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- [00:00]
A
You think about America like a tree, right? And Trump is shaking the tree and all the rotten fruit sloughed off the branches, right? The big law firms, right? Those big companies, Apple, Tim Cook, all the critters that live in the low branches, all the appeasement critters who gave gold statues to Trump. But higher in the branches, that's where the fuck you monkey lives, right? And there's a tougher, meaner American up there.
- [00:48]
B
Hello, and welcome to the Politics Girl podcast. I'm your host, Lee McGowan. Let's get into it. So I am trying to meet the moment with each one of these episodes. Now, I always like to give people necessary information about candidates and organizations so they can fill out their political knowledge and make a difference. But with everything on fire in this nation right now, I think it's essential that we not only keep on top of the news, but be really focused on the people who are really meeting the moment, who are effectively trying something different, something bold. The ones who are willing to truly fight back against this lawless, fascist administration. So today we're going to be speaking to former Republican operative Steve Schmidt about his new organization, the Save America Movement. Steve co founded the Lincoln project in 2019 to create an opposition to Donald Trump and his leadership within the Republican Party. He parted ways with that organization in 2021. And his new project is the Save America Movement, a PAC organized specifically to oppose the actions and the leadership of the Republican Party under Trump. As the movement says, this is not right versus left. It is right versus wrong. So without further ado, please welcome my guest, political strategist, gifted communicator, and co founder of the Save America Movement, Steve Schmidt. Welcome back, Steve.
- [02:04]
A
Hi, Lee. Good to see you.
- [02:05]
B
Nice to see you, too. I mean, thanks for coming back. I was in a meeting last week where you spoke, and I was so grateful to hear you speaking so forcefully about the stakes of this moment in American history. And at this point in be that Democratic leadership or my personal friends, anyone who's trying to normalize what's going on here is making me completely frantic because what's happening is so serious. And I just can't believe that there's still people out here who are trying to pretend it's business as usual.
- [02:36]
A
Oh, it definitely is not. It definitely. It definitely is not. It's a very dangerous moment for the country and the words that are being spoken. If you know your history and you can appreciate that Stephen Miller at the Charlie Kirk Memorial was quoting verbatim Joseph Goebbels when He talks about unleashing the storm. Those were the words of a Nazi. Every Nazi was a fascist, but not every fascist was a Nazi. There are many fascists around Trump. But Stephen Miller, he's a Nazi.
- [03:22]
B
Yeah, I think that's fair in many ways. I was saying the other day that it's almost like I believe in reincarnation now because Stephen is so much like Goebbels that I feel like if there was a God, they were like, let's put this guy back in the body of, of a Jewish man who's a Holocaust survivor. Like his family came from the Holocaust and yet he is reincarnated version of the person that kind of brainchilded that entire monstrosity. So I find the whole thing just so distasteful. And I'm sure his entire family does as well. But listen, right off the top, I want to say to anyone who's thinking of tuning out of this episode because they're like still mad at you for supporting the only Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, or because you brought us Sarah Palin back in the day. I get what they're talking about, but I want them to know it doesn't matter. There is no winning if we are fighting ourselves or looking back and wishing things were different. Because I think we need to be in the moment where we are right now. We need every single fighter in the game. And purity tests are going to be just the death of this nation. We need people like you who are in it to win it. People with a killer instinct, people who have candor and away with words and aren't about playing nice. The Democrats are not up to this moment right now. And we need people who are pushing them forward, especially in leadership, because we cannot lose to these monsters. So I want you to know that I am very, very pleased to have you on our side in this fight.
- [04:52]
A
You know, this moment requires Americans to have an appreciation of what Americanism is without going down a rabbit hole on it. When I worked for John McCain, I was 37. The person who picked Sarah Palin to be his vice president wasn't the 37 year old campaign staffer. It was John McCain, the 72 year old Republican nominee for President of the United States. In the United States, Senator, to your point, Democrats have a judgment problem. And I want to explain something for people to think about. The Democratic Party is filled with political leaders who make judgments. Judgments about the voters regarding whether they are worthy of the leaders of the Democratic Party. And in most instances, the leaders of the Democratic Party over and over Again have found the voters not worthy of them. Donald Trump has a different standard for maga and this is a great thing to get to belong to if you can just let it go. What Donald Trump says in an age of loneliness and a collapse of community, he gives people something to belong to. What they belong to has one requirement. Trump's the leader, that's it. And Trump will never, ever, ever judge you not for anything, so long as you acknowledge that Trump's the leader. And so long as Trump is the leader, you get to exist in a world where nothing is ever your fault. Anything that goes wrong is someone else's cause did it to you. You're the victim. And it's easy. It's easy to be a victim. And the one identity that is powerful enough to defeat the MAGA identity and has the maximum width to it is the American identity that says I'm an American because I'm an American with no qualifications and no hyphens. I oppose this, I oppose this heinous season. I oppose this immorality, this indecency. And the opposition in the country should be formed around that moral core. And from that, it's the job of the Democratic Party to engage in some very serious self reflection. If you're one of the leaders of it, you lost two out of three elections to him. And I have a position on this as someone who's involved in politics for the people that lost two out of three, they don't get a third chance.
- [07:44]
B
I think we're on the same page there 100%. I mean the thing is, is that I say that all the time, like you have to be self reflective. If you lost to a 34 time felon, you know, adjudicated rapist who caused an insurrection the last time he was in office, tried to stay in office against the will of the people, is clearly a financial criminal, sexual criminal, a predator, surrounded by a bunch of sycophants who literally have no business doing what they're doing. Their job at all. Completely incapable. And he told us exactly what he was going to do and we're watching it unfold. And you lost to that. Then there's some major shaking up of leadership that needs to be done. And the fact that they have yet to actually do that, when I see there are some Democratic representatives who are willing to make those huge changes is very disappointing for people who want to win. Because at the end of the day, I think if you're saying the American identity is the only thing that can beat the MAG identity, I do Think that there's more of us out here who believe that, who believe in human rights and human dignity and loving who you want to love and being who you want to be and the freedom we have pitched to the world. I believe we could still be the country we've told the world we are, but not with this leadership, both Democratic and Republican. You know, you have pointed out that it's American values that are under threat. On your website, you quote MLK Jr and him saying that the greatest tragedy of a troubled and unjust time is not the people like Stephen Miller. It's not the vitriolic words and the violent actions of bad people, but the silence and the indifference of the good people. And this is what I'm assuming you are trying to change with this movement that you have created to save the America by waking people up to make us loud, to get us to care enough to do something, to protect our own values. So please, tell us about the Save America movement and what you are trying to do and give us a background on what's happening here and what you think is essential.
- [09:42]
A
So I'm a part of a group called the Save America Movement. And in that group we have a steering committee of some really excellent people. From Ken Horbaugh, leader in the veterans community, Fabian Nunez, who was the speaker of the California assembly, great guy. Reverend William Barber. We have Dr. Angela Rasmussen, who's one of the leading virologists in the world. We have musicians, we have actors. We have a broad group that has come together and it has begun to advertise, it's begun to take action, and it's raised money in increments, I think an average of $20 or so from 250,000 plus people. And growing, growing quickly to do things like field in Los Angeles, liberty vans that are outfitted with a chaplain, a veteran, a lawyer, 4K camera crews who are recording and bearing witness using the First Amendment, which is not negotiable, not fungible, and doesn't exist at the whim of Trump as our sword, as our shield to report back to the American people what's happening here and to make a historical record. We are doing advertising around military bases and targeting the officers clubs, targeting the NCO clubs with messages. We are advertising to the guards in these prisons, saying that no matter what your bosses tell you, there are no quiet hidden corners. And everything you do here will be known and will be, will be held to account. And our goal at the Save America Movement is to build a movement of millions of people that will play a role in 2028 in ending all of this and also play a role in 2026 in resetting the balance of power and removing the MAGA Congress, the worst in the history, the miserable Congress from its majority status and at least one House, which is, which is urgently necessary to put a check on Donald Trump. And there's really one question in 2026 and it's this. Do you think it's a good idea maybe that we put a check on them, that there be something, someone, somewhere that can tell them no. And that's all that there needs to be to win a great victory and to reset the scales in 2026.
- [12:34]
B
Yeah. Should we put the guardrails back? Because there is no check. The Republican Congress has completely abdicated their responsibility. They are not doing anything. We're sitting here right now as you and I speak. We're in a government shutdown that they don't even plan to come to the table to negotiate. They are mass firing people while blaming the Democrats. They're doing exactly what they wanted to do in the first place, what Roosevelt always planned to do on Project 2025. And they're using this government shutdown because they don't even need to go through their bought and paid for Congress to do it. So yes, 26 is a way to add a check back on this government. 28 will be a way to shut this down. And I think what we need are people in charge who are not only willing to shut it down, but change the status quo to hold these people accountable. I mean, you have said that instead of responding, you're leading. So instead of reacting, you're trying to be proactive. And I always think of it in hockey terms, cuz I'm Canadian and you're wearing your queen sweatshirt today. But it's offense rather than defense. Defense is very important, but in this case we need to be on offense. So can you talk to me a little bit about that? Because it feels like we need to stop hesitating or placating the Republicans or the MAGA faithful, and I hope we're not going to be if we win in the future, talking about reaching across the aisle or being forgiving to these people who would have let America burn to the ground for their own profit and power.
- [13:55]
A
There's an old saying about revenge, which is when you go on a mission of revenge, dig two graves. We need to embrace the philosophy of Abraham Lincoln, which is with malice towards none and charity towards all. That does not include a couple of hundred of some of the most corrupt people that have ever walked and breathed air in the United States. Justice demands two things. The first is accountability. And so every detail of who did what, where and when and why and how will be known. I'll give you a very specific example. The firing of a pepper ball from a roof at a priest's head. Every detail of that will be known. Who sent those guys up on the roof? What was the chain of command? We'll know that chain of command down from Kristi Noem, through the criminal thug scumbag Tom Homan, right on down to the shift supervisor that set those guys up there. And we're going to know when their mask won't be on and two of them are going to turn on the one and they're going to say, he did it, he shot the priest. And that's going to play out all over the country. At the end of the day, I deeply believe the next Secretary of State, and I don't give a shit, man, woman, black, white, Hispanic, Asian American, gay, don't give a fuck. What I want is a person with the toughness and the wherewithal to call in the Saudi, the Emirati and the Qatari ambassadors together in a room and toss a pad in a pen and say, I know you're going to think about walking out here, which would be a mistake, but if you do, before you come back, make sure you have the names and the amounts of every corrupt transaction your government engaged in with a member of the previous regime. All of them. The plane that was gifted to Trump needs to be dumped in the Atlantic Ocean. Keshe Patel needs to be fired by the end of the 21 gun salute. And there needs to be a great unraveling of concentrated power in the agricultural sector, across the technology sector, breaking up of the monopolies of the concentrations of media ownership across the board. A Democratic Party has to be the political party of ordinary Americans, working class people, people who want opportunity and want prosperity and want dignity in their lives. It needs to be a great freedom party and it needs to speak in the language of ordinary Americans. No more, right? With the celebrities all gathered every four years for the final weekend on the. On the stages, right? Like, it's like a British royal family outing. The party of fdr, the party of John Kennedy, can beat these guys.
- [17:34]
B
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- [20:41]
A
The party of FDR, the party of John Kennedy can beat these guys.
- [20:49]
B
Yeah, I mean, I feel like that's exactly right. You're acknowledging where we are. What you want from the Secretary of State, I want from whoever our next AG is. I want someone fearless. I want someone who isn't afraid to say, yeah, we're going after this person, this person. We're watching this administration go after Letitia James and James Comey and you know, it's a political witch hunt. That is not something I'm interested in. What I'm interested in is, as you said, there's two things that justice demands and one of them is accountability. I want accountability. And I think without it, the world will never take us seriously again. I think there's no way anyone takes America seriously if we don't show great accountability. Because why would anyone ever trust us again if we can do this to the world every four years?
- [21:33]
A
Trump is 80 with the ankles of a middle aged elephant and people are going to be pissing on his grave for 25 years, you know, while Kristi Noem is still walking around.
- [21:50]
B
Yeah, this movement doesn't stop with Trump. It's not even Trump now. He's a figurehead at this point.
- [21:56]
A
You know, JD Vance is, JD Vance is 40. Right. So we got, we got 40 years of JD Vance till he gets to Trump's age. And I got, I got bad news for the MAGA folks out there. Trump's not going to make it to 120. Um, you know, so he's not going to get to see J.D. vance at 80. But the great mystery to me in all of this that I ponder, like when I'm alone is what do they think is going to happen? Do they think there's no more elections? This is it that Stephen Miller's convinced himself he's Reich Fuhrer?
- [22:30]
B
I do think that. I think they Think they're Russia.
- [22:32]
A
That plan's not going to work out. Stephen Miller and Katie Miller. They have young children. Their children will deny that they are their parents. They will not use the name Miller. And they will grow up at some awful moment realizing their parents are monsters. A lot of the children of Nazis, senior Nazis, dealt with this. You have a strain of senior Nazis that actually the children decided they would never marry, they would never have kids, and they would end their bloodlines.
- [23:13]
B
I didn't know that.
- [23:14]
A
One of the realities is that you had prohibition in America. A season of tremendous hypocrisy, because there was no prohibition in New York City. There was prohibition in your small town. If you were an ordinary American, if you were the German American, the Irish American, right, Who wanted. Wanted to drink. And this is being imposed on you. And you think about this, a white male. Right. You know, we think about all the identity politics of our era. Right. Well, this was being imposed on you, really, by white men, by white women. And it was being imposed on other, you know, primarily white immigrant groups, mostly Catholic, all of whom like to drink. The Italians, the Germans, the Irish. And the prohibition is randomly enforced. Tremendous hypocrisy. And I could make the argument that the greatest instance of hypocrisy after Prohibition is Covid, where government has rules for some, but not always for the people making the rules. And there is nothing that drives people more banana ram as crazy than that hypocrisy. And so when Roosevelt is elected, we remember Franklin Roosevelt for big government programs, but in the moment, Roosevelt was celebrated for ending the intrusion of the state and getting the state out of your refrigerator or out of your icebox or out of your local tavern.
- [24:59]
B
Yeah. People should remember that the Prohibition amendment was the only amendment that we've ever reversed. And it wasn't a fair amendment that applied to everyone. It was an amendment that applied to those that could be held to its standard. But for, you know, for the history of this country, there's always been people that sit above the law. And I think, if anything, we see that more now with things like the Epstein files. And like you're saying with COVID and you're saying there are people that have the law applied to them, and there are people that have the law below their level of status. And I think that's the thing that Donald Trump and his people kind of live on, that the law does not apply to them. And I think in many ways, why would Donald Trump think the law applied to him at all? Right. Like, it doesn't it doesn't. So, I mean, it's understandable why he would think that. But I think the people that are surrounded by him now, the people he has not the first administration of Trump where there were still adults in the room, this version is surrounded by people that will not tell him no. And that all think that they are covered under his immunity that the Supreme Court so idiotically gave him. And I think that's what makes people feel so much fear, that they think, well, now these people are completely above the law. This might be a cabal of child rapists who have been trading children for years, and they all just get away with it. And now they're all making deals and giving each other planes, and we're going to have, you know, army bases in our country. And, like, it's, it's causing a lot of, and I think justifiable fear to Americans right now. They're seeing what's happening on the street. The violence that's coming on the streets of Portland or Chicago, it's not coming from the protesters. It's coming from the law enforcement that are sent there. That's government sanctioned domestic terrorism. So it is hard to tell people who are feeling that kind of anxiety that comes from a real place to be courageous. But just like fear is contagious, so is courage. And it feels like the people in your group, the people in the Save America movement, are trying really hard to inspire people to find that courage so that others can follow, to show Americans that standing up for what's right is not only possible, but it's very powerful. And power is a far better feeling than powerlessness, which I think a lot of people are feeling right now as they scroll their feeds or watch the news, or watch the news, tell them, like, anything from the New York Times to the Washington Post to the LA Times to cnn. You're saying they're not even telling me the truth anymore? I'm getting some billionaire's version of the truth because it serves the billionaire who owns this company to tell me both sides or to tell me that, you know, Donald Trump got cheated out of a Nobel Prize when we all know you can't possibly deserve the Nobel Prize for peace when you just changed your Department of Defense to Department of War and you're blowing up boats in international waters, like, that guy doesn't deserve a peace award. And yet we're talking about it like it's real. And so I think we have to understand that Americans by general nature are feeling very anxious, and we need to show them that we still have the ability to turn this ship around.
- [28:03]
A
Well, it's such a. There's so much to like, respond to in there. So the first thing I want to say to your audience is that in 1938, the United States had the 38th largest standing army in the world. And seven years later, we had 16 million people in the armed forces. In the aftermath of that war, which changed everything, we reorganized the entirety of the country's defense establishment. And the name of the department in the government was not picked at random. It's a function of law. And so the name of Pete Hegset's job, God help us, is Secretary of Defense. We do not have a Department of War in America. We have a Department of Defense. Then we have a Secretary of Defense. And so they can call it a kangaroo, but it's not. And we should be precise and disciplined. Always in opposition about calling things as they are in reality, whether it's from the Gulf of Mexico to the Department of War. And so what you said is about, I think the singularly most important thing that anybody can say and people need to heed into realize the news is a projection of the sensibility of the billionaire who lives an extremely cloistered life. Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez live a life on earth that is as close to living on the space station as is possible. The same with David Ellison. This is a child of indescribable privilege who's never had a bad 10 minutes in his soft handed, easy life. Worldview reinforced by Barry Weiss, who's a great salesperson. Is that the real threat out there is Greta Thunberg?
- [30:36]
B
Let me be really clear, okay? If you don't know who Steve's talking about. So David Ellison is the son of Larry Ellison, who run Oracle. They're the ones that just took over. CBS hired Bari Weiss, who has been basically thrown out of a lot of news organizations, but she's now running CBS and taking control to sort of pitch the billionaire propaganda and force the CBS News teams to come to heal. So what we're watching is sort of a corporate takeover of the truth. And people need to be very aware of who the players are in that and what they get out of the deal. So I think that is what Steve is talking about here. If you didn't know who those players were.
- [31:14]
A
And it's so. It's this incredibly sanitized, diluted view of what's going on in the world. And then there's something else you alluded to, which is across the media, across big law firms, all the capitulant class.
- [31:30]
B
Academia is really troublesome.
- [31:32]
A
The reality is it, it's not a surprise if you think about it, right, Is that all of America's elites, when the stakes were real, were the first people to get on their knees. If you think about America like a tree, right? And Trump is shaking the tree and all the rotten fruit sloughed off the branches, right? The big law firms, right? Those big companies, Apple, Tim Cook, all the critters that live in the low branches, all the appeasement critters who gave gold statues to Trump. But higher in the branches. That's where the fuck you monkey lives, right? And. And there's a tougher, meaner American up there. The last thing is about courage is that, you know, courage is not the absence of fear, right. A lot of people that I know, I get a lot of calls now every day from people who are really afraid. Some people who speak out and act like they're never afraid, but are worried. Right. Or are concerned. And what courage is is appreciating that there's something that's more important than that fear, right? That there's something worth fighting for.
- [32:54]
B
Yeah.
- [32:54]
A
Human beings, especially in this post Covid era where there was so much isolation imposed, we're social animals, even those of us that are introverts, we like space and quiet, not permanent isolation.
- [33:14]
B
Yeah, Right.
- [33:16]
A
And so when you watch everything that's going on and you try to sort it out, it's been a few months since people have felt fellowship with millions of other people who see the world like them. And so day by day, it's like a wet blanket gets thrown on you, right? Over and over and over again. You see this sick show playing out on what was broadcast TV news, a reality show. The humanity of the questions, the craziness of the performances. And you sit there watching this on a screen by yourself. Yeah, we're 99.9% of the time, at best, you have someone near, you can say, holy shit, did you see that? Or you get to talk about it after. But next weekend, millions and millions scores, a multitude of millions of Americans carrying flags will march together. And despite the defamations by crazy Mike Johnson, by Tom Emmer, the deputy MAGA whip, these people, including me, are not terrorists. They don't hate their country, they love their country. And they're going to march. And with each step millions take, the resolve of millions more will be hardened to stand up when their time comes.
- [34:56]
B
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- [38:21]
A
With each step millions take, the resolve of millions more will be hardened to stand up when their time comes. Wherever you sit in all of this right now, you have to understand that there's been generations of Americans that have been in the same position. And in the end, it comes down to what the founding fathers of the country appreciated at the very beginning, which is we will all hang separately or we will hang together and they don't have an army big enough to hang all of us.
- [39:01]
B
Yeah, I mean, you've always said that freedom in the United States has always been a moral proposition because the country was created with a Declaration of Independence. And it was that declaration that changed history. It was this message of human dignity and purpose. And while the United States over time has made great strides towards, you know, the recognition of these inalienable rights of life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness for everyone, you know, for all, which is what we say at the end of the Pledge of Allegiance, that progress is currently being threatened by our own government. This is exactly what the Founding Fathers originally stood up against, a tyrannical government. And they want to destroy any progress we've made and take us back to this time in their brains where America was idealized or the America they would prefer. And I think it's alarming to see them try to use the military or law enforcement or all of our tax dollars to do that. But there are so many more of us out here. And I think that's why they're doing things like calling the no Kings protest, you know, an anti American event or a hate parade or a hate speech or the terrorist wing of the Democratic Party is bringing it out. All this misinformation that they are trying so hard by using the bully pulpit to tell America it is, to me, says they're afraid. They're afraid of the people, that they're afraid of us coming together. It's why they're putting so much propaganda out there. It's why they did that idiotic antifa roundtable, you know, where it was like a bunch of leaders of our administration, from Trump to Rubio to AG Bondi to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and then a room full of paid right wing propagandists telling us that a group that doesn't exist is as bad as ISIS or Hamas. That is just straight up fear based propaganda. Because I think they know they're losing the public narrative and they are scrambling. What do you think about that?
- [41:02]
A
I think that all autocratic systems rely on fear. And Trump is using fear as a political weapon to try and stifle dissent in some of the most un American ways imaginable. And there is no worse crime in a free society than labeling your loyal opposition as terrorists. And that is what Donald Trump and his sick MAGA movement infused with religious nuttery and extremism and neo Nazis and neo fascists has done.
- [41:47]
B
Yeah.
- [41:47]
A
And we should be perfectly clear about that. And we're entering this new, dangerous phase. And we, we have to have, as a people, as an American people, a fierce resolve about this. And just two things to touch on. The first is one of the things that has to happen is the pendulum swings. And I don't think there's been a second of thought about this inside the marbled floors of America's big law firms. But I spent a lot of my career advising CEOs and crisis situations as a consultant. And you're kind of sitting there and they're all around the table and the thing you want to say to all these big law guys, have you thought about the moment January 2029, when you're, when you're back in Washington and all the emails and all the correspondence, everything's going to be out? What then? Where do you think you're going to be, Mr. Managing Partner? What do you think is going to happen to the law firm? We tied ourselves to Trump and we're not there yet.
- [42:54]
B
No. I think those people think that's never coming. There's no reckoning that's a sign of.
- [43:00]
A
Success for the, for the Democratic Party. Right. When that, when that, when that conversation becomes real, you know that you have a healthy Democratic Party again, when there's some consideration being given to that reality. The second thing is in Warsaw, which is an incredible city, there's a cross in a square that marks the spot that John Paul II came to speak to the Poles after he becomes Pope. And he sets in motion the downfall from that square of the Berlin Wall in 10 years time. And what he says to 2 million Poles under the Soviet yoke is, do not be afraid. For the first time in our lives, the most famous American in the world, believe it or not, is not Donald Trump. And it's not the President of the United States, it's the American Pope. And the American Pope is going to come to the United States before 2028. And I can tell you exactly what he's going to say. He's going to say the exact same thing that John Paul said to the polls. He's going to say, do not be afraid. And he's going to say it in Chicago accented English. And it's going to land like a thunderclap, not just to America's Catholics, but to every American. We're not a fearful people, and fear is a real thing. And so some of our greatest leaders have had to talk to their people at crucial moments about fear. Franklin Roosevelt takes command of a country in crisis, and the very first thing he says is the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. And the next thing he says is this country will recover and our country will recover from this, and our country will learn tremendous lessons from this. And we will make our country stronger for this, from this. But that does not alleviate the danger in the moment and it does not stop the suffering to come, which will be considerable. But here we are. And in the end, there are some people who are content to sit in indifference about what's going on. But generally speaking, those are not the listeners to your show or people that are writing checks to the Save America movement. You can find that the saveamerica movement.org and you know, some people all the way to the end will be opposed to this, will fight back against it. And it's just a simple truth that we're the most defiant society on earth. And Stephen Miller's proclamations and pronouncements don't change that fact. And the harder MAGA presses The more defiance there will be. And therein lies the terrible danger that's being created not by the people in pink elephant costumes in Portland, but by the mass fascists pointing weapons at them on the orders of Tom Homan and Kristi Noem and Pam Bondi and Stephen Miller.
- [46:34]
B
I'm totally behind the Freedom Frog, I'll tell you that.
- [46:37]
A
I love the Freedom Frog.
- [46:40]
B
I love the Freedom Frog so much, Steve, because if you are trying to sell that this city is under siege and everyone is a monster terrorist out to get you and murder your children and what you're seeing is like a bunch of unicorns and that little Freedom Frog out there, it is hard to sell that message. And it's showing us Portland. Weird, Portly, weird. Baby, it is so good. I'm so proud of them. And I feel like it's part of who we are as Americans. Yes, we are fuck you, monkey kind of people. We are individuals, we are brave, but we're also soft. And I kind of feel like we were given a fair amount of time where we kind of thought, oh, yeah, it's always going to go along. And democracy will always be here for me. And I often say that democracy and America are like a couple in a long term marriage. And after a while, if you stop paying attention to your partner, you get a wandering eye. And America got a wandering eye for autocracy. And we have to pull it back together. We have to put work back into the relationship. And I like that we're doing it with bravery and humor and we're not. I think they really thought we would already be creating violence in the streets, and we're not. And it's pissing them off. So they're trying to create violence. And I think, good for America out here every single day. I can't wait to see it. I hope everybody goes out for the no Kings protest because we do not have a king in America. We do not have a man that we celebrate who builds ballrooms while he shuts the government down. We do not have this. This is not who we are. And we need to show people that every day I plan to wear an American flag sweater. You know, like, we need to take this country back for the people, like you said. The people, not these elites who think they're going to have everything and we'll never have elections again and they will live in, you know, Elysium above us all. We're not doing that. And most people need to get that in their head and then feel like, yeah, we're not doing that let's all do this together. We are a team. We are a team of Americans and that's always gonna be more powerful than any political movement. So I wanna thank you so much for joining us today, Steve. Such a pleasure. I mean, one of the things that appeals to me so much about the Save America movement is this idea of meeting Trump head on, that we will never get on our knees and submit to this madness. And from where I sit right now, that is exactly where I am, because I have fucking had it with these people. So tell people again how they can follow you, support you, join the movement if they're so inclined.
- [48:59]
A
The Save America movement.org go online, get involved. Everybody has a skill to do something. We got mechanics involved cutting holes and roofs for the Liberty vans. Like everybody's got a skill that can be used in defense of the country in this, in this moment. And so we're going to be marching, we're going to be speaking out, we're going to be advertising, we're going to be countering the ICE propaganda in the information war. And that's what it is. It's a propaganda war. And there needs to be a counter propaganda campaign. And we'll give them one.
- [49:37]
B
Absolutely. We'll give them one. Give them hell. Steve, thank you so much for coming.
- [49:41]
A
Take care.
- [49:44]
B
So that was Steve Schmidt reminding us that there is something more important than fear. That when the tyrant shakes the tree, the rotten fruit always falls first. But those left are tough nuts to crack. And at the top of that tree is the fuck you monkey who is never letting go. Steve reminds us that the one idea powerful enough to defeat the MAGA identity is the American identity. And we need to build our opposition around that moral core. I want to thank Steve for joining us today and you for caring enough about democracy to be here. Now go and check out the Save America movement and find a place where you can be amongst those without fear, fighting back with every skill they have. Until next week. PG out. Before you go, if you are already a premium member of this podcast, I want to thank you. And if you're not, I want to ask you to support my work. We are living through an absolute propaganda nightmare right now. What the government is saying about the shutdown, what they are saying about antifa, and it is independent journalism, the people who aren't owned by billionaires or seeking the downfall of America who are really doing the work to bring you the truth. So if you see worth in what we're doing here, please consider becoming a member of Politics Girl Premium by going to politicsgirl.com and signing up, you will get this podcast ad free along with my rants sent directly to your inbox. So even if my work is silenced on social media, you will still get access to the truth. There is a link to sign up in the bio of this episode, but also@politicsgirl.com and as always, please like follow and share this podcast so we can grow the audience. Because the more people who have access to real information, the better chance we have to unite in truth and fight back in solidarity. As always, thank you so much for your time and support. The Politics Girl podcast is written and performed by me, Leigh McGowan and produced and edited by Happy Warrior Entertainment. All rights reserved.