The Bulwark Podcast XX
[0] On behalf of the people, on behalf of every American, regardless of party, race, gender, or the language your grandmother speaks, on behalf of my mother, and everyone who has ever set out on their own unlikely journey, On behalf of Americans like the people I grew up with, people who work hard, chase their dreams and look out for one another, on behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on earth.
[1] I accept your nomination.
[2] Hello and welcome to the Bullwark podcast.
[3] I'm your host Tim Miller.
[4] I'm here with A .B. Stoddard, only in America.
[5] How about that?
[6] I am feeling so gushy, Tim.
[7] It was amazing.
[8] People who work hard chase their dreams and look after one another stuck with me immediately.
[9] And instead of me all night and when I woke up, it just went right through me. And I know she had brilliant speechwriters, but this entire thing was a real work of art. and I give her so much credit for knowing exactly what themes to strike and to emphasize.
[10] And her delivery was incredible.
[11] Yeah, I was already getting a little of her clemts, just sort of thinking about it.
[12] First, black woman to accept the nomination in this country and kind of what, you know, her story, the immigrant story, it's the American story all wrapped in together.
[13] And then for her to close that, have the last thing she says before she accepts the nomination, the greatest country on earth.
[14] I know that it's stereotypical of Democrats, like, oh, they don't think about America like that.
[15] You know, those all the Obama apology tour attacks and all this.
[16] And America is just another country like Switzerland or whatever.
[17] It's not anything particularly special that she accepts the nomination on behalf of the people that worked hard to get there in the greatest country on earth.
[18] And then she closes the speech.
[19] talking about America is the greatest story ever told, right?
[20] It is this acceptance of I am going to live up to the obligations of this country and focus on all the hope and opportunity of this country.
[21] That was a choice.
[22] It was a choice to do that, to embrace it.
[23] And it really, I thought it was really moving last night.
[24] And it also, you know, kind of made me want to do the Hulk Hogan and tear my shirt off a little bit.
[25] I was just like, yes, thank you.
[26] Thank you, right?
[27] We got plenty of flaws.
[28] There's plenty of time to talk about all that.
[29] But to appreciate that, knowing that she's had to deal with the flaws and overcoming the flaws and the sins of the country, man, I thought that was a very big decision.
[30] I loved when she said, we are heirs to the greatest democracy in history.
[31] And we owe our forbearers.
[32] We owe the people who came before us and the people who will come after us.
[33] that we owe them, you know, the hard work and the commitment to it.
[34] And I wanted her to do three things, Tim.
[35] I wanted her to introduce herself in a way we've never seen before we didn't see in 2019 or 2020 or 2021.
[36] And she gave us her personal story.
[37] It was so interesting, Bill said today, grateful and not aggrieved, which I thought was a great point to make about her.
[38] And you were just emphasizing that.
[39] you know, she said my mother was a five -foot woman, you know, with a funny accent or something, and I saw the way people sometimes treated her and she handled it well.
[40] She let us know just a bit about that immigrant story, about that experience, about being that kid who's half, you know, Jamaican and half Indian, but American and her coming up.
[41] And, and I loved the way she, it wasn't perfect.
[42] She said her parents split up.
[43] It didn't work out.
[44] it's clear she didn't spend a lot of time with her dad.
[45] She talked about extended family, the people who weren't related to her, but really nurtured her.
[46] I loved that.
[47] And she talked about what inspired her.
[48] And it was, I'm sorry, it's so hokey, but it is the perfect American story.
[49] And it was really searing.
[50] Yeah, I just want to get to the two things on this point, because it was just so strong to me in the contrast with Trump about that grateful verse to grieved.
[51] You could imagine a speech that somebody in her, could have given about all that she had overcome.
[52] Exactly.
[53] About all that everybody had overcome, you know?
[54] This is about the historic racism of the country.
[55] It would have been totally appropriate to give a speech like that, right?
[56] You know, about how people came over in different kinds of boats, you know, about overcoming slavery, about having to have a single mother and not having the support, you know, about the racism that her mother experienced, about the, you know, fact that her dad wasn't around, right?
[57] If it was Trump, that is the speech.
[58] All Trump does is complain.
[59] All he's been given is gifts and all he does is complain, right?
[60] And she was given these challenges, but talked about how grateful she was and how much work went into getting to where we are and how that's a bounty that is available to everybody here.
[61] That's just such a strong contrast and a moving one.
[62] The speech was different than the ones that she's given in these packed arenas.
[63] And there was something about her delivery, too, that I said this last night on the show, I just found her so interesting and captivating in a way I've not seen before.
[64] And look, I've slept on it.
[65] And the truth is, I'm a big Hillary Clinton critic.
[66] Hillary's a robot.
[67] You know, she's too afraid to be her real self.
[68] And she was always calculated and calibrated and not coming through.
[69] And we saw Harris last night we haven't seen before.
[70] And she's been great for the last four weeks, absolutely electric.
[71] But what she put together last night and the way it was delivered, I did think, you know, there are a few times when she tried to raise her voice for strength or whatever that didn't completely work.
[72] But, you know, all told, I gave it a 96%.
[73] I mean, I just thought that they were, she just carried us through this really interesting ride that had these different parts.
[74] She was buoyant.
[75] She was grateful.
[76] She was confident and genuine.
[77] and she was so engaged with what she was saying.
[78] She was not just reading something that people sat around conference tables putting together.
[79] So it was just really so far beyond my expectations.
[80] And I was sitting there thinking, why is this so interesting?
[81] Why is it so compelling?
[82] Well, one more of those things about her story and about how she hasn't really told it that much.
[83] Part of the reason why it's compelling is because we're learning about her.
[84] And that was this opportunity for this convention, which a lot of politicians don't have at the convention because you know them already.
[85] And so it's hard to tell new things.
[86] People are learning about her.
[87] I'd encourage listeners, have you missed the episode because I think it was during the trouble.
[88] So some people might have been taking a break from this podcast with Elena plot that I did maybe a month ago.
[89] And she had followed Harris around and like traveled with her to Africa.
[90] And Alina was talking about how the VP was reticent about sharing her story.
[91] She wasn't really that comfortable doing it for whatever reason.
[92] You know, maybe it was the sort of overhang of stuff.
[93] sexism, misogying, like you don't want to say something that people are going to use against you.
[94] You know, Elena didn't really have a great, you know, she gave some theories.
[95] But that was, you know, something that she hasn't been comfortable doing.
[96] And so you wondered, again, you could imagine a speech where she didn't really try to do it, right?
[97] Where she focused on tearing down Trump.
[98] She focused on, you know, policy.
[99] She focused on contrast.
[100] And instead, she gave this, like, window into herself and how her story ties into her candidacy in a way that that was moving and was compelling just because we're all learning it together a little bit.
[101] Yeah, I think that what we saw in the in the campaign headquarters that Monday, July 22 in Delaware, was someone who had not been a very good number two, was not comfortable being a number two.
[102] And once she unleashed herself to be herself, because this was her moment she had, I mean, she was wrapping up that nomination.
[103] She was going to get on this rocket ship and she was going to lead, you know, this effort.
[104] And she was going to be her authentic self.
[105] So that was the first time I saw it.
[106] But really sharing more of her personal, you know, her unlikely journey.
[107] I mean, Tim, I think she was just unburdened by what has been.
[108] But I have to say this.
[109] Also living in the context of everything that came before.
[110] She was both.
[111] I want to say this without crying.
[112] She was so incredibly feminine.
[113] And there's something about seeing that.
[114] She's always in the pantsuit.
[115] She wants to be tough.
[116] And I think that came through very effectively, the confidence and the strength.
[117] Yeah.
[118] And I love her belittling Trump.
[119] You know, she articulated the threat of Trump, but I loved the line about how, in so many ways, he's on serious person and his narcissism.
[120] But I thought that how she threaded that needle, just being confident and ready to take on bullies and ready to be a commander in chief.
[121] But she was feminine.
[122] I've never quite seen anything like it.
[123] Okay.
[124] So you said there were three things you wanted her to introduce herself.
[125] What were the other two?
[126] I wanted her to define herself and share her personal story.
[127] I wanted her to be moderate and speak to the center of the electorate.
[128] And I wanted her to attack Trump effectively.
[129] And she did all three perfectly.
[130] Let's go to the second one because I agree.
[131] There are two parts of the being moderate.
[132] One is policy and one is just tone.
[133] So I kind of want to start with the tone.
[134] Bill cataloged this for us this morning.
[135] Terms used in Harris's speech, America, American, Americans, 34.
[136] Democrats or Democratic Party, zero.
[137] Freedom, 12, family or families, eight, opportunity six, race or gender, one.
[138] So, bravo.
[139] Right.
[140] Just thematically, and we already talked about how America is the greatest country in the world, but it was a speech that in a lot of ways, you know, had some parts that could have been at a McCain convention.
[141] about the country, about the values of the country, Bill didn't include this in the account, but she also talked about faith a few times as well.
[142] And they've done this all week, but she was hitting, you know, taking back these terms that Republicans have tried to own and doing so in a way that felt very natural.
[143] And it was this pairing of, okay, I am proud to be an American.
[144] So there's a little bit of the 1988 Republican Reagan Bush chest thumping American, but it's also paired with part of the reason why I'm proud to be American is because of these progressive values, right, because of our diversity, because of the immigrant story, right?
[145] And I thought she paired those together quite well.
[146] Right.
[147] And that's threading that needle where she's somehow speaking to our diversity as our strength, but not remaining focused on that.
[148] And I mean, if I could sum up the convention in two words, I would say patriotism in Project 2025, right?
[149] The task was to really explain to everyone watching and tuning in who might not be an active, you know, engaged partisan or whatever, the threat of Trump and the plans for his second term, but also to show this party as a different party.
[150] The Democrats have changed.
[151] And maybe I'm getting too hopeful here.
[152] But I think that seeing Biden be able to eclipse Bernie Sanders at the last hour and become the nominee after that ridiculous primary in 20, of Socialists thinking they were going to win.
[153] Yeah.
[154] And their free lunch and their intersectionality and all that crap.
[155] I'm not talking about free lunch, you know, what Tim Walz has done for free lunch.
[156] I'm talking about free lunch socialism.
[157] It's a rhetorical phrase.
[158] It's my go -to.
[159] So watching the transition from 2019 to 2020 and then watching the Biden presidency and the Democrats and watching one thing she said last night, but she said she actually used the word denigrate.
[160] She says Trump's denigrates America.
[161] I would really like her to elaborate on that in the weeks to come.
[162] I'd really like that to become part of the campaign debate because he craps on the country all the time.
[163] And so to the people around him.
[164] And so anyway, to get there to this speech, this convention where the Democrats are embracing patriotism and freedom and families and taking that back from every Republican convention you and I have ever watched or the ones you've been a part of is really.
[165] stunning.
[166] And doing it in a way that's authentic.
[167] It didn't feel like fake.
[168] Right.
[169] It didn't feel like, oh, we're stealing these terms just because it's a political calculation, right?
[170] It's like it was merging it into the democratic story, right?
[171] Like, we care about family, but all kinds of families, right?
[172] Not like them.
[173] We only care about the certain kind of family.
[174] We care about faith, but all kinds of faiths, not just evangelical Christian faith.
[175] Right.
[176] Like, I think they did a nice job with all that.
[177] On the policy side of being moderate to that second goal, there's an immigration section, which I think, you know, is tactically what they kind of have to do to deal with the biggest vulnerability, we're just talking about how she would sign the Langford bill.
[178] But the one that stood up to me, I was on with one of those dispatch boys, and I was like, I think you're going to be surprised at her foreign policy and how, you know, friendly it is to people that come from maybe the Nikki Haley tradition.
[179] You know, it's not going to be bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran, but it is going to be, you know, pretty strong with our allies, caring about America's role in the world, being forthright.
[180] She uses the word lethal, talking on how she's not afraid to use lethal force.
[181] And I want to play, I think, my favorite policy segment from the speech.
[182] I will not cozy up to tyrants and dictators like Kim Jong -un who are rooting for Trump.
[183] Who are rooting for Trump.
[184] Because, you know, they know, they know he is easy to manipulate.
[185] with flattery and favors, they know Trump won't hold autocrats accountable because he wants to be an autocrat himself.
[186] And as president, I will never waver in defense of America's security and ideals because in the enduring struggle between democracy and tyranny, I know where I stand and I know where the United States belongs.
[187] She won't cozy up to dictators and the dictators are rooting for Trump and it wasn't in the speech it wasn't in the transcripts I got the full original transcript she stops on that line and I emphasize that they're rooting for him they're rooting for him because he's one of them that rooting for dictators line wasn't in the transcript no no it was like it was this one sentence as part of a lot it wasn't like a stop for applause line it was just she stops and then she repeats it again and like you can feel it in the moment like this absolutely was one of my favorite lines I hooted yeah because it's so important to explain that dynamic to people that you know she said he loves autocrats because he wants to be one to explain to the voters but he he believes that he doesn't have to protect our interests in Ukraine he says that they're their interests and they're having a border dispute or, you know, the way that the right writes off are NATO alliance and the importance of collective security.
[188] She just went at that so hard.
[189] And the fact that she said that he loves dictators and then actually, I mean, people never say that.
[190] And when she said they're rooting for him, I was so, it was awesome.
[191] And just generally the foreign policy, I mean, you had to feel, I guess, hey, maybe we're getting pandered to.
[192] So it's nice to be pandered to for once.
[193] I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts, but I don't know.
[194] Did you feel like it was just right in what you would be looking for from her?
[195] We've been waiting, right?
[196] We've been waiting.
[197] We wanted some attention on Ukraine.
[198] And she dove right in.
[199] I thought it was terrific in the strength of our NATO alliance, leading the world's most lethal fighting force, all that stuff about the military, our veterans, NATO, Iran.
[200] What I marveled at was her language on Israel and Gaza.
[201] because she managed to assuage so many people.
[202] It was biggest applause in the entire speech.
[203] And she didn't even really say much, Tim.
[204] It was so effective.
[205] And it's like a 40 -60 issue with Democrats.
[206] And she managed to please like 91%, which is pretty good.
[207] And pleased the center because she was very strongly pro -Israel.
[208] She stuck with the Biden policy.
[209] And then she just said that the suffering in Gaza needs to end.
[210] and peep the Palestinian people so they can realize with dignity and security, self -determination.
[211] I mean, she didn't, she didn't say anything.
[212] She asked for a hostage yield in the ceasefire.
[213] So, brava.
[214] I mean, I just was so pleased and tickled that we got through that.
[215] It was the one part of the seizure I'm holding on to the side of my chair.
[216] I'm like, oh, did we have to talk about this?
[217] Maybe we just not talked about it.
[218] But she did.
[219] It was good that she talked to her.
[220] Caputo said that there were some groans or some booze somewhere.
[221] It was completely drowned out with applause.
[222] Yeah.
[223] for those of us at home.
[224] No, I thought that was also encouraging, just the way that it was deft in the way that she handled it.
[225] The economic side of it also, like worth mentioning, she talked a lot about more traditional democratic populist, you're kind of Bill Clintony economics, but she also talked about entrepreneurs and opportunity.
[226] Like, there was a little bit of that, you know, they gave us, what Bill say in the newsletter, like just a hint of Jack Kemp.
[227] She gave us just a hint of Jack Kemp.
[228] which was nice.
[229] The Trump contrast.
[230] So much that you can go with with Trump, right?
[231] Like there's so many ways to do it.
[232] Is he a demagogue?
[233] Is he a clown?
[234] You know, is it the racism?
[235] Is it the misogyny?
[236] Like, you know, you just have all of these different opportunities.
[237] And I think that what they went with as the mainframe, I think, is smart.
[238] Let's just listen to one short clip.
[239] He would use the immense powers of the presidency.
[240] of the United States not to improve your life not to strengthen our national security but to serve the only client he has ever had himself so you go she covered a bunch of stuff but the main focus is Kamala Harris is for the people Donald Trump's for Donald Trump I thought that this was a really great runner throughout the whole convention A lot of the speakers used that language that Donald Trump only cares about himself, not you.
[241] Donald Trump is looking out for himself.
[242] Harris is looking out for your problems.
[243] I thought it was very intentional and very effective, and I really liked that she did it.
[244] But I also like how she also discussed, you know, his explicit intent to pardon extremists, his explicit intent to jail journalists and his political opponents.
[245] I mean, she dug right in, and I thought that that was important, and I really was glad she did it, and I absolutely loved the part where she said she's going to be, you know, a president for all people and all Americans, she shouldn't put country over party, and she said that she was going to protect the rule of law, free and fair elections, and the peaceful transfer of power.
[246] That was just awesome.
[247] she's on January 6th for maybe a little longer than I would have thought that section was a little bit of kind of more what we are getting out of Biden but I thought it was worthwhile and again for like the peaceful transfer power part and the attacking of the police which is what I like to focus on in this case right like again you're taking back patriotism you're taking back freedom let's take back in the blue while we're at it let's just let's just do the whole deal and I was glad that she mentioned that but this big frame I sum it up as If you were going to just distill down, like, what was the pitch?
[248] What is the contrast pitch between her and Trump?
[249] The theme of the speech was her saying, I love America as it is and want to do the work to make it better for you.
[250] He hates America as it is.
[251] And we would be happy to tear it apart to make life better for him.
[252] I think that that's compelling and it's digestible and it is not as high full.
[253] as some of the stuff that the Democrats had been had been trying to do before she took over.
[254] Right.
[255] I mean, look, we expected her to pander to the left, and she hasn't.
[256] We expect her to do it at least a little.
[257] She pander into us.
[258] Right.
[259] And so she has really narrowed this lane, I think, to, I'm going to continue.
[260] You're going to get what you got with Biden.
[261] I'm going to be a tough commander in chief.
[262] I'm going to lead the free world.
[263] I never abandon our allies saying, two times.
[264] Let me be clear.
[265] Let me be clear about Israel's right to defend itself and the ability to defend itself, meaning she will continue to support its defense, not just champion it, but provide weapons.
[266] So that was the thing that she had to get through, right?
[267] She had to be commander -in -chief.
[268] The rest of it is just, I'm going to be sane, I'm going to be normal.
[269] I love this country.
[270] We have to get beyond this period.
[271] We have to get to the next chapter.
[272] We have to leave this whole period behind.
[273] And the fact that we're talking about this last night, Caputo was saying Trump and Republicans are so furious, but the fact that she's somehow positioned herself in this narrow undefined lane, limitedly defined lane as the challenger and Trump's the incumbent.
[274] And it's infuriating him and they don't know how to do it.
[275] And what I said was, you know what, we have to give her some credit.
[276] Like this is not by accident.
[277] She is the sitting vice president.
[278] and somehow she has become a Rorschach test and she is the projection of what we want to move on to.
[279] And last night was great because she was much more specific.
[280] I really, you know, she had to be that way on Ukraine and Israel and some other things.
[281] And she did it.
[282] But generally, she's like, we got to move on.
[283] There's a little bit of a build, baby build element to the economic stuff, which I liked.
[284] Part of this has been the skill of the team and the talent to position themselves to the challenger with we're not going back part of it though is just you know for all of the baggage that comes with misogyny and racism the fact that she's a black woman helps on this being a challenger right it's just like she just doesn't read as as biden's second term right right it's just by them was reading as a person from a different generation you know because of his age because he's a white guy because he's been in washington for 50 years i do think that that is working to her advantage in this one way, right, as of being able to position herself as different from the era, right?
[285] Like, it's like there's this, like, it's like a Trump Biden era that people are sick of.
[286] That she was kind of there during, but like, not really.
[287] And so now she wants to take us to a different era.
[288] And the identity helps with that, I think.
[289] Somehow, she has so definitely managed to be grateful to Biden at the beginning of every speech and all these particular moments.
[290] and rushing up to greet him on the stage, you know, the first night and everything.
[291] But you still get the vibe that she would like to flee as well.
[292] And she's just done it so elegantly.
[293] Really.
[294] Really.
[295] That's a lot harder than it looks.
[296] Huge fraudster to her on that.
[297] Really impressive.
[298] And creating this contrast that I think has her potentially, what JVL wrote in the newsletter yesterday.
[299] She's trying to get to 53, right?
[300] She might not get to 53, but she's trying to.
[301] Like they put together a convention and a speech that was, we're going to keep our base happy.
[302] We're to keep people excited.
[303] We're going to keep the coconut time rolling, you know, but also we're going to try to get to as many of these Haley Kemp people as possible and try to run up the score.
[304] So I thought it was impressive.
[305] Our man Adam Kinsinger had a star turn.
[306] Good on them for giving him such a prime spot, by the way.
[307] I thought he was wonderful.
[308] Let's listen to one clip.
[309] The Republican Party is no longer conservative.
[310] It has switched its allegiance from the principles that gave it purpose to a man whose only purpose is himself.
[311] Donald Trump is a weak man pretending to be strong.
[312] He is a small man pretending to be big.
[313] He's a faithless man pretending to be righteous.
[314] He's a perpetrator who can't stop playing the victim.
[315] He puts on, listen, he puts on quite a show, but there is no real strength there.
[316] As a conservative and a veteran, I believe true strength lies in defending the vulnerable.
[317] It's in protecting your family.
[318] It's in standing up for our Constitution and our democracy.
[319] That is the soul of being a conservative.
[320] It used to be the soul of being a Republican.
[321] but Donald Trump has suffocated the soul of the Republican Party.
[322] You know, Kinsinger did a continuation of what Jeff Duncan had done the day before, right?
[323] Kind of redefine, saying to, you can be conservative, they're not conservative anymore.
[324] You can be Republican.
[325] They're not Republican anymore.
[326] You know, all of these traits that Donald Trump says he has, he is the opposite of them, actually.
[327] And so you can come here without embracing whatever it is in your head you don't like about it.
[328] I thought it was so critical that.
[329] we didn't have one.
[330] We had several Republicans coming out for Harris.
[331] Adam was amazing.
[332] I too appreciated that they gave him a slot.
[333] On the last night, very close to the actual nominee's speech.
[334] I mean, that was really unheard of.
[335] It was so beautifully written.
[336] It was so powerful.
[337] I really want to give him props for just really stealing a show.
[338] I mean, in terms of, you know, oh, here's another Republican who's going to get up.
[339] Yeah, we're so happy that he's like against Trump and is going to support her, just the way he defined the Democrats patriotism, the way he defined the current Republican Party, the smallness of Trump.
[340] It was just brilliant.
[341] And this is so important tactically because I think Biden wins like 8 % of Republicans in 2020.
[342] It's really important, as you just mentioned for her to get a buffer of Republicans that just feel shame after January 6th about voting for him a third time.
[343] They're fine with the first two.
[344] Right.
[345] But you've got to keep some of them back from voting a third time who are, you know, feeling shameful about it and are conflicted.
[346] And Adam and Jeff Duncan and Olivia Troy were very effective at that.
[347] And I'm sorry if I'm leaving another person out.
[348] There's the third three that came to mind.
[349] And Kinsinger's description of the party not being conservatives is just it's just so powerful because it's not.
[350] It's over.
[351] And what you think you have in the Republican Party isn't there.
[352] You know, you're just, you're just in for the cult.
[353] So I'm up in the K -Ive today, Tim, but this weekend I'm going to go back to being panicked.
[354] Yeah.
[355] And I read, you know, JVL's right, he's really dissected all this.
[356] She needs that, she needs that buffer.
[357] She needs to get up to surmount the liability of the electoral college structure.
[358] And I think that it's so important that she, that they've accepted that they need Republicans and that they need center right voters.
[359] Well, Fox didn't show Kinsinger, so fuck them and fuck Robert Murdoch and fuck Paul Ryan and all these people are social.
[360] shameful and then to do the Trump call and after I'll probably spend most of Monday's podcast with Bill Crystal about this topic because I'm writing about it this weekend so we don't have to belaborate but I'm glad they gave Kinsinger Prime slot on Thursday night it's enraging and shameful and outrageous that there's not a single Trump cabinet official there there's not a single sitting Republican elected official there there's not a single opponent of Donald Trump's there from any of the primaries all those fuckers what was the Jeff Duncan line it's never the wrong time to do the right thing August 26th might be the right time to do the right thing if you're Chris Christie or Mark Esper or Mitt Romney or Liz or Bush or we can go down the list so I don't know if you have any thoughts on that I will have much more on this on Monday yeah no and I'm glad you're writing about that I agree with that I was lamenting I was sort of waiting you know because each night you'd know some of the speakers but then there would be this layered on surprises at the last minute I was like come on John Kelly.
[361] Come on.
[362] Just come on.
[363] I just don't understand it.
[364] Maybe people just are still afraid of death threats.
[365] They want them to die down.
[366] I don't know what it is.
[367] But it's...
[368] Jeff Duncan and Adam have small kids.
[369] So I don't know.
[370] They're doing all right.
[371] They've been very tough, very brave.
[372] If you have one of them in your life, give them a call this weekend.
[373] Let them know, I have a mean article coming on Monday.
[374] And then if they want to get out of that, you know, if they want to pre -but it, you know, they can send a leak out this weekend about their endorsement of Kamala.
[375] The Trump of it all, so last night, he calls in, why don't we actually play this little clip, too?
[376] She didn't talk about fracking.
[377] She didn't talk about crime.
[378] She didn't talk about 70 % of our people are living in poverty.
[379] She didn't talk about housing, really.
[380] The trade deficit, she didn't talk about child trafficking, that she's allowed to happen because she was the Bodhisar and she presided over the weakest border in the history of our country.
[381] there he is that was trump calling in to fox bret bear and martha mccallum are like looking at him like he's an insane person he's accidentally beeping the phone like that if that beeping sound you heard that was not me or a b that's trump that's old man is like beeping his own phone by accident didn't seem like somebody that that you know has a very that is a very stable stable genius response to to the convention i don't know what you think well i love that he was like live bleeding it right?
[382] He was true thing throughout because that's going to be.
[383] Where's Hunter?
[384] That's got right.
[385] Where's Hunter?
[386] That's a good opener.
[387] The guy always seems like he's on a really bad drug.
[388] So he was melting down with, you know, I think he had more posts than the minute she spoke for.
[389] And then when Martha says that she's doing well, she has, having success with certain voting groups.
[390] In the polling she sees, he says, no, she's not.
[391] I'm having success.
[392] And as you know, they have to, they have to leave to go to, to, Greg Gutfeld's show and like hang up on the old man who then calls into newsmax where he's talking with them about how they should go to Caracas together.
[393] It was super weird.
[394] Oh, I have to go find that.
[395] I miss that.
[396] I had to go on TV.
[397] MS.
[398] Uptur.
[399] Yeah, actually, if you had seen the look on, I think it's, is it Greg Kelly and Mercedes Schlapp's faces?
[400] They were the anchors.
[401] Okay.
[402] Gorka was one of the panelists.
[403] It's a real keeper.
[404] Congrats to Mercy Shlap.
[405] Mercy Shlap once in a green room asked me what I was going to do to fix my personal brand after Donald Trump won.
[406] It seems like my brand turned out okay.
[407] She's a co -host on Newsmax.
[408] So I guess I won the long game on that one.
[409] She was trying to keep a poker face.
[410] It was getting really weird.
[411] And Trump thought it was so great that he posted it at like quarter of two in the morning.
[412] His Newsmax, Colin, appearance.
[413] So yeah, he's not doing well.
[414] We predicted that this would be tough for him.
[415] Later today, we will learn how many people watched last night.
[416] And he and his minions will say that the Democrats intentionally did a head fake on Beyonce to make sure that there were enough eyes on her speech, which turned out to not be real.
[417] And that'll be a whole thing.
[418] And that'll be how he self -sues about how many more millions of people watched her last night than watched it.
[419] He's got to do a lot of soothing.
[420] All right.
[421] One of the news item that came in since we've been recording here, interest rate cuts are coming in September.
[422] Is somebody that purchased a house in 2023?
[423] That's good news for me, personally, though I might need one more cut.
[424] But I think it's good news for Kamala Harris, right?
[425] I mean, just generally speaking, an easing of economic anxiety going into the fall.
[426] It has got to help on the margins, right?
[427] Oh, Jim, we've been waiting for it.
[428] If it wasn't going to come, I was going to have some hair falling out.
[429] Yeah, we were hoping for the good debate and the rate cut.
[430] So, yeah, we need this.
[431] And the jobs have been a little shaky.
[432] I was hoping that would, you know, help spur this.
[433] And I think that it's just in time for opinions probably cementing.
[434] And you know more about this than I do, what, in late September?
[435] Yeah.
[436] And then it's kind of like hard to reverse.
[437] I mean, early voting will begin and, you know, things will gel.
[438] So, yeah, I'm really, I'm really pleased to hear that.
[439] And now I'm going to worry about the polls that we see next week in the debate.
[440] Okay.
[441] be worried about this is i gave an admonition on the end of yesterday's podcast about getting pilled by politicians one of the good parts about not allowing yourself to become a total fan girl and to be saint the politician is that when they're wonderful you can just call them wonderful with credibility you don't have to always say they're wonderful you know and she was wonderful last night it was a historic night it was emotional she hit all the marks and um we might as well enjoy it this weekend.
[442] Everybody, go get yourself a little coconut dackery, and the fight will continue.
[443] We got to still do something.
[444] You got to do something.
[445] We got to do something.
[446] But it was a good day to be a citizen of the greatest nation in the world, huh?
[447] Abbey.
[448] Agreed.
[449] I loved it.
[450] I loved the convention.
[451] I went all in.
[452] I'm glad it's over, but it was impeccable.
[453] All right.
[454] Well, you're at the beach, it looks like, based on that single bed in the background.
[455] I don't know who suffers through that bed at night, but we'll be back on Monday.
[456] A .B. is going to enjoy the beach.
[457] You know, if anything happens over the weekend, you can catch me on YouTube.
[458] And we'll have Bill Crystal, and me and him will have a, I don't know, maybe 30 -minute hate on the Republicans who have not done the right thing yet because this is the moment.
[459] All right.
[460] If you were worried, oh, I can't do it because you might not be strong enough on Israel or strong enough on foreign policy or strong enough on Ukraine.
[461] She did it.
[462] She's done her job, Republicans, or whatever you are now.
[463] Now it's time for you to do yours.
[464] Thank you to A .B. Stoddard.
[465] We'll see everybody else on Monday.
[466] Have a wonderful weekend.
[467] It's coconut time.