The Bulwark Podcast XX
[0] Hello and welcome to the Bullwark podcast.
[1] I'm your host, Tim Miller.
[2] I'm so delighted to be here today with a former senator from Minnesota.
[3] He's one of the original writers for SNL.
[4] He's a host of his eponymous podcast.
[5] It's Al Franken.
[6] I haven't slept that much.
[7] I'm doing Oprah.
[8] Does that work?
[9] Oh, that's right.
[10] That's right.
[11] That's what she did.
[12] Did you like Oprah last night?
[13] I liked Oprah fine.
[14] I mean, I love Oprah.
[15] And, you know, she hosted the show once.
[16] The Al Franken podcast or Saturday Night Live?
[17] Saturday Night Live.
[18] Oprah was wonderful last night.
[19] Yeah, much better than Hulk Hogan, I thought.
[20] Isn't it amazing the different culture, I mean, of the two conventions and the different tone?
[21] The Democrats adopted, like, a lot of the stuff that we used to do at Republican conventions.
[22] I mean, it was just like God and football and patriotism and love in America and there's a USA chance and there's huge freedom signs.
[23] There's USA placards.
[24] I mean, it might as well have been Reagan Bush 88 in there.
[25] Well, I think there is just been a smart one.
[26] Of course, the big speeches tonight.
[27] That's the big one.
[28] But Walls was unbelievable last night.
[29] Did you see that the Minnesota delegation stayed after for like 45 minutes doing cheers?
[30] Chance.
[31] Chance.
[32] I did.
[33] And here's why I was because this is why I'm punchy.
[34] I was on MSNBC until 2 a .m. last night and then on again at 6 a .m. this morning.
[35] So we'll see how the show goes.
[36] But I want to do mostly Tim Walls.
[37] Before that, if you don't mind, I have to do a little correction from yesterday's show and I just thought you might enjoy hearing it.
[38] By the way, I'm a firm believer in corrections.
[39] I make, yeah.
[40] I don't make corrections all the time because I don't make errors all the time, but when you do, you got to correct it.
[41] When you do, you got to correct it.
[42] It's important for trust building.
[43] In my air yesterday was I began the show quoting Boogie Nights.
[44] I don't know how much you like that movie?
[45] I loved it.
[46] Yeah, where I quoted the famous line about enjoying simple pleasures like butter in my ass and lollipops in my mouth.
[47] And I credited that line to the kernel when obviously that's wrong.
[48] It was Floyd.
[49] So that's my vet.
[50] But I also wanted to use this correction to chastise the listeners because there was several efforts to kinkshame me from people that did not understand the movie reference and thought that I liked buttered my ass.
[51] And I just want to say, even if I did so what that's right you know this is a safe place for all that and so I just thought maybe you might if you have anything you want to share on that front as long as you're not hurting anybody we're celebrating whatever gets people going you know I'd rather not thank you for the opportunity as things as the show progresses as this interview progresses if there's something that really pops in the mind okay well that's why I want to wanted to mention it while you were on there just in case it inspired you and I just wanted to kind of make you know that this was a safe space for that and that you're free I like butter same in my mouth okay let's do Tim Walls I want to I have a clip from the speech I want to talk about what I like best about the speech but before that you actually know him right I mean he was he was in Congress so you're in the Senate so talk about him well actually I met Tim in 2005 when he was a first time candidate.
[52] Oh, wow.
[53] In fact, I talked to Tim.
[54] He was on my show, the El Franken, it wasn't a podcast, it was an actual radio show.
[55] And he and a high school student of his went to a, I think it was a Bush rally or something.
[56] And they got kicked out because I think they had carry T -shirts on or something like that.
[57] Anyway, cancel culture.
[58] So I had him on the radio show.
[59] So that's the first time I had Tim on.
[60] So this is before he's even running.
[61] He's just a social studies teacher.
[62] He's just a social studies teacher.
[63] And coach.
[64] We honor social studies teachers.
[65] You're right.
[66] That's a good correction.
[67] Thank you.
[68] So I meet him then in Minneapolis.
[69] There's a fundraiser forum and hardly anyone shows up, but me and my wife and the hosts are there.
[70] And Tim speaks and Gwen is there.
[71] And I'm so fucking impressed with this guy.
[72] and we talk, and he's out of money, and they just are in a really bad place.
[73] So I had a pack.
[74] I max out him from the pack.
[75] I max out from both me and Frannie.
[76] And then I did a big fundraiser for the whole DFL at a theater, and Franklin and Davis performed.
[77] I don't know if you remember Tom Davis, and Leo Kotke played.
[78] Anyway, we raised a lot of money, and he got money from that.
[79] And then I started hawking Rahm Emanuel, who was head of the D -Triple -C at the time.
[80] I'm saying this guy is great.
[81] And he said, he can't win.
[82] It's the first district.
[83] It's a rural district.
[84] No Democrat has won since the 1800s.
[85] And I just kept calling Rom and calling Rom saying this guy is great.
[86] You can't believe how great he is.
[87] And at one point, I got a call from one of Ram's aid and said, okay, we're going to put $50 ,000 in the Mankato.
[88] And I said, it's Mancato.
[89] And he said, okay, well, whatever it is, we'll put $50 ,000 in it.
[90] And then they started funding them, and he won.
[91] I've never done that with another candidate.
[92] I just stayed hawking them because I knew this guy was great.
[93] And his story was great.
[94] I mean, what a, you know, what a teacher to put together a gay straight alliance when you're the football coach or to head it up.
[95] It was amazing.
[96] I know Jake Rayton, who was the kid.
[97] who asked him for help.
[98] How do you know him?
[99] Well, he and his family moved to Minneapolis at a certain point, and I went to fundraisers at their house, and Jake was just a big part of the first Walls campaign.
[100] He ends up winning that one.
[101] Actually, I'm not being that close.
[102] I was going back through.
[103] He wins that one by six points over Gil Gutnick, and it was a good Democratic year.
[104] It was a great Democratic year.
[105] Mark Foley gave kind of an assist on that, if I recall correctly.
[106] and Katrina and Iraq.
[107] Was Foley, Missouri?
[108] Foley was Florida.
[109] He was the guy that was diddling the pages.
[110] He was what in the what?
[111] He was messaging the pages.
[112] He's giddling the pages, the younger the pages.
[113] I remember those things, yeah.
[114] He's messaging them.
[115] Jesus.
[116] They were covering it up, Hasterd, or whoever was speaker at the time was, and so it became, it was already going to be a bad year.
[117] It was a midterm.
[118] Katrina had happened.
[119] Iraq was a disaster, and then the Mark Foley thing happened.
[120] So Democrats had a good year, but even still.
[121] Well, and it was Iraq was a disaster.
[122] That was an election where that all came to fruit, bore fruit, bras, unfortunately.
[123] I mean, unfortunately, it had to be that.
[124] Remember if I rumsfeld right after that election.
[125] Yeah.
[126] Well, a couple of years too late.
[127] Yeah.
[128] So then he gets in Congress.
[129] You're serving with them in Congress.
[130] Just talk to you about, you mentioned the DFL side of things.
[131] Tim is kind of a unique bird and just the style of democratic politics in this day and age because he's not like a blue dog really you know he's not like a moderate he was a moderate when he was representing the first because he had a very moderate district i've had a very yeah but in a way that's like a little bit different from how you know he's on this dFL tradition right where it's like should i tell you some history of the dFL yeah please there was a farmer labor party and there was a democratic party and so hubert humphrey put him together They became the Democratic Farm and Labor Party.
[132] At the time, we had farmers because Roosevelt and had saved agriculture, and we've lost them, but we still have the Farmers Union, which backs DFLers, and we still have labor to some degree, but there are a lot of young members of labor who don't really know the history.
[133] It's the DFL, and it confuses everyone from outside Minnesota.
[134] But it's an important history in Minnesota.
[135] Yeah, there's a line, I think, between that and this kind of prairie populism that we've seen from him a little bit, don't you think?
[136] It's a direct line, yeah.
[137] The values of mind your own damn business, those kind of values are very much old -fashioned rural values.
[138] And it's funny how refreshing they are when you hear them, you know, and how much it resonates.
[139] I mean, he has had a number of phrases that really do resonate.
[140] Yeah, the mind -jorn damn business thing, I guess this is what I'm trying to get at, is it's not moderate in the sense like, oh, he's for gun, you know, like he doesn't think that there should be gun regulations or like the type of traditional thing you think of when you think of like a blue dog Democrat, right?
[141] It's moderate in temperament, and that the mind -jorn damn business thing is a very, is a contrast with the MAGA Republicans that want to be in all your business and obsess about everything.
[142] and are aggrieved about everything.
[143] It's also a little bit of a contrast with like the scoldy left.
[144] It's hard to imagine, we don't want to get in trouble, but certain corners of the Democratic Party, people being like, mind your own damn business is by value.
[145] It's kind of like, no, a lot of it's some on the left, like minding other people's business is kind of their value, you know?
[146] But it depends what kind of business you're talking about.
[147] Sure.
[148] So if you're talking about, do they have housing or is the minimum wage high enough?
[149] That's the kind of business.
[150] we try to pay it.
[151] Can the government negotiate on pharmaceutical prices?
[152] That business we get into.
[153] Yeah, but I just mean more of like the kind of scoldy, like social media stuff that's more in vogue.
[154] I guess that's my point.
[155] I think it's refreshing because in this era of we're going to call you out on Twitter if you did something wrong, you've experienced a little bit of that, right?
[156] Like it's nice to just be like, hey, we care about stuff, but also everybody should mind their own damn business.
[157] And we support each other.
[158] And the contrast with J .D. Vance is huge because he's talking about cat ladies and all that stuff.
[159] And maybe the cat lady needed IVF to have a child and was in the wrong state at the wrong time, Alabama.
[160] There's a cat lady there who was just about get her eggs hatched.
[161] Or maybe just didn't find the right man. This is what I've loved about the DNC convention so far.
[162] It's just been this sense of we appreciate everybody, and we're not calling people out for random things and saying, oh, this is bad, this is wrong if you live your life this way, which takes us to my favorite part of Walls and speech last night, which I want to play for you.
[163] Let's just listen to it.
[164] But I'll tell you what, growing up in a small town like that, you'll learn how to take care of each other.
[165] that family down the road they may not think like you do they may not pray like you do they may not love like you do but they're your neighbors and you look out for them and they look out for you that struck me too because when he said they may not love like you that was very pointed and deliberate and but the way it was set up.
[166] It was part of like, these are old -fashioned American values.
[167] They may not love like you.
[168] When he said that, I just went, oh, man, that's really set up beautifully.
[169] Yeah.
[170] And I liked right before it is they may not pray like you.
[171] And you know, you could hear that both ways as him talking about, I don't know, maybe people wagging their finger at Muslims or whatever.
[172] But in this context of, you know, the Republicans have been trying to, you know, say that the Democrats are targeting Christians, right, or that the Democrats are anti -Semitic because they didn't pick Josh Shapiro, like this effort to say like the Democrats don't respect your faith.
[173] Oh, that's definitely true.
[174] That was anti -Semitism straight.
[175] No other explanation.
[176] Leeds Eldon.
[177] I was on CNN and on the show, and he said, isn't the only explanation that Josh Shapiro wasn't, you know, pick was anti -Semitism.
[178] And I had so many different ways to go with that.
[179] So where'd you go?
[180] I decided not to go snarky.
[181] There's a time to go snarky and there's the time not to.
[182] Sometimes I miss on that.
[183] I just said, look, you only get to pick one person.
[184] You can't pick two people to be your vice president.
[185] And obviously, she talked to each of them.
[186] And there's a million reasons that you pick somebody, but part of it is your relationship.
[187] So it's impossible to, you know, really.
[188] way out, and she's married to a Jew.
[189] So, you know, playing a real long game there in anti -Semitism.
[190] So Mary Doug, and I go to Passover.
[191] I'm infiltrating Trojan horse.
[192] Right.
[193] Right.
[194] I want to get to know their customs so that I can really go after them when I'm president.
[195] Trump last night was also weighing in on this with his usual decorum and modesty.
[196] What do you say?
[197] What do you say?
[198] What did he say?
[199] What did he say?
[200] He called Josh Shapiro the overrated Jewish governor of Pennsylvania.
[201] And then went on to say he's done more for Israel than any person in history.
[202] Trump has, not Josh Shapiro.
[203] Yeah, Trump has.
[204] Josh Shapiro has done nothing for Israel.
[205] He goes on to say.
[206] And it's just like they spent all this time setting this up as like, oh, the Democrats are anti -Semites, the Democrats hate Jews.
[207] And then the Democrats nominate somebody with a Jewish husband.
[208] I thought maybe one of the more beautiful things at the convention.
[209] yesterday was she had the parents of Hirsch Goldberg speak.
[210] Hersh Goldberg is a hostage.
[211] It's one of the hostages still in Gaza.
[212] Huge applause.
[213] Bring them home.
[214] Cheer.
[215] Josh Shapiro gets a huge applause.
[216] And then afterwards it's Donald Trump that's like, screw that Jew.
[217] She's like, what?
[218] What?
[219] He didn't say that, did he?
[220] No, but I mean, basically, basically, with him.
[221] The overrated Jewish governor of Pennsylvania?
[222] Like, what, I mean, am I misinterpreting?
[223] his message there?
[224] Well, he's saying as Jewish governors go in Pennsylvania, he's overrated because all the other Jewish governors were actually better than it.
[225] You think he's got a ranking system?
[226] I don't know.
[227] I tried.
[228] You think Trump's got a rank.
[229] Yeah.
[230] Anyway.
[231] How about Trump?
[232] So let's talk about Trump a little bit.
[233] Let's do it.
[234] He's floundering, it feels like.
[235] Doesn't it?
[236] Yeah.
[237] And I've been very, like, I hate the type of punditry.
[238] and it's like, the walls are closing in on Trump.
[239] Trump is getting crazier and crazier.
[240] Because I don't know.
[241] I don't know where you're at on this, but I've been suffering through this person for a long time now, and he's been fucking crazy as long as I've seen him, you know?
[242] And so I don't know about that, like, that he's getting crazier, but he is definitely, he doesn't know what to do about Kamla.
[243] He's aggrieved about it.
[244] He's jealous.
[245] He's on his fourth nickname, I think.
[246] He broke out Comrade.
[247] yesterday.
[248] He tried crazy and laughing.
[249] Okay, Comrade, because she's a communist.
[250] Yeah, because she's a communist.
[251] He broke out Comrade now.
[252] I think that's his fourth one.
[253] She's very, very pro -Russia.
[254] Yeah, he's obsessed.
[255] He's obsessed with her looks.
[256] He keeps bringing up her looks.
[257] And his energy, you know, this pains me to say, since this was my man, he's a low energy, though.
[258] He's like, he doesn't, he's lost.
[259] He is now.
[260] He's lost kind of the little, the sticky Atlantic City, you know, kind of toastmaster vibe.
[261] No, he feels like he's dying out there.
[262] That's what I meant by floundering.
[263] Yeah.
[264] I just think he's just floundering about, you know, it used to be that he, that he would riff.
[265] I mean, he had a talent.
[266] He has a talent for riffing, but boy, oh boy, this feels different this time.
[267] It feels different, or at least lately.
[268] Yeah.
[269] And I think what happened, this isn't a hard thing to figure out, they left Milwaukee thinking that this is in the bag.
[270] It's a wrap.
[271] Yeah.
[272] And then it kept going on.
[273] It kept going on.
[274] It looked like Biden was actually going to stick it out.
[275] And so they must have thought, wow, this is, we got it.
[276] And for the same reason that finally Pelosi or whoever, or the whole accumulation of them.
[277] The Lord.
[278] Yeah.
[279] Talked them down.
[280] It happened so late that everyone just had to rush behind Connolla.
[281] And everybody was so relieved that it wasn't Biden.
[282] Biden gave a good speech.
[283] But one of the things I wish she was...
[284] You really thought it was good?
[285] No. But anyway.
[286] Okay.
[287] That's fine.
[288] That's fine that we can say we appreciate him.
[289] I just wanted to make sure I'm not...
[290] I don't have BDS.
[291] Now, there's one thing I wish, you know, someone on his team would talk to him about is him not saying...
[292] And that's no joke.
[293] I think it's too late for that.
[294] I know.
[295] It's too late.
[296] That's not hyperbole.
[297] he said that at least two times each in the last five minutes of his speech and I just go like just somebody somebody say don't do that anymore okay we're not going back the Trump point that you're getting to is just like the rug gets pulled out from under him he thinks he has it in the bag he's also 78 and the fact is is that they left Milwaukee saying that this is in the bag.
[298] I mean, that was the whole vibe of that thing.
[299] And also, they had a terrible convention.
[300] I mean, Hulk Hogan, it's a different America.
[301] I understand.
[302] I guess professional wrestling is a form of entertainment that people really like, and that's legitimate.
[303] But at your convention, at your political convention, have that guy speak and then rip his shirt off.
[304] I mean, do you think there's going to be a surprise guest tonight?
[305] I don't know.
[306] like is Beyonce going to think freedom well yeah well pink I think is supposed to open for Kamla I'm really looking forward to Kamala tonight so what was your overlap with her you guys were in the Senate one term yeah I mean have you just been blown away as much as everybody else are surprised I have been I mean this was the transition from the president's announcing today but he's leaving you know and then her because she was not a good candidate in 20.
[307] She was a kind of a terrible candidate.
[308] Yeah.
[309] I remember her challenge of him.
[310] I don't believe you're racist, but that's a great way to start.
[311] I don't think you're a race.
[312] But she floundered through that race and dropped out before Iowa.
[313] And she started with 20 ,000 people in Oakland, right?
[314] I was there.
[315] And I felt that she floundered during the first part of her vice presidency.
[316] And I think she found her legs after Dobbs.
[317] I think she had her issue.
[318] And that was the beginning of this of what we're seeing.
[319] Yeah, I think that's right.
[320] And it's just some people just, you know, you have to be there at the right moment.
[321] You know, sometimes the moment's just fall in people's lap.
[322] And I think that in 20, she's like navigating between Joe Biden and Bernie and Elizabeth and like trying to find her footing.
[323] And then as VP, she's like, I got to be the wingman.
[324] She went with single payer and she went with a lot of, you know, they're going to try to use some of her policies against her from 20.
[325] That is meaningless.
[326] I am really looking forward to the debate.
[327] And she's kept it simple.
[328] I'm looking forward to the debate too.
[329] But looking ahead to tonight, she's kept it simple that first speech in Oakland was like a box check of trying to appeal to everybody.
[330] And since she's taken over, it's been like a lot of the Biden stuff, the highfalutin stuff that we, love here at the bulwark with it just as a little in the wheat you know the democracy and like a lot of that has just been washed aside and she's just we're focused on the future we're focused on protecting people's freedoms we're focused on optimism and like that's just worked right like sometimes simple is better you know like walls was pretty simple last i only spoke for 17 minutes he spoke for eight minutes less than bill clinton who had who packed more punch walls that that was that was not just a homer.
[331] It was a grand slam.
[332] I mean, that was two outs in the ninth, except it wasn't that dramatic.
[333] And how about Gus?
[334] How about Gus?
[335] So you knew him well enough to, like, know the family, Gwen and Hope and Gus.
[336] Have you, like, hung out?
[337] I know Gwen.
[338] I've met Hope a number of times.
[339] Sure.
[340] I think I've met Gus, but last night, Gus, that's my dad.
[341] I mean, that was that moment where he's crying.
[342] And he's telling everybody, that's my dad, was, Jesus, that was heart -wrenching.
[343] I know.
[344] And funny, too.
[345] And funny and inspiring.
[346] You know, you don't get many of those at political conventions of just going like, holy crap, this is great.
[347] You know what I mean?
[348] This is a fucking, look at how human is this?
[349] The challenge with convention speeches is, how do I not say anything wrong?
[350] And what does that yield usually?
[351] well, you know, if something's well -crafted, can yield really good stuff.
[352] But you don't usually get things like, that's my dad while he's crying.
[353] So I had Beto on on Tuesday, and we were both, Beto was just kind of talking about how, like, you know, I think his phrase was, a lot of times conventions don't stir the spirit because it's just like the problem, right?
[354] Like, you just know what you're going to get.
[355] It's scripted.
[356] And that moment with Gus, I found myself kind of choked up, Because it's, A, it's just this beautiful father -son thing and just what kind of daddy is.
[357] You can sense it.
[358] But the other thing, it's like this inverse of what you're saying with Trump.
[359] It's like just two months ago, this would have been, I guess this is going to be a high school senior in like a public school in Minneapolis.
[360] Like, it's like absurd.
[361] I mean, it sounds like governor, but even still, being Minnesota governor is just a different ball of wax than, you know, than this.
[362] And all of a sudden, your family's thrust into this in two weeks and you're at this convention in the Bulls basketball stadium and here your dad goes up there and you're just overcome with emotion.
[363] It's pretty cool.
[364] Yeah, I want those people who asked his Kamala anti -Semitic because she didn't pick Josh Shapiro, they've got to be looking at walls now and going like, oh, okay.
[365] Yeah, I mean, look, even I wanted to Shapiro, I prefer Shapiro, as everybody listening knows, but like the complementary element of the walls thing is so obvious now.
[366] Or just like how much he compliments her.
[367] Well, he's not just even Minnesotan.
[368] He's Nebraska.
[369] I can't do an impression of him because, you know, he doesn't have that Minnesota thing.
[370] He has a Nebraska.
[371] It's much flatter accent.
[372] You can't do a impression at all?
[373] No, I can't do walls.
[374] Can you do a JD Vance?
[375] Can you do, do you have any impressions you want to do right now?
[376] I can't do Trump.
[377] You know, I can do this country is run by the millionaires and billionaires.
[378] Who's that?
[379] Okay.
[380] So you can do Bernie.
[381] All right.
[382] I can do Bernie.
[383] We want to make fun of Republican, MAGA Republicans.
[384] Do you have a Ted Cruz?
[385] Oh, they're going to pull the plug on grandma.
[386] That's grassly.
[387] So you can do grassly, but you can't do walls?
[388] I mean, it's not that far from Butte to Iowa.
[389] I've done that drive.
[390] But Iowa, it sounds like Minnesota.
[391] Yeah.
[392] And Nebraska doesn't.
[393] I mean, I can hear this, but I can't do walls now.
[394] When I was running for the Senate, I remember I was running against Norm Coleman, who was from New York.
[395] Yeah.
[396] So I would, in the debate, you know, depending on certain points, I'd get real of Minnesota.
[397] So what's your Minnesota?
[398] What is the Minnesota?
[399] Well, you know, Minnesota.
[400] And what I could do is I could do like 5 % Minnesota, which is really what I am.
[401] I am about 5 % Minnesota.
[402] But then I could do, you know, 20 % Minnesota.
[403] And then I could do, you know, 60%.
[404] 60 % Minnesota, you know, and talk like that, but I wouldn't go past really 20%.
[405] But next to Coleman, Coleman had this weird, I think Coleman wanted to be Kennedy.
[406] So he had an accent that was halfway between Brooklyn and Hyannisport.
[407] Well, people don't remember Coleman.
[408] That's good.
[409] I do.
[410] That was my glory dice.
[411] On the other side, didn't land.
[412] He still raises the money for dark ads.
[413] Yeah, that fucker's not.
[414] out there.
[415] He's out there supporting Trump, basically.
[416] All these guys are nine years in, nine years in after like grumbling about it, still doing it.
[417] I guess this is my one, you won't be going back to your question about, oh, there's a surprise.
[418] My one disappointment about this convention, and I don't expect to be surprised tonight, but I'd be happy to be, is like, not a single one of these cowardly fuckers from my former party just sucked it up and said, I'm going to go endorse Kamla.
[419] Like none of the big names.
[420] You know, the generals.
[421] Yeah, Kinsners will be there tonight, but no Esper, none of the generals, no John Kelly, no Chris Christie, not even Mitt.
[422] It should have been the generals.
[423] Yeah.
[424] And I don't know why not.
[425] Why not?
[426] I don't know why Kelly isn't there.
[427] I don't know why Master is not there.
[428] It would be very powerful.
[429] And it's just like, the generals would be better.
[430] But the Chris Christie thing, I've got a bugaboo about Chris Christie.
[431] But like, that doesn't even make sense to me why he wouldn't do it.
[432] Is he doing it tonight?
[433] No, he's not.
[434] That's what I'm saying.
[435] The fact that he's not...
[436] Your bugaboo about him is just general bugaboo.
[437] Yeah, why not just endorse Kamala?
[438] It makes no sense.
[439] He, after everything he said about Trump before, when he dropped out, he obviously is not going to be for Trump.
[440] He has no future in the Republican Party.
[441] At least for Nikki Haley, you can say this is a delusional woman who thinks that she has a future in the Republican Party, and so she's doing what she's doing for selfish interests.
[442] Chris has no future in the Republican Party.
[443] His selfish move would be to go give a fucking bar burner tonight and try to become the token Republican in the Harris Walls administration or whatever or get or be famous and get invited back on SNL or whatever.
[444] You know what I mean?
[445] He'd get praised.
[446] I know, but he's just, he overdid it.
[447] And he was, he was so for Trump.
[448] Then he wrote a book, didn't do well.
[449] But I read the book and it was all about his own accomplishments within the administration.
[450] And as governor, of course.
[451] The Republican rescue or let me finish?
[452] Two classics.
[453] I'm sure people are going to be reading those centuries on.
[454] It was clearly positioning himself for the run.
[455] He wasn't saying I was against Trump, but he wasn't saying he was for Trump.
[456] And he was kind of picked this halfway position.
[457] And then, of course, during the debates, he was anti -Trump finally.
[458] But it's ridiculous.
[459] And I don't know if we'd want him.
[460] Would we want him at this thing?
[461] Yes.
[462] We would, huh?
[463] right he can give a good speech that's true he can just make fun of Donald's something memorable that goes on TikTok and yeah yeah I think you'd want him well I'm sure it was considered I don't think it was I don't think Christy considered it was what I'm saying I got what I was like in the generals I don't like and Condi I could just go down the list and my people the bushes I'm not letting anybody off the hook like who am I forgetting when I'm saying McMaster's McMaster Mattis Mattis Kelly Mattis should be there.
[464] But the three of them.
[465] Bad Dog Mattis.
[466] The three of them, Mattis.
[467] Yeah.
[468] Asper would be good.
[469] I mean, why not?
[470] Why aren't they there?
[471] And why haven't they been doing this, too?
[472] They each have said terrible things about them.
[473] Yeah.
[474] We have 70 weeks left.
[475] My best spin on this is because of the late handoff that they've put on a really nice convention.
[476] and they've really kind of done what you like the fundamentals right which is harder than it looks is somebody that worked with the 2012 Romney convention that was a disaster on stilts you know it's not easy oh yeah you worked on that convention the Clint Eastwood I know was not my responsibility we're not going to say whose it was because I like the person whose responsibility it was and we we honor them that was a fuck up the whole thing it was just it just didn't work you don't have to say the person was but no one said to them so what are you doing what's your plan That's the script.
[477] And then it's like, oh, well, if we have Clint Eastwood, we can just let him just say what he wants.
[478] No, that's not a word.
[479] You don't think that Steph Cutter was looking at Oprah's remarks, just to double check that she hadn't gone off the deep end?
[480] Like, you know, you just have to have the gumption to be like, Oprah.
[481] Yeah.
[482] We know you're amazing.
[483] But let us just take a quick scan.
[484] But then the first debate with Obama, Obama was terrible, and Romney was back in.
[485] He was good.
[486] So anyway, my point is that just doing the basics right is challenging enough.
[487] The Democrats have done that.
[488] And I'm hopeful that we will see some of these people in the fall because it just takes a little bit more TLC and warming them up.
[489] And like they just didn't, they kind of only had the time to do with the people that were already in the tent and make sure that was executed.
[490] That's the best spin I have.
[491] I hope that that.
[492] Who do they have tonight?
[493] Who's on the rundown tonight, you know?
[494] Well, Kinsinger is our man. And no, and Kamala and Pink.
[495] I think that it's a pretty light list.
[496] I mean, maybe they'll be a surprise speaker.
[497] But traditionally, you don't want.
[498] want somebody outshining the president.
[499] And so you don't have the big names on the last side.
[500] I think there'll be friends of Kamala.
[501] People can speak to her story.
[502] So I think that's what we'll get tonight.
[503] Her story that we've heard thus far is pretty good.
[504] Pretty decent.
[505] A single mom.
[506] I didn't know her mom was a single mom.
[507] And her best friend and the story about a kid threw a rocket at her because she stood up for her best friend.
[508] I like that story.
[509] You started to get a feel for her.
[510] started really kind of liking her.
[511] And Doug, Doug really personalized her, their first date and, like, you know, she's how she's cooking at Passover and the anti -Semite that she is.
[512] And, you know, I would like to see if how her brisket is.
[513] Because I don't think India doesn't.
[514] Isn't known for it.
[515] Generally like beef at all.
[516] I just wonder how her brisket is.
[517] Doug vouched.
[518] Doug doesn't seem like one to gild the lily.
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[542] I do, after just venting about all the terrible Republicans.
[543] I want to give Jeff Duncan his due, Lieutenant Governor of Georgia.
[544] Let me be clear to my Republican friends at home watching.
[545] If you vote for Kamala Harris in 2024, you're not a Democrat.
[546] You're a patriot.
[547] USA.
[548] In our family, in our family, my wife, Brooke and I are raising three boys and we have a family motto.
[549] And it says doing the right thing will never be the wrong thing.
[550] During 2020, just the lowest of lows, when we had armed officers outside our house protecting us from other Republicans.
[551] Donald Trump had targeted us.
[552] My son came downstairs, and he handed me this coaster that I'd given him years before at a father's son or cheat for our church.
[553] And he said, hey, dad, doing the right thing will never be the wrong thing.
[554] Stay strong.
[555] I love that Gus and Jeff Duncan's son Stars of the show last night That's why Mattis or one of those people would have been so strong Yeah You know And they could have done that But I don't know what they worry about They actually think that You know, Trump people are dangerous And they could literally be fear I guess But doing the right thing Will never be the wrong thing It's our conclusion At the end of this Is that these five -star generals are chicken shit.
[556] They are chicken shit.
[557] They are chicken shit.
[558] Let's just be honest.
[559] They're chicken shit, at least in this context, right?
[560] I would be chicken shit with a big gun in Fallujah.
[561] Okay.
[562] I have some quotes from these guys that I keep around.
[563] This is exciting.
[564] Here is John Kelly, of course, was Secretary of Homeland Security, but then he was chief staff.
[565] The depth of his dishon - He's talking about Trump.
[566] the depths of his dishonesty is just astounding to me he is the most flawed person i have ever met in my life okay that could be the speech by the way we could just he could have just walked out to the Marine Corps band gone up to the stage said he's the most flawed man i've ever seen in his life i'm voting for Kamala and left and that would have been amazing this is uh James Mattis It was a sect F. He is more dangerous than anyone could ever imagine.
[567] John Bolton has a good one.
[568] Trump has this impression that foreign leaders, especially adversaries, hold him in high regard that he's got a good relationship with Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong -un.
[569] In fact, the exact opposite is true.
[570] I've been in those rooms with him when he's met with those leaders.
[571] I believe they think he's a laughing fool.
[572] More dangerous than you could realize a laughing fool, the most flawed man I've ever met in my life.
[573] We'd like to see that in some ads.
[574] That's a good idea.
[575] It would have been nice to see them tonight.
[576] It would have been nice if they started this months ago.
[577] It's never too late to do the right thing.
[578] We can do a big rally in Pennsylvania and bring them out.
[579] I hope that that happens.
[580] After what he said about the Medal of Honor.
[581] it would have resonated with that, of course.
[582] Any other final Tim Wall's thoughts, since that was ostensibly the reason why you came here to give us a little Minnesota lesson on Tim Walls?
[583] Any memories?
[584] Any things that strike you about him?
[585] I just remember campaigning with him in 06 down in southern Minnesota, and he won.
[586] And I got a call from someone in the D -T triple C that night who was very drunk.
[587] because I don't know if you remember 2006.
[588] You were a Republican man, but...
[589] I was.
[590] We lost...
[591] We almost beat Leonard Boswell.
[592] If it would have been any other year, my candidate would have beat Leonard Boswell in Iowa 3.
[593] But alas, we lost a very close race, bad environment.
[594] So I was there.
[595] Thank God.
[596] I'm sorry.
[597] I know.
[598] Well, he a good guy?
[599] Was he a good guy?
[600] Jeff Lamberti?
[601] Well, he was a good guy, but I think he was for Trump.
[602] So everybody let me down now.
[603] So, you know, it's hard to give a full endorsement of anybody that I ever worked for.
[604] Did you go to the Republican convention this year?
[605] Yeah.
[606] No. Are you fucking kidding me?
[607] Like, I don't know.
[608] There's not enough gummies in the world for me to be around all the, too.
[609] I don't mind going to Trump rallies, being around MAGA people.
[610] I find that interesting and journalistically valuable.
[611] Going to be around my former colleagues who all know fucking better and are happy to walk us into the abyss because they want another consulting contract.
[612] It makes me have the rage of a thousand sons.
[613] And I don't, you know, I have a young daughter.
[614] I don't want to get into a fight in Milwaukee and end up in jail or anything.
[615] Smart.
[616] I don't, I understand.
[617] I don't attend.
[618] Well, what you've done is amazing.
[619] I loved your book.
[620] I appreciate that.
[621] Thank you, Al. And to the extent that we've ever argued about, what do we argue about, the waters of the U .S.?
[622] Yeah, we did.
[623] And so this is how we're ending.
[624] I want to turn it on you.
[625] I'm turning it on you.
[626] I went on your podcast.
[627] And, you know, for good reason, you're like, I want to see where your Republican still is under there.
[628] And you've picked on me on a couple of different topics, including the waters of the U .S. which we're going to table that.
[629] We're not going to redo that fight.
[630] People can go to the Al Franken podcast archives if you want to hear a very intense debate about the waters of U .S. policy.
[631] But I'm turning it on you because I'm new.
[632] I'm part of the team, I guess now at some level, part of the coalition, at least.
[633] And Kamala rolled out her economic policy.
[634] There's some good stuff in there.
[635] I like a child tax credit, building more houses.
[636] I'm for it.
[637] I love the child tax credit.
[638] It's great.
[639] The going after the profits or the price gouging.
[640] Price gouging.
[641] I don't know how that works.
[642] I'd like to, you know, I'm not against it, but I'm skeptical on how you make that work.
[643] I don't know how that works at all.
[644] It's unclear to me as well.
[645] So that's why I didn't pick that one.
[646] It's a little vague.
[647] It kind of feels like it's just a bumper sticker thing because people don't like Bryce gouging.
[648] And so I'll allow it in service of beating Trump.
[649] No price gouging.
[650] That'd be a good bumper sticker.
[651] Yeah.
[652] What I didn't like was a specific item that said, we're going to give first -time homebuyers, $25 ,000.
[653] $25 ,000.
[654] And Adam Smith still works in the Democratic Party, right?
[655] Like, if we're worried about housing costs being too high, why are we giving people money to buy houses?
[656] You realize that's just going to make housing prices, but you think that's just going to make housing costs get higher, right?
[657] You understand that?
[658] Substantizing demand doesn't fix the supply curve?
[659] No, I don't understand it at all.
[660] Why can't, why are we doing this?
[661] It's to give people a chance to, a home is very basic.
[662] And so I'm not totally against us.
[663] FDR did this kind of thing in the Depression.
[664] We're not in a Depression, though.
[665] Well, that's one of the things that is no one in the convention went out there and went like, okay, the reason gas was $1 .20 during Trump is because he was during the pandemic and no businesses were operating and no one drove anywhere and so the price of gas went way down.
[666] That's why he keeps using that figure.
[667] But that's not because of anything good that he did.
[668] It was just because no one was using gas.
[669] And then the reason we had inflation, but so did everyone else in the world.
[670] Nars was lower than anybody else's in the world.
[671] No one's given that speech because that speech isn't helpful, I guess.
[672] And we're not going back.
[673] Oh, there you go.
[674] I hear you.
[675] Yeah.
[676] In a different world, 10 years ago, Bill Clinton could have maybe done that speech correctly.
[677] But otherwise, it's very challenging to execute that, the explainer.
[678] So, yeah, he did that speech one in 12.
[679] Yeah.
[680] Yeah.
[681] It was really good.
[682] That was an amazing speech where he did exactly what I'm saying, except he did it really well and really explain things.
[683] He's like, Mitt Romney says he's good for the economy.
[684] Well, let me tell you a few things.
[685] And it's like, we're going to go back to 1989.
[686] It was like the Democrats, we gained this many jobs.
[687] The Republicans, it was well done.
[688] Al, thank you so much.
[689] My final thing for you, my friend, Christian Snyder, has a podcast called Wasn't That Special 50 Years of SNL.
[690] And I've been digging it.
[691] And like every once I'll listen when I just need a break from this stuff.
[692] Sure.
[693] Do you have a favorite old, like a favorite skits, you know, something for, you know, something for people who need a little chuckle who want to go on a YouTube dive or, you know, want to pick one of those years of SNL and find, you know, find some golds.
[694] Do you have a favorite memory?
[695] Well, you know, there's some classic favorites.
[696] Yeah, let's go for a deep cut.
[697] We know Stewart, Somali.
[698] Okay, we know Stuart.
[699] Oh, man, I wish.
[700] Okay.
[701] Should I prep you?
[702] Well, no, I mean, like I was going to say, Clinton at McDonald's is sort of a good one.
[703] There's Franklin Davis.
[704] Remember Franklin Davis and all?
[705] I had a partner, Tom Davis.
[706] Are you too young for that?
[707] Too young for that, I think.
[708] We had one where we did a, it was in the first year as the Elliot Gould Show.
[709] Okay.
[710] And it was the one that won the Emmy.
[711] And Tom and I did a bit from our act where it was what if the Indians had won.
[712] And Tom was head of the Bureau of White Man Affairs.
[713] And I was the host of Pow Wow with the Press.
[714] Would this be allowed on 2024 SNL?
[715] No, it wouldn't have been because mainly the joke was there's been a lot of controversy about some of the major league lacrosse teams and their names.
[716] For example, in Milwaukee Dagoes.
[717] Well, the Dagoes are violent, greasy people.
[718] And it was that kind of thing.
[719] And a lot of controversy about the mascot for the Cleveland Kikes.
[720] the screaming rabbi.
[721] I'm not letting people see my face.
[722] That seems like something worth Googling.
[723] And if you think about that, that was 1970.
[724] It was January 76, I think.
[725] Okay.
[726] And so we were basically saying the names of the Cleveland Indians.
[727] Right.
[728] And Milwaukee Braves are racist.
[729] Especially the Cleveland Indians.
[730] And the Washington Redskin.
[731] Yeah.
[732] Those are incredibly racist.
[733] And we shouldn't have it.
[734] And that was in 1976.
[735] That's a head of your time.
[736] In a lot of ways, you know, the Indians are now the Guardians.
[737] It took 30 years for it, no, 40 years, 45.
[738] And there's a joke in it about how they show a clip from Dumb Swedes on the Warpath, which is a movie.
[739] And then at the end of it, he goes, well, a lot of progress has been made.
[740] White people actually play the roles of white people in the movies these days.
[741] That's good.
[742] Okay.
[743] This is what I was hoping for.
[744] I'm going to go dig these up.
[745] This will be a good weekend.
[746] So dig that up for her.
[747] And I'd be happy if she wants to talk about S &L.
[748] Christian.
[749] Well, Christian is a gender neutral name, but his pronouns are he, him.
[750] But I will pass that along.
[751] I think he'd be overjoyed to talk to you.
[752] So I appreciate this very much.
[753] Thank you, Al Franken, for doing this.
[754] Sure.
[755] Always a pleasure.
[756] I appreciate you very much, too.
[757] Thanks to Al Franken.
[758] I wanted to take this one question about Wall's solo because I had people reaching out to me on every platform that I'm reachable on asking me, after that great speech last night, whether or not I'm finally in, whether or not I'm Walls -pilled, whether or not my dark heart has melted, even though you all know I'm really a softy on the inside.
[759] I wanted to answer that question in a serious way because I do understand this, like the impulse of everybody in the community to be like, I want you to be as excited about Tim Wells as me. I get that.
[760] I feel that way as a consumer of other media, other podcasts.
[761] Like if I'm really excited about something, I want the person that I'm listening to to also be excited about it and it's like they won't get on board.
[762] You get frustrated with them.
[763] The reality is, and we talked about this with JVL, we talked about this with Al. That's why I wanted to have Al on.
[764] Walls really does come out of this different type of DFL prairie populist tradition that I've definitely been won over on the political value of.
[765] That's one place I've been won over.
[766] But at the same time, it's just not my politics, and it's never going to be.
[767] And that's okay.
[768] And I think that Tim Wallace is a person.
[769] I haven't talked about the Gay Straight Alliance thing since it was like the first thing I learned about him back when it was still in the Veep Stakes.
[770] How amazing he was to do that.
[771] Him and Gus last night, how amazing was that?
[772] It was beautiful.
[773] So as a person, you know, by all accounts from Beto and Al Franken and everybody we've talked to, he seems like a good man, which is important.
[774] But in politics, like, if I was going to get pilled by somebody.
[775] You heard yesterday with Favreau.
[776] Like, I'm a neoliberal squish, man. I want, like, my Democrats to be technocrats and Yembees and libertarians like Jared Polis.
[777] If anything, on Polis pill.
[778] And probably tonight, after Kamala's speech, I assume I'll be moved by it.
[779] And in part because of the politics.
[780] And I think that her brand of politics is a little more similar to mine than Walzes is.
[781] But also, the identity, the nature of it.
[782] And I'm already getting emotional, just thinking about her accepting that nomination speech and thinking about it through the eyes of my daughter.
[783] And so all this stuff's going to hit people differently.
[784] And I want to interview people that have different views from me because I think that's valuable for both me and you, the listener.
[785] But I just want to caution all this to say, also, politics isn't team sports, and it's not healthy to be totally pilled by somebody.
[786] It's actually not good.
[787] politicians are humans like us like they're sinners they're flawed they have strengths and weaknesses just like i do and just like everybody does and it's valuable in politics to not paint your face and get a tattoo of somebody and paint yourself into a corner where you have to defend everything they do and you have to be excited about everything that they do because that can lead to pretty dark places.
[788] And I think that we really could have used, just looking at my career in politics over the last 30 years, for there have been more internal checks on all of these guys.
[789] And Bill Clinton gives that stem winder yesterday.
[790] I don't know.
[791] I think our politics would be in a better place in the mid -90s if more Democrats had said maybe the guy that is abusing and using his influence to have sex with a very young intern isn't the person that should be leading the party.
[792] We probably would have been better off had the Democrats pass the torch to Al Gore back then.
[793] We certainly would have been better off if more people in the Bush administration and listen to Scott McClellan, who has blowing the whistle about Iraq.
[794] We sure as fucking shit would have been better off if any Republicans had shown an iota of courage in 2016 and saved us from Donald Trump.
[795] We go on and on.
[796] We don't need to relitigate the Biden thing, but I think the same thing is true there.
[797] I think that getting excited about a politician is great.
[798] Being moved by a speech is great.
[799] I expect to be moved tonight.
[800] But I think it's healthy to have an emotional distance as well and to be able to say, hey, this seems like a good person.
[801] This seems like a good leader.
[802] But, you know, they aren't my kid.
[803] They are the quarterback of the football team.
[804] They're a public servant that's going to have flaws.
[805] And it's up to all of us and all the people around them to make sure that we celebrate their strengths and hold them accountable for their weaknesses.
[806] So I don't know, maybe Tim Wells won't have any weaknesses.
[807] Maybe he'll be the best vice president ever, and he'll pass JVL's favorite vice president of Mike Pence and my favorite vice president of George H .W. Bush as the best vice presidents that we've had.
[808] And I hope that's true.
[809] In the meantime, if that Tim Walls thing just had you cheering last night, I honor that.
[810] And you should enjoy it.
[811] And I look forward to Kamala tonight and bring him back one last coconut meter to let you know how coconut pilled I am tomorrow.
[812] Thank you for listening to the Bullwark podcast, as always.
[813] It's been a great run of guest this week.
[814] We're going to have A .B. Stoddard tomorrow for Al -Kamla all the time.
[815] I hope you'll be back then.
[816] Enjoy the big speech.
[817] Peace.
[818] The Boor -Wark podcast is produced by Katie Cooper with audio engineering and editing by Jason Brow.