Fox host deals midterm news Republicans FEARED MOST

0:01Brian Tyler Cohen:One Fox host issues some bleak news for Republicans ahead of midterms, and I've got two interviews, the Democratic nominee for the most flippable district in Pennsylvania, Bob Brooks, and the independent candidate running for the Senate in Nebraska, Dan Osborn. I'm Brian Tyler Cohen, and you're listening to No Lie.

0:18Brian Tyler Cohen:I imagine it's not lost on Republicans that this news is being delivered on Fox of all places. overall brad i would say that uh... the republicans don't have much going for this cycle the polls all suggest that the mood of the country suggests that uh... they do have more money uh... than the democrats do uh... which could be spent wisely one would imagine to help them but this sixty nine percent number that you show there on cost of living i don't think much is going to change on cost of living over the next month it could change a little things have turned around a bit in the Strait of Hormuz.

0:57But I think this, what Republicans have to worry about is that opinions have solidified and not in their favor. And that number suggests that that may be the case.

1:09Brian Tyler Cohen:And look, Fox's Brit Hume is correct here. At this point, the economic environment is largely baked in. So Republicans can take their desperate half measures like suspending gas tax in their states until after the midterms or like Trump claiming that as soon as the war ends, gas will totally be lower than ever. But at this point, the economy is the economy and the Republicans are saddled with it. But here's the part that everybody should remember. There is an entire political party that had the ability to fix this, not four weeks before the election, but for the last two years. And yet it was always more important for Republicans to pander to Trump.

1:47Brian Tyler Cohen:So when Trump launched a trade war that sent costs surging, congressional Republicans had the ability to stop him. The power to impose tariffs literally belongs to Congress, but they didn't want to run afoul of Trump, and so they let him. When Trump launched an actual war with Iran, which sent gas and fertilizer prices surging, congressional Republicans again had the ability to stop him. The power to declare war also lies with Congress. But again, they didn't want to run afoul of Trump, so they let him. on all of these issues where Trump is the least popular, remember that there is an entire branch of government whose whole job is to serve as a check on another branch.

2:25Brian Tyler Cohen:And yet at literally every single turn, they contracted their own power out to Trump. So when Republicans like Maria Salazar release an ad with tough talk for Trump on immigration, or when Republican Byron Donalds is running for governor in Florida, scrubs Trump from his website, or when Republican Mike Rogers running for Senate in Michigan says that we suddenly need an end to the war. That's all well and good. But waiting until four weeks before an election to find your tongue ain't going to cut it. And while they might think that their voters are stupid enough to believe it, not stupid enough that they won't realize what these Republicans are trying to do now that they've gotten their hands on a poll.

3:03Brian Tyler Cohen:So I get that Trump gets all of the attention and that midterms are a referendum on the president. But in this case, remember that Republicans have full control of government and all the power in the world to rein him in any time they wanted to. And the only person who did on any issue was like Thomas Massey on the Epstein files. And guess what he got for that? Excommunicated from the party and ultimately lost his primary. So these Republicans saw the cost of speaking out and they chose their jobs over serving their constituents, which, hey, is totally their prerogative. but they've precluded themselves from being able to play make-believe now that they have to actually win an election and pretend that they have a spine.

3:43Brian Tyler Cohen:And in practice, here's what that looks like. One right-wing host tweeted, yesterday, Iowa House Republicans were informed by their own pollsters that if you are in a plus 15 district, you're within the margin of error. And if you're in a plus 10 district, you're underwater. And that this might end up being an even worse midterm environment than 2006. Grim if you are a Republican. Not sure suspending the gas tax now, four weeks before the election, is going to do the trick in that environment. And frankly, when even Fox News, which, mind you, is a network designed to serve as a safe space for Republicans, starts saying this stuff out in the open, it's pretty clear which way the winds are blowing.

4:24Brian Tyler Cohen:Our job, though, remains exactly the same. Run like you are 15 points behind, take nothing for granted, ignore the polls, check your voter registrations, and make yourself responsible for three other people who otherwise would not have voted. Because most countries in the world do not have a path back from autocracy. We do. And so we should stop at nothing to make sure that we make the most of it. Next up are my interviews with Bob Brooks and Dan Osborne. No Lie is brought to you by ZipRecruiter. So I do whatever I can to save time. I use subscription meal services, delivery for whatever stuff I need from the house, and I don't think that I'm capable of driving without also responding to emails.

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6:11I appreciate it. And I'm finally glad we got to connect.

6:14Brian Tyler Cohen:Absolutely. So I want to dig into a little bit of the polling first and foremost. Where does that stand right now? Now, I mentioned before that that that PA seven is the most flippable seat, the swingiest seat in the entire state. Susan Wilde won this seat a few years back. Then Ryan McKenzie, a Republican, flipped it in this past election cycle. So where does the polling stand right now? Back to Ryan flipping it is he won this. He won the seat by one point over Susan. It was a really close, tight race. Donald Trump actually won by three percent. So he didn't even uphold the standard to Trump.

6:48Now we're looking at polling. I think the latest polling has us plus five that I saw come out. I don't pay a lot of attention to that because we're going to run like we're negative 20. Because if we don't run through the tape at the end, you're leaving yourself open. But I'll take plus five is better than negative five, and off we go. I know my team has a good plan, and we're running it. I feel like the quarterback running the play here, right? You've got to run the play and be advancing the football here. So plus five is the number that I last saw, which is a good number. We want that to continue to grow.

7:25Brian Tyler Cohen:So talk to me about why you decided to run in this district. And I should note for folks who are watching, I know this district well, Pennsylvania 7th, because I went to college at Lehigh University in Northampton County. I know that PA 7 includes Lehigh County, which was my university, Lehigh University. It also includes Northampton County. So talk a little bit about what folks are looking for in, again, one of the swingiest counties, one of the swingiest districts in the country. They're looking for cheaper prices. They're looking for things to be less expensive and more money to be in their pocket.

8:00I decided to run for Congress because, quite honestly, I got tired of waking up every morning and being kicked in the teeth. So way back when, when you were going to college, in the time I used to work security, it was my second job, third job maybe. um the police department would hire firefighters to come up and work security at both the parties and the frat houses and the sororities and also in the uh in the football games you know so it was something we did then we're we're struggling as firefighters to you know put the money in our pockets and i think it's only gotten worse and that's what we're doing out here talking to people of all you know ranks and rank and file with their people are just tired of every day they wake up and it seems like they get kicked in the teeth all over again.

8:44I have a two-year-old, and I have four children, all adults, and my oldest son has two daughters. So I have two granddaughters that are two and four years old, and I'm petrified for what this country looks like for them. And I always say if grandpa's not willing to fight for them, who's going to? So we're in the fight for those reasons, and we're just looking to make things better, as I have for my union members for the last 20-plus years. I've made things better for them. I've made their pay go up. have made their health insurance get better, and we've worked on their working conditions in the workplace conditions.

9:16So if I can do that for every normal, everyday people, I think they'll appreciate that. And that's my goal.

9:22Brian Tyler Cohen:So I want to dig into some of the work that you're into on the union front. I do have to apologize on behalf of probably myself and any other Lehigh University student 20 years ago for whatever we said or did at any of the football games or anything that you worked. I yeah. But anyway, in terms of in terms of unions, look, I know that we're dealing with the Republican Party right now that has been hostile to unions, hostile to workers, hostile to the PRO Act, for example, which seeks to offer up protections for unions. Can you give a little bit of of color for folks here in terms of your stance on all of the issues as they relate to unions?

10:05I mean, it really shouldn't be an issue at all. It should be a bipartisan matter. All it does is make people's lives better. The unions are strong. It's what built this country. It will continue to make this country rebound. I've been a union leader for 20 years. Bethlehem Firefighters Local 735. I've held one position or another within the local for my entire career, which I just retired from. And now I'm the president of the Pennsylvania Professional Firefighters Association, where, again, I've worked for better pay, better health care, better working conditions. We're working on a bill, actually, just before I got off, which is cancer screenings for firefighters and to remove PFAS from our fire gear.

10:40And we're having trouble getting that passed, and we're having trouble getting that out, quite honestly. It comes out of a Democrat-controlled House every time and gets sent over to a Republican-controlled Senate here. We have a split legislature in PA, and we struggle with it. And I don't know why. I don't understand it. I don't know the angst except for they like the money in their pockets better than giving it to their workers, you know, and we just want our workers to get paid a fair wage. And it seems to be a problem.

11:08Brian Tyler Cohen:I want to switch gears here and talk a little bit about the Latino population. Obviously, we saw in 2024 a major shift in in Latino voters who they were supporting. Latino voters had long since been a pretty dependable voting bloc for Democrats. that shifted in 2024 to Trump and Republicans. Talk about your efforts to connect with Latino voters in Pennsylvania's 7th District. I don't know if you happen to see, we just launched about a week and a half ago, Bob El Bombero, with a group of Latino leaders in the community, Victor Martinez, Cynthia Mota, and Matt Turk has been a huge, huge proponent for that.

11:51And, you know, we're just getting into the community. Latino voters are not any different than any other voters. They're really, to be honest with you, a lot like my union block of voters, where they left the Democratic Party because they felt left behind. And now they feel lied to. So, you know, we're starting to see that change. And when we're out talking and in the community, going to events, you know, you hear that from people. They're excited about a working class person, somebody that gets up, goes to work like them every day, works as hard as they can. That's they appreciate hard work. And, you know, it's it's amazing to get out there in a community.

12:28And again, I don't think Latino voters are any different than any other voters. They're upset over the price of things. They're upset that they were lied to. And, you know, they're watching their gas prices skyrocket. You know, it's crazy. Health care, awful.

12:42Brian Tyler Cohen:So these voters, Latino, white, black, you name it, across the spectrum, as you mentioned, feel like they were lied to at the hands of a Republican party that campaigned on one thing, campaigned on affordability, campaigned on groceries, that old fashioned word groceries. And now, of course, we're in a situation where those problems, far from being fixed, have actually been exacerbated. Your opponent, your Republican opponent, Ryan McKenzie, what has he done on on those issues to hold true to to to what he and Donald Trump said on the campaign trail? zero nothing he has voted with donald trump every single time six times for the war in iran to to keep you know the war powers resolution he votes every single time i like to call him a lap dog uh i got a couple names but lap dog's a good one he does whatever right uh donald trump tells him to do yeah we also like to call him the arsonist if i could ryan because what he does like with stuff like the big beautiful bill he votes for it and then you know the arsonist would fight the fire.

13:4515 minutes later, he calls the fire department. Ryan McKenzie votes with Donald Trump, gives him all the power. And then, you know, 15 minutes later, he writes a bill to counter everything he just voted for. And people are seeing through it. And you can hear it when we're on the streets. You see it in the poll, it said plus five, like people are seeing through the nonsense. They're tired and they're ready to make their lives better.

14:08Brian Tyler Cohen:On the issue of data centers, that's kind of become a lightning rod in these elections. I know that there are, you know, led by Trump, who is largely beholden to the billionaires who benefit from the construction of these data centers, who wants to kind of impose them onto communities with no say. What's your stance on this issue as it's going to become more and more important moving forward? What I think we're seeing with a lot of politicians is they were on one side of this, and now they're realizing the public is on the other side. So they're starting to flip flop, right so i mean ryan mckenzie himself voted to give giant tax breaks to these corporations that want to put these data centers in and then at one point in inside the big beautiful bill he voted that the states couldn't overrule what uh you know what the federal government was putting into place i think i'm good with local autonomy i believe the locality should be able to put in ordinances and control where these are going they should not be in people's backyards they should not be making our rates go through the roof and they should not be sucking up all of our environmental resources.

15:12So, I mean, I'm going to be on the side of that. But while I say that, you know, they may bring some jobs. You could pay in union jobs if I have my way when they do get built. But I think it's about where we put them. I really, I'm going to stay true to where I said I'm not going to flip flop like Ryan McKenzie does. And, you know, now he started, Ryan McKenzie is starting to see he He was on the wrong side of this for a long time. And now he's changing his tune. It's too late. Yeah.

15:39Brian Tyler Cohen:You know, that does seem to be a recurring theme now, you know, when you have an entire political party that's predicated its identity on blind allegiance to whatever Donald Trump says he wants. And then suddenly, five minutes before the election, are trying to create some distance, recognizing that, you know, with 29 percent approval, Trump is now an albatross around their necks. Is there anything else that Ryan McKenzie is now trying to do to show some distance between himself and an unpopular president now that voters are souring on that guy? To the contrast, he is hooking his wagon right to Donald Trump.

16:15He just went to Dallas and was up on stage. Of course, bad mouth of me because that's all they can do is tell lies about me because they can't stand on their own votes. So that's that's their whole game plan. I have to tell you, I was at an event for the International Association of Firefighters that had, it was our Fallen Firefighter Memorial. So I was in Colorado Springs for a day or two when we had the memorial. And I'm watching them run ads against a candidate out there, Jessica Killen. And they're the exact same ads that they're running here. So it's a game plan. And they're running them everywhere.

16:46The same exact thing. So he's not distancing himself. He did scrub his website a little bit, but not enough. Yeah, not enough. And they go out there and be a lapdog for Donald Trump in Dallas and do exactly what he wanted because he wants his money. Donald Trump's spending his money everywhere now, millions of dollars in these races. He did exactly what Daddy Trump wanted him to do and he's going to continue to do that. Yeah.

17:13Brian Tyler Cohen:Well, look, again, as I said at the top, you know, I've spent I spent four years living in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. I know that that is as as a good a bellwether as you could possibly find in terms of what the election is going to look like moving forward. So I would highly recommend for everybody who's watching and listening right now, if you're able to contribute to any campaigns, this is chief among them. As I mentioned, this is the swingiest seat in Pennsylvania. It was with a Democrat, you know, two cycles ago. Last cycle, it was with a Republican. Now, as Bob mentioned at the top, the polling is in our favor, but never run like you're five points ahead.

17:50Brian Tyler Cohen:Always run like you're 20 points behind. So if we have the opportunity here to contribute to a campaign, this is chief among them, one of the most important that you could do. So I'm going to put the link to your website, Bob, right here on the screen and also in the post description of this video. For those who are listening on the podcast, I'm going to throw it into the show notes. And thanks for taking the time today and best of luck in the campaign trail here. All right. Thank you very much. Hopefully we get to talk at a later date as a congressman. That's it. Thank you.

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19:22Brian Tyler Cohen:Go to HungryRoot.com slash BTC and use code BTC. That's HungryRoot.com slash BTC, code BTC for 40 % off your first box and a free item of your choice for life. I'm joined now by independent candidate for the U.S. Senate in Nebraska, Dan Osborne. Dan, thanks for joining me. Yeah, thank you, Brian. Good to be on. So we've had an issue that I've been speaking about quite a bit, especially lately, where we've seen polling showing that Americans want the Epstein files released anywhere from 86 % to 92 % across political parties, across the ideological spectrum. You had the opportunity to meet with the Epstein survivors, and this comes in the wake of your opponent in Nebraska, Pete Ricketts, voting against releasing the Epstein files, calling them a low priority.

20:13Brian Tyler Cohen:Can you talk a little bit about how that meeting went? Yeah, it was powerful, Brian, you know, meeting with the families and the survivors themselves of the Epstein files or the Epstein, Jeffrey Epstein. And I got to tell you, it had a profound impact on me going and seeing the actual files up close and personal, the magnitude of the amount of files there are just that. then that's just the ones that have been released. And to me, it's a tragedy. It's an American tragedy. And the fact that, you know, my opponent, Pete Ricketts, he's, he said multiple times when he was governor and senator that, you know, sex trafficking is the worst crime against humanity.

21:02And then he turns around and votes to not release it. And then they interviewed him about it. And he's like, Oh, we just got a lot of other stuff going on. And it's like, man, it's just it's just disgusting. People need to be in jail. You know, I know Maxwell's in prison right now. She's the only one and she gets to keep a puppy, I heard, while she's in prison. The fact that we're not taking these serious crimes is very serious. To me, again, this is an American tragedy. And that is one of the things immediately when I go to the United States Senate, it's going to happen. I am going to continually keep a spotlight on this until these survivors get justice.

21:44Brian Tyler Cohen:I want to change topics here. Another issue that has become especially important in this election cycle is the issue of AI and data centers. Can you, first off, explain your position on these issues and contrast it with Pete Ricketts' position? Yeah, well, I'm all about putting guardrails. I just got back from from D.C. You may have seen we did a press conference with Brian Bangs and Bill Hill, a couple other independents. One's running in Alaska for the House district. One's running for Senate in South Dakota. And, you know, we basically were imploring Congress to stay in session and get some guardrails around A.I.

22:28I mean, the warning signs are all there. And the fact that they're going home for fall, to me, it doesn't make any sense. You know, this is what the American people want. This is who you work for, your constituents, and they got to get it done. But they're not going to get it done because, you know, especially like Ricketts, he takes a tremendous amount of AI money. he's given data centers 519 million dollars worth of tax credits when he was governor in nebraska to come build here he even called nebraska the silicone prairie and uh you know it's it's for me it's it's about guard railing from the from the things we know that are bad while protecting the things we know that are good right is it are they are they trying to cure cancer or uh you know are they are they trying to extinguish the human race right two very different things.