WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:02.359 So, Michael, look, you and I have been shouting from 2 00:00:02.359 --> 00:00:05.400 the rooftops for months about literally the exact same thing. 3 00:00:05.759 --> 00:00:10.160 The Republicans are not beating the Democrats. The Democrats are 4 00:00:10.199 --> 00:00:13.800 beating themselves. And just as momentum should be building for 5 00:00:13.880 --> 00:00:18.079 the midterms, the rise and dominance of the Democratic Socialists 6 00:00:18.120 --> 00:00:22.719 of America the DSA, they have handed the GOP literally 7 00:00:22.800 --> 00:00:26.800 the greatest political gift imaginable on a silver platter. Question 8 00:00:26.879 --> 00:00:30.079 I need to ask you, why is the party allowing 9 00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:34.719 its loudest, most polarizing fringe to hijack the steering wheel 10 00:00:34.960 --> 00:00:36.759 when the stakes could not be higher. 11 00:00:37.920 --> 00:00:40.560 I think part of the reason is a CNN poll 12 00:00:40.759 --> 00:00:42.960 which came out this past weekend and showed that a 13 00:00:43.039 --> 00:00:49.399 third of Democrats regard themselves as Democratic Socialists. So you 14 00:00:49.479 --> 00:00:54.039 can't say it's this really tiny group that ought to 15 00:00:54.079 --> 00:00:57.399 be stomped out by the remainder of the party. It's 16 00:00:57.399 --> 00:01:01.840 a significant number of Rats who are now regarding themselves 17 00:01:01.920 --> 00:01:05.799 as such. I've been waiting for a Sister Soldija kind 18 00:01:05.799 --> 00:01:09.280 of moment to take place where Aram Emmanuel or a 19 00:01:09.400 --> 00:01:12.840 Josh Shapiro lays down the law and says, much like 20 00:01:12.920 --> 00:01:16.159 James Carvo and much like Bill Maher just did you 21 00:01:16.200 --> 00:01:19.000 know mar saying he'd sooner vote for Sarah Palin. I've 22 00:01:19.000 --> 00:01:21.799 been waiting for one of the presidential prospects for twenty 23 00:01:21.840 --> 00:01:24.719 twenty eight to do that, and they haven't. They haven't, 24 00:01:24.760 --> 00:01:29.079 And I think that they're concerned frankly a about the size 25 00:01:29.159 --> 00:01:32.599 and B that this is where passion resides and in 26 00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:35.200 the nominating contest. These are the people who are going 27 00:01:35.239 --> 00:01:37.879 to come out, So why piss them off at this stage? 28 00:01:38.560 --> 00:01:41.760 Right, except for the fact that during general elections you 29 00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:45.560 tend not to see these far left or the far 30 00:01:45.680 --> 00:01:49.239 right fringes. Yes, they may show up, but the majority, 31 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:53.159 and I call us the tired majority. We constitute now 32 00:01:53.319 --> 00:01:57.159 like fifty six fifty seven percent of the country. They're 33 00:01:57.159 --> 00:01:58.640 not going on these fringe. 34 00:01:59.359 --> 00:02:03.000 We're gonna find out a lot tomorrow, right, because tomorrow 35 00:02:03.000 --> 00:02:06.079 you've got this Michigan race. It looks like Abdul l 36 00:02:06.200 --> 00:02:09.759 Sayed is going to win the race for the Democratic 37 00:02:09.879 --> 00:02:13.400 nod at a time when he's polling double digits ahead 38 00:02:13.400 --> 00:02:16.000 of his Democratic opponent, but he's also behind by double 39 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:17.680 digits against Mike Rodgers. 40 00:02:18.120 --> 00:02:19.439 There's a lot of time on the clock. 41 00:02:19.520 --> 00:02:22.479 You know who knows what happens that that ball bounces 42 00:02:22.560 --> 00:02:26.159 like a football in different directions. It seemingly is going 43 00:02:26.159 --> 00:02:29.120 to be an example of winning the battle and losing 44 00:02:29.159 --> 00:02:32.080 the war. And there are a number of instances like this. 45 00:02:32.479 --> 00:02:35.599 But you know, the odds are also nevertheless on the 46 00:02:35.680 --> 00:02:38.719 side of Democrats to retake the House, the Senate. I 47 00:02:38.719 --> 00:02:40.879 don't know, it comes down to Michigan, it comes down 48 00:02:40.960 --> 00:02:45.879 to Maine. It seems unlikely to me. But assuming Democrats 49 00:02:45.879 --> 00:02:48.439 have a big year, and assuming that there are a 50 00:02:48.479 --> 00:02:52.280 handful of Democratic socialists who win, I think a sense 51 00:02:52.400 --> 00:02:56.439 of false bravado could come out of the midterms for Democrats. 52 00:02:56.800 --> 00:02:59.919 And now they'll say, hey, let's roll with all this 53 00:03:00.199 --> 00:03:04.120 passion and go even further left for the twenty twenty 54 00:03:04.199 --> 00:03:05.639 eight presidential. 55 00:03:05.639 --> 00:03:08.280 Yeah, that's gonna be a big failure. Look, you know what, 56 00:03:08.319 --> 00:03:10.000 you brought up his name, and I want to talk 57 00:03:10.039 --> 00:03:13.039 about him for a second, James Carville, because he just 58 00:03:13.120 --> 00:03:16.560 said that he's openly threatening to walk away from the 59 00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:21.360 Democratic Party entirely as I did. It figures like Hassan 60 00:03:21.479 --> 00:03:25.800 Piker become its defining voice, and I'm seeing it firsthand, 61 00:03:25.919 --> 00:03:29.639 literally right here in New York City, with Democratic socialists 62 00:03:29.680 --> 00:03:34.719 like Zoron Mamdani. When these lifelong, battle tested party loyalists 63 00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:37.840 like a James Carville are ready to turn in their 64 00:03:37.919 --> 00:03:41.639 key cards, isn't that proof that the brand has hit 65 00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:46.319 a tipping point? And where does the mainstream majority actually 66 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:47.199 draw the line? 67 00:03:47.759 --> 00:03:51.280 It has hit a tipping point at least with Carville's 68 00:03:51.400 --> 00:03:55.159 demo of the Democratic Party. But as you know, the 69 00:03:55.280 --> 00:03:59.159 younger you slide on that scale, the more acceptance there 70 00:03:59.280 --> 00:04:03.520 is of demoocratic socialism. We could be witnessing a generational 71 00:04:03.680 --> 00:04:06.960 change on these issues. And you know what I see 72 00:04:07.560 --> 00:04:11.919 unifying many of the Democratic Socialists is a run against 73 00:04:11.960 --> 00:04:15.319 the status quo. Frankly, in the same way that the 74 00:04:15.360 --> 00:04:18.800 Tea Party activists gained their traction. 75 00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:19.480 Which gave rise. 76 00:04:19.639 --> 00:04:22.759 I think to Maga, there's actually a lot of discontent 77 00:04:22.879 --> 00:04:25.600 with the establishment that they have in common. 78 00:04:26.519 --> 00:04:29.839 Yeah, except look what happened with the Tea Party. They failed. 79 00:04:29.879 --> 00:04:32.600 They failed miserably. Yeah, they were a force for a 80 00:04:32.800 --> 00:04:35.639 very short period of time. Because when you start talking 81 00:04:35.720 --> 00:04:39.279 about free this and free that, free grothery, free transportation, 82 00:04:39.600 --> 00:04:42.720 and then they can't deliver on it, well, that brings 83 00:04:42.759 --> 00:04:46.360 people to a reckoning that I don't know maybe their 84 00:04:46.399 --> 00:04:48.160 ideology just doesn't work. 85 00:04:49.040 --> 00:04:49.480 Michael. 86 00:04:50.120 --> 00:04:53.319 The Democratic Socialists had a gathering in Chicago last week, 87 00:04:53.360 --> 00:04:56.839 and to the extent the sessions and information about them 88 00:04:56.839 --> 00:05:00.680 were publicly available, I read the agenda items. What jumped 89 00:05:00.720 --> 00:05:04.519 out for me was a conversation that they were planning 90 00:05:04.600 --> 00:05:09.000 on organizing in which they were using the word You couldn't. 91 00:05:08.680 --> 00:05:09.360 Make this stuff up. 92 00:05:09.360 --> 00:05:12.399 They were using the word comrade to refer to one another. 93 00:05:12.720 --> 00:05:17.240 It's written for, you know, a Republican campaign commercial. It's 94 00:05:17.240 --> 00:05:19.160 got to be music to the ears of the Trump 95 00:05:19.360 --> 00:05:23.720 white House. And with a literally one billion dollar advantage 96 00:05:23.720 --> 00:05:26.639 over Democrats for the midterm, I suspect you're going to 97 00:05:26.720 --> 00:05:29.160 be hearing a lot of that comrade talk now, by 98 00:05:29.160 --> 00:05:32.439 the way, you always do every two or four years, 99 00:05:32.680 --> 00:05:35.879 you hear the opponents paint one another as far left, 100 00:05:35.959 --> 00:05:36.439 far right. 101 00:05:36.759 --> 00:05:38.040 But this time the word. 102 00:05:37.959 --> 00:05:41.240 Socialist is being accepted by a number of the Democrats, 103 00:05:41.319 --> 00:05:44.279 and I just don't think that a majority of Americans 104 00:05:44.319 --> 00:05:45.160 are ready. 105 00:05:44.879 --> 00:05:46.519 To be accepting of that. 106 00:05:46.839 --> 00:05:49.800 They need a Frank Lunz, They need someone on the 107 00:05:49.839 --> 00:05:52.199 Democratic side of the aisle to come up with an 108 00:05:52.240 --> 00:05:55.839 you know, it's like death tax instead of estate tax. 109 00:05:56.439 --> 00:05:58.759 You need a different way to brand this, and you've 110 00:05:59.040 --> 00:06:01.720 got to cut loose the defund elements. 111 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:02.480 You've got to. 112 00:06:02.480 --> 00:06:05.560 Cut loose the idea of abolishing the Senate. There are 113 00:06:05.720 --> 00:06:09.120 aspects of it I think you can sell as a 114 00:06:09.160 --> 00:06:13.000 throwback to the New Deal, but not not calling it socialism. 115 00:06:13.639 --> 00:06:16.279 Yeah not. Meanwhile, that sort of brings me to what 116 00:06:16.319 --> 00:06:18.720 I was saying before. Where I stand today because I 117 00:06:18.839 --> 00:06:22.920 myself have officially shed the party label and I identify 118 00:06:23.000 --> 00:06:25.439 as an independent. You know, and we've been on the 119 00:06:25.480 --> 00:06:28.439 shows together. As a son of a Holocaust survivor, I 120 00:06:28.600 --> 00:06:32.079 could not stay anchored to a ship that keeps steering 121 00:06:32.120 --> 00:06:36.360 toward the extreme margins social mar Conash Listen, you and 122 00:06:36.399 --> 00:06:40.560 yourself have carved out a career evaluating the political landscape 123 00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:44.639 from a postpartisan vantage point. Where do you sit in 124 00:06:44.680 --> 00:06:48.399 this current realignment? And do you think that moderate, common 125 00:06:48.480 --> 00:06:52.720 sense voters are being forced into political homelessness? Oh? 126 00:06:53.079 --> 00:06:54.800 Come on, you're preaching to the choir. 127 00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:59.040 You are speaking to the lead plaintiff in a currently 128 00:06:59.160 --> 00:07:03.160 pending legal action in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania seeking 129 00:07:03.199 --> 00:07:08.879 to open Pennsylvania's closed primaries. My state, your state, and 130 00:07:09.000 --> 00:07:13.439 Florida are the big three among about sixteen. It depends 131 00:07:13.480 --> 00:07:18.199 on your definition. But we are pure closed primary states. 132 00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:22.079 And you know, Mayor Mondani I see says that he's 133 00:07:22.160 --> 00:07:25.319 quite content. I think those were his words with keeping 134 00:07:25.360 --> 00:07:28.839 New York a closed primary system. The way to water 135 00:07:29.000 --> 00:07:32.680 down the fringes is to accentuate the middle and let 136 00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:34.959 more people vote. 137 00:07:35.160 --> 00:07:39.759 Yeah. Well, look, Mamdani, by the way, his favorability numbers 138 00:07:39.839 --> 00:07:43.319 right now are well below fifty percent. And I have 139 00:07:43.360 --> 00:07:46.759 a funny feeling that the more that this stupidity that 140 00:07:46.800 --> 00:07:49.600 comes out of his mouth, the more that I'm telling 141 00:07:49.639 --> 00:07:52.680 you he's going to be and find himself less and 142 00:07:52.759 --> 00:07:55.800 less favorable on a daily basis because the things that 143 00:07:55.839 --> 00:07:59.319 he says they're just not possible to be done. 144 00:08:00.279 --> 00:08:02.839 You know the thing there, there's the category of the 145 00:08:02.879 --> 00:08:06.399 things that he says that Frankly, I never thought we're 146 00:08:06.439 --> 00:08:09.879 going to take flight. But some of the actions, I'm 147 00:08:09.959 --> 00:08:12.759 ninety miles away, you're there and you're caught up in it. 148 00:08:13.079 --> 00:08:17.879 But the idea of doxing wealthy people docs who you think, 149 00:08:18.240 --> 00:08:23.000 who you think have a pieeditare, I think that's just outrageous. 150 00:08:23.120 --> 00:08:26.040 I mean, that might really some hardcore eat rich stuff. 151 00:08:26.680 --> 00:08:29.959 When I called you the other day, and I said 152 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:31.759 to you, I was one of the first people to 153 00:08:31.879 --> 00:08:35.759 get that letter from the Department of Finance telling me 154 00:08:36.039 --> 00:08:39.559 that I'm going to owe an additional like fifty thousand 155 00:08:39.639 --> 00:08:43.759 dollars because my primary residence is a piere de taire, right, 156 00:08:43.799 --> 00:08:45.919 because you got to say, it's snooty when you're paying 157 00:08:45.960 --> 00:08:48.200 that kind of money. I don't have a second home. 158 00:08:48.600 --> 00:08:50.519 It is the place that I have lived. I have 159 00:08:50.879 --> 00:08:55.440 filed my IT two one, that's the city resident tax 160 00:08:55.759 --> 00:08:59.840 for that at that apartment address for thirty years. Give 161 00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:02.960 her take write something like that twenty seven years. But 162 00:09:03.000 --> 00:09:05.879 I've been living in New York City paying that IT 163 00:09:06.600 --> 00:09:10.720 to A one tax since nineteen ninety two, and yet 164 00:09:10.759 --> 00:09:14.840 they don't even cross reference. This is called sloppiness. This 165 00:09:14.919 --> 00:09:18.279 is called mamdani. And you know what it's really They're 166 00:09:18.360 --> 00:09:22.039 asking me. In order to prove, to prove to them 167 00:09:22.200 --> 00:09:24.840 that it's not a pied deterre, I have to give 168 00:09:24.840 --> 00:09:28.360 them my name, my address, my cell number, my email, 169 00:09:28.840 --> 00:09:33.240 my social Security number. They want my driver's license, my 170 00:09:33.399 --> 00:09:36.000 tax return, and if I own the property in an 171 00:09:36.240 --> 00:09:39.200 LLC or a trust, they want those documents too. 172 00:09:40.120 --> 00:09:44.440 That's some pretty authoritarian stuff. For a democratic socialist. It 173 00:09:44.519 --> 00:09:47.720 makes no sense from a financial standpoint either, because you're 174 00:09:47.720 --> 00:09:49.639 going to drive people right out of that city. 175 00:09:50.320 --> 00:09:52.080 Yeah, and they don't believe. So, you know, I want 176 00:09:52.080 --> 00:09:54.360 to ask you this as well. When you take a 177 00:09:54.440 --> 00:09:58.000 stand against the fall left, the mob doesn't offer debate, 178 00:09:58.399 --> 00:10:02.559 They come for your throat. Now me, I get targeted constantly, 179 00:10:02.840 --> 00:10:06.200 especially now by the far left activists who act like 180 00:10:06.360 --> 00:10:11.960 screaming into their social media void is an actual political strategy. 181 00:10:12.759 --> 00:10:15.320 Are you taking the same heat from the radical wing 182 00:10:15.440 --> 00:10:20.600 on your end? And why has noisy online rage replaced 183 00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:23.840 genuine coalition building in modern politics? 184 00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:27.200 Well, I get it from both ends, and that's what 185 00:10:27.480 --> 00:10:30.639 that's the metric by which I evaluate having had a 186 00:10:30.639 --> 00:10:35.720 pretty good show. I'm not deliberately, I'm not deliberately looking 187 00:10:35.720 --> 00:10:37.440 to antagonize anybody. 188 00:10:37.919 --> 00:10:39.919 But I think the answer is this. 189 00:10:40.159 --> 00:10:44.000 I think that the audience has become so accustomed to 190 00:10:44.679 --> 00:10:47.159 people who speak for a living or right for a living, 191 00:10:47.240 --> 00:10:52.639 the pundit class being all doctrinaire left, all doctrinaire right, 192 00:10:52.639 --> 00:10:56.519 that when there's someone with nuance, which frankly is reflective 193 00:10:56.679 --> 00:10:59.159 of a majority of Americans, I happen to think most 194 00:10:59.200 --> 00:11:02.799 Americans are a mixed bag. Maybe they're fiscally conservative and 195 00:11:02.879 --> 00:11:05.960 socially more progressive or liberal, but that's not the way 196 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:08.879 it gets portrayed on TV. And the moment that you 197 00:11:08.960 --> 00:11:13.679 step out of one of those ideological silos, you become roadkill. 198 00:11:14.720 --> 00:11:17.080 The only part that offends me is the part that 199 00:11:17.879 --> 00:11:23.960 they tag someone who's not doctrinaire as lacking opinions or lacking, 200 00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:27.600 you know, some type of a stake in this game. 201 00:11:27.960 --> 00:11:30.960 I have plenty of opinions, they're just not fake opinions 202 00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:32.080 to get me on TV. 203 00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:33.200 Right. 204 00:11:33.440 --> 00:11:37.320 You know, I've been this left of center my entire life. 205 00:11:37.360 --> 00:11:40.039 I am as you just described. I am a fiscal 206 00:11:40.120 --> 00:11:43.840 conservative and a social moderate. I've always been that. All 207 00:11:43.879 --> 00:11:46.799 of a sudden now because I'm not saying vile things 208 00:11:46.840 --> 00:11:50.720 about the president, because I have now ended this eight 209 00:11:50.840 --> 00:11:54.039 year feud with the president that we're I don't know, 210 00:11:54.440 --> 00:11:58.240 we call each other back as friends. Now that all 211 00:11:58.240 --> 00:12:02.519 of a sudden I'm a trader. The attacks on my religion, 212 00:12:02.679 --> 00:12:07.399 the attacks on me personally, the vile manner that they 213 00:12:07.559 --> 00:12:10.919 text me, they email, meet, they make phone calls to me. 214 00:12:11.320 --> 00:12:14.120 You know, it's it to me. I don't I've never 215 00:12:14.200 --> 00:12:19.720 seen this sort of vitriolic hatred directed at an individual. 216 00:12:19.799 --> 00:12:22.840 Again from both sides. The far magna, they'll never like me. 217 00:12:23.120 --> 00:12:26.960 The far left now absolutely despises me, and they refuse 218 00:12:27.080 --> 00:12:30.600 to acknowledge that my political positions have not changed. 219 00:12:32.039 --> 00:12:36.240 So on both my CNN show and my Serious XM program, 220 00:12:36.240 --> 00:12:40.279 I've talked at length about Anthony Fauci, the testimony Doctor 221 00:12:40.279 --> 00:12:43.679 Fauci before that Senate committee last week. The short version 222 00:12:43.720 --> 00:12:47.440 of my view is that I see law fair having 223 00:12:47.519 --> 00:12:50.879 been used against now President Trump during the course of 224 00:12:50.879 --> 00:12:55.720 the campaign. The four indictments, the Alvin Bragg conviction in particular, 225 00:12:55.840 --> 00:12:58.960 I think all were to the benefit of President Trump 226 00:12:59.039 --> 00:13:01.759 because it looked like and I think it made him, 227 00:13:02.080 --> 00:13:06.200 in some quarters, a sympathetic figure. Having said that, Having 228 00:13:06.279 --> 00:13:09.159 said that, in the same commentary, I put together this 229 00:13:09.320 --> 00:13:13.120 laundry list of all of those Trump opponents who've now 230 00:13:13.159 --> 00:13:16.960 been subject to some type of legal action from DJ 231 00:13:17.320 --> 00:13:20.000 or law enforcement at a different level. You know, James 232 00:13:20.039 --> 00:13:24.200 Comy and Jack Smith and Fannie Willis and Letitia James 233 00:13:24.360 --> 00:13:28.080 and Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. And 234 00:13:28.519 --> 00:13:32.440 so I don't embrace the law being used in either 235 00:13:32.559 --> 00:13:35.440 of those cases. But to your point, for laying it 236 00:13:35.559 --> 00:13:39.080 out both for and against Trump, forur and against all 237 00:13:39.120 --> 00:13:43.399 of those opponents, people went, you know, batshit on Saturday 238 00:13:43.440 --> 00:13:46.320 and then on radio because they just don't understand that 239 00:13:46.440 --> 00:13:48.320 someone is willing to be critical of both. 240 00:13:48.960 --> 00:13:51.639 Yeah, and that's that's what happened. Look, I was one 241 00:13:51.679 --> 00:13:55.080 of those people that law fair was not just instituted 242 00:13:55.120 --> 00:13:58.799 against once, but actually twice and ended up doing prison 243 00:13:58.919 --> 00:14:01.080 time for it. I actually wanted to talk about for 244 00:14:01.159 --> 00:14:05.200 a second party stewardship, or let's just say the lack thereof. 245 00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:09.320 I myself have been extremely critical of Ken Martin for 246 00:14:09.440 --> 00:14:12.720 a long time when he took over the DNC, which 247 00:14:12.799 --> 00:14:15.480 felt to me like swapping out I don't know one 248 00:14:15.639 --> 00:14:21.320 bumbling visionalist idiot in Jamie Harrison for another. How is 249 00:14:21.360 --> 00:14:25.399 it possible that a party that represents almost fifty million 250 00:14:25.480 --> 00:14:30.840 Americans cannot produce a single transformational leader with a clear, 251 00:14:31.200 --> 00:14:34.639 compelling vision to literally pull them out of the tailspin? 252 00:14:35.720 --> 00:14:37.120 I thought you were going to say something else. 253 00:14:37.159 --> 00:14:38.600 I thought you were going to say, how can a 254 00:14:38.679 --> 00:14:43.000 party in a midterm election where historically, I think only 255 00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:46.320 twice since World War Two and the midterms come every 256 00:14:47.000 --> 00:14:48.399 two years, every four years. 257 00:14:48.480 --> 00:14:48.879 Pardon me? 258 00:14:49.639 --> 00:14:55.039 How could they be so underwater financially? And what happened 259 00:14:55.080 --> 00:14:58.840 to the odutopsy. There's an interesting story today about how 260 00:14:59.399 --> 00:15:01.360 maybe there was and maybe there wasn't. The New York 261 00:15:01.399 --> 00:15:04.759 Post has it a missing chapter that talked about some 262 00:15:05.120 --> 00:15:09.120 of President Biden's issues. I think they're trying to hurd 263 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:12.799 too many cats, you know, and parties don't strive to 264 00:15:12.879 --> 00:15:15.240 be the party of the big tent anymore. Maybe that's 265 00:15:15.279 --> 00:15:16.519 what the Democratic Party is. 266 00:15:16.919 --> 00:15:17.679 Is seeking to do. 267 00:15:18.200 --> 00:15:21.279 I just I see a situation where they could shoot 268 00:15:21.320 --> 00:15:25.399 themselves in the political foot because they yield too much 269 00:15:25.519 --> 00:15:30.159 power to individuals at too far and extreme. But time's 270 00:15:30.200 --> 00:15:34.120 gonna tell. We're gonna find out something tomorrow in Michigan. 271 00:15:34.200 --> 00:15:37.600 We're gonna find out more in Wisconsin. We'll see what 272 00:15:37.720 --> 00:15:41.480 happens in the midterm, and then what do what do 273 00:15:41.720 --> 00:15:46.000 the Rama Manuels and the Josh Shapiroes do as compared 274 00:15:46.039 --> 00:15:50.320 to the AOC and Rocanna and Bernie end of the party. 275 00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:53.399 I'm really interested to see how that plays out. 276 00:15:53.799 --> 00:15:56.080 Yeah, you and me both, So Michael, answer me this 277 00:15:56.279 --> 00:16:00.440 double standard. If you go on television and you blast 278 00:16:00.480 --> 00:16:05.639 Donald Trump, You get showered with praise, viral clips, subscriber counts, 279 00:16:05.919 --> 00:16:10.440 media applause, yay, Smarcanish right. But the second you agree 280 00:16:10.519 --> 00:16:15.240 with him on even one logical policy, the cancel culture 281 00:16:15.320 --> 00:16:18.879 machine they ramp up to destroy you. How did we 282 00:16:19.039 --> 00:16:22.320 get to a point where agreeing on basic facts across 283 00:16:22.440 --> 00:16:26.759 the aisle is treated as treason? And more importantly, how 284 00:16:26.799 --> 00:16:31.279 does this atmosphere do anything but strangle free thought and 285 00:16:31.440 --> 00:16:33.279 damage the American democracy? 286 00:16:34.120 --> 00:16:38.879 Okay, methinks you're getting blasted from the left these days, 287 00:16:39.440 --> 00:16:41.799 which is why, which is why you're. 288 00:16:41.519 --> 00:16:42.440 Asking this question? 289 00:16:42.679 --> 00:16:46.559 And I guess I guess it's because they viewed you 290 00:16:46.720 --> 00:16:49.720 as being a kindred spirit and didn't recognize that you 291 00:16:49.919 --> 00:16:54.720 choose to be more independently minded. And there's sort of 292 00:16:54.840 --> 00:16:58.759 a blind trust that's anticipated these days. You've got to 293 00:16:58.799 --> 00:17:01.440 be one hundred percent on our team or you're not 294 00:17:01.639 --> 00:17:02.200 on our team. 295 00:17:02.399 --> 00:17:04.319 I reject that. I'll tell you something. 296 00:17:04.759 --> 00:17:07.880 One of the highest compliments ever paid to me was 297 00:17:07.960 --> 00:17:10.519 by Bill Maher, who when we were together when I 298 00:17:10.559 --> 00:17:13.759 did his show, said to me, you have no team, 299 00:17:14.519 --> 00:17:16.839 and I knew exactly how he meant it as a 300 00:17:16.920 --> 00:17:17.720 compliment that you. 301 00:17:17.720 --> 00:17:20.480 Don't feel the need to suit up in one. 302 00:17:20.440 --> 00:17:23.799 Jersey red or blue, and that's just not what the 303 00:17:23.960 --> 00:17:28.599 norm is in the media, and people have grown accustomed to, 304 00:17:29.119 --> 00:17:32.920 you know, it's like Pavlov's dog, always getting their reward 305 00:17:33.200 --> 00:17:35.400 on both ends of the spectrum, and the minute that 306 00:17:35.480 --> 00:17:38.119 they don't, they you know, they they want to toss 307 00:17:38.200 --> 00:17:39.599 you out as being a turncoat. 308 00:17:39.799 --> 00:17:40.759 That's the best I can do. 309 00:17:41.440 --> 00:17:44.039 Yeah, that's what I get cold. If I just got 310 00:17:44.160 --> 00:17:48.119 called a turncoat. I'm f static because that's not the 311 00:17:48.279 --> 00:17:52.680 terms that they use. Now I hear question, Mike, last question, 312 00:17:52.799 --> 00:17:55.200 because finally I want to throw out the talking points 313 00:17:55.240 --> 00:17:58.000 and I want to get right to the raw, uncomfortable 314 00:17:58.160 --> 00:18:02.279 core of this entire political circus. So, Mike again, look 315 00:18:02.359 --> 00:18:06.599 at my track record when Congress called. I didn't hide 316 00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:10.640 behind legal contortions or plead the fifth one hundred and 317 00:18:10.680 --> 00:18:15.240 eleven times like doctor FOUCHI did. I showed up. I 318 00:18:15.519 --> 00:18:19.559 honored my legal subpoenas, and I gave direct answers under 319 00:18:19.680 --> 00:18:24.160 oath to every single question. And remember I did seven 320 00:18:24.319 --> 00:18:29.079 of those congressional hearings like thousands of questions. And recently, 321 00:18:29.400 --> 00:18:32.759 after an eight year feud, what I do, I reconciled 322 00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:36.519 with a friend of fifteen years. Mind you, again, as 323 00:18:36.559 --> 00:18:39.480 I said before, I have not changed a single one 324 00:18:39.720 --> 00:18:44.039 of my core principles. Where I agree, I agree. Where 325 00:18:44.119 --> 00:18:48.200 I disagree, I disagree just like you do. That's called 326 00:18:48.400 --> 00:18:51.319 being an adult. And yet again, the second that you 327 00:18:51.400 --> 00:18:56.000 step outside that partisan script, the media, the medium machine 328 00:18:56.079 --> 00:18:59.920 turns on you. So here's my final most explosive question 329 00:19:00.039 --> 00:19:03.720 and feel have we both been useful idiots in a 330 00:19:03.839 --> 00:19:08.240 rigged game where not the party actually wants resolution because 331 00:19:08.359 --> 00:19:13.000 keeping Americans terrified, furious, and forced into these I don't know, 332 00:19:13.160 --> 00:19:17.119 rigid partisan camps is the only way that both sides 333 00:19:17.200 --> 00:19:20.480 maintain their ratings, their money, and their control. 334 00:19:21.839 --> 00:19:25.200 I don't believe that the American people and I have dated. 335 00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:28.079 To back this up, I'll give you one citation. It's 336 00:19:28.160 --> 00:19:32.400 Morris Fiorina's book which is called Unstable Majorities, which he 337 00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:35.519 recently updated. There has not been a shift in the 338 00:19:35.640 --> 00:19:39.160 last fifty seventy five years in terms of where the 339 00:19:39.240 --> 00:19:42.200 American people stand. People are pretty much where they were 340 00:19:42.319 --> 00:19:45.359 on the size of the societal safety net, how we 341 00:19:45.400 --> 00:19:49.119 should defend the country, abortion or guns, just hasn't been 342 00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:54.039 a significant shift. More accepting, perhaps of same sex marriage. 343 00:19:54.119 --> 00:19:57.240 But with very few exceptions, we haven't had a dramatic shift. 344 00:19:57.440 --> 00:20:01.400 What we have had is party sorted. The parties have 345 00:20:01.519 --> 00:20:05.200 become much more doctrinaire in their leadership and so to 346 00:20:05.480 --> 00:20:09.039 the media, and they have this symbiotic relationship where they 347 00:20:09.200 --> 00:20:13.799 keep one another in power, largely in closed primary states 348 00:20:13.880 --> 00:20:17.119 like yours and mine, where they get to determine who 349 00:20:17.160 --> 00:20:20.079 will win by determining who's going to win the primary. 350 00:20:20.480 --> 00:20:25.359 So there's a financial incentive baked in to preclude the 351 00:20:25.480 --> 00:20:28.160 type of independence that you are now showing. 352 00:20:28.519 --> 00:20:32.160 That's the answer, you know, because again going back to 353 00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:35.640 now Ken Martin, and it was the same thing under 354 00:20:35.759 --> 00:20:39.400 Jamie Harrison. Yes, I heard from them almost on a 355 00:20:39.519 --> 00:20:42.880 daily basis. Actually, let me rephrase that I heard from 356 00:20:42.960 --> 00:20:46.920 them multiple times a day. But not with ads that 357 00:20:47.039 --> 00:20:51.519 would show a political point. Not with an ad that 358 00:20:51.759 --> 00:20:56.559 would talk about something that all Americans right now except 359 00:20:56.640 --> 00:21:00.720 for the uber wealthy, of concern about paying mortgages, groceries, 360 00:21:00.839 --> 00:21:06.799 gasoline affordability, etc. Now I would get the text message, 361 00:21:06.839 --> 00:21:09.319 and I know you get them to the text messages, 362 00:21:09.400 --> 00:21:14.599 the emails, Hey, Michael Smerconish just raised a million dollars 363 00:21:14.680 --> 00:21:18.640 wear behind him. Send eighteen dollars, twenty five dollars fifty 364 00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:22.799 I would get those three four times a day. That's 365 00:21:23.039 --> 00:21:27.960 all that. Like Ken Martins, you don't win elections off 366 00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:30.440 of how much money you raise. I tell you that 367 00:21:30.559 --> 00:21:32.880 there are people that make a ton of money off 368 00:21:32.920 --> 00:21:36.000 of it. But that's not where elections are won and lost. 369 00:21:36.279 --> 00:21:40.960 It's with an ideology and standing to principle. And you 370 00:21:41.039 --> 00:21:42.799 know what, I don't see that coming out of the 371 00:21:42.839 --> 00:21:46.799 Democratic Party. And I do truly believe that they are 372 00:21:47.039 --> 00:21:52.720 handing Republicans the greatest gift that any Republican can ask for, 373 00:21:53.160 --> 00:21:55.599 and that is to keep doing what they're doing, keep 374 00:21:55.759 --> 00:22:01.400 backing these Democratic socials like Graham Platner away from the 375 00:22:01.720 --> 00:22:05.160 Democratic Party as again, the son of a Holocaust survivor. 376 00:22:05.519 --> 00:22:09.319 I could not, I could not stomach watching people like 377 00:22:09.440 --> 00:22:13.200 Bernie Sanders, AOC or even like the Chuck Schmuck Schumers. 378 00:22:13.400 --> 00:22:15.839 Go ahead, raise this guy's hand as if he is 379 00:22:15.920 --> 00:22:18.240 the next coming of the Democratic Party. 380 00:22:18.359 --> 00:22:22.319 God, he should have been done. He should have been 381 00:22:22.359 --> 00:22:26.960 done with the tattoo. But you know, there are the 382 00:22:27.240 --> 00:22:32.359 antipathy and hatred of President Trump in some quarters. They're blind, 383 00:22:32.640 --> 00:22:34.839 They're just blind. They want a fighter. They want someone 384 00:22:34.920 --> 00:22:37.960 they perceive as being willing to knee him in the groin, 385 00:22:38.640 --> 00:22:42.000 and consequently they hung in for far too long with him, 386 00:22:42.039 --> 00:22:45.119 and I think cemented Susan Collins's position. 387 00:22:45.440 --> 00:22:47.319 That's what I think in that case. 388 00:22:47.839 --> 00:22:50.440 You know, we've actually watched them try to kick Trump 389 00:22:50.920 --> 00:22:53.559 many many times. They've tried to kneecap them, kick them 390 00:22:53.559 --> 00:22:56.000 in the nuts, whatever it might be. They've tried it. 391 00:22:56.160 --> 00:22:59.839 It hasn't worked. Maybe maybe it's time for them to 392 00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:03.519 take a different strategy. Maybe they should start concentrating again 393 00:23:03.680 --> 00:23:09.000 on the kitchen table issues that Americans are concerned about, 394 00:23:09.279 --> 00:23:13.599 instead of their platform being I hate Trump, Let's go 395 00:23:13.759 --> 00:23:17.559 after Trump. Let's win by being the anti Trump party. 396 00:23:17.920 --> 00:23:20.720 Well, I think work. It might work in the midterms. 397 00:23:21.200 --> 00:23:23.559 It might work in the midterms because passion is going 398 00:23:23.640 --> 00:23:26.880 to drive who comes out in an off presidential year election. 399 00:23:27.319 --> 00:23:30.119 It won't work in twenty twenty eight. There's going to 400 00:23:30.160 --> 00:23:32.680 be a lot to parse and analyze when this midterm 401 00:23:32.799 --> 00:23:33.720