The Bulwark Podcast XX
[0] Hello and welcome to the Bullwark podcast.
[1] I'm your host, Tim Miller.
[2] It is a beautiful day to be back with my buddy, former Congressman Adam Kinsinger, now a contributor to the Bullwork, senior political commentator for CNN.
[3] He's a founder of Country First, which backs pro -democracy candidates.
[4] What is up, my man?
[5] Hey, buddy.
[6] If I sound like somebody filled my face with cement, I've been sick all week, but I'm feeling better now, but that's what that is.
[7] So we'll get through this.
[8] Oh, okay.
[9] I thought maybe that's what happened to Matt Gates.
[10] He had his face filled his cement.
[11] Did you see that?
[12] He looked like something out of of like it nuts and the congressman sometimes listens to this podcast so i you know i don't want to be too mean but uh i saw him last week you know i was in milton covering his event with kyle rittenhouse which is which was some weird shit and um you know it was a different pace and no judgment all right i got friends who are in the botox business it's a good business there's you know whatever makes you feel good but you know maybe everything in moderation i guess that's all i'm saying There's Botox, and then there's like, whoa, Botox.
[13] He got some low Botox.
[14] Let's say I would have gotten that done, and I was scheduled to speak at the convention.
[15] I would fake sick because it was that bad.
[16] I'd give it a potato or two to let it deflate before I'd go there.
[17] All right.
[18] It's tough.
[19] It also is tough because he was on that high of just really trolling Kevin McCarthy on the floor the day before.
[20] And then just kind of crashed.
[21] It's been a roller coaster for Congressman Gates.
[22] Okay.
[23] I want to mostly talk about the convention, but we have.
[24] two important story items I want to get to first.
[25] First is a great, I think the most full report about what we know so far regarding the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.
[26] It comes to the New York Times.
[27] Former pod guest, David Ferenhold and Glenn Thrush have the bylines.
[28] They wrote, when the FBI was finally able to access Mr. Crooks' cell phones and other electronic devices.
[29] Agents could see that he'd search for images of Trump as well as President Biden, Merrick Garland, Christopher Ray.
[30] Crooks also typed in.
[31] major depressive disorder.
[32] He searched for dates and places for appearances for both Biden and Trump.
[33] One of Mr. Trump's planned appearances happened to be about 50 miles from his home in Bethel Park.
[34] On Friday, the day before the attempted assassination, Mr. Crooks went to the shooting range, according to investigative summary.
[35] The next morning, he bought a ladder at Home Depot and then 50 rounds of ammunition from a gunshot near his home.
[36] You know, you saw this with school shooters, which is they just, you hate humanity because of the depression.
[37] You know, so you have no empathy to, like whoever's life you take and all of a sudden you're like I could be instantly known and I can kind of get my retribution and particularly even if he was a Republican I think again I think his affiliation should have nothing to do with anything but that would bring extra pain right to him and his family I don't know but yeah I do know obviously it was an epic failure by secret service and one of the things though that has driven me nuts in this is like I existed for the last three years with this belief that the right was the main conspiracy theorists and seeing the conspiracies on the left of this thing has been really disheartening for me. Now, it's Twitter.
[38] So is it real or not?
[39] I don't know.
[40] But this idea that he faked the shooting where it didn't really happen or the ear bandage, you know, I saw where they had inverted an image and he had the bandage on what looked like his left ear, but it was just the image inverted.
[41] And they're like, see, look, this kind of stuff has got to stop.
[42] And the left is doing a really bad job, I think, in these conspiracies of differentiating themselves from the right.
[43] I totally agree with that.
[44] Absurd.
[45] There is one thing, though, I wanted to get your take on.
[46] And I'm not into a conspiracy place on this.
[47] This is just more about norms and the way that Trump has broken how normal politicians are supposed to act in these situations.
[48] We still don't have, like, a doctor's report.
[49] And we still haven't really had a press conference with a government representative taking questions about ballistics about what was found in crooks's phone that is kind of strange right i shouldn't we have more information by now about about all that yeah you really should and uh you know the only thing i can think in terms of the ear is like i mean look when you have the zoom up like right when it happened there's obviously a hole in his ear right there's obviously blood and truthfully i mean if it was as close as it seems he literally was a quarter of a second from having literally his head blown off versus his ear shot.
[50] You know, it's possible what I know about guns, especially two, two, three rounds or 556, which is what comes out of an AR, you know, it's possible that since there wasn't a lot of thickness to his ear, it created just the hole.
[51] But typically if these rounds hit like your skull or hit your body, they create so much damage.
[52] They blow a massive hole because of the way they wobble and everything else.
[53] And so it's possible that he actually lost a good chunk of his ear.
[54] I mean, and he doesn't want to admit that.
[55] I mean, who would want to show missing a significant part of your ear?
[56] I wouldn't want anybody to see that.
[57] That's possible.
[58] I don't know.
[59] Evander Holyfield had his ear bitten.
[60] Yeah, that's true.
[61] It's kind of cool.
[62] Yeah, it was kind of cool.
[63] Yeah, okay, I've got a couple of other gun things for you.
[64] Because to me, as a person that's never shot a gun, it seems like the shooter was far.
[65] But as I've been reading more and watching videos from people that are experts, he really wasn't that far, actually, you know, to have that kind of weapon and be able to shoot from that range.
[66] So, like, what is your sense?
[67] That also speaks, speaks both of the Secret Service failures.
[68] I think that's, I guess, what's most interesting to me is that that distance, whenever it was 150 yards is, like, not, I guess, significant compared to military training, you know, how far you shoot from with those rifles?
[69] Does that sound right to you?
[70] Yeah.
[71] So, like, an AR particularly is very accurate for people that are not overly great Marksman.
[72] So the Soviets, you know, they created the AK -47.
[73] That was an easy -to -use, easy -to -maintain gun where you could train like indigenous populations that don't have a lot of education to fight insurgencies.
[74] Our guns were made for like pretty moderately educated soldier.
[75] They're a little higher in maintenance, but they're very accurate, very easy to shoot.
[76] And the early models jammed a lot.
[77] These don't now.
[78] The M -4s don't.
[79] So if I took you shooting an AR, you would actually, after about a couple shots realized first off there's no kick like it's a really easy gun to shoot it's not like a shotgun where it hurts your shoulder there's no kick and frankly i could teach pretty quickly how to put iron sights so just the basic sights on somebody and get pretty close so i think 150 yards is pretty close for somebody that has shot a gun before particularly in a r and uh to hit where he did the crazy thing is like yes seeing this guy climb the building and not shooting him but i don't know if it was you you guys were talking about it but in two 2004, there was almost a police sniper that was killed by the Secret Service in 2004, almost, because they had identified a sniper.
[80] Secret Service was about to take the shot until they realized it was a police sniper.
[81] So I think there could have been a lot of like, okay, yes, there's a dude with a gun on a building.
[82] What is this?
[83] Who is this?
[84] Okay, call around to the police.
[85] Is it one of theirs?
[86] Because it would be very hard to take a shot and then all of a sudden find out that was one of your guys.
[87] right so it's not an excuse but I guess it's a from a human perspective and understanding could you do a warning shot I don't know what the fuck do I know you know kind just fired at the at the roof there freak him out a little bit see what happens shoot his heel or something maybe but you know at least they should have pulled the president off the stage right yeah yeah my other thing this is maybe one of the issues that we we have disagreement on so I think it's just worth hashing out now with five days difference is we had all this discourse about discourse, right?
[88] Whether our tone is good up, and I'm for it.
[89] I think that turning down the temperature is important to the extent that that's possible and you have someone like Donald Trump on the ballot.
[90] But we now are five days away and it's like there's no discourse about the fact that we live in a country where 20 -year -olds with mental health problems have like copious access to these kinds of guns.
[91] And so maybe there's a policy solution to that or whatever.
[92] There are some potential policy solutions that people aren't going to like.
[93] It's pretty crazy to me. Like Ben Carson went on stage of the debate and was like the weapons they've used to get Trump.
[94] It's like the weaponization of government and the weaponization of the media.
[95] And he lists like four things.
[96] And he didn't mention the fucking weapon that was used to shoot at him.
[97] So I don't know.
[98] I mean, shouldn't we at least be focused a little bit more on that than on, you know, whether Joe Biden used the word bull's eye in a private convo?
[99] Yeah, I agree.
[100] Look, here's the thing I've always said, and I said this since the Parkland shooting, is like, first off, and now, granted, this kid took his gun from his dad, so.
[101] But he bought bullets.
[102] He bought bullets.
[103] I mean, should you really, should a 20 -year -old really be able to buy 50 rounds, but not a white claw?
[104] That seems like, that seems wrong to me. Cigarettes even now.
[105] You can't buy tobacco, not just alcohol.
[106] You can't buy tobacco in this country.
[107] You can't get a Zinn.
[108] You can't get a Zinn.
[109] We all love Zinn.
[110] You can get 50 rounds of bullets.
[111] That does seem misaligned.
[112] I don't know.
[113] And here's what I've always said is, so also in this country, you can't buy a handgun until you're 21.
[114] That's always been the law.
[115] Handgun 21, long gun 18, but long gun includes ARs now, which AR, you had talked about, you had talked about shooting at 150 yards with an AR.
[116] I could give you the best 9mm or 45 or whatever pistol.
[117] You would not be able to recreate that shot at all with a pistol.
[118] And so that's why law enforcement now carries long rifles because they were fighting.
[119] long rifles with pistols and would lose every time.
[120] So the question is this, why in the world in this country, did we raise the age of smoking?
[121] I mean, kids used to smoke at 16 when I was in high school, right?
[122] That was bad, but like didn't destroy the world.
[123] But you can go by these guns is wrong.
[124] And by the way, the one thing we have seen is that when it comes to making decisions, typically 21 -year -olds, even more than 19 - and 20 -year -olds, are much less likely to turn violent like that because a lot of these big school shootings are people that are 19 and 20 years old that still have a bone to pick with that school.
[125] So I agree with you.
[126] Yeah, I think it's a discussion that needs to be had, certainly.
[127] And I'm tired of saying we need to have a discussion.
[128] I guess that is politics.
[129] But eventually, can't we all agree that maybe let's just make it 21 to buy guns, period?
[130] Let's see what that does.
[131] Let that set in for a little bit.
[132] Can't hurt.
[133] I know he got this gun from his dad, but then you have the ammo element to it.
[134] And if it's illegal to carry it around, it's like an open container law.
[135] You know, it's like if you're under 21, you can't carry it around.
[136] But at the Gates' Rittenhouse event, they were calling on moving the handgun law down to 18.
[137] That was one of the things that they talked about.
[138] So there you go.
[139] We got some other news.
[140] And I did a pretty dark next level podcast yesterday when people can check out if they want when we're at our low, thinking about the state of our politics.
[141] That's what we need.
[142] I had a little skipp in my stuff last night.
[143] And here's why.
[144] Reports from various news outlets, Hakeem Jeffries met with Joe Biden last Thursday at the White House told him that we're on path to lose the House, we being the Democrats in that case, or on path to lose the House if he stayed in the race.
[145] Schumer went to Rahobit Beach on Saturday and encouraged him to get out of the race and then put out of the biggest non -denial denial in history after the John Carl report on that.
[146] Then we have a CNN report that Pelosi called him Friday.
[147] So that's Jeffrey's Thursday, Pelosi Friday.
[148] Schumer Saturday.
[149] The two haven't spoken since Friday, but Jeff Zellini reports that Biden has become more receptive.
[150] So, big picture.
[151] Where are you at on all of these conversations?
[152] Well, so just for full disclosure, since I'm campaigning for whoever runs against Trump.
[153] Right.
[154] You endorse Joe Biden.
[155] Yeah, I haven't called for anybody to get out.
[156] I'm officially saying Democrats need to just put their strongest foot forward.
[157] Now I'm going to talk about this from an analyst perspective, which is, the Democrats have got to put forward the strongest candidate.
[158] And right now, it does not appear to be Joe Biden.
[159] I mean, I get it.
[160] People like to pull up the national polls and say, look, oh, they're tied at 49, 49.
[161] Those are totally irrelevant.
[162] Those used to matter a little bit because they'd show trends with the stridation and the polarization of this country.
[163] Literally, those polls don't matter anymore because we're packing Democrats in California and packing Republicans in Texas, right?
[164] Right.
[165] The reality is the state -by -state polls matter, and now we have to be honest.
[166] Trump is making a run in Virginia.
[167] He's making a run in New Hampshire.
[168] He's making a run in Minnesota.
[169] These are like tier two targets that now he can win in.
[170] The Democrats have got to think this through.
[171] And the one thing I would say to them as well is like, look, Liz and I put everything on the line, our careers.
[172] I'm not saying this for sympathy, but we put everything on the line to defeat Donald Trump.
[173] now we don't care about our egos what you cannot do is allow your ego to get into the way or somebody's ego to get into the way of winning this is too if this was george hw bush against bill clinton fine whatever it's kind of let's write it out yeah write it out whatever this is existential so yeah it does appear as what i saw yesterday too that the momentum is certainly in the in the sense of like you know that biden's got to step down and he just needs to come to that on his own, I think.
[174] Yeah, a Biden advisor who had to speak on the condition of anonymity said that they were looking at three things polling cash in which states are in play, and all three are trending in the wrong direction.
[175] Okay, there was one other thing that Jeff Zellini reported.
[176] I wanted to talk about with you.
[177] He said that Biden is now asking people if they think that Harris can win, and that takes us to a new segment on this podcast called The Coconut Meter.
[178] You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?
[179] All right, Adam, I want to know how coconut curious you are.
[180] You're at the base of the tree.
[181] Are you climbing the tree?
[182] Are you shaking the branches?
[183] Have you ascended the summit?
[184] Are you coming to terms with Kamala as the nominee?
[185] Or are you still a little coconut skeptical?
[186] So I'm standing next to the tree.
[187] I'm jumping.
[188] I grabbed the first branch and I'm kind of hanging there.
[189] You're looking.
[190] All right.
[191] You're contemplating.
[192] Now, I'm going to see.
[193] Is it going to bend, right?
[194] Like, what's going on here?
[195] Okay.
[196] And, you know, I'm not going to pretend like I've been the biggest Harris fan.
[197] I haven't.
[198] But as I've thought about this and I look at the dynamic of this race, I'm like, anybody knew.
[199] So Harris or, you know, freaking what you said, Mayor McCheese, whoever, anybody new, I think will bring a new dynamic into this race with a whole set of energy.
[200] Because people have been dreading Biden Trump and all of a sudden there's somebody new.
[201] I think that could be really a ton of energy.
[202] And by the way, regardless of whether it's Kamala and obviously she can inherit all the Biden money if it's her, I don't think money should be a consideration at all because whoever the candidate is will raise like $8 gazillion in three days, have 100 % name recognition immediately because they've just been slated as the candidate and will have a huge burst of energy.
[203] Money doesn't matter anymore up to a threshold, you know, and then that's it.
[204] Totally.
[205] You and I couldn't be more aligned on this.
[206] It drives me insane when people are like, what about the money?
[207] matter.
[208] It does a fucking mad.
[209] Joe Biden has been on air.
[210] Joe Biden spent like 80 million or something already.
[211] I don't know the number in front of me, but he spent, he sent tens of millions already on ads that have done nothing.
[212] Do you know why?
[213] Because every person seeing the ad already has an opinion on Joe Biden versus Donald Trump.
[214] Ads work if it's like, you know, Jackie Rosen in Nevada.
[215] She can probably use some money, right?
[216] Like you should donate to her campaign if you support Jackie Rosen for Senate, Nevada, because she's been Senator, but her name ID's kind of low, and you can introduce her a little bit to certain groups of people who have moved into the state from Vegas.
[217] Everybody knows Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
[218] This is insane.
[219] And whoever it would replace him, would, I agree, raise unprecedented money in the first week.
[220] If the Democrats pick, like, you know, Phil McCracken, right?
[221] As the Democratic candidate, overnight, he would have 100 % name recognition.
[222] That does the job of $500 million right there.
[223] Well, I'm climbing the tree.
[224] I'm climbing the coconut tree.
[225] I'm interested.
[226] I also think should have an open process.
[227] I still do.
[228] And I think it would be good for Kamala, frankly, to take the pressure off a little bit.
[229] But we'll see how that all shakes out.
[230] Obviously, we keep being posted.
[231] All right, convention time.
[232] You just pick.
[233] Where do you want to start?
[234] What struck you so far?
[235] What about the ear bandages?
[236] You know, conventions are always weird, right?
[237] Like, it's always the hat people and the outfit people and all this kind of stuff.
[238] Watching everybody wearing these like index cards on their right ears, it's like, this is a cult.
[239] this is a crazy call yes your guy got shot in the ear that sucks honestly and i don't mean this pejoratively but then to walk around wearing an ear index card because like that's weird have you seen the meme that i posted about the ear thing with the my pillow branding on it yeah i did actually yeah that was a good that was good yeah so that's weird but like from an agnostic perspective I will say the convention has probably done a good job of doing what they wanted it to do.
[240] One of the things that struck me, and we'll see more later, is Donald Trump has actually appeared to be kind of chill.
[241] He's appeared to be like, I don't believe this yet.
[242] Almost melancholy kind of, even, like in his body language.
[243] Subdued.
[244] You know, I'm one of these that doesn't believe he's capable of human emotion.
[245] But I've got to imagine to some extent.
[246] almost being assassinated has got to be, even to the most narcissistic dude, has got to be a wake -up call.
[247] You've been in some fights.
[248] Yeah.
[249] And it takes a few days to settle in, like how close you were, right?
[250] I got PTSD a little bit from my knifing incident in Milwaukee, and it took me literally a couple of weeks to actually come to grips with it.
[251] But so, you know, the melancholy thing is I think that's going to work to disadvantage, although then I see his true social and I'm like, yeah, it's the same guy.
[252] But I think as much as I can't stand J .D. Vance, I actually think politically it's not a bad pick for him.
[253] And I thought the Republican Party did a good job of trying to put all these weirdos out there to make it look like we're a big tent party.
[254] I don't think they're going to get a bump from this.
[255] But I think it probably so far has done what they needed it to do.
[256] There was a lot of weird stuff.
[257] But generally, and I'll tell you the thing that actually I will give them more credit for is I don't like using Gold Star families as a prop, but I thought it was very effective yesterday.
[258] I did too.
[259] Here's how Bill Crystal wrote about it in this morning's newsletter.
[260] The most authoritarian ticket and the most extreme party agenda in modern American history have been presented to the American people at this convention in a relatively non -threatening way.
[261] I think that's right.
[262] These guys, they think they're in the lead.
[263] And so they've just kind of sanded down the edges a little bit.
[264] People are staying on teleprompter.
[265] They're not talking about the 2020 election fraud.
[266] they're not talking about abortion.
[267] Like, J .D. Vance didn't even mention Ukraine last night.
[268] Like, they're not, like, all the vaccines.
[269] Like, they're not talking about that, like the crazy stuff.
[270] They haven't changed their mind on it.
[271] They're not talking about dismantling the administrative state, really.
[272] You know, there's been some extreme policy stuff discussed, but they're tamping down the weirdest shit.
[273] I wish they didn't because I think America needs to see it.
[274] And that's why it's important that you and I talk about it.
[275] But if, you know, whoever ran that convention, I think, or is running that convention probably is doing a good job.
[276] I mean, here's the thing I would actually say.
[277] Like, if I was advising Trump, I would say, look, okay, you had a chance to win in 2020 after you got COVID.
[278] You could have come out of the hospital and been like, look, I was wrong.
[279] This disease sucks.
[280] Everybody needs to take it seriously.
[281] And the Republicans would listen to you.
[282] And the middle would be like, okay, he came around.
[283] And I think he would have won the race.
[284] This is his chance after this assassination attempt to be like, you know what?
[285] Yeah, my rhetoric's been a lot.
[286] little much.
[287] And, you know, I never meant it personally and let's do this.
[288] And I think he could win a lot.
[289] That said, I don't think he's capable of throttling back.
[290] I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think so.
[291] And I'm worried, too, that it's going to give people the false impression that he's grown up when he's just changed his tone as all.
[292] Somebody said Lasavita, I think, that the speech was going to be an hour and a half.
[293] I'm stealing this from John Lovett.
[294] But Lovett's like, they just kept the original speech and then they're just added new stuff on the beginning in the end.
[295] It's like how about it's going to be an hour and a half.
[296] So bear down, everybody, an hour and a half.
[297] We're going to do a live YouTube during it.
[298] And I should be on there.
[299] I should be on there at least for a little while.
[300] I've got some other TV obligations.
[301] So go to the board of YouTube for that.
[302] A couple exceptions to this.
[303] Peter Navarra yesterday was straight from jail to the convention floor where he gave a speech.
[304] Literally sounded like a guy at the bar that's had a couple of drinks.
[305] complaining about how, you know, he got screwed and his felony conviction and the judge was biased against him.
[306] And like, and then he brought his cougar wife up on stage.
[307] And it was a pretty weird scene to have an ex -con fly straight to the convention.
[308] I don't know.
[309] There's a lot of precedent for that.
[310] No, and look, this is what happens when people get their heads broken.
[311] You know, I assume you have, but I've been in a moment in my life where I'm kind of like, you know, you're depressed, you're kind of struggling with stuff and your behavior pattern gets a little weird, right?
[312] Maybe it's, maybe it manifests as too much drinking or maybe it manifests as like anger, whatever it is.
[313] We've all been there.
[314] This is his moment where, you know, he's obviously, it's not fun to go to prison.
[315] I'm sure he didn't have a good time.
[316] And instead of coming out and like chilling, it's like, I'm going to double down.
[317] I mean, this is the guy that wears all black on every podcast, like really creepy, like looks like a heaven's gate leader.
[318] And so he tweeted yesterday, day, like, I went to jail so you don't have to.
[319] And I just replied, like, no, public service announcement, if you refuse to testify to Congress, you still have to go to jail, right?
[320] Like, he didn't stop that.
[321] This is just a man who is trying to find his way.
[322] Yeah, this is not Jesus dying for your situation.
[323] Yeah, exactly.
[324] Exactly.
[325] And it's, you know, this, like, lawlessness that everybody's proud of.
[326] And I, you know, I shudder to think what Bannon's going to be like when he gets out.
[327] But who knows, maybe I'll find Jesus.
[328] And Manafort was there too.
[329] Manifort is on the floor.
[330] Now he's not speaking.
[331] I mean, a literal Russian asset also jailed.
[332] A lot of convicts for the Law and Order Party.
[333] The other thing that jumped out at me was the signage last night.
[334] Mass deportations now plus end of the war in Ukraine.
[335] I might be a lonely voice on this one, but I don't think that that's a winning combat.
[336] I really don't.
[337] And I think it's a different, it's obviously a sea change in the Republican Party, you know, from the Bush McCain days.
[338] But Anyway, you can take either one of those first.
[339] You saw even when that dork David Sacks spoke and he was talking about Zelensky causing the invasion.
[340] I don't know if there were a ton of booze, but there was no applause.
[341] And he's like dorkily standing there waiting for people to applaud and they didn't.
[342] He's kind of like looks around.
[343] He's like, and then he caused it.
[344] And so could have just been because most like old Republican boomers are like, who is this guy that has a tech bro podcast that can't.
[345] speaking like an automaton.
[346] So it could have been the substance, but it also could have been the style, which is very bad.
[347] With the last name, Sax.
[348] Look, there is the hardcore Maga base that, for whatever reason, Ukraine's become a touchstone.
[349] But I think the vast majority of Republicans, they may not be like hardcore like you and I are about, you know, Ukraine needs to win.
[350] But I think their concern with the war is more of the spending and less that they actually want Russia to win.
[351] So when people are like blaming Ukraine for Russia's invasion, I think even the ones that are like giving Ukraine money are kind of looking around going, yeah, I didn't think they caused it.
[352] The sign says end the Ukraine war now.
[353] I'm stuck on this.
[354] People are holding the signs, they're passing it out.
[355] Like, what does that mean in the context of the Trump vans ticket?
[356] It means surrender.
[357] I mean, you're pressuring Zelensky and the Ukrainians that have bravely fought to defend their country to surrender in the name of something, something American strength.
[358] And, you know, I got a buddy that's in the venue.
[359] that is still a Republican, one of the few that still talks to me. I was texting and I was like, is it anybody from like our era that's like uncomfortable with this, like this kind of signage and hit any, I said basically no. So I hear you that like the crowd is not fully on board with like the based broken brain we cause this like, you know, because because Ukraine's skirt was a little too short and they were like tempting Putin to come take them.
[360] But like people aren't also upset about.
[361] the Trump vance move.
[362] You know, and by the way, yeah, the end the Ukraine war now.
[363] There's only two people that can end the Ukraine war, Zelensky by surrendering or victory or Putin by stopping the invasion.
[364] It's really not the United States.
[365] We can't end the war.
[366] Like, I mean, I guess we could if we actually came in on behalf of Ukraine or stop, or yeah, or stopping to get in weapons.
[367] Yep.
[368] And so that's where I just don't know because I'm struggling between, I've seen these polls say most Republicans still want Ukraine to win, but I have.
[369] haven't seen it and I haven't seen like even Republican members of Congress who vote for Ukraine aid they're not embracing that they're just like they'll vote for it and then be super quiet and try to hope people never noticed on the deportation thing look it's one thing to say like we want only legal citizens here and we should blah blah blah mass deportations when you say that I feel like that is something that you would have seen at Madison Square Garden in the 30s at the Nazi rally, right?
[370] Well, the Lindberg rally.
[371] Yeah, that feels very gross.
[372] And I've got to imagine, no matter how people feel about immigration, this is just my hope.
[373] This is just having some faith in humanity still, that seeing mass deportations now is just not going to be a feel -goodsy for many people.
[374] Yeah.
[375] I've said this once before, but I just, it's now my most strongly held view of what needs to be done by the Democratic Super PAC ad makers is like, I do.
[376] don't think it's sunk in for people what mass deportations now is and they need to paint a picture and like a cinematic view for people because like there's no it's not like oh hey president Trump has announced mass deportations today everyone show up to the to the friendly deportation center where you you know hand in your cards and we put you on a plane and you go back home like that's not what it is it's like it's fucking cops breaking down doors and neighborhoods and taking people and pulling people over and and stereotyping them you know know, based on whether they're speaking Spanish or English.
[377] And it's like there's a lot of really ugly stuff that goes on with mass deportations.
[378] I'm not saying that nobody should be deported or whatever, but like mass deportations implies that you're like going out and finding people and deporting them.
[379] And that's, that feels very un -American.
[380] Yeah.
[381] And so like, you know, my wife is Salvadorian.
[382] She was actually born an American citizen.
[383] So she's not, you know, she's not like green card or anything.
[384] But like, you know, and she speaks perfect English.
[385] But it's like, I think about people in that kind of a situation.
[386] like, are they going to look at somebody like her suspiciously just because she's Salvadorian?
[387] And all of a sudden, that makes you guilty by?
[388] And how do you find out is she truly an American citizen?
[389] Because she can show you a driver's license, but none of us have citizen cards.
[390] Like, that's not a real thing.
[391] There's no papers.
[392] You remember Ilyon Gonzalez when they, the whole Florida thing?
[393] Like the guns pointed at him.
[394] Imagine that time six million.
[395] Yeah.
[396] I don't think it's going to hold water.
[397] No, I wrote, God, probably four years ago now, about this kid, Francisco, Galicia.
[398] I think I'm having, I think I'm remembering that name right.
[399] And I forget if he's the younger sibling, the other one's the older sibling, whatever, but he's in the car with his brother.
[400] They're both from, I forget, Mexico, I think.
[401] And one of them was undocumented.
[402] One of them was documented, right, because they're born in America or whatever, or their, you know, parents did the paperwork correctly.
[403] I don't, I don't recall the details.
[404] But because the one was, didn't have papers that didn't speak English, they detained both.
[405] And Francisco was detained, who is a legal citizen, was detained for like days.
[406] And to me, to me, I was like, this is outrageous.
[407] Like, he was detained only because he was a brown person in the car with somebody that's undocumented.
[408] Like, that is not illegal, you know, and that is not American.
[409] So that's just one example from the first Trump administration anyway.
[410] I don't think people like mass deportations.
[411] All right, JD, before I let you go, JD time.
[412] It wasn't really Palin -esque.
[413] And I mean, that is an unusual compliment to Sarah Palin.
[414] Her convention speech was, had some juice.
[415] You know, when she, her first introduction to the world, J .D.'s was a little limp, I thought.
[416] There's not much when I think back on his speech that I can really point out that I remember.
[417] I think he passed.
[418] Yeah, sure.
[419] I don't think he excelled.
[420] It wasn't Katie Britt.
[421] Wasn't creepy Katie Britt in her kitchen.
[422] No, it wasn't.
[423] Yeah, it wasn't that.
[424] Like that.
[425] But she's somehow a star again, because I guess once you embarrass herself enough, you're back to be in a star.
[426] Yeah.
[427] So I think he passed.
[428] And I mean, the reality is the guy's only like 39.
[429] He's young.
[430] Right.
[431] Remember, Dan Quayle was like 30.
[432] or 39.
[433] And I remember he had a reputation when he was announced because he kind of came out too excited.
[434] And they're like, oh, he's just a kid, right?
[435] And he got that tattooed on him unfairly.
[436] Well, that's what J .D. Vance had to avoid.
[437] I think he avoided that.
[438] I'm glad he didn't mention Ukraine because maybe that the whole thing I'm hoping is maybe his Ukraine.
[439] Because the guy was a Marine.
[440] Maybe his Ukraine stuff was just to get the attention of Donald Trump, which is cynical.
[441] But I don't know.
[442] I guess we got to look at something good.
[443] But I think it was probably a safe political pick for Trump.
[444] I'm not one of these that thinks he gains nothing by it, but I also, I don't think it's going to change the dynamic very much of anything.
[445] I'm just going to admit it.
[446] I'd really find him unappealing.
[447] Oh, I do too.
[448] On the list of people that I want to have a beer with in the United States Congress and Senate, like he would be at the very bottom of the list, but I bet Ted Cruz, I guess, but very few people below.
[449] And the fact that he's the first millennial on ticket, you know, that stings a little bit since he's so full of shit.
[450] My takeaway of him last night is Trump has this thing that works for him, which is Trump is totally full of shit, but his presentation makes you think that he's telling you some truth, like what he really thinks, right?
[451] Like, that's challenging to pull off.
[452] J .D., to me, it just screams like, this guy's full of shit.
[453] Totally.
[454] I hope he is, kind of, because if he ends up being PP, it'd be, I hope he doesn't believe all the insane stuff that he's been saying about cat ladies and vaccines and Ukraine like it'd be not I guess it'd be nice if Yale author of hillbilly elegy jd returned I don't expect that but like there's some discussion with the choices like he's the mantle carrier for maga I don't know I don't know if he's got that kind of juice it's interesting like he's the Vivek Ramoswami he's the same thing right like I know people that know vivake that are like oh Vivek was you know total moderate he knows this is a game he doesn't believe anything he says but they're just so cynical that they don't give a shit.
[455] They'll just like, oh, I'll just say whatever, because it's just how to get to power.
[456] And this is what's sad is this generation has learned that this is how you get to power.
[457] Like, to you and I, it's still an exception.
[458] To them, it's the rule.
[459] And so J .D. Vance goes from, how do you go from being such a clear -eyed never -trumper to seeing him in action for eight years and now being so hardcore pro -Trump?
[460] Most of us went the opposite way.
[461] Like, realizing this guy was bad, well, because there's no moral center.
[462] because J .D. Vance wants power.
[463] He got to taste power and everything about him was fake.
[464] And by the way, he also has made it clear.
[465] As much as I said, I appreciated him not mentioning Ukraine.
[466] He's been very clear that he doesn't give a rat's ass about Ukraine.
[467] And if it burns, that would be fine with him.
[468] Yeah.
[469] Sick.
[470] It's not just an ever -trump thing.
[471] I actually think the more damning flip for him is like the whole reason he came to fame was Hillbilly Elegy.
[472] And like the fucking theme of the book is that there is some cultural rot in, like, the whole reason.
[473] Appalachia and people need to take responsibility for their lives.
[474] These are good people, but like they should take some ownership of their lives and, you know, you can achieve.
[475] He's totally flipped on that.
[476] Like his message last night was that Joe Biden and the elites are the reason why Appalachia is bad and they're the victims and J .D. Vance will help them.
[477] Big Daddy J .D. will help them.
[478] So his whole shtick has flipped.
[479] It's all totally phony.
[480] Did you know, fun fact about J .D.?
[481] His kid is named Vivek, and his birth name was James Donald.
[482] But it got switched to James David.
[483] So the ticket would have been Donald, John, and James Donald had he stuck with his birth name.
[484] Either that would have freaked Donald out or Donald would have loved it because he's so narcissistic.
[485] I don't know.
[486] He might have freaked him out.
[487] It's a little creepy.
[488] All right.
[489] Thank you, Adam Kinzer.
[490] He'll be with us in Dallas, September 5th.
[491] Get your tickets to bulwark .com slash events.
[492] I appreciate you.
[493] And our fates right now, I know that maybe you probably weren't Nancy Pelosi.
[494] his biggest fan before but nancy hasn't called him since last friday he's got covid now he's got a lot of private time she stepped aside she passed the torch to hakeem we're in your hands nancy you can do it you can do it girl we'll see you back here tomorrow with s e cup to uh recap donald trump's nomination speech his third acceptance speech how fucking crazy is that we'll see all then peace you keep lying when you ought to be true then And you keep losing when you ought to not bet.
[495] You keep samin' when you ought to be a change then.
[496] Now what's right is right, but you ain't been right yet.
[497] These boots are made for walking, and that's just what they'll do.
[498] One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you.
[499] The board's a match is the air And what he knows Boots are made That's just what they'll do Boots are gonna walk all over Are you ready, boots?
[500] The Boar podcast is produced by Katie Cooper With Audio Engineering and Editing by Jason Brown