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find out what you're in the sport. Start now at your cost-in-losen test/shoppyfire.com. Welcome to Plates, America, I'm John Favre. I'm John Love at Tommy Bitor. On today's show, Todd Blanche is getting confirmed as Attorney General after killing Trump's
January 6th slush fund, but is it really dead? We'll talk about that and whether Blanche's U.S. Attorney for DC, Janine Piero is about to be fired for telling the truth about the reflecting pool, the Trump still says was vandalized. We'll also cover the disturbing case of House Republican Max Miller, what it means for our
efforts to flip the house and what you can do to help flip the house as well.
We got more news about cursed DNC chair Ken Martin, a Michigan primary that's finally ending.
And later, I talked to Wisconsin-Goobin editorial candidate Francesca Hong about her momentum in a huge race that's just seven days from the finish line. But first, it was another eventful weekend where the commander-in-chief threatened Iran with what he was calling the biggest attack since World War II, only to once again pull back at the very last moment because of alleged talks about an alleged deal that no one can
confirm. Iran says it's bullshit, U.S. officials told CBS, no new talks have been planned. And by Monday afternoon, Trump put to rest any lingering confusion with his usual clarity. And this is at least the fifth time you've turned off airspace against your Johnson's people. This is the last chance for them to sign a good duck.
I'm very proud of the fact that I will give people a good chance. This is a big move, Iran knew it, they knew what was coming. It was going to come last night and it would have gotten on for a long time and they'd be essentially very little left, they'd be nothing left. OK.
“It seems like he's about to wrap this thing up, huh?”
A little time before the decabitation queen of farts over here. I can re-entwin it. Why do you think Trump called off plan strikes for the 500th time? I think it was a combination of things. I think the Saudis got to him and other Gulf autocrats who pay him bribes.
They do not want to see the planes. Yeah, give him planes, god knows what else. They don't want to see a resumption of Foskel combat because for them that means the oil and gas industry gets all screwed up, they can't get their exports out and also the Iranians fire a bunch of missiles and drones at them.
So that sucks if you're sitting in Saudi Arabia or Bahrain or Kuwait or whatever.
I think, MBS, mom have been saw on it, particularly it was persuasive.
There's also this ongoing issue about they don't have enough interceptor missiles to defend
from all of these Iranian ballistic missile responses.
“I think Trump also knows it's going to jack up oil and gas prices pretty close to the”
midterms and probably not materially impact situation. You're not going to win the war in a weekend. I mean, I think you and I talked about this on Friday. Some of the reports were like, Trump's got the biggest air strike barrage since World War II planned that'll be done by Monday.
You're not going to win the war. So he's bluffing and he's trying to see if you can use it as leverage. The thing is driving me crazy, just for a quick aside, you guys remember the whole Syria red line thing? That was a fight about Syria policy kind of, but the thing everyone in Washington said
is President's don't bluff, right?
You can't threaten to do something and then not implement it.
And like Trump has not done that five times and all the Republicans who blamed the Syria red line for Putin invading Crimea or everything China does are just silent on this now. Yeah, and at this point, I'm sure that the Iranians here, like the biggest, most devastating attacks in World War II and they probably start laughing. They're like, we just beat you in a previous war.
What's also like, what?
“How many times, how many cycles of this can we go through?”
We're going to obliterate your society. We're going to send you back to the Stone Age. Sure you are. And then it's called off, but by the time the markets open on Monday over and over again, the thing that's scary to me is, at some point, he's going up to fall through.
There's only so many times we can do this cycle, especially because the Iranians are not being cooperative with what Trump wants, which is to pretend there's negotiations. Because you know, they go along with what I'm saying, why are you being so difficult? And not confirming my ridiculous vacillations and the story I'm telling about how my threat of terrible violence brought you back to the table.
Remember a couple of weeks ago when you said they had killed off all the hardliners and now the remaining people were more practical. Did you guys see the CNN story with the headline, US military asks troops for creative and unconventional ideas to punish Iran? Yeah.
War crimes brainstorm. It's not everybody. We're doing a mood board. Everybody, everybody into the Comfort Room, we're doing a mood board. Guys, guys, I have all that ideas in a brainstorm.
I mean, that tells you something that maybe they're sort of out of, clearly they're out of ideas. Yeah, the bluffing is getting trickier to pull off, really does feel like a writer's room. No.
What are you talking about? Fucking goobers. So Trump did get much closer to having a full fledged attorney general after Todd
Blanche finally did with the president has refused to do.
He posted a letter showing that he'd formally rescinded the order creating the January 6th insurrection, a slush fund and in a company in press release, DOJ said the other big part of the IRS settlement immunity from investigations into potential tax fraud for Trump and his family would apply, quote, "only retroactively." Tom Tillis and John Cornin, the two holdouts, promptly said that was good enough for them
and they will now vote in favor of his nomination. Trump had asked about the conditions in the oval on Monday and he was non-committal. I didn't look at it, and I didn't know as a Todd Blanche is great, he's going to do a great job, everybody knows it, and I understand there's been a sign off, but I don't know what they agreed.
“I think Todd Blanche agreed to reconfirming things that he's already said and what he said”
was okay. So Blanche is getting confirmed. How ironclad do you think Blanche's rescinded order is, love it? So Cornin or Tillis, and it doesn't matter which one in some of you said, look, could a future attorney general rescind the paper, could Trump rescind it, sure, but then it'll
be up to the American people and what's so, I knew this was coming, of course, is what they wanted to do. They've signaled that they said we want to get to yes, which Trump could see and so they were going to figure out some way to get to yes. They had a chance to vote on an amendment to ban this by law and they chose not to.
The Republicans did it, they didn't. They didn't. And now, after Trump has made fools of them, after Trump has injected himself into their primaries and consumed their seat, as they're leaving office, the best that they can musters, the pathetic display of a piece of paper that can be rescinded, like experts
and lawyers, don't even necessarily believe this paper applies to the settlement because the settlement required signatures of all parties, so it may not even apply to day. They had an opportunity to vote for something that would have actually banned it in the law, they chose not to because that would have been a victory for their Democrats. And so I don't know what they're telling themselves when they sort of close their eyes
at night, but it is the most Trump had their fucking number. They were as weak and craving and pathetic as he thought, and he has been proven right and these pieces of paper aren't worth of fucking thing. Yeah, Trump said the slush fund was a gift, Todd, and I'm taking it with me.
I don't believe, for a second, this is dead.
You can move him off of bad policies, but you can't really move him off of something
that he wants personally, and this is money in his pocket if he has kind of void in it. So it's forever, or have a slush fund that you can give you out for political power. Trump is not remotely embarrassed about this fund. It is quite clear that he thinks this is something that he is owed by us, the taxpayers. So I've zero, I put zero stock in this terrible idea being dead.
“This is Michael Myers, this will keep coming back and coming back and coming back, and I think”
he will fight for it until he gets what he wants, and I think that might kill it is Democrats winning the house. Yeah, our friend Sky Perryman, lawyer who's been soon in the Trump administration for democracy forward, she made the point to the New York Times that, you know, if the Justice Department truly intended to end the fund, they would submit the sworn declaration that the court
has requested on this, which would be more binding than a fingers crossed promise from Todd Blanche.
That does not include the signatures you said of it, if don't Trump.
So I would imagine this goes the way of everything else, like, you know, the ICE detentions that have now ramped back up as soon as the new cycle moves on and Todd Blanche's attorney general, they will quietly start paying out individual January 6th convicts and other people that they like and, you know, we'll get some report, months from now that, oh, someone discovered that people are getting payouts from the Trump administration and someone
will ask them about it and he'll be like, well, I said it was unfair, but I don't know anything about that, and then that'll be that. This is also the whole thing is so ridiculous, because what are we negotiating over here?
“We'll get to it, but we have the president threatening to fire prosecutors simply for telling”
the truth about the prosecution of someone who didn't deserve to be prosecuted. We have Todd Blanche and front of Congress saying that DOJ is not independent. We have so many reports about the politicization of the Justice Department of Japan, Bondi, and now Todd Blanche, and their final act is to stop what is, like, the fund is so absurd.
It is so far beyond anything anyone could have ever seen from a president, a slush fund for fucking insurrectionist, and this is what they're going to pat themselves on the back about. This is as they have no political fights left to fight, as Trump has made enemies of them. Can you imagine the reverse of Trump being like, I'm going to, you know, like, as a Senator being like, even though he humiliated me, I'm going to do the right thing for your cabinet
nominee. It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. Good to run on in the midterms. Anyone who, look, a lot of these people are going to vote to confirm Todd Blanche,
and if I'm interested to see what Susan Collins and Dan Sullivan and John Houston do,
because if you voted to confirm Blanche, you basically voted for the slush fund.
So any ad about that is completely fair. No. No doubt. So Blanche is in, but Trump's U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia may be out on Friday afternoon, former and now maybe future Fox News host, Janine Piro, announced in a court
filing that the Justice Department would be dropping its case against former Olympian David Hurn, who had been facing a felony charge for allegedly vandalizing the reflecting pool. But Piro and the DOJ now admit, according to the court filing, that the damages to the pool were the result of a, quote, hasty and botched installation, not vandalism, no shit.
The Department of Justice went on to accuse the Department of the Interior of knowing it wasn't vandalism in misleading prosecutors about what really happened. Take that, Doug Bergham. Trump's surprise surprise is furious. "Have you still been to Geneva here about further decisions to drop her?"
No. Geneva Piro made a mistake.
“It was vandalism, we have photographs or tapes, like moving cameras, right?”
We have a, the people are on the side, for sure. Cutting it was on the side. Now I'm not saying I was 100% thrilled with the contractor, but the contractor was rushing. We want to get it open for July 4th, and we got it done. It looked beautiful.
And then they cut it. The judge was extremely unfriendly to Geneva, and frankly, I think she choked. And I was disappointed with Geneva, really disappointed with Geneva. She, uh, she folded like an umbrella. Those are the closest he's come to sounding like he did in the celebrity apprentice, like
it's like the boardroom. And he's about to fire. So, yeah. It's like meetloaf. You didn't make the top restaurant operate at a profit.
Yet over at the, the bubblers were too loud on the memorial. Jeanine Pirro, you're fired. That's the best part. Saying they had to turn off the reflecting pool bubblers because it would have interfered with the UFC fight.
Like a gurgling fountain would have distracted the roof. I've found some people cheering. Someone's face getting bashed in. The roar of the pool pump. It's great.
Apparently, um, Pirro and Burger, and we're seeing, uh, after that walking into the oval office, and then Burger, and we're seeing walking out, but Pirro is still in there, uh, now by the time. Two.
You're listening to this.
Probably by the time we finished recording this.
We could already. She could already be done. So so long. So long, Jeanine. It sounds like, um, what a fucking mess this is.
What a fucking mess. Yeah, I did. Also like before people go saying, like, I, clearly like, it seems like this was, um, was written in anger, like the clearly annoyed at the, whatever they were getting from the interior department.
Uh, but regardless, the idea that the department of justice, even after it, doing the right thing here, in between fucking getting a chart, an indictment for this guy, and letting him go, uh, like, your entire story was reversed. What kind of evidence were you basing this on when you brought the charges in the first place?
“Why did you have to learn so much after you decided to try to ruin a man's life, uh, that”
you would eventually decide to drop it, I guess, because you thought it wouldn't hold up in court. Yeah, I mean, the only reason they had to come clean is because if you, knowingly submit false evidence in court, you can be charged with perjury and you can go to jail and you can, you know, be punished by state bar associations and, uh, deal with all their problems.
So Doug Bergham, just like, I'll just lie in the court of public opinion, like, no skin off my ass, but Judge Shining, uh, it doesn't matter how many shard and as you have, you cannot lie before the judge.
I mean, there's always a spot on the fiber here, so, oh, yeah, that's, that they'll make
it the six. I know this one seems small and silly, and it's kind of fun, because it's, you know, Trump's renovations, and it's the reflecting pool, and it's so obviously a lie, but, like, this guy was charged with a felony, it's crazy. Had to get lawyer was, like, facing jail time, and it was all because of an obvious lie
that everyone knew was an obvious lie, and they all, I mean, there's all, you know, you can look for them anywhere. They just clips all over the place of Carolina and Levitt, Donald Trump, Janine Piero being like, it's, it's evidence. We have evidence that we're going to present in court, and we know it, and it was
the box cutter, but, and just to lie the entire time, but one of them, one of the more brazen lies, they've ever told you. Someone's questioning Janine Piero about this, and you realize, like, she doesn't totally know the facts. He's like, well, did he have a knife?
He was like, no, no, no, he did it with his hands, he's like, I'm sorry, what are you saying? This could, this 67-year-old canoeist is like, well, like, swimming through the pool, really not free. Yeah, like, it's crazy.
It's crazy. Yeah, no, this is, it's a good, like, yeah, I'm with you. This story, like, didn't seize me when I came out in the same way that East Wayne kind of
“started in, like, really, it wasn't the thing I cared the most about, but what I think”
I've come to realize over time is how much symbols matter, and how much it's made this corruption stories break through. We can talk about, you know, day trading from the old office, and the amount of money Trump is making, but like, stats and stats and figures are not going to break through as much as a simple narrative like this, where you have Trump's, you know, selfishness and
ego leading a innocent man to be fucking prosecuted, or, you know, tearing down the East Wing or whatever. These symbols really matter. They make these stories break through. I think it's like impacted, politically.
Also, it's coming on a day when the Attorney General nomination is about to be carried, like, there are, like, two Republicans just decided to give their votes to, like, give their impremature to how this department of justice is being run at any other era, at any other time. This would be, like, you, of course, we need to bring Todd Blanche before the Senate again
to find out. What does he think about this? Was he aware of this prosecution? Does he think, Jean Perra was in the wrong? Does he think, Todd?
Now he's got an out, because if Trump fires, there'll be, like, absolutely, good. The president did the right thing. This was bad. This is not the how we're going to run the Justice Department. Well, let's see what happens.
Now, he, of course, he wouldn't have said that if Trump didn't fire, and also, what, what were you aware of?
“These charges, do you believe, Doug Bergam misled the Department of Justice, right?”
Like, let's, there needs to be some resolution of, of these facts, because now we have Trump and the interior department head saying that it was still a crime, and that this person should still be prosecuted. It's not over either, because David Huren's lawyer has basically said that he told CNN that all options are on the table, and among those options, according to CNN, he looks
at the pool. Yeah, he's got, he's going with the Iran attack, except on the, they can, options are referring the prosecutors involved to a bar disciplinary authority, do it filing lawsuits, seeking more of the grand jury recording, documenting the prosecutors' presentation of the indictment, because they did get an indictment, asking the judge to dismiss the case.
So it can't be brought again, because pure as office only dismissed it without prejudice, meaning that prosecutors wouldn't be barred from attempting to revive the case later.
So they need to go further and make sure that they, tough, tough care can never bring
any. Yeah, tough case to bring again when you have the prosecutor saying, that they were mislead by the Department of the, like, the tough, but not, not unprecedented for this guy. Sure.
Sure. I would say it's like, my question would be, is, are we going to, are we suing these blood? Where, let's, we get this guy some cash? Do the shit at him.
Get some cash for this guy. Get some more documents released.
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I will literally eat anything, because I don't have a, I don't have a, I don't have a, I don't have a category flex, let me put it like that. With Lindsey Graham said in heaven, "Wow, wow." I just just wanted to play that for you guys, that was not, that was not the Danabash conversation, but that is what the Health and Human Service Secretary is up to.
It's such a weird way to describe why you'll eat anything, it's not like I have adventurous palettes. I enjoy all kinds of food, it's like nothing makes me puke. I don't have a gag reflex. Okay.
Good to know, write it down, all right, let's check out the actual conversation with Danabash. He's in the U.S., and protected children.
“I think that what I have talked to scientists and doctors about, can you, can you show me”
on the study? Yes, you are saying nonsense. You are saying something that you cannot show me. Okay. I am not saying nonsense.
I am talking what, somebody told you. Excuse me. And you were talking about, what study? What study? No, what studies are you talking about, you're talking about studies that actually
don't exist. And I really want to move on. But you were saying, you were saying, yes, I took part of the problem. No, I wasn't. Yeah, I think there was absolute press malpractice.
Okay. Are you going to, you want to sit here and attack me, or do you want to have conversation? You're sitting here and attacking me. I'm not attacking you. I'm asking questions about how to prevent the next question.
I'll tell you. That's what I'm trying to do. But Danabash, you probably don't understand this because you're not a scientist. But you're not either. So, what did you guys think of that?
Uncomfortable and somewhat infuriating interview. So it is so hard. Twenty minutes, that went back. Twenty minutes. And it's a brutal, 20 minutes.
And it is very difficult to, in real time, fact check someone who is all over the fucking place, mischaracterizing studies, asking you to prove the negative in the next sentence, grabbing for all kinds of things. The men and knights are in vaccinated, actually, Lyme disease is from gain of function, research,
“and you're all over the place trying, and this is where, like, you know what?”
I think Danabash trying to call upon the history of recalling expertise and things you've
Lived.
And this is where I think what makes it so difficult is that RFK, his whole thesis, right,
“is that, like, this is all pretty nefarious, right?”
He says, like, oh, the ICUs were actually empty.
They were lying about basically how full all the ICUs were because they were trying
to scare people and control people. You're being misled by all the experts. And I'm the one here to tell the truth, and you're just going to recite the experts that I have the real facts about, but he doesn't. Like, RSV is not from gain of rough function research.
That's a lie. Lyme disease is not. Lyme disease is not from gain of function. They found the Lyme disease bacteria in a 5,000 year old prehistoric fossil. COVID, COVID, multiple studies have shown that COVID protects.
Yeah, it showed me one study that COVID vaccines protect kids. Tons of studies show that COVID protects kids. There was one that found that the only kids in the ICU from inflammation due to COVID were unvaccinated kids, just over and over and over again, these, like, you can't show me this.
And you can't show me that. Well, maybe not while sitting there, kind of being peppered with bullshit from RFK junior with sort of misogynistic, you're not a scientist shit. But of course, he's just, like, you know, dissembling and misleading and lying about what the evidence is.
Yeah, I think she did a good job at some time, at some points, less good at the other. Like, the very top, he says the US had the highest death rate from COVID that's just not even close to true, Peru had the highest death rate per capita.
We had the highest death toll, but that's largely a function of having the third highest
population in the world. Yeah, we're done at like 18 for some of the teens for, yeah. And also, they give us this weird place where like a bunch of countries with, you know, less stable governments don't have the resources to collect all the data, so we don't really know all this stuff.
She asked the question about, she asked him about gain of function research, and then he came back with this lie saying RSV and Lyme disease were created by gain of function research, which is just unequivocally not true. And I think you do have to be prepared on that one to be like, that is absolutely not true. Now, the question phrasing itself was kind of strange.
It was sort of like, in defense of gain of function research, I'm not sure that was the most valuable question, and then she kept pushing the move on, which is complicated, because then you kind of sound slippery. I think it got better and more constructive in the measles section, because she really just wanted to pin them down and get him to say, yes, like get your kid, the MMR vaccine.
There's a horrible measles outbreak. It's deadly for kids.
But then RFK says I never question the efficacy of the MMR vaccine.
Sir. Yes, he did. He said it wains. He called it leaky. That's a lie.
It's a very effective, it has lifelong protection, 90% of measles cases are unvaccinated people or of an unknown status. Now, I do research all of that, right, to like kind of fact check this guy. It is why he's so slippery in condescending, but like when you interview that guy, that's the job.
Yeah, I think this is how conspiracy theorists, especially with science and medicine. This is how they work, right, which is scientific judgment is not like every single scientist and every single study for all of time agrees on the same thing. It's the preponderance of evidence, points one direction. Maybe there's one study that says something else and then the conspiracy theorist latches
on to the one study and is like, well, why? Maybe that's the study. Maybe that's the study that actually tells the truth and all the other experts are wrong.
“And every time she could say to study, he could say to study back, the best way to get”
him is, you just said, which is if he claims that he said something, you can be like, no, this is actually what you said, you know, and you can put it up, put it up. But, or do you say, study these nuts, but it's also a safe and effective way to reply. But when you're going study by study and science by science, this is like, you know, it was a microcosm of how we all fucked up the pandemic so badly, right, is that it's
just a bunch of, now everyone can go find their own research and can go find some study or some scientist or some asshole on Twitter who debunks scientific evidence that is overwhelming. Like that is the whole story of how we went through the pandemic. Yeah, it's all, like now the guy's fucking health and human services. Right.
And he's like, also, he's just to brought more broadly or deeply mischaracterizes the body of research on autism from vaccines to Tylenol in part because if you're doing tons and tons of studies, one study may show a correlation and then some more research is done and they say, you know what, actually, we took that correlation research and we ran another analysis across a much bigger sample to see what would happen between siblings, right?
And it actually turns out that that correlation doesn't produce causation when you look at it another way and this is a much deeper bit of research and so, you know, well, nothing is ever known for certain. We believe this is just sort of something that you can say there is no evidence for, but that's not acceptable.
But this is why I come back to the ICU thing, like, why, what is, like, this is where I
“think you have to go, like, so you're saying all of these scientists are lying or misleading”
because what they, they want kids to get sick, they want kids to get, all the time. And the newsrooms are lying to a newsrooms were saying that New York City ERs were full and they were making it up, what on earth are you, Donald Trump was president. If that were happening, he would have gotten to the bottom of it.
That's his hometown.
And it's like, it's fucking insane.
And what's the motivation that they just, they wanted everyone to stay home. They wanted to stay home. They wanted to stay home. They wanted to stay home. They wanted to stay home.
And then I guess they all probably had, you know, business connections to the pharmaceutical companies.
“Yeah, well, to try to get the vaccine, that's why they're all pushing the vaccine.”
Well, this was also, like, there were people running around with video cameras trying to prove that the ICU is in their town or their place where M.D. and, as well, that's not the COVID ward. And by the way, yeah, like, they're worried that there's about to be huge influx of patients, et cetera, et cetera.
And it's like, it's all this idea that, like, you can't trust anybody, you can't trust the experts, you can't trust the science, like, do these, did Fauci and all, like, there's plenty of ways in which they were trying to be, I think, you know, too declarative, afraid of giving people nuance because they weren't able to, they weren't sure where they could trust the public with.
And part because they were so much misinformation. But these were people desperately trying to figure out what to do in the middle of an emergency. And he sits there, like, kind of leaning back, being like, it was all alive. They were all lying and it is so fucking disgusting.
But this is the whole, I mean, this all came from the, the Fauci hearings last week, which we didn't really talk about on the pod.
But basically, they decided that because they found that in Fauci's, you know, private
journal, he was like, it's so cool to be me and meet celebrities. I'm like the most famous person in the world, they're like, that shows that he killed everyone. But dialed Barbara Streisand again, what a voice, and they're like, you know, that proves it.
That proves that you did everything wrong. Like, yeah, God forbid, we have an ego maniac in charge during a pandemic. Is it great for medical research in the scientific community to have the clips out there
“of Fauci pleading the fifth, however many times in front of this hearing?”
I don't know. But terrible. Obviously is terrible. Do I understand why you did it from a legal perspective? Kind of.
I read a half an article on this because I'm not obsessed with it. Like, I do think there is like, I'm just kidding, like, it was just sort of an asymmetric story where Republicans are obsessed with this in Democrats are like, I want to think of anything but the pandemic goes the worst. A couple years of my life, none of us want to make that go agree.
You know? Yeah. But, yeah, it is just, I don't know, Bobby Kennedy, man. That's his research. All right.
The primary day in Michigan, and we got some midterm news to talk about, including a big announcement of our own. Today, votes of America is launching what we're calling. The crooked dozen, 12 of the most vulnerable house Republicans who we can put out of a job this November, but we need your help dear listener.
If you go to votes at america.com right now and sign up, you will get practical concrete steps that you can take to help flip these seats and lots of others up and down the ballot. You're going to get information on where to donate, where to volunteer, how to make sure you're friends and family are getting the best information about the races, lots more information. It literally takes two seconds to sign up at votes at america.com.
And if you're already signed up, grab a couple of friends, have them sign up too. We're trying to get as many people as possible. We did this back with the crooked seven back in 2018. Work pretty well. That's it.
I think we got almost all of them. And yeah, so we're trying to raise money for the Democratic candidates who are going to take these folks on and also just get some volunteers going. As an added incentive, we do have some news about one of the crooked dozen. Max Miller, the Republican representing Ohio 7 district, South Cleveland, you may already
be following this incredibly disturbing story. In 2024, Miller and his wife, Emily Moreno, who's the daughter of Republican Senator Bernie Moreno, got divorced and the custody battle for their two-year-old daughter ended up in court. As part of that court fight, Emily Moreno said that Miller repeatedly abused her, scolding
her with hot water holding a gun to her head and breaking their daughter's collarbone. The allegations, which Miller done eyes, started getting more attention over the last week or so when Senator Moreno refused to comment or call for his ex-sonant law to resign into quit his campaign. Miller then delivered a 20-minute live stream statement on Sunday morning, where he
did not drop out, but accused Emily Moreno of being a stalker and saying things like this. If I had assaulted her, which he had offered to cook me dinner six days later, which she even invited me to spend an afternoon at the playground with her and our daughter, which
“she have written that we were in a friendlier place?”
No, she wouldn't have, ladies and gentlemen, the boiling water story, the media has run with. That story is about an incident in June of 2024, while we were still married. And here's the truth, and this is the absolute truth. It was horse plan our kitchen.
These accusations were true, I would be in jail. That is just, he also posted and then deleted a Dropbox folder of audio he'd recorded of her, some of which contradicted his own claims, so then he took it down.
After that disgusting display, Bernie Moreno, the senator, his former father-in-law, finally
spoke out, posted a long statement that said, among other things, that the two years since
The divorce have been pure hell, that he holds his breath every time Miller h...
of his granddaughter, and that, quote, if there are any basic standards of character required
“to hold elected office, Max Miller fails them, he should not serve in the House of Representatives,”
Miller then immediately called him a liar. So I assume there's been a groundswell of Republicans now calling for Miller's step aside, right? Yeah, Trump was in the Oval Office, was asked about that, and said, well, he's a good person, good person, terrible situation, I guess the family will have to decide the family
will have to decide. What do you guys make a little situation? I mean, Max Miller should be in prison, not Congress, period. He is lying abusive scum. This is not the only instance of him being accused of abuse.
He was accused of beating his ex-girlfriend Stephanie Grisham, who worked in the Trump White House. She said he threw her up against a wall and slapped her, political reported that Miller pushed a female high school classmate down a flight of stairs because she refused his sexual advances.
There's another alleged incident of Miller abusing a woman in college. We don't really know the details there, but it's been mentioned in court transcripts. He had a bunch of violent fights and incidents in high school or in his early 20s.
“So this guy is clearly has a pattern of alleged abuse, and I think that should be enough”
for him to be thrown out of Congress, but Republicans have not most Republicans either just duck the question or want to preserve their majority. There's a lot of focuses have been put on Bernie Moreno and his response. He's a Ohio senator. His daughter has wanted to make these allegations.
The great, my gut reaction when I read is when he wouldn't respond was like the he had failed his basic job as a father and was a coward to really condemn him. Or the more I thought about it, the more I was like, I don't know. You don't know what's happening inside of family. You don't know what his conversation with his daughter or like, you don't know the fear
that he could have about his granddaughter who had joined custody. So I don't know. I feel like I'm a good biologist. I'm a little wife. Emily's mother.
Yeah. It's complicated.
“And she was really upset and so I think he didn't, but like whatever he got it done.”
But like Jim Jordan was on Congressman Jim Jordan was on TV and was asked about this. I think of CNN or maybe his MS now. And just absolutely will not draw a moral line in the sand for this man who's clearly a fucking scumbag. Well, Jim Jordan is sort of a history of this.
Refusing to do that. Yeah. The statement from Bernie Marino makes clear that he felt like he was trying to avoid speaking out about it on his daughter's behalf. Trump is refusing to condemn him, which is leading to no one else being willing to call
him to resign. If he doesn't step back by Wednesday, I believe he'll be on the balance. So he's hanging on now if Max Miller seems to have this history, he's obviously there were these allegations in this marriage, allegations in previous relationships, allegations of other violence in the past.
Never been, it has been said publicly, that means that there are that, that like, Stephanie
Grishon was close to Donald Trump. That means that there are people, it though, the senators are aware of this. Other members of the House are aware of this, the White House is aware of this. That this guy is fucking violent piece of shit. And they have all just been what silent about it ignoring about it, keeping their heads down.
Trump called up a good person. He's basically a character whistness. Should say to the, what broke this whole thing open was Abby Vassilus of Mother Jones, ported there, like she broke the story in July 18th, but she just went through all the court documents that were out there and all the filings.
And it is, I mean, it's, it's a tough read, but like, a child protection specialist reviewed the incident, characterized the bruising near the fracture as resembling a handprint. Now Miller's story is that the daughter, it was a seat belt that, like, the car stopped short, whatever. Emily Murray, no, doesn't believe this, of course, and then the trial protection specialist
said it's a handprint. And apparently the, the daughter said Daddy's house is scary to her mother. And also he contradicted himself in the court filings, because first he said he didn't pour hot water on her neck.
And then he said in the neck sentence, "Well, the water incident, I never thought that
that hurt you." There's no force playing with boiling water. No, which is basically admitting that it was, that he actually did it. So he's a liar. He's got a violent past, he obviously should not be believed, and it is crazy that Republicans
are not immediately calling for this guy to, to drop out of Congress, drop out of the race, let alone Congress. Yeah. It's disgusting. I mean, like, doing that to a two-year-old makes you want to drive over to his house
with a baseball bat. And it's solving that way. I mean, that's the part that's like, the whole story is absolutely seconding. This is an evil person. I hope they indict him and lock him up.
And I hope every single Republican is forced to have to answer the questions about this. And like, in his stammers into the fucking camera, because, you know, none of them can cross
Trump, because Trump didn't tell him to drop out.
And it's not just him.
“I mean, there's a kind of Cory Mills, who's another Republican from Florida, who is accused”
of some sort of physical abuse of a woman.
He was also accused of, like, sex-stortion and threatening to release nude images of her. And Republicans, again, they just pretend this is not happening. I mean, he's under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for, like, some sorts of violations. But no one's calling for his expulsion. And it's like, with Miller, too, he's like, well, I'm not going to drop out for people who
want to try this in the Court of Public Opinion. It's like, no, no, it's not being tried in the Court of Public Opinion. We have actual court court documents. That's where it is. Like, we have court court documents.
We have court documents. We have testimony. This is not just hearsay that people are talking about. There's actual documents about this. And that's what I'm saying, asshole.
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As you're listening to this, it's election day in Michigan where Abdul Elsaid and Haley Stevens are fighting it out for the Senate nomination. Any thoughts from you guys on Haley and Abdul's closing messages or anything else from the last few days of campaigning? We're got a little heated.
You did get a little heated. There's this one number that jumped out at me, which is sort of as a preview of coming
“in attractions because we don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, but I think it's”
the Emerson poll that under 50 Abdul is leading Haley Stevens 67 to 25 over 60 Stevens is leading 53 to 39 and that is like remarkable. That is a crazy gap and it just looks like whatever happens in this race whether or not
Haley Stevens and whatever 30 to 60 million, whatever number from a pack in as plus concerns
that Abdul will lose to my ground, whatever it is, if whatever leaking out of victory that is possible tomorrow, this tells you the direction that the party is going and if people want an alternative to left candidates or if they think the left candidates don't represent their point of view, I think we've seen over and over again that unless there is a center left or center that can offer something more exciting, persuasive, optimistic, something
for people to like grab onto, I think though the establishment will keep being surprised
By when given the choice between our candidates or else, like people keep cho...
else.
“Yeah, I think so much of the conversation about this race is focused on the meta stakes”
and what it means for the party and also the exchanging of barbs, you know, the attacks
and the money. A lot of trading. A pack and stuff. But I was reading this New Yorker interview, Abdul did over the weekend during my own little brush with the healthcare industry in this country and how fun it can be and I was
reminded why I'm so excited about his candidacy, like he is a fundamentally optimistic, hopeful guy who brings real expertise as a doctor and a health professional to the job. Not our kid you in your level, no, he was like an incredibly talented speaker, he's a good human being or lucky enough to know him and I'm just reminded me to be excited about him and the fact that he could potentially be a US senator and you know there was this graph
in the story that really jumped out of me that I wanted to read about because he talks about how his story and his parent's story is only possible in America that's sort of
like fundamentally patriotic, optimistic story and then he couches like why he is hopeful
about fixing the broken US healthcare system in his optimism about America as well. He says the thing about America is that we don't do things like other people, we do them better. I love that about our country and that's obviously very like Obama, oh, eight coded and part
“of why I like it and I think there's a risk of just cutting, not cutting, tasting but like”
you know that rhetoric from that era, it was a different time. The world is the electorate now is in a darker place. Beckham inequality is worse, younger people feel even more hopeless about the system about the economy, about their prospects in life. So you don't want to just kind of like repeat, you know, the Obama era optimism.
But I do think, because it could sound naive, but I do think that what Abdul is getting at is talking about problems and systemic challenges, but then giving people some hope that he actually can fix it or that we have the capacity to fix them as a nation. And I think that has been missing in a lot of the political debate that is either just about Trump or about how cooked we are because of capitalism.
Yeah, the national discourse has sort of lumped in all the left candidates together, is like, you know, they're all socialist and I'll believe the same thing and it's all, you know, that none of them are able to win. And, you know, for some have pretty extreme positions and we've talked about them before.
And, you know, I've been even critical of some of, you know, the way Abdul has said some
things too over the, in this race, but I thought that was the, I think this was the best interview that he has given. And if you are open-minded and you still unsure about Abdul, like I would absolutely read this with David Remnick and then in the New Yorker, I thought it was really, really great. It's good at, look, if Abdul wins the primary, if the polls are correct, it is going
to be a difficult general election. And, you know, the gold standard poll in Michigan came out over the weekend and has him down a few to Mike Rogers and Haley Stevens performed better in that poll. I don't think that means he can't win by any means. But I think that what he's going to have to do to be victorious is exactly what he did,
I think in that interview and talk like he did in that interview. And because it shows a love of country, it's like a liberal patriotism, he talks about how he's a capitalist, he talks about, he's criticized Obama in the past as we know. He was very complimentary and he just, he seems extremely thoughtful, like he just didn't get into this race because he wanted to throw out slogans and all this kind of stuff,
like it seems like he just fought all this stuff through his specialty health care. Yeah, he's just a really, really smart guy who is like hands-on experience tackling these problems and will be really good at the job. And it's exciting to think about not just how these people can't pay him, but what they'd be like in the job.
And I think post-prost primary, assuming of dual wins, we don't know, but a lot of the polls suggest you will, he will have to do a lot of work to kind of get back Haley Steven supporters. I think he's done a really good job in recent weeks of kind of tamping down supporters to cross the line who like make fun of Haley Steven's in ways that are just sexist or inappropriate or just mean.
There's going to have to be more of that, you know, like after Bernie was winning in 2020, a lot of his supporters were telling other people to bend the knee and shit like that. And it's just like such a toxic, terrible way to consolidate an electorate. And then it'll be incumbent on everyone no matter how perous their feelings are to just
“remember that this is about winning the Senate seat and then I mic Rogers this election”
and making it a referendum on Trump, like a vote for Rogers a vote for Trump. And Rogers is trying to kind of avoid all hard questions, like I don't know if you guys saw them a fourth thing. Yeah, you won't talk about the weapon that they've funded. I'll come in on Iran.
So Nicholas, we did this interview with him, how would he vote on the multiple Senator Approved measures to condemn President Donald Trump's terrorist? I don't know. Where does he stand on Trump's anti-weaponsization funds? Quote, I'm not talking about any of that stuff.
I don't care. I mean, I care.
As for the Iran War, he said he'd heard, quote, hardly anything from constitu...
trailer about it.
This guy has been living in Florida.
Florida. Yeah. And so he retired, bought a house in Florida, tried to run in 2024, lost a slot can. And now he's, he's trying to revive himself again. So like, yes, he definitely should time the Trump and with good reason.
But like Mike Rogers, just as a character on his own, is just looking to be defined right out of the gate.
“And I think that like if I, that's like number one on a bull's list, or if Haley”
wins her list. As part of the corruption story of Trump, like Trump, like this guy was in government, lost, left, and went made a bunch of money, you know, like helping out the industries he used to regularly. Yeah.
This whole idea that he is maybe more moderate or more old school of Republican establishment than some of these guys, like I think that the corruption and the tie to Trump and just sort of the like out of touch, uh, these sort of vibes he gives off from having been in Florida for a while and not really caring about all these issues is, is a real weakness right?
But it's got to be exploited. Yeah. I was just like, this is where sometimes I like there's just, we're going to do politics. It may be, maybe Abdul starts a little bit further behind than Haley Stevens with. Okay.
Do you believe in politics? Do you believe in the ability to persuade?
“Do you think Abdul will be a better center than Mike Rogers?”
I do. It's important to have a democratic Senate, uh, than any criticism or concern you might have about of duals being for the left and you, I do. So maybe other people can be persuaded of that as well, as long as everybody kind of after this primaries over figures that had had to come together, like they're in moments
in this, like there's, there's the left is a big fractious group of people. There have been moments and a lot of these primaries were just clear that some people who are part of these problem primaries care more about winning factional fights against Democrats and they do about actually beating Republicans. There have been bad moments and interviews where I think Abdul has reflected that aspect
of the movement, but when he is at his best, when he is speaking about what governing can actually do, a kind of broad and optimistic vision for the country, I think, yes, that is somebody that has absolutely can kind of build support in Michigan, especially with someone who's supposed to be like the toughest one to beat my Rogers, like, Con, like I think that I think like everybody needs to, like, kind of figure out how to come together and then
and then make that argument. Last thing before we get to my conversation with Francesca Hong, I promise you, we do not enjoy talking about Ken Martin and the drama at the DNC, but unfortunately, the news keeps on coming. The latest is a story from the New York Times in which Paul Rivera, the personal friend
to whom Martin assigned the fabled autopsy claims that when Martin did finally release
the report, he omitted a chapter that Rivera wrote titled "What Happened in 2024?" It seems like something you'd want and a report about what happened in 2024, just a minor detail, the chapter criticized Biden's decision to run for reelection, as perhaps, quote, "the single point of failure" for 2024. It also criticized senior Democratic strategists for being too rich to understand the struggles
of most Americans, Rivera gave the times the full text of the allegedly missing chapter, Martin denies ever seeing or knowing about it at all despite Rivera saying he handed him a binder, a three-ring binder with the chapter in it. So this pits two incompetent people against each other who have also been, well, at least in Ken Martin's case, deceptive in the past, so even if Ken Martin is telling the truth,
this is part of the reason that you don't lie to people because it is hard to believe you when you haven't been honest about everything in the past. I just want to read the first line in this supposedly secret and damning chapter. American politics is a study in inflection points, it sure is, it sure is, a land of contradictions, I find, what do you guys make of the whole thing?
I am sure that two Ken Martin, this all feels very unfair from this original sin of putting this guy in charge of the autopsy, getting something back that was incompetent and that would create a bunch of controversy, but not actually address our problems deciding to not release it. I see how at each step one mistake leads to others and others in others, tangled web and so there's that cascade of mistakes and then there's the cascade
of the money going out to places where they don't elect senators or house members because you promised to kind of invest all over the place including in the territories, people have questions about your fundraising and all of this sort of building on itself. And that now, even though there are parts of your program that you think makes sense and are good, it's unfair because there's no way for you to gain purchase. You can't the fundraising
“is anemic because people don't trust you. You need to have more money on the books, otherwise”
people keep reporting how much more money the RNC has. This guy comes out with a stupid fucking chapter, maybe you saw it, maybe it didn't, but it only proves that you were right
that his work wasn't worthy of releasing the first place, even though people are mad at
you thinking some sort of conspiracy. That all may be frustrating. Too fucking bad. We need the money, we need a DNC chair, people can trust, you are not that, whether it happens now or after the elections in November, it doesn't really matter, but the idea that this guy is going to be in charge of the Democratic National Committee as we head into the presidential is ridiculous.
Yeah, the original sin was asking your buddy, Paul Rivera, to do this report ...
just not in any way credentialed to do. I think the last presidential campaign he worked on was in 2004 for Al Gore, John Kerry. Oh, sorry, John Kerry, I'll go for it. Yeah, I remember. Yeah, okay. And then Rivera worked for this New York state Senate leader who was convicted of federal fraud and people who worked around Rivera in that era in the York state Senate said, first of all, it was a horrible period of politics for the Democratic
parties has corrupt awful, you know, a state Senate group and then that Rivera personally was just sort of a weird behind the scenes guy who didn't, they didn't know what he did ever. He was in no way the right person to do this report. So picking that guy was the
original sin and then there was, as always, the cover up was worse in the crime and
spiking the report and then lying about the report. And now Rivera said is now Rivera says can't is lying about the release of this chapter. I don't trust either messenger here. I'm inclined, well, I'm inclined to believe that if this guy wrote this chapter, he would have given it to Ken Martin personally because why would you lie about this? I don't think there was some strategic brilliance in this chapter, right, or anything really worth covering up. But I think
what this does is, once again, raise questions about whether Ken Martin is an honest person. And I don't think he is. And I think if you are stepping on rakes all the time and if you are
“lying all the time, you should not be leaving the Democratic Party on top of all the president.”
The fundraising failures. So yeah, I just, this is a real fun weekend for anyone who wants to
close the book on the 2024 election when we also have Hunter Biden saying his dad's debate
performance was bad because he had cancer, but also still lashing out at anyone who said that that bad debate reform is meant that he should have dropped out of the race. >> Well, one would think that if the cancer was so bad and problematic that it would lead you to not be able to debate, it would mean you can't be president for four years. >> And it didn't just, it's not just the type of cancer that manifests on stage in the national
phase. >> Well, must I really, if it wasn't a stroke, yes, it was a life thought it was. >> Yeah, there was a scoop today from notice that Martin told Dancy members on the members only call that he's convening a special finance committee to help with fundraising. So, I don't know who's in that committee, but hopefully it works. >> If you're a state party or each Clooney, if you're a state party and you are hanging
“on a Ken Martin because you get a check every month, it's up what you have to realize that”
that check's going to stop coming when there's no money. It's like two things can be true. It can be great that Ken Martin sent you a check and that you've been able to hire more staffers. Like, that is important to invest in state parties, but also like you do need the money to do that. >> You have to fire that. >> You have to raise the money. >> There's no money. >> Right, exactly, which seems like a problem.
Did you guys see that there's a lot of rapid response coming out of the DNC to try to defend their work they're doing because, look at a lot of, there's a fantastic people at the DNC working really hard. It's cannot be easy for them. But one staffer put out a video where he's petting his cat and telling people that everything's good at the DNC, there's some background music, it was deleted. >> It was deleted before I had a chance to see it to be honest.
>> I never, I never actually got, I saw the still up it, but I never actually got to see
the video itself. Sadly for me. >> Undelete the cat video. I liked it, they got attention. >> Yeah, great. No bad press. No bad press. It looks like it wasn't authorized. >> It was pretty sure it was an authorized. It did have an unintentional doctor evil kind of competition. >> So when I was a kid, Inspector Gadget, the opening credits. >> Oh, yeah. >> There's a moment where you never see Dr. Klyse, always petting a cat with one hand.
And then there's a moment at which he runs up to the chair in front of a fireplace, spins it around and there's the arm, but it's attached to a spring. And then the chair blows up. >> Yeah, no. >> And I thought as a kid, that the villain was a chair with a spring attached to it. And then he was trying to kill Inspector Gadget. >> Very liberal kid. >> And I, yes, a lot of these things
“could have been diagnosed earlier, I think. But I thought the neverending story was named that,”
because the credits were so long. >> Oh, what a song. It's funny that petting a cat is evil-coded and petting a puppy is like the way you soften your image. >> On smart. >> Yeah, I'm like variable at press conferences being like, "What in Philadelphia?" >> Yeah, that's right. >> Yeah, that's right. >> Anyway, more cats from the DNC. >> All right, when we come back with Wisconsin, Gubernatorial Candidate, Francesca Home. Hey, Dan Taburski here. I'm a podcast host, a journalist,
and now with my newest project, the author of my own manifesto. Well, it's a manifesto about manifestos. My search for inspiration in a world that feels more infuriating, more out of its freaking mind with each passing hour. manifestos are a call to action, an artful screen. They capture our anger, and they try to do something with it. This is my attempt to take the manifesto back from mass shooters and nihilists and return it to its rightful place with the warriors, the
Visionaries, the regular folks with just the right amount of crazy.
secessionists, internet trolls out for a laugh, and punk singers screaming their guts out.
I'll try to turn their anger into the world they want to see. Listen to manifesto wherever you get your podcasts. Autobless subscribers can binge all episodes of manifesto early in that free right now, join audible in the audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts. >> I say Shannon Maldonado and I'm the founder of Jaoy, a singer of Kunstwerke and Han Gefertigte Objekte Spezialisiertist. My novel "Feed Of Shopify" by Shopify in comparison to the other
platforms that I tested with ambe nutzer-friendly. I have, before all, thought on the subject. All tools that are important for the output of the universe are, for example, from Lager, are found directly in the dashboard. Start now at your cost-in-losentestofshoppyfire.com. >> Hi, friends, Jessica Hong. Welcome to Plotsay of America. >> Happy to be here. Thanks for having me. >> I know this has to be a busy week for you, so thanks for doing this.
“And just to start off, I think it is incredibly important for Wisconsin to have a democratic”
governor because we can't have an election to nire like Tom Tiffany in a position to certify or not certify the 2021 election. But since Republicans will spend an ungodly amount of money to defeat you if you're the nominee to try to defeat you, I just want to make sure you have the best possible answers to what's coming. So I want to start with your 2020 posts supporting
defunding the police, quote, as a first step towards abolishing the police, which in a separate
post you said, quote, "exist to uphold white supremacy." Now, I know you said, you're not running to defund the police. It's not something you can do as governor and that people's views can evolve. I'm wondering how your views on policing have evolved since 2020. >> My views have only become stronger in that I'm serious about public safety and I will not abolish the police. My views are that people are struggling right now and need basic needs met and I want to focus
on stopping violent crime and giving law enforcement the resources and the training that they need, but in short that we are also holding accountable law enforcement that does not follow the law.
“>> Do you still believe that police exist to uphold white supremacy?”
>> No. >> When did that change for you? And what has changed in your thinking since you posted that in 2020? >> No, I think that when you talk to people who are most justice impacted, I'm other who lost a child to police violence. People who have contented with injustices in historically marginalized communities, but justice also looks like making sure that we are implementing solutions and helping to change the material conditions of people's lives. So as
a legislative over the last six years, I've had more conversations with people who are more directly
connected to the problems and have learned that it is most important for a public servant
like myself to make sure we're looking at sensible practical solutions that will help keep communities safe. >> You said during this campaign back in May that there has to be accountability for people who commit crimes and if you're a governor and people commit crimes, they quote incarceration and law enforcement are the systems in place right now. You also said your long-term vision is a world without prisons. How does that work? >> What I know is attainable and the policies that actually
meet the urgency of the moment and understanding the realities of it means that we have to ensure that we're funding our local government that we're bringing justice to victims and what may have been more aspirational is not primary, but we need to do is make sure that all people all across Wisconsin have access to great public schools out of school programs, mental health resources and that we hold law enforcement accountable but also provide them with the training that they need
“to help prevent crime and stop crime. >> One place that could come up, I think in the general”
election and of course if you become governor, your commutations are yours alone, no legislature, no courts. Would you commute sentences for people convicted of murder? >> The last governor before Tony Evers to serve commutations was Republican Tommy Thompson. And I believe that commutations moving forward, the system has to be designed by the folks who are also most impacted right now. And so at this time, I would not extend a commutation to somebody who has
murdered somebody else. >> If you're governor, you'll have something of a high class problem
That one of the first things you'll have to figure out is what to do with a $2.
surplus projected. Governor Evers and Republican leaders in the legislature reached a deal in May that would have given people $300 rebate checks, property tax relief, special education reimbursement and no tax on tips and overtime. Pass the assembly, you voted no and then it died in the Senate. 80% of voters including 82% of Democrats said it should have passed according to the market poll. Why do you think the voters were wrong? >> We have to make sure that the people who are struggling
the most have durable solutions and what that bill would have done is not given a rebate to
those who are on fixed incomes to folks who are making under $50,000 or hour. That's over a million
Wisconsinites. Those are people who absolutely deserve relief. And we were seeing these $600 and $300 rebates go to millionaires and billionaires and I'm focused on making sure that every day working class people are not only able to get real relief through cutting property taxes which we can do when we fund our schools but also that folks are able to have access to good jobs, fair affordable child care and free paid leave for all. And so for us it's irresponsible if we don't think about
some of the folks who need the funding the most. >> Tom Siphany said he wants to return the
“entire $2.5 billion surplus to taxpayers. What specifically do you want to do with it?”
Would taxpayers get any refunds or what's your priority list if you're fortunate enough to
be governor and have a democratic legislature? >> I want to cut property taxes which we can do by almost 44% when we add in a millionaires and billionaires tax. I want to make sure that we're investing in free child care for folks across our state while also providing bridge payments so that our child care centers can stay open. We need to invest in public education but also have funds available to attack and to make sure that we are extending healthcare. I mean Americans and
Wisconsinites are risking losing their healthcare because of a bill that Tom Tiffany voted for. So healthcare education and ensuring that we're lowering taxes is what I'll be focusing on with that surplus. >> You're the only Democrat backing a one year moratorium on data centers.
You argue that the tax exemptions will cost the state more than $2 billion. Tom Tiffany says
he wouldn't back a moratorium but that he'd also end those subsidies and that people shouldn't have to absorb the higher utility rates. So why is the moratorium the better policy and and what's
“that contrast going to be like between the two of you if you're the nominee?”
>> The moratorium is what hundreds and thousands of voters across the state regardless of political ideology have been demanding because the scale and speed in which these data centers continue to grow. Waiting for legislation in order for them to be able to help be held accountable or wouldn't have tax exemptions. The current data centers that exist in our state right now receive hundreds and thousands of dollars in tax exemptions and do not have to pay a sales and
use tax. The people of Wisconsin deserved to have community saying community control. That means ensuring that no utility costs go up that we have regulations in place to hold polluters accountable and that we are fox conduct again giving away billions of dollars in subsidies while creating very few new jobs and destroying it community in what they're able to do with their own property taxes and being able to grow their community. We should be able to have a say and making sure that
big tech knows we're not here to sell out our natural resources and we're not selling out our state to big tech. >> Do you see the moratorium being lifted after a year or like what under what conditions would you would you lift it? >> The big part is the regulations to make sure that we're holding those polluters accountable that we aren't raising rates for utilities and that the public service commission and people who are approving these different projects are actually we hold
the folks who are going to be responsible and thinking about what the public good is instead of people
“who may be taking money from the utility companies appointed to those positions. I think it's”
important that we establish local control but that there are statewide guidelines in having no tax exemptions and ensuring that data centers actually have to pay their own way and upfront if they're going to build in Wisconsin. >> The last primary debate was pretty friendly with you in your primary opponents and for people who are going to vote soon and they're wondering if they're trying to decide between you and David Crowley who's you're leading opponent in the
primary right now. What's one place where the two of you disagree? >> We disagree on the more tourism on data centers. We disagree on ending the voucher program. I believe that public dollars should stay in public schools. We disagree on how much to tax millionaires and billionaires to ensure that we have enough
Revenue to invest in the things that Wisconsinites care about like child care...
public schools. And we disagree in how much we should be spending on removing or how much of the
tax exemptions and corporate loopholes that we should be eliminating. Fortunately, Crowley has not been clear on which ones which policies that he supports. >> So, I hear you on the voucher program like taking money away from public education happens all across the country. You know, there is a program now. There are about 30,000 kids in Milwaukee who are in that program. Their families are income-capped. What does wind in the program down mean for them and what happens to those kids what
year does it end? >> Right now it's important to establish accountability and transparency and educating folks about where their property taxes go. We have a bill that's ready that would include a property tax report. How much of those tax dollars are actually going to private schools. With the Milwaukee schools voucher program, that would be the last voucher program that we would
“face out. And I believe it's important for folks to know that families actually can receive a tax credit”
for private school tuition. But right now, administration of that voucher program is costing our
state over $1.2 billion. And so, sun setting that program for Milwaukee. For us, we're looking
at at least the next second or third session, so that would be around 2030. But again, we want to make sure NPS is a partner with us and that the families who are in the program that the education is not disrupted. And even when we put the caps on it, that doesn't mean that any of the students who are enrolled in vouchers now would have learning disruptions. >> So, you're running as a Democratic socialist. A couple of people have pointed that out. A few weeks ago, a market
asked Wisconsin voters how they felt about that label. 54% of Democrats have a favorable view, especially younger ones. But when it comes to independence, only 13% have a favorable view. 52% have an unfavorable view of Democratic socialist. What is your plan for those voters who you'll obviously need to win? Do you want to persuade them to change their mind about Democratic socialism or do you want to persuade them that the label doesn't matter? >> I want to tell them what other
Wisconsinites have told me that it is about the solutions and not just the labels and the solutions that we are presenting that actually meet the moment to solve the problem. That the system is
rigged against working-class people and I will always put working-class people first. That fighting
to fully fund our public schools, have free childcare, affordable housing and fair cheaper health care looks like having someone who also understands the struggle right now. I'm the only wage worker, only single mom. I'm a renter and I've worked in the legislature for the last six years, but I'm a public servant's first. And I learned that from opening a business and running a restaurant
“as well as being a wage worker right now. I think this is a lot about listening to voters”
and letting them know more about our solutions and ensuring them that I'm not here to expand a brand. I'm here to make sure that Wisconsinites get what they deserve. >> What is the best case for your candidacy that has nothing to do with any of what we just discussed? What else would you, what other pitch would you like to make? >> Since we launched our campaign, we've learned that Wisconsinites all across our state, regardless of generation, race, faith, ethnicity are tired
and they're stressed and they're frustrated. And when we talk about building a movement and transformative change that we can have a state that invest in our communities, that raises wages and ensures that we're carrying a protecting one another. We have now grown our movement to over 7,000 people have volunteered for our campaign, hit over 110,000 doors that this is a multi-generational coalition. And what's most excited is the support that's coming from younger voters,
“first time voters or people who have not voted in elections for the last six, seven years. I think”
people deserve to have a candidate that they believe in and that they know is not only just fighting for them but fighting alongside them. >> For Jessica Hong, thank you so much for joining Pods Save America and good luck in this last week. >> Thank you so much, take care. >> That's our show for today. Thanks to Francesca Hong for coming on. We'll be back with a new episode on Friday. Pods Save America is a cricket media production. Our show is produced by
Austin Fisher, Saul Rubin, McKenna Roberts, and Ferris Safari with Reed Churlin, Elijah Cone, and Adrian Hill. Our team includes Matt DeGroat, Ben Hefcoat, Jordan Canter, Charlotte, Andus, Carol Galaview, David Tolz, Mia Kalman, Ryan Young, and Naomi Single. Our staff is probably unionized with the writer's guild of America East.


