It's One Ballroom, Donald, How Much Could It Cost?

28:05Yeah, I think he could consolidate every single one of the Nikki Haley voters, and I think that'd be great for him. I mean, Rubio's natural energy is cuck. Like, I just, it's just, he's, like, he is. Yeah, that little macro sit in that big cuck chair. Yeah, I mean, also that's, you know what? When I go to Iowa to tell these stories, I'm going to bring that chair with me. I'm going to sit in that chair to tell the stories of Marco Rubio's work and read the immigration bill that he authored. Yes. Yes. Just read it out loud. You know, the Obama library is opening this month. I wonder if there's an annotated copy in there with all of Rubio's notes.

28:39I hope there's an exhibit. I hope Marco Rubio features prominently in the library.

28:46This was fun. All right. Trump, meanwhile, seems like he's trying to make it as difficult as possible for either Vance or Rubio to win a presidential election, thanks to their association with him. Here he is discussing his plans to change the color of the reflecting pool on the National Mall, stage a UFC fight at the White House for his birthday, and of course, build his ballroom. I said, you know, I built all these swimming pools and they're phenomenal. So I have some very good contractors. I think that I'd like to recommend a color. It's called American Flag Blue. I said, that's the color I want.

29:21As you know, June 14th, we're having a big fight. A lot of people haven't seen this yet. This will be the greatest show on earth is at night. That's all lighting and cover. I was in a position being a builder and having built many ballrooms and many other things. I'm good at ballrooms. That's the entrance to the new ballroom that's being built. Which everybody likes, especially since last Saturday evening. They like it even more. Because it'll have a thing called security. that was those were all just this week just this week as the as the war has erupted again and they're trying to get a ceasefire and gas is going through the roof that was all this week in his remarks um and good news reuters just reported that the white house is expecting to get the 400 million dollar jumbo jet the qatari royal family personally gifted to donald trump just in time for America's birthday.

30:20Happy fourth. Here's a 400 million dollar Qatari jumbo jet from the royal family. Well, the jet was free. The 400 million dollars you paid for, you the taxpayer, to upgrade the security on the jet, i.e. remove all the listening devices the Qatari's put in it. So, so far, Trump's whole Versailles on the Potomac vibe has been yet another weight on his approval rating. But now he's tossing the anchor at Republicans in Congress who are stunningly about to vote on whether to spend$1 billion, our dollars, taxpayer dollars, on Donald Trump's ballroom, which they are claiming is necessary for security reasons.

31:06Do you think Republicans running in competitive races are excited about signing their own political death warrants? This is the most insane thing I have ever seen a party do in election year. They don't have to do this. They chose to do this. They volunteered to do it. And at a time in which they've already voted to close rural hospitals, they've already voted to kick people off their healthcare. They've voted to kick people off their food assistance. They've said we don't have money for education or childcare or anything else, but we have a billion dollars for a fancy ballroom where Trump can whine and die in the Epstein class.

31:50It's like, this is like a stimulus program for political ad makers. Like it is insane. I hope they vote today. I was just thinking about that. Like in this, I wonder what you think about this and in this like media information environment, like it is right. It is like a buffet for ad makers for democratic ad makers that they've like never seen before and i think in an environment like that like you want to go with like one ad over and over again and like all you need like i really think and someone can go test this but like all you need is an ad that just has like image of him talking about the ballroom and then rural hospital closing image about him talking about the fucking arch that he's building and uh people talking about high gas prices people at the pump image of him talking about the fucking reflecting pool and then uh people like you know and then war and like you know flag drape coffee like there's just this is this is so simple there is nothing else that people need to do but just like one 60 second ad that like shows the corruption uh embodied in donald trump talking about and republicans with him talking about all of these you know the the arch the whole thing and then and then all the struggles people are growing through.

33:04And that's it. That's the only thing you need. You need the vote. You need like, if they actually vote, the use it is, it has to be, there is money for all these things that don't help you. And there's no money for you. And worse than that, they're going to take your money and they're going to spend it on this dumb, fancy shit for rich people. Like it is an absolute gift. And I think the ball, like there's so many things, right? And you're right. Like in this media environment, like how do you keep track? The ballroom has the ability to be the equivalent of the whatever was the$600 hammer, the toilet seat, all the things in the Reagan era.

33:42Because one, it's so absurd. It's so ridiculous. And it has the advantage of the fact that every time Trump opens his mouth to breathe, he talks about the ballroom. So it's like the one – we always talk about how Democrats don't have the media firepower to make something that is bad for Trump news. all on our own. Here's the thing where Trump is doing it every single day. And so he himself is raising awareness of the ballroom. So it is like we are pushing on an open door here. But also all of these Republicans running are in competitive races are inevitably going to end up in a debate. And I think like every single, if you are a Democratic candidate and you do not make that Republican that you're running against in a debate, like own the ballroom, talk about the ballroom, talk about all of the corruption, I'm like, what are you doing?

34:30You know, I mean, I just think that is the easiest, easiest layup. I don't care if the question is about some local fucking issue. Bring it back to the ballroom and Donald Trump. Just do it. It's wild. We went from a$200 million corporate funded ballroom, which was corruption, but at least we weren't paying for it, to a$1 billion ballroom that we're all paying for. Well, it's funny because it's literally the worst of both worlds for them. because half the ballroom is being funded by corporate donors that now get special access to the White House and special meetings with Donald Trump. And then the other half is paid for by us.

35:05It's just like... Yes, it is. I've never seen... It is like they want to lose. It's like Mike Johnson hates his job so much. He wants to unburden himself with the responsibility of the speakership. It's a wild experiment. It's a wild experiment.

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37:59It's simple. Being a renter and now owning a home is better with Built. Join the membership for where you live at joinbuilt.com slash crooked. That's J-O-I-N-B-I-L-T dot com slash crooked. Make sure to use our URL so they know we sent you. So one reason Republicans may not defy Trump's insanely unpopular demands, his primary threats still work. As we found out Tuesday in Indiana, for people who don't remember, last year Trump vowed to punish Indiana legislators who voted against gerrymandering the state's maps. It turns out he did. Trump's primary challengers ousted at least five of the seven state senators he targeted who were helped by photos posing with Trump in the Oval and about eight to ten million dollars of ads against their opponents.

38:43Tennessee Republicans saw this and decided they would not be Trump's next victims. On Thursday, the governor there signed into law new maps that would chop up the lone congressional Democrats Memphis area district. Republicans in South Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana are also contemplating new maps before the midterms, although it's less clear if these states will succeed. Former playbook author and journalist Rachel Bade called Trump's victory in the Indiana primaries a, quote, major flex and said that it showed, quote, that if you mess with the bull, you'll get the horns. Agree or disagree? I would take a cold shower if that was her.

39:22Like, was this a win for Trump? Yes. Had these incumbent senators defeated the Trump-backed primary challengers, would that have been a massive defeat for Trump that probably would have led this show? Absolutely. But we have to put this in perspective. This is the incumbent president of the White House with the full backing of his political operation in the MAGA movement that spent$9 million to defeat five state senators. Also, like, so Trump is above water in Indiana. His approval is like he's like plus three in Indiana, which is. That's bad. Well, I know it is bad, but like. Like he's still – Well, he's also probably plus 75 in a Republican primary.

40:06That's what I was going to say. So then you get to a Republican primary. Then you get to the turnout in a Republican primary, which some of these state senators that won, won with 7 ,000 votes, 8 ,000 votes. That was about it. So we're talking – like talk about a low turnout Republican primary in Indiana. I fucking hope so. I hope he could win. He spent like$10 ,000 a vote. Exactly. Yes. It's so crazy. It's like, I would have been shocked. I would have been shocked if those senators held on. I mean, the real test comes in two weeks in the Kentucky primary with Tom Massey. Oh, yeah. That's a that's the one.

40:46That's more of a test for sure. They we also have also in two weeks, I think, Louisiana primary, unless that's in the next couple of weeks, we have Louisiana primary with Bill Cassidy, who Trump is primary. But that is a three way race. And so the Trump's chosen candidate probably will make the runoff, but probably won't break the road. So that one's hard to see, but Cassidy might be toast anyway. But Trump still has sway in the Republican Party. Of course, he's the incumbent president. He just has less sway than he used to. Also, you know what? I'm happy for him to have all the sway he wants.

41:17Well, not to get to the next question, but. Because he has a 35 % approval rating. And if a bunch of Republicans want to tie themselves to Donald Trump and his approval rating as they head into the midterms. Best of luck. Yeah, except in one very notable exception, which we'll get to in one second. You mean where redistricting is headed right now? Yeah. I mean, the benefit for Trump here is a lot of these members do not, in the states that have already voted, filing deadlines are passed. A lot of the state legislators would prefer to not take these extraordinary steps to redraw the maps in the favor of Republicans.

41:58And if they had any hesitancy to do so, the Indiana primary will send a message that they better do it or they will suffer the consequences in their 2028 primaries. That is the, we're more likely to end with Republicans maximizing, to the extent they can, the advantages given to them by the Supreme Court decision after Indiana than we were before. Now, is that going to add up to a ton of seats? That's an open question. But like, if you did not want to do this, and South Carolina was one place where they did not want to do it, they may end up doing it now because of this. Yeah. And really, you're talking about South Carolina and Alabama.

42:35And Tennessee, which we just talked about. Tennessee already did. Because Louisiana was always going to go whatever they thought about Trump because that was the state involved in the case. and Alabama still needs a court to lift an injunction. So they're waiting on that. South Carolina could go. And then that's about it. Like Mississippi is already thinking they're going to wait until 2028. Georgia already said no. So, you know, you're right, but it's not like, I'm personally more nervous waiting for the Virginia State Supreme Court to rule on the referendum because that to me is a, that's a - That's the four suites.

43:15Yeah. We lose that four-seat swing, then Republicans will end up with a significant, not insurmountable, but a significant advantage in the midterms. I still think even if we lost Virginia, I still think Democrats would be favored to take the majority. But the margin by which we would do so, I think, would be much narrower, thus making it harder to hold in 2028. So obviously, we can see this and just worry about what might happen, what might not happen. Is there anything Democrats can do about all of this in the short and medium term? Yeah. I mean, what we're watching right now is incredibly infuriating to watch in Tennessee, a state with a significant black population, just carve up Memphis, one of the city, one of the blackest cities in America and ensure it has no democratic representation.

43:56That, I mean, it's infuriating and it's deflating. And that's ultimately the goal, right? The people who do gerrymandering and voter suppression want you to give up. They want you to feel like your power is being taken away so that you stop using your power. Like, that's the ultimate win here. And so we obviously cannot let that happen. And here are just like three things. And none of these are satisfying. Let me be specific. None of them are satisfying. But here are the things where we can focus our energy right now. The first is we have to redouble our efforts to take the House and hopefully the Senate in 2026.

44:25The reason for that is we need that is the foundation for the governing coalition that we will have in 2029 with a Democratic president to actually pass things like a ban on partisan gerrymandering to do real electoral reform to make our system more small d democratic. The second thing, and this is critically important. is we have to pour our time, our money, our resources into state legislative races. Because there's going to be efforts to redraw the maps in 2028, in 2030, and most importantly, in 2032 after the next census. So we have to have as much power as we possibly can to draw the maps in as many places.

45:03Even in states where we can't take the majority, if we can get close to the majority, we can have potentially an influence on how those maps are drawn. This is absolutely important. This is where the future of American democracy is going to be, absent some sort of ban on partisan gerrymandering, is going to be decided in state legislative races and in governor's mansions for the map redraws. And we're going to live in a cycle of perpetual map redraws. The last thing here is we have to put pressure on the blue states where we have the ability to fight fire with fire. Illinois, Maryland, New York.

45:39In states where we have control, but where we have put in place, because we like good government, bans on gerrymandering, like in Michigan, we have to put pressure on our politicians to look for ways, like they did in California, like they did in Virginia, to undo those bans to be able to compete here. Because we can't live in a world of unilateral disarmament, and we cannot accept any Democratic politician that does. It's a good list. I like that. I do. And I do think that the good news is some of these Democratic governors have signaled. I know that Kathy Hochul has in New York that as we look to 2028, they're going to redraw the map.

46:16They just couldn't do it in time for 26. All right. Last thing we have to talk about before you hear Lovett's conversation with Tom Steyer. As you know, FBI director Cash Patel has been in hot water since a story in the Atlantic in mid-April sourced to more than two dozen people about Patel's, quote, conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences. Patel filed a defamation lawsuit against the magazine and the writer Sarah Fitzpatrick seeking 250 million dollars in damages MS now reports that Patel is also having the FBI investigate Fitzpatrick as part of an effort to uncover the leakers which is unprecedented when the information involved isn't classified though the FBI flatly denies this is happening the Atlantic also doesn't seem to know this is going on according to their statement but that is the reporting fitzpatrick and the atlantic responded by publishing another banger uh apparently cash has been uh apparently cash has been gifting people customized bottles of woodford reserve engraved with the fbi shield and cash's name spelled with the dollar sign for the s which is the parking trigger the most it's perfect it's just perfect um a lot of the fbi insiders sourcing the story said the bourbon freebies make them really uncomfortable yeah no shit um because they are a clear violation of FBI regulations around alcohol.

47:37A bureau spokesperson said that cash reimburses the cost and that, quote, the bottles in question are part of a tradition in the FBI that started well over a decade ago, though they declined to elaborate on that tradition. And Fitzpatrick writes that when she ran that by a former FBI official, quote, he burst out laughing. What do you think about this? Also, MSNOW, Carol Lennig and Ken Delanian reported right before we started that Cash is in full panic mode about his job. And he has been ordering polygraphs of more than two dozen former and current members of his security detail and other staff over all these stories about him being J.

48:19Edgar Boozer. no one has ever tried and failed harder to be cool than cash patel it's like his every what about jd vance he hasn't really tried that hard i guess he no he he has not he's barely he's barely tried at all i've even seen him once try to be cool he tries cash patel is handing out like he cash patel's entire life is defined by being stuffed in a locker once and he is handing out bottles of bourbon to people who think he's ridiculous and he put a dollar sign in his name like he's Kesha. Like, what are we doing? Is that what it is? I don't know, but it's like, he thinks that's... He's cash, get it?

49:05Cash. He thinks it's cool. No, I get it. I get it. He thinks that makes it cooler. Can you imagine if that jack-off like gave you a bottle of bourbon And some of them are signed, too. So they're engraved with his name. But if you're lucky, you get an actual signed version of it, which the Atlantic reporter was able to buy online. I think she got it on eBay. And it was sold by someone who got it at an event in Las Vegas where he spends much of his time in the poodle room at the top of the Fountain Blue. The poodle room is such a funny term. Such a funny term. yeah what do you do we know what kind of bourbon's in there it's woodford reserve so it's just you know it's it is it's woodford it's woodford and then they had to contact woodford reserve and they're like look we don't we you know the a lot of people engrave our stuff and it happens after after we already sort of send the bottle out that's great i i i think it was you and i when i talked about like i still place a bet on that he's out by the end of the year Was it me and you?

50:16Yeah, yeah, I think that's right. Yeah, I think we, you, you said after the midterms. You can't be running around, handing out bottles of bourbon, being so drunk, allegedly, that your security detail, who you're now polygraphing, had to like send in a SWAT team to get you up in the morning because you wouldn't wake up. And then just, just panic that you can't get into your email thinking it means you're fired. And now you're giving everyone polygraph tests. I mean, that is that shit is wild. Yeah, I mean, we put a mid-level congressional staffer whose main job is podcaster in charge of the FBI.

50:55The FBI. And it's like, I think people because you see like, you know, Pam Bondi getting fired at DOJ. Obviously, Justice Department, very important. You see you see like Kristi Noem at DHS. You see Pete Hegseth at DOD. but it's like when you're the head of the FBI like these are these are like the top federal law enforcement officials in the country in the world really and you it's kind of a hands-on job it's not like you're the secretary and you got a bunch of people underneath and your job is to go be on TV and do the TV thing and then like the whole place is running itself like you're the fucking FBI director man this is a it's the worst place to put in someone this unbelievably unqualified and and seemingly has plenty of plenty of issues like truly mind-blowingly was confirmed by the senate this was not just someone that trump picked and installed in there the united states senate had hearings with him tom tillis introduced him by the way at his hearing he's selling he's selling merch he's still selling cash merch on his website.

52:03I wonder, how many units is he selling of cash merch every month? Let's just do the hypothetical here. So let's hypothetically say that you're Donald Trump and people around him. You're like, you know what? I know it doesn't make a ton of sense, but I think cash should be at the FBI. It's been his dream. He's always wanted to be cool. This is his best chance. I'm going to do this for him. And the gratitude, because Trump is a very generous person and he wants to help people. So he wants to do this. So then the idea would be like, yeah, we kind of know he's not fully qualified for this job. So we're going to surround him.

52:35With a strong number two. And there's only one man who can do it. Another podcaster. Dan Bongino. Another podcaster. It's like, what are we doing? Anyway, I feel safe. I feel safe. I'm going to sleep well tonight. All right, Dan. When we come back, you'll hear Lovett's conversation with California gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer.

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54:30Joining me now, he is currently running for governor here in California to succeed Gavin Newsom. Welcome back to the pod. Tom Steyer. John, it's nice to be back with you. All right. Let's start with this. California is losing population to states like Texas. What is your diagnosis as to why that's happening? I think it's clear, to be honest, John. California is too expensive for Californians to live in anymore. And it starts with housing, but it certainly includes healthcare. We pay twice as much for electricity as the average in the United States of America. And of course, gasoline prices are going crazy all over the country, but including California.

55:09And in addition, I think what we're seeing from the Middle East is that we're going to have a big rise in food prices in the fall. So let's talk about the gas tax here in California, because I think it gets at something that I feel is a bit missing from the debate. I watched the debate last night. Boy, rowdy. So California has one of, if not the highest gas tax in the country. We spend more on roads than any other state. We also have the worst roads in the country. And I hear you talk a lot about the ways in which you want to change the tax code and raise revenue. But I'm curious how you view the role of governor in getting costs like that under control.

55:50Anytime you're running an organization, you have to demand accountability. And if you're running an organization, I think it's an old statement that if you can't measure it, you can't manage it. So to a very large extent, if you're going to be running the state of California and demanding that the roads be maintained well, so you're going to measure maintenance, how are the roads, and you're going to measure how much it costs to maintain them, then that's something that people are going to have to manage to. And it's a question of accountability and control. And I think it's quite clear in California in multiple places that that's not a system that's existed.

56:31It's not a system where people have been able to do that. And that's a management task. You know, this is the governor is an executive function. And so, yeah, you have an organization to run and you have an organization like every other organization in terms of how you manage that through the people and how you manage that through the numbers. So can you talk a bit about your experience in management? Because you started a hedge fund in San Francisco in 1986. You were an investor. My understanding of what your role would be as somebody who is running a hedge fund is you are investigating companies.

57:10You're looking into companies. You're giving feedback to companies, but you're not running organizations directly. You're running your smaller organization that's finding different companies and businesses and evaluating their management. as opposed to directly doing it yourself. Okay, let me give you a different view on that than the one you just put. I'm asking, I'm asking. That's my impression. And basically what you're saying is being an investor is doing an analytical job and a decision-making job, but not a management job, is your point. But the truth is, if you're running an investment business, you have a choice very early on.

57:43Are you going to be the person who runs the analysis and the decision-making, a la Warren Buffett? Or are you going to manage the organization, which involves all the normal things about management, hiring people, measuring people, holding them to account, building teams and doing strategy? And that's what I did, honestly. So very early on, it became clear to me that my job was to actually, I had to make that choice. It was a very clear, distinct choice. And my job became managing people. And if you look at it, I've started a lot of organizations and all of, you know, if we registered 1.2 million Californians, which we did, that's management.

58:23You know, if you start a bank that is a nonprofit community bank to try and go to the places commercial banks won't go and replace them so that you can serve underserved communities, that's management. You know, the truth of the matter is there are people like Warren Buffett. And if you've ever been to visit him in Omaha, let me describe it. It's kind of like this room. It's him and an assistant that he's probably had for 50 years in a room. And he really is an investor. Do you think it's fair that my assessment of what you're talking about on the campaign trail, you seem to be more excited or interested or passionate about closing tax loopholes on corporations, reforming the tax code, bringing in revenue to pay for the things we need than you are on the actual kind of reasons California.

59:19California has the highest per capita or one of the highest per capita spending of any state in the country. Texas is much lower. We're still losing people to these states. So, like, I feel you saying we have we have we have this affordability crisis. We need to raise revenue. I don't hear as much about how important it would be to figure out why California is so expensive in the government. Why the government is. Yes. Why the government. OK, so but let me put it this way. I have run organizations and I'm somebody who will go line by line. And I will be a good steward of people's tax money because I understand very fully that every dollar we save, every dollar we don't spend is a dollar we can spend on educating a kid.

1:00:01It's a dollar we can spend on health care for people who need it. And so actually, if you look at the people, I started an organization from zero. If you think I was not minding my pennies and actually measuring where they're, I didn't have a salary. I didn't get paid. I knew that I had to be careful. And in every one of the things that I've done, I've had to be serious about making sure that the money that is used is well used. And I think that if you look at somebody who's run organizations that had to be careful about money, I'm the person who's done that. And I feel like being a good steward of the money is critical.

1:00:44I will also say that for everybody who says they're going to fund the growth in the, you know, the in services from waste, fraud and abuse. We've seen that movie. It's called Doge. It failed. And by the way, Betty Yee was the controller of the state of California for eight years. She's endorsed me. Betty is a highly competent, very smart, professional person. She told me she found seven billion dollars of waste, fraud, abuse, which is a lot. But last night on the debate stage, I think that Steve Hilton said it was$540 billion. Look, we've seen this movie in Doge. It failed completely. Will I be a good steward?

1:01:27And look, to me, John, this is a question of are you going to set, hire really good people? And are you then going to give them systems that enable them to oversee this and watch it and be good? Yes. Are we going to do that? Yes. Am I aware that the internal information systems of the state of California are several generations behind the time? That's me being nice. And so do I, is that something that I will take seriously? I'm telling you, if you go around this state, you can see that people are suffering. And the idea that I'm going to I will not be profligate with tax dollars because every dollar that we save, every dollar that is misused, every dollar of waste, fraud and abuse, I believe is the term is just money that we can use for people.

1:02:21And I will not take that lightly. And so, you know, let's say you're going through the budget and you're looking for places to save. We spend more per pupil than other states. We don't get good results for it. We spend more on our roads. You're also talking about reforming parts of the tax code that clearly need reform for people that are not from California. We have a rule that was passed by referendum that makes it very hard to change that really limits property taxes. And if you bought a piece of commercial real estate in the 70s, you're paying extremely low rate on it. You want to close that loophole.

1:02:57But that money would then go into the... Can I challenge some of your assumptions? One of the things that people think is what you just said, which is that we spend a lot per pupil and we don't get good results. Mm-hmm. We have gone from being the number one education state in the United States to somewhere in the 30s. In the 30s, based on per pupil adjusted for cost of living. But that includes all the ways in which California is expensive because of how we're already mismanaged. Which is what I'm going after. But my point is that we are still spending a lot per pupil and not getting good results.

1:03:31It's just you have to adjust it based on all the other ways California is fucked up. But if you're thinking about it from the standpoint of education for a second. The results, yes. You're thinking about it in terms of, you know, cost. But let's talk about it in terms of how education is going in California and why we're not getting good results. The truth is getting good results is a pretty straightforward thing and people like to make it too complicated. And I used to think, you know, some different things. But the truth is the by far biggest determinant of student success is how good the teachers are.

1:04:03And getting good teachers is not magic. This is not like we need to conjure up, you know, something. The truth is you have to hire people who are really good. You have to support them and help train them. And then you need to retain them when they've gotten to a level where they're a huge asset to the state. And we aren't doing that because you can say it's a lot of money compared to other states. But it's not a lot of money if you have to live in California. Right. Which is why I'm talking about bringing down housing costs, which is why I'm going crazy on health care costs, which is why I'm saying we're going to go after the electric monopolies and reduced electricity costs, which is why I'm saying I'll do a windfall because it's like we need to drive down those costs so that we're competitive with other states.

1:04:46And we also need to make sure that teachers being paid enough so they can live in the district so we can hire really good people. We should spend the money to train them. And then we need to retain them. And, you know, it is true that if you step back and look at the 50 states, then the teachers look well-paid compared to the teachers in Mississippi. That is true. But the costs in Mississippi are much, much lower. And the teachers are most often living outside. These are the reason we're having trouble. It's very hard to hire teachers in California because they can't live on the salary. Well, we had, you know, there was a strike in San Francisco and people were mocking the teachers for going on strike because of what the salaries look like in real numbers.

1:05:22But of course, it's because San Francisco is so unaffordable. Let's talk. Let's I want to finish. I want to ask one more question about schools and I want to get to housing. So in January, Governor Newsom proposed reform. So We have a convoluted system in which the Board of Education and the Department of Education are separate. Do you support those reforms to have more authority go up to the governor? I support reform. I'm going to answer your question with a different perspective. I never I don't understand why that's not easy. Yes, you're spending so much money to be governor. Don't you want to be powerful?

1:05:50It's greenlining the system. One of the big issues in California, in education, but much more broadly, is coordination of multiple agencies doing the same thing. Yeah. And therefore, you're talking about in terms of hiring more people. I'm talking about it, and let's take it to the fires. We're in Los Angeles. The fires in Altadena and Pacific Palisades. There were an awful lot of agencies trying to do the right thing. There was the city. There was the county. There was the state. There was no coordination. You're asking. I was what I said is I want to reframe your question to do you believe in much clearer, simpler lines of authority?

1:06:34authority? Do you believe in not overlapping, you know, agencies doing the same task with different rules that people have to live up to, which is expensive, but it's much, it's much more than that. It actually prevents things from getting done. Right. Well, that's why, that's why you asked me the question I'm saying under those circumstances, of course, I'm in favor of that. Okay. But it's like, it's a bigger question than just the question you asked about education. Well, this one reform is just about let's consolidate some of these authorities because one of the things that happens in the wake of fires is because the responsibilities are diffused, the accountability is diffused.

1:07:11And this is a proposal by the governor to make the accountability. And that's my point. It's a bigger question than just education, is all I was trying to say. Yeah, yeah. And in every case, this is a, you know, it's critical. I was talking about response to fire because it was so poorly coordinated clearly. But it's also true in terms of housing, very much so when you talk about all the different agencies for permitting. You know, it's like, okay, overlapping, contradictory, expensive, time consuming. Yeah. Big thing about housing is it takes a really long time to get it done. Here's why. Yeah.

1:07:48And so you're asking me, do I think it's better to simplify and actually coordinate so that in fact, the people who are at the end of the decision tree get faster, clearer decisions that are not contradictory. Why, yes, I do. That's a management task. So let's talk about housing because you've been saying something that's confusing to me and I just want to understand it, which is one reason mayors oppose additional housing is because it becomes... This is a critical point. It becomes an unfunded mandate for schools and health care in their areas. But at the same time, because of our property tax system, new homeowners, new builds are one of the ways in which you can get the property tax number back up.

1:08:28And we have rules in California that require local funding for schools in part based on population. So I don't understand what's unfunded. Because what's really happening for the cities and counties is they used to rely on what you described accurately as real estate taxes, local real estate taxes for all that stuff. But nowadays, they rely very much on the state to send them money. So when the state says, we want you to permit 20 ,000 houses here and build them, they are then relying on the state to send them the money in large part. I take your point, but in large part, they're relying on the state to send them the money to fund that.

1:09:06And that's why they put in the big fees. You know, in some places in California, I think including some places around here, the fee to build a house is up to 20 % of the cost of the house, which is amazing. But they're doing it for... And I don't it's not like these are wicked people who are somehow trying to rip people off. They are literally terrified that they are going to put themselves in a position where they cannot take care of people. They cannot educate people. I think it's a it's a little there's YMBA ism. Well, it's a sort of magnanimous fear for the future. They're they're listening to the constituents who are trying to fight housing in their communities.

1:09:42There's a YMBA part of this for sure. But there is also very much a money part of this. There really is. And I think that the money part, I am obviously sympathetic to because they do have to provide those services. The YIMBY part, I understand one size doesn't fit all, but the truth is we need to build houses. But why is a new apartment or a new home more of a liability than an old apartment or an old home in a community when the only difference would be the property tax rate? And that property tax rate is lower for the old homes. I understand that. But the truth is they don't have a choice about the old home.

1:10:18Like the old home exists and people live there. So that's just. Well, you're saying that being mayor of an empty city would be very, very sort of a streamlined job. But it's still like I don't get it. But I think that they're looking for something different. If you look around California over the last 30 or 40 years, every city has wanted to attract business. Business pays taxes. Business doesn't use services. every city or county has tried to push back against housing because housing is expensive because of the people who live there. And so that's been the issue. And it's been the issue since 1978.

1:10:51So how much of it in terms of getting this because you're in favor of SB 79, which I appreciate how much of the role of governor is about putting rules that localities can't break? Like how much of this is collaborative? How much of this is like both? Of course. Yeah. I mean, you know, because what you're saying is, do you order them to do it or do you work with them to do it? And of course, the answer is both. Like you've got to have it's got to be a relationship. It's got to be something where you collaborate and work together. It is a partnership, but you've got to have some kind of stick at the end of the day.

1:11:23So honestly, there is I'm not a fool. The Yimby people have endorsed me. But the truth is, the reason there's a Yimby movement is because there's a very strong NIMBY movement. Yeah. So you put a lot of your own money into this race. There's also money being spent against you. And I was looking at who's funding these sort of ads and they have their usual mysterious names. And some of it makes sense to me, right? Like the utilities, because you have a proposal to go after the utilities. But I was surprised to see that the realtors have put in money against you. And if you're someone who's saying, I'm going to build a million houses, I was surprised to see.

1:12:03And a builder's group is against you. And I think the realtors, I do understand. I think they're worried that I actually am going to protect renters. I think the realtors are much more about, am I, in fact, going to protect renters from spikes in cost? And am I going to push against landlords, you know, when I think that they're being abusive? But presumably the realtor's interest is transactions and having properties turnover. And there's a misaligned incentive here because of our silly property tax rules. When we put in rules that make sales more expensive, we ultimately can in some ways reduce the property tax revenue because because properties don't get sold.

1:12:46Right. If realtors make money on properties changing hands, are they getting are they getting are they getting something wrong and spending against or are they just wrong about it? Well, let me say this to John. I'm curious. Do I think that I'm bad for business? Hell no. Do I think that I'm going to raise taxes on billionaires and big companies? Yes. And I've said it explicitly. But do I think that I'm the person in this race who understands business by far the best? Yes. And I think if you look at the things when I've taken on these corporate special interests, I've done it on behalf of working people.

1:13:16I've raised billions of dollars for education and health care without charging Californians a penny. And I haven't hurt the economy one bit. My goal here, I always say it is shared prosperity. You can't share something you don't have. It's critical for us that actually we compete really well around the world, which we do. We're half the growth in the United States. That's critical for us. We have to be a very successful, dynamic economy. We have to be. The issue we have is we are that on average. The problem is most of the people in this state can't afford to live here. And we have the highest poverty rate in the United States of America.

1:13:52And so when I talk about shared prosperity, I'm not joking, but it starts with prosperity. And I'm going to push very hard. Look, if we bring down housing costs, okay, that is great for everybody who needs to buy a house and everybody who needs to rent. Okay. It's also great for everybody who is an employee because their costs are much lower. If I talk about bringing down electricity costs, is that great for every family? Heck yes, that's putting money in every family's pocket. Oh, by the way, every business's pocket. Did I mention that? I don't need to talk about it. But if you go into the Central Valley, you know you have to use a lot of electricity to use water in farming.

1:14:28You know you have to irrigate and you have to move the water to where it has to go. California farmers pay three times as much for electricity to move water. as Texas farmers. I want to bring that down. It's a business thing as well as a human thing. In everything I'm talking about, healthcare, it is eating up businesses. It's eating up every family. You know, to be fair, the teachers who struck in San Francisco couldn't pay their healthcare bills. That's what they were striking about, healthcare. Really, and I went on the line to ask them, because I was like, how come you guys are striking? You haven't struck in 60 years.

1:15:05And they're like, we can't pay health care. We're paying one to two thousand dollars a month for a family of three. We can't do it. And so when I'm talking about bringing down health care costs. Yes, that's absolutely for every family in this state. It's also every business in this state. I want to make I want to make sure we're competitive with everybody internationally and nationally. I want this state to lead. I also want us to be shared. I want this to be a state we're proud of where we say we compete our ass off. We succeed. But you know something? We don't leave people by the side of the road.

1:15:38We're the state that takes care of everybody in the state. So let's talk about health care, because I'm curious about how you see us getting towards a single payer system, because when I look at what your critique is, you talk a lot about about the ways in which we have a for profit system that tries to provide the least amount of care for the greatest cost. At the same time, in California, roughly half of the insured are insured through the public system, and half of the people in the private market are insured through the nonprofit part of the private market. Most of our hospitals are nonprofit.

1:16:11And so in a lot of ways, you can talk about the profits of like an Anthem or a for-profit hospital system, but majority of what we're spending, we are spending outside of the for-profit system. So how do you get to a single-payer system? The great thing about a single-payer system is it does take out the big profits from the health insurers. It does give you an ability to negotiate with everybody. And so, you know, that's not what people think about. But the truth is when you look at the costs that we're spending that are so much higher than single-payer systems, it's because we don't have an ability to negotiate and bring down costs across the board.

1:16:48So it starts with the health insurers, but it goes way past that. And the fact of the matter is, honestly, there'll be a lot of work on this to get the details right. And that is going to be, as you'll remember from 1994, there's a lot of work on this to get the details right. But the truth is we don't have a choice. And that's what I keep saying to people. They keep saying it's a lot of brain damage, which it is. But you sound like you've done a lot of work to think about all these questions, including this one. Not as much as you think. No, I'm kidding. I'm going to give you a B. Okay. No, I'm teasing.

1:17:22But the truth is this. If you look at how much we're spending on health care and what the trend is, it's not supportable. It's honest to God, not supportable. And so if you're sitting here this year and saying, well, if we cut this and we cut education and we do this and we do that, then we can make the budget work. but the truth is we're really we it is eating up every family that's why the teacher struck it's really eating up business it is and it's eating up the budget of the state we don't have a choice and if you look at the numbers i can send you the numbers it's one of those things where you sort of go like oh god you know not people say why would you want to do this it's a lot of brain damage it's very difficult you know there'll be lots of you know toing and froing all true but we don't have a choice well and that and we really don't have a choice and there's for everybody who says which did people did say on the stage last night we're just going to do it better it's like the reason i changed my mind on single payers people have told me that for so long and it's like you keep telling me everything they said on the stage last night that we're going to do to bring down costs i heard 10 years ago yeah i guess what i i like to be cynical for a moment.

1:18:32Like, I believe in Medicare for all. I was infuriated by the Democrats in Congress when I worked for President Obama, who stood in the way of a public option, and then even a Medicare buy-in for older people, which would have helped the whole system. But when I look at a state like California, I say, like, actually, we do have a choice. We have a, like, for example, in our Obamacare exchanges, it's actually a bright spot. We were able to negotiate less of a rate hike than even in a place like Texas. We're able to compete on this one lever. We have a better public system than states we're losing people to.

1:19:11If I'm trying to say, all right, we need California. We have, you're right, we're this massive and growing economy. We're half the growth of the country. We also have a high unemployment rate, right? We need to figure out how to get people who are working for businesses, which means they have insurance already, to make an affordable life here. A single payer system isn't necessarily something they're looking for. It's not their biggest problem. The cost of health care is what they're saying. If it's not their problem, then it's their employer's problem. Right. And that's the truth. You know, there's no way to get around what's going on in health care.

1:19:45And it's overwhelming. And honestly, you know, I was spending time with the nurses yesterday and they see this up close. The people who don't get care because it's too expensive to get care until it's really a disaster. The people whose lives get blown apart by getting sick. All the stuff that they see on a daily basis, human tragedy, where in fact a simpler system at lower cost will enable us to deliver. And John, I don't think we have a choice. There are a lot of things where you can say, Tom, this is a complicated problem with a lot of players and a lot of interests with high emotion. Agreed.

1:20:23But if you look at it, we honestly don't have a choice if we think that health care is a right. Look, obviously, there's another attitude, which is the Trump attitude, which is let's kick people on the Medi-Cal. And it's not a right. And in fact, you know, we'll go back to the system where people don't get care or they get care at the emergency room. And obviously, what I'm trying to do with California is something different. look we are a really rich successful powerful state we need to show what this 21st century looks like we need to show what actually we can do as a democratic state to show i'm we have to show what we stand for and what we we have to stand for is health care is right that has got to be unquestioned and then the question is and we have to start you were saying am i going to be a good steward of money.

1:21:16Yes. That's what this is. This is saying we're going to provide that at a price that we can afford. And that's going to be involve a lot of work, but that's the way it goes. And in housing, are we going to drive down the cost of housing? Yes. Is it going to be a lot of work? Yes. And that's the way it goes. And we're going to take on the electric monopolies and they don't like it. And they're spending tens of millions of dollars against me. But you know something? They keep telling us that twice the rate of everybody else in the United States is cheap and we should just grin and bear it. That is not true at a time when electricity prices around the world are plummeting and ours are going up.

1:21:52So it's like, if you want change, you got to take on the status quo and it's hard, but somebody's got to do it. And that's why I'm running for governor. So you have a little drawing on your hand, which is meant to tell you to be honest at all times. Is that the idea? What does it mean? Sincere, honest, do your absolute best because you can't control the outcome. So, you know, Katie Porter put you on the spot in the debate last night over this billionaire tax that's on the ballot. And I feel like she thought she was putting you on the spot because you're a billionaire who's spending a lot of money on this race.

1:22:32This tax is, I think, widely viewed as kind of a bad policy. And she thought you'd be, wouldn't want to say you're against it, but wouldn't want to say you're for it. But then you just said that you're for it, which I think caught her off guard. That was my read of it. But you don't think it's a good policy to have a one-time surcharge as part of the budget. And yet you said you're for it. That's, I think, what was confusing about the exchange. Okay, here's what I said. I said, if it's on the ballot, I'll vote for it. Right. But going forward, we need to do more because it's... I said two things.

1:23:03Because it's a one-time thing and because it doesn't distribute the money throughout all the needs of Californians, It just puts it into one part of the budget, which is health care. Yeah. But are you worried at all that? Look, California already has a progressive income tax. We are already a high tax state. A huge amount of our state budget comes from the wealthiest earners because of our corporate tax rate, which is also one of, if not the highest in the country. I am all for reforming the tax code. And a lot of this does flow from the property tax issue. But at the same time, if we are going to shift more of the tax burden towards the top and we see wealthy people leave the state, the critique would be you're going to start to see that revenue need to come from somewhere else, which means you're going to start moving it down to the bottom.

1:23:53I feel like you're coming out in favor of this tax because it's sort of the wages of being a billionaire in the race. And so you kind of have to say you're for it, even though long term you don't think it's a good idea. That's just my take. I got it. But let me make this point. If you actually look at how the richest people in this state make money, it is not the way you're describing as being taxed. You know, the income tax is based on income, right? But we have a cap gains rate in the state as well. Yeah. And in order to get capital gains, last I checked, you have to sell. Okay, so you're basically saying the way you pay tax as an individual in this state is either to get a wage, a salary, or a bonus, or to sell your stock in something at a gain.

1:24:37Those are the two things, right? Dividend, yeah. Yeah, but these stocks don't pay dividends, to be clear. um but you but actually that's not the way this works because if you actually are one of these people who starts which i've said repeatedly i'm in favor of a new brilliant idea company and the thing blows up and you end up being worth a ton of money you're worth a ton of money on paper right you own stock so now john owns 10 billion dollars worth of stock in a crypto company okay You haven't paid any tax. You know, whatever you're being paid as a salary relative to your worth is de minimis, right?

1:25:17If anything. But what you have is a whole bunch. And so let's say, but you know, the truth is you want to buy a big house or whatever the hell you want to buy. Let's not get into, you know, all that name calling. But you want it. Okay. So do you sell your stock? No. You don't sell your stock. You borrow against your stock. So now you still have$10 billion worth of stock, but you have$100 million of debt against the stock, which you still own and you've paid zero tax. So the question is, in the real world, when we're seeing this explosion of wealth, which we're seeing in companies that do not pay dividends, thank you very much, because none of them do.

1:25:59The way they pay dividends is by buying in shares because it's single tax, dividends or double taxation, that's single taxation. That's been true, oh God, for 50 years. No one pays dividends because it's taxed. So instead, okay, now you have your$10 billion. You've never paid any tax. So the question is, actually, is this such a bad idea? As I said, it's a one-time thing for a long-term problem. It doesn't go far enough and it doesn't spread the money fairly. But the truth is it's a step forward, which is what I was saying. So, no, I'm not being cynical and dishonest. I'm saying, look, is it perfect?

1:26:39I said it wasn't perfect. But I said, if it's on the ballot, I'll vote for it. And that was the truth. I hear that. Do you worry all about the like we have extraordinary wealth at the top? We have higher unemployment. We have people fleeing the state because of affordability. If we start trying to solve the problem by taxing at the top more than we already are, which we are a high tech state, we will start to see even that bright spot, which is some of the biggest tech companies of the world are based here. Some of the most profitable businesses in the world are based here. They're not hiring enough.

1:27:14Look, so if the people leave, that's one thing, right? Yeah. You now are worth$10 billion and you don't want to pay any tax on it ever. So I'm moving to Florida. So you're moving to Florida. You now live in Florida, I'd like to point out to you, John. I'd rather be a millionaire in California than a billionaire in Florida. You know what I'm saying? Me too. But the thing that I do take seriously is the idea of businesses leaving. Because what I said to you is everything I'm doing is to make us more competitive from a business standpoint. Every single thing. So if businesses leave, that's a different thing.

1:27:43And last night on this stage, if you'll notice, they mentioned four businesses that had left, right? Tesla. Elon Musk. Palantir. Palantir. Salesforce? No. Oracle. Oracle. Charles Schwab. Charles Schwab. Anything common about those companies that you've noticed? You tell me. Come on. The Trump people? Is that what you're saying? Every one of those guys is a right-wing person. And that's why they left. They didn't leave just because of their fears about taxes. They didn't leave because, you know, somehow this people may leave because of this tax, because this is about billionaires. But the corporations that left don't like what California stands for.

1:28:29Ellison, Oracle. Musk, Tesla. Charles Schwab, who actually I have a lot of respect for, but is a long term, strong Republican. and Palantir, which is, oh my God. So in answer to your question, do I care? I want us to be the best place to have a business. I want it to be the best place to start and grow a business. And I'll do any, I will, if you listen to what I'm saying, everything I'm saying includes the prosperity part of shared prosperity. And I will be a dog about that. And I want to make the point we are going to, everything I'm saying is we're going to support businesses because that's where we get employment and that's how the state grows and we're part of we're the place that imagines and builds the future so uh let's talk about hollywood for a second and thank you for your time i think we've gone a little over but have we yeah you've been very prolix i notice what am i prolix prolix what's prolix mean i'm kidding it's talkative oh i've been talking i feel like i don't know i feel am i talking too much no i'm just giving you a hard time okay thanks thanks for saying that.

1:29:34So on Hollywood, speaking of what has made California powerful and a beacon of our economy and our culture, we've seen jobs flee from LA. We've seen them flee from California. They've gone to other states. They've gone to other countries. It is outrageous to me that American film and TV studios find it more affordable to shoot in London than they do in Los Angeles? We've just increased the tax breaks and they're trying to do some reforms. What would you do both sort of as a leader with the power to convene and on a policy level to ensure that California remains the home of film and TV production?

1:30:21So let me say, I agree with your premise. This is a critical industry for this state and this city. Absolutely. And people are not out competing us by being better. They're out competing us by buying the business. And that can't happen. And so I've said, look, first of all, one of the things that makes me feel better is the tax credits that we give for every dollar we get back a dollar and 14 cents. so this is not like a cost this is actually an investment that returns a pretty darn good investment to the state of california and i think this is a critical industry for us so i don't want us to lose because other people are giving more tax credits than we are and therefore we lose all of the once we've lost this ecosystem which is the best in the world by far we're not getting it back it's way harder to rebuild a business than to continue a business just i mean that's just true And so I think it's really critical that we support it through the tax credits.

1:31:18Secondly, I want to make sure that there aren't regulations in this city and this state that make it hard to shoot production. And particularly for small productions, I want to make sure that there aren't regulations about, you know, how you're supposed to do it and all the things you're supposed to do before and they're very expensive. That means you can't do it here. I want to make sure that people can compete here fairly because we're going to win. and we have to, you know, you were saying, you know, am I worried about business leaving? I want our businesses to win. I am competitive, John. I am on team California.

1:31:50That's the team I'm on. I want to win and I want to win as a team and I want to have it so that we sit here and go, this is how you're supposed to live. Really smart people working their ass off. And let me say this, I don't think everybody who works in sort of the high flying fancy jobs knows this. The people who work at low paid jobs work their ass off. They kill themselves for very low wages. They are very skilled. They are very sincere, hardworking, you know, high integrity people. Seriously. And so I'm not joking about it. When I say I'm on Team California, I'm really on Team California. But everybody's on the team.

1:32:28And certainly the entertainment industry is absolutely on the team. So I'm going to fight like hell to make sure that they can succeed and that they can stay here and help build the state that we want. Last question, because I do want to touch on it, because I think it does matter to people. You and you spent like one hundred and forty seven million so far of your own money on this race. You're watching it closer than I am. Well, I hope somebody should be watching. That's a lot of money. 120 million on ads. You know, you have that you have put yourself near the top of the field. But when Swalwell drops out, a lot of people that support him seem to have gone to other candidates like Becerra.

1:33:11You sort of stay there. It's not about the polls. There does seem to be a reluctance to see someone who is using their personal fortune to try to buy their way into name recognition and into politics. And there's something ugly about that in a democracy. And even if you view yourself as someone who would be a great governor and so therefore are willing to pay that expense, you have to see it as a system that rewards people that made vast sums of money, often in unsavory ways, including yourself, who can then turn around and try to kind of paint themselves in another way for the public. what is your response to people who feel that sense of discomfort with a billionaire running for office?

1:34:02Look, I think there are two things you're talking about. One is the one you're talking about, which is just money and politics. And the other one is how people feel about billionaires because it's both. So let's start with the easy one. People are skeptical of billionaires. Me too. We've seen people be incredibly arrogant, selfish, self-interested, obnoxious, you know, unfeeling. Yes, I agree. I'm skeptical too. And it's also true that the way that money works in American politics is completely out of control and has been at least since Citizens United in 2011. But it's also true that right now the way this system works is through money.

1:34:44It's just through money from big corporations who are protecting their bottom lines. It's through billionaires who absolutely don't want to pay tax. And they are absolutely willing to support, including people from Palantir, including people from all the companies we were talking about, even though they aren't here anymore. They're willing to support people who promise they'll never tax them. So the idea that somehow we have this democratic system that exists and everybody has a is not true. And the question is, do we need someone in this system who's willing to go after the corporate special interests that actually run this state, which is why they're coming after me because they like it and their profits are based on their control of this state?

1:35:27I don't know if you saw it, but I think yesterday in committee in Sacramento, the head of WUSPA, the Western States Petroleum Association, said he thought it was the fiduciary duty of oil companies to take advantage of the Iran war and gouge Californians as much as possible. So in answer to your question, do I think somebody has to take on these corporate special interests? Do I think somebody has to stand up for working people against billionaires? I do. And if there were someone else doing it, I would be fine. But if you actually want to change something, sometimes you have to change it. And, you know, they are spending tens of millions of dollars against me because they think I'm sincere too.

1:36:11And I am. And so do I think that that's something that needs to be done? I do. And if someone else were doing it, I'd be fine. Really, I'd go back and I asked a bunch of people if they'd do this. before I decided to do it. You don't think Katie Porter's willing to take on special interests? You don't think Mahan is taking on special interests? I mean, I think there are other people in the right. Do I think Matt Mayhem is taking on? Are you serious? No, or Becerra is taking on the interest. Well, he's a reformer, maybe not taking on the special interest. I'm asking you. He's taking money from the oil companies.

1:36:45He's taking money from the people who are against single payer. No, he isn't. That is clear. They're participating in a system that's broken. They're not billionaires, right? I agree. But you're asking, are we going to change the system? And I'm saying, well, the people who you're projecting. It's a Katie Porter. You don't think Katie Porter is hostile. If she were doing better in the polls, they'd probably be spending more against her, too. Right. I mean, she's hostile to special interests, but she doesn't have your money to get ads up. Right. That's a real thing. So the question is, can someone win and do this?

1:37:13That is the actual question, John. Not can someone be good hearted? There are lots of good hearted people who I would be happy if they won. The question is, can someone actually do this? And as you pointed out, for a while, apparently Eric Swalwell was leading in the polls. And Eric Swalwell, it's I mean, it turned out that there were, you know, bigger issues. But all along, there was no question that he was chuckling to every interest in this state. That was his goal. And, you know, he and they were thrilled. And he was in the lead. So when you talk about is there someone who will take on the special interest?

1:37:46You know, I think to describe Javier Becerra is a reformer. I'm sorry. Did I say that? If I did, I didn't just say that. I'm just saying, someone has to do this job and, you know, actually do it. Not try to do it. Not, you know, give it a nice college try and then go off and, you know, play Pinochle. Somebody has to actually do the job. And that's what I'm trying to do really hard. Tom Steyer, this is a great conversation. Thanks for talking to me. Really appreciate it. I miss Long Island.

1:38:19That's our show for today. Thanks to Tom Steyer for coming on. I'll be back in the feed on Sunday with a conversation with Senator Raphael Warren. Bye, everyone. Pods of America is a Crooked Media production. Our show is produced by Austin Fisher, Saul Rubin, McKenna Roberts, and Farrah Safari with Reed Cherlin, Elijah Cohn, and Adrian Hill. Our team includes Matt DeGroat, Ben Hethcote, Jordan Cantor, Charlotte Landis, Kirill Pellaviv, David Toles, Mia Kelman, Ryan Young, and Naomi Sengel. Our staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East. USGS