also kind of give other caveats about some of your opponents? Because APAC is not the only group that is funneling money that has the exact same impact into races like this.
- [43:44]
Annabelle Mendoza
Exactly. You're exactly right. It's not just a pack. It's also shell packs. Right. That have these really ambiguous names that seem completely harmless. But we know that it's AAPAC aligned super PACs and dark money interests that are pulling the strings. And when you can have this amount of money, particularly with my opponent, Melissa Conyers Ervin, who APAC is, their super PAC, is putting close to $3 million behind her campaign. You know that that's who's making the decisions behind the scenes. It's not someone who is actually looking out for the interests of those who live in the 7th district and the very real issues that we need to be laser focused on tackling. And I also think it's extremely important that voters are aware of who it is that is seeking to represent them. And I find it to be part of my responsibility to make it very clear in public settings who is and isn't there to represent them.
- [44:41]
Sam Cedar
Give us a sense of what you've been doing before you decided to run for Congress here.
- [44:49]
Annabelle Mendoza
So before I declared a run for Congress, I have been working in the immigrant rights movement and I'm still working in the immigrant rights movement. While I'm campaigning. I work for the largest immigrant youth led nonprofit in the country, predominantly with, again, immigrant youth, DACA recipients, high schoolers, college students, those who are starting their lives here. And I've been on the front lines of the immigrant rights movement for years, ever since I graduated from college. I thought I wanted to be a reporter, but felt I had very strong opinions about the things that I was looking into. Things like children who are detained in federal custody without their parents. These were not issues that I wanted to be silent about. And that's what made me pivot into the immigrant rights movement, where I've had the experience of leading, helping to lead national coalitions that blocked tens of billions of our taxpayer dollars from going to ICE and cbp. What we are seeing on the streets of Chicago and In other cities, I can tell you it's not new. It's been going on for several years and oftentimes behind closed doors, many people don't see the mass deaths that happen in these for profit facilities all across the country.
- [45:54]
Emma Vigeland
Can you speak a little bit more about the experience of representing immigrants in this country? Because I mean the right now I think that the administration is taking advantage of the fact that immigration lawyers, immigrants rights groups are so underfunded or scarce compared to the resources at their disposal. It just. There's a lot of people who are getting caught in the gaps here. If you could give us a sense of what that's actually like.
- [46:24]
Annabelle Mendoza
Yeah, absolutely. I will just say this, that advocating for immigrant families is about advocating for the safety of our communities. We see so many immigrant individuals who are part of mixed status families, have US Citizen children, are married to a United States citizen. And we've also seen the ramifications of these really horrific ICE raids and these masses armed agents in our streets who have killed and executed U.S. citizens and immigrants alike. All paid for with our taxpayer dollars within the immigrant rights movement. You're absolutely right that this administration has placed a target on different immigrant rights organizations. They've placed a target on folks who are speaking out against ICE right, who are actively exercising their First Amendment rights and who are peacefully protesting here in this district. I have had the honor of meeting with and talking to folks who have been on the front lines as well at the Broadview facility which has garnered national attention and that is located in the seventh District where I am running. And there have been individuals who have been targeted by the federal administration that this government is trying to make an example out of. If you speak out for your immigrant neighbors, if you speak out against the injustices that you're seeing, not only are we going to hammer down on your freedom of speech, but we're going to make an example out of you. We're going to prosecute you. We're going to try to terrify you and terrify anybody else from speaking out against the atrocities that we're witnessing.
- [47:51]
Sam Cedar
Let's pivot to some of the other issues that you highlight on your in your platform, you're in favor of Medicare for All. Are there specific elements of Medicare for All that you think that need to be preserved as we talk about different sort of various single payer plans?
- [48:15]
Annabelle Mendoza
Well, I think when we think about a single payer healthcare system, it is about ultimately lowering costs and making healthcare affordable for everybody in this country. Here in the 7th district, what is Very unique about this district compared to any other district is that we have the largest life expectancy gap in the country. You can live in one neighborhood and live 20 to 30 years less than if you live in Streeterville, one of the more affluent neighborhoods in the same district. It's not just about Medicare for all, and that's something that I try to call attention to as much as possible. It's also about the social determinants of health. Right. Health care for all is absolutely something I will fight for at the federal level, but I will also fight to tackle the things that are causing that life expectancy gap in the first place. That's not by accident, it's by design. The fact that, again, people are quite literally losing years of their life based off of the zip code that they live in because they don't have access to affordable housing, because they don't have access to clean, healthy food, because they're living in food deserts. Right. These are the issues that we need to tackle, that we need to invest in. And what I've said time and time again is if we can spend $170 billion on ICE and CBP in the last appropriations bill, we absolutely can fund affordable housing. We absolutely can make sure that public education is well resourced for every kid in every neighborhood and close, slam the door shut on that life expectancy gap here in the seventh district.
- [49:41]
Sam Cedar
Tell us about your positions on housing.
- [49:44]
Annabelle Mendoza
Yeah, so like I said, I think affordable housing is something that is an absolute necessity in this district. You have, on average, renters are spending 50% of their income just on rent alone. And prices are rising all around us. Whether it's your groceries. Maybe you are trying to pay off medical debt or your student debt. Right. You are one crisis away from potentially not being able to afford housing. So investing in building more affordable, dignified housing in this district, expanding things like HUD Section 8 voucher program to ensure that we have more individuals who can buy homes for the first time. We know that in this country, owning property is what builds generational wealth. That is something that we need to invest in and something that I would be laser focused on, in addition to also holding corporate landlords accountable for the extreme price gouging that they do for everyday renters that continue to rise their rents and nobody can afford to actually live in the buildings that they're creating.
- [50:46]
Sam Cedar
So you're two. Two weeks out, I guess. Two weeks tomorrow, right?
- [50:50]
Annabelle Mendoza
Yeah, 15 days officially. Yeah.
- [50:53]
Sam Cedar
And so give us a sense of like. Of what your. What your sense is of the Race at this point. I mean, this is, this race is sort of like a little bit under the radar relative to some of the other ones. Give us a sense of like what. I don't know what you think your chances are, but what you've been doing, what you're getting, how people are responding in the community.
- [51:22]
Annabelle Mendoza
Look, I'm running the best race that I can. I'm running an aggressive race that is focused on delivering for the people in this district and, and I believe that I can win this race. Of course, this is a race that is extremely crowded. The first open seat that we've had in almost 30 years. There are so many different candidates up and down this ballot. But what I have said consistently is that while there's 13 Democrats running, not all of us are the same. And we deserve to have a true progressive force because you have Democrats again, who are taking dark money, who are taking APAC money or APAC adjacent money. You have people who are going to be more focused on the people behind the scenes that are pulling the strings and dictating their decision making as opposed to standing on their own two feet, ten toes down and stating what their values are and making sure that they're fighting for every single person in every single community that calls this district home. That sets me apart from most of this ballot. And again, with both my lived experience being a lifelong Chicagoan from a working class background and my professional experience in the immigrant rights movement, I believe I am the true progressive that is positioned for this exact moment. A moment where we are facing existential crises and we cannot afford to have elected officials who are bought. We cannot afford to have elected officials who are going to mince their words about any of what is going on. We need people who are going to go to Congress and get things done and are going to be focused on delivering. For every single family who calls this district home. We have 15 days left. My team, I am so blessed to have such an amazing team that is helping me run, run an incredible race. And we're going to be out there continuing to talk to voters. When I'm at the doors, there's still a lot of people who are undecided. So we're out there making sure that we're reaching them in every way possible.
- [53:09]
Emma Vigeland
Well, I'm a little reminded of what happened in NJ11. I know it's going to be different because there's going to be statewide primaries, but that was not as crowded of a field as what you're experiencing. But there were a lot of people that looked late into the race and were influenced by the APAC funded ads that attacked the front runner from the left. But that causes somebody to go google who's the true left wing candidate in the race or who's not taking APAC money. Oh, that'll be the tiebreaker. Just trying to help you get your message out there. You are the candidate not taking APAC money, not associated with the Israel lobby and would and do you support things like the Block the Bombs act and ending weapons to Israel?
- [53:50]
Annabelle Mendoza
Yes, absolutely. And I think there's often a conversation about defensive and offensive weapons. I oppose all of it all and I think that that is something I will always stand on my own two feet and say and I don't again, like you said Emma, I don't take APAC money. I don't take APAC adjacent money. Everything that we've been able to fundraise in this campaign has literally been the grit of me, my husband, this team calling folks and asking them to donate and to invest in a vision for what our politics should be.
- [54:22]
Sam Cedar
What is the website? If folks want to help by donating or help by volunteering, I imagine as many people as you can get out in the next 15 days would be huge. Where can people go?
- [54:34]
Annabelle Mendoza
You can go to Annabelle for Congress and it's spelled A N A B E L F o r congress.com. that's going to be the best way. And then you can also my handle is at Annabelle for Congress across social media. So please follow us along and come door knocking or phone banking with us. There's nothing I'm going to ask my volunteers to do that I'm not going to be doing right there with them. So if we're out in the cold in Chicago in the rain and the snow, I will be out there with them.
- [55:01]
Sam Cedar
We just got an IM from one of our listeners. I'm in Annabelle's district here in the South Loop of Chicago. She has my vote and I'm attending her Invisible Candidate forum tonight online at 7pm thank you so much. So I imagine other people can go to that forum as well and hear from you.
- [55:21]
Annabelle Mendoza
Please come. There's going to be an opportunity to ask questions so I invite anybody who's available to please attend that tonight. And then there's a couple of forums that we still have left that we will be publicizing on our social media so folks who haven't had a chance to come out and hear the candidates can have that opportunity.
- [55:37]
Sam Cedar
Okay, Annabel, really appreciate you coming on. Thanks for joining us.
- [55:41]
Annabelle Mendoza
Thank you so much. Thank you, everybody. Take care.
- [55:46]
Sam Cedar
All right, folks, gonna take a quick break. We're gonna come back with Junaid Ahmed running for the Democratic nomination in the 8th congressional district in Illinois. He is endorsed by the Justice Democrats. We'll be right back after this.
- [56:29]
Guest or Interviewer (possibly a producer or secondary host)
Sam. Foreign.
- [57:00]
Sam Cedar
We are back. Sam Cedar, Emma Vigland on the Majority Report. It's a pleasure to welcome to the program Junaid Ahmed. He is running for the Democratic nomination in the 8th congressional district in Illinois. You are endorsed by the Justice Democrats, which, you know, I think is both an indication of your politics and but also, you know, the Justice Democrats, all organizations have limited funds and when they decide that they're going to put their funds behind somebody, it's based upon both their their politics, but also a perception of their ability to win in that race. Give us a sense of your background before we get into what you'd like to do in the in Illinois.
- [57:52]
Junaid Ahmed
Great. SAM My story is like so many millions of Americans, so many people in my district, my parents, my dad came here as you know, and then I came here with my parents as an immigrant. So dad worked two jobs, you know, in a two bedroom apartment, a typical story where, you know, saw both parents working super hard. And I wanted to return and I wanted to honor that sacrifice that our parents did for us. And I started out my college education at the community college in Chicago, transferred to four year university where I worked full time, went to school in the evenings. Then a few years later I went back, earned an MBA from UChicago Booth School of Business and been an activist in the community. Giving back to the community was at the top of everything that I did in my life. Part of multiple relief organizations and, you know, just standing up for for what is right. And when student debt was at the forefront of my wife's high interest rate, when, you know, when my son is a hospital for one night and two days and I thought I have the world's best insurance. Our bill was about $10,000. That's when Bernie Sanders came into the fore and that's what got me into politics the first time around.
- [59:04]
Sam Cedar
Excellent. And we should say you're running against a a particular Democrat, a Democrat who and it's worth talking about because Melissa Bean's record in Congress is it's almost shocking in a way. Tell us a little bit about why you're running specifically against her.
- [59:33]
Junaid Ahmed
Yeah, I think she actually was introduced into this race by, you know, it's it's a it's a pretty much well known secret. I think that APAC wanted her back into this race because we were doing really well early on into the race. And obviously, Melissa Bean, for a very quick introduction. Congresswoman From 2005 to 2011, she was. She was part of the Finance Oversight Committee. She left Congress next day. She took on the job of the CEO with the exact same industry that she was expected to oversee. And, yeah, that's the. And today when she's coming back, she is, you know, supported by just about everything you can think of. APAC has thrown millions and millions. Then to add to it, it's a crypto that's come in. It's AI that has come in. And. And the moderate dumps are also coming in for her. They don't know. They don't know what to do with all the money. I mean, 19 mailers so far. Sometimes people are saying that getting two mailers in one day, they don't know
- [60:32]
Sam Cedar
what to do with that.
- [60:32]
Junaid Ahmed
All that money. And. And just looking at her voting record, right, she was Wall Street's favorite Democrat. That's the title she earned, by the way. And she voted for Bush tax cuts.
- [60:45]
Emma Vigeland
Wow.
- [60:46]
Sam Cedar
Wow.
- [60:47]
Emma Vigeland
We lost. Sinead froze for just a second, but that's pretty incredible. Do we have Junaid?
- [60:55]
Michael Brooks
Oh, one second there.
- [60:59]
Sam Cedar
Bear with us, folks. I will say this
- [61:03]
Junaid Ahmed
to.
- [61:07]
Emma Vigeland
I think we. We got to go to a break. Most likely.
- [61:10]
Sam Cedar
We're going to go to a break. All right. We're going to take quick break and hopefully we'll get Janad Ahmed back. But I will say this. We have multiple people who have immed us saying that I'm in Junaid's district and I'm going out for him. Oh, here we have. Can we bring them right back in?
- [61:34]
Alexis Goldstein
Oh, wow.
- [61:34]
Sam Cedar
Okay.
- [61:35]
Emma Vigeland
No break needed.
- [61:36]
Sam Cedar
Junaid, I was just saying we lost you for a moment, but I was just saying that, you know, we take live IMs and literally, at this point, a half a dozen people have said that they're out organizing for you. They're knocking on doors for you. One person didn't realize that you were going to be on and said you should have. Junaid on. I'm out canvassing. Literally, literally before. Moments before you came on. So you're dealing with Melissa Bean, who's been brought back into the race by a really sort of like the. Almost like if you did the greatest hits of the worst sort of like nefarious money that plays in campaigns, you'd be hard pressed to find anybody else. I mean, I think, like, I don't know, could Big Tobacco weigh in on this or something. But. But with that said, so tell us about your platform. Like, why are these moneyed interests from crypto, aipac and just corporate money in general, why are they so nervous about the chances that you could win this primary?
- [62:46]
Junaid Ahmed
Look, I have a history of being out in the streets standing up for, you know, saying that health care is a human right. Standing up for saying that. Look, the I barbarism that's going on across the country at this point, that's got to stop. I was at the forefront of shutting down an ICE detention center in Trump 1. Oh, it seems like a much better era than we are in right now when parents and children were being separated. We were out about, you know, 30, 35 miles northwest of here in McEnry County. There was ICE detention center where keeping parents separated from their children. They're holding them at that detention center. And we protest that relentlessly in cold winter nights until we successfully shut it down. So they know the voice of the people that we are going to bring. And I have taken a public oath that I will never accept corporate PAC money. I have said publicly that I will never accept dark APAC money. And they don't want it. That means I'm going to standing up. I'm going to be standing up for what is right for people. And when that happens, the big money loses and they do not want it. And that's why they're throwing in everything that they got into this race.
- [63:51]
Sam Cedar
You support Medicare for All, like you say, as a, as health care, as a human right. You have called for the end of Citizens United. You want to end all US Military aid to Israel, permanent ceasefire, right of return for Palestinians, use of the House oversight to investigate and hold Trump officials accountable. I imagine you wouldn't be voting for something like George Bush's tax cuts.
- [64:21]
Junaid Ahmed
No, I would not.
- [64:23]
Sam Cedar
All right. I just want to see if I can.
- [64:25]
Emma Vigeland
That's good to know.
- [64:27]
Sam Cedar
What, give us a sense of, like, what you've been doing organizationally and how you've been getting the word out. I mean, you're fighting. I think. I think at least at this point, the amount of money that's come in against you is, I think, at larger than any other in any other campaign, at least to this point. I mean, you're only two weeks out from the primary, so it's possible there's a lot of money floating around out there. It's possible it could end up more. But I mean, even like, also, like with the crypto stuff, like, it's just sort of fascinating how Much more they want in terms of like owning our lawmakers. But what have you done? I imagine you have some money, but it's not like you have that kind of money. What have you been doing to counteract that?
- [65:21]
Junaid Ahmed
So we're meeting the voters where they're at. We are talking to voters. We've been, I personally been at hundreds of doors. We are knocking doors, we are talking to people. So far this weekend alone, we knocked about 3,500, 3,600 doors just this weekend.
- [65:37]
Guest or Interviewer (possibly a producer or secondary host)
Million.
- [65:37]
Junaid Ahmed
And, and we are going to be, we are about at 35, 000 at this point. We're going to be by the time in the next two weeks we're done, we're going to be talking to about 66000 people at their doors. That is something that, you know, no amount of money can buy. Even if they come up with 20, 50, 100 million, they're not going to be able to counter what we're doing. Just having the face to face conversations. That's number one. And we're not stopping there. Right? We have raised $1.3 million just about in that ballpark. And when we, when we filed our first quarter. Sam, back, back, I'm taking you back to the first quarter. We did340,000 is what we raised at the time. 90%, just about just shy of 90 in state, just shy of 60% in district. That's the kind of grassroots movement that we have and that money cannot buy. And that's where we have, you know, tens of people, hundreds at times over weekends that we are knocking doors, talking to people. And, and this is what I say. We, we still need to stay alive for the next two weeks. We still need to raise a little bit of money. But trust me, we are going to win this race. We are going to make this happen. Dark money is not going to win in Illinois. 8th congressional district. The people of this district do not want to be bought and sold. And unfortunately that's what we're dealing with. And we believe we are going to be at the forefront of bringing this
- [66:55]
Emma Vigeland
voice of the people to Congress asking pretty much everybody this who's coming on the show today. But would you support the block the bombs act in Congress and support ending weapons to Israel? And also do you make the distinction between offensive and defensive?
- [67:11]
Junaid Ahmed
So first off, block the bombs. I have absolutely said yes that to that publicly and because of that one reason I have been endorsed by Congresswoman Delia Ramirez and I genuinely, you know, the support that we're building in this district with the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the leadership that we have, especially locally here and nationally with Pramila Jayapal and Ro Khanna, that's the kind of policies that I've publicly said that I will be supporting. And that's on the record at this point. So short answer there and then their endorsements I think is a testament that, that we are, you know, we are going to be working together. I've been talking to them very much regularly as a freshman. I'm ready to excited to make some positive changes.
- [67:57]
Sam Cedar
I was going to say in terms of the money that you're up against a sizable amount yourself. Nothing can compete with having motivated volunteers who are genuinely supportive. I just remember the one time I met a Cuomo guy giving out flyers on the street in New York City. And I took the flyer, I walked half a block and I walked back to him and I was like, hey, what is it that you really like about Cuomo? And he just looked at me, he's like, I'm getting paid. And that was it. Flyers. And it really does make a difference. Difference. And I think like, you know, we are seeing time and time again as we have motivated volunteers organizing, getting out, telling their family, knocking on doors, showing their genuine enthusiasm. I honestly can't imagine there are going to be many people who are able to knock on a door from Melissa Bean and express a genuine enthusiasm for her candidacy. Like we need less regulation on crypto. We need more corporate interests in our politics. Like how does someone even present that? It would be fascinating to talk to one of those people. Janae, tell us your. Our website. Your website and where folks can our audience can go and help you if they are in district or outside of district.
- [69:32]
Guest or Interviewer (possibly a producer or secondary host)
District.
- [69:32]
Junaid Ahmed
As I said website is united videos.com but to your earlier point about how can. She herself has completely disappeared. She did not show up to the last forum that the Bloomingdale Democratic Party had. She was a no show there because she knows she cannot take that answer. I'll share this. A 19 year old kid yesterday told me this. Junaid Melissa Bean was at my place of worship at the Sacred Water. And she was very rude to me. I was like, why? What'd you tell her, man? Why was she rude to you? All I asked her was why does she accept so much APAC money when we know that they're using, you know, supporting bombing and genocide and, and, and she was very rude to me. And so that's where she is hiding. She cannot take those questions. She just literally walked away. And so that's what we're dealing with. And so her volunteers, she doesn't have any. Junais.com is our website and please follow us on our socials. We need to stay live for the next couple of weeks. We need financial support in the next, next two weeks. But we'll get through this. We are going to make it happen. We're going to talk to people. Thank you very much, Janet, for us.com
- [70:37]
Sam Cedar
and this is a, this is a reliable, we should remind people this is a very reliable blue district. I mean the, it is, it is plus eight. So that, and that's plus eight in a not a year like this where, you know, you could be looking at another plus whatever to that eight going forward. So really appreciate your coming on. Good luck over the next two weeks. I imagine you're going to be knocking on a lot of doors and shaking a lot of hands and appreciate you taking the time to talk to us.
- [71:13]
Junaid Ahmed
Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.
- [71:14]
Emma Vigeland
Thanks so much.
- [71:16]
Sam Cedar
All right, folks, we're going to take a quick break. That's it for the first half of the program. We have a lot to talk about, obviously, as we are in the midst of are they calling it a war? They're just calling it offensive action?
- [71:31]
Emma Vigeland
It depends on the day. It depends on the who the audience is. I mean, Trump has been like giving different time frames to different media outlets too. I saw this like guy from the Economist aggregated it saying he's telling Axios it's going to end in two or three days in the New York Times. It might be four or five weeks or something. Which, which reminds me of the Bush administration. Didn't they say that Iraq would take weeks or months?
- [71:59]
Sam Cedar
Well, initially they said they're going to meet us with flowers and candy. And then there was a, a, a Friedman unit, which was Thomas Friedman always saying we are about six months away. And that became known as a Freed Friedman unit or an fu. And that was the parlance, so the classic fu to the American public. Now, of course, 20, you stated 27%. I've seen 21% support for this war. We'll talk more about this in the so called fun half. But it is fascinating the, the notion that they didn't feel like they had to sell this at all or that it's largely irrelevant.
- [72:53]
Emma Vigeland
I want to expand on that in the fun half because I think it's, it's a broader dynamic of how we can view right now the Trump administration, the Epstein class, the capitalist class, the billionaires, they are operating with A level of urgency that means that they recognize some things are on the horizon. But we'll talk about that in the fun half.
- [73:17]
Sam Cedar
Folks, just a reminder, it's your support that makes this show possible. You can become a member@jointhemajorityreport.com when you do, you not only get the free half free of commercials, but you also get the fun half. Join the majorityreport.com Also just coffee.co op, fair trade coffee, hot chocolate. Use the coupon code majority get 10 off support this co op in Madison, Wisconsin. They really protect their suppliers and they're a co op. I'm going to trust my friends in the.
- [73:50]
Michael Brooks
Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to play that. Then just making sure I had it.
- [73:56]
Emma Vigeland
Trust my friends in the co op.
- [73:58]
Michael Brooks
Yeah, trust my friends in the co op.
- [74:01]
Emma Vigeland
Okay, just one to remind, I'm rusty on my plugs because I'm not doing a ton of plugs, but I keep forgetting to do this. If you guys haven't gotten tickets, you're in the LA area. Down below, Habituation Room live with myself, Francesca Fiorentini. Now we have some special guests. Van Lathan, friend of the show. Ida Rodriguez. Yes. And maybe more. We shall see. So the. I've been told that tickets are running out, so go down below. You can see Francesca and I in LA March 22nd. It's a Sunday matinee. Dynasty typewriter.
- [74:38]
Michael Brooks
Don't you have something else to promote too?
- [74:40]
Emma Vigeland
Do I.
- [74:40]
Michael Brooks
From. From last week.
- [74:42]
Emma Vigeland
Oh. Oh, yes. Yes. If you guys haven't watched my episode of Doom scroll, you should check it out.
- [74:48]
Sam Cedar
Oh, if not talking about the. The book talk too.
- [74:53]
Emma Vigeland
Oh, yes. Well, also I am past tense. Yes. And people want to. I don't.
- [74:59]
Sam Cedar
Is that on video?
- [75:00]
Emma Vigeland
I think so.
- [75:01]
Sam Cedar
Actually.
- [75:01]
Michael Brooks
I think it might have been.
- [75:02]
Emma Vigeland
Yes. There was a stream that I think I asked Dorsey to share, but the myth of Red Texas. I also. It was really fun. Did this, you know, the book launch event with David Griscom. People should get the book, if nothing else.
- [75:15]
Sam Cedar
And Doom Scroll.
- [75:16]
Emma Vigeland
And Doom Scroll. You can check out my episode of Doom scroll with Josh Cittarella, if nothing else, to go down into the comments and up all the comments that talk about how much better I look in that lighting than I do here on the show.
- [75:31]
Michael Brooks
Love to see the leftist lighting comments.
- [75:33]
Sam Cedar
Exactly. Well, I mean, it's a knock on the gaffers here, so just try.
- [75:39]
Michael Brooks
First of all, it's more about the cameras and the connection.
- [75:41]
Emma Vigeland
I'm just trying to create a sort of popular. Popular groundswell for all of my pet pet objectives in the office.
- [75:49]
Sam Cedar
You get one little ear piece and then all of a sudden, it's just
- [75:53]
Emma Vigeland
not even working this morning. Not even working this morning. We gotta figure that out. Still using this old one?
- [76:04]
Alexis Goldstein
Yep.
- [76:04]
Emma Vigeland
You're right. You're right.
- [76:07]
Sam Cedar
You know, you don't just, like, bestow upon somebody an 18 investment in technology. See you in the fun half.
- [76:16]
Michael Brooks
Oh, wait, I got it.
- [76:18]
Sam Cedar
Sorry.
- [76:19]
Michael Brooks
Patreon.com left reckoning. I did a monologue about the new mobster world we live in that apparently has sort of bipartisan, tacit, bipartisan support where we just whack people and then the only problem we have is, well, we should have whacked them a little bit, like, with more plausible deniability. And also, Charlie Kirk, who again, famously
- [76:38]
Sam Cedar
said this, I'm gonna trust my friends in the government after the first time
- [76:41]
Michael Brooks
we struck Iran last year and said, look, it might look like we're doing a war. And Trump ran out anti war stuff. But rest assured that Lindsey Graham won't get what he wants and we're not going to just take out the Ayato, because that would be stupid. So, yeah, rest in peace, Charlie.
- [76:59]
Sam Cedar
See you in the fun half. Three months from now, six months from now, nine months from now. And I don't think it's going to be the same as it looks like in six months from now. And I don't know if it's necessarily going to be better six months from now than it is three months from now, but I think around 18 months out, we're going to look back and go like, wow.
- [77:21]
Guest or Interviewer (possibly a producer or secondary host)
What?
- [77:22]
Sam Cedar
What is that going on? It's nuts. Wait a second. Hold on. Hold on for a second. Emma, welcome to the program. Fun Pack. Matt.
- [77:35]
Guest or Interviewer (possibly a producer or secondary host)
Boo.
- [77:36]
Sam Cedar
Fun Pack. What is up, everyone? Fun Path. Nomi Keen, you did it. Fun Pack.
- [77:44]
Emma Vigeland
Let's go, Brandon. Let's go, Brandon.
- [77:45]
Sam Cedar
Fun Pack. Bradley, you want to say hello? Sorry to disappoint everyone. I'm just a random guy. It's all the boys today.
- [77:55]
Annabelle Mendoza
Fundamentally false.
- [77:56]
Emma Vigeland
No. I'm sorry.
- [77:57]
Guest or Interviewer (possibly a producer or secondary host)
Women.
- [77:57]
Sam Cedar
Stop talking for a second.
- [77:59]
Emma Vigeland
Let me finish.
- [78:00]
Junaid Ahmed
Where is this coming from?
- [78:01]
Emma Vigeland
Dude?
- [78:01]
Sam Cedar
But. Dude, you want to smoke this? 7A.
- [78:05]
Alexis Goldstein
Yes.
- [78:10]
Junaid Ahmed
The sink.
- [78:12]
Sam Cedar
Yes. Is this me?
- [78:16]
Annabelle Mendoza
Is it me?
- [78:17]
Sam Cedar
It is you. Is this me?
- [78:22]
Michael Brooks
Hello?
- [78:22]
Sam Cedar
It's me. I think it is you. Who is you? No sound. Every single freaking day. What's on your mind?
- [78:31]
Emma Vigeland
Sports.
- [78:31]
Sam Cedar
We can discuss free markets and we can discuss capitalism. I'm going to go far away.
- [78:36]
Guest or Interviewer (possibly a producer or secondary host)
Who?
- [78:36]
Sam Cedar
Libertarians.
- [78:37]
Michael Brooks
They're so stupid.
- [78:37]
Sam Cedar
Though common sense says, of course gobbledygook. We nailed him.
- [78:42]
Emma Vigeland
So what's 79 plus 21?
- [78:44]
Sam Cedar
Challenge, man, I'm positively quivering. I believe 96. I want to say. 8, 5, 7, 2, 1, 0, 3, 5, 5, 0, 11 half. 3, 8, 9, 11.
- [78:53]
Emma Vigeland
For instance, $3,400. $1,900.
- [78:56]
Sam Cedar
5, 4, $3 trillion. Sold.
- [79:00]
Emma Vigeland
It's a zero sum gate, actually making me think less.
- [79:04]
Sam Cedar
But let me say this. You call it satire.
- [79:08]
Junaid Ahmed
Sam goes in satire.
- [79:09]
Annabelle Mendoza
On top of it all. My favorite part about you is just
- [79:13]
Alexis Goldstein
like every day, all day, like, everything
- [79:15]
Sam Cedar
you do, without a doubt. Hey, buddy, we see you. All right, folks, folks, folks.
- [79:26]
Emma Vigeland
It's just the week being weeded out, obviously.
- [79:28]
Sam Cedar
Obviously. Yeah. Sun's out, guns out. I. I don't know.
- [79:35]
Annabelle Mendoza
But you should know,
- [79:38]
Sam Cedar
people just don't
- [79:39]
Michael Brooks
like to entertain ideas anymore.
- [79:40]
Sam Cedar
I have a question. Who cares?
- [79:44]
Michael Brooks
Our chat is enabled, folks.
- [79:46]
Sam Cedar
I love it.
- [79:47]
Emma Vigeland
I do love that.
- [79:50]
Sam Cedar
Gotta jump. Gotta be quick. I gotta jump.
- [79:52]
Alexis Goldstein
I'm losing it, bro.
- [79:54]
Guest or Interviewer (possibly a producer or secondary host)
Hello.
- [79:56]
Sam Cedar
Two o'. Clock. We're already late and the guy's being a dick, so screw him. Sent to a gulag.
- [80:03]
Emma Vigeland
Outrageous.
- [80:04]
Sam Cedar
Like, what is wrong with you?
- [80:07]
Guest or Interviewer (possibly a producer or secondary host)
Love you. Bye.
- [80:09]
Sam Cedar
Love you. Bye. Bye.