1046: Texas Democrats Working Remote

21:02And I know my colleagues and I are proud to do this work, regardless of what consequences may come. So let's talk about that. Your governor says you've forfeited your office, have you? No, I'm still doing my job, even though I'm not in the state of Texas. I was actually doing constituent services this morning with my team from this hotel room. And we're also trying to shine a national spotlight on this Trump redistricting power grab that's happening in Texas, because it doesn't just affect Texans. It literally affects every American. Trump is trying to insulate himself from the will of the public.

21:38He's trying to shield himself from the voters and from accountability. And if we allow that to happen, if we let power go unchecked in this country, I am worried about where it will lead. And so that's why my colleagues and I felt we needed to take this dramatic step of leaving the state and breaking quorum. So as you noted, there's a proud tradition of this in our country and in Texas. This has happened before. As far as I can tell, this is the first time a governor, and this has happened under Republican governors in the past as well, has asserted that somehow he has the power to remove legislators from office.

22:16Now, the attorney general, Ken Paxton, said that that would be challenging. What do you make of that threat? It's very consistent because the whole point of these rigged maps is to rob Texans of their ability to elect the candidates of their choice. And so now Greg Abbott is literally trying to remove the people's elected official from their office. This is a page right outside of Trump's authoritarian playbook. And he does it with less charm and less humor and less charisma than Trump. But it is still just as dangerous. And we should reject it. Again, this is not a Democrat thing. All of us should reject it, whether you're a Democrat, an independent or a Republican.

23:03Yeah, like presumably if your voters are unhappy with your decision to do this on their behalf, even though you're doing it for the right reasons, they have many, there's an opportunity for you to be removed from office in an election. Exactly. And that's how people change their government is they elect new people to represent them. And that's what these maps threaten. And again, it doesn't just threaten it for Democrats, it threatens it for everyone. And so it's why we've got to push back against this power grab. I should say that gerrymandering happens across the country, and it does happen in blue states, just like red states.

23:38But this is a whole nother level. Usually we adjust district boundaries at the beginning of a decade right after a census comes out because you have to adjust lines based on population. But Trump has asked Texas Republicans to redraw the maps they just drew in 2021 so that he can get five more seats. And it's a little reminiscent of when he called the Georgia Secretary of State and asked him to find 11 ,000 votes. Thankfully, Georgia Republicans said no. Texas Republicans said, how about Thursday? And it's why my colleagues and I felt the need to leave our beloved state, break quorum, and stop this power grab from going through.

24:20So, you know, you're being threatened by the governor. A map would have to be in place or be picked by December to be in place for 2026. How does this play out? What happens now? Well, we're taking this one special session at a time. And the special session in Texas is going to last two more weeks. So all of my colleagues, there's 57 of us in total, we have all agreed to stay out of the state capitol for the next two weeks to kill these maps and stop them from going through. Now, the governor can call another special session. He may. And if he does, we will assess our options. But I am hopeful that some of the threats from blue state governors, some threats of retaliation, I'm hoping that can convince Texas Republicans, maybe even Donald Trump, to walk back from the brink because they see that the gains they could make in Texas could be wiped out in a state like California.

25:13Again, the goal is not for every state to be gerrymandered. The goal is ultimately to take politics out of this process because it is the rot at the core of our broken political system. But Democrats can't unilaterally disarm. We have to stand up to bullies. We've got to look them in the eye and not blink. So I want to ask you about that because there has been this push for fair maps. A lot of prominent Democrats got behind it. Some of them are sticking with that and saying, no, no, we can't play this game the way Republicans do. Others are saying we have to fight fire with fire. were Democrats who embraced a nonpartisan redistricting, were they fighting with a hand tied behind their back?

25:53That's what Governor Kathy Hochul said today. Well, I just want to say I am proud to be a part of a political party that still has principles, that still has a positive vision for what this democracy could be, how we could fix this democracy so it can actually work for regular people. I am proud of that. But we can't let that vision get in the way of the current reality. And right now, one party is attempting to cheat. By redrawing the maps in the middle of a decade, they are cheating. It's like two football teams coming out of the locker room at halftime, and the team that's ahead says they want to change the rules for the second half so they can win the game.

26:31All of us would recognize that as blatant cheating. And if they're going to cheat, we're not going to play. And if they're going to cheat, all rules are off the table. And that means blue states are free to respond with retaliation. But this is not the vision. Having a descending spiral of partisanship is not what we want. We ultimately want fair maps and fair elections for every state and for every American. So you're apparently going to be fined$500 per missed day of the session. Abbott says he'll bring felony charges if anyone fundraisers to cover that. What are we going to do? What are we doing about this expense here?

27:08Well, my colleagues and I are going to pay these fines ourselves. And I should say, state representatives in Texas, we're part-time. We earn$600 a month before taxes for our work in the legislature, which means we have to have day jobs to make ends meet and to pay our bills. We're leaving those day jobs to break quorum. We also have colleagues who are leaving young children, some that are leaving aging parents. So this is not a decision we made lightly. and we knew there were going to be consequences, financial, political, possibly even legal consequences. But we're willing to pay those because we believe so strongly that this power grab in Texas is a threat to the future of our republic.

27:53So obviously you hope that Abbott and the Republicans back down, but they may not. What kind of arrangements did you make, did some of your colleagues make for this to potentially last for not days, not weeks, but potentially months? We recognize that. And we know going in that this could be longer than two weeks. We're trying not to get too lost in the hypotheticals because who knows what will happen in two weeks? Who knows what Texas Republicans are going to do, what Donald Trump's going to do, what blue state governors are going to do, what the American people are going to do. Part of the goal of this quorum break was to inspire action across the country.

28:31I do think that courage is contagious. And I think once people see someone standing up, it makes it easier for them to stand up, whether that is them volunteering, whether it's them protesting, whether it's them donating to this quorum break to help us fund the food and the travel and lodgings. You know, that is a form of action that can, I think, push back against this kind of power grab. And we're going to have to see that action multiplied a lot in the next election if we're going to protect the democratic process and fix this democracy going forward. Representative Tallarico, thanks for stopping by.

29:08I appreciate it. Good luck wherever you are. Thanks for having me.

29:16That was Representative James Tallarico. What do you guys think about this whole situation, Tommy?

29:20Jon Favreau:I think we're in a tough spot. I mean, the ball is firmly rolling in Texas, even if it doesn't get done in this special session because these guys are out of town. Abbott can just call another one. Republicans in Texas have pulled the ship before. They didn't really face any political consequences. Five seats is a huge deal in the midterms. So I wish we lived in a world where Texas voters across the political spectrum were outraged by the fact that Republicans are more focused on—they called a special session to do two things, flood relief and redistricting. they put redistricting first they're not prioritizing the actual needs of their states but i just don't think we live in that world and abbott has a leverage and these lawmakers have day jobs and the you know families and obligations they can't be on the run forever like i don't know it feels like we're in a bad spot they just have to hold out till december they can't august 4th it's a look the three months it's very like it's because our day jobs these are human beings it's such a like old school and practical it's like you know we got rid of the real filibuster.

30:19So we have these virtual filibusters. So everything is sort of a game theory and gamesmanship. But this is a real like, why is why don't they do this for other votes are going to lose? Because it's really hard to do. You have to physically leave the state. You may not be able to come back to the special session is over and Abbott can just call another special session. There's a lot of ways these have ended. These have happened in Texas in the past. They've happened in other states in the past. Sometimes you get concessions and people come back. Sometimes your bluff is called and they just wait you out.

30:45And eventually people have to get home because that's where they keep things like, you know, their families and jobs and life. The jobs thing is the tough one because it's a part-time job, Texas, the legislature. And also now you're paying$500 a day, which they say they're going to pay out of their pockets because, you know, he's threatening that any kind of money they take is for bribery. And that's how they could probably get the feds involved. Right now, they can't get the feds involved in being in the other state right now.

31:11Jon Favreau:Until Donald Trump's like makes a call to ICE or his buddy Cash Patel at the FBI. Like I wouldn't surprise me. What does Heller Rico say about what they're? He's basically like they're taking it. They're paying it themselves. They're all trying not to think past this special session. They're putting a lot of hope on the fact that this is creating public pressure. They're putting a lot of hope on the fact that blue state governors are stepping up to threaten retaliation. But a lot of it is just hoping that Abbott will back down, which doesn't seem particularly likely. And not thinking more. I asked him specifically, are you prepared to do this through December?

31:44And he just wouldn't go beyond saying they're doing it through this special session and not trying to be in hypotheticals. And I should say the reason I mentioned December and the reason December is getting thrown around is they would have to redraw the maps by December in order to get it done in time for the midterms in 26 for the ballots and everything else. So if they could hold out to December, but you're right, it's three months. So that's the tough part. And then I think, look, the hope is that, you know, this OnlyFans, they're all starting, is going to generate the revenue because there's no crime against that.

32:14To be clear, like Abbott. I guess they could take it. Yeah, I guess they could take other jobs. They could take other jobs. Or they could work remote. Yeah, some of them, I'm sure can work remote. You have to have a hybrid work model, whatever their real day jobs are. But the like Abbott's threat here, you know, Democrats did this in Texas. Rick Perry was the governor. And there are all kinds of threats and people say they're going to be punished when they return to the legislature. But no one said that they could suddenly forfeit their jobs or that the governor could usurp the power of the voters and suddenly remove people from office.

32:45That wasn't an option in the past that they suddenly discovered because of some non-binding opinion by Attorney General Ken Paxton that even Ken Paxton says the governor's reading, who's a lunatic, who even Ken Paxton says the governor's reading too much into. And it does seem like that threat, the remove them from office threat, is a bluff. Like that is not, I mean, I think that the best case for this is not going to work is they have to get home at some point. But not only is there no binding legal opinion that he can remove them from office, but they would have to file that in all 50 districts, some of which are very Democratic districts.

33:17And then they would have to hold special elections to replace them. And all of this has to get funded by December. So I think that's pretty bullshit. The whole like, we're gonna remove you from office thing. And then the felony thing for the bribes, who knows, that's where you get into the feds. But this is where like Paxton is going further, right? He's going further by doing this mid-decade redistricting, but he's also going further by like trying to make this illegal when it is not illegal to break quorum. What they're doing is not a crime. Texas Supreme Court has already decided that. And so he's frustrated by the fact that what they're doing has been not just historically justified, but also just not breaking the law.

33:54So he's looking for any excuse he can find to try to prosecute these people. Yeah. So it seems like the most likely way for Democrats to fight back is Democrats in other states to do this themselves. We have talked about this a little bit. Newsom, obviously, Tommy and I talked to Newsom about this and he sort of laid out his plan here, which is, you know, maybe calling a special election to change the Constitution. Kathy Hochul is now saying that she might try to do something, though it appears she can't really do anything until 2027.

34:26Jon Favreau:No. Yeah. It doesn't sound like they can do anything through their changes through their process would take till 2027, which doesn't help us in the midterms. Yeah. So she's talking a lot, talking a big game, Kathy Hochul. And look, maybe she could be right about, yeah, if she can't get it done in the midterms, but they do this, she's going to go ahead and try to do it for the future. But it's not going to help with the midterms. And then J.B. Pritzker. Yeah. That's a tough one. I think our real options are Gavin Newsom. We talked about the options he has to go on offense. There's a chance to pick up some seats in Illinois.

34:55Jon Favreau:There's maybe one seat in Maryland. I think Governor Wes Moore is deciding whether to go to his legislature to talk to them about trying to change the maps and get us another seat. But there's a long-term problem that could be even bigger. Like our buddy Brian Tyler Cohen interviewed a Democratic lawyer named Mark Elias a couple days ago where he kind of laid this all out. And the gist, though, is the Supreme Court is reviewing whether Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act violates the Constitution. And if it does, if it gets struck down, Republicans could redraw dozens of congressional districts and get rid of like all of these black majority districts, especially in the south, which means you have a state like Alabama that could go from having five Republicans, two Democrats to just seven Republican districts.

35:34Jon Favreau:So there's like this massive, scary, scary threat looming down the pike here if the Supreme Court goes the wrong way. Yeah, the long-term challenge here is that Democrats just don't control as many state legislatures as Republicans do. And look, I mean, what's happening in Texas is kind of enabled by Donald Trump's recent success with Latino voters and their ability to rethink how to draw those districts based on that success. And now that might be a reason for optimism or that they have miscalculated. I think Dan and I were talking about this. I can't remember who I talked to about anything anymore.

36:08But, you know, these are like Trump plus 10, Trump plus 15 districts. But that is in the presidential election and in the midterms, even in the midterms. Dan was pointing this out that Beto lost to Abbott in 2022, Beto O 'Rourke. He still won the Latino vote by like 15, 20 points more than than Kamala Harris did in 2024. So, you know, it could screw them for the midterms. But either way, if you're starting to go nationwide, it's it's pretty bad. Yeah. I mean, look, it also more broadly, they can redraw the maps. They can also accidentally draw Republicans out of their seat as if they try to over gerrymander, try to make too many seats for themselves based on a projection for 2024 or just not understanding the electorate, all of a sudden in a wave election, which hopefully we can generate in the midterms, all of a sudden they got a little too cocky and a little too greedy, thought they could draw themselves a couple extra seats.

37:02And then those Republican plus three, plus five, plus seven seats, all of a sudden swing and they've lost some races. I mean, the deeper problem here is Democrats live in too few places too. We have really big, big majorities in these concentrated areas and Republicans have still large, but slimmer majorities in tons of rural places. And that gives Republicans more of an ability to draw these favorable maps.

37:25Jon Favreau:But in Texas specifically, I think the new proposed districts make 30 districts places where Trump won by 10 points, which is up from 25. So that's a lot. And also just in Texas, Biden won Latinos by 17 points in 2020. Trump won by 10 in 2024. It's a big swing. Probably will not swing like that without Donald Trump at the top of the ballot. I totally agree with that. But I do think in Texas, it feels like they're pretty well protected with this version of the gerrymander. And it's tough. I don't know. We'll see. Not for midterms is much different, but we'll see. Trump plus 10 is tough. Yeah. Well, two, yeah.

37:59Three or Trump plus 10, two or Trump plus 15, or it might be the other way. The 15s seem pretty tough, but the 10s, 10 in a midterm. Dan was saying he thinks that could be overcome. All right. I'll take hopeful, Dan.

38:18Jon Favreau:pod save america is brought to you by zip recruiter sometimes it can be overwhelming to have too many options yeah i've been to the uh cheesecake factory that that menu goes on for days you know what i love every page you know what everyone wants you want curation you know what i mean so we don't have enough of that i don't want a hundred things i want five of the best options and then i pick one and the same applies if you're a business owner who's hiring It can be overwhelming to have too many candidates to sort through, but you're in luck. ZipRecruiter now gives you the power to proactively find and connect with the best ones quickly.

38:51Jon Favreau:How? Through their innovative resume database. And right now you can try it for free at ziprecruiter.com slash crooked. ZipRecruiter's resume database quickly identifies top candidates for your roles through advanced filtering. See a candidate you're really interested in, you can unlock their contact info instantly. 320 ,000 new resumes are added monthly, which means you can reach more potential hires and fill roles faster. No wonder ZipRecruiter is the number one rated hiring site based on G2. We've used ZipRecruiter here at Cricket Media. Sure have. We found great candidates. We found them fast.

39:20Jon Favreau:We hired them quickly. And that's really important because you can spend a lot of time looking for vetting, sourcing candidates, and it can bog down your organization. You want to get great people in fast, and ZipRecruiter can help you do it. Skip the candidate overload. Instead, streamline your hiring with ZipRecruiter. See why four out of five employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within the first day. Just go to this exclusive web address, ZipRecruiter.com slash Crooked. Go now. Try it for free. ZipRecruiter.com slash Crooked. Again, that's ZipRecruiter.com slash Crooked.

39:51Jon Favreau:ZipRecruiter, the smartest way to hire. Hey, so listen, whether you're in the States, across the pond, or somewhere on the other side of the world, we love that you tune into Crooked for US News. But did you know we also have a UK news show? Yes, that's right. It's called Pod Save the UK. Pod Save the UK is a no-bullshit, unabashedly progressive conversation about politics focused on the issues that matter most to the people of Britain. With all the changes in our government, including the fun revolving door of Prime Ministers we have here, there's always lots to talk about. And there's lots of fabulous guests to talk to.

40:26Jon Favreau:Journalists, politicians, experts, comedians and activists. We've had great comedians on as well, like Rosie Jones, Stuart Lee, Aisling B. We've also had Tommy Vitor on, who may be our boss. We still don't know. We're not quite clear on who our boss is. I thought it might be Tommy Vitor. I thought it might be Jon Favreau. I don't know if it's Jon Lovett. It's hard to say. It's not clear to us who our bosses are. Some of our listeners call us irreverent, but not stupid. I object to that. I'm deeply stupid. It doesn't sound too bad. So look, come check us out. Come join us. Pod Save the UK every Thursday, wherever you get your podcasts.

41:04In other democratic campaign news, it turns out that all those fundraising texts and emails we love to complain about aren't just incredibly annoying. They also may be incredibly ineffective, unless you're a big consulting firm that takes a huge cut of the money. Over the weekend, an investigation from independent data journalist Adam Bonica at the OnData and Democracy Substack found that a single firm, Mothership Strategies, founded by former digital staffers for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, is behind most of these spam packs. According to Adam's review of FEC filings, Mothership has taken in$678 million from individual donors since 2018, and they've pocketed at least$159 million of that, reporting it as, quote, consulting fees.

41:45Even more depressing, of that$678 million, only$11 million has gone to actual campaigns, candidates, or Democratic committees. That's two cents on the dollar. We reached out to Mothership to ask about this and got the following quote. This substack is completely inaccurate and contains numerous false and misleading claims about Mothership and our clients. The truth is that Mothership supports democratic campaigns, PACs, issue advocacy organizations, and more in raising critical funds. We have directly raised over$400 million for dozens of campaigns and member-connected PAC clients. Further, a majority of the funds that are reported by the FEC is going to Mothership or pass-through funds the company actually pays to our clients' other vendors, including advertising partners, to support their programmatic work.

42:29So just reading the statement now, but it doesn't seem to conflict with anything in the actual sub stack piece.

42:36Jon Favreau:I mean, I think what they're probably quilling with is how much goes to the company as profits versus what is paid through the company. But look, the broader point is that like all this money just goes to perpetuate the fundraising cycle. And that is the problem. It's like I did a, just stepping back, I did a episode on this a few weeks back and why it's impossible to get the fundraising text to stop when you text stop every... I've text stopped five times today. Have you guys gotten a flood today? I've gotten like 10 fundraising solicitations. It's relentless. I just got one that said, John, I'm trans.

43:07I got one that said, John, I'm trans.

43:09Jon Favreau:Okay, so the reason it never stops when you press stop is because that removes your number from that campaign or super packs the list. There's no like do not spam registry or like universal do not spam list. And so if you've donated even to like one candidate in your life, that can go into a list that gets sold to consultants or data brokers, and they can sell your list and your information over and over and over again in perpetuity, which is why it is can feel like and maybe is impossible to get off these lists. And I think the problem is like when you press party leaders about how annoying and damaging these fundraising tactics are, they just kind of shrug their shoulders and say, well, they work.

43:49Jon Favreau:But what this article suggests is that they don't work. They're incredibly inefficient. Enormous amount of money goes in, but very little goes out to the causes. And obviously the people of Mothership Strategies kind of quibble about how much it's going to them versus other vendors. But all of this money is going to do more fundraising, right? It's like not a lot of it is going towards the actual political causes. And they're not saying that in the statement, by the way, that they're not trying to argue that actually more is going. They're just saying it's not all going to us. It's all going to some vendors as well.

44:17Or that's what the statement says. Or maybe some share of it is going to advertising and is being counted in the wrong way. Who knows? We'll get, you know, they're claiming this is largely inaccurate. We'll see. But like stepping back, this is a stupid way to run a fucking party, right? Like let's say more of it is going out than this article claims or some way in which he's overcounting something, right? First of all, I don't think you're gonna land at the end and be like, wow, it's actually really good. But put that aside. There was this report that came out that Democrats send a far greater share of their fundraising dollars to save seats than Republicans do.

44:52And one reason is that fundraising has become this sort of scorched earth kind of hammering Democrats over and over and over and over again with requests. And in that kind of environment, more charismatic figures, more sensational opponents, right? Less strategic decisions are going to be made about money. And yes, I am sure that sending out a blast of fundraising text, you get a report back saying like we sent out text and$100 ,000 came in or$40 ,000 came in. You do that again and again and again, it starts to become real money. But the cost is that this big group of hyper engaged Democrats who have been funding the resistance for almost a decade now are exhausted and angry and mistrustful of this entire process.

45:39And these are the people you want not just to donate to you, but to advocate for you on their social media, to believe in you, to believe in the process. And all of this is just so cynical. Yeah.

45:49Jon Favreau:I mean, I think the problem is with direct mail, like the old school way, there would be literal costs. You'd have stamps, you had envelopes, you have paper, right? And with just hammering like a file full of text numbers or emails or cell phone addresses, like there's zero cost to that. And so you can just go after these people over and over and over again. And we don't know about the top line numbers in the story, but there's one example that seem pretty egregious to me, just that got at the waste and the self-dealing here, which is, there is a super PAC called N Citizens United, which I've definitely gotten a ton of messages from, right?

46:21Jon Favreau:So apparently that PAC was created by two principles from Mothership Strategies. So of course, N Citizens United then hires Mothership Strategies to do their text and email and fundraising. So at the end of the day, like N Citizens United PAC raises a ton of money from like well-meaning people that largely goes to pay the guys who started the PAC for the services. And so that doesn't really benefit anyone. And it's also like you said, you are, it's not just that you're annoying people and harming the Democratic Party brand. You're hurting the people who care enough or care the most, who are willing to give money.

46:51you're also raising just it made me think of this because of the name you're raising expectations for people who have no like end Citizens United you're not going to end Citizens United change the Supreme Court right that's what's going to happen you're going to wait around and we're going to have to get a whole new court to have a chance to end Citizens United so like this that one all of the ones that they listed all the packs they listed in the sub stack are all like I recognize most of them because they're all on our phones they're all constantly yeah and they're all ridiculous and the fundraising pitches all sound ridiculous The emails sound ridiculous.

47:22It's like it's crazy. And by the way, like I am sure in the deluge of text we're getting, there are legitimate requests from campaigns I'll either want to or will ultimately donate to. But I have to ignore all of these messages because, first of all, you don't know if they're reliable or not. You don't know if they're true, right? Like for every dollar that's going to mothership strategies, who knows how many fake tests are going to kind of guileless senior citizens who have been horrified by Trump and want to help and are watching MSNBC and are super engaged and and just donating on their phone to random numbers.

47:51It's a stupid and ridiculous system. And more Democratic politicians need to stop participating in this process. And maybe it requires a little bit of, there is like a little bit of like a network effect and sort of a sort of collective action problem. But there has to be some alternative, including Democrats working together to figure out some other way of reaching voters that's less of a deluge and less sort of a kind of like winner takes all, everyone going after everybody all the time. Yeah, and I think that, and I talked a little bit with Ken Martin about this, the chairman of the DNC, when I interviewed him for YouTube.

48:32Check it out, Pod Save America YouTube. And he does seem like, he seemed, and this was before this story came out, but he seemed like he wants to do more to call them out. And remember the Harris campaign. I've heard he's pissed about this. He's pissed about it. He was very pissed when I talked to him about it. And also, I think the Harris campaign in 2024 did call out some of these spam packs as well.

48:50Jon Favreau:Yeah, I mean, there's spam packs that are like horribly spammy, right? Like whenever someone's running, it's Marjorie Taylor Greene. There'll always be some candidate that will raise like$20 million and it will all go to consulting services that somehow benefit them. But then there's also packs that will send out texts and emails that include photos of politicians that are in no way connected to the pack. Like that's really predatory. There are people that get locked into recurring donations in really deceptive ways. Like what's sad about this is it's even worse on the Republican side. what they do to their donors is disgusting.

49:16This is everything Trump does. Everything that Trump does.

49:18Jon Favreau:But I do think the candidates working with firms that do abusive practices need to cut ties with them. And they also need to recognize that you end up feeding your online donors into this ecosystem and churn of fraud and self-dealing and you're harming your own people. Totally. And I also think like the article, this article claims that this firm, Mothership Strategies, is kind of insulated by its connections with senior elected officials in the Democratic Party and those officials say, you know, basically it's no big deal because the tactics work and we need the money and everyone benefits at the end.

49:49Jon Favreau:And like, I've been in meetings with you guys where we've heard that directly from top officials in the party. They're off the record conversations. We're not going to name names, but it's sort of like a shrug, like, well, it works. And, you know, if an annoying text is the worst thing in your life, like, you know, you got bigger problems. And I just think like, that is bad. We need to take this seriously and not brush it off. And like my advice - It sounds like it doesn't work. Well, right. And my advice to listeners is like, never give to someone that texts you or emails you. If you care about a cause or a candidate, research it, go to their website, give directly, make these texts so inefficient that they go away.

50:21Jon Favreau:Yes, for sure. Yeah, I can't imagine. Yeah. Is anybody, that's what's also hard to, like, I don't know anybody that's donating via these texts. Because it's old, it's senior citizens. It's old people. Yeah.

50:40This is an ad by BetterHelp. These days, it feels like there's advice for everything. Cold plunges, gratitude journals, screen detoxes. But how do you know what actually works for you? With the internet and information overload about mental health and wellness, it can be a struggle to know what's true and what actions to take these days. Using trusted resources and talking to live therapists can get you personalized recommendations and help you break through the noise. Therapy is great. Never thought I would go to therapy. And then I did a couple years ago. And now I love it. It's really helpful to talk to someone.

51:10There's a lot going on for all of us. Even if you don't think you need therapy, you could probably benefit from it. BetterHelp's perfect for this because you don't even have to go to a therapist's office. You can just do it online from your home. With over 30 ,000 therapists, BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform. Having served over 5 million people globally, it works with an average rating of 4.9 out of 5 for a live session based on over 1.7 million client reviews. Convenient too, you can join a session with a therapist at the click of a button, helping you fit therapy into your busy life.

51:37Plus, you can switch therapists at any time. is the largest online therapy provider in the world. BetterHelp can provide access to mental health professionals with a diverse variety of expertise. Talk it out with BetterHelp. Our listeners get 10 % off their first month at betterhelp.com.psa. That's betterhelp.com.psa.

51:54Jon Favreau:Hey, so listen, whether you're in the States, across the pond, or somewhere on the other side of the world, we love that you tune into Crooked for U.S. News. But did you know we also have a U.K. news show? Yes, that's right. It's called Pod Save the UK. Pod Save the UK is a no bullshit, unabashedly progressive conversation about politics focused on the issues that matter most to the people of Britain. With all the changes in our government, including the fun revolving door of prime ministers we have here, there's always lots to talk about. And there's lots of fabulous guests to talk to. Journalists, politicians, experts, comedians and activists.

52:28We've had great comedians on as well, like Rosie Jones, Stuart Lee, Aisling B. We've also had Tommy Vitor on, who may be our boss. we're not quite clear on who our boss is. I thought it might be Tommy Vitor. I thought it might be Jon Favreau. I don't know if it's Jon Lovett. It's hard to say. It's not clear to us who our bosses are.

52:48Jon Favreau:Some of our listeners call us irreverent, but not stupid. I object to that. I'm deeply stupid. It doesn't sound too bad. So look, come check us out. Come join us. Pod Save the UK every Thursday, wherever you get your podcasts.

53:04So at this point, Trump has broken so many campaign promises, it's hard to keep track. But there's one in particular we wanted to flag. You might remember Trump saying a lot of things like this during the 2024 campaign. I'm announcing today in a major statement that under the Trump administration, your government will pay for, or your insurance company will be mandated to pay for, all costs associated with IVF treatment, fertilization for women. We are going to be paying for that treatment. So we are paying for that treatment. All Americans who want it? All Americans that get it. All Americans that need it.

53:43Oh, I want to talk about IVF. I'm the father of IVF, so I want to hear this question. That was always so weird. So strange. The father of IVF thing, I remember that.

53:55Jon Favreau:Didn't make any sense. So on Sunday, The Washington Post reported that the Trump administration does not plan to require health insurance to cover fertility treatments and IVF, nor have it mandated in Obamacare, nor provide government subsidies to make the procedures more affordable. A White House spokesperson told The Post that the Trump administration is, quote, committed like none before it to using its authorities to deliver on this pledge. So one survey from last year, one in eight women or their partner said they needed some form of fertility treatments in order to get pregnant, but only one in 10 had received it.

54:24And about 2 % of all babies born in the U.S. are a result of IVF specifically. You think Trump ignores this promise at his own peril? Yeah, I do.

54:33Jon Favreau:I think a lot of people care deeply about this. And I think the political cost is cumulative. There's a critical mass of lies like this. And just for those that don't know, IVF is insanely expensive. The average cost of a cycle is$14 ,000 to$25 ,000, depending on where you live in this country. Many patients have to do multiple cycles. So you could be talking$30 ,000,$50 ,000,$75 ,000. And that is just way out of reach for a lot of people. But it's not a small thing you're trying to get, right? This is about having a child, right? This is like deeply painful and important to people. And I think a lot of folks in the political world were skeptical of this promise because the timing and how cynical it was and how expensive it was.

55:11Jon Favreau:But for a lot of people, like a lot of voters heard this. And this was their only hope of ever being able to afford IVF and potentially having a baby. And this is a life-changing, massive, broken promise that is not a small thing. It's not something you'll forget. It's not, you know, insignificant to someone's life. And I think it is outraging a lot of people. And we saw like Andrew Schultz, the host of the flagrant podcast, like he has talked about how he and his wife went through IVF, how this was, he was sort of like a single issue voter in some ways. And this was really important to him. He was posting about this over the weekend.

55:46Jon Favreau:Like a lot of people are profoundly hurt and betrayed. It's also like extremely cynical. It's not like it's a broken promise where a lot of politicians broken promises like, well, we tried and we sent a bill to Congress and it didn't work out. or we tried to do some executive action. Like back in February, they released an executive order, an action or a proclamation or something that was directing all of the federal agencies to come back in 50 or 60 days and let the president know what they could do to make IVF more affordable. Those days have come and gone. Nothing, we haven't heard anything about it.

56:21It was basically just, it was done in February just to get a headline that the Trump administration was going to do something about it. And then until the Washington Post called them up and asked them about it. We heard nothing. Yeah, look, it was cynical at the time, right? And it was sort of along the lines of the promise on no tax on tips. It was on the line of sort of some of the other promises he was making, trying to appeal to a broader, beyond the sort of Republican coalition that had existed. But this was like a, like a, such a kind of half-baked promise, right? IVF is incredibly expensive.

56:56It would be a big deal if you mandated that insurance companies cover it. It is also controversial on the right. There are a lot of anti-abortion Republicans who are opposed to IVF. This story was kicked off because of a ruling in Alabama that suddenly called the possibility of IVF into question in that state and jeopardized the ability of women to access IVF if they wanted it. And it was extremely unpopular. It was extremely damaging. It was the natural consequence of the court's abortion ruling. And all of a sudden, Trump faced this terrible news cycle. And he said, I'm the dad of IVF, whatever the fuck that means.

57:32And I'm going to make sure anybody who wants IVF can get IVF. Even for policymakers, it's a difficult question. How many cycles do you cover? How do you mandate this? It's expensive. And it's important. And it's a hard policy. And he just sort of went off half-cocked to win these votes. And they had no intention of following through on it. And this is the end result. And it's this, it's a whole bunch of other issues where he's done the exact same thing. By the way, I think like part of it is the promise to release the Epstein files. He's not going to release the Epstein files. Like all these promises that he made, he had no intention to solve.

58:08But I do think to Tommy's point, like for a lot of people, this was something that was going to change their lives and it's just not happening.

58:13Jon Favreau:In that last clip we played, I remember watching that. It was a Fox News town hall in Georgia. They built it as like a women's town hall. You could hear Harris Faulkner think her name there. It's just like so unbelievably credulous. Everyone knew that that announcement was bullshit. The math didn't add up. There was no way they could afford to pay for it. It was not part of any of his plans. Calling himself the father of the IVF. Just like, just was a reminder of how terribly Fox News treats its own viewers and voters. They treat them like idiots. What do you guys think is going to happen if he gets the question on this?

58:42Do you think he's going to say, we're looking into it. A couple more weeks? Yeah. We're going to have a plan on that in two weeks. You're fake news. Why are you asking me that question? How dare you? That's a terrible question. That's a hateful question. Yeah. Maybe he won't get the question. because, you know, it's just all Marjorie Taylor Greene's boyfriend. Yeah, who's the—by the way, you're talking about the next head of Bureau of Labor Statistics.

59:02Speaking of Trump's broken promises, the one that's been getting the most attention these last few weeks was his promise to release the Epstein files. Instead, Trump's DOJ has just released Epstein's convicted co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, from a federal prison in Florida to a minimum security facility in Texas known as Club Fed. Sounds nice. According to Bureau of Prisons regulations, sex offenders like Maxwell are supposed to be held in facilities like the one in Florida, not the minimum security camp in Texas. Naturally, when Trump took questions for the first time since the transfer was announced, he got some probing questions on the controversy that everyone's talking about.

59:39Jon Favreau:After Sidney Sweeney, it came out this weekend that she was a registered Republican. Any thoughts on that? That who was? Sidney Sweeney. She's a very hot actress right now. She's a registered Republican? Yes. Oh, now I love her ads. If Sidney Sweeney is a registered Republican, I think her ad is fantastic. Okay. Thank you very much, everybody. Great question. Great shouted question. Glad we got him on the record there. No Ghislaine Maxwell question. Trump followed that up with a Monday morning post praising Sweeney attacking the car company Jaguar for a new supposedly woke ad. Wasn't that like a year ago?

1:00:12I have no idea. I didn't even look into that one. I remember that a while ago. Yeah. And he also claimed once again that Taylor Swift has stopped being popular since she endorsed Kamala.

1:00:21Jon Favreau:She did a$2 billion grossing tour. It changed the economy of Sweden. We're seeing a bump. This Taylor Swift bump in the Swedish economy can't be counted on next year. So stupid. Before we get to Sidney Sweeney, thoughts on the latest in the Epstein case? We got Maxwell. Just no explanation. It's worth just repeating that Ghislaine Maxwell is not a good person. She groomed these 14-year-old girls. She abused them herself. She sought out girls who had been abused themselves or confided in her. One Epstein victim, Virginia Giuffre, said about Ghislaine Maxwell. I think it's on CBS. She's a monster.

1:01:02Jon Favreau:She's worse than Epstein. She was vicious. She was evil. I know that woman. Virginia Giuffre died by suicide in April of this year. So this is fucked up. So there was a report from other prisoners at Club Fed who were there for theft and other nine violent offensive who are personally disgusted to have to be with Ghislaine Maxwell. And I'm sorry we have to look to these people for their moral leadership. But Ghislaine Maxwell is not a nonviolent offender because she participated in sexual abuse. That is a violent act. She is a violent offender. She should not be in a place for white collar criminals.

1:01:36Just because it was a rich person and took place on a fancy island doesn't make it a white collar crime. She is a violent criminal offender. And where we're at now is we know Trump was in the Epstein files. That's what his attorney general told him. We know that he dispatched his former personal attorney to meet with Ghislaine Maxwell for, what was it, eight and a half hours? Over two days. Over two days. We know that Trump has been asked about whether he will pardon Ghislaine Maxwell. He won't say he won't. He won't address it. And then we find out with that explanation, she's being transferred from a less pleasant facility to what's known as Club Fed.

1:02:12A previous controversy years ago was when Trump said that he wished Ghislaine Maxwell well, right? And so what conclusion are you meant to draw other than Donald Trump's lawyers are currying favor with Ghislaine Maxwell, dangling a pardon in the hopes that she'll absolve him of any culpability, given that his name appears in the files and he had a long-term relationship, whichever he abstains. Again, we're recording this Monday afternoon. We got this news on Friday about the transfer. And no one, no responses from the administration on this, from the DOJ, from the Bureau of Prisons, from the White House.

1:02:51We have no idea why she was transferred. We have no idea what Todd Blanche talked to Ghislaine Maxwell about over the course of two days. So we just don't get these questions answered. But the DOJ did have time to leak to Fox News that they're going to a grand jury to conduct an investigation into the Obama administration for this Russiagate bullshit that you can't even figure out what the crime might be or what law might be broken. So they were able to let Fox know that they are conducting this investigation, but no answer on Ghislaine Maxwell.

1:03:21Jon Favreau:And we also know that a thousand FBI staffers worked 24-7 to review something like 100 ,000 documents in the Epstein files. And we know that they spent a bunch of time redacting Donald Trump's name. And now we're not going to get to see those files, according to Donald Trump. So nothing shady there. No answers on that either. Nope. No questions on that. No answers on that. We're just all flying blind here. Whatever the Trump administration wants to tell us about what they're doing with Ghislaine Maxwell or the Obama administration or Russiagate or the jobs numbers. That's that's what we have to deal with.

1:03:52There's the and then they then they just fucking trolled us all with that. I don't know if you guys saw the post today from the White House that said most transparent administration in history. That's just they know they're not. And they just there's just a fuck you to everything. I bet it. It's just a big fuck you to their base, too, by the way. So, like, mostly. Yeah. Right. Well, you know, they spent a lot of they put a lot of attention on sort of trying to win the kind of crank vote and appeal to a bunch of conspiracy theorists. And they put Cash Patel and Dan Bongino in these positions of authority to people that espouse some version of of of conspiracy theories, which at this point I think are true about Epstein and about QAnon claiming there's a vast global pedophilia ring run by the powerful and the elite.

1:04:34And the next thing we know, Donald Trump is president and they are laying out the red carpet for one of the most notorious sex traffickers in American history at this point who participated in terrible crimes for a very long time. And there's just no there's just no accountability for it. All these Republicans are silent in the face of it. And it's disgusting. More importantly, would you guys like to weigh in on the Sidney Sweeney discourse now that we know she is a registered Republican reporter? Reportedly. And now that the president of the United States has weighed in on this multiple times.

1:05:11So it is just a pun on the word jeans. Yep, it is just a pun. Just a pun on the word jeans. Good jeans, but it's not. It could be jeans inherited or it could be jeans that she's wearing. See, it's funny.

1:05:24Jon Favreau:It is a very dumb and annoying story. There's also something to be said about the fact that like the White House is able to kick this stuff up whenever it wants. It can be like six people commenting on like a TikTok. It doesn't have to be a TikTok creator. It's like, you know, it's like that genre of really annoying internet story. It's like the internet is furious about this new Sidney Sweeney ad. It's like some people commenting over on Blue Sky and suddenly it's an article and suddenly all of the MAGA media ecosystem is talking about it. And then the White House is releasing statements. Like, when do we get to do that?

1:05:55Jon Favreau:Yeah. There's a stopover though with, you know, random style writers opinion. and there was a Washington Post piece about it in the cut, there was a whole bunch of things. So it's like, that's where it starts, and then it goes from there to Fox, right? And then they're all talking about it on the Five, and then it goes to Donald Trump, it's like a whole thing. Well, we made a commenter president. I mean, that's the problem. He is one of the commenters beneath the story, but he also happens - He's the commenter. Yeah, he's America's chief commenter. I will say the woke Jaguar ads - So why are they woke, and what are they?

1:06:23Well, first of all, I just would point out that Jaguar's a British company. It's not really, I don't think it's been really affected by America's woke problem, according to Trump, but they redid their logo and it's very ugly. And that's for non-woke reasons. The new Jaguar logo was very bad.

1:06:42Jon Favreau:This happened in late 2024, by the way. Yeah, it's quite old. It's quite old. It's so old. And everyone's like, hey, you did a bad job on your logo. This is the other problem with Trump is like we've lost all sense of time, whether we've done this thing before. Have we already seen this episode? Are we back to the episode? When did the Jaguar thing happen? and he's talking about Taylor Swift again. What is happening? Do you think the person who just like, you know, that Dylan Mulvaney, what a brave person. I find what she's doing really interesting and I like her. I'm going to send her a six pack of Bud Light.

1:07:10Do you think that person knew that two and a half years later, the president of the United States was going to be like, that fucking Bud Light's got to be stopped.

1:07:16Jon Favreau:Yeah, and there's going to be Kid Rock like machine gunning Bud Light cans or something. Anyway, that's Sidney Sweeney. That's what we're dealing with now. This is day 13 or 14 of the discourse. Let's see how long we can do. And she was pardoned for her involvement on January 6th. Is that right? That's one of the reasons this is so controversial. Or is it just the ad? I can't remember. She is in the Epstein files, actually. All right. Two quick things before we go to break. After unsuccessfully seeking asylum in Canada, Love It is back with new shows at Dynasty Typewriter. This Thursday, August 7th, along with, you've got a special guest.

1:07:50You have Ken Jennings? Ken Jennings and Amy Schneider, two Jeopardy legends. plus Tim Heidecker. That's awesome. I didn't realize he said yes. I'm finding out from this. We had a great show out this weekend with Patton Oswalt and Alice Wetterlin and Peppermint and Ashley Nicole Black. I also, we put the monologue from Love Relief It on the Ponce of America feed. We just call it mono now? Is that just like an industry term? It's our internal term for it. I'm sorry. Now I'm embarrassed. I couldn't name it after disease that puts you out of... The kissing disease, Tommy? The kissing disease.

1:08:25Jon Favreau:come for you. Gives you like a six month nap. Remember when we both got mono at the same time? That was weird. I have never had mono. Okay. All right. All right. Calm down. Calm down. We never had mono. You got it. You got it, buddy. Mics are on. Never had mono. You were both just down for the go. Incredible. Just two weeks off. Very tired. Pre-COVID. Anyway, but I was really proud of the monologue we did this week because we talked about Epstein and we talked about Gaza and talked about all the conspiracy theories, which is on the Pod Save America feed if you want to check it out. Crooked.com slash events if you want to go see Love It in person at Dynasty Typewriter.

1:09:00Also a reminder, speaking of events, we announced our first ever CrookedCon last week and tickets are already going fast. CrookedCon is a chance to hear from smart people inside and outside the Crooked universe about how to galvanize the pro-democracy movement. As if it needs galvanizing, we'll be in Washington, D.C. for two days. We're going to kick things off with Pod Save America Live at the Warner Theater on Thursday, November 6th. then on Friday November 7th we'll be at the wharf the wharf anyway it's going to be really fun we're going to have organizers strategists politicians that aren't annoying James Talrico's going to show up with his clothes on a bindle because he's been on the road riding the rail to DC oh man if they can make it until then we will give them well we won't pay them because we don't want to do any of the felony stuff but you know we'll give them food and water maybe I think legally it has to be finger food commodities anyway hold on until then guys lobbying wise, I think you can sit, you can't eat, but if you're standing, it's a snack.

1:09:56We'll invite their families so they can say hi to their families if they haven't seen them in a couple months. Everybody gets one phone call. Tickets are on sale now. Head to cricketcon.com for tickets, line up announcements in the coming weeks, and more. That's C-R-O-O-K-E-D-C-O-N.com. We've also got a limited amount of discounted tickets when you use the code FREEDOMANDCONTENT. Again, that's one word, all caps, FREEDOMANDCONTENT. So get your tickets soon and we'll see you there. that's our show for today Dan and I will be back with a new show on Friday talk to everybody then if you want to listen to Pod Save America ad-free or get access to our subscriber discord and exclusive podcasts consider joining our friends of the pod community at crooked.com slash friends or subscribe on Apple podcasts directly from the Pod Save America feed also please consider leaving us a review to help boost this episode and everything we do here at Crooked Pod Save America is a Krugged Media production.

1:10:49Our producers are David Toledo, Emma Illich Frank, and Saul Rubin. Our associate producer is Farrah Safari. Austin Fisher is our senior producer. Reid Churlin is our executive editor. Adrian Hill is our head of news and politics. The show is mixed and edited by Andrew Chadwick. Jordan Cantor is our sound engineer with audio support from Kyle Seglin and Charlotte Landis. Matt DeGroat is our head of production. Naomi Sengel is our executive assistant. Thanks to our digital team, Elijah Cohn, Haley Jones, Ben Hefcoat, Mia Kelman, Carol Pellaviv, David Tolles, and Ryan Young. Our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East.

1:11:33Jon Favreau:Hey, so listen, whether you're in the States, across the pond, or somewhere on the other side of the world, we love that you tune into Crooked for US News. But did you know we also have a UK news show? Yes, that's right. It's called Pod Save the UK. Pod Save the UK is a no bullshit, unabashedly progressive conversation about politics focused on the issues that matter most to the people of Britain. With all the changes in our government, including the fun revolving door of prime ministers we have here, there's always lots to talk about. And there's lots of fabulous guests to talk to. Journalists, politicians, experts, comedians and activists.

1:12:07We've had great comedians on as well, like Rosie Jones, Stuart Lee, Aisling B. We've also had Tommy Vitor on, who may be our boss. we still don't know we're not quite clear on who our boss is I thought it might be Tommy Vitor I thought it might be Jon Favreau I don't know if it's Jon Lovett it's hard to say it's not clear to us who our bosses are

1:12:27Jon Favreau:some of our listeners call us irreverent but not stupid I object to that I'm deeply stupid it doesn't sound too bad so look come check us out come join us Pod Save the UK every Thursday wherever you get your podcasts Saving money when you shop at Menards we have an excellent in-stock selection of Whirlpool appliances. We carry great brands at the best prices, ready to take home today. Whether you want new laundry appliances or need upgrades for your kitchen, you'll find appliances that'll make your life easier. View our selection of Whirlpool appliance options today on Menards.com. Plus, check out our weekly flyer and find plenty of great deals happening this week.

1:13:07Save big money at Menards.