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- [00:01]
A
Close your eyes, exhale, feel your body relax and let go of whatever you're carrying today. Well, I'm letting go of the worry that I wouldn't get my new contacts in time for this class. I got them delivered free from 1-800-contacts. Oh my gosh, they're so fast.
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B
And breathe.
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A
Oh, sorry. I almost couldn't breathe when I saw the discount they gave me on my first order. Oh, sorry. Namaste. Visit 1-800-contacts.com today to save on your first order.
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C
1-800-contacts.
- [00:31]
D
I started Ornod in 2013 and we make bike apparel. The best part of Shopify for me is our ability to run the business as essentially non technical people. We're able to admin everything on the back end, front end and sell things online easily. If Shopify were a bike accessory, I think it would actually be the bicycle. It's the thing that you do the thing on. We run the business on Shopify. So start your free trial on shopify.com communism.
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B
That's the new red scare being put forth by the federal government by the Trump administration. Everything communism touches is bad. Communism is worse than 9 11. Communism is worse than Pearl Harbor. But what if I told you that everything the administration has done over the past several weeks is building a communist society? In fact, the Trump administration is now owning and operating its own deportation airline, government run airline. It is helping operate gas stations and pressuring gas station owners to lower the cost of gas for political benefit for the administration. Government operated gas stations. It may even take a stake in OpenAI, one of the biggest AI companies, government owned private corporations or government stakes in private corporations. All of that is communism. But that's not what the administration wants you to believe. Because here's the thing. The Trump administration and the president himself have made communism this big bad boogeyman. And in a lot of respects, Americans fleeing from communist nations recognize the dangers of a true communist society. And in a lot of respects, the Trump administration is actually mimicking a lot of what he is personally decrying. So let's talk about it because first up on the list of communists. Communism for the Trump administration is government run airlines. The US Government is now moving ahead with plans to create its own airline for deportations. Deportation Air may be coming to an airport near you. The Department of Homeland Security is beginning a search for a company to operate planes that would help carry out deportation flights, respond to emergencies and transport senior officials. The department asked aviation companies this week to describe how they would operate and maintain the fleet, which would include two C37B or equivalent Gulfstream 650ers and seven Boeing 737, seven hundreds or similar models. What they want is a deportation airline that will fly around the clock on short notice to remove undocumented immigrants in the United States of America. And the goal is simple. Use taxpayer funds to build out an airline, a government funded, government operated and a government owned airline. And they're looking for companies and specifically private contractors to help facilitate the creation of this airline. And the only reason why the Trump administration is able to do this push, well, is because of the passage of the Big Beautiful bill and the subsequent reconciliation package which provided ICE with a windfall of money. Billions and billions of dollars have been sent for this deportation effort and, well, now we're seeing it put to use. So that's number one, a government funded, government owned and government operated airline specifically for deportation purposes. Let's look at number two. Donald Trump now says that he a very smart retailer called the Freedom Fuel Network in Philadelphia and lowered the price of gas voluntarily to to $3.47. If you don't know what the Freedom Fuel Network is, it's a government assisted in operation gas station located in Pennsylvania in the Philadelphia area. The Freedom Fuel is. The goal is simple to show the public that the Trump administration is lowering costs. And they put out videos like this one.
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C
I had to go back in and get my change.
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B
I thought gas was more expensive, but it's not. So thank Trump for saving me some money. We're here at the first Freedom Fuel Network gas station right here in Philadelphia, leading the charge to lower gas prices. $3.47. Freedom Fuel, $3.47. And why is the price 47 cents? Well, that's in honor of the 47th president of the United States, Donald J. Trump. So we got government funded airlines, government funded gas stations. Well, we also may have government owned companies soon, too, because you see, the Trump administration may soon take a stake in a company called OpenAI. OpenAI has now proposed handing the US government a 5% stake in the company. According to the financial times, a 5% holding would be worth roughly $42.6 billion. Never before has the government, the federal government, taken a stake in companies like OpenAI. And while all of this, many people say, is just another example of communism, the same communism that the President repeatedly
- [05:30]
A
decries, you've been issuing a wake up call to Americans at home about the dangers of communism. And now you're speaking on the world stage. What's your message to people both living under Communist and socialist regimes, but also people living under democracies like in Europe and America who might not have realized how close close communism has come to home.
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E
Yeah, that's a great question, actually. But look, I want to get the word out, because what's forming is communism in the country. And communism's easy to sell. I would be the greatest communist in history. I'd be right up there with Lenin. I'd be. I'd be as good as anybody. You've got free rent for the rest of your life. What they don't say is that you'll be living in squalor in 12 months. You've got the free house. Would anybody like to have a free house? We'll take it away from somebody, we'll give it to you. You'll have murders all over the place. Communism is a disaster. It's been proven to be for thousands of years under different names, but same thing. It's very important. And, you know, it's funny, he said
- [06:32]
B
he would be the best communist, and maybe he would be, because we're embracing a lot of what he decries regularly. And while a lot of Americans are saying, well, I just want free health care, I want cheaper health care. And, well, that's why I partner with a company called Chapter. One person who watches my video, his name's John, used a broker to choose his Medicare plan. John picked his plan and assumed everything would be okay. But he was wrong. His broker misled him when he needed his plan. He got hit with medical bills that were higher than he ever expected. So what went wrong? Well, the broker didn't tell John about all of his options. And I want you to know this because it actually happens all the time, and it could have happened to you. John was able to fix this issue with the help from an unbiased Medicare advisor at Chapter. And in one call with Chapter, John enrolled in a plan that actually fit his needs. And he's saving $1,200 every year. So give Chapter a call today. It only takes 20 minutes. You'll save a lot of time, a lot of hassle. 8645-3806-6486-4538, 0664. You owe it to yourself. Now, this afternoon, a lot of people are talking about the main Senate race. And I spoke with Ian, who runs the main newsroom in Maine, about everything Senate related, Graham Platner related, and what happens next. Make sure to, like, comment, share, get the word out. And here's my conversation with Ian. Excited to be here today, joined by Ian from the Maine Newsroom, who's on the ground right now in Maine, knows all things about what's happening with the Senate race and more. Ian, I want to jump right in because a lot of people had questions about where things stand with Platner, with the future of democratic process to replace Platner. Give us the rundown.
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C
So Graham Platner as of this moment is still on the main ballot. He has until Friday at 5pm to actually pull his name off the ballot to file that paperwork. He's told his campaign staff that he plans to do that on Monday. That said, everyone is taking literally the message of his video that he's suspending his campaign. And it's not really fathomable that he will go back on that at this point. So the main Democratic Party is, is proceeding with creating a process, creating a plan for how to replace him. And it will be a convention. Candidates have begun launching their campaigns and they've got a two and a half week period to figure it out and get the support they need to win a convention.
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B
What does a convention look like?
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C
So that is very much under discussion. Party officials, lawyers, they've spent the last five days kind of in a sprint to build a process. Just last night they released how candidates can file. They have until Wednesday to submit the paperwork to the state party to say I'm interested. They then have another week to gather 500 signatures, including 50 signatures each from half of the state's counties that will get them on the ballot. What happens at the convention? They're still working on it. They're trying to build a process that's as open and inclusive and transparent as possible. But doing that in two weeks is just a logistical nightmare. And so on any number of issues, they're finding that their biggest ambition is just logistically limited, including having a 1500 person convention. It's just not going to work. So what they've decided to do is create a 600 person convention. 500 will be chosen by the county committees and the other 113 will come from the state committee. And ultimately those will be the people that vote on who the nominee will
- [09:55]
B
be and who's running right now. I mean, because we've seen everyone from Heather Cox Richardson to Patrick Dempsey, all of these names being floated around who are the candidates in the race.
- [10:06]
C
And both of them have said they're not interested. So Maine just had a gubernatorial primary as well. And so the front runners in this race are at this point the best known Democrats who just spent the last six months campaigning to be governor. Dr. Nirav Shah, he was the state CDC director. He is on that list. Troy Jackson, he was a former Senate president. He's also very high in that list. Shanna Bellows, she's the current Secretary of State. She actually ran against Susan Collins in 2014. There are some outsiders as well that are they're trying to get on the ballot. Dan Cleveland, he is the founder of Maine Beer Company up in Freeport. There's a couple of congressional candidates. Paige Loud, Jordan Wood, they're also both, they're, you know, said they're going to run for the list and that list could grow, the number of candidates could grow. But I would say the front runners are the people who already have high name ID and more importantly have the infrastructure to mobilize volunteers and win this at convention.
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B
And what's the current kind of state of the race based on what you're hearing from folks on the ground?
- [11:10]
C
There's certainly a lot of momentum behind Troy Jackson as he's seen as kind of the political, the ideological, most ideological. Most similar to Grant Platner. He is very aligned with labor. His messaging is very similar. They've campaigned together. Now Jackson has also said he doesn't have, he doesn't want Platner's endorsement. But several of the candidates are trying to claim the mantle of the movement that kind of gathered around Platner, that Platner either founded or the Mainers around him founded. So I would say the most populist energy is behind him Jackson. But the reality is there is still a very sizable portion of the main Democratic electorate who wants to go somewhere else, who's looking for a different type of candidate. So it is truly a toss up. Ultimately it's going to be which campaign is able to mobilize enough of their supporters to get to become delegates is probably how the convention will ultimately tilt.
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B
So it's a very kind of like insidery baseball game, right? I mean, at the end of the day it seems to me 600 or so people are going to be deciding a nominee when in the primary. Correct me if I'm wrong, but 100k people vote, right?
- [12:32]
C
It is, yeah. It is well over that. It is a bad situation. There's no version of this that's good. There's no version of this that's ideal. And anyone at the party will tell you the same exact thing. This sucks. This sucks 17 ways from Sunday. But they are trying to salvage a process that is at least credible. And the fact is there are a number of candidates that can and should do pretty well in the general election.
- [13:00]
B
Well, let's talk about the general election. Polling coming out in the past couple days, ever since the Platner withdrawal started, shown all of the top three candidates you kind of mentioned that ran for governor either tied with Susan Collins trailing by one or two points or leading by one or two points. It is a tight race, and to me, that gives me a lot of kind of fear from the prior Collins race where she was down by 10 right at this time. I mean, polling had her down significantly. She had less money than Sarah Gideon, and she went on to win by a healthy margin. What's your sense of the state of race in terms of the general election today?
- [13:39]
C
Yeah, it was always going to be a harder election than people gave it credit for. And the polling has been bad. Polling has been bad not only here in Maine, but nationally. And it's harder than ever to poll here. The illusion that Platner was up by 10 points at any point, that never felt quite real, but it was obviously really positive, encouraging thought for Democrats. So I think the biggest difference coming up in this election is that Senator Collins has been underwater effectively with Maynards for six years. She was unimpeachable up until the Kavanaugh vote, and she has been the blooms off the rose in that regard. So I think it's going to be a little bit more of a level playing field. Um, but it's going to be a tough race no matter what. I think one of the important things that people miss over what's happening right now, though, is that a week ago, Grant Platner was already underwater. He's fallen. He had fallen something like 13 to 15 points, depending on which poll you're looking at in the month and a half since the primary. He was underwater and he was polling below what a generic Democrat was polling in the state. So whether it was Platner on the ballot or any of these other potential nominees, this was going to be a highly competitive race. It was always going to be a highly competitive race. The difference now is the liabilities that Platinum brought and the enthusiasm that Platinum brought are now not on the ballot. So kind of resetting, releveling, and it's going to be a competitive race regardless.
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B
I got to ask you, before I let you go, have you heard from any Democrats who may have said I was going to vote for Platner, but now I won't vote for the Democratic nominee? I'm going to go Collins or I'm not going to vote at all?
- [15:34]
C
Oh, yeah, Platner brought in, and that was one of the real appeals of his candidacy. He brought in voters both from the kind of independent left and the independent middle. There are more unenrolled independent voters in Maine than there are members of the Democratic or Republican parties here. And Platner was attracting from both of those categories. Some of them remain true believers. Some of them are purely anti establishment. But for sure, there, there are going to be some people who decide to sit out this election. There is. There are some people who believe that Troy Jackson has the best chance of capturing those people, those voters and getting them to still vote and stay in the race. But all of them are trying. All of them are trying and we'll see if they're successful.
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B
Ian, thanks so much for the time.
- [16:27]
C
My pleasure.
- [16:28]
B
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.