7/17/25: Trump Says Epstein Files A Hoax, MAGA Pollster Dire Warning, Israel Bombs Syria, Markets Panic, Zohran Meets NYC Billionaires

23:37The auto pen is way more serious than Jeffrey Epstein because you could have a series of aides here who seized the power of the presidency and used it for their own purposes. Way more serious than Jeffrey Epstein. By the way, for all of our younger viewers, if you don't know who John Yoo is, John Yoo is the guy who was in the Bush White House who authored all of the infamous torture memos and executive privileges for George W. Bush to expand his authority basically to the levels of a king. So in case you're wondering about constitutionality and the love of constitution. 20 years ago, John Yoo actually was a household name amongst a lot of Americans because they're like, hey, fuck this guy, just so people know who it is.

24:14So, yeah, just laying that out there in terms of who they – it's amazing to me how you can whitewash your reputation. And 20 years after authoring these memos and being like a legitimate pariah in American society, and you can bring your way back and say, hey, by the way, you know, actually the auto pen scandal is a much bigger scandal than the Epstein thing. I mean, the auto pen thing, sure. OK, let's talk about it to the extent that it matters. It's really not about the auto pen itself. It's about Biden's senility. I'm fine with that. OK, fine. Let's, you know, Biden's doctor. What did he say?

24:45Pleaded the fifth whenever he was before Congress. I agree. That's a huge problem. I'm totally on board. But, you know, in the words of Laura Loomer, who we're about to show up soon, you can walk and chew gum at the same time. The Epstein one actually does seem a lot more urgent for today, considering all of its foreign policy implications. Don't see a lot of people talking about that. You know, it's one of the first times I really have seen the right and Trump specifically like try and fail to change the subject. Like usually they're very good at this. They have like their media machine. The auto pen thing is going to be a scandal.

25:15We're just going to go in and go in and go in and get people to care about this. And it just hasn't really worked out. So anyway, you've got that going on. You know, I wanted to run something by you that I mentioned to Emily yesterday, I think it was. You know, this moment for Trump and the way he's asking his base to completely repudiate something they believed five seconds ago, the thing it reminds me of most is actually the grabber by the P word moment. Because think at that time, you had these evangelical right Christians who were in the tent, who were a little leery of Trump anyway, Mike Pence on the ticket.

25:50And this comes out, and he's asking them to turn on a dime from all of their outrage about Bill Clinton getting a blowjob in the White House and being the moral majority and family values, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, to turn on a dime and say, nope, this is locker room talk and we don't care. And you know what? They did. They did. Now, there are some things that are different today. Number one, the media ecosystem is different. His coalition is a little bit different. And he is potentially maybe a lame duck, depending on whether he tries for his third term or whatever happens there. So there also may be people who are looking past him and thinking there's going to be a post-Trump Republican Party.

26:27So that could create a situation that is different. But, you know, that is, to me, what rhymes the most with this moment, where he is asking his own base to completely throw out the window long-held core beliefs just to back him up and go along with him. It's almost like a test, the way that that was. The only reason I think it's a little bit different is that, well, first of all, at that time, he basically had something that he could offer them that nobody else would offer, where he literally said, I'm going to appoint pro-life justices to the Supreme Court and overturn Roe versus Wade, right?

26:58So that's pretty different in my opinion. Also, it's a little different as well because the MAGA— Well, he's offering them cane sugar in the Coke. Yeah, but that's what I mean. That's not the same thing. That was their—look, I mean, at that time, I know it's been a while, that was their number one priority. That's the only thing that a lot of these people voted on was pro-life. That's it. So that doesn't really exist this time around. They can't offer them the same type of thing. Even then, I would say, if you look at the MAGA coalition of 2016, the evangelicals were a small minority of it. They were not the MAGA base.

27:27They were the people who came over and were reluctant to come in. Most of it was working class whites who thought the whole story was stupid and bullshit. So I would put it like a little bit differently. The Epstein thing, the reason why I think it's different is, look, it's also been a long time since that. When was that story? 2016? So it's been seven years, right? So since that broke. The internet is pop culture now. It was then, but it is like way more. It's different now, yeah. It's just different. And that's part of the reason why I've been getting annoyed when people are like, oh, in the real world and all of that.

27:57I'm like, guys, the internet actually is the real world to a certain extent in terms of this is the media now. This is where public consumption is on TikTok. It's on Instagram. It's on YouTube. I can guarantee you this is one of the most viral stories that I have seen in years. And not just on this platform, on every platform. And actually, my interview with Tucker has more views than the Iranian president. Like, that's what I'm trying to give people an example of. I've literally never seen. I've got people reaching out to me who I haven't spoken to in 10 years, you know, about this. My point is just that this is capturing the attention of the country.

28:32Would I claim that it is, you know, the number one issue or any of that? Again, absolutely not. But, you know, in the same way that you're cartoonishly, like, asking people to move on. And it's also, you know, the other key and the difference is that was before an election. That's when shit's on the line. It's between Hillary and Trump. He's got three and a half more years to go. In a certain way, people who are speaking out are like trying to have a corrective and a push on the administration. So it's actually more like a power struggle in terms of like who gets to set the agenda and who doesn't as opposed to, look, we have two choices.

29:05Sometimes you just got to hold your nose and vote for somebody like a lot of people also did for Hillary. But, yeah, I mean, that's not a terrible comparison. I would really more, I'm trying to think of anything else. And I can't really because at the same time, you know, he ran on releasing it. And it's not just him running on it. It's the entire MAGA apparatus. Right. And that's what makes it so stark. If you listen to him. Right. He never cared that much. He was always very squirrely. Yes. And that Fox News edit is now infamous where the way they edited his response to will you release the Epstein files was just, yeah.

29:40but then he goes yeah well maybe less so and then he goes on to give a bunch of real privacy and i'm concerned about this and that and the other of why he actually probably wouldn't and he was like every time he got asked about it he was squirrely in the same way but there is no doubt that the he flirted with you know all of those conspiracies including the q anon conspiracy which was sort of like you know adjacent to this that was like the bullshit made up version you know anon was way dumber. Of course. Yeah. It goes without saying it becomes, you know, like this idea of pizza, gay, QAnon, Jeffrey Epstein all gets lumped together as like all elite pedophiles, mostly Democrats are like running the world.

30:20And he flirted with all of this stuff. And so he certainly gave people the impression that he was going to be on their side in this. He was going to be the person, the white knight to ride in and expose all of the, you know, criminals and bring them to justice, whatever. And then people in his movement, like Dan Bongino, like Cash Patel, like J.D. Vance, they were very explicit about the files are going to be released and this is going to be a major priority. Well, he was explicit too. He said it, I think it was in his Lex Friedman interviews, like, yeah, I'm going to release all of it. He literally said that.

30:48I mean, you know, like there's multiple clips of Trump, of J.D. So the president, the vice president, the FBI director, the deputy FBI director, the attorney general of the United States, multiple. I mean, I can't even think of the rest of the Trump surrogates, if you think about that, Like people directly involved in the campaign. Come on now. Like that's part of what makes this so galling. Well, and the people who, to your point, who are like, oh, this is in real life. Nobody cares about this. Are you kidding me? Americans don't care about some grand sex scandal involving potentially the president.

31:15You don't think they don't care about that? Have you met Americans and their tabloid sensibility? I think they care. They're interested. I think you've got their attention. Right. If Lewinsky captured the, I mean, Lewinsky was the biggest door in the country for like 18 months, just so everybody remembers. And also a little Lewinsky callback, if we all remember, when Bill Clinton got into a war with Serbia to distract the country from the Lewinsky scandal. So these actually can have some pretty big ramifications, just saying. Before we go on to the other, Mag, I just want to mention that, you know, one more item to put on the list of strange things that are happening in the Trump administration.

31:51They just fired the Manhattan prosecutor who handled the Jeffrey Epstein and the Ghislaine Maxwell case. Now, this is someone, this is Maureen Comey, so it's actually Jim Comey's daughter. So, in fairness, this is someone MAGA has hated, and she also just handled the Diddy trial rather poorly as well. But you still have to ask why she's getting fired now when she is the one who handled both Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein's cases. I agree that the timing is weird. It's what I told you. I was like, to be fair, MAGA has hated her for years. They're like, this lady needs to be fired from the Department of Justice.

32:27and the Diddy trial is like the best excuse. It's like you totally, you know, you botched the entire case with the biggest charges against him. You would also say, I mean, if you look at not only the charges of Epstein, but really against Ghislaine Maxwell in the SDNY, like that, in my opinion, is more part of the coverup than anything else. Yeah. Because the way that the case was set up was so that it only implicated Maxwell and Epstein and not everybody else. And they focus on these charges from like 1994 or whatever. So I don't know. I mean, I don't think she's innocent in all of this. But by the way, hey, Maureen.

33:02Her name's Maureen, right? Yeah, Maureen, you're free now. All right, come. Let's talk. Let's give some interviews. All right, don't just shut your mouth and become a resistance hero. If you have some information, tell us what you learned about the pressure from inside of the Justice Department. Well, hold my breath. Last thing here is just about kind of some of the MAGA reaction. Let's go ahead and put this up there on the screen. So we got people like Laura Loomer. She's, of course, standing with Trump. She says Epstein is one issue of many. It's wild to me how many people can't walk and chew gum at the same time.

33:28You can ask for answers on Epstein while also not for allow it to consume the only thing that you speak about. Trump is doing many great things on a daily basis. He knows how to walk and chew gum at the same time. But let's continue because there are some other examples here. People actually pushing back pretty hard. Here you got General Flynn, General Mike Flynn, who is a former national security advisor. He says this is where his argument went off the rails. It is not about Epstein or the left. It's about committing crimes against children. If he were part of an intel operation known or run by CIA, shame on them, and those responsible must be held accountable.

33:58If there's any other country involved, then shame on them as well. If there are elites inside of our country that committed crimes against children, shame on them, and they must be held accountable. Let's go to the next just to show people. You got some various different like MAGA influencers and others. Here you have Trisha Hope. She says, he just called supporters like me stupid who spent 10 years standing with him through thick and thin. This is what he has to say. Well, maybe he is right because I feel pretty dumb for standing with him all those years and I won't be doing it again. Hashtag Epstein cover up.

34:23Let's go to another one here. This is from Evan Kilgore. I've been a loyal Trump supporter since 2016. I lost job. Friendship's been smeared online, doxed, press charges on people who have stalked and harassed me for supporting him. If Trump doesn't want my support because I care about the Epstein files, then I'm done. Bye. So you can see, look, again, that's something. I'm not ready to say yet it's like some gigantic civil war or any of that. but it is certainly having some impact in support for the president. And nonetheless, it's consuming all of tabloid media and of political media at a time when you really would want your attention focused elsewhere.

34:59Most people never shop their car insurance. Here's the hidden truth. Your rate can change for reasons that have nothing to do with you. Companies update their pricing at different times. The best price for you two years ago might not be the best today. Nothing went wrong. The math just moved. Insurify compares real quotes from over 100 companies in about two minutes. Free, no phone calls. And if there's nothing better for you today, Insurify keeps watching and tells you when that changes. Start at Insurify.com. That's I-N-S-U-R-I-F-Y dot com. Insurify.com. This is Matt Rogers from Las Culture East.

35:32That's with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. This is Bowen Yang from Las Culture East. That's with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. You know when people try on new food and suddenly it's like, wait. That's the reaction a lot of people are having when they first try Kewpie mayo. It's the one with the red cap and the little baby on the bottle. You've probably seen it in the grocery store before. And if you've ever just walked past it, some people would say that's a huge mistake. Because this mayo is different. Most mayonnaise uses whole eggs. Kewpie only uses egg yolks, which gives it this rich umami flavor.

36:03It's smoother, deeper, and almost buttery. Once people try it, they start putting it on everything. Egg sandwiches, fries, burgers. Some fans even swear by dipping pizza crust in it. And once you notice it, you start seeing it everywhere. Chefs use it. Restaurants use it. People who really care about flavor use it. Never tried it? Grab the bottle with the red cap next time you're at the store. Put it on just about anything. Then you'll understand. Q-P, the original Japanese mayonnaise. My name is Arnold Bogarty, and prior to me, I enrolled in Rasmussen to become a nurse. I spent 16 years in the military, 12 in Special Forces, as an Army Green Beret, and I was recommended to Rasmussen by a former student.

36:40She said she loved the culture. It was a family atmosphere. I went to visit the campus. The facilities were amazing. I knew before I left that that was the school that I was going to attend. Rasmussen University. Are you ready to be your own hero online and on campus? Learn more at rasmussen.edu. That's a good transition here to the polling, intra-MAGA. So here I'm pointing somebody, a guy named Rich Barris. I've talked about him here on the show before. He is definitely more of like a MAGA-aligned pollster. But one of the things that Rich does, I think, really well is try to keep his finger on the pulse of the MAGA base, of Trump approval, and specifically the Trump coalition.

37:20He looks at things very similar to I do. There's the MAGA base, then there's the Trump voter, there's the non-traditional person. All of these people kind of come together and became the Republican Party in 2024, or at the very least, voters for the Republican Party. So here's what Rich had to say about Trump's approval rating, how it continues to go down, and cracks within the coalition. Let's take a listen. As it stands right now, the voter groups where Donald Trump is now himself starting to hurt with, those are the ones that Republicans need to bring into the fold. And just from the polling this month, here are a couple of groups that need to really stand out in people's minds.

37:5418 to 29 who voted for Donald Trump. Some of his biggest decline this month came from that group. Hispanic men. All right. The groups where he did increase are kind of funny, Steve. Those who have a four year degree or more. Right. And that's great. Perfect. That helped offset some of the decline with his core voter and his 24 base. But it doesn't matter because they're still voting Democrat at the generic ballot by 10 points. So, I mean, it just it's like a pointless bump that's going to evaporate in a month or two anyway, even if it lasts that long. They're just happy he bombed Iran for now, to be honest, and they'll go back to disapproving of him.

38:29And what will be left is a weakened base. And that is something that people aren't understanding while they're, again, you know, attempting to browbeat all of these different groups in a submission. 18 to 29 year olds don't care about what's going on all the way around the other side of the world. They didn't vote for him for that. I mean, it's just a reality that people are going to have to start to face. They're simply out of time. They can't afford to continue to carry on with business as usual. They had to convince these voters that they were becoming more like Donald Trump, not that Donald Trump was becoming more like them.

39:03They're out of time. I mean, so there are all these people, you know, the clapping seals and the rest of them, they're going to clap their way right into an utter defeat. I mean, that's the reality. And by the way, this month, Democrats took lead on the generic ballot for the first time in our polling since Donald Trump's second presidency began. I think that's actually a very good way of looking at it all with the younger voters, with the rest of the types of the coalition. Also, let's think about how there's been a great flip in political coalitions. What did Democrats excel at even before 2024?

39:33Winning special elections in midterms. Why? Because it's highly educated, mostly like, you know, upper middle class people who love to vote and who are much more civically and politically engaged. The rest of the people, you know, the like Hispanics and the young guys and all these other guys, more working class folks, they only really pay attention during a presidential election. The rest of the time, they don't give a shit. And that's a huge problem if you're walking into a midterm where what's the margin right now for the House? Two? Three? Good luck. All right. Yeah. Good luck holding on to that one.

40:03And the Senate as well actually has its own problems. So what he's pointing out are strips in the political coalition, all of these things that make it not only up for grabs that will alter the balance of power. I also think everyone in Washington should start waking up to a reality of what does it look like when one or two houses of Congress are controlled by Democrats? I mean, I've talked about this with Doge, but now with Epstein, any enterprising Democratic politician would be an idiot not to immediately announce an Epstein investigation on day one. in 2027. And, you know, by the way, impeachment and all that, that's already happening.

40:38Like, don't even get me wrong on that one. But my point is that the amount of political, like institutional pushback, showdowns with the White House, from everything to funding the government, to taxes, to whatever, especially given the attitude of the base, is basically going to be analogous to how the Democrats were from 2006 to 2008 under George W. Bush, when he was also a lame duck president with a very, very low approval rating. Bush got nothing through the House or the Senate at that time. He was a pariah. They hated him. Congress basically said, screw you on almost every important decision that was happening.

41:14That's going to be the political tenor of what those last two years look like. They can make your life hell. I mean, every Trump appointee, I hope you have a lot of money because you're going to be paying private lawyers out the ass when you're testifying before Congress. Like, this is the reality that people are staring down. and the Republicans are just like, don't seem to care. Well, Trump himself, I guess he never cared. But for personal reasons, if he doesn't even care about the party, your own presidency can be consumed by stuff like this. And that just looks more real. Yeah. Every single day that we go forward.

41:43Yeah, no doubt about it. I mean, I think Republicans just pretty much assume they're going to lose the House at this point. Okay, but you don't have to lose the Senate too. Like, yeah. This is very - Yeah, it's a big difference. It could be possible, yeah. It could be possible at this rate. I just saw a poll, you know, Virginia and New Jersey have their gubernatorial elections this year, the off year. The Virginia one in particular is typically seen as a bellwether. And you've got a really lame Democrat, Abigail Spanberger. She's like a former CA, whatever. Anyway, I'm getting those ads at my house and they're terrible.

42:09My neighborhood is all in for Spanberger. There's signs everywhere. Apparently the whole state is because I just saw a poll that has her up 12 points. 12 points on Winston Sears, who's a current elected statewide official. We elected Yunkin by two points. That's a 14-point swing in five years. That's crazy. Yeah. All right. So we'll see how that goes. But I think Abigail Spanberger's got to be feeling pretty good about where she stands at this point. The other thing I was thinking about listening to Rich Barris talk there is where was Trump's strength? His strength was with low information voters.

42:39The type of people who aren't listening to the show or watching CNN or even watching Fox News. The type of people who are watching like Theo Bonds podcast or, you know, Andrew Schultz or Tim Dillon or Joe Rogan or whatever. While they're, you know, doing their job or driving the Uber shift or whatever. and to the contrary of the people who want to say oh real people don't care about this this is actually a story that really penetrates yeah it's easy it's the easiest one that gets completely penetrates pop culture i mean all the late night shows of course are all over it shane gillis hosted the espies last night epstein and it killed yeah killed like you don't think people know about this give me a break this is exactly the sort of issue that actually breaks through i totally agree with low information voters the very people who were the ones who put Trump over the top last time.

43:24So, you know, I think there has already been a lot of erosion with Trump among people who are really paying close attention and who were, you know, independents and they voted for him, but they weren't sure about it, whatever. I think you've already seen that erosion. But this cuts deeper because it does go to just pop culture and the sense of this guy, first of all, what is going on here? Like, what are you doing and why are you acting this way and what is actually going on. And second of all, you just lied to us to get a light. Like you are, you betrayed this notion that you're going to be the outsider, come in and clean up things like total and complete bullshit.

44:01And look, it has always been bullshit, but this is such a blatant, obvious betrayal of how he positioned himself that it becomes impossible to ignore and to spin if you have a shred of integrity. I totally agree. Let's also put this next one up here. This is from Mark Mitchell, who works over at Rasmussen. And, you know, I follow these guys because, I mean, look, you can say a lot about biased pollsters and all this. But one of the things I like about, you know, following the quote biased pollsters is that some of them actually do have some integrity. And here, like this is from Rasmussen, you know, one of the most Republican leaning polling outlets out there.

44:36And here's what Mark Mitchell has to say. Update. Looks like Trump approval has bottomed for the second term. and what he and Rich and these guys are warning about is just the absolute destruction that Republicans face in the midterms, but again, more importantly for Trump and his coalition in the future for whatever that looks like. The other thing is, is like, let's say that Trump is a lame duck and he's done. Everyone's like, oh, he's not gonna care. I genuinely don't believe that. I think he will be the most interact, till the day he dies, he will be a god king of the Republican Party. It would be as if Ronald Reagan, who I guess kept his mind after he left his presidency and continued to wield his influence.

45:19Now, Reagan, not only from his own personal issues, but believed in norms, even though I know that's cringe, and was like, no, I'm done. I'm an old man. George, take the reins. You can do whatever you want to do. I'll respect that. You think Trump is going to be sitting down in Mar-a-Lago? Let's say J.D. gets elected. He's going to have to go down there once a month, all right, to get Trump truth socials and all this other stuff to back him up because at the end of the day, the loyalty does not transfer. We've seen that a million times. There's affection but not the loyalty. And so for him, like if you continue to diminish and just bring things down to a MAGA-type coalition, you put every future Republican in such a dangerous position where they can't piss off Trump.

45:59But to win, they can't also go in the direction, in the loyalty that he demands, which increasingly that seems like what he's likely to do. Of course, could be wrong. Only seven, six, seven months or whatever into the first Trump administration. Things can go in all kinds of different directions. Remember, it's only, what, July? I mean, Biden's presidency didn't really bottom out until October. So there's still a long way to go. It's like a few months. Yeah, we still got months and months to go. But things seem to be on track for where we are right now. We don't know what the future looks like.

46:30And yeah, like they need to pray for several things. We'll talk soon about the Fed and all of that. They need lower rates. They need a lot more housing. And they need inflation to go down. And they need the stock market to remain up. They've accomplished, I think, one out of four of those. So like you need to land the plane, especially in the next two and a half years. And I just don't see a path forward. I think it's also – I agree with you that the idea Trump is just going to go away. Yeah, ridiculous. live a quiet life at Marlowe, okay, please. Like, look at who this man is. Even if he doesn't technically run for a third term, it will be his party until the day he dies.

47:06That's just how it is. And the other thing that is, I think, increasingly clear, both as you see, you know, the warring factions over Iran and over Ukraine and now over Epstein, he is the only person who can hold this coalition together. Absolutely. He is the only one that can do it. And, you know, there's some similarities there with Obama, actually, where he never was able to translate his popularity over to other Democrats and over to the Democratic Party more broadly. And I think it's the exact same thing with Trump. You know, when he's not on the ballot, Republicans have been losing an election after election after election.

47:42So, you know, the idea that he's going to be able to just bequeath his popularity and his coalition to J.D. Vance or even his own son or whatever. Like, I think that is there's there's just no chance that he's that they're able to pull that up. I totally agree. Because no one else is Donald J. Trump, and that's just how it is. Look, remember, Obama literally was like, you need to act like I'm on the ballot in 2016. People were like, yeah, I'm good, actually. So you can try. It basically never works. Yeah. Yeah, it's a very, very important lesson. And Hillary was his choice, too. Yes, they literally said that.

48:10I mean, Biden wanted to run in that election. Obama basically killed that. Biden, I think, at that point, you know, he was at his peak. He would have been a much better candidate than Hillary Clinton. Yeah, he had a much better chance. He did have a better touch with working class people. He was more closely affiliated with Obama that people had warm fuzzies about at that point. But anyway, I mean, the point is just that he got his chosen successor. He did what he could to put her across the finish line. And it's like, no way, even though I think if it was Obama who was on the ballot again, he would have probably won.

48:42I've done so many monologues about that. People can pull them from five, six years ago. I have all those clips of all the times that Obama was like, you need to act like I'm the person running on the ballot. And people were like, yeah, actually, I'm good. Most people never shop their car insurance. Here's the hidden truth. Your rate can change for reasons that have nothing to do with you. Companies update their pricing at different times. The best price for you two years ago might not be the best today. Nothing went wrong. The math just moved. Insurify compares real quotes from over 100 companies in about two minutes.

49:12Free, no phone calls. And if there's nothing better for you today, Insurify keeps watching and tells you when that changes. Start at Insurify.com. That's I-N-S-U-R-I-F-Y dot com. Insurify.com. This is Matt Rogers from Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. This is Bowen Yang from Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. You know when people try a new food and suddenly it's like, okay, hold on, I got a new favorite food. That's the reaction a lot of people are having when they first try Kupi Mayo. Yeah, it's the one with the red cap and the little baby on the bottle. You've probably seen it at the grocery store.

49:46And this mayo is different. Most mayonnaise uses whole eggs. Kewpie only uses egg yolks, which gives it this rich umami flavor. It's smoother, deeper, almost buttery. Once people try it, they start putting it on everything. Egg sandwiches, fries, burgers. Chefs use it. Restaurants use it. People who really care about flavor use it. Put it on just about anything. Then you'll understand. Kewpie, the original Japanese mayonnaise. I think something that makes me well-studded to be a nurse is my empathy. Growing up with a big family, I think I've always kind of been a caregiver. When you care give, you get to know the family and the patient and you get really close.

50:22Rasmussen University, they did a very, very good job of giving us the resources that we need. So just being able to apply the knowledge that I've retained to my daily life has been so amazing. Learn more at rasmussen.edu.

50:40All right, turning now to Syria, some extraordinary developments. Israel bombing the capital of Syria after major violence breaks out in Saouda province. We're going to get to all of the details, but let's just take a look at some of the video. I mean, it's absolutely extraordinary. You're watching a Syrian newscaster there broadcasting live from the capital. After right behind her, you can watch Israeli airstrikes in the middle of Damascus. And by the way, these are not secret strikes like normal. These are claimed and public proclamations from the IDF, including the command and control network of the Syrian general staff as well as the Syrian presidential palace.

51:19So you're watching just – I mean this is wild, like out in the open. And you might ask, so what the hell is actually going on here? Now, I've done my best to – it's very, very complicated, so everybody stick with us in terms of the exact tick-tock of how this all went down. We've got to start at the very, very beginning. You'll remember that the Assad regime fell. Well, after the Assad regime fell, the Israeli government claimed a, quote, indefinite presence inside of Syria past the Golan Heights, further expanding their borders. The basically the justification was they need to protect their own border at the Golan Heights, as well as the Druze population who they have long had a close relationship with.

52:04OK, so let's put things out that way. That's ever since the Israeli government or the Assad regime fell. And now the new power Al Qaeda is in charge of the state. After Al Qaeda kind of came into power of the state, there has been a tacit alliance between the Israelis and Al Qaeda. They met recently. There was supposed to be normalization between the two governments. Much of the sanctions from the U.S. government were taken off. So everything seemed to be on a road of normalization and of a tacit agreement where the new al-Qaeda government is going to recognize Israeli sovereignty over this new portion.

52:37All right, so let's start there. However, the Druze population, of course, is allied with Israel, and there's also been calls within Israel to basically further their attacks on the Syrian government. And all of this kind of came to a head in the last couple of days. So let's start with this. Let's put this up there on the screen. So late on July 11th, Bedouin gunmen ambushed a vegetable truck on the Damascus-Saweda Highway, beating the driver and stealing the truck and its contacts. The next day, Druze gunmen kidnapped eight Bedouins as retaliation, triggering the Bedouin gunmen to kidnap five Druze in response.

53:13By the way, this is what a lawless state looks like. So next, July 12th, saw a flurry of, quote, tit-for-tat kidnappings amid attempts by local notables to negotiate a calm down. Tensions and conflict between these clans and the Druze date back for years, tied to drugs and the weapons trade, control of smuggling routes, and land ownership. On July 13th, negotiations break down. Armed conflict erupts in Sueda between Bedouin clans and Druze militias. Druze militias start getting shelled. Bedouin areas are besieged. 30 people are dead. 100 are injured in 24 hours. All right, now continuing. On July 14th, after attempts to mediate talks, Syria's new government intervenes.

53:49These are Al-Qaeda forces, right? Deploying military and interior ministry forces into Sueda to, quote, enforce order and put an end to the internal fighting. Then, as these new government forces, the Al-Qaeda forces, enter the city, they are ambushed by the Druze militiamen. Ten soldiers are rounded up, executed, and used for celebratory photos. And eight other soldiers are taken hostage, stripped and marched to a nearby village in their underwear. All of them are believed to have been dead now. That's when shit really kicks off. Intense fighting ensues. Government forces advance into the city.

54:25The Druze militia starts shelling the Bedouins, killing a child, apparently, a photo of which gets sent around everywhere in terms of anti-Sunni mockery. This is all according to Charles Lister. He's a longtime Syria analyst, and he speaks the language as well and has translated all this. Then what happens is, quote, as fighting rages on, Israel begins drone strikes there, first targeting the Syrian militia armored forces and pickup trucks of the interior ministry. So eventually what happens is there's a negotiated ceasefire on July 15th between the Druze, the Christian, the Civil Council, who invited the government forces to secure order.

55:01However, one Druze cleric, I'm not even going to try and pronounce his name, he is allied with Israel, and he's the person who's like, no, we're not doing that. And that's when the Israeli strikes start to go into full effect. Israel strikes not only the Syrian government, basically saying, hey, I'm the boss here. You do what we tell you to do. Some Druze, IDF soldiers, and others start flooding to the Israeli-Syrian border. They tried to smuggle weapons and to go into Syria. Basically, what they were trying to do is instigate like a full-on rise up and have complete autonomy over there that Israel has control over.

55:40Many of them were actually raising the Israeli flag over the territory. So this is all – the reason I went through exactly that is if you were looking at the Israeli version, you're like, oh, my God. The Syrian Al-Qaeda forces just came in and they're massacring all these Druze. It's a little bit more complicated than that, isn't it? Because they came at the invitation of the interior forces, but this one Druze cleric and militia leader who's allied with Israel was like, no, we're not doing that. And actually we need Israel to come in and show the new Syrian government who's boss. All of that escalates to the point where they're bombing the presidential palace.

56:15Now let's just diminish this. They're like, oh, we're doing it to prevent. They literally killed how many people in Syria over the last 15 years? How many hundreds of thousands were slaughtered? Okay. You know, you didn't do anything at that point. Like you give a shit about humanitarian situation in Syria. Give me a break. All right. This is about control. It's about territory. And really it's about telling the Syrian Al Qaeda government, you answer to us. You don't even get to, you're not even allowed to enter our allies' territory without us coming and bombing the shit out of your capital city.

56:51The crazy thing is that this Syrian government had already basically been like, you're right. We answer to you. Exactly. You can take over the Golan Heights. But it's not enough. The guy who leads Syria now is literally from the Golan Heights. I know. And he's like effectively ceded the territory to Israel. I mean, there's a reason why the Trump administration dropped the sanctions on him and re-designated HTS, which was his organization. It's like, oh, they're totally not terrorists anymore. war, it's because they were playing ball and doing everything that America and Israel wanted them to do.

57:22But it is still not enough for the Israelis. They want it to be a completely failed state. They want to be able to take over and cede whatever territory they possibly can. And so they're using the pretext of this effectively ethnic strife, which is apparently the tensions between the Bedouin and the Druze in this area is, in fact, longstanding. Now that you have this also, you know, civil war now leading to this takeover and this power vacuum, I'm sure that creates even more possibility for escalation of that ethnic strife. And so they're using that as a pretext to come in and just directly bomb Damascus and bomb the Syrian government.

58:01It's crazy on the you know, what was going on there with the government negotiations and them coming in and trying to assert control. I mean, you have to keep in mind here. This is a new government. They are trying to assert control over their territory. Right. So they come in. They actually negotiate. There were multiple ceasefires that were negotiated that everyone agreed to except this one dude. Who's pro-Israel. Who seems to be the Israeli plan. And then as soon as he blows up the negotiations, lo and behold, Israel comes in with their bumps. So that's the reality of what's going on here. And yeah, I mean, the lesson you have to take is there's no working with these people.

58:36There's no even if you give them everything that you think that they want, things that should be really outrageous and off the table. Even if you do that, it does not matter. So what is this now, the ninth front in the Israeli war? And I have seen some people even who are like pretty pro-Israel being like, what are you doing? Like we were with you when you were bombing the Palestinians because they're obviously evil and hate you or whatever. But like what is going on here? Why are you – how does this make sense? How is this at all justifiable? And the truth is, because they completely act with no accountability, with utter impunity, they just feel like they can take over and do whatever they want because they have been able to do that up to this point.

59:16Yes, and that's the point. The point is that, look, no one's saying this is a new front war. The point is just that they are allowed by us to come in and do whatever they want to do to every single one of their neighbors. And we're going to back them up. And if you want evidence of that, here's the response from the U.S. State Department, where they call on the Syrian government. By the way, they're the ones who recognize the government. And they tell the government, you need to withdraw from your own territory so that we can reach a negotiated solution. Let's take a listen. Has the U.S. asked Israel to halt strikes on Syria?

59:50I cannot speak to specific conversations or the exchanges diplomatically. We are calling on the Syrian government to, in fact, withdraw their military in order to enable all sides to de-escalate and find a path forward. And I think that that's obviously the goal because of the nature of what's happened and the secretary's phrasing that this was a misunderstanding. He's optimistic that this can be achieved. So you said you're looking for an Israeli withdrawal and a Syrian government withdrawal from the area. Can you be more explicit about where you're... I can't. Right. So, okay. Got it. And let's go ahead and put Netanyahu's statement up there on the screen.

1:00:31He says, My Druze brothers, citizens of Israel, the situation in Sueda and Southwest is dire. The IDF air forces are in action. We are working to save our Druze brothers and eliminate regime gangs. I have one request for you. You are Israeli citizens. Do not cross the border. You are putting your lives... Remember I was telling you there were a lot of Druze who were crossing the border with weapons, by the way. Some of it appeared to be facilitated by the IDF. But they're like, oh, actually, you're hindering our efforts, basically saying don't go there because actually we're bombing it right now.

1:00:59Here we have Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was asked about it. And his response is, look, this is a centuries old conflict. That's what this is all about. Let's take a listen. I think I'll ask Marco to say a few words on Syria. Yeah, it's complicated, obviously. These are historic, longtime rivalries between different groups in the southwest of Syria, Bedouins, the Druze community. and it led to an unfortunate situation and a misunderstanding, it looks like, between the Israeli side and the Syrian side. So we've been engaged with them all morning long and all night long with both sides. And we think we're on our way towards a real de-escalation and then hopefully get back on track in helping Syria build a country and arriving at a situation there in the Middle East is far more stable.

1:01:45So in the next few hours, we hope to see some real progress to end what you've been seeing over the last couple hours. Centuries-old conflict. It's like, guys, as I just laid it out, it's actually not complicated at all. You know? It's really not. It's like what happened is, yes, there was some fighting, and then this pro-Israeli guy said, no, I don't accept that, and asked the Israeli government, which they did, to send a message to the new Syrian government that we're in charge, actually, of your country. I mean, I don't know. It's like, who do you even root for? You got Al-Qaeda on one side.

1:02:12You got IDFR on one side. I'm like, okay, well, glad I'm complicit in all of this. It's just so ridiculous. And by the way, on top of all of that, Bibi Netanyahu is on trial in Israel. You might forget. Don't worry. The United States actually sent our ambassador, Mike Huckabee, to the courtroom to express their support for Netanyahu's government. Extraordinary. Let's put this up there on the screen. What do you think he did whenever there were strikes on Syria? He said, hey, guys, I'm involved in this military operation in Syria, and that's why the trial needs to adjourn. Oh, got it. And by the way, it's only the fourth time or so now that you have had the trial postponed because of military action.

1:02:54And I'll read some headlines. June 26, 2024. Prime Minister's lawyers tell court Netanyahu can only testify in a corruption trial later on in March of 2025. Prosecutors cancel Netanyahu's testimony in a corruption trial amid renewed Gaza assault. March 18, 2025. Court lets Netanyahu skip testimony next week for a U.S. trip. July 2, 2025. July 17, 2024. July 16, 2025, yesterday, trial adjourned because of strikes on Syria. So, look, it doesn't take a genius to figure out what's going on here. Really glad that that's something that we're all signed up and supporting. And lastly, let's put this on the screen here, from Ben Gavir, part of the Netanyahu coalition, who sends here, now they want to, quote, eliminate the Syrian president.

1:03:37The only thing to be done with Jolani is to eliminate him. We need to eliminate the head of the snake. keep in mind, this is the same leader who has already given Israel everything that it wants, who is open to normalizing relations, open to coming into the Abraham Accords, somebody who, and this is where I don't even want to sound sympathetic to Al-Qaeda, but if you're a part of the new Syrian government, wouldn't you think that you have been sovereignty over your territory to restore order whenever there's something that's breaking out there? You might think that, but no, the Israelis are like, no, no, no, no, no, we rule your country, not you.

1:04:08Well, and again, they weren't even really trying to assert authority over all of their country. They were like, OK, Israel, fine, you can have that peace. We'll be over here. But even that wasn't good enough. I'll just close with this. There was a good quote here from an expert who said, listen, Israel is demanding that they withdraw their troops further, obviously. And the paradox that creates for them is pretty obvious. If you withdraw, then you just effectively announce Israel controls the country and you fail in your bid to try to assert sovereignty even over the pieces that you haven't already ceded to Israel.

1:04:42And if you don't, then they're going to keep bombing you. And then that obviously threatens your ability to hold on to power at all. So that's kind of where things stand right now. Really great. Just really, you know, very fortunate for Netanyahu the way these things keep coinciding with his trial days. He's the luckiest man in history. Isn't that interesting? He really is. Most people never shop their car insurance. Here's the hidden truth. Your rate can change for reasons that have nothing to do with you. Companies update their pricing at different times. The best price for you two years ago might not be the best today.

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1:05:46Yeah, it's the one with the red cap and the little baby on the bottle. You've probably seen it at the grocery store. And this mayo is different. Most mayonnaise uses whole eggs. Kewpie only uses egg yolks, which gives it this rich umami flavor. It's smoother, deeper, almost buttery. Once people try it, they start putting it on everything. Egg sandwiches, fries, burgers. Chefs use it. Restaurants use it. People who really care about flavor use it. Put it on just about anything. Then you'll understand. QB, the original Japanese mayonnaise. I have been with Rasmussen University since 2013. All virtual.

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1:06:46All right, let's go ahead and get to the machinations over the Fed chair. So Trump has long expressed in this administration his upset with Jerome Powell, who he initially was the one who put in at the Fed, by the way, which is going to become relevant during this during this block. So in any case, apparently, he gathered a bunch of Republicans in the Oval Office this week. He reportedly drafted a letter firing announcing the firing of Fed Chair Jerome Powell, asked the Republicans in the room, hey, should I do this? According to Trump, they all were like, oh, yes, Mr. President. Yes, sir. That sounds like a great idea.

1:07:20He has not moved forward with that whatsoever. So in any case, he got asked a question about whether or not he is going to fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Let's go ahead and take a listen to what he had to say. He's a terrible Fed chair. I was surprised he was appointed. I was surprised, frankly, that Biden put him in and extended him. But they did. So, no, we're not planning on doing anything. We're very concerned. And that goes for his board, too, because his board is not doing the job because they should try and rein this guy in. So he's doing a lousy job. But no, I'm not talking about that. So he says there Biden put him in.

1:07:57Biden did not put him in. He put him in. Whatever. He says there he's not planning on doing anything. So maybe this was like kind of a trial balloon. Maybe it was an attempt to distract from other things like Epstein that was going on. But we can put the reporting about this draft letter up on the screen. According to the New York Times, he penned this letter to fire the Fed chair. He asked Republicans if he should send it. The president, they say, waived a copy of a draft letter firing Jerome Powell at a meeting in the Oval Office with House Republicans. Remains to be seen whether he follows through with that threat.

1:08:28And then the last piece here, Sagar, is there was, while this was all swirling and it seemed like more of an active possibility, there was a pretty significant market reaction, especially with regards to the value of the dollar and also the bond yields, both of which are, you know, significant and important. And so it's possible this was like a trial balloon. Market's freaked. He decided not to do it. Like I said, it's possible it's a distraction. I don't know. What do you make of all this? I mean, it's complicated. As in, I do think that Wall Street, like, worships at the altar of the Fed in a very unhealthy way and have fetishized this whole idea of central bank independence.

1:09:06I understand why Donald Trump seems to be an unreliable actor through which he would not want to break that norm. That said, I mean, the argument is sound in terms of he's out of step with the rest of the entire world's central bank cuts. If you look at where the rates are right now and the labor market, inflation and all of that, et cetera, your reaction is not working if you want to look at the core economic problems of the American people. So one of the main reasons that buying a house right now is just exorbitantly expensive is because of where the rates are. I mean we have not had a rate cut or at least a substantial one in multiple years.

1:09:43A lot of people who bought who wanted to refinance in the future are getting hosed. A lot of people are having to sell for much less than they wanted to. It's one of the main barriers to entry. It makes the average mortgage payment double what somebody who got a rate four or five years ago. I can sympathize with all of that. It also makes the carrying cost of business very difficult. People cannot finance expansion at such high rates. There's a lot of different effects that the rates and all of that have. So it's really one of those where I'm not sure there's two heroes on either side of the store.

1:10:13If you look at it, we had supply-side inflation under Biden. And the Federal Reserve was like, OK, well, we're going to crush the demand side. I just disagree with that fundamentally because I think they look at their mandate in a very different – in the way that Wall Street and all of them want to, an old school economic theory that, in my opinion, does not account for the way that real markets in the real world work. So I think they've done more damage than they have good. I agree with a lot of that. I mean, Trump wants them to cut the rates by three percentage points. Yeah, which would be awesome.

1:10:41That seems crazy. Seems awesome. That seems wild. And I guess I feel about this sort of similar to how I feel about the term limits conversation, where it's like, in general, I don't support term limits, but I'm glad they're there right now with Donald Trump. And I kind of feel the same thing with the Fed chair. Like, I actually think that president should be able to, you know, have their choice in there and have the Fed policy, monetary policy reflect their agenda and their view of the economy. Do I trust that power in the hand of Donald Trump? No, I do not. So that's kind of where I am. And, you know, I do think if he decided to fire Jerome Powell, I do think there would be a significant market reaction because they are very, like, you know, attached to this idea.

1:11:19and they also have no confidence in Trump putting in someone there who would be remotely responsible. That's the problem. But this is where I want people to think a little bit differently. It's like, look, it's not in the Constitution that the Federal Reserve is like this wholly sepulcher of separate part of government. And if you went back in time, people would say it's preposterous that you have this separate independent bank unanswerable to the public. Like, I mean, if you look back at some of the things, like the Volcker, Jimmy Carter situation, it was insane. You know, it's like 19 % interest rates or whatever.

1:11:53And the president was like, oh, I don't even agree. He appointed him and then, you know, basically ruined any chances of him ever getting elected. And that's take the political stuff out of it. If you want to work and have some sort of democratic say in your economy, having an independent central bank is probably the worst possible way to do that. It's basically like a giant insurance scam and all of that for the global financial system. That's fine. Their argument is like, oh, well, that trickles down to all of you. I don't agree with that at all. The housing situation is perfect. So look at the people who are getting crushed by rates.

1:12:27Look at the people who worship at the altar of this independent Fed and all of this. And it's mostly Wall Street, bond traders, and others. But yeah, that's the Trump factor as in his chaos and capriciousness makes it so that if he were the one to do it, But even though, again, I think it's a sound enough idea, like democratically, it would cause tremendous market reaction and pushback, which I think he would come to regret if it were to ever happen. But he's socializing the idea on Congress because he wants Powell to resign. He wants him to go away. Yeah. I mean, it's just not going to happen.

1:12:58Yeah. So I don't know. He's stuck. And by the way, as you said, he's the one who appointed him. So why'd you do that? Right. Even if he wants to shift it off on time. Why'd you do that? Dude. You appointed him. Some of us do have brains that have memories longer than that of a goldfish. I was there. I literally remember whenever he was nominated. And especially because he immediately started criticizing him almost after he nominated him. Like a year in. It's like nothing has changed. Even at that time when we had lower rates, he wanted them to go even lower. So Trump is a real estate guy. I get it.

1:13:30But I do actually think a lot of the country would be on his side. Most people don't necessarily understand Federal Reserve and all of that. But this is, again, you know, if you wanted to make a case, if Trump were to give a grand speech and be like, all of you are paying too much in your mortgage prices and I want all your mortgage rates to go down and that's why I'm firing the Fed chairman, it would be very popular. But, you know, they don't have the message discipline or the case, you know, or any of that to actually be able to sell that idea. It would fall. And nobody on CNBC is going to be articulating that either.

1:13:57They're going to be, oh, my God, freak out. One last note on this, and I think I am remembering this correctly. So the Supreme Court recently ruled that Trump could fire some of these other like sort of supposedly independent. I think it was maybe at the CFPB officials, but they explicitly tried to write their decision such that they were like, but the Fed is totally different. Yeah. So I think he also would probably run into some legal issues. Now, as we've seen with this administration, they just act first and worry about the legal consequences later. And that has been a strategy that's been very effective for them because the Supreme Court in almost every instance on the shadow docket where they can just instead of actually ruling on something, just say, well, you can do it for now as these things work out.

1:14:41They have they have ruled sided with Trump in almost every instance where that is concerned. So in a sense, they could get their way at least for a while. But I think also ultimately, probably the Supreme Court being as corporate friendly and business friendly as they are would ultimately come and say, hey, this is too far. You can't actually do this. Yeah, I agree. Okay, next part. Let's get to Zoran and his big meeting with business leaders. Yes. So as we have now moved from the New York City Democratic primary into the general election, Zoran Mamdani had a big meeting this week with business leaders in New York City.

1:15:14Some pretty interesting commentary on that from MSNBC. Let's take a listen. They heard a really charming, affable guy who is well-prepared. He made jokes. He made self-deprecating jokes. But they did not hear someone who changed his policies. And so if you had concerns about his economic policies going into the meeting, you had the same concerns going out. For some people, the charm and his disarming nature was enough to calm people a little bit. For others, the fact that he was very much sticking to his policies further enraged them. So there was a bit of a division coming out of the room in terms of response.

1:15:48But in the room, it was mostly cordial. It was mostly pleasant. There was one quite pointed question effectively saying, how can you tell us you're not going to drive business out of New York? And he danced around it a bit. I think his message was, I believe strongly in my policies, but I don't think they're bad for business. And I think many of the business leaders saw a little bit of a disconnect in how you connect those two dots. But overall, they found a nice, charming guy. And they appreciated the fact that he wanted to meet with them. But he also enters a race here where the setup seems to really favor him.

1:16:23First of all, any time you have a D next to your name, you're the Democratic nominee in a deep blue city, that is helpful. He's got that. But if Andrew Cuomo and Eric Adams both persist in this race and are both vying for the same sort of centrist vote, they split that. That only helps him, Donnie. The fact that he's in makes it highly unlikely that Zuran does not win. I talked to some people last night who were part of the partnership meeting, and they were relatively impressed with Zoran. They had very serious concerns, and they were impressed. He's very charismatic, which we found he came twice to National Action Network.

1:17:05And some of them agreed with him, some disagreed, but they say he's a lot more personable and more informed than they thought. apparently at that meeting the ceo of pfizer had asked him a question about well what about globalized the intifada which it's just worth reminding everybody wait the ceo of fire why does he why do you give a shit about i know yeah yeah this is your question right okay whatever and also just as a reminder because this he's been lied about so many times he never even said that he got asked about the phrase he quote unquote refused to condemn it apparently in this meeting he said he would discourage its use which is basically what he said from the beginning i I mean, it's just, it's insane to me that out of all these people, he's the controversial one.

1:17:48Andrew Cuomo had to literally resign in disgrace soccer after killing grandmas in the nursing home. Well, no, that's not why. Lying and covering it up. And, I mean, the real reason he was pushed down and had to resign, to your point, was like, what, 11 different women accused him of sexual harassment. He's just Italian. Curtis Sliwa has a new line of, like, he was spanking fannies and killing grannies. That's good. I like that. It's also, by the way, accurate. This is actually true. Eric Adams was indicted on federal corruption charges, has a 20 % approval rating in the city. I lost track of the number of members of his administration who were under indictment or being federally investigated.

1:18:25His former police commissioner has just accused him of running in court, of running the NYPD and City Hall as if it is a criminal enterprise. And Zoran, that's the controversial one? Okay, sure. Kathy Hochul also, I believe, stopped by Morning Joe to get asked these very similar questions. Let's go ahead and take a listen to her, too. I'm going to make sure that we have a climate where businesses can thrive. They create jobs. They give us the revenues I need to be able to have very generous social safety net programs. Everyone is having a hair on fire moment. And I said, let's just calm it all down.

1:18:59I've spoken to hundreds of business leaders saying, listen, nothing is going to happen in this city without me being aware of it and involved in it. So don't talk about packing up and leaving and all these other, you know, overreactions. We're going to be OK no matter what happens. So there you go from her. And interestingly, she's actually facing a primary challenge. Zoran is pushing, of course, for the top tax, you know, for hikes on the top tax bracket. But Hochul has said absolutely not. Her primary opponent is saying yes. And so that is actually becoming a core issue in terms of the New York primary.

1:19:36But again, like he is the Democratic nominee. There is a Democratic process. People voted. He won. He won by 12 points. He completely changed the electorate in a way that you think Democrats would be like, that's great. How could we do more of that? And instead, they just like, you know, don't know what to do with don't know whether to endorse don't know what to do with this guy. And a new poll just came out. I mean, he's winning, first of all, for the general election. But also, rank-and-file Democrats, like the people who vote in the city, they're overwhelmingly positive about him. Like, there's no question about it.

1:20:09And his favorability with young voters is, like, off the charts. And the other guys are dramatically underwater and hated. So it's just such a crazy situation to me. Yeah, especially your point about what's controversial and what's not. It's like, OK, you know, the tax thing. I mean, by the way, New York, you guys should think about it because, you know, your whole tax system is relied on taxing the super rich. So if even 12 people leave, you're actually screwed. You should actually really reform the way that you guys do that. That's just my opinion. Also, I was just there for flagrant the subway.

1:20:38Shithole. I'm just going to say it. I mean, it was the day after the floods that came in. The entire platform. Imagine waiting in the platform. Everybody is soaked already from the humidity. And the platform itself is steaming. from all of the flood water. And we're all crammed in there together. And then you walk into the AC, which you think will be refreshing. But actually what happens is now your entire body is covered and your suit and everything is wet and you absorb the sweat off of another person onto yourself. That was my experience yesterday in the New York City something. Been there.

1:21:12Yeah, we've been there. But it's one of those things where like, yeah, this is not great, okay, in terms of the flooding situation. Didn't enjoy it myself. And so that just shows you like the rank and file, like the stuff that actually animates people. That's really what matters. Also, I did check, and Zoran is right. Halal, too fucking expensive, all right? I went to the cart, and I said, no. First, I don't have any cash on me. The guy's not taking cart or whatever. And yeah, it's like$12,$13. Sorry, it's too much. It's too much. I miss New York so much. One last piece here on the Zoran Business Leaders, because this was just too funny.

1:21:42Put D3 up on the screen. This tweet just really sent me. So this lady says, tough meeting for Mom Donnie with the partnership for New York CEOs today. I'm told stood his ground on intifada language and wouldn't commit to keeping the New York PD commissioner Tish whom this crowd likes in the job also didn't recognize her dad Jim Jim Tish when he rose for a question how dare he not recognize a Tish um when they rise for a question you know I know a lot of people out there in the comments were saying I'm a single issue voter which is can you recognize Jim Tish when he stands for a question I didn't realize that the The NYPD commissioner is part of the Lowe's dynasty.

1:22:24Yeah, they're one of the wealthiest. Yeah, this is actually wild. I didn't know that. They're one of the wealthiest families in the country. Oh, okay. And so they were offended that he, how dare he, didn't have his billionaire who to book Facebook in front of him. Anyway, so that's how things are going in that race. That's New York.

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