← The Majority Report with Sam Seder
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- [00:00]
Emma Vigeland
You are listening to a free version of the Majority Report. Support this show@jointhemajorityreport.com and get an extra hour of content daily.
- [00:13]
Sam Seder
The Majority Report with Sam Cedar. It is Tuesday, May 26, 2026. My name is Sam Seder. This is the five time award winning Majority Report. We are broadcasting live steps from the industrially ravaged Gowanus Canal in the heartland of America, downtown Brooklyn, USA. On the program today, Trump's U.S. iran peace deal already cooked as Iran warns of retaliation for US Strikes. Meanwhile, the bond market wants an end to the war and Israel supporters in D.C. go into overdrive to bomb more. Federal judicial panel rejects Alabama's redistricting map as just too, too racist. Meanwhile today, Texas runoff could end John Cornyn, Senate career. Pope Leo apologizes for the Vatican role in legitimizing slavery. Senator Andy Kim pepper sprayed at an ice protest at a detention facility in New Jersey. Protests continue. Meanwhile, Boston gets the first certified union to represent rideshare drivers. Tulsi Gabbard resigned. Hassan Piker and Medea Benjamin of Code Pink.
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Emma Vigeland
Yeah.
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Sam Seder
Are subpoenaed in a Trump administration investigation of the aid flotilla to Cuba, Trump regime indictment of Kilmar Obrega Garcia tossed in a federal court. All this and more on today's Majority Report. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen.
- [02:35]
Emma Vigeland
It is News Day Tuesday.
- [02:36]
Sam Seder
It is News Day Tuesday. Emma has got a lot of news to talk about. Happy, I should say later in the program, after, when we go into the fun half, we're anticipating a special guest to come on who apparently is also a big Knicks fan.
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Emma Vigeland
So I'm gonna save it for the special guests.
- [02:59]
Sam Seder
Okay, fine. I mean, save it for Spike.
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Emma Vigeland
I was. I.
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Sam Seder
It's not Spike Lee.
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Emma Vigeland
It's not Spike Lee, and it's not Ben Stiller, and it's not Timothy or Jimmy Fallon. Jimmy Fallon. Isn't he from Boston? He's a Knicks fan.
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Sam Seder
I seem.
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Emma Vigeland
I know he's been courtside.
- [03:21]
Sam Seder
I think you're just thinking he was in that movie Fever Pitch.
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Emma Vigeland
Yes, exactly. I just don't want any fake fans. Now that the Knicks are this incredible, I don't want no bandwagoners. Come on, baby.
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Sam Seder
Well, don't worry about anybody in this room.
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Emma Vigeland
I'm not. I'm not concerned about that. Despite the Celtics complete dominance, it's like Sam can't even let me have a little bit of happiness, and we're not even there yet.
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Sam Seder
It's not about the Celtics. It's about how happiness is just not welcomed.
- [03:51]
Emma Vigeland
Right. I'm sorry. Sorry.
- [03:54]
Sam Seder
Don't just win. We got a curb stomp. And so that's it.
- [03:59]
Emma Vigeland
Yes, it's a very successful shooting 53s in the game franchise.
- [04:05]
Sam Seder
I know. Well, listen, I, I've been a longtime WEMBY fan going back many years, so.
- [04:13]
Emma Vigeland
All right,
- [04:17]
Sam Seder
a lot happened over the course of the past four or five days. Obviously, we were out for Memorial Day yesterday, and on Friday, I guess it was Thursday was when the Republicans pulled the vote. Remember, the Senate voted in favor of a War Powers act resolution, essentially ordering the president to bring to the Senate a justification for military the war to continue or he's got to roll it up and funds are going to be cut off. I mean, aside from the fact that I think we have no idea just how badly the United States has lost this war, and I'm not in favor of the war happening at all, but it is. This is sort of one of those situations where the food is horrible and the portions are small. The we have expended so much money on missiles and whatnot that are all going to have to be paid for again because, you know, we're going to build it back up. And I don't think we're even close to understanding. I don't think we know how many US Military personnel have died. I don't think we know how many ships or planes we've lost. I think none of this has been even remotely transparent. And I don't think yet we really have a sense of just how disastrous this was for the agenda of disempowering Iran in the region and whatnot. Now, regardless, without even litigating as to whether that is a goal that we should have been pursuing or using any resources towards, this has been an abject failure. And the best way to have essentially integrated Iran into the world community would have been to pursue negotiations. And we failed to do that since essentially Trump's first term. And so the War Powers act passes in the Senate and they're going to bring it up in the House on Friday or Thursday night. But Speaker Johnson realizes, oh, this War Powers act resolution is going to pass and that's bad for Trump, and so he pulls it. Here's Pat Ryan, New York 18th. He is not a progressive per se. I think his economic politics are pretty good. He's a populist. There are other things I think I would disagree with him, but he's also a vet and he was rather upset Dodge on the War Powers act. These chicken hawk motherfuckers are going to send us home for Memorial Day weekend. Where I'm going to honor my fellow veterans that I serve 27 months in combat with, and they are going to not even give an up or down vote on continuing this war almost three months in, while Americans are paying almost $5 a gallon at the pump. It is fucking pathetic. They use this procedural bullshit argument and every American should just be absolutely outraged about this. It's a, It's a disgrace. It is a disgrace. I mean, this guy, I think it's probably the first time he's been caught on camera swearing. He's sort of like a little Boy Scoutish. And they're pissed, and they should be, because this whole endeavor was a complete disaster in any way you slice it. We've killed thousands of Iranians. We have destabilized the region. We have empowered what we supposedly said were the worst actors in the region, which is, you know, quite a competition.
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Emma Vigeland
And I mean, for what we've gifted Iran leverage that shows that they don't even really need a nuclear weapon if they want to, to destroy, to win in a war between two nuclear powers, just by using their geographic leverage, the price of gas could permanently be altered. If Iran is able to continuously toll via the Strait of Hormuz. There is nothing that this serves except potentially if it continues to go on the interests of the Israeli government that want to see Iran collapse into a failed state so they can't effectively back up Hezbollah. As, by the way, Israel is expanding its ground operation in southern Lebanon past the yellow line, escalating its bombing campaign as talks seem to be heating up and getting like a deal could be coming, they are trying to continuously take territory in southern Lebanon because that would provoke Hezbollah into a response. And Iran is like strategically trying to keep Hezbollah in their fold because it's important for them to make sure that they still have leverage region.
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Sam Seder
And the irony is, is that, you know, aside from the. I don't want to obviously minimize the death and destruction that we have brought to Iran and God knows down the road with, with the, the bombing of those refineries, how many, how, how many sick people are going to be in the future and whatnot, and, and all of the sort of U.S. treasure expended, you know, with the rise of gas prices that are going to be basically cooked in for the future, maybe when we get a Democratic administration, there's going to be more impetus to go forward further with like, relaunching the solar, relaunching the EV subsidies in an attempt to build this industry in this country.
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Emma Vigeland
And any rational political party would Use this war as a way to message to the American public why we need to get ourselves off of fossil fuels.
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Sam Seder
Yeah, I mean the. And this is only going to help that endeavor. Let's hope. But the amount of work that is going to have to be done in the wake of this administration, I think we just. It's almost impossible to conceive of. We're going to talk a lot more about that today and we've got a couple ads when we come back. We'll. From the ads we're also gonna go through, like why it's been so difficult to get a war powers resolution passed, in part has been because there is a significant portion of the Democratic leadership that actually wanted this war. They didn't want to own it. And you're starting to see them panic now, the idea that it may end. But we'll talk about that in a moment. First, a couple words from our sponsors. Both these products, both of our sponsors today are services that I used in the past and then they became sponsors, which makes it super easy. Have you ever thought I should really be doing something to protect myself from stalkers? Well, I mean, scammers and hackers, you're not sure what. Well, here's what you do. You go to www.joindeleteme.com Majority you enter the code Majority you get 20% off. Delete me removes your personal information that is being sold online. And you would be shocked to know how easily available and what information is available. I've been using Delete me for over a decade in part because of really all of those reasons. More. You know, initially for me, it was more just like general security. I don't want my address out there readily available for people. For whatever reason. During the Air America days, I used to get used to get hate mail and not. It was not pretty, not fun. And you know, I was worried about my family. But since then, of course, identity theft and phishing scams have proliferated scam calls. I mean, the only downside to Delete me is that it does such a good job in scrubbing my information from all these data broker sites. I never get any more of those fake phone calls. Hmm. And that was one of the funnest things I had in my life was to get a call from those people and keep them on for 20 minutes.
- [13:53]
Emma Vigeland
Such a.
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Sam Seder
But it helps with, with, with phishing. It helps with, you know, right now what they can do is buy stuff on the dark web, combine it with stuff they buy in a broker, you know, data broker for five bucks or whatever it is and they could steal your identity. They can send you emails, get you fishing. There are scams all over the place. And now in the age of AI, we're, we're vulnerable to scammers using your personal data against you. They're going to start using, they're going to go on there, they're going to find relatives and they're going to end up like creating little relative bots of yours. But now you can get an individual plan for little as little as over $8 per month. Discounts get even better with a two year plan when you enroll with your partner or family. Delete Me does all the hard work to wipe your personal information from data broker websites. They repopulate and Delete Me keeps doing it on a regular bas. I want to thank Delete Me for sponsoring the Majority report. Take control of your data. Keep your private life private by signing up for Delete Me now at a special discount for our audience. Get 20% off your delete me plan when you go to www.joindeleteme.com majority. Use the promo code Majority at checkout. The only way to get 20% off www.joineleteme.com majority. Enter code majority at checkout. That's www.joindeleteme.com majority code is majority. We'll put that link and information in the podcast and YouTube descriptions. Also, another service I used for years before they sponsored fast growing trees. They are America's largest and most trusted online nursery. They have thousands of trees and plants. Over 2 million happy customers. They got plants for your home. They got plants for your yard. They got fruit trees, they got privacy trees. They got shade trees. They got flowering trees, they got shrubs, they got tall glass grass. They got, I don't know, chokeberry bushes. Paw paws.
- [16:12]
Emma Vigeland
Wow.
- [16:13]
Sam Seder
Yes. Don't make, don't sleep on that. Everybody should be growing pawpaws that I'm starting to think like when I retire. Paw Paw Orchard. That's just one of the ideas I got. Sounds great, but it doesn't matter what you're looking for. Fast growing trees help you find options that actually work for your climate, space and lifestyle. Fast growing trees makes it easy to get your dream yard. Just click, order, grow and get healthy, thriving plants delivered to your door. They have an alive and thrive guarantee. It promises you that your plants arrive happy and healthy. You don't need a green thumb, just quality plants you can count on. Plus they got trained plant experts who can help you plan your landscape, tell you which stuff to grow and you you know, based upon your zone, choose the right plants. Oh, I've got a. On this side of my house. Where's the sun? Okay, here are the plants you need. Is it going to be fully shaded? And they can give you all sorts of tips. Super easy. And the beauty of fast growing trees is they have an incredibly wide selection. Much better than your box store. You got a. I don't know how many different types of apples, but I mean a wide range of apples and really, frankly any other food treat, but so much better than a box store. Plus you don't have to get dirt all over your car as you try and shove it in there, break the tree. And here's the thing. I don't know if the trees grow faster from fast growing trees, but you can buy a six, seven foot tree, they ship it, they do a great job of shipping and within a year you can be picking a Hosea pear. I get pretty excited about it right now. They have great deals on planting essentials. Up to half off on select plants. Our audience gets 20% off your first purchase. When using the code majority of checkout. That's an additional 20% off. Better plants and better growing at fast growing trees dot com. Use the code majority at checkout. Fast growing trees dot com code majority. Now's the perfect time to plant. Let's grow together. Use majority to save today. Offers valid for a limited time. Terms and conditions may apply. Put that in the podcast and YouTube descriptions as well. So Donald Trump over the course of the weekend announced on Truth Social that as you do, we had struck, of course, a deal with Iran. And then, then it comes out like, well, we're 95% there on the deal with Iran and the 5%. Do you want to read the. What Trump said? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. But this is, have you seen it yet? This is after, this is after the reports of the deal come out. So the timeline. It's tough to maintain the insanity, but I may need actually a bigger version.
- [19:03]
Emma Vigeland
Do we have a magnifying glass?
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Sam Seder
Yeah. Can you, can you punch it? Like a scroll from the wizard.
- [19:09]
Emma Vigeland
Really is a presidential decree.
- [19:13]
Sam Seder
Just, just, just so people can see the. Try to see the whole thing. Yeah, See it once and then we'll cut down. But so then apparently what happens is people freak out. All the neocons, all the Israeli boosters in the administration, Netanyahu, et cetera, et cetera, freak out and he comes out with this. We post the post the truth. Yeah. And just, just. Can you zoom in or. No, it won't Be legible. He's finding a better version. Send me one that I can read. Here. Sorry. Maybe I got it in this. In the slack. And this is. Yeah, here it is. Okay, hold on. Okay, I got it. I will read this. Deep breath. Negotiations with the Islamic Republic of Iran are proceeding nicely. It will only be a great deal for all or no deal at all. Back to the battlefront and shooting. But bigger and stronger than ever before. Nobody wants that. During my discussions on Saturday with President Mahmoud bin Salman Al Saad of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Ben Said Al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates, Emir Tamim Ben Hamad bin Khalifi Al Thani, Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abu Drahman Bin Yassin Ben Jaber Al Thani and Minister Ali Al Fawadi of Qatar, Field Marshal Said Shah of Pakistan, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. Look at the way I spelled Turkey. I really. That's the way I like to spell. I like to smell it like the Turks. I like to respect their culture. Yes. President Abdul Fattah Al Sisi of Egypt, King Abdullah 2nd of Jordan, King Hamad bin Al Kafil of Bahra. I stated that after all the work done by the United States to try and pull this very complex puzzle together, it should be mandatory that all of these countries, at a minimum. At a minimum, all of these countries simultaneously sign on to the Abraham Accords. Those countries discussed are Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, already a member. Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey. That's the way I spell it. Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, already a member. It may be possible that one or two have reasons for not doing so and that will be accepted. But most should be ready, willing and able to make this settlement with Iran a far more historic event than it would otherwise be. If I don't hit a certain word count, Susie Wells doesn't give me credit for my homework.
- [22:11]
Emma Vigeland
Yes, somehow we are not even halfway through.
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Sam Seder
The Abraham Accords have proven to be for countries involved. The United Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan, Kazakhstan. A financial, economic, social boom. Even during this time of conflict and war, with the current members never even suggesting leaving or taking as much as even a pause what the reason for this is. The Abraham Accords have been great for them and will be even better for everybody and bring true power, strength and peace to the Middle east for the first time in 5,000 years. Hold on. You're a lady. I get to finish? Just getting started. Okay. It will be a document, respected like no other, that has ever been signed everywhere in the world. Its level of importance and prestige will be unparalleled. It should start with the immediate signing by Saudi Arabia and Qatar and then everyone else should follow suit. And if they don't, they should not be part of this deal. And it shows bad intention in speaking of numerous great leaders mentioned above. They would be honored as soon as our documents are signed to have the Islamic Republic of Iran as part of the Abraham Accords. Now. Wow. Now that would be something special. This will be something. The most important deal of any of these great but always in conflict countries will never ever sign. Nothing in the past or the future will surpass it. Therefore, I am mandatorily requesting. I repeat, I am mandatorily requesting. Yes, it's a mandatory request that all countries immediately sign the Abraham Accords and that if Iran signs its agreement with me as president, United States of America, it would be an honor to have them also be part of this unparalleled world coalition. The Middle east would be united, powerful and economically strong, like perhaps no other area anywhere in the world. By copy of this truth, I am asking my representatives to begin and successfully complete the process of signing these countries into the already historic. Gabriel McCords, thank you for your attention to this matter. Donald J. Trump President, United States of America.
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Emma Vigeland
You know he hit the word count. The requirement, I guess. Jesus Christ.
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Sam Seder
Emma, you the disdain. I am not the one who wrote this. I'm just reading it.
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Emma Vigeland
So I just.
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Sam Seder
Yeah, yeah. So I know Stephen Miller wrote this, right? Like, I mean we know it's not Trump gas went up 25 cents in the time it took. Exactly. Needs Cory Booker's diaper just to read that whole thing. I know, but for whatever reason, and it's unclear to me, like when was that the truth social came out? When. When was this truth Social that came out? I think this came out yesterday morning, I believe. Okay, Sunday morning. And it coincided with all of the Iranian war hawks. That is Israel support. I don't. Supporters. Yeah, I mean Israel surrogates their assets in the U.S. u.S. Now, we have said this many times over and over again that the reason why Chuck Schumer has been all but invisible has been leading from behind. And by leading from behind, I mean like holding being an anchor for the Democratic caucus to not move towards sanctioning Israel conditioning aid, whatever it is, is because the leadership of the Democratic Party, not all of the leadership, but. But what appears to be a significant chunk of it, is in favor of this war. Now they can't come out and say it because it is so incredibly unpopular with Democrats. I mean, but it's also unpopular with independents and it's not terribly popular with Republicans. And so the Democratic leadership cannot come out and say, we're against, we're for this war. But when the chips are down and they think that it might be resolved, they send out a couple of their
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Emma Vigeland
faves, dribs and drabs.
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Sam Seder
She used to be the chair of the DCCC.
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Emma Vigeland
DNC.
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Sam Seder
No. Is she the DNC or the DCCC?
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Emma Vigeland
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, DNC chair during 2016.
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Sam Seder
Now she is congressperson who may be losing her seat in Florida. Here's Debbie Wasseman Schultz.
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Emma Vigeland
I am concerned and frustrated over again, another potential deal, a negotiation for a negotiation where we're going to unfreeze Iranian assets and give them billions of dollars to be able to control proxies again and to rebuild their ballistic missile program, never mind their drone program, which is incredibly deadly, and they've been increasing their drone capability. So this is deeply concerning. And look, I'm glad that Iran, their capability militarily has been degraded. But if what we get from this initial deal is just going back to where we were before, where Iran did not control the Strait of Hormuz, then what has been accomplished? I am.
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Sam Seder
Oh, you know what, actually, you're on to something there.
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Emma Vigeland
What has been accomplished?
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Sam Seder
What was the whole point of this? It was completely stupid. And there's something called cutting your losses. But the problem is, for Debbie Wasserman Schultz, this isn't, this isn't like there is no losses to cut. They want more. She is working for Netanyahu and the entire Israeli project. That else. And incidentally, not only did they not understand Iranian society enough that their entire plan to supposedly stall, install Ahmadinejad, apparently, and that they thought if they assassinated Iran's top leaders that the country would just topple. Goes to show you that, A, not only are our interests not aligned with Israel, which I think is quite obvious, but B, Israel, there should be no assumption that they're competent in any of this stuff, that they have any idea of what they're doing other than being driven by some type of, like, fanatical desire for some greater Israel that involves occupying and annexing more and more land.
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Emma Vigeland
I mean, and that's been the case the entire time Israel is giving rosier assessments of Iran's weakness. And they have been doing that for decades to presidents. This was just the president whose ego was large enough and his intellect was weak enough that he was going to agree to it. And yeah, I mean, it just, it's amazing. That Democrats like Debbie Wasserman Schultz will preach bipartisanship and the electoral supposed benefit of looking reasonable by working with Republicans when it suits their donors. But this is a rare example of when bipartisanship would actually be beneficial in terms of like praising Trump for doing negotiations because the war is had 60% disapproval at the outset. You look reasonable if you're praising him for doing diplomacy instead. She's serving the Israel lobby here. Israel is escalating in Lebanon, moving past the yellow line, bombing the hell out of Lebanon to sabotage what seems like a pending deal, expanding their ground operation in the south to take more and more territory. So at the same time as Israel is doing that to sabotage it militarily, they have its assets in the United States doing work rhetorically for them. Cory Booker's another.
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Sam Seder
Yeah, no side deals. And then, you know, you have your congressperson coming out in the Democratic Party. Now let's have the senator come out and talk about how we're very concerned about this. This is the same guy, if I remember correctly, was on one of these Sunday talk shows criticizing Obama in 2012 for demonizing Bain Capital. Oh, yeah, he knows a lot of private equity guys and they're good guys. Is it one of the remaining moderate Republicans or right wing Republicans? It's Josh Hawley. No, it is Cory Booker. This better than the deal Obama got with Iran. So we haven't had an official briefing, but this is what I'm seeing that has me so outraged right now is the president said he went into this to deal with their nuclear program. This does not deal with that. Before he became president the first time they had no highly enriched uranium. They had sent it out. Now they have it because of him. Number two is he criticized roundly that the deal that got rid of their nuclear program, or at least their highly enriched program involved getting $50 billion for Iran. Well, already the president's balance sheet is letting more than 14 billion go through that. During this conflict, he allowed them to sell oil. And this deal alone, easing of sanctions on Iran, allowing them to get billions of more. The same deal he criticized. He's already doing worse then giving Iran more money, as he has said will allow them to do things like fuel their terrorist proxies. That's why this war is wrong. He's got us in a situation that's worse than it was before. A more extreme regime. The Strait of Hormuz now is a leveraging point for them. This weak nation has put America in a stalemate and Donald Trump is being
- [32:19]
Emma Vigeland
played as a fool so Cory Booker, I looked it up because it's interesting that Chuck Schumer was adamantly against the jcpoa. Cory Booker supported it at the time. Now, I think. Put us back up. Right? Yeah. No, just for Brian. I think it's notable. I mean, you can take it two ways. One, that the Zionist lobby quadrupled down after the jcpoa, and they were successful and they had more and more money and they were able to get their hooks into more Democrats that were willing to take it. Or also that Cory Booker was movable on this. Yes. In the money. That now he's criticizing Trump basically along the same terms that he would the jcpoa, that we're going to unfreeze Iranian assets. That was a part of the Obama deal as well. But now he's criticizing it from. As a Democrat against Donald Trump. One, I think, because the Israel lobby has gotten even more powerful. But two, it shows that leadership matters on this front, that if there were a Democrat in office that had the fortitude to stand up to the Israel Lobby, that some of these senators would be squishy enough and they would go along with their party because that's where the momentum is. We have a leadership vacuum that's allowing for hawkishness on the Democratic side to be rewarded and overrepresented in the. In the caucus.
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Sam Seder
Let's remind everybody about Chuck Schumer's last time he weighed in on the idea that there could have been a deal. No, not this one. The. The last time he weighed in on the idea of Trump making a deal with the Iranians. And of course, he's laying low because he took a lot of grief for this video that he shot last time. It's all over the lot. One day sounds tough, the next day he's backing off. And now all of a sudden, we find out that Witkoff and Rubio are negotiating a secret side deal with Iran. What kind of bull is this? They're going to sound tough in public and then have a side deal that lets Iran get away with everything. That's outrageous. We need to make that side deal public. Any side deal should be before Congress and most importantly, the American people. If Taco Trump is already folding, the American public should know about it. No. No side deals. You know where. You know, I find it really hard to believe that Witkoff and Kushner don't have side deals, that they're going into these Iranian negotiations without side deals with the UAE or the Saudis or Israel is the side. I mean, are you kidding me? Exactly. The whole Abraham Accords is the side deal. The Cuban missile crisis was stopped with a side deal.
- [35:02]
Emma Vigeland
Oh, yeah, and that's speaking of the Abraham Accord, just to bring back what Trump is saying there. He. He continuously is doing this on Truth Social where he's undercutting the negotiations by saying the most insane crap possible. You think you could just decree online that every country in the Middle east that has been reticent to do so should sign on to the Abraham Accord?
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Sam Seder
Not a decree. It's a mandatory request.
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Emma Vigeland
I mean, but why hasn't Saudi Arabia done it already? I don't know. Because even though they're a monarchical kingdom that we prop up, there is still reticence among, like, reticence is putting it mildly. Resistance among the populations that they lord over to normalizing relations with the genocidal settler colonial state of Israel.
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Sam Seder
Well, it's a mandatory request, so they have no choice. Here. Here are some of Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Cory Booker's and Chuck Schumer's, I guess, thought partners. This is number five, Mike Pompeo and Victoria Nuland. Pompeo, obviously, the Secretary of State under Trump won. Nuland has been a longtime, like, blob member. I think she's in the State Department. Yes. And here they are in some type of debate among debates. I'm not terribly thrilled with it. And arguing against Mersheimer and Stephen Walt about the Iran war and Pompeo Nuland at one point. This is becoming like an increasing tell. I noticed this when I was talking to what's her face, Jillian Michael Michaels. When she had no response or anything, she just really uncomfortably laughed. And these guys, they really. What a laugh riot. This turns out for them. This is what human decency demands. You don't let a radical regime close off the global economy by firing shaheed missiles into nations that did nothing. Right. They're firing into civilians in the United Arab Emirates even just this week. That's just not something that the world can accept. And so this monster is worthy of the hunt. You do know, Mike, that we started the war. No, absolutely not. Absolutely not. Oh, no, no, no, no. They weren't firing those missiles until Israel and the United States attacked Iran. I do understand. Well, welcome to 1979, when the revolutionary regime began to kill Europeans. You do know that we overthrow through the democratically elected government. Just. Just for the record, you talk. You were talking about this. You don't think Iran has. You think Iran's forgotten about that? No, I suspect they don't think Iran remembers that we supported Saddam Hussein in the Iran Iraq war. I don't. I know about this. I know that other countries have history. Do you think Iran is a monster? No. Okay, well, pause it for a second. Pause it for a second. Pause it for a second. First off, like, honestly, like, the. This guy was the Secretary of State. Do you think Iran is a monster? Iran is a country.
- [38:31]
Emma Vigeland
Yeah.
- [38:32]
Sam Seder
Like, I mean, honestly, like, are you four. Do you think Iran is poopy pants? Do you think they're poopy pants?
- [38:39]
Emma Vigeland
Yeah.
- [38:40]
Sam Seder
Who's poopy pants? There's not poopy pants here.
- [38:43]
Emma Vigeland
I mean, you're accurately.
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Sam Seder
Monster.
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Emma Vigeland
You're accurately describing the mentality of a racist.
- [38:48]
Sam Seder
It's just like, Right, so.
- [38:50]
Emma Vigeland
It's just so they consistently underestimate Iran due to just abject racism and Islamophobia.
- [38:58]
Sam Seder
And what, like, what is the measure of monster hood. Be more specific about what you're talking about. Do we think the Iranian regime is democratic? Do we think the Iranian regime oppresses its own people? Do we think the Iranian regime kills people outside its borders? Do we think the Iranian regime is occupying and creating third class citizens? I mean, there's other countries in the Middle east where you can apply these very specific measures. But that's why you call it a monster, because then it just becomes this sort of like vague, amorphous thing. And this is what children do. This is what children do. Yeah, but go ahead. I know that other countries have history. Do you think Iran is a monster? No.
- [39:54]
Emma Vigeland
Okay.
- [39:55]
Sam Seder
Okay. I don't think there's. I don't think they're desire. I'm glad I don't live there. I think many countries do many bad things, including my own. And I wouldn't call the United States a monster.
- [40:07]
Emma Vigeland
But Stephen, Stephen, do also remember that
- [40:10]
Sam Seder
we wouldn't have had October 7th if
- [40:12]
Emma Vigeland
we hadn't had Iranian support for Hamas.
- [40:15]
Sam Seder
I agree. We wouldn't have had October 7th if we'd gotten peace in the Middle East. And that's a much longer story. It is. And every single US President has tried and will continue to. Not very hard, but. But it is very important to emphasize there's no evidence that Iran even knew about October 7th, much less.
- [40:35]
Emma Vigeland
Oh, my goodness, wait, Mearsheimer is right there.
- [40:39]
Sam Seder
Oh, yes. No, no, yeah. Listen, this. My point about them laughing because they do this when they. They are. Have basically got to the end of their argument.
- [40:49]
Emma Vigeland
This is what US intelligence says.
- [40:50]
Sam Seder
Yes, we have even knew about October 7th, much less. Oh, my goodness. I'm sure it is lovely to Live where you live and believe no evidence in the public record of that. Oh, my goodness. Well, let's pop up. We have a link for this. The. To the extent that you can believe them. And I'm not sure why the intelligence agencies, the US Intelligence agencies indicate Iranian officials were surprised by the Hamas attack on Israel. If you read in deeply into the reporting, there were Hamas in the years prior had tried to pitch Iran on it, and Iran was never terribly interested. So I don't know by what means that they mean, like Hamas wouldn't exist were it not for Iran. In fact, if there is a but for in terms of Hamas's existence, it has to be the Israeli government. The Israeli government midwifed the birth of Hamas out of the Muslim Brotherhood, promoted Hamas as a way of dividing the Palestinian body politic so that Fatah had a rival. This is well documented. In fact, there are quotes from Bibi Netanyahu, but in terms of like, executing October 7th, this was not Iran's project. And so. And the idea of like, why does Iran have these proxies? Well, think about where they have these proxies and they have these proxies surrounding a country that has been for 40 years by, by Bibi Netanyahu's own description, been looking to topple the regime and bomb the hell out of the country.
- [42:53]
Emma Vigeland
I mean, she's probably correct that if there hadn't been, you know, any Iranian resistance, that perhaps there wouldn't have been even been Hamas at that time, because Israel would have just taken the entire Gaza Strip by that time period.
- [43:06]
Sam Seder
I don't know that it was Iran that was in any way holding Israel back from that, other than like, well,
- [43:14]
Emma Vigeland
their allegiance with Hezbollah and Hamas. Right. I guess in theory that's the one case that you could make. But the point is that resistance to Israel's expansion is a good thing.
- [43:23]
Sam Seder
Well, yes. And I mean, I think. And that's part of the dynamic. That's what they're also created. Hezbollah. There was no Hezbollah when Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982.
- [43:38]
Emma Vigeland
Yep.
- [43:39]
Sam Seder
And so these arguments that go back 5 years, 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, and try and argue the problem is, is like that I think these neocons are having, is that just more people know the history now. And so what used to be. And I think at one point on this show, I don't know if it was 10 years ago or 15 years ago, I was just like, I'm not debating what happened anything more than what's happening today, because it has gone back and forth. There are enough villains on every side, but the reality is the reality. And one of the big tricks that I think Zionists have done is attempt to keep going back in failed for them now because more and more people are aware of the history and there's more and more access to it. And, and, and so now the way they do it is just sort of like giggle and laugh and try and make it seem like somehow these people are completely out of their mind. I'm serious, person. I'd love to live where you live. Do you agree Iran's a boogeyman? No.
- [44:53]
Emma Vigeland
How dare you.
- [44:54]
Sam Seder
We said monster. Oh, you're the. You're the. You're the fool who doesn't think that there are monsters are real. I think monsters exist. Are you serious? You probably don't think ghosts exist either, do you? All right, let's. Oh, I wanted to mention the primaries today too. Oh, yeah, There's a runoff. It's not really. It's still the primaries, I guess, because it's a runoff in Texas. As you know, Donald Trump has endorsed Ken Paxton in this runoff in Texas. And the. It's a fascinating choice because I don't know if there is a single person still in office who has been accused of more criminal activity while in office outside of maybe Donald Trump. I was gonna say yes.
- [46:02]
Emma Vigeland
Right. This is solidarity with another crook.
- [46:05]
Sam Seder
I mean, good to have a vulnerable guy.
- [46:06]
Emma Vigeland
I mean, he sees himself.
- [46:07]
Sam Seder
I see myself in you. This is classic Survivor, the show. If Ken Paxton's out there, I'm the second guy they come for. Cuz he's so much weight. He's so ostentatious.
- [46:22]
Emma Vigeland
He. He was accused of abusing the power of his office on behalf of a donor. Shocker. And so much. It was so bad that the Texas House actually impeached him. The Texas Senate ended up acquitting him. But think about how corrupt you have to be as a Republican. For the Texas House, which is Republicans,
- [46:39]
Sam Seder
there was something like impeach you. There was something like eight people working in his office who were all like senior people working in the doj or not the doj, the attorney general's office in Texas who blew the whistle on him.
- [46:58]
Emma Vigeland
Mm.
- [46:59]
Sam Seder
Like this is how I imagine they were not all Democrats.
- [47:06]
Emma Vigeland
No. His wife, who a part of these proceedings is actually a state senator. She listened into the proceedings and part of what came out was that he was having an affair with a Christian influencer.
- [47:18]
Sam Seder
Yep. In 2015, he had felony security fraud charges. He. And then the impeachment. But he's not Somali So who gives a shit? Exactly.
- [47:34]
Emma Vigeland
Good point.
- [47:36]
Sam Seder
And here is a good, I think, like, and there's every reason to believe that he's going to win because of this Trump endorsement. I mean, at least in the primary runoff. And here's a good, I guess, foreshadowing of what might be problematic for them in the actual general election. In terms of the Senate.
- [48:00]
Emma Vigeland
I've been talking to voters here in Brenham county and I met the cutest couple, Gayla and Michael Stephan. And she's an independent, he's a conservative and they don't agree on everything. Politics. Take a listen Your thoughts about Cornyn and Paxton.
- [48:19]
Sam Seder
Well, it's not a great choice either one really. But I think I lean towards Paxton for sure. He's local. Cornyn hasn't always been with the Republicans the way I would like, but it was, you know, it was a tough choice. But I did vote for Paxton on the runoff. What are your thoughts about Paxton? Crook. Yeah, that's it. Period. He's just a crook.
- [48:45]
Emma Vigeland
I've been talking to voters.
- [48:47]
Sam Seder
A house divided.
- [48:49]
Emma Vigeland
The way, the way she looked at him patiently as he answers. Oh, I know it's coming.
- [48:54]
Sam Seder
How is Cornyn not been with the Republicans? Like what is ever. January 6th, Trump. Oh, was he nervous? I think he did a January six. Like, this is not the best.
- [49:08]
Emma Vigeland
Yes. Even though his voting record, when you look with Trump, 99. That's what. But that's, but, but that's him betraying the truth that Trump equals Republican Party. I mean we saw this with the Massie story too. I know that was a lot of APAC money flowing in and Israel money and all that, but like God damn, the whole primary voter base is captured by the cult of personality that this man has engendered. It's just the rest of the country hates it.
- [49:36]
Sam Seder
According to Cornyn's website, 99.2% voting along with. Well, okay, what was going on with that other point? 8%.
- [49:46]
Emma Vigeland
This is some polling at the very least here from Talarico versus the two.
- [49:55]
Sam Seder
Talarico looks to do much better against pax. Scroll down to so we can see the comparison. I guess it's not terribly different. Less tied with Cornyn and has like about almost a two point lead on.
- [50:17]
Emma Vigeland
But there's no doubt what the Republican Party wants, which is that they think Cornyn is a much better general election candidate.
- [50:22]
Sam Seder
Yes.
- [50:23]
Emma Vigeland
I mean that woman, that wife seemed to indicate it that like in the state he's known as a crook. That's a problem for them when you're
- [50:31]
Sam Seder
Talking about a crook versus a rhino. Barefoot, granola eaten rhino. When you get into the general, it's much easier to vote for the Republican in name only than it is the person who is not a Republican even in name only for these people. They'll never vote Democratic, but she, she may go into that voting booth and just not pull the lever for the Senate if Paxton. That's the, that's the difference.
- [51:11]
Emma Vigeland
Down ballot or not show up.
- [51:12]
Sam Seder
That's the difference is I'm just not. I can't vote for him. He's a crook. And I'm not going to vote for Talrico, but I'm not going to vote for that guy. Tell Rico is so interesting though, because I got to say, like, those type of women, they're not gonna be. The way they're painting Talarico, like, he's, look at, he's this Christian guy, but he's an atheist or not atheist. He's a vegan. And he's like, he says there's like, God says there's six genders or whatever, like woke stuff. I'm sorry. Like, I think a lot of Christian women behind the privacy of a ballot booth will vote for that over like someone who's just a philandering crook.
- [51:46]
Emma Vigeland
You're 100% right. I think about that instinct. They're so worried about women right now. That's part of the RFK Jr. Retreat and the fact that they switched all like the surgeon general pick and everything with the Maha stuff. They're losing certain white moms that were okay with a lot of the racism. And now it's like, wait, why is there this measles outbreak 20 miles away? And what's wrong with the economy here and why can't I afford childcare? And I'm a little bit squeamish about ice cracking skulls and separating families and putting them into detention camps. I think that's, that's going to be a problem for them.
- [52:23]
Sam Seder
And doesn't the vegan thing, it's not true? Like, well, I mean, putting that aside, I mean, I get the idea that, you know, we're in Texas, we're supposed to eat steak all the time. Yeah, but doesn't the whole premise of the Maha thing mean, like, no, they
- [52:40]
Emma Vigeland
eat all meat like RFK juniors. Well, of course he does. With red.
- [52:45]
Sam Seder
Of course he does. But my, my point being that not that that vegan's not the slur it used to be. It's very hard, let's put it this way. And I think maybe younger people don't understand this. It used to be a slur. I mean, the idea that, like, these vegans in Brooklyn, you know, they're so worried about what they put into their body. Well, the whole maha premise, you know, like seed oils.
- [53:09]
Emma Vigeland
I know.
- [53:10]
Sam Seder
It's really hard to try and stigmatize vegans when you're out there, you know, talking about, like, we can't have sesame oil. That's bad. Exactly. I mean, that's really. Those very thinly sliced. As to who is gonna get critiqued,
- [53:27]
Emma Vigeland
I think they're in for a rude awakening if they think that they can ride the gender and the vegan thing through a cratering economy. And Trump's approval rating being historically low like that. That crap worked because of the Biden administration and the Kamala Harris campaign's incompetence. But you're not running as an outsider anymore. You're in power. No one wants to hear about this.
- [53:50]
Sam Seder
Yeah. Maybe the vegan will get my gas prices down.
- [53:53]
Emma Vigeland
Exactly.
- [53:55]
Sam Seder
Or it could be like, gas prices are double, but at least we don't have a vegan in the Senate.
- [54:00]
Emma Vigeland
And I do think that.
- [54:02]
Sam Seder
Right.
- [54:03]
Emma Vigeland
At least. Like with Paxton, all of this stuff about his ethics, It's a bad contrast with Talarico. More so than Gornon.
- [54:11]
Sam Seder
Yeah.
- [54:11]
Emma Vigeland
With the whole Boy Scout thing that he's got going on.
- [54:14]
Sam Seder
Looks like his mom licks a comb right before she combs his hair. Exactly right.
- [54:18]
Emma Vigeland
He's like elf. Elf on a shelf. Energy from him.
- [54:22]
Sam Seder
All right, since we're talking about primaries, let's just do number 20 and then head to the fun half, wherein we are still anticipating very special guests. He's busy, so sometimes it falls through. James Dolan. Tom Steyer is up for the governorship in California. The primary is Tuesday, a week from today, actually. And as it stands now, I don't know where he is in the polls. Becerra still up?
- [55:03]
Emma Vigeland
I'm not sure about the polls, but I think everybody that is kind of left of center seems to be coalescing a little bit around Steyer. Despite his billionaire background, he's running in the right way. And Porter's campaign's kind of falling apart, so I guess Jennifer Welch had him on.
- [55:21]
Sam Seder
Let's hear you talk about trans people. I'm totally in favor of trans athletes in high school. I think when you understand the vulnerability, the stress, the danger of being a trans kid, and you understand that almost half of them try to commit suicide. Yeah. And then you think, we're going to punish those kids. We're Going to cut them off from team sports. We're going to cut them off from participating in the community. We're going to cut them off from fun. It's like, no, we're not. No, we're not. And you know, as someone who played sports my whole life and love sports. And love playing sports, they're more important things than whether you start on your high school basketball team. And that is standing up for people who are under threat of death. You talked about.
- [56:10]
Emma Vigeland
That might be my favorite answer I've heard on that issue. I mean, absolutely incredible. Exactly right. Exactly right. It's about a question of priorities. As a society, do we feel it's a priority to protect the sanctity in your idea of this one kids volleyball team or soccer team? Or is it more important to make sure that trans kids feel excluded in society and are not isolated from the joys of being like any other child? That is the point. It's a question of priorities. And we were joking about this with Victor wembanyama. Like, he's 7 foot 4 and he could barely get on his tippy toes to tap in basketballs. Like, you want to talk about unfair physical advantages, you can make a case. Hey, in the NBA, you can't be this tall. You're just too good. Victor Wembanyama.
- [57:02]
Sam Seder
But I don't even think he's 7 4. He's like 7 6.
- [57:05]
Emma Vigeland
I mean, athleticism adds a few inches. He's. I'm joking about this because it's. It's just so silly, right? And there are taller women, there are stronger women, there are stronger girls, there are taller girls, what have you. This is not a serious topic. And I just am just, like, happy to see that. Stiers running right towards wokeness woke 2.0. We're going to make fun of you. And we're also not going to give an inch on trans issues.
- [57:31]
Sam Seder
Yep, good stuff. That is next week. All right, we're going to take a break and head into the fun half. 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 show free of commercials, you also get the fun half. And folks, one of the ways you can support this program is to tell your friends is to pass clips around. It is to give us thumbs up, smash the like button on YouTube, go in and give us a good podcast rating. YouTube has been a little bit funky as of late. You may have seen other progressive shows saying that you know, viewership is down. Viewership is not really down. But one of the things I have noticed is that we are not reaching as many new people as we used to, which suggests to me that there's some algorithmic change that's been going on. Who knows what that's about? Maybe just people who. Those people are just don't want to do politics, but. So send stuff around, expose it to your friends. That's another way to help us with the. With the show. Also, just coffee, dot co op, fair trade coffee, hot chocolate. Use the coupon code. Majority get 10% off. Matt, what's happening in the Matt Leckie and media universe? Yeah, there's a left reckoning coming up right after the show today, this afternoon where we talk about the. The insistence that people are upset with the economy and it's just vibes and they don't really understand how good it is. Annie Lowery had another piece that, like, people seriously doing that. Yep. They're just so negative. And actually, you don't really understand. There's no reason to say this economy is worse than the Great Recession. As if, like, we all didn't live through the Great Recession and don't just see this as a. Are people saying that this is worse than the Great Recession right now? I mean, the sentiment charts are more negative and people are. I think part of that is because the Great Recession came out of nowhere. Exactly. We live in history. We're just sort of like in a slow motion. Like, we see what's coming.
- [59:50]
Emma Vigeland
Yeah.
- [59:50]
Sam Seder
All the liberals are saying that we're trying to argue the economy was good under Biden. Are saying, like, yeah, see, people are. People are so ridiculous that they think now is worse than the Great Recession. We live during both of them. These are compounding events. We aren't, like, isolated in different parts of history. I don't understand how some of these stats. People, like, think the world works and then they think that the world should follow their graphs. But anyway, math history over math every effing day. Yeah, folks, see you in the fun. Half. Left is best. Jamie and I may have a disagreement. Yeah.
- [60:32]
Emma Vigeland
You can't just say whatever you want about people just because you're rich.
- [60:36]
Sam Seder
I have an absolute right to mock them on YouTube. He's up there buggy whipping like he's the boss. I am not your employer. You know, I'm tired of the negativity. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. You're nervous. You're a little bit upset. You're riled. Up. Yeah, maybe you should rethink your defense of that, you fucking idiots. We're just going to get rid of you. All right, but dude, dude, dude, dude, dude, dude, dude. You want to smoke this joint? Yes. Do you feel like you are a dinosaur? Good shit. Exactly. I'm happy now. The win, Win. It's a win, win, win.
- [61:14]
Emma Vigeland
Hell yeah.
- [61:15]
Sam Seder
Now listen to me. 2, 3, 4, 5 times 8479-065014-57238, 56, 27, 1/2 5 8. 3.9 billion. Wow. He's the ultimate math nerd. Don't you see? Why don't you get a real job instead of stewing vitriol and hatred? You left wing Limbaugh. Everybody's taking their dumb juice today. Come on, Sammy. Dance, dance, dance. Grandpa. I had my first post coital scene with a woman. I'm hoping to add more moves to my repertoire. All I have is the dip and the swirl. Fine, we can double dip. Yes. This is a perfect moment. No, wait. What? You make under a million dollars a year. You're scum. You're not paying. Excuse me? Fuck you, you fucking liberal elite. I think you belong in jail. Thank you for saying that, Sam. You're a horrible, despicable person. All right, gonna take a quick break. I want to take a moment to talk to some of the libertarians out there. Take whatever vehicle you want to drive to the library. What you're talking about is jibber jabber.
- [62:27]
Emma Vigeland
Classic. I'm feeling more chill already.
- [62:30]
Sam Seder
Good. Donald Trump can kiss all of our asses. Hey, Sam. Hey, Andy. You guys ready to do some evil? Hitler was such an idiot. I think I might be a Nazi.
- [62:44]
Emma Vigeland
Agree.
- [62:45]
Sam Seder
No. Death to America. Do. Yes.
- [62:53]
Emma Vigeland
Wow.
- [62:55]
Sam Seder
Wow. That's weird. No way. Unbelievable. This guy's got a really good hook. Wow. I want to just flesh this out a little bit. I mean, look, it's a free speech issue. If you don't like. Hey, hey. Shut up. Thank you for calling into the majority report. Sam will be with you shortly.