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Podcast Host (Aaron)
some major developments this afternoon. Donald Trump is quote desperate. He is desperate to end the war in Iran and he thinks he can sell any end any deal to his MAGA base to those who voted for him and sell it as a win. He's looking for any way to get out of this war, the war that he started. The war that has put the United States in a worse off position today than we were two months ago, according to the Atlantic. He really, really wants this done and the reason why is because gas prices continue to soar, affordability is non existent and no matter what he tries, he continues to lose ground among voters and he needs the voters. Because if he doesn't win in November, he will be a lame duck president facing investigation after investigation, impeachment after impeachment. Like Comment Share subscribe get the word out. Subscribe to my substack. Click the link link below to support my work if you can. Right now, according to the Atlantic, President Trump really, really wants the war to end. He is convinced that he can sell any sort of agreement as a win, according to his advisors and his aides. And he's doing it because gas prices are soaring. The price of an average barrel, a gallon of gas, $4.55 on average today. That is up 52.7% since February 28, the start of the war. The average price of diesel, $5.66 a gallon, up $1.90. That's 50.5% increase. Airfare is up $30 since the start of the war, 9%. International airfare is up $326 on average for a ticket, up 42% or so since the war began in Iran. And, well, here's what the president has to say when asked, why aren't you
Katie Porter
doing more backdrop of war in Iran? Why focus on all these projects right now?
Donald Trump
You know why? Because I want to keep our country beautiful and safe. Beautiful also. This place was a disgusting place. It was Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial. And we had a terrible discussion. I don't know, you probably don't see dirt, but I do. And you walk down this, this pond, if you were to walk down, they'll tell you better than anybody, they had to take 11 or 12 truckloads of garbage out of that lake, out of that water. And it sat there for years like that. And that's not what our country is about. Our country is about beauty, cleanliness, safety, great people. Not a filthy capital. It's such a stupid question. U S, we're fixing up the reflecting pond to the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument. And you say, why are you fixing it up? Because you can understand dirt maybe better than I can, but I don't allow it. This is one of the worst reporters. She's with ABC Fake News, and she's a horror show. She's saying, why would you bother fixing this up? Why would I bother taking 11 or 12 truckloads of filth out of the water in front of the Lincoln Monument? That's what made our country great. Beauty made our country, people made our country great.
Podcast Host (Aaron)
A question like that, he's lashing out. But here's the thing. Here's what Vice President Harris had to Say about the war in Iran, she's calling it, quote, when you look at
Vice President Kamala Harris
this, this war in Iran, which the American people do not want, which was not authorized by conference but even if it was, it should not have been initiated. He talked about obliterating and then he said, oh, he did this all just
Katie Porter
bullshit.
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Katie Porter
I promised I'm not gonna curse in public anymore. We're your ruminants friend.
Wayfair Advertiser
You made me do that.
Katie Porter
She was over here just.
Vice President Kamala Harris
But what is happening though is we are not only losing our authority, we are literally engaged. Where we are talking about billions of dollars, where we're talking about gas prices going up, where we're talking about the American people suffering and for what. And that's, you know, this is part of how we have to understand how the irresponsibility.
Podcast Host (Aaron)
She's right. And it's what a lot of Americans are feeling these days when it comes to affordability. I'm going to talk to Katie Porter who's running for governor momentarily. But a part of the cost of living that's truly not ever talked about is the cost of Medicare every single month and the cost of health care. A lot of you are cutting back on groceries, driving further to save on gas, canceling things you used to enjoy. But your Medicare plan, that bill keeps coming and most people never look at it twice. Here's the thing. Medicare plans change every year. What your options are and what you're paying now, what's covered now it may not be what it was when you signed up and you'd never know unless you actually looked. That's why I'm partnering with chapter. They're independent Medicare advisors, the only ones that compare every plan nationwide. Their advisors are salaried. They don't get paid to push certain plans. They look at doctors, your prescriptions, what matters to you, and they tell you the truth. If you're already on the right plan, they'll say so. If you're not, they'll help you switch. Just last year, seniors who found new plans saved on average $1,100 on healthcare costs. That's real money and it's free help in under 20 minutes. So call Chapter today at 864-538-066-48645 380664. Here is my conversation with Katie Porter. Super excited today to be joined by Katie Porter who's running for governor of California. You got less than a month to go. Why should voters in California pick you to be the next governor of California versus, say becerra or Steyer or any of the other ones in the race.
Katie Porter
Because I'm really the candidate who understands that the status quo of what we've been doing in California will not make life affordable. And I understand affordability in a way that I think no billionaire possibly can. I understand it because I'm a single parent of three teenagers who are staring squarely at the cost of living in California and whether they're able to stay stay here. But I also understand it because my life's work has been dealing with and helping families who are facing cost pressures. Everything from families in bankruptcy that I studied under Elizabeth Warren, to running the statewide foreclosure prevention and eviction program after the financial crisis, to taking big Pharma executives to task in Congress. We just can't keep doing what we've been doing in California. We need to do better. And I think I have a unique vision of how to do that and kind of a willingness to to, because I don't take corporate contributions to be able to go toe to toe with the interest in Sacramento. In a way, that's about progress. And I think that's what every Californian deserves.
Podcast Host (Aaron)
We talk about affordability and something top of mind for not just California residents, but really all Americans is gas prices. Right now, gas prices are out of control, but in California, I would say they were pretty high even before the war in Iran as well, with some places you having to pay 5, $, 6 a gallon of gas. That's some points. How are you going to lower the cost of gas?
Katie Porter
Yep. So Donald Trump has definitely added to the gas taxes with his war in Iran. No doubt about that. But you can't elect a candidate who stops there, because that is a candidate who is just not going to own California's own challenges. Don't get me wrong, Donald Trump makes things worse. But some of our problems like this were our problems before. I do think you need someone who's willing to be radically honest with voters and explain that part of the reason our gas costs are higher is because we have our own fuel blend. And that fuel blend has meant dramatic reductions in air pollution and respiratory disease. We pay more for our fuel because of that, because it's refined here to our own specification. The cost of not doing that, Erin, is people with more asthma, more smog, more particulate matter, higher health care costs. So there are lots of costs that I am squarely focused on bringing down. Most of all the big stuff, the stuff like housing that eats up 50, 60, 70, 80% of a family's budget the cost of childcare, which is more than the cost of college tuition now. So I've rolled out plans for free childcare for a tuition free UC or CSU Cal State degree because those are the big stuff that will free up flexibility in people's budgets to pay a little more, maybe for gas, but get a lot more out of it, which is much cleaner air. We also have to work to make make electric vehicles more affordable for people. Like I hear people talk about range anxiety. That what a bunch of nonsense. That is not why people are not buying electric vehicles. They're not buying electric vehicles because the same model car that they've picked out costs $10,000 more or $8,000 more if it's an electric vehicle. And we're not going to make progress unless we bring those costs down. So ultimately the solution is don't be dependent on a scarce commodity controlled by an international cartel. That is, that is, that is gas. And you know, I was born in 1974 in the midst of a gas crisis. We, we've been here before and we're back here again.
Podcast Host (Aaron)
Now. You mentioned affordability as it relates to housing. If you went on Zillow today and looked what you could get for a million bucks in LA or San Francisco might be a shed on the side of the street, how are you going to make sure housing costs go down, especially for young people who are trying to buy their first homes?
Katie Porter
Yeah. So first, this issue is personal for me because I have a background in housing. I mentioned I ran for three years a statewide program to help Californians try to stay in their homes. It's also personal for me because I'm raising three teenagers. And one of our ads, we show my teenage daughter standing behind my son who's lying on the couch and she's holding a whiteboard that says a home even he can afford because this is my kids questions. How are we possibly going to earn enough to be able to put the down payment down on a California house? So here's the thing. Yes to more supply. That is right. More housing is going to help drive down prices. But the housing has to be cheaper to build or it doesn't do any good to have more housing that is unaffordable. If it's pricing out at a million dollars because of the square foot construction cost, you will never have cheaper housing. Time is money. We build two years slower in California than Colorado. And so we don't have to compare ourselves to Texas and say no zoning and no environment. Colorado has good environmental rules. They have good labor protections, but they're building two years faster. That two years adds 10 to 20% to the cost of housing. So if you say to someone right now who's paying $3,000 a month in rent, we could take 20% off that, that is $600 a month. That is a lot of change for people. And so the faster piece has to happen. Some of that is per permitting reform, it's construction reform, building code design, all of those things. And for the deeply affordable housing for people who really are not able to work or earn very low incomes, the state has to kick in the land in order so that the, the cost of building the homes, we're not adding the land to that or the cost. Right now the cost of building affordable housing in California is about $850,000 for a single unit. And that's sounds affordable for. It's not sustainable for taxpayers either.
Podcast Host (Aaron)
Right. I do got to ask you about healthcare briefly. A lot of folks, a lot of critics say single payer healthcare is a pipe dream. What's your response?
Katie Porter
Well, so look, a lot of things that Democrats have achieved have been characterized as pipe dreams before we got them right. So Social Security was a pipe dream back in the day. Being able to have a five day work week was a pipe dream back in the day. And we got there. I will say that single payer, the traditional way of getting there has always involved federal cooperation. And so that was the model that when I was in Congress, when I ran for Congress, that was what we were thinking about. And the problem we have right now is with Trump in office, with Republicans in charge, both of which I hope end as quickly as possible. But they are putting attacks onto health care that are so big, so devastating that we might need to go at it alone. This might be a moment for radical rethinking of health care, including a state run single payer system. So right now, 25% of our hospitals in California are projected to close because of HR1, the big ugly bill, 25% of hospitals. So if states are going to have to step in, we already have about half of Californians, a third of Californians on our medical system. So it is a big change. But the alternative to go back to having a bunch of uninsured people is really unpalatable. It should not be acceptable to us. So we have to have a bold conversation about this.
Podcast Host (Aaron)
I do got to ask you about working with the Trump administration because if you're governor, you will have a couple years of Trump. And right now we have Governor Newsom in California, who's taken a very adversarial stance to the president. Would you do something different? Would you work with the president and try to kind of build bridges with him? Yeah.
Katie Porter
So I think this is pretty straightforward. You start off saying to the president, hi, I'm the new governor. California really needs X and Y. And you see what he says. And if Donald Trump is eager and willing to help do some of the things California needs to do, then great. So we are spending a lot in California on GLP1 medications, for example, and they are making people healthy and helping us reduce heart attack risk, stroke risks, lots of really expensive, bad health care outcomes. If he wants to make those free or low cost and negotiate prices, hell yes. The problem has been, as you know, Aaron, most of the time, when California has said they need something or we do something, he has told us to shove off. And when he tries to hurt Californians, the governor has to be 100% fierce and has to be bold and imaginative in thinking about how we are going to not just safeguard California, but keep California moving forward on things like green energy, despite the Trump administration. So a good example is Donald Trump created a federal wildland firefighter chief role that coordinates those wildland firefighters that are in Department of Agriculture, Department of Interior, DoD. That's a really helpful thing for California. We have a ton of federal land here. So great. Like, there's actually something that I could get behind and support, and I was excited to see him do. But day after day, what Californians are feeling is that their health premiums are going up on the Affordable Care Act. They're worried about families being family members being deported. They're worrying about attacks on education. I mean, cuts to our universities. Like, people are feeling the pain of Donald Trump. And so you have to be willing to fight that, and you have to show people that you get that it's not theoretical, it's not even political. It is deeply personal for people who are losing things like health care in this moment or worried about a family member being deported in this moment.
Podcast Host (Aaron)
Now, before I let you go, I gotta ask you. A lot of folks are worried about a possible lockout in California. You have a lot of Democrats running. You have two primary Republicans running. Do you share those concerns?
Katie Porter
So there was a time a few months ago that I was a little bit worried, and I'm not worried anymore. And I want to tell everyone why. The Democratic side of this race has been pretty widely reported, has been a little chaotic. We've had a lot of people who entered and exited. We at different points we've had people who were going to run and didn't run. The Republican side has been very, very stable. And what we have seen with each passing day is the one Republican, Hilton pulls further and further away from the other Republican. So I now think there is a wide gap between those two Republicans. Chad Bianco, the Republican who's not gonna win is every time he takes the debate stage, he says something patently crazy like we need to get over racism. Right? I mean, he's just losing even the most conservative Republican voters. So Donald Trump has endorsed Steve Hilton. Steve Hilton has outraged Bianca. When we have seen that gap, they were tied. They are now six, seven points across. And that has stayed stable. So the question for Californians is, look, you've got three, maybe four Democrats. I am one of them in the position to potentially win. And what do you want for your state? What, like we need a governor who understands what AI is, how it works, how it is already affecting classrooms and people's work. We need a governor who's going to show that we can stand up to corporations and also make sure that business is adding jobs. Like you can do both of those things. It is not a choice. I am the only Democratic candidate that is not taking corporate contributions and yet here we find ourselves in the thick of it in this final stretch, down the stretch in this race. So California needs someone who will make changes, but we also need somebody who has that experience to understand how government works, how legislatures think, what the role of the federal government is vis a vis the state government. And I think I have that combination of a fresh voice, a different way of doing everything, combined with having the experience and the knowledge of government to be able to start strong on day one.
Podcast Host (Aaron)
Katie Porter, thanks so much for the time.
Katie Porter
Thank you.
Podcast Host (Aaron)
Hey folks, thanks so much for watching. Feel free to add this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere you watch for the latest breaking news and daily hits throughout the day. Make sure to follow subscribe. See you soon for more A Better
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Podcast Host (Aaron)
Wayfair Every style, Every home.
Host: Aaron Parnas
Date: May 8, 2026
In this episode, Aaron Parnas dives into the latest developments surrounding President Trump’s escalating desperation to end the war with Iran. The conversation covers the political and economic fallout of the conflict—including soaring gas prices, its impact on the average American, and Trump’s motivations as the November election looms. The episode also features an in-depth interview with Katie Porter, Democratic candidate for governor of California, who discusses affordability, housing, health care, and the dynamics of state-federal relations under the Trump administration.
Timestamps: [01:54] – [03:42]
“Donald Trump is quote desperate. He is desperate to end the war in Iran and he thinks he can sell any deal to his MAGA base...He really, really wants this done and the reason why is because gas prices continue to soar, affordability is nonexistent.”
– Aaron Parnas ([01:54])
Timestamps: [03:42] – [06:31]
“I want to keep our country beautiful and safe...this place was a disgusting place...That’s what made our country great. Beauty made our country, people made our country great.”
– Donald Trump ([03:48])
“This war in Iran, which the American people do not want, which was not authorized by Congress...He talked about obliterating and then he said, oh, he did this all just bullshit.”
– Kamala Harris ([05:18])
Timestamps: [06:31] – [13:39]
Timestamps: [07:58] – [19:59]
“Donald Trump makes things worse. But some of our problems like this were our problems before...Part of the reason our gas costs are higher is because we have our own fuel blend.”
– Katie Porter ([09:18])
“The housing has to be cheaper to build or it doesn’t do any good to have more housing that is unaffordable... Time is money. We build two years slower in California than Colorado.”
– Katie Porter ([11:41])
“A lot of things that Democrats have achieved have been characterized as pipe dreams before we got them...We might need to go at it alone. This might be a moment for radical rethinking of health care.”
– Katie Porter ([13:48])
Cooperation vs Combat:
Porter says she’d approach Trump pragmatically—“Hi, I’m the new governor. California really needs X and Y”—but would fight back fiercely if California’s interests are attacked ([15:31]).
Examples of Collaboration:
Trump’s federal wildland firefighter chief role seen as a rare plus; otherwise, most policies called “painful for Californians.”
“We need a governor who understands what AI is...who can stand up to corporations and also make sure that business is adding jobs. Like you can do both of those things. It is not a choice.”
– Katie Porter ([17:45])
“If he doesn’t win in November, he will be a lame duck president facing investigation after investigation, impeachment after impeachment.”
— Aaron Parnas ([02:25])
“You can understand dirt maybe better than I can, but I don’t allow it.”
— Donald Trump ([04:16])
“The alternative to go back to having a bunch of uninsured people is really unpalatable. It should not be acceptable to us.”
— Katie Porter ([14:41])
Aaron Parnas maintains an urgent, informed, and analytical tone. Katie Porter’s language is direct, pragmatic, and empathetic, grounded in lived experience and policy expertise. Trump’s tone is defensive and combative, with meandering and personal responses. Harris’s tone is pointed and critical.
This episode offers a sharp look at the intersection of policy, economics, and electoral strategy amidst the Iran war fallout. Aaron Parnas anchors the discussion with data and analysis, while Katie Porter’s detailed responses foreground the stakes for Californians and Americans at large. The episode is essential listening for anyone tracking the shifting ground of U.S. politics and policy as the 2026 election approaches.