Trump throws tantrum amid Blanche's failing nomination

23:42Brian Tyler Cohen:Can I have your reaction to the fact that we now have a Republican attorney general who is holding out on his own permanent confirmation because he seems hellbent on allowing the president to have a slush fund from which he could pay out insurrectionists? Look, I always thought the slush fund was dangerous, if not illegal. And so it should not be hard to say they're not going to pursue this slush fund. They're not going to provide the president access to one point eight billion dollars worth of taxpayer money that he can just give out to his buddies or for whatever he sees fit. That's a pretty low bar for anyone who wants to be attorney general, anyone who wants to be the chief legal officer of the United States of America to get over.

24:28But similarly, there's other things that should be pretty easy, which is to give victims their proper due when it comes to the Epstein files and those who were wrong, those who were abused, those whose abuse is documented in those files. I mean, I think Blanche needs to decide if he wants to be the attorney general of the United States or he wants to be the president's personal lawyer. If he wants to be his lawyer, he can go do that. But being the attorney general of the United States is about standing up for the American people, not working against them, as he seemingly is if he refuses to, you know, to do away with this slush fund and refuses to be fully transparent when it comes to who's in the Epstein files.

25:14Brian Tyler Cohen:Do you think that Republicans would similarly have no problem if a Democratic president decided to offer up billions of dollars in a slush fund to Democratic priorities, a slush fund to the ACLU, the NAACP, Planned Parenthood? Do you think that Republicans would be as accepting of a president being able to just consolidate billions of dollars of taxpayer money to give out to his political allies as they are right now? Come on, Brian. You know the answer to that question. They'd be freaking out and they'd be on shows like yours on the other side. They'd be on TV every day calling it out. They'd call it lawlessness.

25:52They'd pretend to be law and order about the whole thing. Of course, it's a total double standard. And by the way, when I talk to these guys privately, they know it. They just don't have the courage to speak up. And I think that that speaks to their lack of character.

26:08Brian Tyler Cohen:On this issue of the Epstein files, what do you make of the fact that all of these people on the right had predicated their support for the Republican Party on this idea that the Epstein files would be released only to now watch them get further, not only buried, but buried at the hands of somebody who is, as you mentioned, in the position because he was Donald Trump's personal criminal defense attorney. And as we know, Trump himself is now implicated in these files. Yeah, I mean, look, I'll just say what's in these files based on what we're generally aware of publicly is really serious stuff.

26:46And Brian, I realize it's gotten politicized, but I'm the former lead prosecutor here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the former attorney general, former chief law enforcement officer. I prosecuted pedophiles. I prosecuted people that raped children, that ripped away the innocence of our children here across our Commonwealth. And the people who did that are behind bars because I prosecuted them. And for those that we couldn't prosecute because they were outside the statute of limitations, their crimes were exposed. We need that in the United States of America. We need to make sure that those who engaged in these crimes against children, those who enabled it, those who covered it up are held accountable.

27:36This shouldn't be some political football. And this shouldn't be, you know, sort of a litmus test for some Republican senator that they've got to, you know, curry favor with Trump so they can't be for transparency. They can't be for protecting our kids. Come on. These people know better. And there's serious lives that are at stake here. There are people who have been victimized who deserve this accountability. And now's the time for it. Well said.

28:06Brian Tyler Cohen:I want to switch topics here now to your home state of Pennsylvania. You know, a lot of Democrats across the country rightfully are talking about affordability. You've had the chance to actually make good on that promise, on that slogan through this latest budget that was just signed into law in PA. So can you talk about a little bit of what that offers? Yeah. And just for your viewers and listeners understand, I'm a governor with a divided legislature. So for me to pass any of this stuff, I need Republican votes and Democratic votes. And we've actually been able to come together and cut taxes 10 different times, including a massive tax cut for seniors who are living on fixed income.

28:45And the first progressive tax reform in probably 50 years in Pennsylvania, something known as the working Pennsylvanians tax credit, where if you're working, if you're struggling to get by, we'll put about 850 or so bucks back in your pockets and 940 ,000 Pennsylvanians qualified for that. That's real money going back in their pockets. We just passed a COLA, a cost of living adjustment or increase for former firefighters, former cops, former teachers, and state workers. That's real money back in people's pockets. The real challenge we have is every time I cut taxes, every time I cut costs, and I put a dollar into somebody's pocket here in Pennsylvania, Donald Trump and his enablers take two bucks out because everything costs more because of their policies.

29:36Consider this. The tariffs have driven up costs for farmers and small businesses. Just drove past a gas station here in Harrisburg. Gas is$4.19 a gallon because of Trump's wrong war in the Middle East. that he got into and has no idea how to get out of. And the American people are paying at the pump along with paying in many other ways. I just cite those as just two examples of how Trump's economic policies are costing Pennsylvanians at the time where I'm trying to put money

30:07Brian Tyler Cohen:back in their pockets. Are they recognizing that? I mean, even Republicans and independent voters or even disaffected Democrats who voted for Trump, while you've been talking to Pennsylvanians, and that's a crucial state, I think a really accurate bellwether of where the country stands. Do people recognize that the issues that they're contending with are the very issues that Trump himself ran on in 2024, but are now being exacerbated expressly by his own policies? Yeah, I think they see that. I mean, they heard a guy who said, I'll never touch Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid. First thing he does, he kicks 510 ,000 Pennsylvanians off of their Medicaid and health care, said we're going to end forever wars.

30:52And this guy is now engaged in a war he doesn't know how to get out of in Iran. He said he's going to bring down costs. Remember, he kept pretending like he came up with the word groceries. Well, last time I went to the grocery store, which I think was yesterday or the day before, things cost more because of Donald Trump's policies. I think they see that he's not only swung and missed on everything, he's made things way worse. And folks are rightly frustrated. They're frustrated things cost more. They're frustrated that we're in a war that he doesn't know how to get out of. They're frustrated that there's so much chaos and cruelty and corruption around.

31:31And they deserve relief from that. I try as governor of Pennsylvania to do my part to provide the opposite of what Donald Trump is doing. I think others are doing that across the country. We need more of that. And I think the way we stop a lot of this chaos and cruelty and corruption is to have people show up in record numbers this November for the midterms, whether you live here in Pennsylvania or anywhere else, and cast your vote in a way that shows your dissatisfaction with the way Trump is leading our nation.

32:02Brian Tyler Cohen:You had mentioned that you passed this budget with divided government. This is one of the few states that does have divided government. And so what were some of the concessions on both sides? What did Republicans want that they didn't get? And what did Democrats want that they didn't get? Well, let me be clear. Compromise is the name of the game in Pennsylvania. And when you're a governor and you're trying to work to bring both sides together, but I will never, ever, ever compromise my principles. Pennsylvania will never be a right-to-work state. I will never undermine a woman's right to choose.

32:36In fact, I want to codify more protections into law. I'll always protect the rights of our LGBTQ communities. There's certain things. Those are just a few examples where you want to show up at the bargaining table and try to negotiate on that. I'm not doing that. But I'm willing to trade when it comes to allowing us to get things done. And so you make some trades that's allowed us to invest historic amounts in public education and public safety and economic development. And our economy is growing faster than nearly any other state. We grew at 5.4 % last year, which is just an extraordinary growth rate, actually created more jobs than all the two states in the entire country.

33:16And so when it came time to hammer down a deal, look, I wish I could have gotten more money for building more housing in our Commonwealth. I wish I could have gotten more money for mass transit. I wish that I was able to raise the minimum wage to$15 an hour. Those are things that Republicans wouldn't go along with. But we got a ton of wins. And I'm going to keep coming after all those other things and working hard to find common ground so we can get more stuff done here.

33:45Brian Tyler Cohen:You know, I mentioned that PA was a good bellwether for the rest of the country. And you said that you wanted to be able to secure more funds for housing. You know, one of the issues that Trump ran and campaigned on was this idea that housing was too expensive. He talked about housing and rent in addition to that elusive old-fashioned word of groceries. But he wouldn't even sign his own housing bill. And so what did you make of the fact that something that he campaigned on that was handed to him on a silver platter that the Republicans were prepared to do a big celebratory signing ceremony on, he wouldn't even give them that win because he was so hell-bent and trying to use that as a hostage to pass the Save America Act?

34:24Brian Tyler Cohen:I mean, it's just more petulance from Donald Trump. And you know why he didn't sign it? Because he actually doesn't give a damn about people having affordable housing or people being able to put a roof over their head. He literally doesn't care. He only cares about himself. He cares about enriching himself and the people around him. He cares about being in the news and just constantly in people's faces. And he cares about lying about our elections, which is what his whole campaign behind the Save Act is. So it's not a shock to me that after seemingly a pretty good bipartisan consensus came together in the Congress of the United States, he wouldn't sign it because he actually doesn't give a damn about the people that he was elected to serve.

35:12Brian Tyler Cohen:Last topic here, and this one hurts because I'm coming to you from Los Angeles and you guys got LeBron. We should take some time on this one. Yeah. Go ahead. And by the way, this is coming from somebody who is also a Giants fan, a lifelong New York football Giants fan. So already watched Saquon Barkley go from the New York Giants to the Philadelphia Eagles. By the way, by the way, just for nothing. You guys got nothing for that. So to all you New York Giants fans out there, thank you for Saquon. Well, look, we'll see what this year brings. We got a young squad and hopefully a healthy squad between Scadaboo, between Jackson Dart and neighbors.

36:00Brian Tyler Cohen:And you got a great coach, too. A great coach. So we'll see what happens on that front. But to what extent did, you know, there was some reporting. I think Peter Hamby did some reporting in Puck about you kind of trying to nudge LeBron out to PA. So to what extent do you think that your politicking with him had some impact on his decision to move out to Philadelphia? Well, first off, let me just say this was LeBron and LeBron's decision only. And he made it for all the reasons that he said for his family, his desire to win a championship, period. I will just tell you when I had the opportunity, I guess this is now close to two weeks ago, to engage with him.

36:45I made, I shot my shot. I made my pitch as to why Philly would be a great place for him to play, a great team to play with that can win a championship, particularly after we fleeced Jalen Brown from the Boston Celtics, which was pretty cool. And I think it's also important to note that LeBron is one of the great philanthropists, not in basketball, but in our country. I mean, he's doing extraordinary work, and that Philly is a great place for him to do his philanthropy. So I made my pitch. I'm thrilled he picked Philly, but I'm not here to claim any ownership of that decision. It was LeBron's and LeBron's only.

37:23Were you surprised when he made that decision? I was thrilled when he made that decision. And I'm so excited for him to play in Philly. And by the way, if you miss him and you want to come to a game in Philly, I'd love to host you. Thanks.

37:37Brian Tyler Cohen:All right, last question here. As we come up on football season then, what is your prediction for the NFC East? Who wins the NFC East? Well, look, I do agree that New York is better. I think you saw something with Scadaboo and with Jackson Dart last year. Obviously, they had injuries. Neighbors had an injury. There's something unique about that offense. So if they can stay healthy, particularly with a good coach, they're going to be better than last year. Obviously, the commanders were totally beat up last year. If they're healthy, Jane Daniels is a hell of a quarterback. they're going to be better this year.

38:17But obviously my money is still on the birds. I mean, we had some issues at offensive coordinator, Howie Roseman, our great GM, fixed that. He was able to sign some wide receivers that I think are really going to improve our wide receiving core. We just locked up Jalen Carter for, I think, until 2031, if I'm not mistaken. And so our defense is just strengthened in a big way. and how we'll tinker right up until the deadline and put the birds in a position where we can win a Super Bowl again this year. I'm not claiming we will, but we're going to be in a position to do it. And I still think we are definitively the team to beat in the NFC East.

38:59And I think Dallas's streak of, I think it's been 30 years without an NFC championship. I think that that graphic is going to change to 31.

39:09Brian Tyler Cohen:Give me your definitive rankings, top of the four teams in the NFC East? How does the season end?

39:18Brian Tyler Cohen:Birds, Giants, Reds, no Reds, Commanders, Cowboys. Mine is identical, but flip, Birds and Giants. So we'll see how it goes. This might just be wish casting, but we'll come back to this. So Gov, I appreciate your time. Thanks for the work you're doing. Congratulations on passing that budget. And thanks again for taking the time today. Great to be with you. Thanks. No Lie is brought to you by Helix. So in a previous life, I wasn't a personal trainer. I still love working out when politics allows me two seconds of free time. But the advice that I always give my clients is that one of the most important parts of working out isn't in the gym at all.

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41:04Brian Tyler Cohen:I'm joined now by Congressman Jamie Raskin. Congressman, you have some interesting news here as it relates to something that the entire world watched and got pretty pissed off about, which is Donald Trump's decision to interfere in this latest FIFA World Cup match. So can you explain what this news is? Well, the problem goes a lot deeper than that, Brian. The Department of Justice itself uncovered a sprawling decades long pattern of corruption at FIFA, where they identified at least 30 people from 20 different countries involved in soccer who spread around 200 million dollars worth of bribes and payoffs and kickbacks in order to get extremely valuable and lucrative TV rights in their own country.

41:54But all of it was a payola system. These people were convicted in criminal court and DOJ had secured convictions of several of them. And then after like a very cozy relationship developed between FIFA and President Trump and the Trump administration, those charges were dropped. Those prosecutions were dropped, even though the criminal convictions had already been obtained in federal district court and upheld in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. And these are convictions for racketeering, wire fraud and all of these related corruption offenses. But you'll recall that they they fabricated a new FIFA Peace Prize, which they gave to Donald Trump.

42:44And then they rented space at the Trump Tower for the, you know, 40, 45 day period around the World Cup. But they paid for apparently this suite for an entire year and they haven't revealed how much. But it's been estimated by various reporters that that could have been as much as$600 ,000. So they're just a whole series of relationships like that. And it's like everything else we're seeing with the Trump administration. It's just a series of quid pro quos adding up to a huge, unprecedented swamp in Washington.

43:24Brian Tyler Cohen:You know, I feel like we are in a position where all of this stuff has been so normalized by virtue of just how prevalent it is in this administration. Can you talk about if we were back on Earth one, what what this would look like in terms of in terms of DOJ enforcement? Well, DOJ had brought these prosecutions and obviously saw this as very serious corruption when you've got people from all over the world bribing FIFA in order to obtain these lucrative TV contracts and rights for their country. But instead, you know, the prosecutions are dropped after the convictions are obtained. And everything's extremely cozy between FIFA and its president and our president, Donald Trump.

44:18And you're right, it's been normalized. And so it's going to be a contest between them working to normalize quid pro quo corruption and then each American citizen's sense of what is normal for us, what really is morality, what is the rule of law. And that's the struggle right now, because, you know, there's such a barrage of corruption and scandals that a lot of people are getting worn down by it. But we've only got 99 days to go before the November elections. And we think it's important to be blowing the whistle on every one of these episodes of corruption, bribery and so on.

44:57Brian Tyler Cohen:So obviously, FIFA has a vested interest in doing whatever it can do to curry favor with the DOJ so that they can do exactly what they did do, which is to abandon these these prosecutions. What does it say that it is this easy for an entity like FIFA to figure out how to game Donald Trump? I mean, the FIFA Peace Prize, I mean, it's a joke on one hand, but on the other hand, this is an actual tool where the consequences were in part that a lot of criminals were able to walk free because that's all it took for FIFA to curry favor with a guy who is just so desperate to have his ego stroked. You know, it's not just about the past.

45:44It's also about the future and the present, because, you know, anybody who tried to get tickets or paid for tickets to go to the World Cup found out what a racket it was. I mean, the tickets were supposed to top out at something like$1 ,500 or$1 ,600. And a lot of them were going for up to$30 ,000,$33 ,000, some of them. And so the Department of Justice should be looking out for antitrust violations and consumer ripoffs and predatory pricing, but is instead just the best buds with this private entity. And, you know, everybody, well, not everybody, but most people love soccer. It is the beautiful game.

46:27It really is a remarkable, beautiful game. And they've just drenched it in all of the ugliness and sordidness of this corruption.

46:35Brian Tyler Cohen:Does it surprise you that an institution as notorious for engaging in corruption like FIFA would find a kindred spirit in the Trump administration? No, I mean, look, President Trump called them up to get Fuller's red card overturned. The president of the United States interfering in an internal disciplinary process within the soccer game. And, you know, in the same way that the Knicks fans knew that they were going to lose that game where Donald Trump showed up, you know, all of the USA soccer fans knew it was over once Donald Trump decided to put his fingerprints on the enterprise. Nobody needs the president of the United States interfering in American sports in his ham-fisted way like a sledgehammer.

47:23We know he's good at one thing, which is getting as much money as possible out of the government, out of the taxpayers and, you know, in various rotten business deals from all over the world, whether we're talking about Saudi Arabia or Qatar or China, you

47:38Brian Tyler Cohen:name it. I have to ask on the heels of this line of questioning, Congressman, is the Trump curse real? And I asked this in the aftermath of him interfering with with Baligan's red card in the aftermath of going to Madison Square Garden, snapping the Knicks win streak. And there's a long history of him going to other games. He went into Josh Harris, who's the commander's owner, into his box on a day that the Lions were facing off against the commanders and the Lions ended up beating the commanders 44 to 22. I mean, there are there's a lot of instances of that. So so the question posed to you is, is the Trump curse real?

48:18well um you you pose a tough question uh you you challenge my rationalism here because it certainly feels right you know my favorite story about superstition uh is about the physicist neils boer and some people were over at his house for dinner and on the way out a woman spotted a horseshoe above the doorway and she said neils boer here you are the greatest physicist of the 20th century and you've got a horseshoe above your door. I never took you to be the superstitious type. And he said, well, no, I'm not superstitious. They say it works whether or not you believe in it. So I think there are enough people, enough sports fans and sports owners around the country who don't want Donald Trump coming anywhere near their teams or their games to suggest there might be something there.

49:09And, you know, we can see what's happened to our country since he's been president. And that's in the realm of actual public policy. I mean, ruinous, illegal, unconstitutional wars like the catastrophe in Iran with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and, you know, so many lost service men and women from the American armed forces. So many people have died in Iran. The ruinous, illegal, unconstitutional tariffs he imposed to launch a trade war against the rest of the world and, you know, all of the terrible effects these things have had on our economy. You know, it really is time for us to bring on some new leadership in America.

49:51Brian Tyler Cohen:To that end, you know, it's increasingly difficult for Trump and Republicans to run any legitimate campaign on any platform because their platform is so aggressively unpopular. I mean, this is what it looks like with full, unbridled, unapologetic Republican governance. There are no Democrats in control of the House, the Senate, or the White House. And yet we're in a situation where costs have gone higher, not down, where health care is less accessible, not more, where food assistance has been gutted, where gas prices are rising, where inflation is up since Joe Biden left office, where we're engaged in a brand new foreign war in the Middle East and the Epstein files haven't been released.

50:28Brian Tyler Cohen:So what do you run on when that is your platform, which raises the obvious point that Republicans and led by Trump are trying to rig the rules of the game in their favor by trying to pass the Save America Act. So in your estimation, is there any realistic possibility that the Save America Act can advance? And is there an appetite from Republicans to do so? Well, first of all, the elections are not that far away. They're just over three months away. And, you know, everybody at least used to believe in Congress in the states and in the courts. You would never make fundamental changes in an election system three months before the election start.

51:12I mean, early voting is not far away in some of the states, maybe, you know, two months away, seven or eight weeks, something like that. But it does go to show your original point, Brian, which is they've got nothing else to run on. I mean, foreign policy is a complete debacle. Economic policy is a debacle. Inflation is sky high. Gasoline is going for more than$100 a barrel. He's gotten us into this escalation trap with the Iranian government, which is playing him like a fiddle. and they've got no program for the country. Where's their plan to give everybody health care that they promised 10 years ago?

51:53Where's their plan to bring down inflation? I mean, there's literally nothing there. They're spending their time on the reflecting pool, which we call the Strait of Warm Ooze. And what color is it going to be tomorrow? It's an algae farm. And they're spending their time on billion-dollar golden ballrooms. You know, we've been out campaigning on the eastern shore, which is like probably the reddest part of Maryland. Over the weekend, we had more than 100 Democracy Summer Fellows with us out there. And not only were people so excited to see the Democracy Summer Fellows and and, you know, people who are not registered to vote are getting registered to vote.

52:34people who didn't know that Andy Harris, the head of the Freedom Caucus from the First District, has an opponent, and he's got a great opponent in Dan Schwartz, whose campaign is surging now. But we didn't see any Republicans anywhere. We saw no red hats, no MAGA hats anywhere. And I'm getting the same reports from Democracy Summer people all over America that they're just not seeing Republicans anywhere. Now, the good news is, you know, his support is collapsing. It's just melting away. On the other hand, they don't seem that upset about it, which suggests he is going to be trying to do things like move the SAVE Act and who knows what other kinds of ambushes against the electoral process.

53:16And so that's what we have to be vigilant and steadfast in making sure we're protecting the election even as we're going out to mobilize a landslide. But I don't think the SAVE Act can get through the Senate. I don't think there's any way.

53:28Brian Tyler Cohen:Last question here on that. Is there a world where the parliamentarian would allow the Save America Act to pass the reconciliation so that it only requires a simple majority to pass? I mean, it's clearly policy making, so there's no way it should be added in the budget process at this point. But we never say never, and we're being as vigilant as possible to try to stop these things. I mean, because I'm superstitious, I will never say that could not happen. You know, people say, well, what if Donald Trump takes over the elections? And I say, well, look, there's no role for the president to do that in the Constitution.

54:06The president simply has no functional role in the administration of elections at all. And by design, he's off to the side. He's got nothing to do with it. It's up to the states and Congress can vote to regulate it. But I would never say no, he would never try and do that. So So we're just going to have to stay vigilant to every one of their antics and ambushes against the election process.

54:29Brian Tyler Cohen:Well, I appreciate, as always, you speaking out on this stuff. And thanks for taking the time tonight. Great to see you, Brian. Thanks again to Governor Beshear, Governor Shapiro, and Congressman Raskin. That's it for this episode. Talk to you next week. You've been listening to No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen, produced by Sam Graber, music by Wellesley, and interviews edited for YouTube by Nicholas Nicotera. If you want to support the show, please subscribe on your preferred podcast app and leave a five-star rating and a review. And as always, you can find me at Brian Tyler Cohen on all of my other channels, or you can go to briantylercohen.com to learn more.