Cuomo's Failed Zohran Strategy, Platner Oppo Dump, and KJP's Only Line, with Mark Halperin, Sean Spicer, and Dan Turrentine | Ep. 1177

26:48This guy then attacked Cuomo for not going to a mosque. Like somehow that's the new threshold that you have to. Well, that's another campaign. Cuomo blew that, too. Yeah. But my point is, is that he's doubling down on all this stuff. This is not a guy that's walking away from it, distancing himself. He's doubling down over and over again on this. Well, that's the interesting thing. There was a point this summer when Mindani was quietly meeting with Jewish leaders and business leaders, people that he had had trouble with and kind of gone after a little bit in the primary to kind of try to make amends to build bridges.

27:24But there have been a series of things that have come up where recently and in that debate, and this is another instance, where he's not apologizing, he's not backing away. And I think, you know, personally, I don't have a problem with the fact that he is a Muslim. I do have a problem when there are some people within his religion and within the New York City community who have said things that are pretty abhorrent and taken those positions to not to not condemn it. I mean, it is troubling. And I do wonder it is late if this won't start to percolate around New York City more. Oh, it's too late.

27:59Here's some more about Wahaj. He heads the Muslim alliance in North America. in a sermon in the early 2000s. By the way, his real name is Jeffrey Kurse, born and raised in Brooklyn. Okay, Jeffrey. He called for an army of 10 ,000 men to wage what he insisted was a gun-free jihad on New York City. I pray one day Allah will bless us to raise us an army, and I'm serious about this, he said. Don't pick up a gun. No, just march. March to the city of New York. 800 ,000 Muslims in New York City. Can you imagine if 800 ,000 Muslims decide to march every day? And it goes on and on. Okay, he says this. The LGBTQ community is a disease of this society and goes on to say, as you know, brothers and sisters, you know what the punishment is.

28:52If a man is found with another man, the Prophet Muhammad said the one who does it and the one to whom it is done to kill them both. He discouraged his followers from open violence against the LGBTQ community, but instead insisted that they should be invited to join Islam and make them feel uncomfortable. Great. This is great. I hope my progressive leftist friends on the Upper West Side and Upper East Side are listening to this. This is his plan, his BFF's plan for the LGBTQ community, that they need to be invited to join Islam and be uncomfortable. And here's the last two. Last point. He also made headlines.

29:30This is again from the New York Post made headlines in 2018 when three of his children were arrested for keeping 11 children in third world conditions in a compound made of garbage in the New Mexico desert. desert. His three kids were there, including his son, who has the same name, and his son was training a 13-year-old, along with the 13-year-old's teen brother, to fight against non-believers through techniques, including rapid reloads and hand-to-hand combat. Wahaj insisted that he was the one who called the police on his six son and two daughters leading to their arrest. How bad were their crimes?

30:16They were sentenced to life in prison last year. I'm just going to go out there on a limb and say, if my three children wind up committing themselves to the jihad and weapons training, and they're living in a compound made of garbage in the desert, it's kind of on me. Maybe I'm old-fashioned, Mark Halpert. You're very old-fashioned, Megan. I'll tell you the other dog that is not barking here, and it's just such an outrage. The New York Times. Can you imagine how the New York Times would cover a Republican candidate who's associated with people with those views on LGBTQ? They cover Mondami like he's Barack Obama 2008.

30:57Beautiful smile, inspirational, using new Gandhi, using new media in creative ways. All true. But they're silent on all these issues. The New York Post has covered them extensively, but the New York Times coverage of the states, the media generally, there's been no scrutiny of the guy on all these things that you're raising here. New Yorkers don't know because they're not being covered. There's one more. Wahaj, this imam, is a mentor of Brooklyn-based Muslim activist Linda Sarsour, according to this intelligence report that the Post got its hands on. Sarsour, Sensor, has called Mamdani, or no, no, not Mamdani, Wahaj, my favorite person in the room.

31:42She is the same person who, in reference to Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Brigitte Gabriel, both of whom are amazing women, said, she's asking for an ass whooping. I wish I could take their vaginas away. They don't deserve to be women. That's who loves the same imam. That's who's probably going to be showing up to the Mamdani swearing in ceremony if in fact you are right that he should measure the drapes because it's his. It's so disturbing. There's one more sound but it that I wanted to play. Hold on a second. It is, do we have it? Oh, it's Momdami's staffer, Robert Ackley, talking to Steven Crowder, operative undercover, about the NYPD and how they feel about cops.

32:37SOT-19.

32:48It started with who gives a shit what they think. I'm sorry. I guess these aren't going to be issues. Like, why not? Like, truly, why not? What's happened to the Democrat Party? What's happened to New Yorkers? well look you got to remember that Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer still haven't endorsed the guy right and and as I said he's going to be the next mayor and it says something when even those guys distance themselves but to Mark's point if a Republican had a donor that had said crazy stuff like this they would be going nuts are you giving the money back how much atonement must you do uh to prove that you didn't know this and here we are over and over again with things and people and comments that Mondami has associated with, praised, et cetera, and nothing, not a peep, no mainstream media outrage, investigations, et cetera.

33:37The New York Times magazine this Sunday was a glowing multi-page profile on how this guy is the coming of the next political Jesus. It was unbelievable. And they just ignore it, ignore it. Well, and this is the problem is, you know, those comments about policing, his comments about taxes when the city's having a problem with him going to Florida and other places. Megan, you know this area well. The Democrats, in order to win the House of Representatives back, are trying to pick up those seats out on Long Island, up the Hudson River that are more kind of swing districts. This stuff is poison in those areas.

34:14I mean, forget the Senate race in North Carolina, Ohio, you know, places you wouldn't even begin to talk about socialism as the pillar of your party. It's toxic just a few miles across both rivers in this area. And yet there's no one in the party on a national level pushing back. There's either silence or kind of, you know, holding their nose and saying they're with them. Sean mentioned the glowing New York Times piece. I have to read you the Washington Post headline. It's my favorite. And again, very reminiscent of the coverage of Obama 2008. Hazoran Mondami is charming a famously hard-nosed city.

34:49Nothing about terrorism in there. No. Where's the profile of his BFF? Yes. The smiling socialist promise of a more affordable New York City has vaulted him to the top of mayoral polls. I am genuinely scared. I'm genuinely scared for our city. I mean, if Curtis drops out and it's truly just between Cuomo and Mom Donnie and I'm living in New York, I would vote for Cuomo. I threw up in my mouth. I would, as between these two. I think I'd, I don't know. I prefer somebody who wants, somebody who hates me versus someone who likes to associate with people who want to potentially kill me. That's kind of where I am.

35:33Thanks a lot. Doesn't fit in a bumper sticker, but it's pretty good. I just like, I don't, I can't even, I don't understand this. I don't know my city. I only saw clips in the first debate, which is why, again, if you watch tonight's, you get time served for any crime that you commit in the future. And Cuomo went into that thing like a little lamb. He was just like the assemblyman. I'm like, you elevated him. You treated him with respect. Ozempic kills your testosterone, as it turns out. What's that? I said Ozempic kills your testosterone. It's just my opinion. He's awfully thin versus where he was before.

36:13I thought it was pathetic. I actually thought his performance, any attempt to score political points on him were horribly missing the target. It was, I just, the whole race to me. That's why I'm telling you, it's over. Sorry. I mean, somebody has to do something tonight that is a game changer. Somebody not named Zora Mamdani. And this is it. This is their last chance. Including the moderators. Yeah. Who didn't really press Mamdani in that first debate. I mean, he contradicted himself on some of those answers about policing and about taxing. But to your point, Cuomo was a mess. If you had said there are three candidates up there, one with a ton of experience, one who's a newcomer and one who's been around, you know, kind of for a few years on the periphery, you would have thought Cuomo was the newcomer because he was so rambling and just kind of rigid.

37:03And you'd have thought Madani had been in politics for 30 years. He was confident, cool, calm, had package responses, quick on his feet. It's tough. That's how they get you to buy the snake oil. The product is no good. The salesman has to be smooth. And there are guys like that, and he absolutely is one of them. Okay, let's keep going because the Virginia race is actually very interesting too. And that one's heating up. Unfortunately, not as much heat at the top level for the actual governor's house. the state house, but that attorney general race was shifted. It was turned pretty massively by those vile texts that came out from Jay Jones, who is the democratic candidate for attorney general in Virginia, who would love to see Republicans and their children killed.

37:53Um, and though he's really sorry for saying it repeatedly in writing and via phone call many times, but he's sorry. Uh, so the, the race has tightened considerably to the point where I think he's probably going to lose that race. Now, I realize Spanberger could help get him over the top because she's still pulling over Winsome Sears, but I want to know what you guys think. The latest numbers are as follows in the AG race in Virginia. Back in July, Jones was up nine. Last month, he was up six. Then the scandal broke of the text, and now his GOP opponent, And Mieras leads up three. So, I mean, that's a 12-point swing since July, a nine-point swing from September.

38:38But it's still within the margin of error. So what do you guys think is going to happen with that Virginia AG race? And then we'll talk about the top of the ticket. Well, I'll jump in as the voter in the Commonwealth of Virginia here. Look, Jason Mieras is doing a great job. He's raising enough money. But importantly, you pointed out, right, that the tide is with him. And in the final 12 days of a campaign, you want to be swimming with the tide, not against it. Miarek is in great position right now. He is not taking his foot off the gas pedal when it comes to highlighting not just what Jay Jones said about former Speaker Todd Gilbert, but what he would do to Todd's wife and their children.

39:18That's where I think you're getting a lot of this really resonating, is it's not just I wanted to kill Todd Gilbert and use two bullets to do it. I actually wanted Todd's wife to see his dead child lie in her arms. And that's despicable to an all-new level that you really can't explain away. And you talk about people in the 5th and 9th district. That's just a non-starter. Jay Jones is going to have a very tough time to begin with in a lot of the state where he needed to do well, especially in Northern Virginia, and that's just going to take him down. I think Miarris wins that race by about five points.

39:52You move to the middle where you've got the lieutenant governor's race. Polling now has that as a dead even race. I believe this is your generic ballot race in Virginia. John Reed versus Ghazala Hashmi. And neither one of them have a ton of money. Ghazala is now up in D.C. television giving her some, you know, a helpful bump in the northern Virginia area where she needs to run up the score. But she hasn't denounced Jay Jones either. Neither one of them have the ad money to really go toe to toe with each other. So this is where the top of the ticket will probably decide if Winsome Sears can beat Abigail Spanberger, John Reed, the lieutenant governor, comes over the top.

40:29I think that those races are probably linked together. Winsome, to her credit, has gotten the race within the margin of error. So, you know, some have her dead even. Some have her down two. Some have her down a little bit more. But it's right there. And the question is, can her ground game put her over the top? Abigail Spanberger had a really bad debate the other night where she just stood silently. Oh, and I think she really, again, a missed opportunity there. Winsome just has to get the final funding. The RGA, the Republican Governor's Association, came in with another$3 million. Winsome says that she's doing really well now with fundraising.

41:03So the question is, can you get enough in there? Now, one big difference between New York and Virginia, to my dismay, is that in Virginia, we have way too early voting. We had about 355 ,000 people that voted before the Jay Jones scandal broke. And the question is, where were those votes coming from? Still a little unclear where the early vote is ended up. But that's the biggest problem, because in Virginia, we don't vote by party registration. Well, you raised an interesting point there that I hadn't considered, Mark and Dan. You guys can weigh in if you want, which is. I never considered like an upward draft, you know, that like maybe these Republicans, who are like, I'm getting off of the couch.

41:45I've never voted in an attorney general race before in my life. But that is my reason for going down to these polls and voting Republican today to make sure Jay Jones does not get this job. And while I'm here, let me just fill in the circle for Winsome Sears. Is that a thing? Have we seen upward drafts before? Most political professionals laugh when the notion of reverse coattails are mentioned. But I think this may be a special case because the Jones thing has gotten so much coverage. And because there's so little money for advertising, the media coverage plays a bigger role like in a presidential race.

42:21And I think the failure of the Democrats to denounce Jones to say that he shouldn't be the nominee has really had an impact on the news environment. And Republicans have done a very good job of mobilizing off it. So I think if Spanberger wins by more than six, I think she'll save the bottom of the ticket. But if it's closer than that - Yeah, by six or more, I think probably the Democrats sweep. But if it's less than that, then I think Jones will lose. The turn of the secret is Jones has a horrible relationship with most of the Democratic Party in his state. They're all inexplicably standing by him.

42:57I still don't quite understand why. But there's not a lot of support for him personally. And I think that's having an impact on the organizers, the grassroots part of the establishment. So the Democrats are doing their best to hang on. that Pete Buttigieg went in, Obama's going in. They're going to try to rally their voters. But as Sean said, the momentum is in one direction. And the Jones thing has really stayed resonant in the news coverage. So Winsome Sears is going to be on this program tomorrow. Just want to let everybody know that. So we'll get to talk to her about some of this ourselves.

43:29Go ahead. Yeah, Sean and then Dan. The pollsters that I've talked to are basically have said to me, people who get information from the legacy media, particularly older voters, this has had a tremendous impact. But people at the lower end where they're cut the cord, they use influencers or get their information from social media have not been as moved. And that's where the ticket's going to struggle right now. Can they reach out beyond legacy media to get that message out using digital strategies, influencers, et cetera? That's critical for these guys, for Sears, Winsome, for John Reed and Jason Villarres.

44:01They've got to really use tactics that probably their consultants don't get paid as much by doing if they go in that direction. But the other thing that's really fascinating, and I know at least it's in the mind of some Virginians here, is back when Governor Ralph Northam was caught either in blackface or a KKK outfit, we can't remember which one, every one of those people, Senator Tim Kaine, Abigail Spanberger, then a member of Congress, all said he should resign as the current incumbent governor in Virginia. And yet when Jay Jones talks about assassinating a political opponent and wishing that his child was dead in his mother's arms, they say that's up to him to decide.

44:38So you'll call one guy out, not another. I think there's a couple of through lines there that, you know, I can explore. Not for nothing, but it was children, multiple children belonging to the House Speaker who he wanted to see dead in their mother's arms. On that front about Abigail Spamberger, she's just like, it's not my problem. You know, it's like it's the it's the AG. Listen to her on Katie Couric's podcast. You guys may have seen this online yesterday on this whole topic. She doesn't like to be talking about this. Sot, too. If I'm being very honest, we are three weeks away from an election in Virginia.

45:16I have worked tirelessly for two years running for this office. I announced in November 2023. The fact that I and I say this with all due respect, because, you know, I think it's a fair thing for you to ask about. The fact that I have to spend even a moment's time talking about somebody else's text messages from years ago rather than what I want to do as governor is something that I am deeply unhappy about. what we the collective we would have done you know have this information come to light much earlier i i will say this um i would be much much happier uh as a candidate if i could just talk about all of the things that i am for oh she doesn't like to be asked about the scandals of her fellow democrat whom she endorsed boo fucking who i think that will be in the textbooks of how not to answer a question like that.

46:17I mean, she seemed indignant. Like, how could you, you know, this is a real nuisance instead of taking it as an opportunity to show leadership to say and pass the common sense test, which is it's obviously, you know, crazy and disqualifying. Look, the reason she's not going to say that is the black vote is very important to the Democratic Party. And there's a reason so many Democrats are worth silent. I didn't even know Jay Jones was black, by the way. I didn't even know he was black. Even when I saw him, he did not look black to me. I only he has to go the Korean Jean-Pierre route and just tell everybody I'm black at the beginning of his debates and his interviews if he really wants that to get out there.

46:52Keep going, Dan. Well, and so one of the issues for Democrats, and this is true in New Jersey and true in Virginia, there's worries about enthusiasm. I think all throughout this campaign, the thought of Democrats is because of Doge, we're not going to have any problem turning out northern Virginia. We're not going to have any problem turning out Democrats. Well, you've begun to see some evidence that Democrats are kind of not really motivated. Spanberger has not run a great campaign. Amazing. Just the summer, people around her were talking about her running for president immediately after getting elected.

47:26I think that is now, you know, briefly on hold. But I think, you know, yeah, I mean, part of this is now is how much has this between the Charlie Kirk assassination between this? are Republicans going to be fired up and turn out? And how can Democrats get over the finish line and not potentially, you know, kind of blow this away? By the way, can I say one thing that we don't, that's not really come at the forefront of this? Why she reacted the way she did, obviously she doesn't want to talk about it, even though she endorsed the guy, but it's their view of the media, right? Hey, Katie Couric, how dare you ask me a tough question?

48:04This is supposed to be a softball. This is what I expect from you guys, right? That's their view. You're not supposed to ask me a tough question. I'm not supposed to be challenged. I get softball questions. How dare you question me like this? It was listed as a home game on her schedule. Yeah, exactly right. So then, so here they bring up the other big issue in the race. Couric does, and they both have the same exact attitude about it. And that is the trans issue with all these so-called trans girls, which is a boy going into girls' locker rooms and bathrooms, which is a very real issue, especially in Loudoun County, which is a beautiful place to live.

48:43When I lived in Virginia, I lived there for a couple of years. Your goal was to live in Loudoun County. It was so pretty and it was sort of bucolic and kind of country, kind of rural. To think that these people now have to be persuaded that this lunatic shouldn't be elected to Spanberger because she wants boys in girls' rooms. How How is that not an immediate deal breaker that ends it? Meanwhile, instead, they're ground zero on this issue. And here's Couric asking Spanberger about it. It's thought three. I have a feeling you might feel the same way, that this is a distraction from your goals as governor.

49:21But a big topic, both in the recent presidential race and now in the gubernatorial race in Virginia, has been transgender rights. I'm just curious why you think this has become such an animating issue in this race. And I think the real challenge is there's a lot of people who've never met a trans person, whether they're a trans youth or adult. And so there's a real effort to engage in some level of fear mongering and talking to my daughters, trying to gauge their opinions of things. And, you know, they somewhat one of them somewhat comically said, like, nobody likes to use the bathroom at school anyway.

50:03It's so messy. And, you know, everybody's loud, et cetera. Yeah. And it seems like it really has played an outsized role. Oh, my God. In these campaigns when when it really affects very few people. You out of touch millionaire. You know what I was going to say. Fear mongering. Listen to them. Oh, it's just a question about messy bathrooms. A girl was raped in a Loudoun County school bathroom, which then was lied about. And her dad was arrested for making a big deal out of it. It was a national scandal. Is that going to work? Why don't more people care? We got 25 seconds to break. Who wants to take it?

50:43I'll just say as a Democrat, what's really, really depressing about this is that was the same attitude we had about immigration four years ago. It's a made up issue and it's not real. And here we are again trying to just, you know, wash it away instead of confronting the opportunity. Who doesn't want energy, metabolic, immune and skin support? Meet Peak, a luxury brand transforming wellness. Their science-backed botanicals, minerals, and supplements support sustained energy, doesn't that sound nice, metabolic function, and more. Peak is proud to introduce Sun Goddess Matcha. It's an organic ceremonial superfood blend that can redefine your daily ritual.

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52:11It's finally here. Megan Kelly live in Texas with your favorite all-star guests, Donald Trump Jr. There's a true seismic shift going on right now. Watching the Democrats, it's amazing that they're so far out of touch. Glenn Beck. It's going to be a lot of fun. I'm going to be making a major announcement with her. I'm making a major pivot point in my career. Jesse Kelly. They stand up and they tell people, Hitler's coming, Hitler's coming, Hitler's coming. And you have all these single women on anti-anxiety meds freaking out. Oh my gosh, the world's going to end. These people get lied to repeatedly.

52:45And all they do, maybe it's a Democrat thing, is bend over it and say, thank you, sir. May I have another? Emily Jashinsky. The Rapid Response Choir. Across Maryland.

53:00I don't want to sound racist, but I sometimes really hate white people, Megan. Len Greenwald. The only time I ever see clips of Michelle Obama is when you force me to see them. The way you're chewing makes me want to smack you upside the head. I like watch that with my mouth agape. This is real contempt and hatred in a marriage. Mark Halperin. I'm hungry. I could use some salad. I've got it for you right here. One of the reasons I wrote this book, Rachel, is there are actually a number of reasons.

53:34Please, I would like a light vinaigrette. And Link Lauren. I will do my Jasmine Crockett impression during the show, I promise. Yeah, you ain't gotta believe me, just go Google, you'll find some of it. Sugar Land, San Antonio, Fort Worth. It's gonna be so much fun, so go get your tickets right now before they sell out. MeganKelley.com. I can't wait to see you.

54:02Back with me now, the hosts of the morning meeting on Two Way, Mark Halperin, Sean Spicer, and Dan Turrentine. Mark's also the host of the MK Media Podcast Network show, Next Up with Mark Halperin, which is a great show. Love Mark's talking points at the front of the show every time. Had a great interview with Scott Jennings of CNN last week. Go and check it out. NextUpHelperin.com to find out all the places that you can download and subscribe and come see us all on tour, MeganKelley.com for tickets. Did you want to say something, Sean, now that we are post-break on the Katie Couric exchange with, what's her name there, in Virginia, Spanberger?

54:40My apologies to the team there. All I say is that one of the things, Abigail may not want to talk about that, but the reality is in Virginia, if she is elected, What we call the second reading in Virginia will happen, and parental rights will be taken away from their kids, whether it's trans or abortions. That's the big dirty secret Democrats don't want to talk about, but they're all advancing to their own base. Parental rights are on the ballot this year, whether it's the trans issue, the ability to have an abortion, and it will be codified in the Constitution that parents don't need to be notified anymore.

55:11And this is a very scary thing. I understand why they don't want to talk about it, but this is what's really going on beneath the surface in Virginia. What do you mean? Like they're going to remove parental notification laws for abortions and what else? And for trans rights. I mean, they will take the parents. So if you wanted a transition before, it was pretty obvious that a parent had to be notified the same way you would if you wanted an aspirin from the school nurse. What the Democrats have conjured is the ability to remove parents from the equation. So you won't need parental notification in the airship of abortion.

55:41You won't need it when you talk about transitioning any of this. They're removing the ability from parents to stand in the middle. And again, this is a big issue that's, you know, on the Republicans are trying to make sure that people are aware of this. Democrats don't want to talk about it. But it's gotten itself through the process where once it gets through the second right now, the Democrats control the House of Delegates. The Senate is controlled by the House of Delegates. If they get the governor back, it then will get resigned and it's over. Can I make a broader point about what I think is going on here?

56:12The Democrats are still addicted to two things. They're addicted to hating Trump and they're addicted to being protected by the legacy media. And so at a time when we're having all these debates in the country brought about by Donald Trump's election about DEI policies, about academic university policies, etc. etc. The Democrats aren't having this debate. The smart people in the party know that the reason Spanberger and Cheryl, the candidate in New Jersey, are being tied in knots over these trans issues is they're still afraid of the base of the party. They know where the electorate is, but they're afraid to go there.

56:48And what these elections are proving is that even though there's the lessons of Kamala Harris's defeat, a year later, the Democrats still aren't having their intraparty debate that the smartest strategies I know say they have to have before the midterms of the presidential or the issues that cost them in 24 will cost them in 26 and 28. Or at least come close. Let's move to New Jersey on this show. No one wants to live there full time. I love it, but full time's a lot. Doug says we only got a summer home in New Jersey so I could make the jokes about it. Anyway, New Jersey's having a big race and this guy, Cittarelli is in it.

57:28Like it's, it's, it really could go either way. This one's kind of tight right now. And he almost came in, like he almost did it a couple of times before, but New Jersey seems to be morphing a lot more purplish red than it has in recent elections. And you tell me whether Kelsey Grammer can save the day because he grew up in New Jersey and just dropped this ad for the Republican candidate for governor, Jack Cittarelli. Watch this. Hi, Kelsey Grammer here. I grew up in New Jersey. I love this state. When I was a boy, folks would stand up for what's right and not wait for someone else to fix our problems.

58:10This last decade or so, it seems we've lost our way. Taxes keep climbing, crimes on the rise. Trenton's filled with politicians talking big and doing nothing. It's time. It's time to lower taxes and let families breathe again. It's time to protect our girls and preserve fairness in women's sports. It's time to make New Jersey safe again and stop overdevelopment that's crowding every corner of our suburban communities. It's time to get energy rates under control. Families shouldn't have to choose between heating their homes and feeding themselves. Finally, it's time to restore integrity, accountability, and pride in Trenton.

58:45Time to believe again in honest leadership and restore the promise of this state. Jack Cittarelli will lead with strength, decency and respect for all who love New Jersey and call it home. We've waited long enough. It's time. Oh, Frazier. So that race is within three points now, according to the latest poll. Three points is tight. I do feel a little like Lucy with the football in hoping for right. Good things out of New Jersey for Republicans. But how do you guys see it? I think Democrats feel better today than they did two weeks ago in that the Republican has kind of stalled. He was climbing momentum was clearly with him.

59:27I mean, once again, the Democratic candidate, Nikki Sherrill, had a terrible debate. She had some very bad interviews, most famously, where she was asked about money she made while she was in Congress. And she kind of said, well, I'm not really sure about that. It was seven million dollars to which most people said I would know if I suddenly had seven million dollars in my bank account. She just clearly wasn't prepared. She clearly couldn't speak. Here, too, there are real questions about, you know, can Democrats turn out in places like Newark and other areas that used to be reliably Democratic?

1:00:02Are those voters continuing to drift away? Can Republicans turn turn out working class voters of color that Trump made inroads in? Democrats remain very nervous. They have since June, but they feel better today than they did two weeks ago. No Trump on the ticket. Go ahead, Mark. Spectacular. add, I have to say, first of all, the narration by Dr. Fraser Crane was outstanding. Just perfect. It was. It made you want to settle into like a comfy chair with a blankie and your cocoa. I'm going to go back and listen to that before I record the next episode of Next Up, because I'm going to steal some of these craft tricks there.

1:00:39But the thematic, I think, is perfect for what they're trying to do. It's time, right? All the issues he raises, energy costs, traffic congestion, jobs, all these things are problems in New Jersey. So I think that message not just fits the mood of the state and is what the same kinds of things that got Chris Christie elected. So even though it's become a very blue state, they haven't elected a Republican senator in forever or voted for a Republican for president, I think since Bush 43 or 41. It's it's it did. They did let Chris Christie that long ago on all the same kind of themes, corruption and Trenton economics out of whack, et cetera.

1:01:19So I agree with Dan that Cittarelli's momentum is not what it was. But no one I know in either party who works in the state familiar with this race. No one would be surprised if Cittarelli won. No one. This is an interesting thing. I mean, she's literally getting swift voted. So Mikey Sherrill went to the U.S. Naval Academy. There's a massive cheating scandal. And Cittarelli has put her on her heels on this issue, which is kind of fascinating that here she is trying to use that as a strength. She was a Navy helo pilot, and she's on her heels about her own service because of this cheating scandal at the academy.

1:01:52She didn't walk in her graduation. She was accused of doing something, but we're not exactly sure what because she won't release the records. Right. Well, not only that, but also there's been complete and utter silence from her about what really happened. And that's a shame because what she thought and what the National Democratic leaders thought is that this is going to be a woman who's got an amazing resume, as was the case with Abigail Spanberger here in Virginia. And it's turned out to be a liability. Look, I agree with Dan and Mark that this is right now. He surged at the wrong time a little too early.

1:02:21But I still think this is where the ground game is going to matter tremendously on both sides. And to Dan's point, the question is, are those traditional coalitions that are so critical to the Democrats, especially the black vote in like northern New Jersey, going to turn back out again? Trenton in New Jersey. I mean, like, that's the thing. I don't get the sense that they've got a lot of excitement there to go out and vote, even the way they did for like a Harris and Biden last time. So he may not have surged at the exact right time, but I think Cittarelli can still pull this thing out. It may not be pretty.

1:02:54It may not be by a lot. But I think he's got more of an edge than she does at this time. We grew up in New York State, upstate. And my mom's brother grew up or had his family live and raised them in New Jersey. So we always had family rivalries on which state was better, New York versus New Jersey. Of course, I was on Team New York and it goes on. You could hear it in the way I kicked off the segment, even though, again, I own I own property there. One time we were driving there from New York City. You always have to pass Newark and those awful power plants, which just you can smell. Yeah, it smells so bad.

1:03:29Like the pollution comes and gets you on the highway on your way, you know, down to New Jersey. And I actually chose to Google it. Like I saw the name of the one place just to see what the heck this thing actually is. And it sent me down a rabbit hole on the Googling around New Jersey. And one of the websites that came up had a Q &A about New Jersey. And somebody asked, where do all the terrible things about New Jersey come from? And the first answer was, from people who have been there.

1:04:00There are many, many beautiful parts of New Jersey. And of course, the president's a homeowner in the state, too. Well, and I'll tell you what I do love about New Jersey. The people. The people are amazing. And I always do this like based on the grocery stores. Like you can kind of tell what kind of a community you're in by the grocery stores. In New York, you go to the Whole Foods on the Upper West Side. You better bring your brass knuckles because you are going to fight a bitch. I mean, these women are fucking serious about getting their organics. And it's like, you get in their way, your shit's going down.

1:04:32Like I never felt so stressed out as I did in the Whole Foods in New York City, where I was like, you can have it. It's fine. So that was that. Then you go to like Montana. We go out to Montana. Nobody bothers you. People are friendly, but they keep their distance. They're not used to being surrounded by tons of people. So like they're friendly, but they're not overly friendly. It's like arm's length friendliness. You go to New Jersey. It's just perfect. Everyone is nice. People will be like, you don't want that avocado, honey. No, that's well past its prime. And you're like, oh, thank you very much.

1:05:08I didn't know. But not overly familiar. where like sometimes in the South, like they're overly familiar. Like where you're like, I'm from New York. I can't have this much eye contact. So the New Jersey, and the other thing I love about New Jersey people is they will fight. Like if you cross their kid, they will get on the school bus and hurt you. And I appreciate that. Like they're not so reserved that they won't stand up for what they think is right. And New Jerseyans, I'm telling you what is right is to vote for Jack Cittarelli. Do not let this Mikey Sherrill take over. You've had enough torture.

1:05:39Why keep doing this to yourself? Why all the self-flagellation with the Newark power plants and now possible Mikey Sherrill? Don't do it. You can save yourself. That was my long, long-winded pitch for Jack Jettarelli. Let's keep going. I want to go out to, up to Maine, because this guy Graham Plattner, who I'd never heard of until recently, is in the news. Susan Collins has not said whether she's running for re-election. She's a Republican. And the Democrats are excited because this could be a Dem pickup. And they have a bunch of Dems who want this seat. There are eight Dems who have declared and are running in the primary, including the sitting governor, Janet Mills, who is 77 years old and would be the oldest person ever elected as a first term U.S.

1:06:22senator. Janet, damn it, Janet, don't do it. Mm hmm. Then there's Graham Plattner. I mentioned him earlier to the audience this week, former Marine infantryman who later served as an Army National Guard soldier and private security contractor who is a self-described communist, though he says he's moved past that. OK, but there's all these Reddit chats that he's now had to kind of scrub. He tried to scrub, but the Internet is forever where he said things like all cops are bastards. I'm a communist and rural white Americans actually are racist and stupid, which is not great. And blacks don't tip.

1:07:02Blacks don't tip. That's that's nice. OK, yeah. OK, so those are just a couple of lowlights from this guy. oh, he repeatedly used the word retarded. You're not allowed to do that. If we're just going to play by the left's rules, he should be penalized. He said he was radicalized. He says, I did used to love America, or at least the idea of it. These days, I'm pretty disgusted by it all. He says he's gotten past that too, but these posts were like three years ago, like 2022 and 2023. So it's tough to believe that he's magically gotten past it all. And now, because this is America, there's a Nazi reference.

1:07:47There's always a Nazi reference in the waning days of anyone's campaign. And here is his. He went on with the Pod Save guys, Tommy Vieter, to try to do advanced damage control on his Nazi tattoo. Okay, here he is talking to Tommy Veeder, SOP 23. In kind of a non-traditional campaign move, your team actually shared some opposition research on you with me. It's a video from, I believe, a decade ago. Let's just watch an excerpt and then we should talk about it. It's got a shirt off and a bar going nuts. It's like just drunk. Oh, now he headbutted something.

1:08:36He's in his underwear. And the reason that we are showing this video is because at the very end, you can see a tattoo on your chest. And I've been told that some of your political opponents are telling reporters that that tattoo has a Nazi affiliation. And I would like to know, is that accurate? Are you a secret Nazi? I am not a secret Nazi. At no point in this entire experience of my life did anybody ever once say, hey, you're a Nazi. It never came up. Oh, well, that settles it. Until we got wind that in the opposition research, somebody was shopping the idea that I was a secret Nazi with a hidden Nazi tattoo.

1:09:18And I can honestly say that if I was trying to hide it, I've not been doing a very good job for the past 18 years. No, he hasn't, because several members who worked on his campaign, like his campaign manager, Genevieve McDonald, she resigned last week over those Reddit posts and disputed his claims of ignorance about the meaning of that tattoo. Graham has an anti-Semitic tattoo on his chest, she wrote. She said he is a history buff who knows damn well what that tattoo means, which I have to say I do find helpful, her interpretation, because when I saw this tattoo, I had no idea what it was. To me, it looks kind of like a skull and crossbones, which is, you know, what they put on little poison bottles, like in It's a Wonderful Life.

1:10:07That's how young George Bailey knew that the pills were poisoned. He shouldn't deliver them to the family. And old Mr. Gower didn't wind up going to jail for life with skull and crossbones. But when presented like this, I guess it is something called a Totenkopf. And it is a well-known, recognized Nazi symbol. And according to those who know this particular guy, my ignorance of what it means is irrelevant. He knew, according to the campaign manager and one other person who gave an interview saying for sure he knew. So thoughts on what this does to him? Well, I think he announced he was going to have the tattoo removed now, which is always a sign that, you know, it may not it may not be good.

1:10:51Look, he just had it covered. He didn't have it removed, but he put another tattoo on top of it. OK, very ugly. Don't know what it is like. Looks like part dragon, part spider, part clam. And I would beg Graham to just reconsider the topless photos just for the sake of his office. Yeah, that's probably start there. Look, Maine is so fascinating because you mentioned you have Janet Mills, who is would be the oldest sitting senator right below Maine in Massachusetts. You have a Democratic House member challenging Ed Markey, the Democratic incumbent senator, on the idea that you're too old. So you're going to have ads running in Boston into Maine.

1:11:32Planter kind of shot out of nowhere. He was this working class, authentic guy, you know, great on social media, great with a quote. Bernie Sanders endorsed him, kind of the liberal intelligentsia jumped on him. And nobody had really done any research on him. And all of this stuff is coming out. People are standing by him. They're kind of saying, well, he said stuff when he was younger. But of course, when the shoe's on the other foot, right, we're pretty quick to judge. His campaign is imploding. It's a case study in opposition research. I don't think it's coincidence. This all started when Janet Mills announced she was getting into the race.

1:12:10I think the question is whether he tries to soldier on, which I think he will. And how much, you know, he and Janet Mills are going to go at each other to the betterment of Susan Collins. You know, this guy. Yeah, go ahead, Mark. You go. Well, this guy casts himself as like, you know, just like a blue collar guy. You know where he went to college? George Washington University. He also worked for the company that was Blackwater. Like, this is a pretty sophisticated guy who understands intelligence and high-level Washington intrigue. I wonder, we talked about this at the morning meeting, who's dropping all this stuff on this guy?

1:12:46You know, Dan says it's like a case study in opposition research. It's really a master class. And for this guy who says, I'm smart enough to be a United States senator, but not smart enough to handle this stuff before I got in the race, I think that's an issue. It should be for main voters, but Politico's reporting there's more coming. So I'm not sure he'll get out of the race, but I think his chances of being the nominee now are de minimis. Well, I think you missed the second half of the question. Who's dropping this research and why don't they go and help Curtis Lewa like today? Okay, go ahead, Sean.

1:13:19Well, look, this isn't a flash in the pan kind of guy, right? He's raised$1.5 million. dollars. This is in Maine. That's like enough to carry you through the entire election. Bernie Sanders has endorsed him. One, I would say there's a lesson about getting tattoos. Just, you know, I don't want to start a little debate here, but just remember, you get a tattoo, you own this thing. I remember. Raise your hand if you have a tattoo on this panel. Yeah, there you go. No one. But I'll just say. I thought you're going to raise your hand, Mark. No way. Of the three of us, I think Mark would have been, I don't know, Maybe I could have competed for that.

1:13:54That's why. That's why, because he's buttoned up. Just to clarify, do you count the Yogi Bear that's on my ankle? Does that count? It's a temporary tattoo from my son. My mother got a tattoo. I just wanted to get some kind of little symbol on my wrist so that people would. My mom, Dan, got a tattoo at age 70 of a rosary on her foot. Oh, okay. Oh, my gosh. All right. My mom also had pink hair, then it was fire engine red, then it was just purple. It's literally the color of this shirt. That's what it's been for the past year. She said she dyed it back to brown and she's unhappy because she's not getting enough attention in the grocery stores.

1:14:35That's her metric on life, too. Go ahead, Sean. Okay. So, look, I would just say, look, he's not going anywhere. He's got a million and a half reasons to stay in the race. And it's funny to me after we went through the confirmation process with Secretary Hegseth where suddenly a Jerusalem cross was unbelievably offensive. And now it's OK to have this Nazi symbol and no one in the Democratic Party has a problem after they had a big issue with Hegseth having a Jerusalem cross. Right. But here's the bigger, broader point, Megan. There's a through line. Jay Jones, Virginia, Mondame, New York, and then let's go north to Maine with Plattner.

1:15:15What is going on in the Democratic Party where you've got each one of these scandals in each one of these states, and yet not in one instance is anyone saying that's a bridge too far. It's okay that Mondami's got all these Muslim ties. It's okay that Jay Jones wants to kill his opponent and watch his children die in the mother's arms. And it's okay to excuse all of these things, all of them, because it's not just one of Grant Plattner, because, well, it's okay. The Democratic Party has a lot to account for right now, but it's not one candidate. There's a through line from the Mid-Atlantic all the way up to the Northeast.

1:15:50Meanwhile, can I just say they're raining down on those young Republicans and there definitely were some racist comments in there, but they're pulling out the one that said, I'll be Hitler. And that's the one like they have nothing on that guy in that. He's making a joke. They're like this this group of young conservatives on campus or something says they're not they're going to vote for the person who's most to the right, you know, the furthest to the right. So the one guy jokingly responds, OK, I'll be Hitler. That's obviously a joke. I'm not excusing all the other stuff in there. I'm not talking about that anymore because the left continues to celebrate right wing people getting murdered.

1:16:24So I'm done talking about that. But I raise it only to point out they wanted us to look at OK, I'll be Hitler as like a serious comment that should be disqualifying for Republicans who have nothing to do with those people in that text chain. But this guy who's the actual candidate wearing a Nazi tattoo, that's not a deal. That's fine. We can just move right on without talking about it. And I just want to give you one other piece of evidence. I talked about the campaign manager, but another person told the Free Beacon, he, the candidate, Graham, what's his name, Plattner, referred to the ink as, quote, my Totenkopf, referring to the Nazi symbol.

1:17:02So like he knew that it was a Nazi symbol and kept it there. Go ahead, Sean. I was going to say in that Politico story that you mentioned with the young Republicans, every Republican on earth had to account for those kids and denounce them. Right. Howard, do you agree with that? What do you think? Should they resign? Should they be canceled? I haven't seen one national Democrat being asked what they thought about Grant Plattner. I when Nancy Pelosi was asked about Jay Jones and she said that's for Virginians to decide. They get away with this because the press sort of goes up. Nothing to see here.

1:17:34Republicans all have to account when little Timmy says something at Jefferson Middle School. But when their guy says something in the national news, it's hey, guys, it's not our state. It's not our problem. It wasn't serious. You're generally right. Although Bernie Sanders was asked about Plattner. And he passed. Yeah. He said it was it was a couple of years ago. he clearly doesn't mean it anymore. I don't know. If he knew that it was this Nazi symbol, which according to the Free Beacon, he did, that's a problem. I thought the whole defense was going to be, I didn't know I had a Nazi symbol on.

1:18:06But if he actually did know, and he's a history buff, and he's running around with a Nazi symbol on his chest, like who would be okay with that? I mean, that genuinely does raise some concerns. His defense, according to the Free Beacon, was he got it in Croatia while on leave, quote, we got very inebriated and we did what Marines on Liberty do. And we decided to go get a tattoo. Okay. I know a lot of Marines. I don't know any with Nazi tattoos. I don't think that is a thing that Marines do. I think most Marines, like I'm going to go with like 99.99 % of them are anti-Nazi given their history in the Marines, but that's just me.

1:18:45You know, I'm not exactly a four-star general. So I guess we'll have to leave that one floating in the air. Okay. Let's, shift because I want to keep the political discussion going. Hunter Biden did another podcast. I don't know who the guy was. I'm going to find out who the guy was. What? Thank you. I never heard of him. I love when he does these. I know. I love the guy doing the interview is like, he looks kind of disheveled. He's barely looking into the camera. Like, it's kind of entertaining. And the answer that was posted on Mediaite today, which is where I saw it, rambled on for four and a half minutes.

1:19:20It was very painful. Hunter Biden was very disjoint. It was a very slow, long pauses. It was like, spit it out. So we only are going to run the last minute or so where he got on point. Watch this. This is on Kamala Harris and her book in which, you know, Karine Jampierre is out there defending the Biden White House. Kamala Harris is out there dumping on it. This is about the Kamala Harris book watch i love the fact that that my dad uh my dad made the decision

1:19:55that uh that let me tell you about loyalty the reason that he picked kamala harris is because of the fact that that uh he believes in and i certainly believe the most powerful force within in the Democratic Party is and always has been the African American women. They're the heart and soul and the conscience of the Democratic Party.

1:20:23And that's why he thought it was so important to have, and by the way, she had an incredible resume and is perfectly capable of being president of the United States and I would have gladly voted for her. Glad to say that. But he chose her out of loyalty. And I just don't understand, because I don't understand why someone would choose the expedient path as it relates to that relationship, their own political expediency. Their own political expediency. Okay, so my team tells me that is Tommy Christopher, who writes for Mediaite and is a far left dude who's literally chewing gum during the interview, which seems kind of passive aggressive, but okay, yeah.

1:21:14So there he is ripping on Kamala. But what was interesting was he said it. He said it in sort of a backend way, but he said she was only put in the role because she's a black woman. And for her to now have the gall to turn around and attack us when she was, this is really what he's saying. He had to add, she's qualified, of course, I would have voted for her. But what he's really saying is she was never qualified. She got there for no reason other than her identity. So she should STFU. That's how I read the Hunter Biden commentary. Dan, your thoughts? Yeah, no, I mean, there's nothing good for the Democratic Party about this, that Hunter Biden keeps popping up with these kind of rolling commentaries is just awful.

1:21:59I mean, look, he's right. Right. That is why Joe Biden picked her. They wanted to try to increase turnout in in down in the Atlanta area and in Philadelphia and Detroit and various places. But you can't make that statement and then turn around and say, how dare she? And, you know, the fact that Kamala Harris did not separate herself from Biden during the campaign, but now is doing it. Joe Biden's book is going to be coming out soon. Jill Biden, I think, is going to have something coming out. They're going to go on the attack. Hunter Biden's going to then come and defend his parents more. Like, we have not heard the last of this.

1:22:35It's not helping us move forward. And then you have, as you say, Corinne Jean-Pierre saying, what? I didn't see anything, which is just insane. But something else she's been saying makes even more sense when you are reminded of Democrat Party politics and what they prioritize in picking their top people. We put this together since yesterday. This is just on her little book tour. Karine Jean-Pierre, this week alone. Look at SOT24A. As a black woman, as a person who's also LGBTQ, as a black woman, as a black woman, I am a black woman. I am a queer woman. I am an immigrant. Being a black woman, as a black woman myself, that is the thing that I understood as a black woman is that I meant a lot to people because of the communities that I represented.

1:23:27And whether it was women of color, black women, queer community, LGBTQ community, and as a black woman and I have my queerness, too.

1:23:42It all makes sense. Not that we didn't know what she was doing before, but this she recognizes this is the only reason she was chosen. It's opened doors for her repeatedly in the past in Democrat Party politics. And as she markets this book, she is touting the only flag she knows accurately she has. It doesn't work with half the country, but half the other half of the country sits up at attention and says, oh, let me subjugate myself. Oh, my God. You know, you're going to do the sign of the cross because she said the magic words. It's amazing. Every single interview, truly, Mark Halpern, imagine going to promote a book that you had written about politics.

1:24:24That's what our book's about. And beginning every interview with, I am white. I'm a white man. I'm a white straight man. Did I mention I'm white? Who does that? Well, tomorrow's episode of Next Up is already booked. But for Tuesday, here are the two people I want. I want the person who's in charge of deciding which podcast Hunter Biden should do. and I want the publicist to prepare her talking points for her book tour. Because I'm very curious about those two people. I want to know what kind of career paths they've had. Make sure you tell them you're black. I can tell you, the person who was writing Kareem Jean-Pierre's talking points used to work for Kamala Harris.

1:25:02It's pretty blatantly obvious that that's the case where they ended up because it sounds like a redux to this. By the way, am I wrong that when Hunter did that interview, he used the word, I would have voted for her? yes yes he did actually convicted felony can't vote oh good okay really that's true he didn't have that wiped away until the end till after well that's even more yeah but you know you know part of the problem for for for for uh corinne of course is there were so many people who didn't want her to have that job from the beginning and who then when she fumbled and and and really struggled in the job, wanted her out, but were afraid to move against her because she was a black lesbian, is a black lesbian woman.

1:25:47And they were afraid of offending different parts of the party. The whole time she had that job, the foundation under her was non-existent because nobody thought she was qualified or that she was good at the job within the white house. I'm probably the only person that believes that she didn't ever know what Biden was doing because from what I could tell she never had access. She may be the only person that can say she didn't see Joe Biden's decline because I don't think she ever had access to him in the first place. It's a very interesting point. It's a very uncomfortable truth for people in the Biden White House and for the Democratic Party at large, which is she's unambiguously unqualified, not because she's a black woman, but just because she was.

1:26:26And it did a disservice. The irony is they were trying to elevate the concept of having a black woman press every day and did a massive disservice to the many qualified people who could have done the job, who happened to be black women. She's just not one of them. And queer, please, Mark. Yeah. And queer. She's just not one of them. And it really, I mean, you know, ask anyone, Sean's colleagues, anyone who's had that job. She was the worst White House Press Secretary by a lot. Yeah. Oh, well, there was a debate about this on a left-wing podcast that I want to raise with Sean in a minute. But before I move off of Kareem Jean-Pierre, yeah, you'll love this.

1:27:00Jen Psaki's got thoughts. Before I move off of this, there is an interesting piece on Karine Jean-Pierre and her accusing Anita Dunn of being a racist. Without naming a name. Yeah, but it's very clearly Anita Dunn. Here's what, here's the report. Let's see. She accuses her of mistreating people of color. Is Jean-Pierre writing about this article? In April 2024, the New York Post printed this story, Inside the Failed White House Coup to Oust Biden Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. She's so excited. Somebody finally wrote something about her. She's like, this made her book. She's like, I'm in an article.

1:27:42See, people are out to get me. Dunn was orchestrating a campaign to push me out. The quotes are not around the name Dunn. They're just around orchestrating a campaign to push me out. after the women clashed in October 2023 over who should join Biden on a trip to Israel after Hamas's attack. This woman, she doesn't name her as done, but we know it's done, said, I shouldn't travel. Quote, it will be very dangerous. You're a mother. You're a woman. Another colleague, she said, a man who had experience in war-torn regions could go in my place. Let's see. Immediately upon leaving her, I returned to my office and sent an email to the chief of staff and the deputy chief of staff, I CC'd her and wrote that I'd just been told I shouldn't go to Israel.

1:28:25One of the most important trips the president would likely take during his tenure. Minutes after I hit send, Dunn swept into my office, bypassing my assistant and flinging open my door. She proceeded to scream at me. You want to go on this trip? Fine. I don't know why you want to do this, but it's yours. Go. That's my dramatic reenactment. I wasn't the only woman on the White House staff who had negative experiences with this person. She had spoken dismissively to female colors of the administration, especially those who are also people of color. She doesn't like black women, black women, black women.

1:28:55A white woman once said to me that it was uncomfortable being on emails with her and witnessing her tone and the way she addressed women of color. It was that bickering, backbiting, and behind-the-scenes machinations, says Corrine Jean-Pierre that led her to question, do I really want to be in a party that treats people this way? And then she says, now that I can speak fully from the heart, I have an answer. After being a party insider for 20 years, I now believe I can fight harder for my country from outside the Democratic Party than from within it. From here on, I am politically an independent.

1:29:35And then she adds, people felt seen when they saw me at the podium. Woman of color, black woman, queer community, LGBTQ immigrant. They felt seen. And that mattered to me. Oh, we know. We know. Dan, good luck to you guys. I mean, honestly, like how how do you go forward with these people as representatives who are all identity and no substance? Well, and it goes to the fact that Mark said this earlier in the show, which is the party. People want to win elections. No, we have to change. We have to stop playing these identity politics. But the party doesn't want to do it. And I mean, it just All this is doing is showing that not just was Joe Biden struggling at the end, but the inner workings of the White House were a complete mess.

1:30:17I mean, it's just there's nothing good that's coming out of this that makes you as an American or as a Democrat have confidence. And as we think about going forward, you know, you want candidates to staff their campaigns with the most qualified, not checking all of these boxes and then layering people with other people. It's just not the way to run a campaign or a government. No. Okay. We will go back to Jen Psaki on our friend Sean Spicer in one minute. Quick break first. Don't go away. More with the guys after this. The tax extension deadline may have passed, but for millions of Americans, the real trouble is just beginning.

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1:32:59We are going on the road. Join me live. Megyn Kelly live. 10 stops across the country. Join me for no BS, no agenda, and no fear live. I'll be joined by Tucker Carlson, Ben Shapiro, Glenn Beck, Adam Carolla, Charlie Sheen, Piers Morgan, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and Erica Kirk. Send a message that we will not be silenced.

1:34:03Back with me now, a bunch of straight white dudes, Mark Halperin, Sean Spicer, and Dan Turrentine. It's important. Assuming facts not in evidence, your honor. Mark, we want people to feel represented. Yeah. Okay. Um, speaking of representing Sean Spicer represented the United States of America at the lectern in the White House press briefing room for a time. Uh, it was a time that preceded Jen Psaki's time there. Jen Psaki went on with this lunatic woman named Jennifer Welsh, who's getting in the circulation for being a very nasty, like really absolutely foul mouthed Trump critic. and that's really her only qualification because I think she used to do some show on like gardening or something stupid.

1:34:50And gardening's nice. It's not dumb. But she seems like not a good time. Let's just say that. Okay. She went on that podcast and Saki had some thoughts on you, Sean Spicer. She tried to pay you a compliment and then no. Watch. Oh, I thought we were going somewhere else on this. I'm enraged every time I see Caroline Levin who prays before she goes out there and lies her fat ass off. So she goes out there and lies and it's propaganda after propaganda. Is there no check on that? I guess there's no law that the press secretary has to be honest. But does that break your heart to see what it's been turned into?

1:35:26It does. And I say this as obviously I worked in democratic politics for 20 something years. I am not shy about my views. But even for people who like Dana Perino or dare I say even Sean Spicer, I don't know if I should use them as an example. it's a very different briefing room now than it was then i'll dana perino is probably a better example of this right i disagree with bush on a bazillion things right but you had to go in there and answer questions from the same type of reporters and often the same reporters i had to answer questions from what it feels like it is diminishing the job it is diminishing the role of the press secretary the honor of being in that job which is speaking on behalf of the united States of America.

1:36:09All right, Spicer. He almost paid you a compliment and then no. Your thoughts on how the GOAT, Caroline Levitt, is bringing dishonor to this position in her view. Yeah. So let's start with this. First of all, Caroline is, I don't mean to inject this, but to make fun of her body size, which is not true, actually, I thought was for a bunch of folks on the left that take pride in this kind of stuff, that was actually rather uncalled for. She's a very beautiful woman. I don't think that's ever been a star. This Angie Sullivan who said it, in her wildest dreams, she looked like Caroline Levitt. I don't know what TV she's looking at, but that's just simply not true.

1:36:49So that was really uncalled for and false. Number two, look, I think that for Jen Psaki, who had the phrase circle back, I mean, to get up there and talk about integrity at the podium is a bit rich, right? And so I just don't – I find the whole fascination that these guys covered up one of the biggest issues in modern history in terms of the physical and mental decline of the president of the United States and has the gall to come on and talk about how other people do the job. I think she should sit this one out and talk about something else. Yeah, I agree. She also told us how qualified Corinne Jean-Pierre to connect the segments.

1:37:28She said that she was the most qualified person to do the job, which by every account was a lie. So I don't really need to get lectured by Jen on truth and integrity and all that. She has a track record speaks for itself. No, and then she continued her lying when she went to MSNBC, which is what you have to do to get hired there. So she's, yeah, in no position. I want to move on. I saved a little time for this. We've been seeing such vile conduct out of the No Kings stuff. And a lot of it has been focused on wanting Trump dead or celebrating Charlie's murder. And there's another one of those ladders in this clip that we have here of somebody celebrating Charlie's death.

1:38:09Hold on. It was just in front of me. Okay, here it is. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's okay. This is actually from the University of Arizona. And there's a Turning Point USA reps. They're there and they're setting up. And this woman walks by and listen to what she says. 33A here.

1:38:36watch your neck and you heard the guy was so polite yeah thank you have a nice day that's all he said watch your neck fuck you nazi watch your neck we've seen so much of this and i really do i genuinely do not on this show just bring up one instance of bad behavior and try to tar an entire side of it because it's not fair. But somebody said something to me privately, and I was like, that's a very interesting point. You've got these young people like that gal who have been clearly radicalized, you know, into saying something like, watch your neck. And then you've got these older people at these No Kings rallies who are wearing the 8647 sweatshirts and calling for ICE agents to get shot.

1:39:14And I don't, they don't consume the same media. Like the older people are watching MSNBC. And the younger people, I think, are getting all their news from social media. So what's happening? Why? How can, like, if one group was going that way, I could kind of understand it and I would know who to blame. And the other same, but like, it's both. It seems to have crossed a wide swath of the Democrat Party. And I just have to say, like, it's deeply concerning to me because like, crazy left, I can understand and I can deal with and I can argue against, but like wanting to see Republicans dead and celebrating Charlie's murder is a totally different kettle of fish.

1:39:55So sorry, Dan, but I'll ask you that one first. I know that's not, I mean, I, I think one of the things that the no Kings rally, you know, kind of sadly showed is just this continued focus on Donald Trump, the hatred of Donald Trump. It's like a group therapy session, the way people were kind of all together. Like, yeah, we all still hate him, but the party is not moving forward. There's no I mean, like if the rally was on health care, right, like this is why we're shutting the government down, because we really want to fight for you. But instead, it's just this continued animation of like the fever will break.

1:40:31Like at some point, you will realize your mistake, you will realize that we are right, you were wrong, and you're going to come back to us. And you know, whether it's celebrating the death of Charlie Kirk or just this like, oops, if Trump happens to get shot, that's too bad. It's just they cannot move on from their obsession with him. It's holding the party back. What do you think, Mark? Well, lately, I get a lot of complaints when I talk about Trump derangement syndrome. But I think it's, you know, it is the explanation of our time. And as I said before, the party, whether they're MSNBC watchers or TikTok watchers or college students, they're addicted to hatred of Trump.

1:41:12That's their animation. That's their North Star. That's what gets them engaged in the National Town Square. And I think it's personally very self-destructive, but it's also not, as Dan said, it's not leading to a rebuilding of the party as a party focused on the future. I understand a lot of the issues that upset them. I don't understand why they're so upset about construction on the White House grounds. But I understand a lot of the issues that upset them. But they're channeling it into just a level of vitriol and an addiction to being obsessed with Trump and hating Trump and Charlie that I've never seen anything like it.

1:41:49And I don't – as much as I think about it and talk to people out and study it, I don't really understand it. I don't want to understand it. I mean here's the difference. One thing to hate Trump, it's another thing, Megan, as you said, this isn't one clip. I see them over and over again the last few days after the No Kings rally. They want people dead. They want them killed. That's a whole new level of wrong. And I think that this is, you know, again, I go back. It's a through line. Jay Jones, Mondami, Grant Plattner. There is becoming an acceptance on the left that it's okay to root for death.

1:42:20I'll just leave you with one piece of good news. This hit in the Wall Street Journal a couple days ago. In the month of September, compared with a year earlier, sales of the Bible jumped 36%. That's clearly a post-Charlie surge. People do feel deeply moved by his message of faith, and I don't think they're all Republicans. I do believe that there are Democrats in there, and those are the people who are going to bring us forward. Those are going to have to be the leaders. I do believe that people of faith, no matter whether young, old, red, blue, doesn't matter. But those are the people who are going to resonate because their message is infused with a special power, a special magic, a special allure, and something that's not so much about ourselves.

1:43:06So if you're not one of them and you need one, go out and get one now for Charlie. Mark, Sean, Dan, love you all. Thanks so much for being here. And tomorrow we'll have Winsome Earl Sears. See you guys then. thanks for listening to the megan kelly show no bs no agenda and no fear