In short
The episode is a debate about Democratic establishment hypocrisy around Israel/Gaza and “cancel culture,” sparked by Cory Booker’s refusal to call Benjamin Netanyahu a war criminal on Pod Save America.
Guest backgrounds
John Lovett is a Pod Save America host; “Pops” and “Mike” are co-hosts/commentators in the episode.
Key claims
Booker is criticized for “dancing around” war-crimes/genocide language while taking photos with Netanyahu; the establishment supposedly wants scripted podcast appearances and purity tests (e.g., not going on Hasan Piker’s stream) but tolerates pro-Netanyahu optics.
Notable examples
Booker’s Pod Save America exchange; Ro Khanna defending engagement with Hasan on Meet the Press; polling cited that 74% say congressional Democrats lack right priorities; discussion of canceling Hassan vs. engaging other podcasts.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VODiscussing Democratic Party Responses
1:21 to 1:50
The host questions why Democrats struggle to criticize Netanyahu.
“Why can't they start with facts and then from there discuss what policies beyond that support, no support?”
Cory Booker's Controversial Interview Clip
1:50 to 2:12
A clip from Cory Booker's interview is introduced discussing Netanyahu's accountability.
“And our friend John Levitt has asked him a very similar question.”
Analysis of Cory Booker's Statements
2:12 to 3:18
Discussion on Booker's statements about Netanyahu and their implications.
“Benjamin Netanyahu is a horrible person who enabled October 7th and has failed to take accountability.”
The Need for a Strong Opposition Party
3:18 to 4:30
Exploring the necessity of a robust opposition party in the current political climate.
“These are war crimes, human rights violations that shock the conscience.”
Critique of Democratic Establishment Responses
4:30 to 6:00
Criticism of the Democratic establishment's handling of political discourse and dissent.
“They want to preserve the system that they govern in.”
Cory Booker's Caution in Public Engagement
6:00 to 8:00
Discussion on the cautious approach by Cory Booker during public engagements.
“I have long been someone that only develops new ideas and evolves in my thought when I am challenged and when I listen to the perspective of others.”
Response to Cancel Culture in Politics
8:00 to 9:20
The host shares thoughts on cancel culture and its impact on political discourse.
“So this when I saw this clip, this struck me.”
Ro Khanna's Perspective on Engagement
9:20 to 11:30
Highlighting Ro Khanna's stance on engaging with diverse political spaces.
“Well, the whole time I'm asking about Benjamin Netanyahu, his office is stage five melting down, texting our producers, trying to get her to like, Hey, we didn't agree to talk about this, blah, blah.”
Concluding Thoughts on Political Engagement
11:30 to 14:01
Wrapping up the discussion on the importance of engagement and challenging the status quo.
“If you go on Joe Rogan, I don't give a shit.”
Democratic Priorities and Party Dissatisfaction
14:01 to 19:30
An exploration of the disconnect between Democratic leaders and their base, emphasizing the need for stronger action against perceived threats.
“And I think that what they should be saying is instead of being focused on these specific streamers or podcasters, let's focus on the actual war criminals.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Why have I asked my electrician I found on Angie.com to bury my pet hamster? I was so moved by how carefully he buried my electrical wires, I knew I could trust him to bury my sweet nibbles after his untimely end. This is very strange. Angie, the one you trust to find the ones you trust. Find pros for all your home projects at Angie.com. Atlanta. Imagine trading traffic for turquoise waters and turning your next long weekend into an unforgettable adventure. In Belize, you can soar through lush rainforests, explore ancient Maya temples, or just unwind on a Caribbean beach that feels like your own secret escape.
0:30And getting there is easier than ever. Delta offers nonstop flights from Atlanta straight to Belize City with a quick journey of just about three hours. Start planning your getaway now at TravelBelize.org. That's TravelBelize.org, your closest faraway paradise. Whether you're a homeowner creating your dream space or a pro managing multiple projects, discover a new way to shop at Ferguson Home, where great ideas become stunning spaces. Visit FergusonHome.com to explore the best selection of bath, kitchen, and lighting products. or book an appointment at one of our showrooms where you can experience products firsthand and get personalized expert support every step of the way.
1:06Bring your vision to Ferguson Home, where it all comes together. Shop top brands like Kohler or find your local showroom at fergusonhome.com.
1:20Why do members of the Democratic Party have such a hard time saying, Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal? Israel has committed war crimes. They have committed a genocide. Why can't they start with facts and then from there discuss what policies beyond that support, no support? A lot of people in the Democratic establishment cannot say this. And you may remember I had that viral moment with Senator Cory Booker last year regarding this issue. And now he's gone on Pod Save America. And our friend John Levitt has asked him a very similar question. Play the clip. To call Benjamin Netanyahu, say, a war criminal.
1:59What happens if you do? What goes, what changes by just saying, I believe Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal, and that signals what our sort of moral parameters are for the kind of leadership in Israel we view as acceptable? This is not a political test for me. Benjamin Netanyahu is a horrible person who enabled October 7th and has failed to take accountability. Remember, he knew about the Qataris funding this horrific terrorist organization, Hamas. He knew about that. He allowed that funding to continue. Has failed in that sense. He has within his own administration people that are committing atrocities right now in the West Bank, as we've seen over these last few weeks.
2:42I have no problem calling him out and saying that he should be held accountable for any crimes that he's committed. My focus and has been consistently before October 7th is trying to be a force as a member of the Foreign Relations Committee. OK. All right. Pops, what's your take on that? My take on that is he's a coward and that he is not calling him a war criminal. He's dancing around it so that he can still backtrack on it when he is able to forgive the crimes that have been committed. i mean that's what it tells me he's a coward i think it's interesting that he my take is that he will not say benjamin netanyahu is a war criminal because then he has to by inference there admit that israel has committed war crimes right and he danced around the west bank and he talked about netanyahu enabling october 7th but he refuses to say you know look israel has committed a genocide.
3:47These are war crimes, human rights violations that shock the conscience. And we have to, in my opinion, have an opposition party. We have to have a fucking opposition party to all of this insanity. And if we cannot start the conversation off by stating facts, Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal. Israel commits war crimes. And then discuss policy and funding beyond that. The Democratic Party is the party that does the same thing over and over again, and expects a different result. That's my opinion on this. And so obviously, Benjamin in Netanyahu this photo is from July 9th 2025 and this is where Cory Booker's playing peekaboo over there and you got you know Lion Ted up there front and center but you have a lot of other Democrats here too you've got Chuck Schumer Adam Schiff Chris Coons and others and so there's this whole thing right now in the Democratic Party where we have what I call the establishment and in my opinion, they are preservationists.
5:03They want to preserve the system that they govern in. Cory Booker wants to preserve his status and I think Cory Booker is a fascist collaborator. Benjamin Netanyahu, aside from being a war criminal, is a fascist. I mean, this is a fascist government and these other Democrats are fascist collaborators and now after the loss kamala's loss it's like all the democrats need to go on podcasts they need to be less scripted um we can't have cancel culture anymore etc etc and i don't know what your online feed has looked like but mine for the last two weeks is like we need to cancel Hassan Piker and it's all of these moderates and centrists that want to cancel Hassan Piker.
5:56Pumps, what's your take on all that? Here's my take. I have long been someone that only develops new ideas and evolves in my thought when I am challenged and when I listen to the perspective of others. And so then I take my perspective and that person's perspective and And then I find what I think is the best. And I do not believe that people get better and or policy gets better if criticism is not shared and integrated and perspectives evolve. And I do not think you can have that if you want to silence anyone that disagrees with you. And you know who else who agrees with me on that is MAGA, because they allow for no dissent within their party.
6:47So I think what's going on with Hassan Piker is an embarrassment to the Democratic establishment and all the people that are perpetuating it. Okay. So John Lovett, in this interview with Cory Booker, asked him about whether he would appear on Hassan Piker's stream. Play the clip. As you said, and it's just one person, but it's part of a large group of, I think, people that have this point of view that you wouldn't say go on like Hassan Piker's stream because he's said some heinous and stupid shit in the past. But to me, I would expect you'd be like chomping at the bit to say, you know what, of course I'm going to go there because I want to represent this point of view in a place that doesn't normally hear it.
7:27And I want to talk about the ways in which I think some of the things he said are offensive, the same way you might want to go confront somebody on Fox News or you've met with, you know, talk to Newt Gingrich. And he said crazy shit in the past, too. So maybe part of the way out of this is for someone like you to go to those spaces, even if there have been things that are offensive to people. Yeah. So first of all, somehow we're having a much more deeper and personal conversation than I thought. So I'm going to be very candid with you. Gotcha. Gotcha. In a very good way. I always want to talk to you about deep things.
7:57No, I appreciate that. OK. Stop it right there. So this when I saw this clip, this struck me. um number one the first thing that strikes me is that cory booker will take a photograph with benjamin netanyahu in the middle of a genocide but draws the line with going on hasan piker's twitch but the second thing that struck me there was when cory booker said oh this conversation is much deeper than i had thought and i'm going to let you all in on a little secret when we filmed with cory booker um after kamala lost all of the democrats came to us we want to be on your pod we want to be on your pod?
8:34And we're like, great. Yeah, you can be on our pod. I don't have a corporate news background. So I ask questions that I think are relevant. And a lot of some Democratic politicians come on and they don't want to know what they're talking about. And they don't care. They just want to talk about the country and whatever questions I have for them. Others are a lot more scripted and controlled. And Cory Booker's office, it's in our producers, Cory wants to talk about XYZ. And I saw those talking points, but right out of the gates, I asked him, what have you had it with? And he said, I've had it with corporate money.
9:07And I was just like, bitch, please, you take like millions of dollars in APAC money. So it led down that rabbit hole, right? Because I was like, wait, wait, this seems hypocritical. And instead of staying on the script that his office sent me, I went with his answer as a normal conversation should. Well, the whole time I'm asking about Benjamin Netanyahu, his office is stage five melting down, texting our producers, trying to get her to like, Hey, we didn't agree to talk about this, blah, blah. My point in this is not to, uh, pick on Cory Booker or his staff. They are operating the way they've always operated in corporate media.
9:44That's the way it's been. They were doing what they've always done. The problem that's happening now is we have these spaces where people have realized their politicians are bought and paid for and their news anchors are bought and paid for. And everybody's, whether it's Republican or Democrat, wants independent voices and independent spaces. And so obviously that clip went viral. His staff was melting down for reasons that they should have, because it didn't make him look that great. But another person I've had come on who flew to New York to sit down with me for an hour in person as Ro Khanna.
10:21And it was just what time and where was the only question beforehand. There was no, what are we going to talk about? He didn't care when he came out. I said, Hey, let's do some Epstein stuff. He goes, Jennifer, whatever you want to talk about, I am pleased to talk to your audience. It's what representative Ro Khanna had. So I think what I'm getting at here is when you have moral clarity, it doesn't matter what John Levitt asked you, what Jennifer Welch asked you, you don't have to have your people in the back wait what's going on here or would cory booker have to say oh i didn't realize we were going to get this deep you would just come in and sit down and say ask me anything on the planet you want i don't know if i'm gonna have all the answers for you but i'm gonna try and that's what a lot of like progressive democrats do needless to say we don't hear from senator booker's office that much anymore but i'm welcoming back on i don't dislike Cory Booker I don't think he and his staff did anything particularly wrong that's how it's handled in corporate news but it seems to me like they want this whole thing pumps where it's like okay we need to go on podcasts and we need to speak like normal people and then we need to get rid of cancel culture and now they're trying to cancel Hassan Piker we can take pictures with Benjamin Netanyahu and I like Cory Booker in that he's like because another such another thing you think about okay we're going to go on podcasts we're going to be unscripted you can't go on a podcast and be unscripted if your staff is telling the podcast what the talking points are talk undescripted and be open to anything i i completely agree and so this is something where i feel like the democratic establishment wants their cake and they want to eat it too of course we need to go on podcasts and talk like normal people but oh here's our normal people talking points because normal people conversation and then it's like we've got to quit we've got to quit with this cancel culture and then and then cory bicker's like i draw the line with hassan piker oh bb's gonna be there you know here i am and so it's just like i think the thing that pisses me off about the democratic establishment is the condescending nature they treat us like nobody gives a shit if you go on hassan stream if you go on i've had it if you go on theo vaughn If you go on, I'm even saying right-wingers.
12:40If you go on, what's his name? The little Joe Rogan. If you go on Joe Rogan, I don't give a shit. Go on all of these podcasts. Nobody gives a shit. But do not treat us with the abject stupidity that you are going to draw the line at Hassan Piker, who has killed zero people, and then go play peekaboo patty cake with Benjamin Netanyahu, who is an objective. 100 % killer. The world's biggest killer of children right now is the IDF at the instruction of Benjamin Netanyahu. So that's where Corey is with all of this. And then let me show you where Ro Khanna is on this. Play this clip from Meet the Press this weekend.
13:26Do you have any regrets about appearing on his show? None. And I would go again, but I of course condemn those comments. I mean, I've described Hamas as a terrorist state. And we need to unequivocally condemn anti-Semitism. But Hassan Piker was at the DNC in 2024 covering Vice President Harris. What should the standard of the Democrats be? Should we not go on Theo Vaughn? Should we not go on Sean Ryan? Should we not go on Joe Rogan? Should we just have these purity tests of canceling folks? The lesson of the last election is we've got to be out there. We've got to engage. It's a complex, messy, multiracial democracy.
14:00I will defend my views, but the people who are saying don't engage will cost us future elections. Do you run? I completely agree with him here. And I think that what they should be saying is instead of being focused on these specific streamers or podcasters, let's focus on the actual war criminals. Let's focus on, I think Theo Vaughn pretty much calls out Benjamin Netanyahu and the government of Israel. Pretty crystal clear. There's a lot of bipartisan reality-based people that see that. The problem with the Democratic establishment is they want to preserve the system that lost to Trump. And I don't want to preserve that.
14:44I don't want any part of that. But we can talk about it. The Bulwark did a deep dive on this. Sarah and Tim talked about it. Ro Khanna's weighed in. Pod Save guys have had Cory Booker weigh in. Regardless, politicians do whatever you want to do. But what do the Democrats, this system they're trying to uphold, these establishment Democrats, what does the polling say? Do the Democrats approve of Democrats right now? Play the clip. Congressional Dems have the right priorities. Look at this. Overall, 74%, nearly three in four say no. Just 25 % overall say yes. you might say, okay, well, at least Dems like Democrats.
15:27Uh-uh. Not the case. Look at this. The majority of Democrats are independents who lean Democrats. Look at this. 55 % say no, congressional Democrats do not have the right priorities. And then you just see a minority, 45 % of Democrats, say that congressional Democrats have the right priorities. This, to me, just jumps out at the screen because it screams primary challenges all over the map, and it says that even if Democrats don't like Donald Trump, They don't like their own party either when it comes to Congress. And overall, I mean, Mike. Do you see that? Here's the thing. These establishment Democrats are operating as though they have a super high favorability.
16:03And they don't. They simply do not. They're so out of touch with where the base is right now. If you want to see the approval ratings of the Democratic Party jump up, if they were to say, OK, Schumer, hit the bricks. We're done with you. were voting to get a new minority leader. And the same with Hakeem Jeffries. I mean, seriously, you would be like, oh my God, yes, finally they're fighting. And here's an anecdotal story for everyone. My husband is from a small town called Hugo, Oklahoma. It's like the armpit of Oklahoma, this town, right? And so he goes down there for a funeral and this is MAGA, MAGA, MAGA dump truck.
16:44I mean, this is where it is just crazy called MAGA. He's down there for a funeral. And much to his surprise, everybody's coming up to him saying, oh, my God, your wife's podcast. Tell her to stay after it and tell her to stay after those Democrats, too. They're not fighting hard enough for us. So I just think, and of course, that's anecdotal. But also, I have conversations, Pumps, you have conversations with people in red states. We want fighters. We don't want people who play peekaboo with Benjamin Netanyahu. We don't want people that can't say the sky is blue. And the equivalent of saying the sky is blue right now is saying that Benjamin Netanyahu is a fucking war criminal.
17:22It's objectively true. Pops. Well, I completely agree with you. And the only thing I would add to that is we are going into a midterm where we know they have gerrymandered. They intend, they have told us on national TV, they are going to put ice around these voting booths. They're trying to pass the SAVE Act. So Democrats, people are going to vote for you because they don't like fascism. But if you're not starting to fight now against all of these things that they've already said they're going to do, if you're not filing lawsuits, if you're not coming out against us, they are trying to put everyone in a position that they cannot vote, that their vote will not be heard.
18:06And they are making, you know, they're building a bunker underneath the ballroom, all that. But we've got to start now making policy and going after politicians. And we have to do that with clear eyes and with fighters, because the midterms are coming and they're coming quickly. And if you can't get out there now, you're not going to help yourself much then. i just think the thing is a lot of these liberals are fascist collaborators and scholars show us historically that liberals collaborate with fascists never are you able to take down fascism from a point of centrism that has never happened we have to have an opposition party the centrists and the moderates the pick me people the oh my god i won't go on hassan biker's podcast but hey Bibi, say cheese.
18:59We're not going to beat fascism with that. So go on whatever podcast you want to or don't want to, but know this, look in the data. You can try to cancel Hassan. You can try to cancel I've had it. What you're doing is you're telling millions of people that either watch that stream or watch other shows that you don't like that they're wrong. And that's incredibly patronizing and condescending because what they see is the democratic response as being wrong, weak and impotent and the polling shows that all right that's all we have like subscribe we'll be back later with more news
19:42atlanta imagine trading traffic for turquoise waters and turning your next long weekend into an unforgettable adventure in belize you can soar through lush rainforest explore ancient maya temples or just unwind on a Caribbean beach that feels like your own secret escape and getting there is easier than ever. Delta offers nonstop flights from Atlanta straight to Belize City with a quick journey of just about three hours. Start planning your getaway now at TravelBelize.org. That's TravelBelize.org, your closest faraway paradise.
From the publisher
Democrats can't decide what's more important, splitting the left or taking on the right.
Order our new book, join our Substack, shop our merch, and more by clicking here: https://linktr.ee/ivehaditpodcast.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

