Speaker 1: Live from the heart of the nation's capital, this is
Speaker 1: a Jim Acosta Show special report.
Speaker 2: All right, welcome to the Jim Acosta Show. It's another
Speaker 2: day that ends in Y in Donald Trump's assault on
Speaker 2: American democracy. Trump is interfering in the midterms as we speak.
Speaker 2: It's happening right now. His administration is trying to block
Speaker 2: mail-in ballots from reaching voters via the post office. And
Speaker 2: much more than that, let's discuss with Mary Trump. Mary,
Speaker 2: it's great to see you, as always.
Speaker 3: Jim, it's great to be here.
Speaker 4: I love hanging out with you.
Speaker 3: And yeah, a thing or two happening on this day.
Speaker 1: A thing or two happening, no question about it.
Speaker 2: And I mean, I'm, you know, the election stuff, and
Speaker 2: I want to get into Natalie Harp and the way
Speaker 2: he's been losing it lately, Kennedy Center and so on.
Speaker 2: But this election stuff, I really am concerned because we've
Speaker 2: already been through this, you know, this whole, this idea that, oh,
Speaker 2: you know, the way it's covered in legacy media, you know,
Speaker 2: as if, you know, this is something that may occur
Speaker 2: or it's something that he's threatening to do or warning.
Speaker 2: He may, he's doing it like he's doing it. And
Speaker 2: I think everybody's being too cautious in saying it. What's
Speaker 2: been your observation of this? How worried are you about,
Speaker 2: about these upcoming midterms?
Speaker 3: I've been worried about Donald's willingness to cheat and steal
Speaker 3: elections since 2016, because he's, so deluded himself into believing
Speaker 3: that he deserves to win, that he's perfectly comfortable cheating
Speaker 3: in order to do so. And as we know, the
Speaker 3: only way this guy ever does win is by cheating.
Speaker 3: So we should all be concerned. As you said, it's
Speaker 3: not like this is new. The writing has been on
Speaker 3: the wall for a very long time, and especially since 2020.
Speaker 3: with the big lie and the insurrection. How much more
Speaker 3: evidence do we need that Donald Trump is capable of
Speaker 3: doing whatever it takes in order to stay in power?
Speaker 3: And the thing about the mail-in voting that's particularly concerning
Speaker 3: is because it affects all elections. Now, gerrymandering, partisan gerrymandering,
Speaker 3: racist gerrymandering, those are all very bad things, but they
Speaker 3: can affect statewide or federal elections. Mail-in voting can, And
Speaker 3: it's just an indication that Donald knows that without this assist,
Speaker 3: this fraudulent assist, his party will lose. And that is
Speaker 3: not going to end well for him. So, of course,
Speaker 3: he's going to pull out all the stops. And, of course,
Speaker 3: the corrupt, illegitimate Supreme Court is going to help him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, that's the scary thing about it.
Speaker 2: And judges are, I mean, I also have a problem
Speaker 2: with the judicial system and the way the judges in
Speaker 2: the Supreme Court have been behaving. I mean, this judge
Speaker 2: today lifted an order that had blocked the administration from
Speaker 2: carrying out these efforts. This is the New York Times.
Speaker 2: The Postal Service can for now move ahead with plans
Speaker 2: to restrict mail-in voting ahead of the midterm elections in
Speaker 2: November after a federal judge lifted an order that had
Speaker 2: blocked it from carrying out Trump administration efforts. The judge
Speaker 2: wrote that she felt compelled to act in response to
Speaker 2: a ruling from the Supreme Court on Monday that that
Speaker 2: the action by the courts was premature. And, you know,
Speaker 2: I mean, under the plan, the Postal Service would not
Speaker 2: deliver mail ballots in states that do not share voter
Speaker 2: data with the agency and.
Speaker 1: Would deliver only ballots that meet certain criteria.
Speaker 2: And, you know, just this week, Mary, the Supreme Court
Speaker 2: basically lied about Trump's intentions. You know, they lifted this
Speaker 2: lower court stay of the executive order on the mail
Speaker 2: and ballot stuff.
Speaker 1: And it begins with a lie.
Speaker 2: The ruling from the Supreme Court begins with, it says,
Speaker 2: about five months ago, President Trump issued an executive order
Speaker 2: designed to maintain public confidence in federal elections.
Speaker 1: That's not true.
Speaker 5: He doesn't.
Speaker 2: It says he issued an executive order regarding election integrity.
Speaker 2: He doesn't care about election integrity. He cares about elections
Speaker 2: being tilted in his favor.
Speaker 3: Yeah. And apparently the aforementioned corrupt illegitimate supermajority only cares
Speaker 3: about that, too. don't care about the Constitution. Donald's never
Speaker 3: read it. It is in the Constitution that elections are
Speaker 3: run by states. The federal government has no role here.
Speaker 3: And just to make it as simple as possible, Donald
Speaker 3: votes by mail.
Speaker 6: Right.
Speaker 3: It just, the hypocrisy and the willingness of the Roberts
Speaker 3: court to bend over backwards to give Donald an assist
Speaker 3: is bordering on the grotesque at this point.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I was asking the other day, who's the biggest super
Speaker 2: fan of Donald Trump? Is it Natalie Harp or is
Speaker 2: it Chief Justice John Roberts? I mean, you know, they're
Speaker 2: both in serious competition with one another.
Speaker 3: And Roberts has done much more to help out Donald
Speaker 3: Trump than Natalie Harbaugh.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's no question about it. And, you know, I mean,
Speaker 2: there's example after example. Again, not to harp on this.
Speaker 1: Hello.
Speaker 2: Using ICE as a weapon against voting. You know, there's
Speaker 2: a Republican nominee for governor in Maine today.
Speaker 1: Total supporters.
Speaker 2: He plans to ask Homeland Security to send ICE to
Speaker 2: polling places in Maine before the midterms. Washington Post has
Speaker 2: a story today. Trump is threatening to election arrest election officials.
Speaker 2: And I mean, it goes on and on and on.
Speaker 2: It's it's this is what I want people to understand.
Speaker 2: It's happening right now. It's already started.
Speaker 4: Absolutely.
Speaker 3: And it would be malpractice for governors and blue states
Speaker 3: or Democratic governors not to be taking this seriously and
Speaker 3: not to have a plan in place. I mean, the
Speaker 3: good news is that that Democratic AGs meet regularly to
Speaker 3: discuss make sure that they do whatever they can to
Speaker 3: protect their state's elections. So that should make us all
Speaker 3: feel better. But I think that governors who have a
Speaker 3: massive amount of power, and we forget that sometimes, states
Speaker 3: are sovereign. And Democratic governors could make sure that they
Speaker 3: counter any ICE presence with the National Guard, for example.
Speaker 3: And just to make sure that there is no violence
Speaker 3: and there is no voter intimidation, which is exactly... what
Speaker 3: will happen if ICE is allowed to show up to
Speaker 3: polling places in Democratic cities unchallenged. Yeah.
Speaker 2: No, and states have state police forces. I mean, I
Speaker 2: think that you could just have a couple of squad
Speaker 2: cars in certain locations and just say, hey, you know,
Speaker 2: we're keeping, you're keeping an eye on us. We're keeping
Speaker 2: an eye on you. You know, I mentioned Natalie Harp.
Speaker 2: Let's talk about this because Mary, you and I haven't
Speaker 2: had a chance to speak in a while. We've seen
Speaker 2: Donald go through this over the years where he collects
Speaker 2: these aides who get super.
Speaker 1: Clingy with him.
Speaker 2: Natalie Harp seems to have like blown all of them
Speaker 2: out of the water in her clinginess. And I mean,
Speaker 2: just over the weekend, they had this big race here
Speaker 2: in Washington, which they, where they spent a whole bunch
Speaker 2: of money. And I guess not a lot of people
Speaker 2: turned out, but Melania turned out the first lady showed
Speaker 2: up out of nowhere. We haven't seen her in a while.
Speaker 2: We have some video of this. She looked really pissed
Speaker 2: with Trump. I'm sure you saw this.
Speaker 1: She did not look happy.
Speaker 2: And I guess maybe she was not happy that she
Speaker 2: had to make an appearance as part of her deal
Speaker 2: with Donald there. But what do you make of this
Speaker 2: whole Natalie Harp fiasco? We haven't had a chance to
Speaker 2: talk about it.
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, obviously, Melania only shows up if she's
Speaker 3: handsomely paid. And that's probably where most of the money
Speaker 3: went to get her there. But I think the Natalie
Speaker 3: Harp situation is of a piece with Donald's general decline.
Speaker 3: It makes him look like such a pathetic, frail, needy
Speaker 3: old man that he has to have a woman young
Speaker 3: enough to be his granddaughter constantly with him, protecting him,
Speaker 3: making sure that he sees positive press clippings about him,
Speaker 3: positive articles, most of which are probably fictional. it's a
Speaker 3: very bad look for him. And it also shows you that,
Speaker 3: you know, probably not in the not too distant past,
Speaker 3: somebody like that would have been too much even for him,
Speaker 3: but because he's so in so much trouble and he
Speaker 3: is really lashing out and is really desperate to change
Speaker 3: the narrative. And his, his ego is being threatened at
Speaker 3: every turn. He needs somebody, constantly filling his head with
Speaker 3: compliments and positive messages. And she fits the bill, I
Speaker 3: have to say that.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And this is more than what we've witnessed in the past,
Speaker 2: it seems, what she's doing, it seems.
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, it's extreme. It's over the top. And again,
Speaker 3: it looks terrible. Like I personally, I don't care what
Speaker 3: the contours of their relationship are. I really don't care. Clearly,
Speaker 3: she's somebody who needs help, though. What I do care about, besides, again,
Speaker 3: the fact that it's just another example of how far
Speaker 3: gone he is, she presents a very real national security
Speaker 3: threat to the United States of America, all because the
Speaker 3: president is a flailing, failing old man whose ego is fragile.
Speaker 3: That's the most alarming.
Speaker 4: Thing about her.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And I mean, there are signs of decline all over.
Speaker 2: I mean, the way he's lashing out about the Kennedy
Speaker 2: Center now. they're threatening to demolish the Kennedy Center if
Speaker 2: they don't put his name back up there.
Speaker 1: He's lashing out at the Canadians.
Speaker 2: You know, it sort of reminds me of Grandpa Simpson
Speaker 2: shaking his fist at the moon at the moon or
Speaker 2: the clouds or.
Speaker 1: Whatever it was.
Speaker 2: And, you know, he's got these true social posts that
Speaker 2: he's going to rename again. Lake Ontario, Lake America, and
Speaker 2: nobody's going to go along with that. Sort of like
Speaker 2: when your, your crazy uncle makes, you know, stupid racist
Speaker 2: jokes at the, at the Thanksgiving dinner table.
Speaker 1: And everybody just kind of like, you know, does one
Speaker 1: of these things. Oh, geez. You know, I can't wait
Speaker 1: for this, this dinner to be over. So we can
Speaker 1: all go home. He's acting like that guy. Well, yes.
Speaker 3: Well aware.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. And I mentioned uncle. So that was my.
Speaker 3: Whole family at Thanksgiving, actually. So, But it's getting worse, obviously.
Speaker 3: And he is. He is that guy shaking his fist
Speaker 3: at the clouds. But really what he's shaking his fist
Speaker 3: at is reality because he has completely lost control of
Speaker 3: this narrative. And people are beginning to see that there's
Speaker 3: no need to capitulate to this profoundly weak person. There
Speaker 3: is no reason to go along with his rantings and
Speaker 3: his ravings Because not only do they make him look bad,
Speaker 3: they make his supporters and enablers look bad. So you
Speaker 3: know that you've lost the plot when cattle ranchers have
Speaker 3: turned against you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, it's so true.
Speaker 2: I mean, everybody is mad at him right now. 47
Speaker 2: states and the District of Columbia. Apparently he's underwater in
Speaker 2: all of those places. But, you know, one of the
Speaker 2: features of Donald Trump, Mary, and this is not really age.
Speaker 1: Relative is the way he will throw people under the bus.
Speaker 2: And he's got, there was a true social post where he,
Speaker 2: he retweeted somebody saying that, you know, the GOP doesn't
Speaker 2: understand how badly they're screwing things up. I don't think
Speaker 2: the GOP fully grasps how badly they're fucking up right now.
Speaker 1: Trump put that on his true social.
Speaker 4: Well, that's, that's the way to message it, right? Hey,
Speaker 4: thank you, Donald.
Speaker 3: That's actually really helpful. And it's, what's interesting is, What's
Speaker 3: what's the rationale for thinking that? Because the truth of
Speaker 3: the matter is the ways in which the Republicans are
Speaker 3: fucking up by is by continuing to be completely 100
Speaker 3: percent behind him every step of the way, even though
Speaker 3: he got rid of two incumbents who easily would have
Speaker 3: won reelection and he installed Darlene Nordone, who is likely
Speaker 3: to lose against a far superior Democratic candidate, Annie Andrews,
Speaker 3: in South Carolina. So that's the way in which they're
Speaker 3: fucking up, not by doing anything that he could objectively
Speaker 3: object to.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Darlene, you know, she doesn't know about national security.
Speaker 1: She doesn't know anything about it. She admitted that during
Speaker 1: a debate. Okay, you know, good luck with that.
Speaker 2: But, you know, the funny thing about, you know, Trump
Speaker 2: throwing the entire Republican Party under the bus is, is that,
Speaker 2: I mean, he is the one that is, you know,
Speaker 2: is largely, I mean, he is 100% responsible for where
Speaker 2: we are as a country right now. He put up
Speaker 2: a Truth Social post declaring mission accomplished with Iran. I mean,
Speaker 2: this is also the detachment from reality thing.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 1: He's making fun of Bush.
Speaker 2: For the mission accomplished thing, mission not accomplished. And he has,
Speaker 2: this says mission accomplished 2026 with Iran. Nobody thinks it's
Speaker 2: mission accomplished. Zero people think that.
Speaker 3: No, well, we're still at war. So, yeah. And tell
Speaker 3: that to the sailors of the USS Lincoln.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: It's an interesting strategy. But I think this is this
Speaker 3: is also part of what will eventually be his undoing. Now,
Speaker 3: strong men, people like Donald, who have always gotten their
Speaker 3: way and who have successfully used the strategy of humiliation
Speaker 3: to co-opt people and gain power over them. can only
Speaker 3: do that if they still are in control. And I
Speaker 3: think he's just used to that. And to be fair,
Speaker 3: Republicans have let him get away with it. They stay
Speaker 3: in line, even though he humiliates them all the time.
Speaker 3: Even people like J.D. Vance, you know, it's one of
Speaker 3: his favorite hobbies that he learned from my grandfather. But
Speaker 3: as his grasp of reality and his grasp on power weakens,
Speaker 3: they're not going to sit still for it anymore. I mean,
Speaker 3: we're seeing this with our allies. We're seeing this with
Speaker 3: universities who aren't caving in and bending the knee automatically anymore.
Speaker 3: So I think we're going to see a steady stream
Speaker 3: of Republicans also starting to push back.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And Fred Trump, he enjoyed a good humiliation ritual.
Speaker 1: Is that Yes.
Speaker 3: Next to money, my grandfather's favorite thing was humiliating people
Speaker 3: who were weaker and less powerful than he was.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree
Speaker 1: in that regard, it seems. Yeah.
Speaker 4: This one did not.
Speaker 1: This one did not.
Speaker 2: The other thing that, Mary, we should talk about, too, is,
Speaker 2: and I don't know, I should have asked you what
Speaker 2: your thoughts were ahead of time on this.
Speaker 1: We'll just do it.
Speaker 2: The way he has been picking on the trans community,
Speaker 2: the way he has been picking on trans kids, I'm
Speaker 2: old enough to remember when Donald Trump used to try
Speaker 2: to appeal to the LGBTQ community as a Republican, even
Speaker 2: though we knew he wasn't a Republican way back then.
Speaker 2: And the way these days he just totally picks on
Speaker 2: vulnerable people in the trans community, to me, it's one
Speaker 2: of the more disgusting things that I've seen take place
Speaker 2: during the second administration. It's not covered enough because I
Speaker 2: don't think our legacy media, national media, I don't think,
Speaker 2: I don't, I was doing a Google search.
Speaker 1: They don't know how to cover it. And I guess
Speaker 1: there's a, he was at this event. What was it
Speaker 1: yesterday in the Rose garden? His hair looked super weird,
Speaker 1: by the way. I don't know what you think. Maybe
Speaker 1: we can talk about it. His hair looks so weird,
Speaker 1: but he was talking about this.
Speaker 6: In reading and math that was under the last administration.
Speaker 6: Under the Trump administration, we're systematically ending every single one
Speaker 6: of these radical left betrayals, and we're putting the parents
Speaker 6: back in charge.
Speaker 1: They're the ones that love our children. They're the ones
Speaker 1: that should be in charge.
Speaker 6: So immediately upon taking office, I signed an executive order
Speaker 6: to ban critical race theory and to ban transgender ideology
Speaker 6: from public schools. That was a big deal. We banned
Speaker 6: men from playing in women's sports. That was so easy
Speaker 6: to do. I don't get it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, some of this stuff is gross. I
Speaker 2: don't want to play it too long, but he does.
Speaker 2: It's almost like his favorite campaign thing now that he
Speaker 2: talks about.
Speaker 1: Your thoughts on this?
Speaker 3: Well, unfortunately, this stuff works. Republicans are very good at
Speaker 3: crafting these kinds of vile, divisive messages. And, you know,
Speaker 3: they almost always do. to target the most vulnerable among us.
Speaker 3: We just need to look at how they've treated and
Speaker 3: talked about immigrants. Now, here's the thing. I agree with
Speaker 3: you that Donald is largely responsible for many of the
Speaker 3: horrors that we're living through, but he couldn't have done
Speaker 3: it without his enablers in Congress and on the Supreme
Speaker 3: Court and throughout the judiciary. This is not his idea.
Speaker 3: He didn't come up with this stuff Somebody else did.
Speaker 3: And it works.
Speaker 4: It tracks.
Speaker 3: And shame on anybody who actually believes this vile nonsense.
Speaker 3: Trans people make up less than 1% of the population
Speaker 3: of the United States of America. Imagine what tiny percentage
Speaker 3: of those are children who want to play sports.
Speaker 4: With their friends.
Speaker 3: So they are endangering the lives, the physical and mental
Speaker 3: wellbeing of children, all to get people's votes by instilling
Speaker 3: completely unreasonable fear in their base. And it is so
Speaker 3: horrifying to witness this and watch it not be covered
Speaker 3: at all, or when it is covered, not covered properly.
Speaker 3: not to make it clear to people just what a
Speaker 3: non-issue this always was. Trans people have always existed.
Speaker 4: This is not new.
Speaker 3: So this was never an issue before. And then to
Speaker 3: have the president of the United States make up the
Speaker 3: most insane lies about schools, giving people gender surgery. It's
Speaker 3: maddening that anybody in their right mind would believe it
Speaker 3: and that it's been allowed to take root. Um, and I,
Speaker 3: I don't know. I, I just, it's shameful.
Speaker 1: It is shameful. And you know what?
Speaker 2: You make a great point, Mary, and that this did
Speaker 2: not originate in his head. Um, and the way he
Speaker 2: stupidly lies about it is, is kind of, kind of
Speaker 2: makes that point because he, he, it's so stupid and
Speaker 2: it's so outlandish and it's so exaggerated beyond the pale
Speaker 2: that it, it, it's.
Speaker 1: Laughable how dumb it is.
Speaker 2: It would be laughable if it wasn't so horribly tragic. And,
Speaker 2: you know, there are so many people in the very
Speaker 2: culturally conservative MAGA community who should be holding their heads
Speaker 2: in shame over this because they're the ones who put
Speaker 2: those talking points in his head.
Speaker 1: There's no question about it.
Speaker 2: And, you know, they must sit around the table, you know,
Speaker 2: one of the tables at the White House and gin
Speaker 2: up how, you know, they can rake the trans community
Speaker 2: over the coals and rake vulnerable communities over the coals
Speaker 2: for political gain.
Speaker 1: And it is, it's disgusting.
Speaker 5: It is.
Speaker 1: And he uses them. He uses them, by the way.
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah. And they use him, I guess.
Speaker 3: Because, you know, I think, I think that the deal
Speaker 3: with the devil has been As long as Donald has
Speaker 3: power and as long as he's able to steal as
Speaker 3: much money from the American people as he wants and
Speaker 3: grift as much as he wants, the Nazis like Stephen
Speaker 3: Miller can come up with whatever cruel policies they want
Speaker 3: and Donald will sign off on them. I think that's
Speaker 3: pretty much where we are. He doesn't care. He doesn't
Speaker 3: care about other human beings. He doesn't care what the
Speaker 3: impact of these horrible policies are. might be, he doesn't care.
Speaker 3: So as long as he gets what he wants, and
Speaker 3: that is truly what we're dealing with right now. It's
Speaker 3: like the entirety of the United States government right now
Speaker 3: is in service to protecting his ego and to making
Speaker 3: him and his useless children rich while the other people
Speaker 3: in his inner circle inflict such extraordinary damage to our
Speaker 3: country and the people in it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: It is astounding.
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, when I saw Jared Kushner meeting
Speaker 2: with Hakeem Jeffries the other day, I mean, I was like,
Speaker 2: wait a minute, what is going on here? It is
Speaker 2: astounding how the kids have resurfaced in this White House.
Speaker 2: I remember when Jared and Ivanka, they ran off into hiding.
Speaker 2: They secluded themselves and they didn't want to go in
Speaker 2: front of the cameras and they wouldn't go to New
Speaker 2: York anymore. And now Jared Kushner's brother's buying the Lakers
Speaker 2: and Melania and Jared want to buy an island and
Speaker 2: Jared's meeting with Hakeem.
Speaker 1: It's kind of sickening to see that come back, too,
Speaker 1: I will say.
Speaker 2: And Don and Donnie and Eric making all that money in.
Speaker 1: A ridiculously corrupt way.
Speaker 4: It's all corrupt.
Speaker 1: And barren.
Speaker 3: What 19-year-old doesn't have the business savvy to make $ 200
Speaker 3: million a year?
Speaker 4: Like, truly. Yeah, it's disgusting. It's despicable.
Speaker 3: And again, wouldn't be happening if we had a functioning government,
Speaker 3: which we clearly don't. It is not a good thing
Speaker 3: to have Jared Kushner or any of Donald's useless children
Speaker 3: involved in anything. And what Jeffrey did is inexplicable to me.
Speaker 3: Jared is not a member of this government. He doesn't
Speaker 3: have a job in this government. And he's one of
Speaker 3: the people who needs to be held accountable. So basically
Speaker 3: what Jeffrey is signaling here is that when and if
Speaker 3: the Democrats regain power, people like Jared Kushner are going
Speaker 3: to have a say in how we work things out. No,
Speaker 3: I it's mind boggling to me that you would do
Speaker 3: anything to legitimize or normalize or empower somebody as vile
Speaker 3: and traitorous as Jared Kushner.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: But it is happening.
Speaker 2: And I think Hakeem Jeffries maybe touched the hot stove
Speaker 2: and he learned his lesson.
Speaker 1: And we'll see.
Speaker 2: We'll see how that plays out. But when you bring
Speaker 2: up the kids, it's extraordinary because they had all– I
Speaker 2: remember watching Don and Eric and Ivanka. They were all
Speaker 2: crying at that farewell ceremony to Donald Trump when he
Speaker 2: left office in disgrace the first time around.
Speaker 1: I was there at Joint Base Andrews.
Speaker 2: And the way they've all come back and just made
Speaker 2: a fortune to me, that– books could be written on that.
Speaker 1: It's just, it's, it's, it's totally insane. Yeah.
Speaker 3: And it's all been allowed to happen by other people.
Speaker 1: No question.
Speaker 2: Chiefly the Republicans in Congress who won't investigate it at all. Mary,
Speaker 2: great to see you. Thank you so much for coming
Speaker 2: on and wonderful to catch up.
Speaker 4: Thanks Jim. This is always great.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Thanks Mary.
Speaker 3: All right.
Speaker 1: Take care. Good to see you.
Speaker 2: The other person I've been wanting, I've been dying to
Speaker 2: talk to all week is somebody we profiled last year.
Speaker 2: when she was fired by the Washington Post wrongly for
Speaker 2: simply offering her views on Charlie Kirk. This week, she's
Speaker 2: been reinstated by an arbitrator. And there she is, Karen Atiyah,
Speaker 2: author of The Golden Hour on Substack.
Speaker 1: Karen, we're back together. It's great to see you again.
Speaker 4: Oh, man, it's so good to see you. Thanks so much, Jim.
Speaker 4: I was like, I have to talk to Jim.
Speaker 3: I have to.
Speaker 1: No, no, no, I knew it.
Speaker 2: When I saw this, I was elated. I was so
Speaker 2: excited for you. And I thought, my God, something... something
Speaker 2: good happened. There's all this bad stuff happening and something
Speaker 2: good happened. And Karen, I I've been meaning to, I've
Speaker 2: been dying to ask you, do you want to go
Speaker 2: back to the Washington post? Like, are you going to
Speaker 2: go do that and go back to your job? Have
Speaker 2: you gone back in there yet?
Speaker 1: What's going on?
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 5: So I mean, we're, we're what, uh, 48 hours or
Speaker 5: so since then.
Speaker 1: That's true.
Speaker 4: Yeah. As of now, um, I still have not heard
Speaker 4: from the post.
Speaker 5: Um, my goyers, my guild reps are the first thing
Speaker 5: that is on the agenda.
Speaker 4: We're working out the back pay part.
Speaker 5: So I was awarded not just reinstatement, but full back
Speaker 5: pay for the year.
Speaker 4: So that I was, we were all like, all right,
Speaker 4: y'all need to.
Speaker 1: Like, yeah, that's important.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 5: At least one, it doesn't, obviously it doesn't account for
Speaker 5: how much, how difficult this year has been, but it's something. Yeah,
Speaker 5: to the question of returning, I know that's like the big,
Speaker 5: big question.
Speaker 4: I mean, here's how I see it, right?
Speaker 5: Like the reinstatement was I am supposed to be reinstated
Speaker 5: back to my previous position, which was columnist. And as
Speaker 5: a columnist, I was largely free to write about whatever
Speaker 5: I wanted to write about. So- I think there's still,
Speaker 5: for me, you know, a question, again, there's this expectation,
Speaker 5: this is legally binding decision, arbitration, that I should be
Speaker 5: restored back to that. I think the big question for
Speaker 5: everyone and for me, which I understand, is will I
Speaker 5: be allowed to write and say what I want, you know?
Speaker 5: So I understand that. Of course, I'm willing to go
Speaker 5: back to that work. Journalism is important. Writing is important.
Speaker 5: That work, obviously on Substack, I continued as much as
Speaker 5: I could to still keep doing that work. But the
Speaker 5: question is, what am I going back to and will
Speaker 5: I be allowed to have a free voice?
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And Karen, I mean, we should remind everybody, I mean,
Speaker 2: you had a stellar career there at the Washington Post.
Speaker 2: and this is the Columbia Journalism Review did a story
Speaker 2: about you, and they said you were fired over social
Speaker 2: media posts about Charlie Kirk, and you went through arbitration.
Speaker 2: You're a member of the Washington Baltimore News Guild. You
Speaker 2: went through the arbitration process. They ruled in your favor,
Speaker 2: and it says here that you worked at the Post
Speaker 2: for 11 years. You were hired in 2014 as a
Speaker 2: digital producer in the opinion section, and you were the
Speaker 2: founding editor of Global Opinions, before.
Speaker 1: Becoming a columnist.
Speaker 2: I mean, I would think the Washington Post would want
Speaker 2: all of that back, but the Washington Post is a
Speaker 2: different newspaper right now that's been going through a lot
Speaker 2: of turmoil.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a different newspaper.
Speaker 5: Even the very person, Adam O'Neill, who fired me, he
Speaker 5: has been ousted or pushed out. So even the folks
Speaker 5: brought in to really reform, reform is, I'm putting it
Speaker 5: very mildly, but to reshape the pages in Bezos' wishes,
Speaker 5: have themselves found themselves out of a job, right? So
Speaker 5: there's still a lot that I'm, you know, still a
Speaker 5: lot of question marks, a lot of uncertainty, but yeah,
Speaker 5: I did good work. This is my time to say,
Speaker 5: you know, it was hard to have my.
Speaker 4: My, my work all that time be on trial. And
Speaker 4: I get it.
Speaker 5: I know a lot of people are like, look, these
Speaker 5: are corporations. They don't give a flying F about people.
Speaker 5: This is why we have independent media. I get that,
Speaker 5: but I'm human, right? Like, and as journalists, we put
Speaker 5: so much on the line to do this job.
Speaker 4: We don't do it for money. That's for sure. We
Speaker 4: don't do it to be popular.
Speaker 1: That's no, yeah, that's right.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 5: It was, it was hard to have, The place where
Speaker 5: I professionally grew up in so many ways then accused
Speaker 5: me of becoming a threat to them, becoming dangerous to them.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 2: That was one of the crazy and outlandish things that
Speaker 2: the Post had said at that time. And it felt
Speaker 2: very Trumpy. It felt like they had been infused with
Speaker 2: a lot of Trumpiness. And they said that you had
Speaker 2: because of what you had put on Blue Sky about
Speaker 2: Charlie Kirk.
Speaker 1: That that had endangered people at the Washington Post.
Speaker 2: And it sounds like the arbitrator just tossed that out
Speaker 2: the window and said that that has no merit. But
Speaker 2: now that we've had a year to digest all of this,
Speaker 2: I mean, I will say that there have been lots
Speaker 2: of people who have expressed opinions about Charlie Kirk. And
Speaker 2: what you were saying in the immediate aftermath of when
Speaker 2: he had been killed is is not all that different
Speaker 2: than what people still say now. And to me, your
Speaker 2: opinion at that time, I didn't find it to be
Speaker 2: controversial then.
Speaker 1: I don't find it to be controversial now.
Speaker 2: And I think if you're going to talk about Charlie Kirk,
Speaker 2: you have to talk about the fact that he said a.
Speaker 1: Lot of bigoted things. I mean, he just did. You
Speaker 1: know what I mean?
Speaker 2: I mean, the chief, I think, basis of your complaint
Speaker 2: that it's a bit much to lionize somebody who espoused
Speaker 2: those kinds of views is That's not going to always
Speaker 2: sit well with every community in the United States. I mean,
Speaker 2: how can you not give voice to that? People can,
Speaker 2: they can put them on a pedestal all they want.
Speaker 2: This is America. But you also have a right to
Speaker 2: say what you want to say. I still don't understand
Speaker 2: how any of that was controversial.
Speaker 1: But I'm on your side.
Speaker 5: I mean, I think, you know, the close reading, even,
Speaker 5: you know, my lawyers who, because it could be the case,
Speaker 5: there are plenty of people who have already asked, well,
Speaker 5: maybe you should have softened. Maybe you shouldn't have said,
Speaker 5: you know, but we'll, we'll, we'll still represent you, you know,
Speaker 5: but I think for anybody reasonably reading into it, I
Speaker 5: specifically said, and it's the only, it's one of the
Speaker 5: very few things I said about Kirk at the time
Speaker 5: I was.
Speaker 4: Actually talking about America and the.
Speaker 5: Political discourse that was going on that day, which everyone
Speaker 5: was like, this is, has, political violence has no place here.
Speaker 4: This is not who we are.
Speaker 5: And I just had to remind people of, we had
Speaker 5: a school shooting that very same day. We also had
Speaker 5: the Minnesota lawmakers, Melissa Hortman, who had been killed in
Speaker 5: her own house a couple of months before. So that
Speaker 5: wasn't even the first political assassination that season, I guess.
Speaker 5: And so for me, it was, and my job has
Speaker 5: always been commentary on America and how we particularly talk
Speaker 5: about white men who coddle or who espoused hatred and violence,
Speaker 5: whether it was the white man who killed Melissa Hortman
Speaker 5: and her husband, or eventually Charlie Kirk, yes, himself, or
Speaker 5: even the.
Speaker 4: Man who killed, ended up being the one killing Charlie Kirk.
Speaker 1: It was a white guy.
Speaker 5: So I ended up, yes, being vindicated on those observations
Speaker 5: of America's pattern. But yeah, for the Washington Post, you know,
Speaker 5: this for journalists, we're supposed to be above the fray
Speaker 5: in terms of emotions and in terms of we're supposed
Speaker 5: to be able to look very objectively at facts, especially
Speaker 5: when sometimes that is uncomfortable. And so, yeah, you know,
Speaker 5: I mean, I think the Washington Post was just shown
Speaker 5: to have.
Speaker 4: Really acted quite recklessly.
Speaker 5: And they claimed, again, that my posts were such a threat,
Speaker 5: even though they never called me.
Speaker 4: To warn me about the threats. They never told me
Speaker 4: to take them.
Speaker 3: Down, actually.
Speaker 5: So, you know, you're threatening your colleagues, you're threatening us,
Speaker 5: and yet my posts are still up.
Speaker 4: So they were really just trying. It wasn't about security.
Speaker 5: They were just trying to get rid of me by
Speaker 5: any means necessary. And Charlie Kirk was the knife that
Speaker 5: they were going to use.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: And they did it via email, despite the amount of
Speaker 2: time you had spent there. Um, you know, I, that
Speaker 2: to me was, was, I mean, that, that is not a, um,
Speaker 2: a very nice thing to do, obviously a pretty cowardly
Speaker 2: thing to do. They didn't want to have you come
Speaker 2: in in person and talk to you, but I mean,
Speaker 2: can you speak to how in was the Washington post
Speaker 2: under Jeff Bezos swept up in a moment that they
Speaker 2: can now get beyond?
Speaker 1: Is that possible? Can the Washington post be fixed?
Speaker 2: Do you think, because I will say I, you know,
Speaker 2: and I made a big deal about this last year
Speaker 2: when they defended Donald Trump knocking down part of the
Speaker 2: white house, there was this editorial that defended that. And
Speaker 2: I canceled my subscription live on my show.
Speaker 1: I was, I was so pissed off.
Speaker 2: I'm a DC guy. And like, that just pissed me off.
Speaker 2: Like January six pisses me. There's things that, and for
Speaker 2: him to unilaterally bulldoze part of the white house and
Speaker 2: the Washington post, the Washington post.
Speaker 1: To put out an editorial that says, Oh, well, no
Speaker 1: big deal.
Speaker 2: I couldn't believe it. And so I canceled my subscription.
Speaker 2: I will say that I have seen, I don't want
Speaker 2: to call it a return to where they once were,
Speaker 2: but I've seen some good reporting there. I've seen some
Speaker 2: signs of life from the Washington Post. I'll put it
Speaker 2: that way. Do you see that too? Can the Washington
Speaker 2: Post be redeemed or is it beyond repair?
Speaker 4: Yeah. I mean, a couple of things on that note.
Speaker 5: First of all, and I want to be fair and
Speaker 5: objective the way that I see it. the Washington Post
Speaker 5: and have always seen, I mean, here I'm wearing red
Speaker 5: right now, specifically because these are the colors of the
Speaker 5: Washington Post guilds. And I would have even had an
Speaker 5: opportunity to fight this within the timeframe if it wasn't
Speaker 5: for the fact that the Washington Post guild and the
Speaker 5: Washington Baltimore News Guild had a grievance procedure and a contract,
Speaker 5: a collective bargaining agreement that ultimately that was what the
Speaker 5: arbitrator ruled that the post was in violation of that contract.
Speaker 5: So even going into arbitration, getting to binding arbitration, for me,
Speaker 5: returning to the post also means returning to those folks
Speaker 5: who were fighting for me, even when I was being silenced.
Speaker 4: So I just want to say that.
Speaker 5: And then to your point about there is, the news
Speaker 5: side has been, and I know this for a fact,
Speaker 5: has still been publishing great reporting, despite the fact that
Speaker 5: in February, Bezos made a move to cut something like
Speaker 5: 40-something percent of the newsroom, which was also a boneheaded
Speaker 5: and destructive move, right? So, so much of this is
Speaker 5: coming from management and coming from leadership. And we even
Speaker 5: saw behind the scenes that they were starting to quietly
Speaker 5: hire people back.
Speaker 4: Because they realized, oops, right?
Speaker 5: So that's why like this question of like returning back
Speaker 5: to the post, I see I'm not trying to minimize
Speaker 5: like the decisions and the direction, the very clear kowtowing
Speaker 5: to this moment that.
Speaker 4: Everybody has seen.
Speaker 5: I guess if there's something that gives me hope or
Speaker 5: even considering, it's the fact that there are people who
Speaker 5: are willing to at least fight for me. I know
Speaker 5: that there are people who are, who are really fighting
Speaker 5: to try to cover my story, even at the post. Wow. So, Like,
Speaker 5: I'm aware of that. And that being said, yeah, Jim,
Speaker 5: I mean, I'm sort of like, okay.
Speaker 1: You're still catching your breath.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's catching the breath.
Speaker 5: But I just found it, you know, and people might
Speaker 5: disagree with my logic and reasoning. And, you know, even
Speaker 5: last year when all these changes were happening and people
Speaker 5: were saying, why didn't you take the buyout? Why didn't
Speaker 5: you just take them over? Why didn't you resign? And
Speaker 5: I guess I just felt like it was more than
Speaker 5: just a job. I think seeing these changes and sort
Speaker 5: of running away in anticipation and making it easy for
Speaker 5: the silencing to happen, I think in my mind, I
Speaker 5: was like, I'm not going to participate in this, not
Speaker 5: even my own censorship, but I'm not going to make
Speaker 5: it I want to make an example of what it
Speaker 5: can look like to try to fight. And that's just A,
Speaker 5: who I am, and B, people might know me from
Speaker 5: being the editor who recruited Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist
Speaker 5: who was murdered in 2018. And I guess my experience
Speaker 5: being an editor of people like Jamal, others who've been
Speaker 5: jailed for their writing, I'm like, okay, I'm worrying about
Speaker 5: a job, HR stuff. I'm like, I've worked with people
Speaker 5: who've been killed, who've been jailed, who've been beaten. And
Speaker 5: so I guess my relative thinking of what safe is
Speaker 5: or what fighting means is very, like I see this,
Speaker 5: like they paid the ultimate price. Me losing a job, yes,
Speaker 5: it hurts, but it's also like, that's why I fight.
Speaker 4: Maybe it's, maybe it's Jamal. I don't know. Like maybe
Speaker 4: there's something to it.
Speaker 5: I'm just like, of course I am.
Speaker 4: I've seen the example of what it looks like when
Speaker 4: someone lives out their values to the very fucking end. Uh, right.
Speaker 4: So I don't know. Maybe it's, there's something there, I guess.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 2: And I, you know, I think that's a great message
Speaker 2: and a great moral of the story here. And we
Speaker 2: should note, uh, Norm Eisen and his folks helped you
Speaker 2: through this process. And it is worth highlighting that you
Speaker 2: fought through the arbitration process to get your job back.
Speaker 2: You fought against the Washington Post and you won, which,
Speaker 2: you know, not a lot of people can say. So
Speaker 2: that is a good thing. That is a very good thing.
Speaker 2: And it should be I think I think it should
Speaker 2: be celebrated. So kudos to you. But I wonder, Karen,
Speaker 2: and this goes to a little bit of what you're
Speaker 2: saying earlier. I mean, it's wonderful that you have perspective.
Speaker 2: and all of this and Jamal, you know, and other
Speaker 2: examples have, have shown you kind of the light in
Speaker 2: the way, but it seems to me that the, the
Speaker 2: construct is broken, that, that American media are broken.
Speaker 1: The legacy corporate.
Speaker 2: Media, billionaires owning, owning news institutions like the Washington Post,
Speaker 2: that whole system ain't working anymore in this country. It
Speaker 2: seems to me your thoughts on that. I know it's
Speaker 2: a very big subject, but, What do you think?
Speaker 4: I do think it's, I do think a lot is broken.
Speaker 5: I mean, and I'm not even, I can't even say
Speaker 5: that I think me going back there. fixes any of
Speaker 5: this systemic thing, which is why, like I said, there's
Speaker 5: some conversations that we need to actually have before, you know,
Speaker 5: like I've said, I'm willing to go back to this work.
Speaker 5: But I mean, what particularly this year has shown me
Speaker 5: and shown all of us is the power of independent media,
Speaker 5: the power of, like, people are, people have seen the
Speaker 5: mainstream media for what it is. People have seen the bowing, even,
Speaker 5: and you mentioned Norm Eisen and his team at Democracy Defenders.
Speaker 4: Also, shout out to Craig Jenkins.
Speaker 5: Who gave real direct legal support that these, whether it's
Speaker 5: the Paramount merger, whether it's the attacks against PBS, whether
Speaker 5: it's the lawsuits that We have mainstream.
Speaker 4: Media that is.
Speaker 5: Willing to crumble and willing to assemble under rich and
Speaker 5: powerful interests.
Speaker 4: And so, yeah, I think there's a tension, at least.
Speaker 5: For me, in the sense that, I mean, the very
Speaker 5: fact that I was even able to weather the storm
Speaker 5: for a year and not starve, frankly.
Speaker 4: Was because of.
Speaker 5: Being able to have Substack was because of being able
Speaker 5: to have an independent platform. So I know a lot
Speaker 5: of people are asking what's going to happen to my Substack.
Speaker 4: I'm not letting it go, for sure. There you go. No,
Speaker 4: not at all.
Speaker 5: So like I said, there's a lot we got to
Speaker 5: hash out, but I see no reason. I think, not
Speaker 5: only that, but mainstream media would be smart. to see
Speaker 5: where the winds are going. And yet they're holding on
Speaker 5: to a status quo that is proven not only economically
Speaker 5: not working, but also in terms of morally, structurally, people
Speaker 5: are like, if your job is to tell the truth,
Speaker 5: why are you guys partnering with AI companies and putting
Speaker 5: digital slop in your news stories? Why are you guys,
Speaker 5: you're supposed to hold truth or speak truth to power.
Speaker 5: Why are you running scared from not only Trump, but
Speaker 5: scared from libs of TikTok in.
Speaker 4: My case, right?
Speaker 1: Yes.
Speaker 5: People are looking for bravery and people are looking for
Speaker 5: just honesty. So I have a lot to really, I'm
Speaker 5: glad for this win. I'm very glad for this win.
Speaker 5: I'm very glad.
Speaker 4: For the option, but there's a lot that I still have.
Speaker 5: To really, really, really, really think about in terms of
Speaker 5: I did have, I still have, you know, just this,
Speaker 5: this freedom to be good.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I know, you know, I love it. And maybe,
Speaker 4: maybe I.
Speaker 5: Just, like I said, I mean, I'm not giving up
Speaker 5: a sub stack. I'm not going to give up the
Speaker 5: things that I built in this, in this year.
Speaker 4: But, but yeah, I mean, we have to also look
Speaker 4: at where, where can we do our best work?
Speaker 5: So my thought is, Can I do my best work
Speaker 5: at this Washington Post?
Speaker 6: Right.
Speaker 1: That is the ultimate question. Well, Karen, I mean, you're
Speaker 1: doing your job as a reporter.
Speaker 2: You're asking good questions, not only of what's happening in
Speaker 2: the world, but of yourself and what you should.
Speaker 1: Do in this moment. But please keep us posted. Let
Speaker 1: us know what you do, what you end up doing.
Speaker 2: And thank you for the example that you set over
Speaker 2: the last year. When I woke up, I think I
Speaker 2: woke up to the headlines. that this had happened in
Speaker 2: your favor. And I was, I was just absolutely overjoyed
Speaker 2: and hysterically happy for you. So kudos to you and
Speaker 2: Jeff Bezos. I hope you, you know, I hope somehow
Speaker 2: you see this and think long and hard about what
Speaker 2: you've done to the Washington post because people like Karen
Speaker 2: should be at the post doing great work every day.
Speaker 2: And Karen, I just want to thank you for what
Speaker 2: you and check out Karen substack, the golden hour.
Speaker 1: It's terrific.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 5: I'll still be, Updating everyone on the saga, on the
Speaker 5: behind the scenes. And, you know, if, when, walk through
Speaker 5: those doors, I'll let everyone know.
Speaker 1: I know. And you might be in red.
Speaker 4: I'm going to be wearing red for, I think, a
Speaker 4: long time.
Speaker 5: I don't, like, A, it looks good on me. B, like,
Speaker 5: you know, like I said, guild strong.
Speaker 1: Again, shout out to the guild.
Speaker 4: I love it.
Speaker 1: I love it.
Speaker 2: We need some good old-fashioned unions coming back in this country,
Speaker 2: I tell you.
Speaker 1: Guilds, unions, all of that.
Speaker 4: This is a huge labor movement victory.
Speaker 5: There are very few guilds and unions that can say
Speaker 5: they took on one of Jeff Bezos' companies and won.
Speaker 5: So this is pretty monumental. So I hope that this is,
Speaker 5: you know, back to your point, and I know you
Speaker 5: have to go, but This is why I hope tomorrow,
Speaker 5: you know, to be covering the labor, the union aspect
Speaker 5: of this, because I think if there's going to be
Speaker 5: a saving grace to mainstream and corporate media, this is
Speaker 5: an example of solidarity. Unions of like it was the
Speaker 5: union handing out flyers, protesting like the only reason I
Speaker 5: had a fighting chance against Washington Post was because I
Speaker 5: had a union.
Speaker 4: So, yeah.
Speaker 2: That is so great to hear. Well, Karen, good for you.
Speaker 2: Keep on fighting the good fight. Keep us posted what
Speaker 2: you do next. It's great to see you.
Speaker 4: Thank you, Jim. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: Thanks, Karen. All right. Congratulations.
Speaker 2: The wonderful Karen Atiyah. And, you know, that is kind
Speaker 2: of when you think about it, that is that's a
Speaker 2: statement there. She took on a Jeff Bezos company and
Speaker 2: won and she did it with a union, with a guild,
Speaker 2: with the newspaper guild. helping her along the way. My
Speaker 2: dad was in a grocery workers union. You know, you
Speaker 2: don't have that many unions around anymore. And look what's
Speaker 2: happening in America. Workers are getting the shaft. Workers are
Speaker 2: getting screwed. It's harder and harder to get by these
Speaker 2: days because you have a lot of giant companies and
Speaker 2: a lot of giant oligarchs.
Speaker 1: That have taken over just about every facet of our lives.
Speaker 2: And are they making our lives any better or are
Speaker 2: they making them worse? It seems to me that they're
Speaker 2: making them a whole lot worse. Um, and so congrats
Speaker 2: to Karen for that. And she made this comment that
Speaker 2: made me think about this gentleman I ran into at
Speaker 2: the gym. He, you know, Karen was talking about, uh, the,
Speaker 2: the joy of being independent and being able to do
Speaker 2: what she wants to do on her sub stack.
Speaker 1: And it's, it's one of the reasons why I.
Speaker 2: Love sub stack, love independent media, love being on YouTube, Apple,
Speaker 2: even on Elon Musk's. They haven't kicked me off of X.
Speaker 2: I'm on X right now. They haven't kicked me off.
Speaker 2: They may be throttling me, but I don't know.
Speaker 1: They haven't kicked me off.
Speaker 2: And I like being able to come on and do
Speaker 2: what I want to do and say what I want
Speaker 2: to say and have the guests on that I want
Speaker 2: to have on. I can have Mary Trump come on
Speaker 2: and she can, you know, kick, you know, Don Jr.
Speaker 2: and Jared and Ivanka in the shins and free speech.
Speaker 2: We all get to do what we want and say
Speaker 2: what we have to say. And it's reminding me, I
Speaker 2: was at the gym yesterday.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to go to the gym more and more, folks.
Speaker 1: I'm getting old. I got to stay in good shape.
Speaker 2: And a man came up to me and sometimes I
Speaker 2: don't know whether it's a good thing or it's going
Speaker 2: to be a bad thing. Sometimes they, you know, there
Speaker 2: was this Trump guy that came up to me at
Speaker 2: the gym the other day and I was like, get
Speaker 2: out of here.
Speaker 1: What are we talking about here? Anyway, not talking about
Speaker 1: that guy. Different guy comes up.
Speaker 2: To me and he says, I just want you to
Speaker 2: know that I really liked it when you described Pete
Speaker 2: Hegseth as the secretary of douchebaggery the other day.
Speaker 1: And I was like, oh yeah, I did do that.
Speaker 1: That was pretty fun.
Speaker 2: And there's no fucking way I would have been able
Speaker 2: to do that.
Speaker 1: Anywhere else than right here.
Speaker 2: And so I will say that it is to see
Speaker 2: people take on these corporate titans, to see people take
Speaker 2: on these giant oligarchs and win. It's a lesson for
Speaker 2: all of us folks. It is a reason to have hope.
Speaker 2: And I was talking about this at the beginning of
Speaker 2: the show, and I'm going to talk about it here
Speaker 2: at the end of the show. And I'm going to
Speaker 2: drive everybody nuts because I'm going to talk about it
Speaker 2: between now and November 3rd.
Speaker 1: The steel is on. The steel is on.
Speaker 2: This is not Donald Trump threatens to do this or
Speaker 2: Donald Trump may do this. He is now intervening in
Speaker 2: the election cycle. It is happening right now. It is
Speaker 2: occurring as we are all speaking at this very moment.
Speaker 2: He is attempting to restrict mail-in voting in this country.
Speaker 2: As Mary Trump told me just a short while ago,
Speaker 2: Donald Trump himself engages in mail-in voting.
Speaker 1: He wants mail voting for me, but not for thee.
Speaker 1: And It is anti-democratic. It is un-American.
Speaker 2: It is now filtering down to the rest of the
Speaker 2: Republican Party and MAGA. You have a candidate for governor
Speaker 2: in Maine. We don't talk about Maine enough. We're going
Speaker 2: to talk about Maine a lot between now and November 3rd.
Speaker 2: Susan Collins is running for re-election for the 18,000th time.
Speaker 2: And somebody is trying to stop her, Troy Jackson, the
Speaker 2: Democrat there. The candidate for governor in Maine, Republican, said today,
Speaker 2: that he wants ice at the polls in Maine.
Speaker 1: Why do you need ice at the polls in Maine?
Speaker 2: You don't need ice at the polls in Maine other
Speaker 2: than to try to intimidate and bully certain communities in
Speaker 2: this country, Latino communities, I assume, and try to stop
Speaker 2: them from voting in this country.
Speaker 1: And I will say, we're not going to let that happen.
Speaker 2: We're not going to let that happen. And And Jared Kushner,
Speaker 2: you could try to meet with everybody under the sun
Speaker 2: in the Democratic Party.
Speaker 1: You could try to, hey, buddy, hey, pal, let's get together,
Speaker 1: have a drink, buy a dinner, let's.
Speaker 2: Meet behind closed doors, whatever corrupt, ridiculous.
Speaker 1: Bullshit you are trying to pull. It ain't going to work.
Speaker 2: It's not going to work. Donald Trump is underwater in
Speaker 2: 47 states and the District of Columbia right now. He
Speaker 2: calls all these things fake polls, but he has nothing
Speaker 2: left but to try to interfere in these elections. And
Speaker 2: that's why I said it yesterday. I'm going to say
Speaker 2: it again today. You've got to make it your job
Speaker 2: to vote. You've got to make it your job to
Speaker 2: make a planned vote. And this is the guy, he
Speaker 2: thinks right now, that he's accomplished his mission in Iran.
Speaker 2: He put out a true social post today that shows
Speaker 2: George W.
Speaker 1: Bush, mission not accomplished, making fun of George. Yeah, George W.
Speaker 2: Bush should have never put that flag on that aircraft
Speaker 2: carrier during the Iraq war.
Speaker 1: That was a massive blunder.
Speaker 2: But isn't this Donald Trump's mission accomplished moment?
Speaker 1: I don't know. Will this be on the nightly news tonight?
Speaker 2: Donald Trump standing over an aircraft carrier with an American flag,
Speaker 2: And it says mission accomplished 2026. I guess he's talking
Speaker 2: about because he took out the EITOLA there.
Speaker 1: You have not accomplished any mission in Iran. Iran is
Speaker 1: still a shit show. The Strait of Hormuz is still
Speaker 1: a shit show.
Speaker 2: You can't even get the reflecting pool right. You're nowhere
Speaker 2: near getting the Strait of Hormuz under control. And gas
Speaker 2: is through the roof.
Speaker 1: I had gas buddy on yesterday. It is the highest.
Speaker 2: The prices are at their highest at the latest point.
Speaker 2: that we know of since people started paying attention to
Speaker 2: what the price of gas was and, and people are
Speaker 2: feeling it. And so just take a look at this,
Speaker 2: absorb that, absorb the insanity of this true social post,
Speaker 2: this bullshit, true social posts, the Orwellian truth, social website
Speaker 2: of Donald Trump. He's trying to, he's trying to, he's
Speaker 2: trying to get us to believe it's not even Orwellian.
Speaker 1: It's just stupid. It's just insane. It's just bullshit.
Speaker 2: Nobody believes this, that he's accomplished anything. It's clownish, stupid,
Speaker 2: insane behavior. But that's all he's left with, memes and
Speaker 2: election meddling. That's all he can do right now. And
Speaker 2: this applies to the little asswipe incels in the social
Speaker 2: media department. All they can resort to are stupid memes. Folks,
Speaker 2: this is the best news. that all of us could
Speaker 2: possibly ever have. It means that the truth is coming.
Speaker 2: It means that accountability is coming. It means that democracy
Speaker 2: is coming. All of it is coming for Donald Trump,
Speaker 2: and we just have to hang in there for, what,
Speaker 2: 69 more days?
Speaker 1: That's your job. Your job is to.
Speaker 2: Hang in there for 69 more days, and then your
Speaker 2: job is to get out there and vote. Don't let
Speaker 2: them take that mail-in ballot away from you.
Speaker 1: Find a way. Call that buddy down the street. Call
Speaker 1: your Aunt Edna. Call your kids.
Speaker 2: Harass somebody to get you to the polls if you
Speaker 2: have a problem getting to the polls. But make it
Speaker 2: your job to vote. Make it your job to resist.
Speaker 2: Make it your job to hang in there. That's what
Speaker 2: I've been doing. That's what a lot of us have
Speaker 2: been doing. We've got to keep on doing it. We've
Speaker 2: got to keep on keeping on, folks. My thanks to
Speaker 2: Mary Trump today. My thanks to Karen Atiyah. My thanks
Speaker 2: to all of you. Please support independent media. Please check
Speaker 2: out our daily newsletter, the Jim Acosta Morning Memo. It's
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Speaker 2: reporting from Washington, I'm Jim Acosta.
Speaker 1: Make it your job. Your job is to go vote.
Speaker 1: Make it your job. I'll see you next time.