Trump's General Election Pivot

Speaker 1 Were you or a loved one diagnosed with lung cancer or mesothelioma due to exposure to asbestos?

Speaker 7 For over 20 years, Vogelzang Law has helped families across the country fight for justice after asbestos exposure.

Speaker 8 Call or visit our website and begin your free case review today.

Speaker 10 Call 888-680-2259.

Speaker 11 That's 888-680-2259.

Speaker 12 Or visit vogelzanglaw.com/slash connect.

Speaker 14 Hey, weirdos, I'm Elena, and I'm Ash, and we are the host of Morbid Podcast. Each week, we dive into the dark and fascinating world of true crime, spooky history, and the unexplained.

Speaker 14 From infamous killers and unsolved mysteries to haunted places and strange legends, we cover it all with research, empathy, humor, and a few creative expletives.

Speaker 14 It's smart, it's spooky, and it's just the right amount of weird. Two new episodes drop every week, and there's even a bonus once a month.
Find us wherever you listen to podcasts.

Speaker 15 Yay! Woo!

Speaker 15 Welcome to Pod Save America. I'm John Fabra.

Speaker 16 I'm Dan Pfeiffer.

Speaker 15 On today's show, Team Biden tells anxious Democrats to chill out. Daniella Diaz of Politico joins to talk about the Republican shutdown shit show.

Speaker 15 And Dan and I weigh in on what is by far the most consequential issue in Congress this week, what John Fetterman is wearing. Oof, gotta steal myself for that one.

Speaker 15 All right, but first, even though the Iowa caucuses are still four months away, Donald Trump is already acting like he beat his primary opponents and the 91 felony charges he's facing.

Speaker 15 He's now reportedly skipping the third Republican debate in Florida, and he's skipping next week's debate here in California so that he can give a primetime speech in the Battleground state of Michigan, where he will pretend to be pro-worker to an audience that will reportedly include plumbers, electricians, pipe fitters, and auto workers whose union is currently on strike.

Speaker 15 Trump's also been trying to pretend he's more moderate than most Republicans on the issue of abortion, which is finally getting him some actual criticism from the popular Republican governors of Iowa and Georgia, as well as his sorry excuse for a primary opponent, Ron DeSantis, who hit Trump on the issue during an Iowa radio interview.

Speaker 17 I don't know how you can even make the claim that you're somehow pro-life if you're criticizing states for enacting pro-life protections.

Speaker 17 So I think if he's going into this saying he's going to make the Democrats happy with respect to right to life, I think all pro-lifers should know that he's preparing to sell you out.

Speaker 15 Sounds like Tiny D finally got his head out of his ass, Dan.

Speaker 15 Do you think he said that because his favorite podcasters advised him to on Tuesday show?

Speaker 16 I'm sure he loves you guys.

Speaker 16 Just before you listen to it.

Speaker 15 You think he's listening

Speaker 15 on his way to his next event in Iowa?

Speaker 16 Absolutely.

Speaker 16 It is amazing that all of us at the world, ourselves included, thought that Ron DeSantis could give a real challenge to Donald Trump with that voice.

Speaker 15 His head may be out of his ass, but it sounds like he is broadcasting up about the fishbowl. You got to think about that.

Speaker 15 I didn't listen closely enough at the beginning of this whole thing. You know, it's just,

Speaker 15 it's bad. It's bad.
So Trump clearly heard this criticism because he then went back to bragging about ending the constitutional right to an abortion when he was in Iowa. Let's listen.

Speaker 18 And last year, I was able to do something that nobody thought was possible. We ended Roe v.
Wade.

Speaker 18 I got the job done. I got it done.

Speaker 18 And it's thanks to the three great Supreme Court justices and others on the court that I appointed.

Speaker 15 So I guess the big question for the Republican primary is, are there a significant number of Republicans in Iowa or elsewhere who will decide that Trump coming out against a six-week abortion ban is just, it's a bridge too far

Speaker 16 no there are not and here's how we know is that in 2016 all of trump's opponents they used ads they used the media to try to paint trump as soft on abortion by using a clip where he went on meet the press in 1999 and said i'm very pro-choice

Speaker 16 the voters rejected that then Why would they fall for it now after Trump has done everything in office that the anti-abortion groups wanted him to do?

Speaker 16 And even if there were some voters, the latest polls have Trump up by 30 in Iowa. So you'd have to find a third of Republican voters who thought this in order to catch him.

Speaker 16 It just, it's, sure, you know, points for trying here, but it seems very, very challenging.

Speaker 15 The guy is a cult leader who is worshipped and is the one who ended the constitutional right to an abortion.

Speaker 15 The reason that Ron DeSantis got to pass a six-week abortion ban is because of Donald Trump.

Speaker 15 And he's basically telling his voters that being against a six-week abortion ban is what he needs to help get him elected president again.

Speaker 15 And most of the Republican Party, most of the voters, most of Trump's supporters would rather Donald Trump be president than get a six-week abortion ban or even a national ban.

Speaker 15 They just, they don't care that much about policy. They care about Donald Trump.
That's who they love. That's who they worship.
So I think it's just so silly.

Speaker 16 The thing about Trump is every politician cares about power, but they pretend to care about policy. Trump doesn't pretend, right? Abortion is only a way to get more power.

Speaker 16 And if being, if being, and he would just tell people if being for a six-week ban helped them win to be for a six-week ban, but it doesn't. So he isn't, right?

Speaker 15 That's it. That's it.
And they're like, and he's like, he's basically telling people, respect my political judgment. This is what I need to do to get into the White House.

Speaker 15 And that's the most important goal, not abortion. And most of the Republican voters are like, yeah, no, we don't care.

Speaker 15 The big question for the general, though, is whether Trump can fool enough voters into thinking he's not as extreme on abortion as the typical Republican. We talked about this on Tuesday.

Speaker 15 I said I am a little worried. Apparently the Biden folks are too.
Political reports of the Biden campaign saw Trump's comments as, quote, a flashing red light. What do you think?

Speaker 16 I share your worry. You know, this is a point you make all the time, but it's just the biggest chasm in politics.
It's not between Republicans and Democrats.

Speaker 16 It's between people who follow political news closely and those who don't. And in, and yes, abortion was the issue that drove the midterms.
It helped Democrats win races we shouldn't have won.

Speaker 16 And that could happen again.

Speaker 16 But it's worth noting that if the turnout in 2024 looks anything like the turnout in 2020, there's going to be about 50 million people who did not vote in 2022 who are in this election.

Speaker 16 And most of them do not follow political news closely. They have, in fact, may not have paid any real attention to politics since the last time they voted.

Speaker 16 And actually, I think because the way the media environment has changed, the less frequent voters are less engaged with political news than they have ever been in the past because they're no longer running into it in social media in the same way they before, in the local news in the same way they before.

Speaker 16 And so, yeah, he has a virtually, he doesn't persuade all of them or most of them. He just has to persuade some of them.
And that is a very real thing that could happen if we are not careful about it.

Speaker 15 They are also less likely to be either very liberal or very conservative. And I wouldn't use the word moderate, but they have views on issues and a set of issues that are complicated.

Speaker 15 So they may be pro-choice, but they might not be so pro-choice that that's going to be the issue that they vote on. They may care about inflation more, they may care about immigration more, whatever.

Speaker 15 People are complicated and they get more complicated in their political views when they are the type of people who only show up to vote in presidential elections.

Speaker 15 I know there's a lot of like running around and cheering about special elections and Democratic overperformance, which there has been over the last several years, about the midterms when Democrats overperformed and there wasn't a red wave.

Speaker 15 But again, you know, the way that the coalitions of both parties have changed, we now have voters who are in the Democratic Party who tend to be to pay attention to the news more closely, who are more politically engaged.

Speaker 15 college-educated voters, and they show up in specials and they show up in midterms and they'll show up in the presidential race for sure.

Speaker 15 But like you said, there's a whole bunch of other people who are going to show up who have not shown up in the midterms, who have not shown up in these special elections, but did show up in 2016 and did show up in 2020.

Speaker 15 So

Speaker 15 Trump not only said that in Iowa, he also truthed about it.

Speaker 15 He posted a truth that said, I killed Roe. And then Joe Biden X'd that truth.

Speaker 15 I hate my life.

Speaker 15 And

Speaker 15 he warned that Trump will go even further if he gets back to the White House.

Speaker 15 I imagine that this will continue to be a focus of the Biden campaign's advertising. They've already run some ads about this, about Trump's record on abortion and what he will plan to do.

Speaker 15 Anything else you think they should be doing?

Speaker 16 Toots, skeets, threads.

Speaker 15 Toots and skeets.

Speaker 15 I mean more toots and skeets.

Speaker 16 I think it's good that Biden went after this.

Speaker 16 They should be opportunistic about opportunities to push back on Trump on abortion, to keep abortion at the top of the political agenda, to make sure it's a salient issue.

Speaker 16 One tactical thing, this isn't necessarily for the Biden campaign to do, but that some political entity could do, is in 2012, one thing that the Obama campaign did that was very helpful was we knew from our polling that Republican efforts, including Mitt Romney's support of defunding Planned Parenthood, was incredibly unpopular with what we used to call our up-for-grabs universe of voters, women within that group, who were either deciding between voting and not voting or between Obama and Romney.

Speaker 16 And so the campaign went up on the air at low levels on programs that over-indexed on women viewers with months, just a steady run of ads about defunding Planned Parenthood.

Speaker 16 A similar effort could happen here.

Speaker 16 It's not going to work the same way because the media is very different, but you could see it on Instagram or other social platforms, but a digital and linear TV, you know, low-level campaign about Trump and abortion that just goes up soon and stays up the whole time as a way to just make sure that he can't wiggle out of his most extreme positions.

Speaker 15 And what about putting Biden and other Democratic surrogates, whether they're politicians, whether they're celebrities, whoever, on like non-traditional media, non-political media to like get this message out there.

Speaker 15 Because as you said, there's just a lot of people who aren't paying attention to or consuming political media, political news like they used to.

Speaker 15 And, you know, you mentioned women, which is obviously key. Also, young people.

Speaker 15 And wherever young people are getting not just their news, but just their content in general, getting some, you know, pro-choice surrogates, whether they're connected to the Biden campaign or not, you know, out there in those media outlets or in those in those places where people are getting their content.

Speaker 15 Seems like that would be a good idea, too.

Speaker 16 Absolutely.

Speaker 15 All right. So let's talk about Trump's trip to Michigan next week.

Speaker 15 So far, his only comments about the UAW strike have been when he said on Meet the Press that, quote, the auto workers are being sold down the river by their leadership.

Speaker 15 But the decision to give a speech in Detroit is reportedly making some Democrats nervous because that's who we are now.

Speaker 15 Here's a political lead from yesterday. That's who we are now.

Speaker 15 Yeah, now it's in the long history of self-assured cockiness.

Speaker 15 Yeah, that's us. All right, so here's the political lead from yesterday.
Some Joe Biden allies fear that Donald Trump is outmaneuvering them on the autoworker strike.

Speaker 15 They also worry it's a sign that the ex-president has a more sophisticated campaign than in previous cycles and that Biden's operation needs to step it up.

Speaker 15 All right, before we get to our party's perpetual angst, what do you think of Donald Trump's attempt to sell himself as a champion of the working class, which, you know, in fairness, he has been trying to do since 2016 with some varying levels of success?

Speaker 16 This is a very sad move from the perspective of trying to get attention because voters are just going to hear Donald Trump heads to Michigan to rally with union workers.

Speaker 16 And that is a signal that he is unlike all these other Republicans who want to cut taxes for corporations and do all these other things.

Speaker 16 So in that sense, it's very good. Now, there's a little bit of a myth that Trump has had great success in peeling union voters away from Democrats.

Speaker 16 You know, as an example, in 2012, according to the exit bulls, Obama won union voters by 18 points. In 2020, Biden won it by 16 points.

Speaker 16 But just simply seeming a little bit less like a corporatist shill than other Republicans could help Trump in a state like Michigan for sure.

Speaker 15 And it's also, I mean,

Speaker 15 this issue is about union workers.

Speaker 15 It's also an attempt more broadly to just peel away working class voters from the Democratic Party, which Trump has had some success doing among certainly among white working class voters, but increasingly non-college educated working class black and Latino voters as well, particularly men.

Speaker 15 You know, and look, he's out there. He makes a lot of noise about the ills of free trade and foreign competition.
And, you know, he says that the Democrats, so that the message now from Trump and J.D.

Speaker 15 Vance and all those assholes is, you know, the Democrats have sold out the working class to the coastal elites in their base in Hollywood and academia.

Speaker 15 And it's like, you know, it's like shit that Republicans have been saying since the 70s. But now you've got the leader of the party doing it.
And I will say that

Speaker 15 Trump's approach is quite different than his opponents.

Speaker 15 If you want to hear what a pre-Trump Republican sounds like on these issues, here's what Tim Scott had to say about the strike.

Speaker 19 I think Ronald Reagan gave us a Ronald Reagan gave us a great example when federal employees decided they were going to strike. He said, you strike, you're fired.
Simple concept to me.

Speaker 19 To the extent that we could use that once again, absolutely.

Speaker 15 I mean, wouldn't you rather run against that message than Trump's message? Even though we know Trump's message is a fucking lie and complete bullshit?

Speaker 16 100%.

Speaker 16 Trump is,

Speaker 16 I don't necessarily agree from that original political quote you read that Biden's getting outmaneuvered, but this is evidence that Trump is running a more sophisticated campaign than he has in the past for sure.

Speaker 15 I think he is too.

Speaker 16 And we should, everyone should be well aware of that fact as we, how we think about this race. But one thing he is doing is he's getting back to his 2016 roots.

Speaker 16 And his 2016 roots is run right on cultural issues and tack a little bit left on economic issues from your party.

Speaker 15 Remember, in that race. Rhetorically, at least.
Rhetorically, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 16 Yeah. The man, the man campaigns like Pat Buchanan and governs like Paul Ryan, but he ran in that race.
He

Speaker 16 said, no cuts, Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid.

Speaker 16 He talked, even though he went against his own white papers, about being against tax cuts for the rich and corporate tax cuts and wanting to close the hedge fund loophole and all these other things, because he understood that the Republicans had this working-class base that they had to appeal to.

Speaker 16 And that he's, he lost that in 2020. He turned the whole thing into a bunch of grievances about himself, and he's returning to those roots.

Speaker 16 Whether it'll work or not, whether he can stick to it is an open question, but there are some troubling signs there.

Speaker 15 Yeah, and look, he also had a a record in,

Speaker 15 when he was running in 2020, he had a record that Democrats pointed out where he, you know, stopped a minimum wage hike, restricted overtime pay, made it harder to join a union, gutted health and safety protections for workers, tried to take away health care for millions by repealing the Affordable Care Act, and then passed a big giant tax cut that benefited the richest people in America and corporations, especially those that wanted to ship people's jobs overseas.

Speaker 15 So that was his record.

Speaker 15 And Democrats pointed out, and I do think we probably need to do that again because, you know, I miss the days when Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan would brag about how they wanted to gut people's health care in retirement to give tax cuts to the rich because the rest of America is filled with lazy freeloaders who are just mooching off the government.

Speaker 15 They were honest about it at least.

Speaker 15 And it's much more difficult to pin Trump down because he does have that record from when he was president.

Speaker 15 But again, a lot of people are just watching the speeches or looking at the headlines and not really checking out what the record was.

Speaker 15 And so I think that's part of Democrats' job and Biden's job to remind people.

Speaker 16 Yeah, I mean,

Speaker 16 this could be a savvy move. It could also blow up in his face because he is the most anti-worker president in American history and he's going to stand with workers.

Speaker 16 So if you kick the, if he leads with his chin there and you punch him right in the jaw, then it's going to not going to be a savvy move at all. But we determine whether that happens.

Speaker 16 That's something Democrats have to do.

Speaker 15 Well, speaking of that, there's apparently been a back and forth in the White House over whether Biden himself should join the UAW on a picket line, which is something no president has ever done.

Speaker 15 What do you think about that?

Speaker 16 He should absolutely go.

Speaker 15 Absolutely. What do you think the conversations are like in the White House?

Speaker 15 Because I was imagining this, and I'm guessing that there is some group of people who are saying, okay, the most important governing and political objective here for the White House is a resolution that gets...

Speaker 15 the best deal possible for workers and gets them back to work. And that's good for workers.
That's good for the economy. And then politically, that's good for them, right?

Speaker 15 So, that's like the ultimate objective. And they're probably like, well, anything that gets in the way of that,

Speaker 15 you know, may be good for a couple of headlines, but it's not good for the long-term objective of getting a deal.

Speaker 15 And the UAW leadership is out there being like, we don't want politicians involved, whether, and they don't, we should say also they do not like Donald Trump.

Speaker 15 And so it's not working on the UAW, what Donald Trump's doing in the leadership. They have been blasting him.
But they're like, even if it's President Biden, we just don't want politicians involved.

Speaker 15 We want to do this ourselves. So I wonder if there's that faction in the White House that is like offering that caution, though I agree with you that he should go do it.

Speaker 16 I could just stand here and do a one-act play of that meeting. I know exactly how it's going.

Speaker 16 That's the economic team is saying we got to get this done.

Speaker 15 Probably involved too.

Speaker 16 If we don't get this solved, it's going to hit GDP by 0.93% in the third quarter and what that would mean.

Speaker 16 And then you have other people who are saying, well, just so you know, if you do this, then the next call we're going to get is from the screen actors guild and the writers guild to come

Speaker 16 that one. And what about when the teachers are on strike? Are you going to go walk with them?

Speaker 16 And then they're going to be people who say, well, now it's going to look like you're responding to Trump because Trump is going to Michigan. I get all of that.
And these things are never as easy.

Speaker 15 We're going to get a call from the NLRB, from the National Labor Relations Board.

Speaker 15 They're going to say that you're not supposed to insert yourself and this is the regulation and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah.
Yeah.

Speaker 16 But the only thing I would say, and these things are never as simple as a bunch of podcasters just like shooting from the hip as I just did there, but the biggest challenge for Biden on the economy is getting attention.

Speaker 16 He did it. He's done the right things.
He largely says the right things, but no one hears him.

Speaker 16 This would be one of the rare, high-profile moments that people who do not watch CNN and listen to Pod Save America would actually know about. So you got to take it.

Speaker 16 And that's really what I think these next few months are between this. and the shutdown.

Speaker 16 These are the most high leverage moments he's going to have to change the political trajectory on the economy and perhaps himself that he's going to get until the campaign kicks off.

Speaker 16 And you've got to take him. You've got to roll the dice.
You need a high-variance strategy here. It's risky, but I think it's worth doing.

Speaker 15 Now, a few weeks ago, you and I talked about some of the Democratic anxiety over the fact that Biden was not really mentioning Trump all that much and was not focusing on Trump.

Speaker 15 And that's because, you know, there's still a Republican primary playing out and it's still early and he's got plenty of time.

Speaker 15 Well, now we have Donald Trump who is looking past the primary and now focusing almost exclusively on Joe Biden because he's, you know, 30, 40 points ahead of all of his rivals and he's skipping the debates and all that kind of stuff.

Speaker 15 Do you still think that Biden should ignore Trump or is it time to start the general here? Because I kind of think it's time to start the general.

Speaker 16 I think it's time to start the general, but I don't think that means that every day Joe Biden has to talk about Donald Trump. I think he should be opportunistic about it.

Speaker 16 I think Trump goes like there could be

Speaker 16 even whether Biden goes to the strike or not, you could engineer a moment where Biden is with a bunch of workers somewhere or in some sort of environment where he gets asked a question about Trump going to Michigan.

Speaker 16 He just hammers him for his anti-worker positions. You're right.
Calls them basically full shit without using those words.

Speaker 16 Like you can find some moments to do it, but you don't have to do it all the time.

Speaker 16 I do think for the outside groups and others who are already on the air running pro-Biden ads, we're probably getting closer to the period of time where you're going to mix in some contrast stuff with Trump to begin laying a foundation for the campaign when it really kicks off next year.

Speaker 15 Maybe Biden should call him full of shit. That'd get a headline.

Speaker 16 Yeah, I mean, actually, you know what? You know, when he, what did he call Peter Doocy? Oh, son of a bitch. Maybe he doesn't have to go that far, but it would get attention.
Yes.

Speaker 15 Yeah, guy's full of shit. Speaking of Democratic anxiety, here's a headline from Axios.
Biden's team tells nervous Dems, just chill.

Speaker 15 In true Axios fashion, the piece doesn't actually have anyone saying those words, just chill.

Speaker 15 But it does say that Mike Mike Donlon, Biden's senior advisor, has been telling anxious Democrats that two issues, abortion and Donald Trump, will propel Biden to re-election, and that the White House plans to continue its rose garden strategy with a three-pronged message that focuses on protecting democracy, abortion rights, and a resilient economy, including a historically low unemployment rate.

Speaker 15 And here's the kicker: quote: In those private conversations, Democrats have been struck by top White House aides' confidence. Some worry it's hubris.
How did you feel after reading that piece?

Speaker 15 Better? Worse? Neither?

Speaker 16 Just mainly angry at Exios.

Speaker 15 That's it.

Speaker 15 That's why we wanted to.

Speaker 16 Well, it's just, it just seems like something that was engineered to infuriate everyone, right? I know. Biden tells Democrats to chill the F out.
We got this. And that's not, no one said that.

Speaker 16 That's not, we know Mike Donnellin. That's not how he talks, right?

Speaker 15 No, it's not.

Speaker 15 He's a very soft-spoken, mild-mannered man who

Speaker 15 is very thoughtful.

Speaker 16 Yeah, it's not. That That is the point of the headline was to trigger Democrats who think Biden shouldn't run as being complacent, who thinks we're all

Speaker 16 sort of fiddling why Rome burns here, all of that. And that's not, that's just not what, there's nothing in the Biden campaign's body language or activity to suggest they are being complacent here.

Speaker 16 They are on the air right now. spending real money because they know they see the same stuff in their polling, I assume, that all the rest of Democrats are reacting to in the public polling.

Speaker 15 Yeah, I was going to say, if they really are like super confident and everything like that, like, hey, show us your polling.

Speaker 15 I don't think their polling is that much different than what we're seeing publicly.

Speaker 16 Yeah, and they're not out there unskewing the polls, right, or complaining about it, right? Which is the right thing to do, whether their polls say something different or not, but still.

Speaker 15 Yeah, don't unskew polls, please.

Speaker 15 I also, it said rose garden strategy in there, and I'm like, what rose garden strategy? Joe Biden's like out on the campaign trail all the time, and he's like flying around the world as president.

Speaker 15 Like, I don't see a rose garden strategy from them.

Speaker 16 That also was not in quotes either, right?

Speaker 15 Yeah, of course. What do you think about the issues that they said that they're focused on and how those issues are going to propel Biden to reelection?

Speaker 15 Because I do think that we can yell about the piece, but I thought that's the piece, the part of the piece worth talking about.

Speaker 16 Abortion clearly is going to be one of the most important issues in selection.

Speaker 16 It's going to be incumbent upon Biden and Democrats to ensure, as we just talked about, that it remains at the top of voters' minds. So, clear there.

Speaker 16 The economy, Biden needs to improve his numbers on the economy. No, no one has won a campaign in modern political history without winning on the economy.

Speaker 16 Biden is trailing significantly on the economy right now. Now,

Speaker 16 the use of the term resilient in there is also something not in quotes.

Speaker 16 But it is consistent with how the Biden campaign advertising has been, which is, here's where we were. Terrible.
We did these things. Here's where we are now.
Now we got to go finish the job.

Speaker 16 And I think that's probably what they mean. But I've been like really trying to find a way to write about the politics of the economy.

Speaker 16 And I've been like digging into the polling and it's so confusing. But one thing that is clear is that people are still hurting, right? It's not all polarization.
It's not all political.

Speaker 16 There's a Navigator poll out this week that shows that 91% of voters say that inflation is a major concern. And that's not all just Republicans watching Fox News who just are hearing about it.

Speaker 16 It's there are 85% of Democrats say that. The numbers when you get lowered down the economic scale are worse.

Speaker 16 And so that says to me that even though inflation is getting better, people are still feeling the pinch.

Speaker 16 And I think that is different than I think we thought the economic messaging would be maybe a few months ago when we saw consumer confidence go up and we thought maybe it was time to make the turn.

Speaker 16 And I think that there's going to have to be a little more balance in that. And now democracy really depends on how you message it, because what are we talking about there?

Speaker 16 Is it about Trump and the big lie? Is it about protecting a political system that a recent Pew Poll shows has record low approval?

Speaker 16 It's, you know, it's just that one and just how they talk about that would be very interesting to me.

Speaker 15 Yeah. I mean, there is a school of thought that economic sentiment is based on vibes.

Speaker 15 And it, and if Joe Biden went out there and Democrats go out there and talk the economy up more than they do, then everyone will say, oh yeah, the economy is great.

Speaker 15 And part of that is based on, you know, Trump running around during his presidency talking about how it's the greatest this ever, you know, lowest unemployment rate for black people and lowest unemployment rate for Latinos and women.

Speaker 15 And I'm doing the greatest thing ever. It's the greatest economy in the world.

Speaker 15 And I don't know necessarily that there's evidence that Trump just talking up the economy is what made people think the economy was good.

Speaker 15 Because when you do, you ask people about the economy right now and they think the economy is shit.

Speaker 15 But then you ask people about their personal finances and it's a little bit better, but you still, in that recent CBS poll, I think, too, asked people like, you know, are you better off than a couple of years ago than you were before the pandemic?

Speaker 15 And a good chunk of people are not better off. And then there's another good chunk of people who are the same.
And there's only sort of a small percentage who say that they're better.

Speaker 15 So that's like, that's people talking about their personal finances and their personal feelings, not how they view the economy writ large, right?

Speaker 15 Which you could argue is more dependent on headlines, what politicians say, what you see on the news, et cetera, et cetera.

Speaker 15 But when you're asked a question about your own personal finances and your own financial situation, you know, and if a whole bunch of people are saying that it's not great, then who were we to tell them otherwise?

Speaker 16 I will disagree with you slightly here. I think Biden could,

Speaker 16 could improve his numbers on the economy by talking it up more.

Speaker 16 But I think that would be a false signal because what the difference between Biden and Trump is that Trump always got more Republicans to say the economy was good than Biden gets Democrats to say the economy is good.

Speaker 16 So there's a bunch of people who are going to vote for Joe Biden who are currently telling pollsters they don't think the economy is good, or even though they may not approve of Joe Biden's economic record or trust in the economy or whatever else, he can improve those numbers.

Speaker 16 It's not going to improve him in the horse race. It's just going to get people already voting for him to say, to tell pollsters they think the economy is good.

Speaker 16 It's the, but the risk, the backlash to that is potentially taking these people who could react negatively to overselling the economy, who are not in your camp yet, who fall into that persuadable universe, if that sort of convoluted thinking makes sense.

Speaker 15 Yeah. And I just think we've got to,

Speaker 15 I mean, I'm like a broken record on this, but I think we have to like get out of the, we have to get away from the question, do you think the economy is good or not?

Speaker 15 And get to the question, who is more likely to fight for you? Who is more likely to fight for the middle class? And have, and Biden's message should be, elect me, elect a Democratic majority.

Speaker 15 Here's how we'll finish the job. And if you don't, if you vote for them, here's what they'll do.
Here's what Donald Trump will do. And here's what the Republicans will do.

Speaker 15 And then the choice becomes the Democratic vision of the Republican vision, which we're going to be, you know, ours is going to be much more popular according to most of the polling.

Speaker 15 And it gets you out of the question, is it good? Is it bad? Is it better? Is it not as good? Which is just, you know, first of all, it's hard to answer.

Speaker 15 And second of all, it's largely dependent on the economic conditions, which we can't predict.

Speaker 16 And I would say, to the White House's credit, they made that pivot two weeks ago. That is Bidenomics versus Magonomics.
That is what they are trying to do.

Speaker 15 Right. Which is great, which is what they, what they should be doing, I think.
All right. Before we go to break, two quick housekeeping notes.

Speaker 15 The next Republican debate is Wednesday, September 27th, which means it's time for another Friends of the Pod group thread. Join us on Discord for live reactions and commentary during the debate.

Speaker 15 Don't miss out. Subscribe to Friends of the Pod to join our group thread at crooked.com slash friends.

Speaker 15 And maybe while you're yelling at the TV, you'll want to wear one of Crooked's fuck that guy t-shirts, which are back and better than ever.

Speaker 15 Maybe Joe Biden should wear a fuck that guy t-shirt.

Speaker 16 How are they better?

Speaker 15 I don't know. I don't know.
I just read what's in front of me. Someone send me one.
All right. Thank you, Ron Bergen.

Speaker 15 Pick one up and let it do some of the yelling for you this election season. Head to crooked.com slash store to shop.

Speaker 15 When we come back, Politico's Daniela Diaz joins to talk about the House Republican shit show that's heading towards a government shutdown.

Speaker 1 Were you or a loved one diagnosed with lung cancer or mesothelioma due to exposure to asbestos?

Speaker 7 For over 20 years, Vogel Sang Law has helped families across the country fight for justice after asbestos exposure.

Speaker 8 Call or visit our website and begin your free case review today.

Speaker 10 Call 888-680-2259. That's 888-680-2259.

Speaker 12 Or visit vogelzanglaw.com/slash connect.

Speaker 15 What's poppin' listeners?

Speaker 20 I'm Lacey Mosley, host of the podcast Scam Goddess, the show that's an ode to fraud and all those who practice it. Each week, I talk with very special guests about the scammiest scammers of all time.

Speaker 20 Want to know about the fake heirs? We got them. What about a career con man? We've got them too.
Guys that will wine and dine you and then steal all your coins.

Speaker 20 Oh, you know they are represented because representation matters. I'm joined by guests like Nicole Beyer, Ira Madison III, Conan O'Brien, and more.

Speaker 20 Join the congregation and listen to Scam Goddess wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 21 The 2026 Chevy Equinox is more than an SUV. It's your Sunday tailgate and your parking lot snack bar.
Your lucky jersey, your chairs, and your big cooler fit perfectly in your even bigger cargo space.

Speaker 21 And when it's go time, your 11.3-inch diagonal touchscreen's got the playbook, the playlist, and the tech to stay a step ahead. It's more than an SUV, it's your Equinox.

Speaker 21 Chevrolet, together let's drive.

Speaker 15 The government will shut down in 10 days if Congress can't pass a funding bill. And thanks to the utter chaos in the House Republican caucus, it's not looking good.

Speaker 15 Here's Kevin McCarthy feigning surprise, surprise, that Republicans would try to burn the place down.

Speaker 16 This is a whole new concept of individuals that just want to burn the whole place down.

Speaker 15 It doesn't work.

Speaker 15 Here to help us understand what the hell is going on on Capitol Hill is Daniela Diaz, who writes Politico's Huddle newsletter. Daniela, welcome to the pod.

Speaker 23 Thanks for having me.

Speaker 15 First question, how much do you love your job right now? And are you planning on sleeping in the next 10 days?

Speaker 23 You know, these are the times that I wish I had chosen something else to cover. But we're here every year.
If you, I'm sure you know better than everyone, it happens every year.

Speaker 23 This isn't too new for us. But there are times that I kind of wish I covered something like, you know, maybe a business beat, maybe something more nine to five.

Speaker 23 And I don't think, to answer your question, I don't think I'm going to sleep a lot these next couple of days, but we'll see. I mean, I've already told my family and friends that this is my priority.

Speaker 23 And we don't know, you know,

Speaker 23 bets on how long a government shutdown is going to happen.

Speaker 23 We should do maybe an open pool or something because it looks like it's inevitable at this point.

Speaker 15 Okay, so say you're someone who's just waken up to this news that there's chaos in Washington and the government may shut down and they're wondering what the hell is happening.

Speaker 15 What would you tell them?

Speaker 23 I would say right now, Congress is divided in the sense of the Senate is Democratic-led, the House is Republican-led.

Speaker 23 McCarthy, when he became Speaker, set a rule that if one Republican can oust him as Speaker, and all McCarthy's ever wanted as Speaker of the House is to be Speaker of the House.

Speaker 23 As a result, he is now having to cater to some of the most conservative members of his conference on a deal that could fund the government that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer would never support, and neither would President Joe Biden.

Speaker 23 And that is what we're witnessing right now happen real time as the government is inevitably likely, I say inevitably, that's what we've been saying,

Speaker 23 likely to shut down in less than two weeks.

Speaker 15 I want to start by taking a step back for people who haven't been following this lunacy.

Speaker 15 Back in June, President Biden and Speaker McCarthy ended the debt ceiling standoff with a deal on federal spending for the next two years that was designed to avoid a shutdown this fall.

Speaker 15 What happened?

Speaker 23 Well, you would think that that meant that this would have been happened a lot more smoothly as these negotiations started in the House with House Republicans who

Speaker 23 apparently are not aware of what happened, you know, back during the GOP limit deal.

Speaker 23 And when I say some of those House Republicans, mainly House Freedom Caucus members, who are refusing to support any sort of stopgap bill to prevent a government shutdown, but it seems like we're back at square one.

Speaker 23 You know, a lot of us are having deja vu of just a couple of months ago. It feels like it's the same debate happening again and again.

Speaker 23 These House Republicans that want to bring down spending, they want to bring down government spending. And I think it's really important to note for the audience.

Speaker 23 Regardless of whatever happens in the House, the Senate has to pass a Bill 2. It's a Democratic majority.
Whatever happens in the Senate is going to go back to the House.

Speaker 23 It's going to pass with Democratic votes and then land on President Joe Biden's desk for signature.

Speaker 23 So whatever's happening right now in this debate that we're seeing with these five, seven really conservative House Republicans to the right of McCarthy saying they're not going to support a stopgap bill, it doesn't matter.

Speaker 23 In the end, they're probably not going to support whatever comes back anyway.

Speaker 23 This is really about McCarthy trying to keep his speakership gabble and bend to the needs of what these conservatives want. So he doesn't get a motion to vacate when this all ends.

Speaker 23 And that's what we're witnessing right now.

Speaker 15 Well, see, that was

Speaker 15 one of my questions.

Speaker 15 Like, what I can't figure out about these House Freedom caucus members who are are the holdouts right now is like, why not just let any bill go to the Senate and then start fighting now about what they're going to let McCarthy accept when a bill comes back from the Senate?

Speaker 23 I was speaking to a Republican who said, you know,

Speaker 23 the minority always votes no. The minority is going to vote no, whatever happens.
So that is why McCarthy right now is trying to pass something along party lines that he can get to the Senate.

Speaker 23 But really, the bigger picture is it's as you noted, it doesn't matter. It's going to come back to the House anyway.

Speaker 23 But right now, McCarthy is still trying to make sure he doesn't get that threat of a motion to vacate.

Speaker 23 That's the debate we're witnessing at a minute scale here of him really bending, caving in to these House Republican needs. And he's still not winning.
That's.

Speaker 15 I was going to say that. It's not even working.

Speaker 15 As of this recording, I know that

Speaker 15 McCarthy is still trying to get the votes to pass a

Speaker 15 continuing resolution, a temporary funding bill with only Republican votes. And they're also trying to pass a defense bill.
And how is all this going for them? What's the latest?

Speaker 23 Well, if you think of, this is the way we think of the defense bill here on Capitol Hill. It's kind of a preview to what we're going to witness whenever a CR comes through, right?

Speaker 23 This is a bill, one of the 12 appropriations bills that these appropriators all Republican have that are all chairmen, you know, on this really influential committee have been working on for months with the the top line spending numbers that were negotiated during that debt limit deal and it still doesn't have the support needed to get across the finish line he cannot get enough republicans to even support that and a lot of these republicans we're hearing from you know dan bishop saying i need to know he's one of the ones that uh voted no multiple times that we saw vote no at this during this procedural vote that just happened moments ago he says i need to know exactly when every appropriations bill gonna is going to be voted on i need to know that he's gonna mccarthy is gonna give us with the top line number but in the end it doesn't matter because mccarthy has been doing all of this and they're still voting no and and it's really interesting everyone has different opinions about what mccarthy should do whether he should ignore these guys and and start having a conversation with jeffries maybe that's already happening and it's just not out there yet or if he should you know take this and and i might get a little too nitty gritty here so uh just bear with me but there is a separate deal that's being negotiated right now by a group called the problem solvers caucus that would

Speaker 23 yeah sorry i'm getting a little ahead i don't i i you know no that's great living and breathing for the past couple of days but they voted and endorsed a deal late last night around 11 p.m that would uh

Speaker 23 not deal with uh funding the government and it's about more than about 60 members 30 about 30 Republicans, 30 Democrats, and they think this is the way to do it.

Speaker 23 It's a bipartisan deal, but McCarthy has not answered questions on this issue yet.

Speaker 23 And it's unclear whether this will get any sort of traction right now, considering McCarthy is still trying to get a stopgap bill passed allegedly by Saturday.

Speaker 23 Nothing has changed yet in terms of vote timing at this moment, but it's a mess. I mean, it's chaos.
And you talk to Republicans about this and they say it's dysfunction. You talk to

Speaker 23 Democrats about this and they say it's dysfunction. It's

Speaker 23 what's happening in the House right now is quite, quite a mess.

Speaker 15 What do you know about what the holdouts want?

Speaker 15 The handful who are still voting no.

Speaker 15 From where I sit, it seems like they just want to politically damage Kevin McCarthy and maybe even oust him as Speaker, and that this is not necessarily about any specific funding or policy issues.

Speaker 23 Yeah, it's you nailed

Speaker 23 right on the nail on the head.

Speaker 23 It seems to be that there's five-ish Republicans, most of them in the House Freedom Caucus, that will vote no for a CR regardless of what is in it, regardless of what it looks like.

Speaker 23 A lot of them say they want appropriations bills. The time is run out.
That's not going to happen before September 30th to fund the government for the year. And

Speaker 23 something to know, and we've reported at Politico various times, is a lot of these guys are actually eyeing political futures in other roles.

Speaker 23 You know, Dan Bishop eyeing a attorney general run. I'm thinking of Matt Gates, who's floating a potential run as governor in Florida.

Speaker 23 These are people that have ambitions elsewhere. And that is a lot of the argument I'm hearing even from Republicans for why.

Speaker 23 And I want to be clear, Republicans that are aligned with McCarthy, who are speaking about this. McCarthy doesn't really talk about this with us,

Speaker 23 but that say that this is just, they're not going to switch. This is not going to change.
And there's no way to get them to yes. And this is going to be, you know, this is McCarthy's dilemma.

Speaker 15 So there's no way the government stays open unless Republicans Republicans in the House sign off on some kind of bipartisan measure, right? Like there's just, there's no world where

Speaker 15 a

Speaker 15 McCarthy House passes a, a bill that only has Republicans on it that gets signed by Joe Biden, right?

Speaker 15 So at some point, whether it's now or whether it's when the bill comes back from the Senate and a shutdown lasts for, I don't know, 20 days, 30 days, four months, at some point, Kevin McCarthy is going to have to talk to Hakeem Jeffries and figure out how to get a bill out of the House that is bipartisan.

Speaker 15 So at that point, like, how threatened is McCarthy's job, right? Because

Speaker 15 I could see Matt Gates filing a motion to vacate, but then what happens after that? Like,

Speaker 15 they're just going to keep voting and voting and voting until they get another speaker. Like,

Speaker 15 what's the long-term play here?

Speaker 23 I mean, I think the long-term play is what we're witnessing happen moment by moment here by McCarthy himself.

Speaker 23 I don't know if he's really got a strategy beyond what's ahead of him, even in the hour that's coming. He is currently trying to keep his gavel.

Speaker 23 That is why he hasn't turned to Hooking Jeffries yet. That is why he's not talking to McConnell or Schumer about what a deal could look like with the Senate and the House.

Speaker 23 That's why he's still trying to win over these. Republicans like Matt Gates who would threaten to motion to vacate him.
So to oust him as Speaker. It only takes one to start that process.

Speaker 23 And so, I think what we're witnessing is him trying to figure out what will work for him long term so that he can keep his gavel. But in the end, it's going to be threatened anyway if he goes.

Speaker 23 Say, let's play a scenario. Say the House passes a Republican-led

Speaker 23 continuing resolution to fund the government for a month. It goes back to the Senate.
The Senate adds Ukraine aid.

Speaker 23 The Senate adds all these other measures that they want that they can get a majority on. It has to come back to the House.
Then the House passes it with a

Speaker 23 simple majority with

Speaker 23 Democratic votes at this point, because that's what's going to end up happening with whatever happens in the Senate. McCarthy will be threatened regardless.

Speaker 23 So I think right now we're witnessing him try to figure out how to prevent that backlash that could happen in the future.

Speaker 23 And I think the way he can do that is by trying to pass a Republican-led stopgap measure that has everyone supportive.

Speaker 23 And then he can kind of throw up his hands and be like, well, now we have to follow the process. And now I can get Democratic votes to support this.
We've seen this happen before.

Speaker 23 And it seems like that's what's going to happen again. Whether that'll work for him though, that is the question.

Speaker 15 Is there a scenario where McCarthy works with, makes a deal with Democrats to keep the government open, to pass a continuing resolution or funding bill that is to the Democrats' liking, but in return, return, some Democrats say, we will protect you if there's a motion to vacate.

Speaker 23 Well,

Speaker 23 I don't see a scenario like that happening right now. Now, if there's a shutdown happening, maybe

Speaker 23 that could change the circumstances. I've talked to so many Democrats.
They're really entertained by what's happening right now on the outside. They think this is politically, yes, yes.

Speaker 23 They think this is very politically good for Democrats

Speaker 23 ahead of 2024.

Speaker 23 They think it's a good move right now to kind of watch, and I'm saying, I'm in putting in their words, I've spoken to dozens upon dozens of Democrats just did, as a lot of them were laughing about what was happening on the House floor just an hour ago.

Speaker 23 But they think it's funny to watch McCarthy flail because this is a future campaign ad. This is a moment for them to win back the House.

Speaker 23 They can show that they're the party of order under Democrats and they can prove that they passed all this major legislation when they had all three

Speaker 23 changes, you know, they had the House, the Senate, they had the presidency. They can show that they are efficient.

Speaker 23 And by watching McCarthy not even be able to get his party united on one thing, I think a lot of them are privately and some publicly, maybe not the ones in vulnerable seats, but really enjoying what they're witnessing with McCarthy having a really hard time keeping his conference in order.

Speaker 15 Yeah, I do think it's, at least personally, I think it's mildly entertaining right now.

Speaker 15 But if a shutdown happens and it drags on for a while then you know you could see that you could see the politics changing after a while because a lot of folks who aren't following this closely in the country which is most people um might just be like why is why is washington shut down who what's going on they're all yelling at each other can't they figure something out which i'm guessing is what some republicans are are betting happens well how is the republican caucus reacting to or are they reacting to donald trump inserting himself into this whole process last night uh by saying that unless Joe Biden agrees to sign a bill that would force the DOJ to drop all the Trump prosecutions, they should shut down the government.

Speaker 23 It's just echoing what we've already heard from these allies of Donald Trump here on Capitol Hill. I mean, Marjorie Taylor Greene's been saying that for months.
So

Speaker 23 he's insidering himself, but nothing really changes. It's not like more, what we're witnessing is it's not like more members are going to come out

Speaker 23 against this deal because he stepped in.

Speaker 23 If you remember, he was the one saying just months ago that the nation should default on its debt. And that would be a smart, a smart move politically.

Speaker 23 And of course, a lot of Republicans don't agree with that privately. They know that that would be very damaging because they want to win their reelection in a year and a half.
And you're right.

Speaker 23 A lot of folks back home don't really understand what's happening. They're like, why can't people just work together and prevent a government shutdown? Well, really, it's because.

Speaker 23 Republicans versus Democrats. That's what we're watching here on Capitol Hill.
And that's how it's always been, really partisan.

Speaker 23 Now, again, you brought up the idea of maybe some Democrats might help Republicans. Who knows? Maybe that'll happen later.
Right now, that's not the case.

Speaker 15 Yeah. And the other difference here is usually Republicans at least try to say, oh, no, no, no, it's the Democrats' fault.
Now it's like Republicans versus Republicans.

Speaker 15 And some, like I saw Mike Lawler, who's a Republican in a Biden district, go out there and say, like, these people are lunatics. What are they doing? And something.
About his own party.

Speaker 15 And something, yeah.

Speaker 23 And something to really keep in mind about these members that you're seeing seeing speak out. You know, you may mention Mike Lawler.
There's also Don Bacon. There's Fitzpatrick.

Speaker 23 They're really vulnerable members of Congress that won the majority for Republicans in 2022. And that is why.
they really see this as important to keeping the House majority for Republicans.

Speaker 23 They are so confused at why these really, and they say it as safe seat Republicans, are saying, we're not going to support a

Speaker 23 stopgap bill when they're like, we got, we won the majority for Republicans and we need to support this because our constituents back home expect results and they don't they've elected me so that i could bring some sort of reason to washington and now this is terrible so that's why you see these members and we call them you know vulnerable republicans centrist republicans in biden districts because biden won the districts that they uh in 2020 when they the ones that they represent that are you know throwing their hands up being like we're trying to do something and it's not happening and we don't know what else to do and a lot of those guys are the same ones that are are working with Democrats in the Problem Solvers Caucus on this alternative idea that puts a lot of pressure on Republican leadership in the House to move because say they can't do anything.

Speaker 23 Then they do this other deal that could potentially get enough votes to go to the Senate.

Speaker 23 Well, McCarthy still faces the same issue of a motion to vacate because he didn't work fast enough to win over those five Republicans that will vote no for a funding deal.

Speaker 15 Daniela, thank you so much for covering every detail of this shit show so closely so the rest of us don't have to.

Speaker 15 Good luck over the next 10 days and I hope you do get some sleep and thanks for coming on the pod. Appreciate it.

Speaker 23 Thank you. Thank you for having me.
This is great.

Speaker 1 Were you or a loved one diagnosed with lung cancer or mesothelioma due to exposure to asbestos?

Speaker 7 For over 20 years, Vogel Sang Law has helped families across the country country fight for justice after asbestos exposure.

Speaker 8 Call or visit our website and begin your free case review today.

Speaker 10 Call 888-680-2259.

Speaker 11 That's 888-680-2259.

Speaker 13 Or visit vogelzanglaw.com slash connect.

Speaker 14 Hey, weirdos, I'm Elena, and I'm Ash, and we are the host of Morbid Podcast. Each week, we dive into the dark and fascinating world of true crime, spooky history, and the unexplained.

Speaker 14 From infamous killers and unsolved mysteries to haunted places and strange legends, we cover it all with research, empathy, humor, and a few creative expletives.

Speaker 14 It's smart, it's spooky, and it's just the right amount of weird. Two new episodes drop every week, and there's even a bonus once a month.
Find us wherever you listen to podcasts.

Speaker 15 Yay! Woo!

Speaker 24 Running a business is hard enough, so why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other? Introducing Odo, the only business software you'll ever need.

Speaker 24 It's an all-in-one, fully integrated platform that makes your work easier from CRM, accounting, inventory, e-commerce, and more.

Speaker 24 And the best part, Odo replaces multiple expensive platforms for a fraction of the cost. That's why over thousands of businesses have made the switch.
So why not you? Try Odoo for free at odoo.com.

Speaker 24 That's odoo.com.

Speaker 15 Okay, before we go, we have to talk about yet another example of politicians' vulgarity that is degrading the great institution of Congress.

Speaker 15 Last week, we covered Republican Senator John Kennedy's speech at a public hearing where he talked lube and strap-ons and sex acts and graphic detail.

Speaker 15 On Tuesday, we talked about Lauren Boebert and her date's premature ejection from Betelgeuse, the musical, because

Speaker 15 they were doing hand stuff.

Speaker 15 But today, today, the shockingly disrespectful behavior comes from Democrats. Both sides, Dan, both sides.

Speaker 15 Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has asked the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms to no longer enforce the dress code on the Senate floor, which means that Pennsylvania's John Fetterman has had the audacity to show up in shorts and a hoodie, setting off a crisis in our democracy.

Speaker 14 Americans want etiquette and manners, and they expect more in their elected leaders.

Speaker 15 I sit on a committee with John Fetterman, and I've seen him in a suit once. It seems completely disrespectful.
This guy looks like he's in a gang or he's working out somewhere.

Speaker 21 Hoodie and gym shorts convey no respect. You don't dress like a slob and expect to be respected.

Speaker 25 It's just another step in the movement by the Democrats to, quote, transform America, to take us to a different different place and to take us to a place that is much less respectful.

Speaker 26 This is just a small part of the decline of a new America.

Speaker 26 The Democrats do not like this country the way it is. Never have.

Speaker 15 I think the whole thing is horrible. I think it's part of the deterioration of this country.
Civilization now celebrates mediocrity.

Speaker 15 You're pandering to the lowest common denominator and now existing is just an accomplishment.

Speaker 27 We need to be lifting up our standards in this country, not dumbing down our standards in this country.

Speaker 15 So I think the dudes should stick to the suits. This isn't a poker game or a strip club.

Speaker 23 I plan to wear a bikini tomorrow to the Senate floor.

Speaker 14 You know, this happened in the fall of the Roman Empire.

Speaker 15 Dan, I just want to read from a letter that was sent to Schumer in protest of the new rules. Quote, the Senate is a place of honor and tradition.

Speaker 15 The world washes us on that floor, and we must protect the sanctity of that place at all costs.

Speaker 15 Signed by the same Senate Republicans whose current pick for president is a criminal defendant being charged with paying hush money to a porn star and sending a murderous mob to shit on their desks.

Speaker 15 But at the very least, Donald Trump was in a tie when he did it. So I guess we're good.
Do you share their concerns about protecting the sanctity of the Senate floor?

Speaker 16 I have a couple thoughts. First, the lead-in that you wrote for this segment is the best writing you have done since

Speaker 16 Obama's 2012 acceptance speech, maybe the second inaugural. I mean, it's just

Speaker 16 you still got it. I know you don't pick up the pen often, but it's still there.

Speaker 16 Second,

Speaker 16 I am embarrassed for everyone involved other than John Fetterman. I'm embarrassed for the senators.
I'm embarrassed for the people on Capitol Hill.

Speaker 16 I'm really embarrassed for the Capitol Hole Press Corps who's covering this like it's the fucking debt ceiling.

Speaker 16 It is the Senate floor. It is not a hallowed ground.
And it's not sacred. It is a place that Ted Cruz is allowed to roam freely, right? There's nothing sacred about it.

Speaker 16 This is one of the dumbest things in the history of dumb things. It is why people hate Congress.
Talk about having

Speaker 16 obnoxious self-importance emanating from your pores. The whole thing is so absurd.
Beyond the fact that just from a point of practicality, DC is a swamp.

Speaker 16 It is a miserable place to wear a tie, which is a stupid thing to begin with. It'll hold it like wear a tie, don't wear a tie, don't care about what John Federmo wears.
It's so stupid.

Speaker 16 I'm embarrassed for everyone. And two people I'm really embarrassed for, Joe Manchin and Dick Durbin, two Democrats who fell right into the trap of this self-important bullshit.

Speaker 16 Joe Manchin, I expect that. I expect Joe Manchin, Democrat Cafe Milano, to think that.
But Dick Durbin, I'm embarrassed for you.

Speaker 15 But it's also, you see some people who are like, well, but like, you know, in your workplace, if you have to wear a shirt and tie and someone doesn't wear that, isn't that a problem?

Speaker 15 And blah, blah, blah. Well, yeah, if that's the workplace rules, the Democrats are in the majority in the Senate.
Chuck Schumer is the majority leader.

Speaker 15 He decided that the rules are casual Friday every day, if you want, or you can wear a suit and tie.

Speaker 15 If Mitch McConnell and Republicans take the Senate back and they want to institute a rule that you have to wear a shirt and tie, then people have to wear a shirt and tie. It's a fucking democracy.

Speaker 15 Tim Miller made this point. If you're upset that John Fetterman is wearing a hoodie and shorts on the Senate floor, then the voters of Pennsylvania can vote him out next time.
No problem.

Speaker 15 It's a democracy. What the fuck are you all talking about? Go fucking keep the government open.
You're nuts.

Speaker 15 You literally, this guy that's running for president that you're all supporting, he sent a mob to the Senate floor that you're trying to protect the, you're trying to protect the sacred Senate floor there was a mob that stormed the capitol and then you voted to acquit the guy who sent them there and now you're gonna vote for him for president a lot of the mob was wearing hoodies i've seen the footage

Speaker 16 it is shocking it is shocking if it's not shocking but while we're on the subject of dress codes every thursday during the summer a bunch of republicans wear seersucker suits They look like they're dressed up as Orville Red and Bacher for Halloween, and they go to work.

Speaker 16 You know what? We should stop that. Chuck Schumer, take a stand.

Speaker 15 Fedderman has had some fantastic replies to this.

Speaker 15 He

Speaker 15 tweeted, I figure if I take up vaping and grabbing the hog during a live musical, they'll make me a folk hero.

Speaker 15 I love that guy.

Speaker 15 And then he also tweeted, or he also said, I guess, if those jagobs in the House stop trying to shut our government down and fully support Ukraine, then I will save democracy by wearing a suit on the Senate floor next week.

Speaker 15 Good for John Fedderman.

Speaker 16 And in a city with humidity that's usually around 90 degrees, that is no small sacrifice on John Fetterman's part.

Speaker 15 I will just say, too, it's also a sign that John Fetterman is far more in touch.

Speaker 15 Yeah, also far more in touch with what people care about than most people in fucking Washington because I think most people believe that the way you show respect for the institution

Speaker 15 is with your behavior, with the way that you vote, with what you do to improve people's lives, not the fucking clothes you put on your body. Boo.

Speaker 15 Boo. Boo to the Republicans and boo to Dick Durbin and boo to Joe Manchin.

Speaker 16 I can't believe we booed Dick Durbin, but he earned it this time. And an otherwise exemplary record of public service, this was a bad thing.

Speaker 15 Again, like no one's, and Dick Durbin, like, no one's telling you you got to wear t-shirts and shorts, man. You can still wear your suit and tie.
That's fine.

Speaker 15 Like, Susan Collins, if you want to wear a bikini, that's fine. That's on you.

Speaker 15 You can do that if you'd like. Like, probably people will make some comments, but you know what? People will make some comments about John Fetterman and he's still going to wear what he wants.

Speaker 15 Stop trying to like have one set of rules for, this is a Republican thing, too. They want like one set of rules for them, which is basically no rules.

Speaker 15 hand stuff at musicals, talking about strap-on and lube.

Speaker 15 They can do whatever they want in their private lives. You know, Donald Trump's probably paying for abortions, right? All this kind of stuff.

Speaker 15 No rules for them, but for everyone else, they want to get involved in your life. They want to have rules.
They want to put politicians between doctors and women.

Speaker 15 They want to ban books in your classrooms. Everyone else has to follow the rules.
Not this Republican Party under Donald Trump. You can do whatever the fuck you want.

Speaker 16 Yep.

Speaker 16 They want to strongly regulate the audience behavior at Beatleshoot Musicals. That's what's part of the agenda.

Speaker 15 Anyway,

Speaker 15 I'm glad we got that off our chest, Dan.

Speaker 16 I feel, I, I don't feel better.

Speaker 15 I feel you feel better.

Speaker 16 I feel, I, I feel lighter today after having done that. So that's good.

Speaker 15 All right. Thank you to Daniela Diaz for joining us and keeping us up to date on the other shit show in Capitol Hill that actually matters whether the government stays open or not.

Speaker 15 I hope all of you have a fantastic weekend, and we will talk to you next week. Bye, everyone.

Speaker 15 Pod Save America is a crooked media production. Our producers are Olivia Martinez and David Toledo.
Our associate producer is Farah Safari. Writing support from Hallie Kiefer.

Speaker 15 Reed Cherlin is our executive producer. The show is mixed and edited by Andrew Chadwick.
Jordan Cantor is our sound engineer with audio support from Kyle Seglund and Charlotte Landis.

Speaker 15 Madeline Herringer is our head of news and programming. Matt DeGroote is our head of production.
Andy Taft is our executive assistant.

Speaker 15 Thanks to our digital team, Elijah Cohn, Haley Jones, Mia Kelman, David Toles, Kirill Pelaviev, and Molly Lobel.

Speaker 15 Subscribe to Pod Save America on YouTube to catch full episodes and extra video content. Find us at youtube.com slash at PodSaveAmerica.

Speaker 15 Finally, you can join our Friends of the Pod subscription community for ad-free episodes, exclusive content, and a great discussion on Discord.

Speaker 15 Plus, it's a great way to get involved with Votesave America. Sign up at crooked.com/slash friends.

Speaker 1 Were you or a loved one diagnosed with lung cancer or mesothelioma due to exposure to asbestos?

Speaker 6 For over 20 years, Vogel Sang Law has helped families across the country fight for justice after asbestos exposure.

Speaker 8 Call or visit our website and begin your free case review today.

Speaker 10 Call 888-680-2259.

Speaker 11 That's 888-680-2259.

Speaker 12 Or visit volgalsanglaw.com/slash connect.

Speaker 15 What's poppin' listeners?

Speaker 20 I'm Lacey Mosley, host of the podcast Scam Goddess, the show that's an ode to fraud and all those who practice it. Each week, I talk with very special guests about the scammiest scammers of all time.

Speaker 20 Want to know about the fake heirs? We got them. What about a career con man? We've got them too.
Guys that will wine and dine you and then steal all your coins.

Speaker 20 Oh, you know they are represented because representation matters. I'm joined by guests like Nicole Beyer, Ira Madison III, Conan O'Brien, and more.

Speaker 20 Join the congregation and listen to Scam Goddess wherever you get your podcasts.