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Download Thumbtack today. Welcome to

0:32

Raging Moderates. I'm Scott

0:34

Galloway. And I'm Jessica Tarlev.

0:36

Jessica, so I've done my seven

0:38

day free trial of 2025 and I've

0:40

decided I want my money back. What

0:43

happened? Yeah, I'm just not enjoying 20.

0:45

It's like 2025 got right to work

0:47

and I just don't like the way

0:49

it's approaching the world. I think I

0:52

went back to 2024 and I thought

0:54

that was kind of a shitty year.

0:56

I would... Undo the wildfires if I could.

0:59

So if we need to go back

1:01

to 2024 to wipe that off the

1:03

board, absolutely. But besides, did something

1:05

bad happen to you while you have been

1:07

in America? Oh no, I'm trying to be

1:09

funny, Jess. My worst day is better than

1:11

most people's best day. Get it? Seven day

1:14

trial is over. Yeah, no, I get that,

1:16

but it could also have something

1:18

deeply meaningful behind it. Like, something

1:20

real happened to you. No, no,

1:22

it was good. Okay, let me describe

1:25

my last few days because I'd like

1:27

to talk about me. So I did

1:29

a speaking gig at Jeffries, the Investment

1:31

Bank. I was in New York, which

1:33

I always love. I love my place

1:36

here. There's no kids here. There's no

1:38

shit everywhere. It's like a, I don't know,

1:40

a Northern European architect with the

1:42

OCD designed it. There's just nothing

1:45

anywhere, and I love it. It's

1:47

my kind of place of peace of peace.

1:49

Soft friends, went out. And then I went

1:51

out and got shitty drunk Friday night, which

1:54

I hadn't done in a while, and you

1:56

know what? I need to go back to

1:58

this kind of semi-functioning alcoholic thing. I really

2:00

enjoyed myself. didn't wake up completely destroyed? I

2:02

did. Yeah, no, I did. I did.

2:05

We're going to gloss over that. But

2:07

I stayed at the Faina Hotel, which

2:09

I love, and it's colorful. And on

2:11

Saturday night, I went with my friend

2:13

Pablo to this new restaurant in South

2:15

Beach called Sparrow Italia. Super hot,

2:17

super hot people everywhere, good

2:19

food. Hello, Miami. $28 drinks.

2:21

And then. Sunday I got

2:23

on a plane and I

2:26

went to Houston to speak

2:28

to the, I think it's

2:30

called the PMCA, which is

2:32

like this week of Mensing.

2:34

There was like 5,000 people

2:36

I did well there, except

2:38

I couldn't help, but I

2:40

made my crack about the

2:42

Catholic Church institutionalizing pedophilia, not

2:44

knowing that a group of

2:46

like 12-year-old boys were coming

2:48

out and singing after. So that

2:50

was kind of awkward. And... Last

2:52

week you went super viral

2:54

from your MSMBC hit Your

2:57

kleptocracy hit and I Because

2:59

you've inspired me to

3:01

start reading Comments or you've

3:03

inspired me to be a

3:05

narcissist So I want to look at

3:08

some of your I mean, I don't know

3:10

I don't feel that great about me

3:12

I saw this very nice comment, that

3:14

you're one of the most important voices

3:16

in our society today. Scott Galloway embodies

3:18

a driven successful person who hasn't lost

3:20

his humanity, nor his sense of being

3:22

part of a nation with mutual responsibilities

3:24

to each other. I thought that was

3:27

really nice. Okay, now that's true. I just

3:29

like the attention, and I like seeing myself

3:31

on TV. So TV is not a dying medium? And

3:33

I really like... If you feel good about it?

3:35

Well... So first off, thank you. We've

3:37

become a kleptocracy, full stop, and

3:39

I find it just outrageous or upsetting,

3:42

I would say, that we don't appear

3:44

to have a lot of strong voices

3:46

on the left, voicing what is

3:49

obviously a move towards Russia, where when

3:51

one man invests $250 million in

3:53

the Trump campaign and his businesses are

3:55

the same or even shittier, Tesla reported,

3:58

you know, on your sales declines. And

4:00

his net worth is up $140 million,

4:02

because the market, which is a neutral

4:04

arbiter and is not as politically as

4:06

fun as everything else in our society,

4:08

says, oh, this is a cleptocracy, and

4:10

the biggest customer in the world is

4:12

going to start funneling funds towards his

4:15

companies, regardless of whether they deserve them

4:17

or not, and engaging in regulatory

4:19

punishment and capture for him

4:21

and his enemies, respectively, and

4:23

his enemies respectively. We're

4:26

viruses. I think a lot of people feel that about

4:28

it. You're a Ebola. You're COVID. Today

4:30

we're going to try, we're going to

4:32

talk about the politics behind LA's raging

4:35

wild virus and this is why Jessica

4:37

went viral. The bold and controversial moves

4:39

shaping Trump's agenda, Trump's historic sentencing. All

4:41

right, let's get right into it. Firefighters

4:44

are in a make or break phase

4:46

of their week-long fight against the devastating

4:48

Los Angeles wildfires with many residents still

4:51

under evacuation evacuation orders. The Palisades fire

4:53

has already cemented its place as the

4:55

most destructive in LA's history. On

4:57

top of that, the political blame

4:59

game is in full swing. Trump's

5:01

taking shots at California policies and

5:04

Gavin Newsom, or Governor Newsom, while

5:06

Karen Bass is under fire for

5:08

Los Angeles for hire department budget

5:10

cuts. Critics are pointing fingers at

5:12

everything from immigrant care to DEA

5:14

hires and homelessness spending for the

5:16

fires. Even Jess got into it

5:18

with colleagues on Fox News. Let's

5:20

listen to a clip. But to Greg

5:22

and Jesse's points about, you know,

5:24

this is because of DEA or

5:26

what we need as practical solutions,

5:29

there is so much bad information swirling

5:31

around about the main players involved

5:33

in this, like the fire chief

5:35

has been called the DEA hire.

5:38

I take her resume any day.

5:40

24-year vet, paramedic engineer, fire inspector,

5:42

captain, battalion chief, fire marshal, deputy

5:44

chief. I don't know. Proving my

5:47

point. No, I'm not proving your

5:49

point. Yes, you are. You're proving

5:51

it because DEA makes everybody

5:53

suspect. That is the problem. And you

5:55

guys berated it around. So now you

5:58

put it in people's heads. How? I mean

6:00

this fire chief and I paused I

6:02

don't know anyway. Don't you wish you

6:04

had my job? D.I. makes everyone suspect

6:07

if they're racist. So I suspect

6:09

D.I. if and when I use it

6:11

as a political cudgel to make a

6:13

point instead of actually doing fucking anything

6:16

to help these people. I mean this

6:18

this fire chief and I paused I

6:20

don't know her name. I read her

6:22

background. The only thing her background shows

6:25

is there might still be remnant racism

6:27

in the fire department. She didn't get

6:29

this job sooner. She's out of central

6:31

fucking casting for this job. She's so

6:34

incredibly qualified. And I don't know about

6:36

you, I merely interrupted you and I

6:38

want to come back to your clip,

6:40

but... We used to at least wait

6:42

a few weeks before we turned this

6:44

into a political rage machine. My favorite

6:47

was Trump saying that it was because

6:49

of this Water Reclamation Act where they

6:51

were diverting water from fire safety to

6:53

save a fish. And it ends up,

6:55

there's no such act that ever existed.

6:57

Smeltgate, that's what we call

6:59

it. But instead of trying to rally

7:02

help to the city, some of those

7:04

powerful people in America are, and of

7:06

course, Musk had to weigh in and

7:08

say, DeI equals, die. It's just so

7:10

incredibly, it's like, could they

7:12

at least wait until the

7:14

smoke is smoldering a bit

7:17

here? Anyways, more of your

7:19

thoughts, Jess. Well, I generally

7:21

echo those sentiments, everybody, at

7:23

least that I've spoken to,

7:25

and I'm sure in your

7:28

orbit knows somebody who has been

7:30

affected by this, and it is

7:32

so expensive. fire in US history.

7:35

I think now they think 52

7:37

billion. I'm sure that will continue

7:39

to go up. I'm supposed to

7:41

get new harsh winds coming in

7:43

Tuesday and Wednesday. I don't know

7:45

what happens, you know, to the

7:48

future of those neighborhoods. I don't

7:50

know what happens to having the

7:52

Olympics there in 2028. It's completely

7:54

devastating for a real crown jewel

7:56

of America, which Los Angeles absolutely

7:59

is. And I feel heartbroken for

8:01

everyone there. My sister is evacuated

8:03

and they're safe, which is great

8:05

and didn't lose their homes, which

8:07

she has several friends who did

8:10

and, you know, thinking of everyone

8:12

there and searching for ways to

8:14

be able to be useful and

8:16

helpful. And the contrast between what

8:18

you see on the ground, which

8:21

is real people helping each other,

8:23

like they've turned the, I think

8:25

it's the Santa Anita racetrack, is

8:27

in this, it's this pop-up aid

8:29

center right now, where you can

8:32

go and you can get clothes,

8:34

you can get food, you can

8:36

be linked up with people that

8:38

you've been looking for, you know,

8:40

talk to public officials, etc. And

8:43

I don't... know what the solution

8:45

to this is because unless we

8:47

find some way to make it

8:49

profitable to spread good and decent

8:51

information, people will not stop. And

8:54

I remember Arianna Huffington years ago,

8:56

remember when she launched Good News,

8:58

I think was the name of

9:00

it, right? And it was a

9:02

publication. an offshoot of huff post

9:05

that was just supposed to amplify

9:07

things that like make you feel

9:09

good right that people want to

9:11

see that someone was rescued or

9:13

they love we love cat videos

9:16

right like that's what people spend

9:18

all their time on their social

9:20

media feeds and she thought you

9:22

know the click bait it's too

9:24

much and we can't live in

9:27

a cycle like this our mental

9:29

health is suffering you know she

9:31

was very ahead of the curve

9:33

about needing enough sleep something that

9:36

we all know now and still

9:38

don't do and we got to

9:40

get it back because because We're

9:42

not going to survive living like

9:44

this when the people with the

9:47

most powerful accounts, not only online,

9:49

but in real life, like the

9:51

President of the United States of

9:53

America, sees no good reason to

9:55

amplify truth, joy, camaraderie, nationalism, Americana,

9:58

whatever you want to call it.

10:00

The lurch towards divisiveness

10:02

only will be the undoing of this

10:04

nation. And you see the contrast between

10:06

the images of the firefighters coming from

10:09

all over the country like they did

10:11

after 9-11, right? I lived in downtown

10:13

Manhattan in Tribeca. We... had firefighters that

10:15

were from all over the country that

10:18

were using our house as a bathroom.

10:20

We opened it up and we said

10:22

you come here and you can stay.

10:24

There were meals being served here. We

10:27

had people from Indiana coming in. We

10:29

had people from Texas coming in. Same

10:31

thing in California, the Oregon firefighters coming,

10:33

the Mexican planes landing right at this

10:35

moment where Trump is saying, you know,

10:38

the Gulf of Mexico is the Gulf

10:40

of America. The Mexicans are showing up

10:42

to help us, even. Greg Abbott, who

10:44

I think is a terrible person in

10:46

Texas, you know, sending the firefighters up

10:48

there, which Gavin Newsom thanked him for.

10:51

And then you contrast that with the

10:53

messaging coming out of these big accounts

10:55

like the Charlie Kirk's of the world,

10:57

what Elon Musk is doing. I don't

10:59

know if you saw this video, but

11:01

he showed up at a fire command

11:04

briefing. around the palisades fire and got

11:06

completely embarrassed by the fire chief who

11:08

was basically like what the fuck are

11:10

you talking about right he said well

11:12

you know he's repeating talking points from

11:15

Twitter or from acts I should say and

11:17

you've now heard from basically every

11:19

official under the sun That, quote, mother

11:21

nature owned us. That's what the fire

11:23

chief who was on 60 minutes said.

11:26

It was unstoppable. The head of FEMA

11:28

says, I think they were very prepared,

11:30

but you have not seen 100 mile

11:32

per hour winds that are fueling this

11:34

fire. And who could look at that

11:37

video, I'm sure you've seen of the

11:39

McDonald's, right, with the fire blowing by

11:41

the Santa Ana winds, is 100 miles

11:43

per hour, and think that if you had

11:45

an extra hose full of water. when the

11:47

choppers couldn't even fly for 27 hours, that

11:50

you were going to be able to solve

11:52

this problem. No, that doesn't mean that I'm

11:54

sure there were mistakes that were made and

11:56

I'm glad there will be audits of everything

11:58

and after action reports and governor. Newsom has

12:00

been speaking about that. But what

12:02

can we do to fix this?

12:05

I mean, you're talking about an

12:07

area that's a desert that is

12:09

in the midst of this, or

12:11

in the middle of this meteorological

12:13

anomaly, called the Santa Ana winds,

12:15

or because of, I don't know

12:17

if you've ever seen, I think

12:19

it's called Nazarin, which is this

12:21

topographical anomaly in Portugal, where these

12:23

huge waves come, and then there's

12:25

this gigantic shelf in the form

12:27

of like a tube. that creates

12:30

these 100-foot ways. That's kind of

12:32

what Los Angeles is in the

12:34

sense that it's a desert, it's

12:36

incredibly dry. We had an unbelievable

12:38

drought in the winter, and you

12:40

think, well, winter should be good

12:42

for fires, but it's not, because

12:44

it creates high and low pressure

12:46

systems colliding, which creates a massive

12:48

vacuum of the wind coming into

12:50

the low pressure system, and then

12:52

it runs through mountains, and it

12:55

creates this exceptionally dry... kind of

12:57

voluminous massive velocity when they can

12:59

take any ember and move it

13:01

across hundreds of yards in seconds

13:03

and California actually has a very

13:05

robust fire response system one of

13:07

the most robust in the nation

13:09

if not the most robust in

13:11

the nation and they had something

13:13

like 12,000 people working or fighting

13:15

against it. I mean the bottom

13:18

line is LA probably just shouldn't

13:20

be there and it's so populated

13:22

in terms of a city deciding

13:24

to string itself in this area

13:26

where there's earthquakes, where there's droughts,

13:28

where there's superfires, nine of ten

13:30

of the biggest superfires in last

13:32

hundred years, by the way, have

13:34

been in the last decade. And

13:36

one of the things that frustrates

13:38

me a little bit about the

13:40

left is that we like to

13:43

think of ourselves as better than

13:45

them, so we don't engage in

13:47

this conspiracy theory to hit back

13:49

and say, oh, it's because it's

13:51

because of Republicans' inability to prepare

13:53

for the You know we really

13:55

don't know. We're going to need

13:57

scientists to look at what happened

13:59

here before they start leveling. political

14:01

accusations, but they made immediately go

14:03

to the politicization. I heard about

14:06

Musk and the fact that he's so

14:08

dominant, it reflects our idolatry

14:10

of money, this reflects how politically

14:12

polarized we've been. It also, the

14:14

thing that really struck me about

14:16

this, and I found it really

14:19

frustrating. I went to UCLA. I

14:21

have a lot of friends in LA.

14:23

I didn't want to bother them with

14:25

constant, like, how are you doing?

14:27

So I was trying to get information.

14:29

And the first thing when I said

14:31

UCLA, you know, UCLA evacuation question

14:33

mark, well the first thing that

14:36

came up was this tick-talk from

14:38

this kid saying it's the University

14:40

of California of people who don't

14:42

care and that the evacuation order

14:44

should have been issued already and

14:46

I sort of immediately went to

14:48

it and it's some fucking sophomore with

14:50

a tick-talk account. And that's what comes

14:52

up first of my new, my new

14:54

search. And I do have a tough

14:56

time trying to triangulate in on accurate,

14:58

accurate, information, and I've been relying on

15:00

two things. I've been relying on Anderson

15:02

Cooper, who I think does his level

15:04

best to talk about stuff in a

15:06

balanced way. CNN, no doubt, has a

15:08

left-leaning bias, but I do find that

15:10

they do try to seek the truth

15:12

without fear of favor, which at the

15:14

end of the day is the media's

15:16

job. I'm going to Jessica Yellen's newsnot

15:19

noise, and unfortunately, because Jessica lives in

15:21

Los Angeles, she had to take a

15:23

couple days off to manage probably her

15:26

own evacuation. And I want to move

15:28

to the virtue signaling part of the

15:30

program and what you can do. This

15:33

rabbi, Stephen Leader, who I follow, said

15:35

something really powerful. He was on threads.

15:37

He said, don't ask people how you

15:39

can help. He said, people are embarrassed.

15:42

People don't want to come up

15:44

with ideas. They're in a state of

15:46

panic. They don't want to tax you.

15:48

They don't want to feel like victims.

15:50

He said, you should just help. bring

15:52

food, come over and take their dogs,

15:54

or whatever it is, or call them

15:56

and say, you know, here's a picture

15:58

of your bedroom. we live in Newport,

16:01

come here right now. And so I

16:03

went to Jessica's site and she has

16:05

a subscription for 100 bucks a

16:07

month and I bought 50 of them.

16:09

And I'm in a position of privilege

16:12

and anyone who knows me knows I

16:14

like to talk about my success, my,

16:16

you know, full masculinity through my economic

16:18

success. Any fucking go fund me, I'm

16:20

doing. How can you help? You move

16:22

to action. You know, I mean, checking

16:24

in on people's fine. But instead of

16:27

asking if they need help, don't ask.

16:29

you know, just immediately reach out

16:31

and start helping. I was

16:33

even thinking I was in

16:36

Houston. I thought, should I

16:38

go to LA? And I thought,

16:40

no, I'm just a liability. I

16:42

can't fight fires. I don't know

16:45

what the fuck I would do there.

16:47

It has gotten so bad in

16:49

terms of an inability

16:51

to find accurate

16:53

information. That it's just it's just

16:56

very discouraging in in a situation

16:58

like this. I remember even in

17:00

Hurricane Katrina You know Democrats and

17:02

Republicans said all right Let's get

17:04

down there and let's see what we can

17:06

do to help and there was a

17:08

blame game Against Bush around this once

17:10

kind of it became pretty obvious the

17:12

guy running the whole rescue operation Remember

17:14

him Brown? He was a total fucking

17:16

incompetent But it wasn't at least they

17:18

took a beat you know at least they At least

17:21

they took a moment. Any thoughts on how

17:23

this can get better or what we can

17:25

do to make sure this isn't such a

17:27

should show the next time this comes

17:29

around? Well, I want to say first

17:31

about disasters that happened in an

17:33

era, like the Bush era, which we thought

17:36

was pretty bad partisan-wise, at least

17:38

where we turned out and thinking

17:40

that these wars were an enormous

17:42

mistake and, you know, people until

17:45

Bush started doing oil paintings and

17:47

belly tapping. Barack Obama thought he

17:49

was the devil and now that

17:51

we live in this era we

17:54

we all have rose-colored glasses about

17:56

him but I felt in the

17:58

2000 certainly 9-11 Katrina etc. that

18:00

people actually cared about their fellow

18:02

Americans no matter their partisan affiliation.

18:05

And I think that that has

18:07

shifted for a lot of people,

18:09

that this has become bloodsport, not

18:11

just something that you do every

18:13

two or four years when you

18:15

show up and vote, and that

18:17

we have common call, more unites

18:20

us than separates us. And I

18:22

think for probably the average American,

18:24

that's still the case. But for

18:26

the people with the loudest megaphones.

18:28

That is not the case. And

18:30

they are playing to our worst

18:32

angels. Is that how you say?

18:35

Like, they're playing to the worst

18:37

parts of us, right? And when

18:39

that's happening from the leadership level

18:41

down, it is very hard to

18:43

upend that kind of system. And

18:45

I saw, you know, Gavin Newsom

18:47

set up a new site that's...

18:50

has the facts on it, right?

18:52

Right? And these having to, obviously

18:54

it says rapid response team, is

18:56

constantly online, you know, quote tweeting

18:58

things, saying, no, that's not true,

19:00

go to this to see it,

19:02

you know, stuff about funding cuts

19:05

to the budget that weren't true,

19:07

you know, doubling the size of

19:09

the firefighting army, having these C-130s,

19:11

I think they're the only state

19:13

that's able to use them for

19:15

firefighting, all of that. So using

19:18

these official channels, matter to millions

19:20

of people. They think that the

19:22

government is the one who predominantly

19:24

lies to you. And I had

19:26

this interaction with a good friend

19:28

of mine on the five. Kennedy,

19:30

MTVJ, is now with us at

19:33

Fox. She's a libertarian. She has

19:35

a house. And MTVJ now on

19:37

Fox. That actually fits. That checks

19:39

out. Anyways, I'm sure she's lovely.

19:41

She is lovely. You would. very

19:43

much enjoy her. She's a house

19:45

in the Palisades. It is still

19:48

standing but uninhabitable. Obviously this is

19:50

this has been very emotional for

19:52

her. She was on air when

19:54

we first showed the footage of

19:56

the that her kids preschool had

19:58

burned down and she was talking

20:00

about the tiles that the little

20:03

kids make that they keep. You

20:05

know, every student that comes through

20:07

has a tile on this wall

20:09

and it's, you know, we both

20:11

have kids. I can't imagine what

20:13

that could feel like. But I

20:15

said, I was reading an official

20:18

declaration about the fire hydrants and

20:20

that the hydrants were all full

20:22

technically, but because of pressure issues,

20:24

that's why they couldn't, there was

20:26

no water up the hill. Right.

20:28

That's this was part of one of

20:31

the theories of how LA had failed its

20:33

people. And again, let's wait for

20:35

the audits of everything and see

20:37

what really happened. But she said,

20:39

I don't believe that. And I

20:41

said, well, then I can't do

20:43

anything about that. Right. So if

20:46

if I'm reading an official government

20:48

document or I'm reading the budget

20:50

items from the LA firefighting budget

20:52

and talking about the 17 million

20:55

that apparently went missing, like What

20:57

do you do about that? And

20:59

this will take a complete reboot

21:02

of the way we teach young

21:04

people about civics, about government, about

21:06

the role that government plays in

21:09

our lives, and the parties are

21:11

so divided in what benefit we

21:13

think public servants can

21:16

play in our lives. You know,

21:18

the people who are scared if

21:20

they're knocking on the door, and

21:22

the people who think they're here

21:24

to help us. And that I

21:26

worry especially in a moving into

21:28

an era where these kinds of events

21:30

are going to be happening unfortunately more

21:32

and more often. I feel like we,

21:35

you know, it was hurricane season, but

21:37

we are just every month right there

21:39

is just something catastrophic that's happening and

21:42

we do not occupy the same space

21:44

whatsoever in how we think about this

21:46

and what responsibility we think the government

21:49

has in taking care of us and

21:51

where what they are driven by. that

21:53

they are driven either by

21:55

public service or personal vanity.

21:57

And I don't know how

21:59

you... overcome something like that. Yeah,

22:01

and this is like, I mean, the

22:03

devastation of the scale of the fire

22:06

is really dramatic. The fire has now

22:08

burned an area, a landmass that is

22:10

greater than San Francisco or Boston, just

22:12

to give you a sense of scale

22:14

for it. I'm really good at economics.

22:16

I think it's going to be fascinating.

22:18

Some of the biggest insurance companies

22:20

did the math, and they canceled

22:23

the insurance policies. They said, look.

22:25

And to be fair, California had

22:27

instituted, I believe, some price caps

22:29

on the escalation in premiums. So

22:31

these companies who have an obligation

22:33

that shareholders said, on a risk-adjusted

22:36

basis, we just can't, we can't

22:38

do business here. And so there's,

22:40

I think, a California or a

22:42

state-sponsored or state-backed insurance program, which

22:44

is if... That's like wooly, I think, is the

22:46

name of it, or something like that. Which

22:48

is essentially outsourcing, kind of this

22:51

risk to California taxpayers. such that

22:53

you can keep prices high. I mean,

22:55

there's a decent argument that insurance should

22:57

be allowed to be priced to its

23:00

natural level, which will decrease the prices

23:02

of houses. I live in a house

23:04

in Florida that's probably prone to hurricanes

23:06

or maybe the sea levels rising. And I

23:09

believe I should have to pay insurance

23:11

rates that reflect that. And if the

23:13

price of my house or the value

23:15

of my house goes down, that's fine.

23:17

But having... keeping my house price elevated

23:19

back on the backs of taxpayers because

23:21

insurance companies have decided to vacate, I

23:23

don't think makes any sense. What will

23:25

also be interesting is what happens to

23:27

the economy, because I did a little

23:29

bit of research here and I thought,

23:32

this be the straw that breaks the

23:34

camel's back and kind of escalates the

23:36

flight from California to states like Texas

23:38

and Nevada from people who think it's

23:40

just become a bad consumer product, or

23:42

it's both expensive and bad. They pay

23:44

some of the highest taxes in the

23:46

world. It's a, you know, housing prices

23:48

are crazy. And because of the stress

23:51

on many industries, especially in LA,

23:53

where production of the entertainment industry is

23:55

down 40% year on year, well, a

23:57

lot of people just say that's it.

23:59

my check for my house that's been burnt

24:02

down and we're out. What the data shows,

24:04

though, is that most people typically don't leave

24:06

after a disaster. And in California, despite

24:08

all of the noise about people exiting

24:10

the state, when they move, they usually

24:13

move to another city in California. And

24:15

you're going to see so much capital

24:17

pour into Los Angeles. Housing prices, I

24:19

would imagine, will escalate in the short

24:22

term because of the destruction and housing

24:24

stock or available housing stock. But I

24:26

wonder if over the long term... you

24:28

see a kind of an economic boomlet or

24:30

just a boom because of all the money

24:33

and building that's going to go into Los

24:35

Angeles. And then to just start to get

24:37

off our heels and onto our toes, is

24:39

this an opportunity for Los Angeles? I

24:41

was with ironically or accidentally a

24:44

member of the International Olympic Committee

24:46

yesterday at this talk and he

24:48

was saying, you know, we want

24:50

to figure this out because immediately

24:52

it went to, well, will they

24:54

be able to have the Olympics

24:56

in 2028? And I would imagine

24:59

they'll diversify to some other menus

25:01

in San Diego or San Francisco.

25:03

But I do think this kind

25:05

of stuff does bring out the

25:07

best and regular citizens all those

25:09

videos of people handling pets. The

25:12

other thing just to shout out

25:14

to our fantastic fire people

25:16

and government services, this was

25:18

a fire that made the

25:20

Chicago fire look like a

25:22

barbecue. And then my my...

25:25

masculine energy moment. Have you

25:27

seen all these aerial

25:29

vehicles dropping retardants? Jesus, what

25:32

badass is in these retrofitted

25:34

DC-10s, swooping in 10 feet

25:36

above the ground to drop flame

25:38

retardants? It's something out of, I

25:40

don't know, a better version of,

25:43

it's something out of kind of one

25:45

of these World War II movies.

25:47

I just find it. Well you

25:49

realize also how und-de-eyed all of

25:52

this actually is. Right, for

25:54

the way the narrative is

25:56

about people. Right, and it's

25:58

also all of these. I guess

26:00

beta males, is that the right term

26:02

for sitting keyboard warriors saying, if I

26:05

was out there, I could do this,

26:07

right? Or, you know, I would have

26:09

walked right up to so-and-so and I

26:12

don't want to let us escape, you

26:14

know, some criticism. I was very disturbed

26:16

by Mayor Karen Bass's tarmac interview where

26:18

she couldn't even... summon kind words or

26:21

soothing words for the people of Los

26:23

Angeles when she arrived back from Ghana.

26:25

And it seems quite clear that it

26:28

was a massive mistake for her to

26:30

have gone on this trip. If there

26:32

was... Well, she said she wouldn't leave.

26:34

Yeah. And she said during her campaign,

26:37

she's out. I think so too. And

26:39

it'll be interesting to... Some of it's

26:41

fair. Some of it's unfair, but she's

26:44

done. Some things are just too bad

26:46

to survive. no matter what you did

26:48

in those circumstances. And I think that

26:50

Governor Newsom will see again how it

26:53

all shakes out. He is certainly sounding

26:55

to be the competent on top of

26:57

it all, one in all of this.

27:00

I think it comes out of this,

27:02

a winner would be my guess. It

27:04

will be interesting to see how all

27:06

this is written, especially looking ahead to

27:09

the next president. I'm in that jacket

27:11

and those jeans. It's just a little

27:13

bit. And saying that he's going to

27:16

come out a winner are different things.

27:18

I totally get it. I totally get

27:20

it. I'm watching him and I'm like,

27:22

what did he say? He says, I

27:25

see his lips moving, but it's just

27:27

the hair, right? Everything's so perfect. I'm

27:29

literally like, it's so hot there, shouldn't

27:32

you take off your shirt? Scott, there

27:34

are big winds there. Can I link

27:36

to a comment you just made and

27:38

say something boring? Yes, please. Okay, great.

27:41

You said that there'll be opportunity, right,

27:43

for Los Angeles out of this in

27:45

terms of the rebuild and something that

27:48

I... I found really interesting or the

27:50

boring, the nerdy side of me found

27:52

really interesting was one of the things

27:54

that Governor Newsom did was sign all

27:57

these executive actions to cut red tape

27:59

in terms of the rebuilding process and

28:01

like the enforced. of the CEQA and

28:03

the California Coastal Commission, etc. And that

28:06

stuck out to me as a pragmatic

28:08

person. as like an opportunity for Democrats

28:10

to take a step back and

28:13

say, we obviously know that some

28:15

of these regulations are so burdensome

28:17

that we stand in the way

28:19

of people and businesses getting back

28:21

on their feet. And there's been

28:23

a lot of hay made of

28:26

the fact that Recruso, the property

28:28

developer who ran for mayor against

28:30

Karen Bass in 2022. You know,

28:32

he had all of these properties

28:34

in the Palisades that were protected

28:37

by... private firefighters, which a lot of

28:39

people didn't know was the thing that

28:41

you could do, but they didn't burn

28:43

down. And a lot of that has

28:45

to do with when they were built

28:47

and the fact that they weren't subject

28:49

to these outdated regulations that kept a

28:51

lot of homes and businesses in more

28:53

precarious positions. And I'm hopeful that this

28:55

will be a signal to the sane

28:57

world to say, We can't live like this,

28:59

right? Like it is not 1960 anymore.

29:01

I understand we want to preserve the

29:04

integrity of the place. We want, you

29:06

know, people to maintain their views and

29:08

we want things to look beautiful. And

29:10

who doesn't love a Spanish villa that

29:13

looks like it's original conception? Yeah, but

29:15

you're going to die if we keep

29:17

it this way. And that stuck out

29:20

to me as a big opportunity out

29:22

of this to have a cleaner, faster,

29:24

more economical process to a rebuild and

29:26

also a path forward to meet people

29:29

where they are because no matter your

29:31

politics, everyone is frustrated by how

29:33

hard it is to get things done.

29:35

I'm hopeful that a lot good is

29:38

going to come out of

29:40

this. The property destruction is

29:42

obviously devastating. But there was a

29:44

fairly scant loss of life. And I

29:46

think we might be better for

29:49

this in terms of looking at

29:51

things like climate safety, fire safety,

29:53

housing permitting, a reinvestment in Los

29:56

Angeles. So I think we're going

29:58

to see silver lining. everywhere here.

30:00

That's my view. We're going to

30:02

be right back. Stay with us. Welcome

30:05

back. Let's dive into the weekend politics.

30:07

Biden's wrapping up this final day

30:09

as an office and Trump is gearing

30:11

up to take charge. He's already

30:13

making waves debating with House and Senate

30:16

Republicans about how to fast-track his agenda.

30:18

And in true Trump fashion, he's

30:20

grabbing headlines with bold proposals, buying Greenland,

30:22

reclaiming the Panama Canal, and renaming

30:25

the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of

30:27

America. Yeah, it makes total sense. His

30:29

goal, almanuvering China and Russia and

30:31

trade shipping and military strategy, at the

30:34

same time, confirmation hearings are kicking

30:36

off for Trump's cabinet picks, Pete Hexeth,

30:38

for defense, Christiano, for homeland security, and

30:40

Marco Rubio for state, and Pam

30:42

Bondi as Attorney General. Jess, what do

30:45

you make of Trump's push to

30:47

expand U.S. territory? Is there any chance

30:49

it could happen, or is this more

30:51

of a distraction? I think it's

30:53

somewhere in the middle. from a distraction

30:56

and it could happen. It's always

30:58

interesting to see conservatives or other Republicans

31:00

commenting on these kinds of things when

31:02

they let it slip. Like obviously

31:04

this isn't going to happen in the

31:07

way that he is. saying it,

31:09

but there might be a kernel of

31:11

truth in what he's talking about and

31:13

we're going to try to get

31:15

to that point. Like James Lankford was

31:18

not meet the press and said,

31:20

the US is not going to invade

31:22

another country. That's not who we are.

31:24

The president speaks very boldly on

31:26

a lot of things. We've seen this

31:29

over how he's done a negotiations,

31:31

whether it be for real estate, etc.

31:33

You know, but you do see, especially

31:35

on the Greenland front, an interesting...

31:37

change in posture I guess moving from

31:40

obviously he's not going to come

31:42

and take over Greenland but maybe we

31:44

could have some more US troops there

31:46

which it seems like the Danish

31:48

government isn't totally opposed to so that

31:51

feels like one of those kind

31:53

of compromise positions right where Trump will

31:55

get to say I won and it

31:57

was worth sending Don Junior out

31:59

there with a film crew and some

32:02

snowshoes. and for the Danes to

32:04

be able to continue living as they

32:06

do and maintain a good relationship with

32:08

us. I think there's going to

32:10

be so much culture shock for the

32:13

international community as Trump properly takes

32:15

office. I mean, they've obviously

32:17

had this first few months

32:19

where, I mean, he essentially

32:21

did become president, right after

32:23

the election and Marlago became

32:25

the summer White House again.

32:27

But it will be different when he is

32:30

showing up at these meetings and they're

32:32

having to do, you know, they're one-on-ones

32:34

with him or in the groups and

32:36

we'll have more of those strange photos

32:38

from G7 meetings where he's kind of

32:40

standing there in the corner in a

32:42

huff like this. And people are thinking,

32:44

all right, we have four years to

32:47

get through this, but we also need

32:49

to understand that Donald Trump has

32:51

fundamentally changed the way the way

32:53

the Republican Party is going to

32:55

work. essentially in perpetuity, right? A

32:58

normy Republican is not coming back,

33:00

even if JD Vance isn't the

33:02

guy in 2028 who runs and

33:05

you would assume that he is

33:07

going to be a cease vice

33:09

president, even if you get a

33:12

kind of more standard Republican, the

33:14

magnification of the party

33:16

is complete and there

33:18

is no return and

33:20

you will have to deal with the

33:22

fact that there are going to be...

33:25

comments and people who are thinking things

33:27

like Canada should become the 51st state

33:29

or that we should rename the Gulf

33:31

of Mexico and these leaders are really

33:33

going to have to decide how they

33:35

want to deal with it. I mean

33:37

Trudeau, he won't be around. feels as

33:39

though he's gotten past the annexation idea

33:41

and wants to really focus on the

33:44

implications of the tariffs for Americans. He's

33:46

like, that's what I need to message

33:48

on, right? That if you put 25%

33:50

tariffs on us, we're going to have

33:52

retaliatory tariffs and it's going to be

33:54

bad and it's going to be bad

33:56

for you. And then like Claudia Shinbaum

33:58

in Mexico has taken in a very

34:01

offensive tone. And I like, as she

34:03

said, basically, you know, I'm happy

34:05

to be in negotiations, but we will

34:07

not be a subordinate. We are a

34:10

sovereign nation and we are not

34:12

interested in dealing with someone who's going

34:14

to talk about, you know, renaming us

34:16

in whatever fashion they so choose.

34:18

So that's what I'm most interested

34:20

in it rather than the real

34:22

implications of whether he's going to

34:24

be able to pull any of

34:26

this off. So I don't understand.

34:28

If Canada becomes the 51st state,

34:30

Democrats never lose, right? I mean,

34:32

you're getting a huge influx of

34:34

a bunch of liberals. I mean,

34:37

even though they're conservatives are liberals.

34:39

I think it's pretty easy what's

34:41

going to happen here. Absent fucking

34:43

literally nothing. I've struggled my

34:45

whole career with the difference between

34:47

being right and being effective. And I

34:49

was saying this on our other

34:51

podcast pivot. Care I was interested

34:54

in assembling a group. to buy the Washington

34:56

Post. And she has the skills,

34:58

she has the contacts, she's actually on

35:00

speed dial with a bunch of people

35:02

who have the money to do it.

35:04

But she's going about it wrong. And

35:06

that is, if you want to get a

35:09

deal done, you call people, you call the

35:11

owner, you call the people who actually get

35:13

to decide whether to do a deal, and

35:15

you express interest. You don't make

35:17

them look stupid. Because from that

35:20

point on, the deals is not going

35:22

to happen. You don't go public. and

35:24

try and shame them into a deal. And

35:27

the idea that the Danish

35:29

are going to decide, yeah,

35:31

we'll do a deal with

35:33

Trump over Greenland because they're

35:35

big and bad and scary.

35:37

First off, the Panama Canal

35:39

is just a dumb idea.

35:41

It's about a five-billion-dollar business.

35:43

It's politically stable. We would

35:45

get no incremental advantage by

35:47

owning it. that we get now. It's

35:49

better to lease the thing than to

35:51

own it. It's not a big business.

35:54

It's only a strategic value if someone

35:56

were stupid enough to start arresting

35:58

ships or not allowing them. safe passage,

36:00

which no one has any intention

36:02

of doing. Everyone has mutual interest

36:04

here from the Chinese to the

36:06

US to keep letting people go

36:08

through the Panama Canal. It has,

36:11

there's no reason to do this.

36:13

There's no incremental value to taking

36:15

the Panama Canal back. Greenland, on

36:17

the other hand, has real strategic

36:19

importance that has rare earth minerals,

36:21

but we get to use all

36:23

of those things right now. And

36:25

the thought that we're going to.

36:27

bully of sovereign northern European nation

36:29

into selling as Greenland. They don't

36:32

need the money. And so, and

36:34

they actually have a more healthy

36:36

homogenous society. This is almost a

36:38

gift to their incumbent party because

36:40

it's created an enemy where there

36:42

wasn't one and they can just

36:44

stand up and show the middle

36:46

finger. What are we going to

36:48

do? Like deploy the US Navy

36:50

to Greenland? This is just another

36:52

example of Trump has figured out

36:55

and he's smart to do this,

36:57

how to dominate the news in

36:59

the media cycle. even if it's

37:01

a ridiculous notion. So I don't

37:03

think anything is going to happen

37:05

here. This is just an opportunity

37:07

for Claudia Shinbaum, and I don't

37:09

know who is the equivalent person

37:11

in Denmark, to say, you're an

37:13

idiot. No, we're not going to

37:16

do this in the renaming of

37:18

the Gulf to the Gulf of

37:20

Expensive Eggs when circling back to

37:22

the fire. A lot of his

37:24

policies could play a pretty significant

37:26

negative role in the rebuilding of

37:28

LA specifically. Construction is a magnet

37:30

for immigrants and undocumented workers. And

37:32

while we like to, or the

37:34

Republican administration wants to, pain undocumented

37:36

workers as these criminals, that One

37:39

of the realities for why we

37:41

have allowed illegal immigration to get

37:43

to a point where it is

37:45

out of control, I will acknowledge

37:47

that and we need to do

37:49

something about it. And I actually

37:51

believe that deporting criminals who are

37:53

here illegally, I'm down with that.

37:55

But what we don't want to

37:57

acknowledge is that not only is

37:59

immigration the secret sauce of the

38:02

United States economic growth, but in

38:04

many ways a legal immigration is

38:06

because they kind of flow in

38:08

as a flexible workforce where there's

38:10

work and then they flow out,

38:12

they actually absorb fewer until recently

38:14

social services and they pay their taxes. So

38:16

they pay taxes, but they don't

38:18

call the fire department or the police

38:21

department or ask for social services

38:23

or stick around for Social

38:25

Security because they're worried about

38:27

being deported. And when you have

38:30

12,000 houses that need to be rebuilt,

38:32

you are going to need a

38:34

massive inflow of construction workers.

38:36

There is no way our domestic

38:38

resources and domestic workers are going

38:41

to be able to accomplish that.

38:43

In addition, if he really goes

38:45

through with anything resembling this level

38:47

of tariffs on Mexico or China,

38:49

you're going to see the costs

38:51

of rebuilding these homes explode everything

38:53

from a washing machine to the

38:56

garage door. where either the parts

38:58

or the entire thing is assembled

39:00

in China or Mexico, all of

39:02

a sudden you're going to see

39:04

reconstruction or rebuilding costs of 10,

39:06

30, 40 percent. So you're going

39:08

to see a massive increase in

39:11

labor if you can find people

39:13

to build your home, and then

39:15

the costs are going to explode.

39:17

And both of these are

39:19

going to be pretty easily reverse

39:21

engineered into what I feel are

39:24

very short-term, jingawist, kind of

39:26

non-economic policies. Well, I mean, we

39:28

were talking about this last week,

39:30

about, you know, humanizing the deficit

39:32

for people, and this is the

39:35

way to get right to that.

39:37

You know, this is cost of

39:39

living in your face, and silly

39:41

policy that's going to make it

39:43

worse for the average American. And

39:46

I have been keeping track

39:48

of the major promises that

39:50

Trump made during the campaign

39:53

and where we stand on

39:55

those things. four central goals

39:57

or promises that he sold

40:00

the American public that he was going

40:02

to get done, they're already admitting aren't

40:04

going to happen. So from all of

40:06

the cuts that they were going to

40:08

make, I mean Musk is admitting now

40:10

that they won't be able to do

40:12

the two trillion in cuts, right? Like

40:14

that's something that we already knew and

40:16

that Doge didn't have this kind of

40:18

power, but that's one of them. Judy

40:20

Vance did his first big interview over

40:22

the weekend he was on Fox News

40:24

Sunday. He gives a great interview. I

40:26

got to say that guy. So smooth.

40:28

But he is talking about prices for

40:30

Americans and he says we're going to

40:33

stabilize prices for Americans. That wasn't what

40:35

you guys promised us. You promised us

40:37

that on day one, prices were going

40:39

to fall. Guess that's not happening. Tom

40:41

Holman, apparently, the Borders are, is privately

40:43

telling you know they won't be able

40:45

to deport everybody right like that was

40:47

the tough talk of the campaign but

40:49

the reality is that you have to

40:51

have more modest goals and you should

40:53

focus on people who are violent felons

40:55

we agree with all of that but

40:57

you still talked about a deportation force

40:59

and then ending the war in Ukraine

41:01

right where he said I'm the one

41:03

with the the line to Putin I

41:05

can get this done right away on

41:07

day one and the special envoy for

41:09

Ukraine has said you know we'll see

41:11

what happens in the first 100 days

41:13

so those are four key planks right,

41:15

of the Trump Vance platform and why

41:17

everybody got on board with this motley

41:19

crew of people in the new Trump

41:21

administration from the VEVEC, Brahmaswamys, to the

41:24

Elon Musks, to the Tom Holmans, the

41:26

Tolsey Gabberts, Cash Patel, whoever it is.

41:28

And I think that we are in

41:30

for such an incredibly rude awakening. I

41:32

saw Jamie Diamond was interviewed on CBS

41:34

Sunday morning and he said he's cautiously

41:36

pessimistic. about what's to happen, though he

41:38

did, I think at one point, say

41:40

we're going to have this massive recession

41:42

that didn't come under Biden. But people

41:44

are going to start pricing that into

41:46

what they think is going to happen

41:48

going forward. I'm sure the market...

41:50

market is going to

41:52

continue to respond

41:54

in that way. And

41:56

if you lump

41:58

on 25 % tariffs

42:00

or even 10 %

42:02

tariffs with our top

42:04

trading partners and

42:06

make it so that

42:08

we can't get

42:10

any decent pricing on

42:12

everything from lumber

42:15

to the people that we need to

42:17

be able to make our country

42:19

run, it's going to be complete chaos

42:21

over the next two to four

42:23

years. Yeah. I feel as if Donald

42:25

Trump today has been the luckiest person in

42:27

the world. And I find that luck is

42:29

perfectly asymmetric that if you're around long enough,

42:31

you have just as much good luck as

42:33

bad luck. And with respect to the economy,

42:36

we've had a 15 year bull

42:38

market run. I think the S &P trades at

42:40

a P of like 31 or 32. 50 %

42:43

of the total market cap globally is now represented

42:45

by US stocks, which is a historic high. I

42:48

just in typically about 5 % of

42:50

institutional capital goes into emerging markets

42:52

or excuse me, 9%. It's about 5%.

42:54

Now, all the flows of capital

42:56

have been into the US. And I

42:58

think one event, whether it's inflation

43:00

starting to spike again, or a big

43:02

company announcing that reducing their investment

43:04

in AI that's just not showing the

43:06

return they'd hoped for, I think you

43:09

could see the markets just absolutely

43:11

throw up. And

43:13

it just feels like it's time.

43:15

Markets are cyclical. And

43:17

I'm even, you know, I mean,

43:19

it's impossible to time the markets,

43:21

but I can do math and

43:23

US stocks are just so expensive.

43:25

But I think his first year, I

43:28

think this guy, and nobody

43:30

controls the markets, we overestimate

43:33

or overcredit presidents for the

43:35

markets, wins or losses and give them

43:37

too much blame for when they're not

43:39

strong. But this guy has been jumping from

43:41

lily pad to lily pad. And I

43:43

think he's going to miss one in the

43:45

next 12 or

43:48

24 months. Real quick, Jess, how

43:50

do you think these hearings are going to

43:52

play out? I think some of them

43:54

are going to be a total walk

43:56

in the park. I think everyone knows

43:58

the folks that will be well. in with

44:00

open arms and we'll get some

44:02

decent democratic support at the whole

44:04

foreign policy apparatus, you know, Marco

44:06

Rubio, Mike Waltz, Pam Bondi. I

44:09

think there are concerns about her

44:11

especially. She kind of played around

44:13

with the election denialism and she's

44:15

obviously a very strong partisan and

44:17

in team Trump from the beginning,

44:19

but I imagine that she gets

44:21

through. It's interesting to me that

44:23

for all of this time that's

44:26

how... has elapsed from when we

44:28

first started talking about these nominations,

44:30

it's still the same names where...

44:32

I think people don't know if

44:34

there are secret no votes in

44:36

all of this. So for Pete

44:38

Heggsath at defense continues to be

44:41

stories that come out, not just

44:43

about his personal behavior, but about

44:45

his views and how you would

44:47

manage these three million people of

44:49

the Pentagon. Cash Patel has real

44:51

concerns for people. RFK Jr. As

44:53

interesting as everybody, even very strong

44:55

Republicans, have been pushing him about

44:58

the vaccine skepticism. And you know,

45:00

he's found artful ways to dodge

45:02

around how he talks about it.

45:04

You know, I'm just for vaccine

45:06

safety. It's like, bro, you're on

45:08

enough tape saying that you don't

45:10

think we should have, you know,

45:12

mandatory vaccines for kids in school

45:15

and what the implications of that

45:17

is going to be. So I

45:19

think that that's still up in

45:21

the air. I imagine the other

45:23

health officials like. your pal Dr.

45:25

Oz, we'll get through the surgeon

45:27

general, etc. So I think, and

45:30

Tolsey Gabbard, and she continues to

45:32

be, it's interesting, the ones that

45:34

people are the most quiet about,

45:36

part of me thinks have to

45:38

have the biggest objections, right? And

45:40

we haven't been talking a lot

45:42

about the post-Assad world in Syria

45:44

since it fell in 13 days.

45:47

But I know that people, whether

45:49

you're a traditional Republican hawk or

45:51

not. are very concerned about having

45:53

someone who has has been on

45:55

the side of Assad and Putin

45:57

in such an important role as

45:59

D&I. So I still don't know

46:01

about those, but I think he's

46:04

probably gonna have a lot of

46:06

success with the less controversial picks.

46:08

You know, someone like a Christie

46:10

gnome where you think like, well,

46:12

what business does she have having

46:14

in that job? No one's going

46:16

to care I think because they

46:19

they have to pick your battles

46:21

with this and if your battle

46:23

is cash Patel you don't have

46:25

time to talk about why Christy

46:27

Noam isn't qualified someone like Sean

46:29

Duffy getting through a transportation which

46:31

I think is fine or Doug Burgam

46:34

coming in at agriculture. Yeah just

46:36

a quick reminder on vaccines Rick

46:38

Perry who is governor of Texas

46:40

made HD vaccination. for, I believe

46:43

it was for kids, or was

46:45

it just girls? Anyways, he made

46:47

it mandatory, and now that these

46:50

kids are coming of age, there's

46:52

a statistically significant decline in HIV-related

46:54

cancers. These things are a gift from

46:56

God. I think if you were to say,

46:58

if you were to get people from both

47:00

sides of the aisle who actually

47:02

understand science and say what has

47:04

been the greatest innovation in history,

47:07

you know, the top of the

47:09

list would be... vaccines, I think.

47:11

And it's so funny, I'm so... I mean,

47:13

I find the whole vaccine or anti-vaccinating

47:15

from RFK Jr. disqualifying.

47:17

I'm going to ignore

47:19

his character for a moment.

47:22

The thing that's so troubling is

47:24

he's so good on some issues. I

47:26

mean, I don't know if you've seen him

47:28

talk about our food supply or...

47:30

Obama wanted him for EPA.

47:32

He was in consideration. It's

47:34

going to make for a very

47:37

interesting confirm. His will be the

47:39

most interesting. There are going to be

47:41

great TV, which we know is what

47:43

Trump and Coe likes best. Yeah, it's

47:46

going to be really interesting. Okay, we

47:48

have one more quick break. Stay with

47:50

us. Welcome back. Before we wrap,

47:52

Trump has made history again

47:54

becoming the first former and

47:56

soon to be sitting president

47:58

sentenced after a felony. conviction.

48:00

In the Hushmoney case, Trump was

48:03

convicted on 34 accounts of falsifying

48:05

business records. But Judge Juan Murshan

48:07

handed down a symbolic ruling, no

48:09

jail time, no fines, and no

48:12

probation. Trump, now a convicted felon,

48:14

dismissed it as a political witch

48:16

hunt while prosecutors argued he's shown

48:18

no remorse. At the same time,

48:21

Special Counsel Jack Smith resigned from

48:23

the Justice Department, admitted battle over

48:25

releasing his report on Trump's efforts

48:27

to overturn the 2020 election. and

48:30

mishandling classified documents. Jess, what does

48:32

this mean for Trump's political future

48:34

and public trust in our institutions?

48:37

Yeah, I mean, it'll be interesting

48:39

to see, I mean, the battle

48:41

over whether the DOJ reports that

48:43

Jack Smith put together actually get

48:46

released will be ongoing. I imagine

48:48

it will get to scotis at

48:50

some point, and it should be

48:52

noted that Amy Coney Barrett and

48:55

Justice Roberts. joined the liberal justices

48:57

to allow the sentencing to go

48:59

forward on Friday in the hush

49:01

money case. And you've seen the

49:04

freak-out online from luminaries such as

49:06

Cat-Turd that Amy Coney Barrett is

49:08

a traitor, you know, Steve Bannons

49:10

turned on her, etc. They really

49:13

have no tolerance whatsoever for even,

49:15

you know, one one little scribble

49:17

outside of the lines of total

49:20

Trumpism. But... So Jacksmith has these

49:22

two reports that have been filed.

49:24

One of them is about the

49:26

documents case and because there are

49:29

two co-defendants in that and that

49:31

that case could continue to go

49:33

forward. For instance, if Judge Cannon's

49:35

ruling on dismissing it doesn't hold,

49:38

she got it taken away obviously

49:40

for Trump and now Smith has

49:42

dropped that, but it could move

49:44

forward. So that report is not

49:47

going to come out because you

49:49

don't want to tamper with a

49:51

quote-unquote ongoing investigation, but then there's

49:54

the report about... election interference and

49:56

the DC case. And that's the

49:58

one that I think Trump especially

50:00

does. want to come out as

50:03

he moves into Trump 2.0 and

50:05

gets to pardoning some of the

50:07

Jan Sixers, etc. And if that

50:09

does get to the Supreme Court,

50:12

it'll be really interesting to see

50:14

what Amy Coney Barrett and Justice

50:16

Roberts do when it comes to that.

50:19

It makes sense he didn't get

50:21

a sentence or anything really

50:23

happened to him. The guy just

50:25

won the election. It's not

50:27

practical. I think it would have.

50:29

made a few Uber partisans, you know,

50:32

feel vindicated in some way, but basically

50:34

everyone who's been an honest broker

50:36

in all of this has said that

50:38

the Hushmoney case was the weakest case

50:40

in all of this. And now

50:42

most liberals, including people like Adam

50:45

Schiff, have admitted that Merrick Arlen

50:47

has been a big disappointment in

50:49

that he waited a couple years

50:51

to... Terrible attorney, correct. Yeah. He

50:53

might have been a great Supreme

50:55

Court justice if... he had been able

50:57

to get his hearing from

51:00

Mitch McConnell, but obviously

51:02

this guy did not have what

51:04

it takes to meet the moment.

51:06

And that will, I think,

51:08

be a big part of

51:11

Biden's legacy, certainly Merrick Garland's

51:13

legacy, and all of this.

51:15

And there will be a lot of

51:18

people who don't know the strength.

51:20

of the case that they had

51:22

don't know all of the details,

51:24

don't know really what played out,

51:27

because this, he didn't appoint Jack

51:29

Smith, you know, right away, right

51:31

after, you know, Biden comes in

51:34

January 21st, hey, we need somebody,

51:36

right, to be looking into this.

51:39

And I hope for history's sake

51:41

that that report does get out

51:43

into the ether and that it

51:46

is at least something that people

51:48

if they so choose can refer

51:50

to and can look back at

51:52

because you know thank God that

51:54

the institutions held thank God that

51:56

Mike Pence had the courage and

51:58

thank God that we got out

52:00

of that day and I'm not here

52:02

to say it was as bad

52:04

as, you know, 9 -11 or Pearl

52:07

Harbor or Sonny Haasen even put it

52:09

in the category with the Holocaust,

52:11

which offended me to no end. But

52:13

January 6 was obviously bad. And

52:15

you now have JD Vance in his

52:17

interview. He said that violent January

52:19

6ers will not be pardoned. People who

52:22

are just walking around aimlessly will

52:24

get pardoned, which I think is probably

52:26

where you should end up in

52:28

all of this. But I think that

52:30

he's going to, for people who

52:32

support him, be able to effectively rewrite

52:34

this as if January 6 was

52:37

somewhere around a day of love or

52:39

something that is really inconsequential and

52:41

history is long. And so I hope

52:43

that this report will at least

52:45

be part of history. So for those

52:47

who care to know about what

52:49

happened and how intricate the plan was

52:52

and what role the President -elect played

52:54

in all of it, that it

52:56

will be available. What do you make

52:58

of it? I'm just excited about

53:00

referring to President Trump as photos, felon

53:03

of the United States. I think

53:05

that's we should, I should credit the

53:07

comedian, I forget her name, who

53:09

came up with that on threads. And

53:11

anytime he and Steve Bannon are

53:13

on Air Force One, we've got to

53:15

call it con air. I mean, that's

53:17

just, there's got to be a

53:19

silver line. We've got to have some

53:21

fun with this. mean, so basically

53:23

everyone that flies around with him, right?

53:26

But to your point, we

53:29

are Democrats, America Garland,

53:31

just couldn't have fucked

53:33

up any worse. And

53:35

that is insurrection, election

53:37

interference, mishandling of secure

53:39

or confidential defense documents.

53:41

These are all issues

53:43

that deserve legal scrutiny.

53:45

Hush money to a

53:47

porn star? All

53:50

that did was give

53:52

the Republicans a legitimate claim

53:54

that Democrats had weaponized

53:56

the government and the deep

53:58

state and the DOJ

54:00

against their - opponents. So we didn't get

54:02

our shit together or Merrick didn't get

54:04

there, didn't get a shit together

54:06

for the real stuff, but managed

54:09

to figure out a way to

54:11

create a legitimate political concern

54:13

on behalf of the right.

54:15

It just could not have handled

54:17

this any more poorly. And

54:19

if some people would argue,

54:21

well, he's not, Alvin Bragg

54:23

doesn't report to him. But in

54:26

terms of, and this goes back to

54:28

the notion this guy gets to jump

54:30

from a lily pad to lily bad,

54:32

while from an ego standpoint,

54:34

he doesn't like being called

54:36

convicted felon. I believe the

54:38

mishandling and the cadence in

54:40

the way that these legal

54:42

cases played out played a

54:44

big role in his re-election.

54:46

I don't think anyone could

54:49

have strategically thought of the chestnot

54:51

checkers move of, all right, here's

54:53

four cases. Let's pick the one

54:55

and move forward with it

54:57

that looks like the deep

55:00

state in the most politicized

55:02

and make that the one

55:04

that goes the furthest the

55:06

fastest such that it emasculates

55:08

the other three. It just

55:10

played out so incredibly poorly

55:12

for, in my opinion, it

55:14

created the ultimate miscarriage and

55:16

justice and accrued or created

55:18

political benefits. It also revealed a

55:20

level of partisanshipmanship

55:23

from... our public servants here

55:25

in New York, that's just

55:27

gross, like that you have

55:29

Tish James and Alvin Bragg on

55:31

tape saying we're going to get

55:34

him no matter what. That's ugly.

55:36

And you don't want that no

55:38

matter what the crime is or

55:40

alleged crime that's been committed, let

55:43

alone for it to be this

55:45

case, which was obviously the weakest

55:47

of all of them. And, you

55:49

know, Fawney Willis. also created

55:52

a big problem for us

55:54

in Georgia. I do think.

55:56

And that's, there are people

55:59

who've been held. accountable in

56:01

Georgia for good reason for what

56:03

went on there. And now he

56:06

walks around like, you know,

56:08

I have a fake conviction

56:10

from the stupidest case and

56:12

you'll never see or hear of the

56:14

rest of it at all. But you

56:16

got planned for the rest of

56:18

week. Jess Taroff. What is Jessica

56:21

up to? I'm going to go to more

56:23

stressful work, like one on four work.

56:25

This is just. This is a good

56:28

hang, which I enjoy. I don't

56:30

think I have anything that...

56:32

Oh, I'll go to the Knicks game

56:34

tonight with a high school friend who

56:36

I had lost touch with. And she

56:38

texted me and said, and

56:40

we will play basketball together

56:42

in high school. She said, shot

56:44

in the dark, I have tickets

56:46

to the Knicks. Would you like to

56:48

go with me? And I said, yes. And

56:51

so we're going to have a rekindling.

56:53

I feel and get to watch Jill and

56:55

Brennan, which I'm excited about. We need to

56:58

double, we need to double click on that. You

57:00

were a high school athlete. You played

57:02

tennis in college. Yeah, I played tennis

57:04

in basketball in Division 3, not, you

57:06

know, I was not that. Still, you're

57:08

a college athlete. That's very impressive.

57:11

Or I was. Are you a power

57:13

forward? What was your position in basketball?

57:15

Yes, technically a power forward, but I would

57:17

do the tip. So I was, I've been

57:19

5-11 since like seventh grade. You were the

57:21

center? Well, for the tip. Okay, let

57:23

me guess, that was not, that was

57:25

not the most competitive league in wherever,

57:27

I imagine you're going to some Tony

57:29

Prep school where they like, called the Ivy

57:31

League, the New York City Ivy League, but.

57:33

Where did you go to high school?

57:36

Let's lean into your white privilege. Where

57:38

did you go to? Where did you go to high

57:40

school? I went to a school called. You

57:42

look so self-conscious right now. You look like

57:44

the four when you get in their face.

57:47

You went to Dalton. Good for you

57:49

though. But I mean, it's for another time,

57:51

and I'm sure this topic will come

57:53

up, but it was a very interesting

57:55

journey through high school athletics. My dad,

57:58

who was a lawyer, threatened a... lawsuit

58:00

against my high school because they

58:02

wouldn't let the girls get the

58:04

prime time slot so no parents could

58:06

attend right if your games have

58:08

four o'clock parents work they can't

58:10

come and it made us very

58:12

much persona is non-grata at school,

58:14

but it was an interesting lesson.

58:17

Oh, your parents are those

58:19

parents? Just my dad, my mom was

58:21

like hiding in the corner so we

58:23

have the 730 game and still no

58:26

one would come because no one wanted

58:28

to watch the girls. There were more

58:30

parents there. He really met well, but

58:32

it was an interesting lesson in

58:34

standing up for yourself that my

58:37

dad imparted upon us as a

58:39

very young parent. Did you get

58:41

a scholarship? No. I didn't. I was

58:44

lucky my parents paid for

58:46

college, but I got to play

58:48

and it was great. You went

58:50

to Dalton and played basketball,

58:53

then tennis. I went

58:55

to university high school,

58:57

which now is got the distinction

58:59

of having more homeless kids

59:01

than any L.A.D.C. school, and

59:03

I got cut from the

59:06

baseball team, so we have

59:08

almost nothing in common. How

59:10

did we end up here? How

59:12

do we end up here? Do your

59:14

boys play competitive sports? My

59:16

boys have just the right amount of

59:18

athletic ability and that is very

59:20

little. And they have enough to

59:23

play sports at their schools. They

59:25

both play football, better known soccer.

59:27

I was going to say. We're

59:29

talking European. Unwash masses here in

59:31

the US. And they can play,

59:33

which is a ton of fun,

59:35

but there's absolutely no illusions

59:37

that they're ever going to. you know,

59:39

use that on their college apps or

59:41

or play professionally. Whereas for a brief moment,

59:43

I thought I might be an athlete and I

59:45

tried out for a couple of times a useful

59:48

and got cut and ended up on their career

59:50

team. But anyways, have a great time with the

59:52

Knicks. Next game. Actually, Jess, why don't you read

59:54

us out? All right. That's all for this

59:56

episode. Thank you for listening to Raging

59:58

Moderates. Our producers. are David Toledo and

1:00:01

Chenene Oneke, our technical directors Drew

1:00:03

Burrows. You can find raging moderates

1:00:05

on its own feed every Tuesday.

1:00:07

That's right, raging moderates on its

1:00:09

own feed. Please follow us and

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subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

1:00:14

Thanks for hanging with us.