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3610 - The Future of Democrats and the Desperation of Centrist; The Cuba Blockade w/ Hasan Piker
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- [00:01]
A
Hey, folks, today's episode is brought to you by one of my favorite sponsors. Sunsetlakesabade.com what can you get@sunsetlakesebae.com well, you can get all sorts of tinctures. Tinctures that help you sleep, tinctures that help you relax, tinctures that help your pets relax. You can also get smokeables, smokables you can mix with other smokeables, smoke bowls you can enjoy in lieu of other smokeables, smokables that come in flower and keef and pre rolls. You can also get like saba dea coffee and seba dia chocolate. You can get salves to help your muscles. You can get lotions to help your skin. The best of all, none of this Saba day is grown with pesticide and there's no middleman. You're not buying Saba day from a retail outfit that gets it from gosh knows where. You're buying it. Direct from the farmers, Sunset Lake Sabaday. They farm up in Vermont near Burlington. They practice, like I said, no pesticides, integrated pest management, regenerative farming practices they developed with the University of Vermont. And not only that, not only the farmers sending you their product directly to you. You can get gummies with little to hedge say as well, I should mention. And also I've indulged quite a bit in the THC tea that they have. It's lifted tea. All of this stuff comes direct from the farmers. These guys are movement partners. They donated tens of thousands of dollars to things like refugee resettlement and carceral reform and all sorts of all sorts of stuff like that. So check them out. Sunsetlakesabadea.com and right now they got BOGO. What is BOGO? It's buy one, get one free. That's what it is. I didn't know what BOGO was. You can get vape carts, Seba Day, vape cards. What's BOGO? Buy one, get one free. From today until Monday the 30th, BOGO folks, equals. Someone actually spelled that out for me, buy one, get one. Because I didn't know what that meant. That was me. I anticipated. Thank you, Brian. Sunsetlakesabade.com check them out. Great company, great product. And now it's time for the show the Majority Report with Sam Cedar. Where every day is casual Friday. That means Monday is casual Monday, Tuesday, casual Tuesday, Wednesday, casual hump day, Thursday casual Thurs, that's what we call it. And Friday, casual Shabbat. The Majority Report with Sam Cedar. It is Friday, March 27th, 2026. My name is Sam Cedar. This is the five time award winning Majority Report. We are broadcasting live steps from the industrially ravaged Gowanus Canal in the heartland of America, downtown Brooklyn, usa. On the program today, Hassan Piker, the Son Piker show. Is that what that's called?
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B
Stream.
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A
Yeah, Stream. Also on the program today, Pentagon weighing moving another 10,000 ground troops to the Middle east as Trump extends the timeline for Iran by 10 days in terms of negotiations. He claims Iran asked for it, but Iran denies that they asked for it. Meanwhile, tomorrow, the third national no Kings protest. And late last night, the U.S. senate funds DHS without ICE or Customs and Border Patrol Republicans sort of caved. Meanwhile, DHS inspector general launches an investigation into contracts handled by Christy Noem and Corey Lewandowski. Also on the program today, Trump to become the first president to have his signature on American currency trials. Reveals that ICE lied about its authority to arrest at immigration courts. The Education Department losing its headquarters as Trump administration continues to dismantle it all. This and more on today's Majority Report. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen.
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C
It is casual Friday.
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A
Casual Friday.
- [05:12]
C
Hello. Hello. We are back.
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A
We are back.
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B
Full crew.
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A
Full crew. Full house today. Mm. I have to say, you're looking very tan.
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C
Yeah. Yep, yep. You know, I did work out there. Not sure I know you don't care about promoting the show. In fact, you actively disincentivize it. But I did take one day to go to the pool. Is that okay with you or.
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A
You know, it sounds like somebody was listening to the show a little bit on a trip that, you know, you
- [05:43]
C
didn't even pay for. So I don't know why you care.
- [05:46]
A
I mean, listen, we happy to subsidize a couple of pina coladas by the pool.
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C
And by subsidize, you mean what exactly?
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B
Pay you wages?
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A
Pay me wages? Well, pay part of the pay part of the pina colada. I mean, out there, they get pretty expensive. So you don't want to get too
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C
carried away, which is why you didn't pay for any of it.
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A
Never asked.
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C
Right. So stop bitching.
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A
Things have gotten a little bit testy out there. It sounds like somebody might have gotten an offer from crooked media anyways.
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B
It is really like when Don Draper went out to la.
- [06:33]
A
Yeah, totally. Doesn't come back. Doesn't come back. She was wearing sunglasses until right when I brought her on.
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C
I didn't pick up on that chill vibe out there, I guess, though.
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A
Well, we're all back in New York, as it were. We have a guest in studio today, and he'll be coming shortly. Overnight, the Senate passed a deal to essentially fund DHS without ICE or Customs Border Patrol. The Democrats didn't get much by way of reforms to ice, although I think in this bill there is body cams for ice. To the extent that that means anything, I don't know why it would. We have seen them. They're videotaped almost now, constantly. They will be able to continue to wear their masks, although they don't seem to be wearing them as much at the airports. But I think they're gonna start more these days. They will probably go without funding and have to rely on the huge slush fund that they got last year in the budget bill that Chuck Schumer essentially and Christian Gillibrand made it possible to pass. I don't know how else to articulate that. We've seen that they have the ability to. To force a government shutdown. We have seen that the Republicans get blamed for it because they control the government. And I think what happened last night was a function of two things. One, Trump saying that he was going to unilaterally fund the tsa, which would have set a. It would have been illegal, but it also would have set a precedent. But I think what also was happening was Republicans and Democrats, both in the Senate and the House are on recess for two weeks. They're all flying home. And airlines, like Delta said that we're no longer letting you skip security. You gotta go through actual security. And I think, honestly, they were afraid of dealing with their constituents at the airports.
- [08:53]
C
I saw Senator Blackburn was filmed this morning and kind of getting jeered at for. Or as she's looking to go on vacation, or at least maybe she was flying into Washington. I'm not sure. But, yeah, like Trump's theory is that the Democrats are getting blamed for this. I do not agree. I do not agree.
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A
I think it's clear. And so they've passed this. They're still gonna get some grief because the House is supposedly gonna pass it today if there's enough people around, because many people suspect the House may have taken off. I mean, this is something that passed last night at 2am with unanimous consent. So we will keep you updated on that. In the meantime, let's do this coverage.
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D
The.
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A
The Pentagon has said that they're getting ready 10,000 troops to head to the Middle East. Trump has said that they're extending the deadline for talks by 10 days. He's claiming the Iranians requested it. The Iranians did not, according to mediators. And So I don't know. We'll talk more about this with Hasan, but we're probably, I don't know, 50% chance a limited ground invasion to a place like Carg island today will find, I mean, I should say over the weekend, we'll see.
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C
If not when the markets are closed, by the way.
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A
Yep. I mean, that's generally when he does
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B
it, when he talks tough, too.
- [10:28]
D
Yep.
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A
And we'll see. It could also be, you know, these 10,000 troops that may or may not be coming to the Middle east, maybe there as a stopgap. I mean, they are in. This is how a quagmire begins. And in fact, in many respects, they're in a quagmire. By. By all reporting, Trump wants to end this war, but he now knows the Iranians have made demands for a truce, which involve essentially payments in the same way that Egypt gets for the Suez Canal, that Iran would get for the Straits of Hormuz. They have asked sanctions relief.
- [11:14]
C
It's like maximalist demands. They know they have the leverage.
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A
Exactly. And now there is talk, as you know, like, one of the other ways that some of the oil is getting out of the Middle east is through the Red Sea. And there is now talk that Iran, through its proxies, the Houthis, may end up trying to shut the Balb El Mandeb Strait, which is a Red Sea choke point where some of the ships are getting out by basically sending the oil the other side from the Persian Gulf. So we'll see. But here is Donald Trump. He sort of does and doesn't care about a deal with Iran.
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E
I'm the opposite of desperate. I don't care. I want to know. In fact, we have other targets we want to hit before we leave. We're hitting them on a daily basis. I don't talk about you. I can't talk about specifics. A lot of people say that wouldn't matter. Maybe it does matter. Who knows? But I wouldn't talk. It's like the question this young lady asked. Sorry about. I embarrassed. I don't want to embarrass you because I think you're of. I think she's a friendly reporter. So I'm sorry, but, you know, I can't say what we're going to do because if I did, I wouldn't be sitting here for long. They probably. What is it called? The 25th Amendment.
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A
Has he been hearing about that a lot behind the scenes? I. That's the first time I've ever heard of the 25th Amendment.
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C
By the way in this press conference, when I think being asked about Iran, he went into some long diatribe about Sharpies. Feels like it's kind of relevant to the whole 25th amendment thing.
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A
Yeah, well, let's maybe get that for when Hasan is here. But it seems like what Trump is doing is, you know, I think he is actually doing the madman theory. Right, which is something they talked about, Kissinger and Nixon talked about, as a way of like, making what he's doing so unpredictable that foes get nervous. I will say I don't think anybody thinks that the Americans won in Vietnam. So the madman theory only goes so far. I do think that Trump successfully faked the Iranians out by negotiating with them on multiple occasions and then bombing them to make them feel, I guess, somehow lulled into safety, that Trump was an honest broker. But I think they've learned that lesson, and I think at one point they just go, we don't care what you do. They have basically taken control of the situation. If you're in a position where you have to say, I'm not desperate. I don't even care. I think you're probably desperate.
- [14:29]
C
I broke up with you.
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A
I don't.
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B
My Tinder bios is, I'm not desperate. I just don't care.
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A
I'm so glad I don't think about you anymore. I'm not thinking about you at all. In fact, I think about how often I don't think about you, and I'm amazed by it. Let's play this clip by JD Vance at that same Cabinet meeting. This is, I guess, more of the expression of how much they don't care, that they are literally making up fantastical reasons as to why Donald Trump launched this disastrous excursion.
- [15:07]
F
When I say options, I think it's important the American people know options for what. And it's options to ensure that Iran never has a nuclear weapon. You talk about people who walk into a crowded supermarket and have a vest on and they blow up the vest and a couple of people get killed, and that's a terrible tragedy. What happens when what's on the vest is not something that can kill a couple of people, but can kill many, many tens of thousands of people. That is the most important American national security objective that exists for any administration at any time, is you don't want the worst people in the world to have a nuclear weapon. That's why the President is doing this. That's why the President cares so much about this particular issue.
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C
That's what Iran's doing. They're Strapping. Well, first in the backpack of their terrorists, they're putting the Ta Nehisi Coates book and then a nuclear bomb so that they can be traveling. Nukes. That's how that tech works. Right.
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B
Still need to do the suicide bomb if you got a nuke.
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A
Because it's like bigotry. That's the only thing.
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C
Because they're basic. That's what they try to say. They're basically like animals. Is there. Is that they don't even care about their own lives or their children's lives. That's what the Israelis say about the Palestinians.
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A
But the, the, the fantasy here, like, we're in like fictional territory. You know, what if. I mean, why stop at a nuclear vest? I mean, what if they had a nuclear drone? What if they had a. What if they had a teleporter machine? What if they had a teleporter machine in Tehran and they teleported into Macy's? A nuclear weapon. But here's what the answer to that is. Why wouldn't we just deploy our nuclear vest containment weapons that we have that surely if, if we're going to do that fantasy, we could have this fantasy post. The. This is just a. It's a variation of this device that we already have. All we needed to do is to deploy when a. A new. A terrorist with a nuclear vest has a nuclear vest. We just need to deploy this device here. It's, you know, modeled after this vest. You have it come up. See, now we already have the technology that is a vest that deploys when you're about to fall. All we need that to be. Yeah, all we need that to be is a vest that contains a nuclear explosion. And then we would be safe.
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C
Beautiful.
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B
What if they get a death ray?
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A
Well, if we get a death ray, then we need to come up with a special type of glasses that inhibit the death ray. But the, the idea that they're having to move to this and it's just so late in the game for them to try and justify this. But it shows that like JD Vance is desperate to figure out some justification for this because he knows this stink is going to be on him. All right, we're going to take a quick break and when we come back, Hasan Piker will be joining us. Sam.
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B
Live.
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A
We are back. Sam Cedar, Emma Vigland on the Majority Report. It is a pleasure to welcome to the program Hasan Piker of the Hasan Piker Show. Is that what you call it?
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D
The Hasanabi broadcast.
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A
There you go. Okay, there we go.
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D
I feel I Feel like I'm. This is like, indecent.
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C
You're in the big chair now.
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D
This feels strange also, because you have a. A very strange thing that you sit on top of. Yep. But it feels good. It feels. My booty feels good.
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A
I am remote with an image of the set behind me, and you are literally sitting in my seat.
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C
And I mean kind of. Kind of poetic, right?
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A
Yeah, I guess.
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D
It's just.
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A
Yeah, I'm not there. It is a vision of the future. Future and also your sciatica. So that's. You'll have the opportunity for that as well. Brady and for Bledsoe. Let's take it easy. Why don't we say it's really more like, you know, post Brady. We could do that.
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C
You don't want Brady and I don't want to be Drake May. That's.
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A
Yeah, let's do it that way.
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C
The Bledsoe was. That was better football.
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A
Whatever. All right. But let's talk about this, because I want to talk about. You recently took a trip to Cuba, which upset some people because you provided medical supplies. You, One of a bunch of people actually went down there. Provide medical supplies. I want to talk about that. I want to talk to you about Iran and maybe if we have time, cpac. But I have to say, I mean, it's a coincidence. You're on. We can talk about why you're in town, but you have become in some very sort of, like, narrow circles, like weird narrow circles, some type of, like, demon force that people think will help them electorally. It's bizarre. And I mean, like, they have attempted. They've sort of scrolled through all the ways they can attack Mamdani. They went after his wives, you know, social media accounts from when she was 15. They have tried it multiple times with saying, like, you know, he shook your hand. You guys are friendly. You were supportive of him during the campaign. But what the f. Is going on? Mallory McMurrow is doing it now.
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D
Yeah. It seems like it's the centrist route when a campaign is about to be com. Over. Uh, they just. They just.
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C
Mallory Mac Cuomo.
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D
Yeah, they just hit that line, I think, where they'll. I mean, this was fascinating for me because I. I'm not super familiar with Mallory McMurraw, and I thought that she was, like, trying to be a war night and maybe like a more moderate, more. More palatable centrist style. Progressive. Right?
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C
Yeah. Like, she has the energy of, like, the friend in a lead. The friend of a lead in a rom com in the 2010s, right? She was trying to lean into that
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D
indie thing and, and she was actually like, you know, copying a lot of Abdullah Said's policies that he's been like, a champion of from Medicare for All. She's been, you know, outspoken to a certain degree on Israel. But then there was also some inconsistencies there because she went to AIPAC with a policy paper and her staff was like, let's not allow AIPAC to get into this race, but we are kind of your person in Apex, like, we're going to get into the race. So there was a little bit of inconsistency there. But this, for me, this was a little bit of a shock, especially because, like, if you're trying to present yourself as, like, even remotely progressive, it's a very odd issue to. To polarize yourself on, to draw a line of demarcation on where you basically are saying, I'm with Stevens, I'm with the APAC side on this race where she, like, the story starts with Abdul El Sayed asking me to do a campaign rally with them. And I've never stumped with a politician running for office before. I mean, but I had collaborated with Abdul quite a bit up until this moment, as I have with many other, you know, elected representatives and politicians that are running. Um, and I said, yes, it's supposed to be me and Summer Lee. And Abdul Said at Michigan State University and University of Michigan on April 7th. And when that came out on Politico, it just. It came off the heels of this Wall Street Journal Third Way article that had come out a week prior as well, where they were like, Democrats, we need to make the tent smaller. We need to make sure that Hasan is out of the tent. Just Hasan, this one guy, he needs to get the hell out of this tent. And you're big.
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A
I mean, you physically take up a decent amount of space in the tent.
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D
So basically this happened where Jewish Insider went to virtually every single politician they possibly could go to that is, like, in some way, shape or form connected to Michigan politics. That is silly enough, in my opinion, to make like, ridiculous statements like this. Slotkin came out and said something like, I don't really know anything about Hasan. I've never heard of him, but he's an anti Semite, I think. And it was like such a wild thing to just admit. It's like, you're. What the hell? You're.
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C
Can we read the quotes from McMurrow here? If we could just go back. This is what she said to Jewish Insider about Hasan. It is somebody who says extremely offensive things in order to generate clicks and views and followers, which is not entirely different from somebody like Nick Fuentes. Piker is a provocateur, to put it lightly, who says things that are misogynistic and anti Semitic and that the United States deserved. 9 11. You'll never outlive that commentary on Imperial Blowback. But I have a different theory about this. I don't think this is electorally salient because we say Mallory Cuomo jokingly because she ended up like that. The Cuomo strategy of trying to tie Mom Donnie to you obviously didn't work. But this is. I think they see Stevens as cratering. Like the Schumer pick. Yeah, she's cratering a bit. And so McMorrow is like, there's a pool of money here that I can access and I'm going to audition here for these Zionist donors. And they're. That's what she's putting out there. So she can't attack. She doesn't want to attack Abdul directly, but she's signaling like, I will be as Islamophobic as possible. If necessary, I will take this money and I'll be your representative. Since Stevens is falling apart. So I actually don't think it's about, like, winning votes here. I think this is about getting some money in her coffers.
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D
No, absolutely. There is no. This is a 9010 issue. So anytime you step on that landmine voluntarily, you're actually foregoing a lot of people that could have potentially voted for you as, like, a somewhat moderate, somewhat progressive pick.
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C
In Michigan.
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D
Yeah, in Michigan. And this is. I said this as well. But, like, this is precisely the same issue that took place in Michigan that cost the Democrats the election in Michigan. You know, sending Bill Clinton out there to talk about Judea and Samaria and then sending Richie Torres out there to, like, give assurances to the voters in Michigan that, like, the genocide will continue. These were major mistakes. And this is precisely why Michigan was lost. And it wasn't just the Arab vote either. It was a lot of people of good conscience that were very frustrated with the Democratic Party's lack of interest in addressing their demands. Now, you know, harm reduction voting in theory or in practice is. I mean, in theory it's correct. In practice, it's clearly a demonstrable failure. But it doesn't matter. People don't make those calculations. Right? So, like, they. They're going to see this once again and remember exactly why didn't want to vote for the Democrats initially. It's going to create voter apathy, or at least not. It won't make voters enthusiastic about McMorrow at all.
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A
I mean, that was the problem that we had during. I mean, I think there's a reason why they have hid that. The autopsy that the DNC did. And I think, you know, at the time, it was quite clear just from talking to sort of outside supportive organizations of the Democrats that they were having trouble motivating their own people who are the people to go get the vote out. Because when you depress the activists, it becomes like a first, second, third order problem in terms of getting people out who are just not that involved in politics. But I do find this like. And I think Emma's point is basically nailed it, as to what value you bring in terms of a pinata. It is funny to watch. You know, I've seen a couple of pundits jump on this. People who are people wouldn't really know their names. But folks who've been writing about Democratic politics for a long time, I have. You know, people can find my tweets. I have a particular issue with that guy. I find him always on the wrong side of these things for literally decades. But be that as it may, it is fascinating how you have become an avatar for the narrowest group of people, and they are just adamant about. They're just talking to themselves. I mean, you know, like, we're in a weird era where Twitter is far less relevant than it used to be in terms of influencing the media narrative. It's still, you know, there's a story there, and there's still ways to pulling stories. Although, you know, a lot of this stuff is sort of like garbage and slop these days. But it used to be that Twitter, if there was a fight on Twitter, it would shape the narrative in the mainstream media by getting into the bloodstream of a lot of writers. And that doesn't happen anymore. Like, you know, it just doesn't happen in the same way at all. It's sort of like what happens in Twitter stays in Twitter. And it's sort of like, my theory
- [29:59]
C
on that is the writers. To your point, I think it builds to what you're saying, Sam. We're seeing the gutting of newsrooms across the country and billionaires capturing our media institutions. And now most people are getting their information from social media and things like that. And that's algorithmically determined. And there's also this influx of bots. Like, there was some. A little analysis on the Chapel Roan controversy. She left her agency, Wasserman, over the Founders ties to Jeffrey Epstein and very publicly came out about it. Plus she's pro trans, pro Palestine, all of that. This campaign against her for her security, allegedly being rude to a girl in Brazil has been the top story on Twitter, which is for about a week.
- [30:44]
D
Fabricated story as well. It wasn't even her security at all. She was like completely oblivious to what had taken place.
- [30:49]
C
But it also, it's the exact same thing that's happening to you. There is something that's very well financed that is artificially inflating these stories and they're taking advantage of the fact that we do not have like a very, a robust journalistic infrastructure anymore. And the information ecosystem, the commons of information, has been completely captured by capital.
- [31:10]
D
Yeah. And they're basically faking popularity and popular narratives through these sorts of botany initiatives. In my case, it's, it's. I mean, I think I saw something similar to this in the Cuba stuff. So there is a, there is a tendency for like things that go super viral to cause like at least some editors to pay attention to and then like do coverage over. But yeah, I mean, this has been ongoing for like the past two weeks where it's always the same narratives over and over again. It's the same stuff that Richie Torres even talked about in the build up to the election where he was trying to get me deplatformed from Twitch. Well, now he's, he's woke. Now he's calling out settler terrorism. But, but I mean, even that in and of itself I think is, is proof that like, this conversation is over. Right. Amongst the masses, this conversation is over. So these guys are just basically trying to create this weird pressure on politicians who are definitely a lot more tuned into media responses and a lot less tuned into what the constituents are saying or what the broad majorities of the base are saying because they're not going to be able to, you know, stop me from appealing to the masses. My position is the position of the masses. It wasn't the case post October 7, but it is now. Right. So I think they're just trying to be like, don't talk to this guy. This guy's dangerous. We can't have someone like him speak directly to politicians and have politicians associate with him. And it's far beyond just Israel as well. Israel is a major part of this. But I think it's a group, it's a collection of different interest groups. Right. Most of these are very unfavorable lobbies for sectors that want to focus on making sure that the Democrats continue putting Corporate profits over the interests of people from probably healthcare to definitely like whatever mishmash of things. That Third Way is supposed to represent the interests of billionaires. And it's weird because they've singled me out as this beacon for all of this. But I keep stressing this over and over again. You take me out, let's say, right? Let's say you successfully deplatform me or politicians don't want to come on my stream and they don't want to appeal to my audience, fine, who cares? Right? But you're not addressing the problem. If you look at the polls, Democrats are still not exactly very favorable. They're not viewed favorably. And there's a reason for that. That's the reason for that, is exactly what I'm communicating all the time. And, you know, I'm just one person. I'm a megaphone. I'm not like, I'm representative of a real mass politics in this country, as you guys are as well. And that's what's so fascinating that these guys think, like, as long as we cut off the head of the hydra, that it's over, we'll be able to deal with this. And then politicians won't actually listen to these people and they'll listen to me instead. Guy who has been responsible for every electoral defeat for the last multiple decades.
- [34:25]
A
It is, it is just a fascinating moment because I think there is a fear amongst those sort of like third way types, establishment types. You know, some are ideological, some are just sort of like, don't care about any ideology other than maintaining their positions. And, you know, and it comes in like, where, you know, there's stories about how the Republicans are so frustrated about how they can't attack Mamdani, they can't find anything.
- [34:57]
D
Yeah.
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A
And on some level, like, you are one of, like, it's almost like you're one of the branches sticking out of a cliff and they're just grabbing at whatever they can grab. And I think it does have salience amongst like, again, like, you know, some fundraising, some donors, but it doesn't. We have gone past the point where. Well, first off, on, from the center to the left, there is no figures like, you know, like that have the relevance. I mean, the Nick Fuente, Nick Fuentes on one side is an obvious, like, Nazi in many respects. Maybe Nazi is not the right term. Maybe kkk, revenge, whatever it is. And I don't know that his audience is as big as the right thinks it is. But the problem is that he represents a big strand in the party. And they know that, and they can't really offend that strand. It's not the same dynamic that's happening from the center to the left, which is there's an actual ideological fight. And some of it also happens to be sort of like there's also like a fight over partisan tactics that sometimes align with that ideological fight and sometimes doesn't. On the right, the problem is they're attacking themselves when they attack Nick Fuentes, they're attacking the basis of their electoral strength on the center to the left, when they attack you, they're attacking a rising sentiment from the center to the left. And so it's a different dynamic. And it's not like, you know, it's fascinating how much effort they're putting into a project that is completely irrelevant for what they ostensibly want.
- [36:57]
D
Yeah, I wouldn't even say irrelevant. I think it's counterproductive.
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A
Yeah,
- [37:03]
D
it's actually bad, especially because they're leaning into it like their angle of attack is a 9010 issue for the base, a 9010 issue. So positioning yourself as. As being antagonistic to one of the largest anti Zionist voices in the country when 90% of your base is on board with this message is. Is so idiotic. You're not. You're not actually. You're not actually accomplishing anything other than the fact that you're stating your position and you're saying, just like we did in 2024. Right. That we will win without you.
- [37:39]
C
Yep.
- [37:39]
D
And it's not me. There are. I meet people all the time. I go to Minneapolis. I go to these protests. I meet people that are, like 65 years old. Right. They're lifelong liberals, and they have that exact same resentment and the exact same anger that I have for Democratic fecklessness, Democratic incompetence. Those people didn't arrive at that conclusion because they are, you know, lifelong fans of mine. They arrived at that conclusion because they saw the Democrats lose to Trump twice. An incompetent, imbecilic fascist, twice, with the same exact method of pivoting to the moderate mythical center, like pivoting to the mythical center to find the mythical moderate voter. It was a failure. And this also is reflected in the communiques. Right. The way that the third way is talking about it, the way that Mallory McMurray is talking about, the way that Haley Stevens is talking about it, where they say, hasan is our line in the sand. Right. And what he represents is our line in the sand, which is insane. But no such criticisms exist for Gavin Newsom. Having Ben Shapiro on his podcast, having Charlie Kirk on his podcast, having Steve Bannon on his podcast, and then agreeing with those people, conceding to their talking points. And that, to me, demonstrates exactly the moral rotation at the heart of the national politics of the Democrats represent. This is the issue you don't have a problem with. Ben Shapiro. You said you wanted to find a Joe Rogan to the left. You said I was that guy. I never said I was that guy. I always said, you can't podcast your way out of this problem regardless. Right. And yet, and I believe you wanted to pull this up.
- [39:26]
B
This is from Fox News. A year ago, Democratic Michigan State Senator Mallory McMurraw told political and in new interview this week that the party needs to occupy prominent cultural spaces like Joe Rogan's podcast to reach voters. She noted that snubbing these opportunities because of political differences contributes to the impression that the party is, quote, elite, quote, instead of snubbing your nose at those people, which is the perception that a lot of people have of Democrats is that we're elitist and we're academic and we look down on people who don't watch traditional Hollywood movies. I don't know. Oh, God, whatever.
- [39:58]
C
Well, I mean, but this also dovetails with the Graham Platner story that we covered yesterday where he's like, leading, leading right now. Janet Mills in this EMERSON Poll by 20 points. And the strength is with men, also with young men. Like, I feel like I maybe hallucinated around three to four months of discourse about how the Democratic Party really needs to appeal to young men. And I see you as like, an influencer, or not influencer, but an online version of that dynamic where, no, they wanna win in a specific kind of way. And they would actually rather lose. They would rather lose. I'm at. I mean, I'm at this point now. This, this, this class of Democrats would rather lose. Crafting the constituency that they want then change course. And that's why there's no other option but defeating them. There's no other option but defeating them and extricating them from the party. We don't have the same goals. We do not have the same goals as the people that are attacking Hasan right now. We want to win. Actually, they want to win in a very specific kind of way. And it's a less advantageous way. One, I think it's less likely to win in the short term, and two, in the long term, when we're talking about, like, building a political brand and a party and a constituency, like, I was on the left hook with Wajahad Ali yesterday and we were talking about. I was thinking about how I had this debate about with Katherine Ramphel on MSNBC about whether or not it would have been better if there was a Republican in Joe Manchin seat and. Don't you want to win? Don't you want to win? First of all, it's a false choice. We could, if you ran a populace in West Virginia, I think that they would have a better shot. But two, what does this do to the long term brand of the party with Joe Manchin representing it as a Democrat? He destroyed the child, expanded child tax credit, plunged millions of people back into poverty and that happened when Biden was in power. So with his leverage as the most conservative Democrat, he watered down the agenda of the Democrats to the point that it hurt them electorally. Like there has to be discipline about who's allowed into the party on the end of like centrism as well. Because that's what drags it down.
- [42:08]
D
Yeah. Because whether we like it or not, people are not looking at their elected representatives as individuals. Most people, when it comes to the general election, look at the national party and the national party is judged by its weakest members because the weakest members, the rotating villains that they always find enough votes for to undermine populist agendas that the Biden admin Biden campaign ran right. In 2020 and won on. That is what people look at. They don't, they don't think, oh well, the proact was about to pass. But then Mark Kelly was like not on board with it. They don't think, oh, we were going to raise the minimum wage of $15 an hour. But like I guess the Senate parliamentarian stopped us. Like in some ways you don't have to be super. You don't have to be super tapped in to make this correct assessment. Of course people are going to make this assessment because at the end of the day you're not delivering the goods.
- [43:09]
A
You make that assessment even more so when you're not tapped in. Yeah. Because you don't know those internal dynamics. But here, that is why, I mean that is why that is indicative in my estimation as to Schumer being both a really weak leader and also ideologically out of touch with where the people are. I mean look, he Democrats have won in special elections in almost record numbers and there's every reason to believe they're gonna overperform in the midterms. But Democratic approval is incredibly low and it's a problem. That type of stuff catches up with you. And Schumer has, you know, I think the fact that they did not completely cave on this DHS funding. I mean, remember, the initial ask was for reform regarding ice, which they theoretically could have held out in this DHS funding for. They didn't. They sort of like both sides were able to walk away from this saying that they got what they wanted on some level. And Republicans certainly took more of a beating because of the shutdown. But people forget that the reason why ICE is going to be funded regardless of them not getting their $28 billion this year is because they got $140 billion extra last year when Gillibrand and Schumer and basically gave space for five or six others to vote for that bill. And it was just a failure of seeing where things were going. And it hurts.
- [45:05]
D
Or the Lake and Riley Act.
- [45:06]
A
Oh, the Lake and Riley Act. I mean, on and on. All these people are running away from those votes now. And it's impressive how poorly they can do and how individual Democrats coming out in certain areas can win. I guess we'll see. Down.
- [45:30]
D
You know, how you don't step on those landmines. Maybe you. Maybe sometimes you listen to a person that's outside of your orbit, outside of your immediate circle, a guy who's not in D.C. all the goddamn time. Maybe, you know, a content creator like myself. I don't know. These are things that I was warning about at the dnc. These were things that I was warning about after Donald Trump got elected. I was very critical of a lot of Democrats who leaned into the immigration panic. And look where we're at now. It's like, these polls are gonna change. When people realize the cruelty necessary to maintain this system of violence, to do mass deportations, people are going to react to it. And they did. And we even saw successes in places like Minneapolis where the government had to straight up retreat. And they even collected a scalp in the process. I think that Kirsty Noemi leaving the Department of Homeland Security or, you know, getting downgraded in her position had a lot to do with the administration's need to release a pressure valve. Yeah, aside from, like, the obvious corruption, but everybody's doing it. Apparently. It's all the rage.
- [46:40]
A
Let's talk a little bit about Cuba. I know you gotta go soon, but you tell me when you gotta go.
- [46:47]
C
The.
- [46:48]
A
Your trip to Cuba, I want to hear about that. If we have time to talk a little bit about Iran, but was this your first time to Cuba?
- [46:55]
D
Yeah, I've never been to Cuba before. I Mean, I've read a lot.
- [46:58]
A
I find that hard to believe, but, well, let's just pretend that, yeah, I've gone secretly.
- [47:03]
D
Yeah, yeah, it was Ben Rose, before I went out there, said that you're going to be very sad when you see, like, what we've done to this country, what we've done to these people. And he was right. At first, I was taken aback. I mean, I can't believe how beautiful the island is. I can't believe how beautiful the people are. There are some of the coolest, nicest, most resilient people I've ever met in my life. And then I was first, you know, I was excited to be there. Then I was a little sad seeing these dilapidated buildings. You know, it looks like a bomb exploded inside of them, and thinking about, like, why Cuba is the way it is, like why it's been kept so poor. And then I was angry. It was unbelievable. I mean, we experienced the rolling blackouts ourselves as well. I spent most of my time doing interviews with, you know, ordinary Cubans, doctors, neuroscientists, and even interviewed the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cosio. And so I was outside of the, the progressive international orbit, like, code pink activities. I didn't really participate in anything that they were doing, but it was. I mean, I got to see, you know, these, these blackouts in person. It was, it was, it was really eerie. You know, we were using a generator that my friend had, a solar power, solar panel generator, like battery thing that he had to be able to conduct our broadcast and interview people. And once we shut off the generator, if the generator runs out of power, you reminded, you're like, oh, my God, there's no street lights. It's just pitch black darkness everywhere. And yet the people were still persevering through it all. You know, we saw people playing dominoes around the streets with like, I mean, while using their phone light, you know, life, life just kept going. And part of what I have come to understand is that the design of the American version of economic terrorism with sanctions is purposely made to be invisible so that the, the. Because the battle is ideological so that you can make the argument that, like, actually we're not doing anything. You could just do trade. What do you mean? It's just communism that's like, kept these people poor. It's like, very clearly designed that way. It's also very clearly designed to create a class structure within this country as well. One of the things that, that we found out even after we came back from Cuba was that no oil had been sent to the island for the past three months. Except for private businesses, including the hotel that we stayed at, there's only a couple hotels that you can stay at. The American government has made it illegal to stay at the thousands of hotels that exist in Cuba for American citizens. You can go to jail for up to 10 years and you have to pay a fine of $250,000, which is like.
- [50:21]
A
So I think people understand this dynamic because, you know, I had been there about 25 years ago on an OFAC license and so it was basically. But they have changed the terms of that license to limit where you can go. So where money actually. I mean, they're doing it to try and spur some type of like
- [50:49]
D
their revolution. Yeah, they're trying to create a, they're trying to create a second like they're trying to create a, a capital ownership class. Right? And, and Cuba has already given, Cuba has already reformed quite a bit in their economy, but it's like still very difficult to, to institute full blown systemic reforms and liberalize or, or marketize their economy while they're under this like insane blockade where, you know, even if you have a grain of Cuban sugar in anything that is any commodity, any food product that's created anywhere around the world, the United States of America won't purchase it. And it's the largest consumption engine on the planet. So who's gonna buy Cuban sugar? Right? Nobody. You've effectively shut off their, you've effectively shut off their industrial output by instituting these sorts of sanctions for no real reason whatsoever, and then simultaneously created a class structure within this country so that there is actually enmity and there is actually animosity by design so that people look and they see that their roads are pitch black and there's not a lot of food. And the only industry that keeps the island alive is the only way to get foreign currency into the island is through tourism. It's like the last remaining sector, basically. And even then they're suffering on that front too because of the rolling blackouts. But then the Cuban population are like, I can't get food, everything is so expensive. But you know, all these like random tourists are coming in. It must be the government that's like hoarding all of our resources and giving it to them. Like that's what it's designed to do. And there hasn't been too much success so far. There hasn't really been any success at all. But, but it doesn't matter. It's still, it's unbelievably cruel what we're doing to these people. You know, we're not giving oil to the island. We're not allowing other countries to legally trade with Cuba. What we are doing is illegal. It's both collective punishment and it's ridiculous. Like, we. Who are we to restrict what two sovereign nations can and can't trade with one another? It's legal for Cuba to trade with Mexico. It's legal for Cuba to trade with Canada and vice versa. It's illegal for America to try to implement this blockade, and yet no one speaks out against it. And, and then on top of that, the American design, the American sanctions design that's supposed to be invisible is, Is created in such a way where we're basically saying, oh, do you need oil and gas for your transportation so you can deliver medicine to hospitals and pharmacies? No, you can't have that. We will only allow oil for the hotels that are privately owned. You can maybe allow private ownership over your hospital system, and then maybe we'll give you oil. Like, that's ridiculous.
- [53:33]
C
I mean, it's just like the entire concept, they're calling it a blockade. But no, that's what Cuba has been under by the United States for decades at this point. This is a siege. It's like a medieval style siege that is preventing oil and energy from getting in. And I saw Ryan's testimony about, like, what happens with the babies and incubators. Like, I mean, what Israel has done with this genocide has emboldened, I think, further tactics like this. And the Trump administration's running with it.
- [54:07]
D
Yeah, absolutely. And there's a lot of similarities. I mean, I interviewed a Palestinian medical student who, alongside 250 other Palestinian students, had come to Cuba to get free education, free education in their school of medicine in Havana. And he is going to join the International Medicine Corps, which, by the way, Marco Rubio has also restricted. Not only have they destroyed the island or are trying to successfully destroy the island's healthcare infrastructure in its entirety and collapse it and, like, kill people, they're also stopping Cuba from sending doctors on medical missions to other underserved countries. Cuba and its medical corps has sent more health care professionals to developing nations and the entirety of the G7 combined. Right. Cuba wanted to send us doctors when Katrina, Hurricane Katrina happened. And we said, no, we don't want your doctors. Marco Rubio has forced countries, poor countries like Jamaica into submission and forced countries like Jamaica into saying, into sending back the Cuban doctors now. And they have 100% coverage in Jamaica. Like, they are offering health care to the entire country of Jamaica. And now so many people are no longer going to be able to get that necessary life saving health care. It's unbelievable.
- [55:36]
A
What politicians are you aware of that have an alternate plan for. I mean, I don't, you know, Obama, I think, was the most liberalizing of the presence we've had in the past, probably 50 years when it comes to Cuba, maybe it's 60 years now. And I don't have a sense of where the Democrats are. I mean, there are guys like McGovern who obviously speak out about this, but I don't hear Democrats speaking too loudly about it. And in many respects it's like Florida's gone. So as a, you know, sort of a national state, it seems to me. And so that should free up the Democrats in some respects to start like saying, what are we doing here?
- [56:29]
D
But I also don't even believe that. Like, I believe in the power of making a solid argument and just saying the truth. I think that there is, there will always be a lot of right wing reactionary, you know, Cuban Americans who want to starve out this island and destroy it. But I think at the end of the day, they remember, even the Cuban Americans I've talked to remember a time when they could send money to their family members with ease, with much greater ease. Because right now it's very complicated. You have to. Literally the most effective way of giving money to your family, like sending foreign currency to your family members on the island is by just flying there, right, and getting an OFAC clearance and then flying there. Like we. I did that too, by the way. Like, I had to get a note from the Department of, I had to get a note from the treasury so that I could just like go to Cuba. And we had to inform the American government exactly what hotel we were staying at. Like, you know, what we were doing. And the government was very clear about restricting what we could and couldn't purchase on the island. And those restrictions don't need to exist. This also shuts off from the, from the academics I talked to. It shuts off academic cooperation as well, which is, is weirdly antagonistic to research and development, which I guess kind of is in line with what the Trump administration is doing here simply on the domestic agenda as well, cutting R and D funding in general. But it's unbelievable. I was talking to this neuroscientist, Dr. Mitchell, who is, you know, part of a team that has been able to create the first successful Alzheimer's and dementia treatment. Okay. This is seen as like, by neuroscience. This is seen as like the last hill. This is the Mount Everest of like cures, right? And now it's being tested in Canada as well. It's going through clinical trials in Canada. And they were able to do that in spite of the ridiculous restrictions that's placed on them. For example, I'll give you one quick example. They'll purchase these like tubes, right, to test out the compounds, the different chemical compounds that work with one another. They'll look for a company that's not American because if the components are 10% American made or higher, then you can't sell it to Cuba. Ridiculous. So they'll go oftentimes to European companies, they'll go to German companies or French companies because you know, those are the ones that do, you know, specialized, highly specialized medical equipment and research equipment. So they'll go to this company and the company will send the test tubes out. But then there's, you know, you need to, you need to keep purchasing the chemical compounds from that company as well. You need to purchase these different tubings from that company as well. But then the company gets sold to an American corporation. So now you have your bag of square one. And this happens all the time from every single person I talk to, from surgeons, doctors, nurses, people that have played any role in trying to uplift Cuban citizens lives. Every single one has a story like this. There are hundreds of stories like this where they'll go to a company, they'll go to a European company, German one, or a French one, they'll purchase this product, right? They'll purchase this like, you know, necessary thing like medical equipment, and then a piece of that equipment fails, right? And they ask for a technician to come and solve this problem. Sorry, sorry, we can't do that. We're worried about America. We're not going to do that. Or the company will get bought out by an American corporation and then it's over, no more trade. You can't even purchase a screw at that point to fix the sometimes millions of dollars that you've spent on this piece of highly specialized equipment.
- [60:31]
A
It's so insane too when you just step back and it's like, what is the possible threat that Cuba could represent to this country?
- [60:44]
D
And really thought of a good example.
- [60:46]
A
And that's at the end of the day, it's just like nakedly, that's it. I mean that they just can't have a society where people's lives function and are to their benefit without a capitalist system. They just can't have that example out there or it's going to Be problematic.
- [61:06]
C
It's going to humiliation.
- [61:08]
A
Yeah.
- [61:09]
B
Kind of little china close to home.
- [61:12]
A
Yeah. How are you for time? Do you need to go? Yeah.
- [61:17]
B
Okay.
- [61:19]
A
Hasan, we thank you for stopping by. Really appreciate it.
- [61:24]
C
Thank you, Hasan.
- [61:25]
D
Thank you.
- [61:26]
A
I do want to take this time to condemn you. Just to make sure I'm on the, you know, so I, you know, not on a list.
- [61:37]
B
I'll clip this and send it to Greenblatt, please.
- [61:41]
A
Condemned and double condemned. I don't appreciate what you've. That you've probably smushed the my sciatica thing. And I condemn you.
- [61:53]
D
Never gonna be the same.
- [61:54]
A
I condemn you for that.
- [61:55]
D
And my butt print is gonna be permanently on your sciatica butt pillow.
- [62:00]
C
Yep. Love all this butt talk in the office.
- [62:03]
A
It's so fun feeling my sciatica butt pillow. And that's it. But I'm on the record, so.
- [62:12]
C
All right, well, go the one shot because I'm going to ask Hassan for a picture because you're not in studio. So I get to have a solo on with him. Sorry.
- [62:20]
A
There we go. I'm sure Sam's jealous.
- [62:24]
C
Yeah. I mean, kind of.
- [62:27]
A
Why can't. We could take a screen grab. Folks, we're gonna head. We're gonna. We're gonna wait. Yeah, we're gonna. Well, that's perfect. Look at the. This is my favorite part of this. Of this green screen. This. This thing. Attention to detail. Yeah, look at that. Right? That's awesome. And put my hand through it, folks. 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 show free of commercials, but you also get the fun half. Also, don't forget, just coffee co op. Check out our fair trade coffee, hot chocolate. Use the coupon code majority. Get 10% off of that. Also check out our discord majoritydiscord.com and of course, the AM Quickie. AM quickie.com Whitney Wimbish wrote a great piece yesterday, the day before in the Prospect. She's a great writer for the Prospect. She is. Does our AM Quickie Halftime. Yeah, they're Halftime. Corey Pine, another great writer. Long time. Am Quickie master writer. I don't know.
- [63:46]
B
Yeah, the Masters.
- [63:47]
A
Masters contributor. Contributor. Well, I mean, I'm back.
- [63:51]
B
The Cookie Masters.
- [63:53]
A
Matt. What's happening in the Matt Leckian media universe?
- [63:56]
E
Yeah.
- [63:57]
B
New Jacobin show today. Alex Skopik talking more about Cuba. He was also on the Nuestra America aid trip and talking about all the different SMEARS and you know, BS from the haters who, as all the NBA players said about the NBA coach George Carl, when the grass is cut, the snakes will show. And that's, that's what's going on now. So check that out. That's at 3 o' clock Eastern Time on the Jacob and Meg YouTube channel coming up right after this show.
- [64:25]
A
What?
- [64:28]
B
What did I say?
- [64:30]
A
The George Carl thing.
- [64:33]
C
Oh, also, I will be on CNN tonight with Abby Phillip. And then over the weekend, I'm doing this stream that I agreed to with Crystal Ball and it's fundraising for a bunch of people that are candidates that are oppositional to the war in Iran.
- [64:49]
B
I think platinum is there. I think Malat Kiros, my girls.
- [64:54]
C
Yes, some good candidates. So I'm working on the weekends also.
- [64:59]
A
Just a reminder, folks, just a reminder. No Kings rally happening tomorrow. Go to no Kings. Is it nokings.org that's right. Nokings.org Find your local rally. Go out there. It's important to, you know, maintain the energy. Also good opportunity to network with other folks and start to organize because, you know, we'll need it. Quick break. And we'll be back after the fun half. Damn. 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.
- [65:56]
D
What?
- [65:57]
A
What is that going on? It's nuts. Wait a second. Hold on. Hold on for a second.
- [66:06]
D
Emma.
- [66:07]
A
Welcome to the program. Matt. What is up, everyone? No. Me.
- [66:16]
D
Keith, you did it.
- [66:17]
A
Fun path.
- [66:19]
C
Let's go, Brandon.
- [66:20]
D
Let's go, Brandon.
- [66:20]
A
Fun path. Bradley, you want to say hello? Sorry to disappoint everyone. I'm just a random guy. It's all the boys today.
- [66:30]
C
Fundamentally false. No. I'm sorry.
- [66:32]
A
Women. Stop talking for a second.
- [66:34]
C
Let me finish. Where is this coming from? Dude?
- [66:37]
E
But.
- [66:37]
A
Dude, you want to smoke this? 7A.
- [66:41]
C
Yes.
- [66:44]
D
Hi.
- [66:44]
A
Me.
- [66:46]
E
His name?
- [66:47]
A
Yes. Industry. Is it industry?
- [66:52]
C
Me.
- [66:52]
A
It is you. Is this me? Hello, it's me. I think it is you. Who is you? No sound. Every single freaking day. What's on your mind?
- [67:06]
C
Sports.
- [67:06]
D
We can discuss free markets and we can discuss capitalism.
- [67:10]
A
I'm going to go smart. Libertarians.
- [67:12]
B
They're so stupid.
- [67:13]
A
Though common sense says of course.
- [67:15]
C
Gobbledygook.
- [67:16]
A
We nailed him.
- [67:17]
C
So. So what's? 79 plus 21 challenge.
- [67:20]
A
Matt.
- [67:20]
D
I'm positively quivering.
- [67:22]
A
I believe 96. I want to say 8572-1035-5011-0389, 11.
- [67:29]
C
For instance, $3,400. $1900.
- [67:31]
A
5 4, $3 trillion. Sold. It's a zero sum game.
- [67:37]
C
Actually. You're making me think less.
- [67:39]
A
But let me say this. You call it satire, Sam goes satire time.
- [67:44]
D
On top of it all. My favorite part about you is just
- [67:48]
C
like every day, all day, like everything you do.
- [67:50]
A
Without a doubt. Hey, buddy, we see you. All right, folks, folks, folks.
- [68:01]
C
It's just the week being weeded out, obviously.
- [68:04]
B
Yeah.
- [68:04]
D
Sun's out, guns out.
- [68:08]
A
I, I, I don't know.
- [68:10]
C
But you should know,
- [68:13]
A
people just don't
- [68:14]
B
like to entertain ideas anymore.
- [68:15]
A
I have a question. Who cares?
- [68:19]
B
Our chat is enabled, folks.
- [68:21]
A
I love it.
- [68:22]
C
I do love that.
- [68:25]
A
Gotta jump, gotta be quick. I gotta jump. I'm losing it, bro. Two o', clock, we're already late, and the guy's being a dick. So screw them. Sent to a gulag.
- [68:38]
C
Outrageous.
- [68:39]
A
Like, what is wrong with you? Love you. Bye. Love you.
- [68:46]
C
Bye.
- [68:46]
A
Bye.