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JVL
Hello everyone. This is JVL here with my best friends Sarah Longwell and Tim Miller of the Bulwark Guys. Last night Donald Trump sat down with Fox News and Laura Ingraham thought who is this insane old person in front of me? It was one of the weirdest interviews I've ever seen. Tim, you did a quick reaction on it last night, but I want to talk more about it. Okay, but Sarah, the first thing I wanted to ask you about is the weirdness of. There is this issue that was never spoken of even once on the campaign trail, period. The end. It is not, so far as I can tell, an issue that any Republican has ever thought about or talked about, which is the actual annexation of Canada. And now it is so important that the President United States just can't stop talking about how vital it is to American interests. And spent four minutes. Well, he spent 20% of his interview with Laura Ingraham talking about. I mean I have so many questions, but the first of all is do you think anybody cares? Like is anybody looking at this?
Tim Miller
And the Canadians care.
Sarah Longwell
The Canadians care a lot.
JVL
Right?
Sarah Longwell
And so do the. I had Mark Leibovich is on the pod, the focus group pod this week.
Tim Miller
Oh yay. What an upgrade over the fucking downers we've had lately. We had to listen to raw audio of 19 year old men a couple weeks ago. We had to relive Covid. Like thank God we have Leibovich on. We needed some candy on the focus group podcast.
Sarah Longwell
I made that Covid episode just to make JVL's head explode.
JVL
Oh my gosh. Look, we shouldn't speak ill of guests on our shows.
Sarah Longwell
We shouldn't. Cause she was great and she's right and I don't and everybody who wants to yell at me about it.
JVL
Yeah, she was great and she was right. The truth is the fault for vaccine hesitancy is the people, the laypeople who just said to their crazy friends, stop being crazy. Why are you into conspiracy theories? They should have.
Sarah Longwell
That's not what she said. That's not what she said.
JVL
Literally what she said. But I I good. JVL is here.
Tim Miller
Yeah, she was many of the listeners she was right about looked at the headline of the focus group last week and it was like Covid. Five years later we're like, nope, delete. And so they don't even know what we're talking about.
Sarah Longwell
Okay, great. Well here's the thing.
JVL
If Nobody listened to Dr. Wen also believes that nobody has agency except for like good people, bad people have no Agency and no responsibility for their act. I'm sorry, I.
Tim Miller
Common view, actually, this is the problem.
JVL
Bad JVL is coming out of the box. We gotta put him back into the gimp box.
Sarah Longwell
Ball gag for you right now.
JVL
Put the ball gag on. Bad jvl.
Sarah Longwell
We're not doing. Anyway, different focus group. Had Leibovich on the pod. And so he went to Greenland. He went to Greenland, like, during inauguration. And so he. He had this great piece. We went where, like, at first they were like, oh, my God, people are talking about Greenland. I don't know if you know this. I didn't know this, but there's like 12 people who live on the. It's like three the size of three. Texas. Yeah, there's only 12 people there. And those people actually in the beginning were like, oh, my gosh, they're talking about us. Little old us. Look at this.
Tim Miller
Greenland in the news.
Sarah Longwell
Like, yeah, you know, we're not red, white and blue land, but Greenland, but fun. They're talking about us. And then. So they had a watch party during inauguration, and they were like, maybe he's going to talk about us. And then he started with his dark, insane thing and that. The mark said the vibe in the room was everybody's like, please don't talk about us. Please don't talk about us. Like, oh, my God, what is happening? And it went from being funny to, like, not funny. And then apparently he did skip them. And they were like, thank God, because he did. Canada, the Gulf of, you know, America, the Panama Canal. Here's my main takeaway from this. I actually. It is not funny to Canadians, and it is not funny to just joke about America's superpower invading a sovereign country, especially one that we're friends with, especially because they're like, who is this insane person? And he might do it. But I gotta say, like, just. Do I have a bad Sarah. My bad Sarah does think this is a really funny punking of MAGA followers, because MAGA followers have just. They have ingested this idea that they are on the moral high ground because they want peace. They want peace everywhere. They want. They just want. That's why we got it. That's why we got to give Putin what he wants. Because we want peace. You know, it's just, we want peace. So when Trump's like, let's invade Canada. And they're all like, yeah, do we want this? Are we. Do we care about peace? Should we go after our friends? Here I am. It's like the sort of the Scott Jennings Laura ingraham whoever. All of these people watching Trump make them get on board with this stuff. He's like slightly my favorite thing.
JVL
Did you read the transcript or did you watch? Because Laura Ingraham has this frozen face and not like the normal botoxy guys.
Sarah Longwell
I'm struggling with watching him. I did my duty.
JVL
Laura Ingraham is just this like wide eyed. No, but come on, really?
Tim Miller
You're understating it. You're understating. Laura Ingraham is like, what is happening? Laura Ingraham is like you're at Thanksgiving and you know, you come home one year and one of your parents is just like kind of tipped over to the other side of being a little kookier than they used to be. Same person, but you know, they're extra 200%.
JVL
You love them. But maybe you should take the keys out.
Tim Miller
Having that one glass of wine too many and you're like, what are you doing, Mom? Like, what are you doing?
Sarah Longwell
Suddenly they're saying, Hitler had some good points.
Tim Miller
Yeah, right.
Sarah Longwell
He made some good points.
Tim Miller
You're like, what is happening at this? And you're like, really? And, and that was how she was. She was kind of like nudging a crazy uncle. Like, are you sure that this. I mean, and this is. I don't know if you said this.
JVL
You're talking about them much worse than you do. Our actual adversaries.
Tim Miller
Yeah, and she had to correct him a couple times. She had to correct him a couple times. Yeah. He's like, he's like, no, our trade deficit is 200 billion, 200 trillion T dollars. And she's like 60. She's like, no, it's 60. And he's like, well, you have your number, I have mine.
Sarah Longwell
And it's like, where was J.D. vance to cut in and yell at her and say, how dare, how dare you. Laura Ingram, have you said thank you for all that the great Donald Trump has done for your numbers?
JVL
Yeah.
Sarah Longwell
For your ratings.
Tim Miller
But this is across the board. So Ben Shapiro did this recently. I've been trying not to suffer through his chipmunk voice after punishing myself with a full episode recently.
Sarah Longwell
Do you listen to him ever at 2 times speed? The problem with Ben Shapiro, you're like, I need this to go faster, so I need to put it on two times speed. But also then the voice becomes. You can't.
Tim Miller
Yeah, it's like the record player and you put it on the wrong setting. So Shapiro did like the thing that you have to do to your audience occasionally, like, you know, which is like Guys, guys. Especially particularly when you have a crazy audience. We only have to do this every once in a while to our people, wag our finger at them. But Ben Shapiro has to do a little more often. He's like, guys, this Canada, like, stop with the comments about how we should make Canada the 51st state. Like, this is a bad idea. Like, this is like Trump is, you know, and Ben Shapiro is being all logical. Laura Enger made this point last night. He's like, you've cost the conservative the victim. Like, there was going to be a conservative. Pierre, his name I can't pronounce. Pierre was going to be the next Prime Minister of Canada, according to all polls. And this Mark Carney guy has now taken the lead on him. Liberal, kind of a bulwarky centrist technocrat. I'm trying to get him on the pod.
JVL
Did you see what the conservative did this morning, Tim?
Tim Miller
No, what did he do?
JVL
The conservative this morning is out with the. Last night. Donald Trump endorsed my rival because he knows that he's gonna be nicer to Trump and I'll be meaner to Trump.
Tim Miller
Yeah, so this is what happened last night. So Laura Ingram's making the same argument, Ben Shapiro is, which is like this, like whole charade has tanked the conservative candidate. Don't we want a conservative leader in Canada? And Trump's like, no, who cares? I don't know. I don't care if there's a conservative leader in Canada. That's not America. He's like, if it's a liberal, I can push him around more. You know what I mean? The liberals, actually, the conservative guy I'm actually more mad at because why is he being mean to me? He's supposed to be conservative. He doesn't get it. He doesn't understand why the 51st state would be so great. I mean, so Ingraham and Shapiro are both trying to appeal to the rationality of this, which is like, the trade deficit isn't that bad. They're our ally. It actually helps us. And Trump doesn't move an inch. And he's like, Canada is meant to be our 51st state. So I don't know. This is where bad Tim comes in. If we're going to do bad everybody, I say to Marco Rubio and to Trump and to JD Vance at this point, I'm tired of hearing about it. What's the holdup? Yeah, what's the fucking holdup? Census trip.
JVL
It's vital to America's national security interest.
Sarah Longwell
Our young men and women need to go Are we putting boots on the ground?
Tim Miller
Yeah, they need to. They're meant to be the 51st state. Why are we still just talking about it on Fox News Primetime for four minutes? Like, why not right over there? Maybe you could start in Detroit. When we were in Detroit for our live show, I noticed you just pop right over the bridge there into Canada. That can be our Crimea. I think, I think it's time to do it. Windsor. Windsor. Windsor is the area I'm talking about. That can be the Crimea. You know, you see, you know, Michigan has the, you know, has the hand and people don't know.
Sarah Longwell
I think they put it up like this.
Tim Miller
Michigan has the thumb. Yeah. And we have this little territory that kind of should really be ours.
JVL
They're just like, their heart goes out to you. That's the Michigan.
Tim Miller
Yeah, that Windsor. That little area kind of between Cleveland. Like there should be a direct hit from Cleveland across Lake Erie.
Sarah Longwell
We'll just call it North Ohio.
Tim Miller
Yeah. And that should be our Crimea. And I just start there and see what happens because otherwise I don't know why you're such a pansy cuck getting pushed around by Justin Trudeau. I don't get it. So that's where I'm at on it.
JVL
So can I, can I get actually angry for a minute?
Tim Miller
Oh, yeah.
Sarah Longwell
Mh.
Tim Miller
It's coming for me. So a couple segments, you know, so.
JVL
So Trump is denigrating Canada and talking about what a loser nation it is that's always taking advantage of America. Canada. 158 Canadian soldiers died in Afghanistan. Canada didn't have any beef with Afghanistan. The Taliban didn't blow up any buildings in, in Canada. Why do they do that? They, they sent their children to die in Afghanistan because of their loyalty and friendship to America. And to. On that is. I, I don't even. It's not. Shameful isn't a big enough word. It's, it's, it's despicable.
Tim Miller
Yeah. And on top of it. Can we just throw one more thing? This was the, I think again, they spoke about this for nearly five minutes. So he covered a lot of ground. But in addition to the crazy stuff, he walks right up into saying that we won't defend Canada. Right. Like, he walks right up into being like, you know, I don't. Implying that we're not going to protect Canada like, that we have to defend them, that they don't have enough defense of their own. And like, why should we do that if they're not going to be the 51st state? So, yeah, I Mean like that's, I mean that's real, right? Like we're gagging because like Trump's not actually gonna invade Windsor. Like this is all fucking stupid moron shit that has negative consequences for no gain. So that's, you know, it's mockable but also serious. It's like we're harming our long term relationship with a close ally to the north and a very important economic partner for nothing. Cause you're not actually gonna do anything about it, right? So like that's one element of this. But like the other element is like, again, you wrote this about Germany a while back. Jvl but it's like, does Canada need to think about a nuke? I don't know. Like I can't for sure. Mark Carney is going to, if he wins this, or Pierre for that matter. Like they're probably going to start spending more on defense and like having to reorient stuff and decouple from us in various ways, like start trading with other people, you know what I mean? Like, like there are going to be real ramifications to this moronic gag that we're getting nothing out of.
JVL
Well, why wouldn't they? I mean, just thinking from the. So actually Laura Ingram brought this up, believe it or not. She said, you know, do you want the Canadians to more closely ally themselves with China?
Tim Miller
China, yeah, she did.
JVL
And the truth is, if you're Canada and you have a bellicose neighbor to your south with a gigantic border and the Chinese aren't great, but you do have an ocean between you and them, why wouldn't you? Right.
Sarah Longwell
I mean, I think that on trade at least.
Tim Miller
What about economic. Not a military partnership, but an economic.
JVL
Not a military partner, but. Right. Why not build more closer to.
Sarah Longwell
One often precedes the other. Here, here's the. Can I just say this about Trump? I don't often I let George Conway do the psychoanalyzing of Trump because I don't wanna be in that guy's head. I don't know about George.
Tim Miller
Read a lot of books and let's be honest, George is smarter than actual psychologists on this. He's had several psychologists tell him that he knows this better than they do.
Sarah Longwell
Okay, well, whatever, but. So I don't like to be innocent, but I will say it is. I think the first time we were spared a lot of like Trump's pathologies manifesting as policy. And this time we're not. And one of Trump's issues as a human being is that he's never had friends. Right. He's not a likable person who's had friends. And so he actually doesn't understand relationships. He thinks about the art of the deal, right, and how you bully people and how you leverage people, but he has no idea. And this is a thing that's actually if you've never had friends in a meaningful way, like as a human in your life, where you understand what it means to like have someone's back on the grounds of nothing's in it for me, except this relationship matters. You've never understood what loyalty meant, what shared values mean. Then his foreign policy is now reflecting his absence of understanding around those things.
Tim Miller
He's having friends with his siblings.
JVL
Yeah, but this is also. He doesn't understand that the nations. Because he's so self centered, he doesn't understand that America has interests which extend beyond his lifetime. You know, and so like a nation state, like, you know, it actually matters what the nation state of America's relationships are with other countries. And that will continue to matter once he's dead. And so, but that doesn't mean anything to him. He's like, what are you talking about? That's like speaking, you know, Swahili to him. And I would say these things are important. Like, even if he never does anything, it does change Canadian policy. Right? You know, our friends are like, oh, he's just trolling you. And this isn't real. This is a case where it actually is pretty real because it's gonna cause Canada to reorient a bunch of policies.
Sarah Longwell
Imagine, imagine. So Trump is, let's just hypothetically, Trump's a four year phenomenon. And what happens after Trump? Do the Canadians trust us again for at least a decade? Like, why would anybody trust us again?
JVL
How could you?
Sarah Longwell
And this is where. Can I just. Sorry, one last thing. I've been thinking a lot about usaid, which is not an agency I had thought much about for a long time. But as you. And what I've been thinking about is the unseen, unfelt immediate consequences that have deep long term ramifications that are difficult to see unless you're there. And if you take USAID and you couple it with Voice of America just been shuttered, you couple it with Freedom House, the entire sort of apparatus that we had, that was soft power, pro democracy stuff around the world. And you think about how, you know, we didn't have to necessarily build up all of our hard power side or even like, like CIA, you know, like we had eyes and ears around the world that were like friendly ears where we were, you know, and we could see what was happening on the ground in places and like the long term impact to American foreign policy, strength, relationships, it'll take a long time for that to come home to roost. There was another thing I saw, you know, when they cut their cutting, I think it was the CDC cut, you know, they cut a 30 year study, there's a 30 year study that's ongoing on diabetes, which is one of the biggest chronic illnesses that impacts Americans. You shut down a study in the middle of something that long, you don't get to come back from that, you lose all of that. And so I just, it's a larger point about how this stuff that we can barely see because it's happening so fast and there's so much of it, it will matter a decade from now and the maga, like Trump will probably be dead. And America's gonna have to figure out how to like we're gonna have to rebuild our entire reputation with the world.
JVL
And that's if we're lucky to be in a position to rebuild our reputation with the world.
Sarah Longwell
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JVL
All right, so the other thing Trump did yesterday is he had a phone call with Vladimir Putin. Afterwards, the White House put out a Fairly short, like 12 sentence statement and the Kremlin put out a novel. Two important things. I would say the most important thing from the Putin statement was. I'm going to read this. It was emphasized that the key condition for preventing the escalation of the conflict and working toward its resolution through political and diplomatic means should be a complete cessation of foreign military aid and the provision of intelligence information to Kyiv. So Russia is saying that the key.
Tim Miller
Negotiating position there, the key condition here.
JVL
Is that no intel or military aid can go to Ukraine. One of their other conditions is Ukraine cannot rearm. So if there's going to be a peace like Ukraine can't, can't go and rearm. They can't mobilize their, their armed forces. And. But that Putin did propose a series of hockey games between American and Russian players, and Donald Trump was really open to that.
Tim Miller
Yeah, some friendlies. There's only one piece of good news about this exchange, and so might as well start with that, is that folks haven't been reading the news. Trump did not agree immediately to that request of not rearming or giving any intelligence to Ukraine. So we did not completely surrender.
Sarah Longwell
I was going to say, like, there's a word for this. There's a word for this particular thing and it is surrender.
Tim Miller
Surrender. Yeah, we didn't do that yesterday. So that's good, I guess, something. Yeah, it's a step in the right direction. The other thing, I don't know if you. So last night, like, kind of late into the night here, Central time, there was a back and forth, continuous. I guess it was morning in Russia because Trump, in the aforementioned Laura Ingram interview. Laura asked her about. Asked her, asked Trump about this. Sorry to misgender you, Mr. President. And he said that didn't come up. Like, cessation of aid didn't come up. And then Putin, then the Kremlin put out another statement this morning that was like, this morning, Russia time. It was like. No, it did come up, actually. No, we talked about it. And I forget if Wyckoff or Rubio or somebody or a spokesperson on the White House side confirmed Trump's side of the story that it didn't come up. So I say that because it's pretty telling. Like this great peace deal. Trump is this great deal maker. He's going to solve it in 24 hours. Didn't solve in 24 hours. But you'd think that once you got to the table with Putin, then it could take about 24 hours. I think that's more of a fair interpretation of his promise. So he gets on the phone call with Putin. Putin makes him wait an hour, and then he gets to the phone call and they're on the phone for quite a while and they come out of that with these joint statements. The only thing that they actually agreed to do immediately is to stop attacks on energy infrastructure, presumably because the Ukrainian drones had recently hit Russian energy infrastructure structure. And so they put out the statements, like, within two minutes, basically, Russia was attacking Kyiv and attacking Ukraine and some of their either missiles or drones. I'm not sure it did hit energy infrastructure. So, like, the only actual thing.
Sarah Longwell
Putin didn't keep his promise.
Tim Miller
Yeah, I know. So Putin didn't keep his promise within, like two hours. And then, you know, Putin, like what Putin says was the key thing they discussed. Trump is like, we didn't discuss. So they got nowhere. They had negative progress. But on the flip side, related to the Canada story, what we did get was Trump, like, you know, kind of licking on the toes of Putin and being like, I just can't wait for our economic partnership. We're going to have hockey matches. We're going to be, we're going to do. He's like, they've got some rare earth. They got some rare. We're going to get more rare earth out of Russia. And, you know, Russia could really use some of our economic partnership. It's going to be a great partnership.
JVL
So one of the things about Putin is it is like watching another version of Trump because with Putin, like with the Magas, every accusation is a confession. And so I'm just going to read you another, another little passage from the thing from his statement. Serious risks associated with the Kiev regime's inability to respect agreements were also noted. And then attention was drawn to the barbaric terrorist, terrorist crimes committed by Ukrainian fighters against the civilian population of the Kursk region again. And look, I don't know, maybe Ukrainian forces are really committing barbaric crimes against humanity in Kursk. I don't know. But that has kind of been the entire mo. Do you see what I'm saying? Like, again, it is, it is insane that this is.
Sarah Longwell
You're suggesting perhaps the Putin doesn't have the moral high ground on some of this stuff.
JVL
Yeah, but it like to such a preposterous way that it's, I mean, it's.
Tim Miller
Not in the way that it's like maga. It's like it's the Democrats that are weaponizing the government against their political.
Sarah Longwell
It is exactly that.
Tim Miller
Right. You know, that's exactly what the Ukrainians are doing. War crimes. I mean, that, that is like the extent of the preposterousness. I guess the one difference is it is sort of like a funhouse mirror version of the Magas or the magazine are a funhouse mirror version of Putin because, like, Putin is just also so much better at the game that Trump, like, pretends that he plays, you know, like Trump pretend like, you know, for Trump, it's all like a showmanship. It's a, it's, it's a very ostentatious bullying. You know, I think we joked a couple episodes ago about how like he plays poker with the cards. You can see what his numbers are. You know what I mean? Like, you know what his playbook is. It's worked for him because, you know, A lot of people are stupid, but the, like, Putin does the thing that, like, Trump thinks that he does. Right. Which is, I'm gonna, like, wield my power. People don't know what I'm gonna do. Right. You know, the neg is defend Trump like this, which is like, he's so crazy. Who knows what he could do when everybody's like, nobody thinks he's gonna fucking send us to actually really punish Putin. Right. He doesn't have any leverage. Nobody really thinks that Putin can make.
JVL
He's got no guards.
Tim Miller
Yeah. Nobody really thinks that Putin's gonna make him so mad that he's gonna send in U.S. troops. Like, he couldn't. Right. But on the Putin side, that is kind of true. People are like, who knows, right? I mean, I don't know. Could he just say, okay, I'm happy with where we're at right now, sit on it for a year and then see how things are, then maybe invade Kyiv in a year? Sure. Could he say, fuck you, I'm going to keep on going? And by the way, while I'm at it, we're going into Moldova. Like, sure. Right. So Putin does have that strategic ambiguity that the magas like to pretend like Trump does. Hate to hand it to him don't mean you don't ever have to hand it to Putin. So not a compliment, just strategic observation.
JVL
Sarah, any thoughts?
Sarah Longwell
My only thought is because I just agree with all the things Tim said, but the. The hour of waiting, like, oh, my God. What? What? It just. Just to the point of Putin making a power play that is entirely psychological, but demonstrating from the outset that actually he's the. He's the alpha in the conversation.
JVL
Yeah, yeah. On stage, taking it.
Tim Miller
Yeah.
Sarah Longwell
Trump, take. Like, this is the thing, and I don't know, this is the thing that, like, at some point, you're like, Putin.
JVL
Understood America better than most Americans did.
Sarah Longwell
Yeah. How are we going to get people to understand that Trump is a little bitch? Like, he's just not just Putin's, but, like, in general. He just is. He's a weak, whiny guy with no real strategic acumen. Trump is a. Is a sad guy who has no friends. Putin is a murderous dictator who routinely, routinely kills people by making them fall accidentally out of windows and poisoning them. Like, I don't want Trump to be a murderous dictator. I'm not, Like, I'm not. I'm not suggesting that he would be better off if he had, like, killed lots of people. I'm just saying, like, there is an asymmetry in that Trump. And this is what Americans, I think don't understand is Trump was built on television on. On Oprah and on the Apprentice. He is not a real. He's not a real tough guy, guys. And. And. And that he can't stand up to dictators.
JVL
Putin understands America so well that he even understands that Americans will never understand that about Trump. Like, Putin. I mean, this is Trump's female, right?
Tim Miller
Yeah. He's the troll, too, though, because it's the theater of it. But here's the thing with Trump. Like, because he's a bitch in a way that, like, he picks on people that aren't his own size. You know, like, he's a bad. He's a Cartman bully, like, in the way that Cartman, like, you know, would be pick on Butters or whatever, and then. But then, like, cry if he's punched. Like, Putin again, not. Not to hand it to him. Right. But it's like, okay, like, they have. They're in a real war. Like, he's going for land. He's happy to push Trump around. I don't. He's not scared of Trump. He's not scared of, like, oh, maybe crazy.
JVL
Hundreds of thousands of his own people into a meat grinder.
Tim Miller
Yeah.
JVL
With no remorse.
Tim Miller
It's not like he's like, oh, maybe Trump will be mad at me for making him wait. Like, I shouldn't do this. I should be more judicious. Right? Then you look at Trump.
Sarah Longwell
It's the opposite of that. He's like, I'm gonna make sure I go into this conversation, and this guy knows his boss who's setting the tempo.
Tim Miller
And so who's Trump picking on? Right. We mentioned the Canadians because he feels like we have an economic advantage there and there's no real threat of violence. Like, the Canadians are gonna go to war with us, and then it is the people we can't see. Right. Like, sure, we can pick on the child in South Sudan who's gonna die because we're cutting off usaid. Because that's not a real. You know. It's not real. Right. It's. That's. To him, all part of the. You know, it's on tv. Yeah, it's all tv. I can blame that on the corruption and the bad guys in the deep state. Right? Like, we can pick on, you know, somebody that is a refugee or an asylee coming to this country, like, because, well, you know, like, I don't. Like, that's not that that person has no power over Trump, has no lever. Right. Right. And so like you can see this, like he can pick on the weenie Republican congressman because he knows that they're going to get bullied around. Right? And so like he, that so like that is just kind of the nature of this. And I mean it's been, it's pretty obvious. And when it comes to the dealings with Putin.
JVL
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Sarah Longwell
Well, we had a whole show map. That was everything. There was a bunch of other things. And now we're only talking about the stuff that just happened.
JVL
No. Well, this is. I'm going to move us on, though, to another thing he did yesterday, which is he fired two Democratic commissioners on the Federal Trade Commission, Alvaro Badoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter. Rebecca Kelly Slaughter is going to fight this. The president illegally fired me from my position as a Federal Trade Commissioner, violating the plain language of a statute and claimed clear Supreme Court precedent. The corporation she's talking about is 1935 case which upheld a law allowing the fire firing of FTC commissioners, but only for good cause. And this ruling was. Has been broadly construed to mean that it shields certain independent members from agencies from direct White House control. She's gonna go to court and sue Trump and the administration. There are a bunch of questions about this, the first of which is this is a trial balloon on firing Jerome Powell. I think. Agree, disagree.
Tim Miller
No, I mean, Jerome Powell is a dead man walking at some point. I don't exactly know when. Forget who I was talking to yesterday. And they're like, they're just gonna take over the, you know, and move interest rates down. If they don't give, they don't get what they want.
Sarah Longwell
This is so. This is. There are trial balloons everywhere. And this is right now. We are in the midst. You can't see them. What's that song? 99 Red Balloons.
JVL
99 Luft Balloons.
Tim Miller
German appropriate.
Sarah Longwell
They're sailing all around us right now, these invisible trial balloons. Mahmoud Khalil is a trial balloon. Right. You know, the Venezuelan gang members. That's a trial balloon. These are like, who's difficult. Who, who. Who do public opinion not want to defend? Right. Venezuelan gang members. So, like, we're going to defy a court order on that and let try to force people to defend. Who do people not want to defend? Right? Somebody. Well, I mean, lots of people want to defend Mahmoud Khalil. But, like, you know, it puts a lot of Republicans in a tough position of feeling like they don't want to defend somebody who has what they would. What they would consider Hamas sympathies. I have yet to see whether or not what this stuff is true. But these, the rest of these things, they're all trial balloons. It's like, can we do this? Will someone stop us? And I would just like to point out once again, the only person fighting back is just this woman who, you know, it's just, it's just some woman who's going to be like, no, I'm not going to let him do this. But yeah, no, he wants Jerome Powell because they know they're about, they know they're screwing up the economy. They know that the tariffs are going to increase inflation. Trump wants his tariffs. The only way to combat that is to lower interest rates.
JVL
Yeah, no, well, no, that's the problem. If there's inflation.
Sarah Longwell
I know, I know, but that's, but this is where. But this is what Trump doesn't understand this stuff.
JVL
If Trump fires Jerome Powell, the markets will fucking melt down. Oh, like, I mean, this is the thing that I do wonder is nobody around him to explain to him.
Tim Miller
Jerome Powell only has a year left. But seriously, right, so like he'll just, he might not even have to do that. Like he can just. The term ends and he's gonna re, he's gonna appoint some hack that'll maybe be right to just do what he wants. Don Jr. Don Jr. And here's the thing. I don't want to pretend I'm not an FTC expert and I'm not going to pretend like I am one on this podcast. But here is just for a broader picture about what is happening throughout the federal government. There are a number of these commissions that are set up like the FTC that are supposed to be nonpartisan, right? You have two members that are appointed by one party or one president, two members by the other, and then really three by the incumbent president. So that the administration that is in has a modicum of not control, but kind of guidance on what the policy, that these policies will be closer in line to what they want than what the previous administration wanted. And people were very mad at the FTC in the last administration because of Lina Khan who was the chair, who was like, she was a, a lightning rod for kind of right wing tech bros. So it's not surprising they're going after the FTC first because of her. But here's what was really going to happen is they're just going to basically bring an end to this norm. This is another quote unquote norm that is just gone. Right? Like a federal government. The FEC has already been basically neutered. But if the Federal Election Commission tries to do anything to go after them, the federal excursion might not even have any Democrats on right now because that's such a shit show. I'd have to go look. But they're not going to ever reappoint anybody to any of these things. It's the same thing for the fcc. You've just been talking about the Fed and there are a handful of these things that create stability, it creates trust, it's supposed oversight. So obviously when one administration in, it's going to have a more favorable view of an industry that it's favorable to that party than the other industry. I mean, so it's not like these things are perfect, but having the other, the minority party commissioners on there allows for like in the extreme cases they're like, okay, well even the Republicans will go after this bad actor in this industry. Or even the Democrats are like, this has gone too far when this union, the NRLB is another one of these, like this union activity. Right. So I just think that this is just going to be another example of who knows if this matters in any meaningful way in the short term, but like long term it is just totally weakening another one of these more nonpartisan institutions and turning the government into just a more soft, authoritarian type government.
JVL
Sarah, you're not going to like this. You're not going to like this at all.
Sarah Longwell
I'm ready.
JVL
Joe Biden had to replace one of the Republican slots on the ftc and so he replaced him with a Republican, a guy named Andrew Ferguson, because Joe Biden believed in all these.
Tim Miller
Andy Ferguson from, not from the weekly standards.
JVL
Not that different. Andrew Ferguson, this guy who is now the chairman of the, of the FTC was asked about Trump firing the two Democrats and he said that he has, quote, no doubts that Trump has the constitutional authority to do it and it is, quote, necessary to ensure democratic accountability for our government. So this guy who benefited from the norms to get onto the FTC because Democratic president believed in them, then turns around and as soon as he's inside the House is participating in the dismantling of said norms. Was it a mistake for Joe Biden to surrender preemptively and unilaterally disarm?
Sarah Longwell
It was a mistake for him to choose that guy. I mean, I don't know. There's probably, there's probably a different right leaning person who has a correct understanding of the Constitution. They're still around. They still exist.
JVL
Maybe would have in the Republican Party.
Sarah Longwell
I, yeah, I mean, who identify as conservatives and who would have the pedigree, the longtime pedigree of Republicans, but who are not Trumpists. If, if you're Joe Biden, if you're the Democrats and you got to pick one, you could pick, I mean, I, you still know them and So I would have picked somebody who was a longtime conservative but that you trusted to uphold the Constitution.
Tim Miller
I don't think that it was a mistake in Joe Biden going back, but to my point, I. It's over, right? You know, like, assuming we move forward on this. Right. What you think that president. I mean, who knows? Maybe they will. And this will nicely transition us into talking about Chuck Schumer. But, like, think president, whatever. Chris Murphy, Josh Shapiro, aoc. Jasmine Crockett. Yes, President Jasmine Crockett. Or Cuban are gonna. Cuban what? I guess because he's more of an outsider. But, like, are these guys gonna appoint a Republican to this board? Like, I guess. I mean, maybe, but I don't. To me, it's kind of like, I think it's over. You know, one of the things I Remember from the 2016 traumatizing election night was a tweet that I saved from somebody that said, things have gotten so serious that I've stopped drinking. That message sticks with me. You know, sometimes when you're going through trauma, you want to have one, have a drink or two, but sometimes things are so bad that you start thinking to yourself, maybe I shouldn't be drinking. And if that's you, if you've given up drinking, or maybe you're just drinking less because you're on a health kick. Or maybe, like me, you've got to do a podcast every morning and you don't want to have a hangover and you're looking for an alternative. Today's sponsor, Sol's New out of Office Beverages, might be just exactly what you're looking for. Sol's New out of Office Beverages are perfectly microdosed with hemp derived THC and CBD to give any situation that vacation vibe, which you can now buy in all 50 states thanks to the 2018 farm bill, which my husband actually worked on. The out of Office beverages not only come in two mouthwatering flavors, Raspberry lemonade and Cucumber Melon Lime. They also offer two different doses, 2.5mg THC and 5mg THC. Feel the freedom to choose with 6, 12 or 24 packs so you can drink your THC in any way you like. Ahadvafa's beverages give you that warm, fuzzy, euphoric feeling without sending you to the moon. You can crack one open after a hard day at work, wind down with your favorite TV show, or share a six pack with friends at your next hangout. Whatever floats your boat. And that's not all. Whether you're looking for a sleep aid, enhanced focus, or pain relief. Sol has all your wellness needs covered. Plus all of Sol's products are grown right here in the US of A. America. First, let me tell you, with the office drinks, as I mentioned, as I've mentioned a couple times before, I'm trying to look for alternatives. So I'm not hungover when I'm doing these podcasts for you. When you become, when you hit 42 glasses of wine, three glasses of wine, and you're not really at 100% the next day. So an out of office drink is a good alternative. But Also my husband's 40th, you know, we had these in the fridge. And if you're having people over for little barbecue, a little party is a nice alternative for some of your guests. You know, people that might be sober for whatever reason, people that might be driving home. I just want a little 2.5 or THC out of office drink, something to look into. They were very highly reviewed. And let me tell you, my fridge is empty right now, so I've got to go reload myself. So if you want to feel your best head to getsoul.com and use code the next level for 30% off your order. That's 30% off your order. Using code the next level one last time, getsoul.com and code thenextlevel for 30% off.
JVL
This brings us to the Chuck Sherman thing. So this morning we had some breaking news that in Ann Carney and Luke Broadwater's new book, they sat down with Chuck Schumer over a glass of wine in June of 2023 and asked him about what the Republican Party was going to do. And he said, here's my hope. After this election, when the Republican Party expels the turd of Donald Trump, it will go back to being the old Republican Party.
Sarah Longwell
Did he say that?
JVL
That's, that's Schumer's quote.
Sarah Longwell
You know, it's funny, I, whenever I'm doing like a talk or something in front of people, I always, I have a whole thing that I say where I'm like, let me save you guys some time. The Republican Party that you knew 10 years ago is never coming back. Like, do not, like, promise you gone really deep on this one and it is not coming back. And this is the problem is these guys do not get into the world. They do not. And they, and they, they, they go out for drinks with the Republicans or they talk to them in their office and like, they're like, it's all just, you know, we're gonna bide our time till this guy's over. Get in the world and listen to voters. Understand the incentives that are being created for this party. Understand what people want. These guys, it's Nikki Haley and like, this is where Pence. Like these guys, they ran for president. I'm like, who do you think is voting for you? Have you talked to a voter? They want to murder you. The ones in your own party.
Tim Miller
Nikki Haley, the only people, they went to Sea Island.
Sarah Longwell
Yeah, they went to the AEI retreat. Yeah, this is these. These guys have no idea what's going on. What is the. What do the kids say? They do not know what time it is.
Tim Miller
They don't know what time it is. And they are not cooking or slaying.
JVL
Sarah. But I want you to. To say it for the viewers. Why is it that the party isn't going back?
Sarah Longwell
Okay, I see what you're saying.
JVL
You know the answer. I know. I know the answer to this and you do too. I just want you to say it for people because they need to. They need to hear you do your thing.
Sarah Longwell
It is. Look, the voters in the. Like, there's been so much. I'm going to. People are red pilled. This is not a Republican Party anymore. Right. There are the voters, they want to fight. Like there is. I mean, the Maha and Elon. Like everything has changed. Everything has changed. There is no limited government, free markets, American leadership in the world. Well, actually there is a party like that. It's like kind of the Democrats. It's like the center left of them. But like they're just. There's no Republican Party that believes in anything. And both the voters.
JVL
You're talking about the voter level, right?
Sarah Longwell
Yeah, I know you're trying to. You. You heard me say the voters and now you're like, this is what I say. But I don't. You say that they're all stupid.
JVL
I'm giving you a chance to do the triangle.
Sarah Longwell
Is that what you want? Oh, I see what you want.
JVL
No, I'm giving you the whole.
Sarah Longwell
I was trying to.
JVL
No, I'm not. This is not entrapment.
Sarah Longwell
This is witness. Yeah, I'm trying to give you your. Sarah, say it. Say the voters are all corrupt. And I'm serious. And this is why it all happens. No, it is Republican triangle of doom. It is that there is. I haven't talked about this as much on this show, so if you're new to this show, the Republican triangle of doom, which these guys laugh when I. Thank you. Particular.
JVL
Thank you.
Tim Miller
I just. If only it was a diamond of doom.
Sarah Longwell
It is the toxic and symbiotic relationship between voters, the elected officials, and the right wing media infotainment ecosystem. And they loop on each other. And as a result, there is no. There's no going back, guys. There's no going back.
Tim Miller
We're surely not going back. We do know that that was a statement of fact. I don't know if you saw this, but Schumer, in addition to talking about how the Republicans were going to get into, you know, get rid of the turd of Trump, I want to pull this up here. Something that he said on the Daily show with Jon Stewart. He said this. I talked to them, the Republicans. To them here. One of the places is in the gym. When you're on that bike in your shorts, panting away next to a Republican, a lot of the inhibitions come off in the gym. And then like, Stuart is like, what the fuck? In the gym. They're only being agreeable with you because they want you to leave them alone. Like, what are you talking about? Like, they're not. They're not with you. And I just think the fact that he, like, I apologize, Sarah, for that.
Sarah Longwell
Visual image of Chuck just ruined my morning.
Tim Miller
Well, I think it's good for all of us. Why?
JVL
She's a lesbian.
Tim Miller
Yeah. It's also good for all of us to not eat breakfast. You know, like, we're keeping. This is part of my service to everybody. Skip a meal. Think about Chuck Schumer and your shorts. Keep it tight. Beach season's coming. But like, those two statements together, right? Just betray that. No matter what you think about the strategic decision about the shutting down of the government. Right. Like that. Even if you agree that, like, ugh, it was too risky to shut down the government, who knows what Ross Vote and Elon Musk would have done that. Chuck just doesn't get it. Like, from a strategic point, he doesn't understand the foe. And you cannot beat your foe if you do not understand them. Right. Like, you just, you can't. That is just a basic lesson from any military history book, sports, Sun Tzu. Sun Tzu. You got to understand your foe. Chuck doesn't. Chuck still thinks that his foe is Susan Collins or whatever. I guess he's not talking to her in the gym. But whoever Todd Young, who has secret to Bill Cassidy, who have secret doubts about this, that's not it. That's not who you're up against. And so the Democrats can't move forward with a leader that doesn't understand the opposition.
JVL
Go a little further. I think it's dangerous to have a leader who doesn't understand either the opposition or the opposition party or the voters or the moment or the culture. Like, I think that's how you wind up. That's how you wind up in making a dangerous situation more risky.
Sarah Longwell
Well, and also, I'm sorry, the irony of this guy going and telling Biden, right at his beach house, he also, I believe, had a glass of wine, sat down with Biden and said, buddy, it's time for you to go. And that Chuck Schumer can't look inward and be like, you know what? Actually, I don't think I know how.
JVL
To call him up and say, hey, Chuck.
Sarah Longwell
I know. Hey, Bob.
Tim Miller
Also, Nancy did it. Also, Nancy did it. Like you could just do it. Nancy, I'm not even asking you to retire. I know that that's the great fear of every boomer, that they'd have to retire and spend time with their family and not work anymore. I know that that's everybody's great fear. But, like, you don't. And we're not even asking you to do that. You're not up again until 2028. You don't have to worry about that AOC primary for three years. So you can just do it. Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi did, and just move aside and let somebody that fucking understands the moment lead the. Lead the caucus.
JVL
All right, we got a. We got a heart out today. And we got to get to dessert.
Tim Miller
Okay.
JVL
A few days ago, a state senator in Minnesota, Justin Eichorn, proposed making Trump Derangement Syndrome an actual mental illness in the great state of Minnesota, the land of 10,000 lakes. Yesterday.
Sarah Longwell
Looks like I won't be going to the, you know, Twin Cities anytime soon.
Tim Miller
Mall of America. Or maybe we can have a kiosk in the Mall of America where we get Xanax or something. That's to offset our Trump Derangement Syndrome.
JVL
Yesterday, Minnesota State Senator Justin Eichhorn was arrested for soliciting sex from a 16 year old girl. I'm going to read from the report. Bloomington Police led Eichhorn, 40, to believe that he was talking to a 16 year old girl and then met the senator and arrested him Monday near the 8300 block of Normandale Avenue. So this isn't a. Well, somebody forwarded some text messages to the cops and maybe it was complicated. This was. The police were running their.
Sarah Longwell
A sting.
JVL
It was a stinger. This is To Catch a Predator. Basically.
Tim Miller
Chris Hansen and I Chris Hansen, he showed up in the house. And Chris Hansen's like. Because you have a seat down on the stool.
JVL
Justin, could you throw a picture. Sebastian, could you throw a picture of Justin Eichorn up on the screen for us, please? Because, guys, I want to tell you, it's always the ones you most.
Sarah Longwell
It's always the ones you most expect. That's right.
JVL
When you look at Justin Eichhorn, I mean, the first thing you think is, this guy got elected to public office. The second thing you think of is, oh, yeah, he's one of those.
Tim Miller
Yeah, it's a shame. It's really a shame. I do feel bad for his kids, but, I don't know.
JVL
Better to have him in jail.
Tim Miller
Yeah, probably. That's a great point. That's a great point. You know, because he's also.
Sarah Longwell
You can feel bad for his kids that this is.
JVL
Feel bad for them, but I think there's a better outcome for his kids.
Sarah Longwell
Yeah. Because there's a lot of kids now who aren't going to be sexually predator because this guy is in jail.
JVL
Right.
Tim Miller
That's a great point. Yeah. But in addition to, you know, coming after Trump, Trajan syndrome, obviously, big family values guy, you know, big person talking about how, you know, the wokes and the LGBTQIA plus people, Big danger to your children. Big danger.
JVL
Just leave your children with me.
Tim Miller
Yeah. You know, turns out, it's interesting you might want to know, you might also notice he's not a drag queen.
Sarah Longwell
Have you seen this face before? Tim, are you watching?
Tim Miller
I'm trying not to watch. Not transition. Not a drag queen. Not trying to go into women's bathrooms.
Sarah Longwell
I'm not gonna get this entirely right, but the late, great Christopher Hitchens had this formulation where he said, show me your big, like, homophobe, anti gay who's, you know, you're preaching all the time, yelling about these groups and then set your watch because down the road you're gonna find that person arrested on their knees in a bathroom with a transsexual Apache. I can't remember what his formulation is. It's some biggest thing. But the point is. The point is the people who are most vociferous, always the ones who are most vociferously pro. Oh, family values, all this stuff. Who turn out to be, you know, in the Beetlejuice showing of Beetlejuice, you know, doing a. I'm not gonna say what was being done, but it's Matt. It's Matt Gaetz. When. Listen, I'll just say, is it the. This is a party right now, who their QAnon wing, which is not an insubstantial wing, is sure that there is a child trafficking sex ring happening in the basement of a pizzeria so sure that they show up with a gun. That guy got killed later, by the way, by the cops. Because these people are crazy. And what Democrats can't mount a good affirmative campaign about all the pedophiles on the right. Feels like we should. Feels like there's a problem. Feels like there's a problem here, guys.
Tim Miller
Feels like there's a deep problem with the pedophilia. Maybe it's a. Maybe this is like a false flag or the whole QAnon thing was a cover to prevent people from looking at the pedophiles within their own ranks. Yeah.
JVL
You know, really makes you think. Look, we're just asking questions.
Tim Miller
Just asking questions, guys.
JVL
Good show, actually. Great show.
Tim Miller
Great show.
JVL
Long show. Hit. Subscribe. Hit like follow us on the channel. We will be together live this, this week in Phoenix, Arizona. It's going to be great. I'm looking forward to it. We will have probably that bonus show out for people maybe if they subscribe to Bulwark Plus. See you guys next week.
Tim Miller
Peace.
JVL
Good luck, America.
Podcast Summary: The Next Level – "All the Ways Trump Is a B*tch"
Released on March 19, 2025, "The Next Level" podcast by The Bulwark features hosts Sarah Longwell, Tim Miller, and Jonathan V. Last (JVL) delving into the tumultuous political landscape shaped by Donald Trump's actions and rhetoric. This episode centers on Trump's controversial statements, his relationship with Vladimir Putin, and the broader implications for American politics and international relations.
The episode kicks off with JVL referencing a bizarre interview between Donald Trump and Fox News’s Laura Ingraham. Trump spent a significant portion of the interview discussing the annexation of Canada—a topic previously absent from Republican discourse.
Notable Quote:
Sarah and Tim express skepticism about the public’s interest in Trump's annexation of Canada, highlighting the lack of attention outside political circles.
Notable Quote:
Sarah brings up Trump's intense focus on making Canada the 51st state, an idea that has perplexed both Americans and Canadians. The discussion highlights the absurdity of considering the annexation of a sovereign, friendly nation.
Notable Quote:
Tim sarcastically suggests practical ways to implement Trump's plans, such as starting with Detroit or Windsor, drawing parallels to the Crimea annexation.
Notable Quote:
The hosts delve into Trump's phone call with Vladimir Putin, analyzing the Kremlin's response and Trump's diplomatic maneuvering. They argue that Putin possesses a strategic understanding that Trump lacks, leading to ineffective negotiations.
Notable Quotes:
Sarah criticizes Trump’s inability to form meaningful international relationships, contrasting him with Putin's calculated approach.
Notable Quote:
The discussion emphasizes the negative impact of Trump's rhetoric on U.S.-Canada relations, fearing long-term damage even if actual annexation remains unlikely. Sarah raises concerns about Canada's potential pivot towards China in response to strained relations.
Notable Quote:
JVL shifts the conversation to Trump firing two Democratic commissioners from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), highlighting the potential erosion of nonpartisan institutions. This move signifies a broader trend of undermining governmental norms and checks.
Notable Quote:
Tim discusses the dangers of dismantling commissions like the FTC, FEC, and FCC, which are meant to provide stability and oversight.
Notable Quote:
The hosts explore new revelations from Chuck Schumer, who expressed hopes that the Republican Party would revert to its traditional values once Trump is expelled. Sarah vehemently disagrees, arguing that the party is irreparably changed.
Notable Quotes:
Sarah introduces the concept of the "Republican Triangle of Doom," describing the intertwined relationship between voters, elected officials, and media as a barrier to returning to traditional Republican values.
In a brief but significant segment, the hosts discuss the arrest of Minnesota State Senator Justin Eichorn for soliciting sex from a minor. They criticize the hypocrisy of conservative politicians who vocally oppose such behaviors while engaging in misconduct.
Notable Quote:
Sarah and Tim highlight the irony and undermine the credibility of conservative figures who preach strong moral stances yet fail to uphold them.
Notable Quote:
The episode concludes with the hosts reflecting on the pervasive impact of Trump's actions on both domestic politics and international relations. They emphasize the long-term consequences of undermining institutional norms and the challenges of restoring trust in American leadership post-Trump.
Notable Quote:
JVL [51:18]: “It's how you wind up in making a dangerous situation more risky.”
Overall, this episode of "The Next Level" provides a critical examination of Donald Trump's influence on American politics, his strained relationship with key international allies, and the internal challenges facing both the Republican and Democratic parties. The hosts blend sharp analysis with engaging banter, offering listeners a comprehensive overview of the current political climate shaped by Trump's enduring legacy.