0:02

Hey, this is Jeff Lewis from Radio Andy,

0:04

live and uncensored, catch me talking with my

0:06

friends about my latest obsessions, relationship issues, and

0:08

bodily ailments. With that kind of drama that

0:10

seems to follow me, you never know what's

0:12

going to happen. You can listen

0:15

to Jeff Lewis Live at home or

0:17

anywhere you are. Download the Sirius XM

0:19

app for over 425 channels of

0:22

ad-free music, sports, entertainment, and

0:24

more. Subscribe now and get

0:26

three months free. Offer details

0:28

apply. Thanks

0:33

to you at home for joining us this hour. Really happy to have

0:35

you here. Have you ever seen Veep? It

0:38

aired for seven seasons on HBO. It's

0:41

Julia Louis-Dreyfus. She won

0:43

a whole slew of Emmy's for it.

0:45

She won like six consecutive Emmy's for

0:48

it or something. She plays Vice President

0:50

Selena Meyer, who's just this instantly iconic

0:53

American TV political

0:55

figure. If

0:57

you've ever seen, even if you haven't, you probably know

0:59

about the character. She's really ambitious. She

1:01

really wants to be president, not just Vice

1:03

President, but she's also just a total disaster.

1:06

She's this craven and calculating political

1:09

animal, but she spends all her

1:11

time having to put out fires

1:14

of her own making, fires of her staff's

1:16

own making. She's just a disaster. And

1:19

one of the sort of signature

1:22

production things in the

1:24

show, one of the things that the show

1:26

does to great effect is that

1:28

they use every last second of the

1:30

show during the end credits of each

1:33

episode. The image on the right side

1:35

of the screen kind of squishes down

1:37

a little bit and they

1:39

highlight in this part while

1:41

the credits are rolling at the end, they highlight

1:44

these campaign screw ups and their

1:46

various PR disasters. So the

1:48

end credits are like the best thing in the show. The

1:50

end credits in one episode might be her

1:53

ranting to her staff after a puff

1:55

piece television interview turned out to be

1:57

substantive Or her awkwardly.

2:00

Trying to connect with high school students

2:02

who are visiting the Vice President's office.

2:04

If you seen the shelves, you know

2:06

about this excellent. For it's basically

2:08

what they do it the. and here's a here's kind of. A

2:10

perfect example of a deep end credit.

2:12

This is her greeting people. At a

2:14

party at the vice President's official. Domingo.

2:34

Earnest Lanes very lifeboat associations,

2:36

Get a glass. I. Am

2:39

so happy you're here! Sunni

2:41

arm is is disabled sports

2:43

of America to so Triplets

2:46

Oh triplets. Wow that must

2:48

hurt. Must get a C

2:50

section series. Stringer Center for

2:52

Social Absence. A triathlete, For

2:56

a low Liam Miller,

2:58

Nasa with enough American

3:00

and for National Aeronautics

3:02

suffixes. The

3:04

Reverend Turned Clark Terse of The Living

3:07

is a burger. Or

3:14

or for for she's a

3:16

baker prestigious and he's a

3:19

triathlete next. Four

3:23

miles. Absolutely iconic

3:25

American television. Figure

3:27

from the great so.

3:31

Now this is a person who

3:33

is not a cheesy character. has

3:35

name is. Have a D Eric

3:37

have the H I V D

3:40

C. Is an actual personality. The

3:42

person who is running for an

3:44

actual United States Senate seat in

3:46

Wisconsin is trying to unseat democratic

3:48

Us senator Tammy Baldwin and was

3:50

concepts and in Wisconsin. Politics circles

3:52

or right now Eric have

3:54

these recent attempts. To

3:57

say the pledge of allegiance

3:59

really important. The way to me

4:01

to make a big show out

4:03

of really emphatically and spike confrontational

4:05

a saying the Pledge of Allegiance

4:07

has been set to the closing

4:10

credits. Or veep. Because

4:12

once you see it, it's impossible to not think

4:14

of it that way. Watch from try to make

4:16

it through the pledge. My

4:26

thoughts: are you so much. To

4:29

together. Or

4:33

points we we didn't screw

4:35

the for of the United

4:37

States of America and to

4:39

the Republic for which it

4:41

stands You know who founded

4:43

under God indivisible with liberty

4:45

and justice for all. To

4:49

Imam. Or.

5:12

Urged his sorry this is. America.

5:29

Is he waiting to the end of the

5:31

marching band? like his music as a belated

5:33

leader.is as good as in this on his.

5:38

Ah say that the Republican party really

5:40

desperately wants to think that senate seat

5:42

and Wisconsin second. that is the see

5:45

currently held by democratic senator Tammy Baldwin.

5:47

They want that seen. they really

5:49

want to and things are the problem

5:51

is that they have citizen this man

5:53

this as their candidate to try to

5:55

do it and he has succeeded in

5:57

making national headlines as the republic Senate

6:00

candidate for Wisconsin. That's not necessarily an

6:02

easy thing to do. But again,

6:04

the problem is that he's made

6:06

those headlines for things like this. Well,

6:10

if you're in a nursing home, you only

6:12

have five, six month life expectancy. Almost nobody

6:15

in a nursing home is in a point

6:17

to vote. Now,

6:20

I am no political expert.

6:23

But even someone who has never heard

6:25

of the United States Senate before could

6:27

probably suss out that that's probably not

6:29

a great political strategy. Yeah,

6:32

old people shouldn't vote. Old people

6:34

in nursing homes, they

6:36

shouldn't be allowed. Most

6:39

nursing home residents not at a point to

6:41

vote. After that made headlines

6:43

across Wisconsin, and indeed across the country,

6:46

Mr. Hovety tried to make this all

6:48

go away as a news story, but

6:50

he did it again as if this

6:52

was an episode of Veep. Quote,

6:55

in recent days, Mr. Hovety has

6:58

tried to clarify his comments. This

7:00

week, he reiterated his belief that

7:02

quote, a large percentage of nursing

7:04

home residents quote, are not in

7:06

the mental capacity to vote.

7:09

Now that's cleaning it up. Now,

7:11

when I said old people in nursing homes

7:13

shouldn't be allowed to vote, everybody made that

7:15

sound so bad. Let me clarify what

7:17

I meant was that a large percentage

7:20

of old people in nursing homes

7:22

shouldn't be allowed to vote because

7:25

they don't have the mental capacity for it. There

7:29

is that better?

7:31

Now, I should

7:33

mention that that description of the world's

7:36

most inept effort to clean

7:38

up a political disaster. That

7:41

that account of that that is quoted from

7:44

is me quoting from a national story, a

7:46

New York Times story, where I

7:48

think the headline helps understand Mr.

7:50

Hovety's situation even better. Because the headline

7:52

on that story is this quote,

7:55

lawsuit puts fresh focus on Eric

7:57

Hovety's comments about older voters. What

8:01

is this lawsuit, you say? Ah, turns

8:03

out that at the same time that he

8:05

has been questioning the mental capacity of nursing

8:07

home residents to vote, he is also

8:09

the head of a bank that

8:12

is a codefendant in a

8:14

California lawsuit that accuses a

8:16

senior living facility of elder

8:18

abuse, negligence, and wrongful death.

8:21

He is a codefendant in that lawsuit.

8:23

His bank is a codefendant because it

8:25

turns out that Eric Hovde, in addition

8:27

to running for Senate in Wisconsin, he

8:30

runs a bank that owns a

8:32

nursing home that in California has

8:34

given rise to a fairly gruesome

8:36

elder abuse and wrongful death lawsuit.

8:40

At which point you're thinking, wow, Maddow,

8:42

that puts a way worse, way darker

8:44

spin on his already inexplicable repeated comments

8:46

about how we shouldn't allow people in

8:49

nursing homes to vote because how dare

8:51

they even try, right? But

8:54

you're also thinking, wait, why did you say California? I

8:56

thought he was running for Senate in Wisconsin. Ah,

8:59

yes. Yes.

9:02

This is another problem that the local news

9:04

in Wisconsin has been trying to tell people

9:06

about this guy from the very beginning. Back

9:10

in May, 2023, quote, Eric Hovde

9:12

may run for Senate in Wisconsin,

9:14

but he's living large in Laguna

9:16

Beach, California. He

9:19

lives in California. The Milwaukee

9:21

Journal Sentinel basically running the red flag all

9:23

the way up the flagpole for the Republican

9:25

party about this guy before they picked him.

9:29

I mean, and the detail on it just

9:31

makes it worse. Hey, look, Eric Hovde was

9:33

named by the Orange County Business Journal as

9:35

one of its 500 most

9:37

influential people in Orange

9:40

County in 2020 in

9:42

Orange County, California, where

9:44

he lives in Laguna Beach, which is 2000 miles

9:47

away from Wisconsin. He

9:50

does run a bank. It is a Utah

9:52

based bank. He runs it from where he

9:54

lives in Laguna Beach, California, where

9:57

indeed his bank is named a co-defendant in

9:59

a nursing home. elder abuse lawsuit,

10:01

and he is running for Senate in

10:03

Wisconsin, where 18% of the population is

10:05

over the age of 65. He's

10:08

running there by saying repeatedly that people in

10:10

nursing homes shouldn't be allowed to vote because,

10:12

hey, it's not like they have it together.

10:14

At most, they've got six months to live.

10:16

Why should they be voting? Amen.

10:20

Go Slinger Speedway. Okay,

10:23

Eric. And

10:26

I should underscore here how badly the

10:28

Republican Party wants to win this Senate

10:30

seat away from Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin.

10:32

They really want to win this seat.

10:36

But inexplicably, this is the guy they

10:38

picked. And

10:41

it's not just Wisconsin. This is a live dynamic

10:43

right now in the Republican Party in

10:45

way more places than you would think.

10:47

Here, for example, is the AP headline

10:50

on the Republicans US Senate candidate

10:52

in Pennsylvania. David McCormick is

10:54

gearing up for a Senate run in

10:56

Pennsylvania, but he lives in Connecticut. That

11:00

seems bad. I mean, if

11:02

you think about a Pennsylvania Senate race, right,

11:05

you will recall it wasn't that long ago

11:07

that Republicans lost a shot at a winnable

11:09

US Senate seat last time

11:11

around, last election cycle, when they ran

11:13

Republican candidate, Mehmet

11:16

Oz, right? Republicans ran Mehmet

11:18

Oz, Dr. Oz, for that seat in

11:21

Pennsylvania. And Democrats needled him

11:23

relentlessly about the fact that he kind of lived

11:25

in New Jersey. And so what's he

11:27

doing running in Pennsylvania? Well, now the Republicans are

11:29

going to try again in Pennsylvania, except this time

11:32

they're running a guy who lives in Connecticut. To

11:37

try to maybe head off the same thing

11:39

happening again, like what happened with Dr.

11:41

Mehmet Oz, they have developed a backstory

11:44

for their candidate this time around who lives

11:46

in Connecticut. They've decided that he is going to

11:48

describe himself as someone who started

11:50

with nothing, who grew

11:52

up on a family farm in Pennsylvania.

11:56

Did he start with nothing? Did he grow up on

11:58

a family farm in Pennsylvania? What do you think? Quote,

12:02

Mr. McCormick has explicitly said that he

12:04

grew up on a farm. He claimed

12:06

that he had quote, started with nothing

12:08

and that he quote, didn't have anything.

12:12

He and his campaign have recently described his

12:14

parents as school teachers. In

12:16

fact, Mr. McCormick is the son of

12:18

a well regarded college president who

12:21

later became chancellor of higher

12:23

education systems in Pennsylvania and

12:25

in Minnesota. David McCormick largely

12:27

grew up at what is

12:29

now Bloomsburg University in the

12:31

president's sprawling hilltop residence which

12:34

students called the president's mansion. Or

12:38

he started with nothing and grew up on a family

12:40

farm. So

12:44

in Wisconsin, Republicans are running a

12:46

Selena Meyer understudy who is from California

12:48

whose bank is being sued for elder

12:50

abuse and who says don't let people in

12:52

nursing homes vote. In Pennsylvania, Republicans are

12:54

running a guy who lives in Connecticut who grew

12:57

up in a literal president's mansion and says it

12:59

was a family farm where he was so poor.

13:02

But wait, there's more. In Montana, Republicans

13:04

really, really, really wanna take the US

13:07

Senate seat there that is currently held

13:09

by popular democratic Senator John Tester. One

13:12

of the things that makes John Tester really popular

13:14

in a largely rural state like Montana

13:16

is that Senator Tester is for

13:18

real a real farmer, drives the tractor

13:20

and everything. Republicans have decided

13:22

to run someone against Senator John Tester in

13:25

Montana who is a

13:27

person from Minnesota who

13:29

grew up in the suburbs of St. Paul. Since

13:32

he has been running against John Tester though, he

13:35

has made a big deal of saying that he

13:37

grew up near farmland.

13:41

Turns out there was maybe

13:44

farmland near the multi-million dollar

13:46

lake house he grew up in in

13:48

suburban St. Paul. So that's pretty much just

13:50

like being a farmer. This

13:54

follows another quite unusual controversy for this Montana

13:56

Senate candidate in which he either dropped

14:00

a loaded gun in a parking

14:02

lot at Glacier National Park, and the gun

14:04

went off when it hit the ground, and he

14:06

thereby shot himself in the arm. Or

14:09

he didn't really shoot himself in the arm

14:11

by dropping a gun in the parking lot

14:13

at Glacier National Park, but he nevertheless went

14:16

to the hospital anyway, and

14:18

while he did tell a U.S. park ranger

14:20

that he dropped a gun in that parking

14:22

lot and shot himself that day, he was

14:24

actually lying about that to the ranger because

14:26

really, he was trying to conceal the secret

14:29

truth that he had an unreported war wound

14:31

that he didn't want anybody to know about.

14:36

But whatever happened, it was definitely near

14:38

farmland. There was

14:40

very near. You could smell it nearby in

14:43

the vicinity. Can

14:45

I tell you, there's another one. Michigan.

14:48

Michigan Republicans are thrilled that

14:51

Democratic U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow is

14:53

retiring in that state. They

14:55

would love to take that Senate seat in

14:57

Michigan, and so cue the headlines out of

14:59

Michigan. Quote, Michigan

15:02

Republican candidate caught living in

15:04

Florida. This

15:07

is about Republican, Michigan U.S. Senate

15:09

candidate Mike Rogers. His

15:12

name is Mike Rogers. This

15:15

confluence of where he lives

15:17

and his name led

15:19

the Michigan advance to build the perfect

15:21

headline for this story, which is,

15:23

quote, where is Mr.

15:25

Rogers's neighborhood? Mike

15:28

Rogers, again, wants to be the senator

15:30

from Michigan, but he does appear to

15:32

be registered to vote in Florida at

15:34

his very nice house in Cape

15:37

Coral, Florida, where he is registered with

15:39

the Republican Party of Florida Voter Status

15:41

Actives. Where is

15:43

Mr. Rogers's neighborhood indeed? In

15:47

Arizona, the Senate seat there is another

15:49

one that Republicans would absolutely love to

15:51

pick up with Kirsten Sinema, retiring. The

15:54

Republicans Senate candidate in Arizona, Kerry Lake, she

15:56

does appear to be the first to vote

15:58

in the Senate seat. to live in

16:00

Arizona, which is a big plus

16:03

for this crop of Republican Senate candidates, kind

16:05

of a notable distinction in fact. But

16:08

in the case of Arizona, you're going to need more

16:10

than that. Because

16:13

this, for example, is the new ad that the

16:15

Democratic Senate Campaign Committee just put out on

16:17

Kerry Lake as a Senate candidate in

16:19

Arizona and the issue of abortion rights

16:22

in that state. I'm

16:34

incredibly thrilled that we are going

16:36

to have a great law that's

16:38

already on the books. I believe

16:40

it's ARS 13-3603. So it will

16:42

prohibit abortion in Arizona paving the

16:45

way and setting course for other

16:47

states to follow. This

16:52

law passed. The Arizona Supreme Court said

16:54

this is the law of Arizona. But

16:57

unfortunately, the people running our state have said

16:59

we're not going to enforce it. So it's

17:01

really political theater. We don't have that law

17:03

as much as many of us wish we

17:06

did. She's not important to law. So

17:08

we don't have that law. The only people who can

17:10

enforce that law are our sheriffs. But

17:14

we do start out as a general one. I'm going to

17:16

enforce that. I haven't changed that, but I know.

17:25

Kerry Lake is the Republican Party's best idea

17:27

of who they should run for the United

17:29

States Senate seat that they really want to

17:31

take this year in Arizona. But

17:34

I mean, clock the context that

17:39

the specifics that she was offering

17:41

there in that clip, she wants

17:43

individual sheriffs in Arizona to start

17:46

enforcing the state's 1864 abortion ban.

17:49

Sheriffs and sheriff deputies, get

17:52

out there, get to it, get out on the streets,

17:55

find out who's pregnant. We want

17:57

the sheriffs enforcing this. That's

18:01

when you cross county lines. There's

18:05

a lot going on in the Republican Party right now.

18:08

And I know that the party's

18:10

presidential nominee, their most recent former president, Donald

18:12

Trump, I know he sucks up all the

18:14

oxygen in the room and for obvious reason,

18:16

he gets all the coverage, he gets all

18:19

the commentary. But note what is

18:21

going on in the Republican Party in the

18:23

Trump era apart from him. I

18:26

mean, just look at Arizona for a second.

18:28

In Arizona, they are not only running

18:30

Kerry Lake for Senate. This

18:34

weekend, Arizona Republicans just chose

18:36

their state's representatives to the

18:38

National Republican Party. You know,

18:41

it's called the RNC, the Republican National

18:43

Committee. It is actually a committee. Every

18:45

state sends two people to be part

18:47

of the committee that makes

18:49

up the RNC, that makes up the National

18:51

Republican Party. Every state gets two choices. This

18:54

weekend, Arizona Republicans picked their two choices.

18:56

They decided their two choices would be this

18:59

person who was literally expelled

19:02

from the state legislature recently

19:04

after only being there for

19:06

about three months. Here's

19:08

how that was described in the Arizona

19:10

Republic. Quote, she was expelled from the

19:12

Republican controlled house just three months into her term.

19:15

This after she staged an all

19:18

day live streamed legislative hearing at

19:20

which her witnesses talked about the

19:22

many ways in which our elections

19:24

were supposedly stolen. The highlight was

19:26

a Scottsdale insurance agent who slimed

19:28

dozens of public officials and private

19:31

citizens, making preposterous evidence free accusations,

19:33

but they all accepted bribes from

19:35

the Sinaloa drug cartel. The

19:38

House Ethics Committee unanimously concluded that

19:40

the state legislator not only knew

19:43

what that insurance agent was likely

19:45

to say during that hearing, but

19:47

that the legislator actually took steps

19:49

to hide the details from

19:51

House leadership. When she

19:53

lied about it to the ethics panel, Now

19:56

she's a top ranking official in

19:58

the Republican Party. Whatever

20:00

is on us To Representatives to

20:02

the Republican National Committee Chosen this

20:04

weekend by the Arizona Republican Party.

20:07

But they remember they get to pick to

20:09

the second representative. Arizona Republicans just chose

20:11

to represent their state at the

20:13

Rnc. Is this person? From. As

20:16

a very special variety of Arizona

20:18

Republican State Senator to tell, Laurie

20:20

Roberts of the Arizona Republic describes

20:23

him today. Quotes: meet. Take.

20:25

Hoffman, Arizona's new Republican National

20:27

Committee mount. This Queen

20:29

Creek Republicans. Burst into public view

20:31

and twenty twenty when he ran an

20:34

internet troll. Farm paying teenagers to

20:36

post conservative talking points and

20:38

baseless conspiracy theories on social

20:40

media. It's all aimed at

20:42

getting then President Donald Trump

20:44

re elected. The. Washington

20:46

Post in September Twenty Two Thousand

20:49

Eight exposed Hoffman's rally forge a

20:51

digital marketing far more. His job

20:53

was to pay teenagers some of

20:56

the miners to. Set up sake

20:58

persona as and blanket social media

21:00

with thousands of nearly identical post

21:02

aimed at undermining confidence in the

21:04

validity of the elections and downplaying

21:06

the impact of Covert Nineteen and

21:08

other words, take off and wanted

21:10

to fool you into thinking these

21:12

more real people spontaneously expressing so

21:14

deeply held conservative beliefs instead of

21:16

what they were. A group

21:19

of kids he was paying to deceive

21:21

you. The posts. Cast doubt on the

21:23

integrity of mail and balance and said

21:25

that Joe Biden is quote being controlled

21:27

by behind the scenes individuals who want

21:30

to take America down the dangerous path.

21:32

Toward Socialism. Quote.

21:35

It's the kind of thing you might. Expect to come out

21:37

of Russia. Instead. It came

21:40

out of Phoenix or more specifically,

21:42

Jake Hoffman's secret self

21:44

as paid teenage troll.

21:49

That. Troll Farm in Phoenix was

21:52

exposed in September of Twenty Twenty.

21:54

The same gentlemen went on in

21:56

December. Of twenty Twenty. To.

21:59

Be one of the sake of. There's from Arizona

22:01

for Trump. He in

22:03

fact is one of the say collectors. Who was

22:05

just criminally indicted in Arizona for

22:07

his alleged role in that scheme.

22:09

Susan dated last week. And.

22:11

Named Republican National. Committee Man for

22:14

the State of Arizona. Just days later.

22:16

Does not like they didn't know he'd been

22:19

indicted the new city was indicted than they

22:21

picked him afterwards. There

22:25

are at least sixty three people.

22:27

Who have now been criminally charged with

22:29

participating in the effort to keep Trump

22:31

and Power after he lost reelection. And

22:33

Twenty Twenty. Am not talking

22:36

about the people who physically attacked. Congress

22:38

to try to intimidate and physically stop

22:40

Congress from certifying the vote count on

22:42

January Sixth. Some you can a high

22:44

of all of those hundreds of people

22:46

are there are still. At least

22:48

fifty three Republican party officials.

22:50

And lawyers and activists who

22:53

are facing felony criminal counts

22:55

other than Donald Trump himself.

22:59

And. Ah that this is. this

23:01

is. Sort. Of this is me making

23:03

my casteel. I think it is

23:06

an underappreciated part of the politics.

23:08

Of the Republican party in the Trump era,

23:10

I think it is. It's under. Appreciated part

23:12

of politics in our country right now as

23:14

Trump is trying to return the to the

23:16

presidency. Again, that not only is he

23:19

in the dark facing felony criminal

23:21

charges as he tries. To return to

23:23

the White House. But. Also

23:26

in the dock are the say or

23:28

or former. Chair of the state

23:30

Republican. Parties in Arizona and

23:32

Michigan and Georgia and Nevada

23:34

and serve and republican elected

23:36

officials in all of those

23:39

states and they are all

23:41

swing states. Trump

23:45

advisor Peter Navarro is in sale

23:47

right now. Today. The Us

23:49

Supreme court again rejected another request from him to

23:51

get out of. Prison is currently serving

23:53

time in prison for refusing to

23:55

testify about his. Role in front efforts

23:58

as a threat against it. Attorney

24:00

Just Park. Just learning today that in

24:03

his disbarment proceedings in California s the

24:05

Disciplinary Council for the State Bar Association

24:07

says arguing for the court that there

24:09

is no thanks and other than disbarment.

24:12

That is suitable for Jeff Carter. Given what he did

24:14

quote, it would. Be inconsistent with our

24:16

duty to the disciplinary systems and

24:19

to the profession to even suggest

24:21

that a sanction other than disbarment

24:23

should be contemplated by attempting to

24:25

violate the rules of professional conduct.

24:27

Jeffrey Clark quote betrayed those oaths

24:30

and in doing so, his country

24:32

lawyers. Who betray their countries must

24:34

be disposed. And

24:39

I know that the former

24:41

President himself, former president and

24:43

and republican presidential nominee. I

24:45

know him. Him being on

24:47

trial for multiple felonies. Is an

24:49

amazing and unprecedented and frankly

24:51

astonishing spectacle. But.

24:55

Stick a pen and that idea of astonishing.

24:57

right? Because the crime he is alleged

25:00

to have. Quarterbacks to try to keep

25:02

himself and power despite losing real. Accents

25:04

That crime is now a

25:06

sprawling nationwide scandal that has

25:08

resulted in dozens of republican

25:10

officials almost it, in almost

25:12

all the swing states been

25:14

criminally charged, and in all

25:16

of a prominent lawyers involved

25:18

in that effort either been

25:20

criminally. Charged or having their low licenses put

25:22

at risk or both. And

25:25

yes, Trump himself a be back in court tomorrow

25:27

And there's. Stuff to know about that

25:29

we're gonna. We're gonna get to that tonight. But.

25:33

No matter what happens to him and his

25:35

own felony. Cases and in his own

25:37

political trajectory. Do Not lose sight

25:39

of what is happening to. The Republican Party's

25:41

while they have been drafting off

25:43

him in the lead. Because.

25:46

It is an astonishing story on it's own. and

25:51

of all that is not enough i might have

25:53

something else that tops all of us even if

25:55

mountainous mister mister zip back there flipping the pledge

25:57

of allegiance at the top of his lungs and

25:59

with Johnson, I might have something that tops

26:02

even that. And

26:04

that story, we've got for you here next. Stay

26:06

with us. The

26:11

UN Refugee Agency or UNHCR

26:13

responds to emergencies and provides

26:15

long-term solutions for refugees. They

26:17

provide aid in over 130

26:20

countries including Ukraine, Syria,

26:22

Afghanistan and Sudan where people

26:24

are forced to flee from war and persecution

26:26

at their greatest moment of need. UNHCR

26:29

helps and protects refugees by providing

26:31

food, shelter, medical care and other

26:34

life-saving essentials. The agency jump-starts relief

26:36

in three key ways. They transport

26:38

core relief items stored in even

26:40

the most remote areas of the

26:42

world. They deploy expert emergency staff

26:45

trained to help in crisis situations.

26:47

And they transfer funds directly to support

26:50

the emergency. Because of generous

26:52

supporters and donors, UNHCR can scale up

26:54

its response within 72 hours

26:57

of a large-scale emergency. Your

26:59

support helps provide life-saving aid

27:01

for refugees whenever and wherever

27:03

emergencies occur. Donate

27:05

to USA for

27:07

UNHCR by visiting

27:09

unrefugees.org/donation. So

27:13

the governor of the great state of Washington,

27:15

excuse me, is Jay Inslee. He's a

27:18

Democrat. He's currently serving his third term

27:20

as Washington governor. The people of that state

27:22

have elected him governor three times, each

27:24

time by a wider margin than the

27:26

last time. In

27:29

2020, Jay Inslee walloped his Republican

27:31

challenger by more than 13 points. But

27:34

even though he might very well have been able to win

27:36

a fourth term as governor, Jay Inslee

27:39

decided it was time to step aside.

27:41

He's not running again, which means this

27:44

year's race for governor of Washington state,

27:47

it's wide open. It may be the Republicans'

27:49

best shot in years to

27:51

win that office. And

27:53

so Washington state Republicans have just

27:56

gathered for their state party convention

27:58

to enforce their candidates. for state

28:00

office, including governor. How'd

28:03

that go? Disorder

28:12

and disarray. That's why gubernatorial candidate

28:14

Dave Reichert says he no longer

28:16

wants an endorsement from the GOP.

28:19

We will not be endorsing a

28:21

governor at the Senate. As

28:24

you can hear, boos rang out at the

28:26

Spokane GOP convention after the party's vice chair

28:28

announced they will not be endorsing a candidate

28:30

for governor. It

28:33

went that well, huh? This

28:36

being a Republican state convention in the

28:38

age of Republican politics under Donald Trump,

28:41

the event, of course, ended up

28:43

riven by infighting and factional disputes

28:46

and dysfunction. Delegates ultimately did decide

28:48

to endorse the Trumpiest, sort

28:50

of most extreme candidate. But the

28:53

other candidate says that he'll still run

28:55

in this summer's Republican primary. All of

28:59

that chaos was what got all the

29:01

headlines last weekend. But then once all

29:03

the gubernatorial nominee hubbub died down, something

29:06

slightly nuttier than that happened.

29:09

The assembled delegates decided that they

29:12

would craft their party platform

29:14

for this year after dealing with

29:16

the gubernatorial nomination. They decided

29:18

they would add something new to their platform. They

29:20

decided that as the Washington state Republican

29:23

party, they would this year take

29:25

a stand against democracy.

29:29

And I do not mean this as

29:31

a metaphor. I am not performing political

29:33

analysis. I am literally describing what they

29:35

literally did. We

29:38

do not want to be a democracy. Originally,

29:40

congressmen were elected by a

29:42

direct democracy. Senators

29:45

were elected by their state

29:47

legislatures and presidents are elected

29:49

by the electoral college. We

29:51

are devolving into a democracy

29:53

because now congressmen and senators

29:55

are elected by the same

29:57

pool, a direct democracy. popular

30:00

vote coming, we're going to be electing our president

30:02

by a direct democracy too.

30:05

Bad idea. Bad

30:09

idea. We are devolving into a

30:11

democracy. We do not want to

30:13

be a democracy. Okay.

30:17

As Danny Westgate at the Seattle Times reported, delegates

30:19

of the Washington State Republican

30:21

Convention then stood up one

30:23

by one to argue that the U.S. should

30:25

repeal the 17th amendment, which

30:27

allows us to vote for our United States senators.

30:30

After that resolution passed, they

30:33

went bigger. They voted to put this

30:35

language into their platform. Quote, we encourage

30:37

Republicans to substitute the words republic

30:39

and republicanism where previously

30:41

they have used the word democracy. Every

30:43

time the word democracy is used favorably,

30:47

it serves to promote the principles of the democratic

30:49

party, the principles of which we ardently oppose.

30:52

Quote, we oppose legislation which makes

30:54

our nation more democratic in nature.

31:00

We oppose legislation which makes our nation

31:02

more democratic in nature. So say Washington

31:04

State Republicans officially

31:07

in writing in their party

31:09

platform. What's going on here? Joining

31:12

us now is Jerry Cornfield, a politics reporter with

31:14

the Washington State Standard. He was at the Republican

31:16

Convention in Spokane. Mr. Cornfield, I really appreciate you

31:18

taking the time. Thanks for being

31:21

here. Thanks for having

31:23

me. So looking in

31:26

from the outside from a national perspective, I'm describing

31:28

what jumped out at me from the coverage of

31:30

the convention. But I know you've been covering politics

31:32

in your state for a long time. You were

31:34

there in person. What

31:37

struck you? What do you think is most important about

31:39

what happened there? Well,

31:41

I think what happened there was through the

31:43

platform, which we know platforms won't elect the

31:47

next governor, but or any of the statewide

31:49

officials, but it did say that Republicans seem

31:51

to be a little

31:53

bit out of touch with the electorate in this state.

31:55

And maybe that's an understatement. There's no Republicans

31:57

in statewide office. There hasn't been a Republican

32:00

governor since Mount St. Helens blew in the

32:02

80s. And

32:04

this field round, they actually voted

32:06

not to endorse a sitting Congressman,

32:09

Dan Newhouse, part

32:11

because he voted to impeach the former president in

32:13

2021. So I think

32:15

the resolution reflected the passions of those on

32:17

the floor, not sure

32:20

it represented the passions or even the

32:22

thoughts of most Washingtonians,

32:24

even maybe most in the Republican

32:26

party. I was

32:28

gonna ask you about the difference between who was in

32:30

that room, who's an activist in the Washington

32:33

Republican party right now, and the sort of

32:35

median Republican party voter

32:37

in Washington. What's the

32:40

makeup of the delegates? What was the

32:42

atmosphere like at the convention? And how

32:44

many folks is this that are making these decisions?

32:47

Well, there's 1800 people were there and

32:50

easily two thirds were

32:52

what align themselves with we

32:55

the people or America first.

32:57

You didn't hear Donald Trump mentioned a lot.

33:00

You heard America first mentioned a bit. And

33:02

so, I mean, it was the 70% of

33:05

them endorsed the candidate

33:08

that you mentioned before, the conservative candidate,

33:10

Sami Bird, they didn't endorse the former

33:12

Congressman, Dave Riker, a former sheriff.

33:15

So, I mean, they represent

33:19

the grassroots in Washington,

33:21

but the question is, will they be there

33:23

if their candidates don't win in the primary

33:25

in August? And I think that's really the

33:27

big question for Republicans in

33:29

Washington state. Democrats are on the

33:31

verge, they're confident they can

33:34

get to a super majority of control

33:36

in the House and the Senate and

33:38

the state legislature. And so, when they

33:40

start writing and talking about these things

33:42

in their platform, it's

33:45

just gonna scare off voters in

33:47

the middle of the independence who might like

33:49

some of their ideas, they're going to

33:51

wonder if they elect people and

33:54

they're gonna carry out any part of that platform. Yeah,

33:58

taking an overt anti. democracy

34:00

stance, kind of with an exclamation

34:02

point is, among other things, going to

34:04

get you national headlines. Well, it

34:06

is an interesting thing to have one, they

34:10

had one line left in that resolution, which

34:12

is interesting, it says they oppose all efforts

34:14

to use American military might to spread democracy

34:16

around the world, which, you know, we're hearing

34:18

that folks don't want the American, America's military

34:21

to be the police person of the world.

34:23

And so it's interesting they would put that

34:25

in the same resolution. America

34:29

first indeed. Jerry

34:31

Cornfield of the Washington State Standard. Jerry,

34:33

I really appreciate you being here. Thank you. Thank

34:35

you. All right, we've got much more

34:37

to come for tonight's day. Have

34:42

you ever wondered what the stars have to

34:44

say about your favorite artists and writers? Listen

34:48

to stars and stars with ESA,

34:50

where I, your host and astrologer,

34:52

ESA Nakazawa, read and

34:54

interpret astrological birth charts of luminaries

34:56

like W Kamau Bell, Gia Tolentino

34:58

and so many more. You'll

35:01

discover how astrology can unlock fascinating

35:03

insights about these stars. And who

35:05

knows, maybe you'll learn a little

35:07

bit more about yourself. Listen

35:10

to stars and stars with ESA wherever

35:12

you get your podcasts. Hey,

35:17

parents, green light is here to take one

35:19

big thing off your to do list, teaching

35:22

your kids about money with a

35:24

green light debit card and money app of their own. Kids

35:26

and teens learn to earn, save

35:28

and invest. You can send money

35:31

instantly, set flexible controls and get

35:33

real time notifications of your kids money

35:35

activity, set up chores and put allowance

35:37

on autopilot to reward them for their hard

35:39

work. Then learn about the

35:41

world of money together. Get one

35:43

month free when you sign up

35:46

at greenlight.com/podcast. So

35:50

January 22, there's speculation that he

35:53

is facing potential criminal

35:55

charges. So he says in January 22, quote,

35:57

I hope we are going to have in this country.

36:00

the biggest protests we have ever

36:02

had. Then

36:04

a few months later, that fall, he

36:06

said if he was indicted, the United

36:09

States would face, quote, problems, the likes

36:11

of which perhaps we've never seen. Then

36:15

March 2023, he's indeed preparing to be indicted

36:18

in New York. And he just sounds the

36:20

clarion call. This is it. All

36:22

capital letters. He says, quote, protest, take

36:24

our nation back. It's time.

36:27

We just can't allow this anymore. We must

36:29

save America. Protest, protest,

36:31

protest. So three

36:34

times the three exclamation points. When

36:36

Trump was indeed then indicted, when he

36:38

was indeed then arraigned, these

36:40

were all the people who came out to protest,

36:43

protest, protest in favor of him. This

36:46

was the biggest crowd he's had from any

36:48

of these things. This was it. Probably not

36:50

enough to take the country back, certainly not

36:52

with three exclamation points. But

36:55

that was the biggest he ever got. Two

36:57

months later, another indictment this time

36:59

in the classified documents case in

37:02

Florida. Again, he demanded that his

37:04

supporters rally for him in person,

37:06

quote, all caps. See you in

37:08

Miami on Tuesday. Local law enforcement

37:10

prepared for crowds of up to 50,000 people after he

37:12

said that.

37:16

The actual crowd was closer to 500 people, not 50,000

37:18

people. Then last week ahead of opening

37:23

statements in his New York criminal

37:25

trial, Trump tried cranking the handle

37:27

again, 72 hours until all hell

37:29

breaks loose. If we fail to have a

37:31

massive outpouring of peaceful patriotic support right here,

37:34

right now, all hell will break loose. All

37:37

hell did not break loose. It was

37:39

Rudy Giuliani's adult son and

37:41

a smattering of other people. And that

37:44

was it. Trump

37:46

has actually tried claiming that

37:48

big throngs of people have been

37:51

showing up to protest

37:53

and show their support for him in New York,

37:55

or at least that people have showed up trying

37:57

to protest. But he says police have been keeping

37:59

them away. He's tried

38:01

claiming on social media that the area

38:03

outside the court was, quote, completely closed

38:05

down. He said, quote,

38:08

thousands of people were turned away from

38:10

the courthouse in lower Manhattan by steel

38:12

stanchions and police. And

38:16

again, it's just not true. People are

38:18

not, police are not turning people away.

38:20

There are no steel stanchions

38:22

that are blocking his supporters from turning

38:24

up and walking around them. I

38:27

mean, you can, you can walk right up there. But

38:31

by Thursday, the third day of

38:33

testimony in the trial this past week, it

38:35

was just this one dude named Gary, and

38:37

that was kind of it. And

38:40

so because he has not just been

38:42

predicting protests on his behalf, he has

38:45

been commanding his followers to protest

38:47

for him. It

38:49

is a little humiliating for Trump that

38:53

this is happening, that he can't seem to summon a

38:55

crowd. But it's just an interesting data

38:57

point, broadly speaking, as to whether or not Trump

38:59

can command an angry mob at this point

39:01

in his political trajectory, or are those days

39:03

behind him. I

39:06

think the other way that this functions, though,

39:09

is that it's an important reminder that he's

39:11

not getting what he wants in terms of

39:13

daily stimulation, right? He's not getting crowds

39:16

of people lining the streets or standing outside the

39:18

courtroom chanting for him. Nobody's

39:20

out there for him. The

39:23

courtroom where his trial is taking place

39:25

is old and dingy. It kind of smells

39:27

weird. And so starting

39:30

tomorrow, he's heading into another week of

39:32

long, detailed testimony. We

39:35

can expect that he will be disappointed, angry,

39:37

and perhaps delusional about the reasons that

39:40

there are not people outside protesting for him.

39:42

Inside the trial, if passed his prologue, he's likely

39:44

to be bored and unhappy, while

39:47

not receiving the kind of response and adoration

39:49

from the people he expects to deliver that

39:51

to him. Maggie

39:54

Haberman at the New York Times recently put

39:56

it this way. She said, quote, it is hard

39:58

to recall any other time. time, Trump

40:00

has been forced to be bored for

40:03

so long. Quote, the shared

40:05

sense among many of his advisers is

40:07

that the process may damage him as

40:09

much as a guilty verdict. The process,

40:11

they believe, is its own punishment. If

40:14

the process is the punishment here, what

40:17

should we expect from what these next few days

40:20

are likely to be like? With likely no more

40:22

protesters and testimony that we can

40:24

sort of see coming around the corner that

40:26

seems like it might be more boring than

40:28

anything that's yet happened. How

40:31

much worse is this about to get for him

40:33

and can he pull the ripcord to get out

40:35

of it? That's next. The

40:42

criminal trial of Republican presidential

40:44

presumptive nominee Donald Trump

40:47

resumes tomorrow. Courts should start at

40:49

930 Eastern Sharp. The former

40:51

president will once again be forced to sit in

40:53

silence in a most unglamorous old courtroom

40:56

trying to stay focused and

40:58

engaged for a whole day's

41:00

proceedings just to have to do it again

41:02

and again and again and again and

41:04

again in coming weeks. And

41:07

I have to tell you, I have kind of

41:09

a wild take on this and it is this. If

41:12

I were Trump, I would plead guilty. I

41:14

would try to plead it on down to a single count

41:17

if I could pay the fines,

41:19

take the business punishment or whatever, do

41:21

the five minutes of jail time, call yourself

41:23

a martyr for it, raise a lot of

41:25

money. You'll have secret service in there, you'll

41:27

be fine. But

41:30

if you did that, you could make this thing come

41:32

to an end. You

41:34

could shorten this process. You could get out

41:36

of that courtroom and get back on the

41:38

campaign trail. You could avoid the

41:40

punishment of having to show up for court every day. This

41:42

is likely the only one of his trials that's

41:44

happening before election day. If he gets out and

41:47

campaigns and runs the campaign he wants to, he'll

41:49

be president in November, as if

41:51

he'll be president-elect as of November and then

41:53

all the trials will go away anyway. I

41:57

know it's a wild take, but if he doesn't pull that rip for it, he'll be

41:59

fine. If it doesn't change has played a

42:02

guilty of he sticks. Without a trial

42:04

this is gonna be another six weeks.

42:06

More. How much worse was is going to get

42:08

for him. Joining.

42:10

Us: those Msnbc legal correspondent. Least Rubin.

42:13

She's been following every step of the trial from. Inside

42:15

the courtroom Lisa, it's great to see you! Thanks for

42:17

being here for having me. I

42:19

know that we disagree on this and I

42:21

know that you understand these things better than

42:23

I do. So please tell me why Trump

42:25

should not plead guilty or like or why

42:28

he's unlikely to plead getting. I think part

42:30

of that is that in in necessitates the

42:32

participation of the prosecutors and their permission. I

42:34

don't see the Manhattan Da's office Steve aware

42:36

we all right now allowing Trump's to plead

42:38

down from Saudi for felony count to one.

42:40

Still a problem Angel is that if he

42:42

were to plead guilty to machine would want.

42:44

A sentence and immediately I can't see

42:46

situation in which he would agree to

42:49

postpone the sentencing and were mending of

42:51

Trump to after the election and Trump

42:53

would want that to happen because these

42:55

are felonies that are punishable not just

42:57

by a few months that from two

42:59

to four years in jail for each

43:01

count. So if

43:03

even if he is going to be

43:05

found guilty in this trial, he can

43:08

still count on the likelihood that his

43:10

sentencing could be delayed until after the

43:12

elections, and presumably obviated once he is

43:15

elected if he does in fact succeed

43:17

in Israel. x never. If

43:20

he six with the trial, the prospect

43:22

that he can appeal his sentence would

43:24

allow him theoretically to be able to

43:26

stay that verdict and stay the sentencing

43:29

through the duration of his appeal if

43:31

he pleads guilty. On the other hand,

43:33

she loses control that tiny. Lisa

43:36

in terms of the the process being

43:38

the punishment for him a means we've

43:41

both been in court. We seem the

43:43

way that he's reacting physically to the

43:45

strains of these long days and courts.

43:48

What are you expecting? What. Are you

43:50

going to be watching for? in terms of. the

43:52

of what it's like in the court room for

43:54

this next week say this next week or two

43:57

what's what kind of testimony we're going to be

43:59

looking forward to Is this going to be

44:01

something that's even more egregiously tiring for him?

44:04

I think it could be because of

44:06

past this prologue, Rachel, the last two

44:08

witnesses we've seen post David Pecker were

44:10

primarily there to help admit documents for

44:12

the prosecution. It is not the most

44:15

scintillating testimony to listen to, to say

44:17

it mildly. And that means for former

44:19

President Trump, the ability to

44:21

stay awake and engage may be even

44:23

more challenged than it's been. It's one

44:25

thing to remain out of tension when

44:28

everybody is talking about you and about

44:30

salacious, gossipy, pulpy details like David

44:32

Pecker had to offer. It's another

44:34

thing when somebody is going through

44:37

the minutia of bank records, for

44:39

example, or your outlook contacts. And

44:41

so if we continue to see

44:43

testimony primarily with the goal of

44:45

admitting documents that the prosecutors need

44:47

to connect the dots, count

44:49

on Donald Trump to have a hard time

44:52

staying engaged and to return to that

44:54

big stack of papers he's been carrying

44:56

with him, which I think are mostly cherry-picked

44:58

articles that say good things about him

45:00

to hold his attention. A

45:03

little stack of dopamine. Ever

45:06

some illegal correspondent. Lisa

45:09

Rubin, I know you'll be back in the

45:11

courtroom tomorrow. Good luck tomorrow. Thanks for being here. Thanks

45:13

for having me. I'll be right back. Stay with

45:15

us. Two

45:20

quick things before I go. I had so

45:22

much fun the other day with Joy Reed

45:24

at the historic Apollo Theater in Harlem. We

45:26

were talking about her new book, Medgar and

45:28

Murley. We filmed that. And

45:31

so this Saturday, May 4th, you can

45:34

see Joy Reed and Rachel Maddow live at

45:36

the Apollo on MSNBC, 9

45:38

p.m. Eastern this Saturday night. Very excited

45:40

about that. It's gonna stream on Peacock

45:42

as well. Also, if

45:44

you do want to see me live this

45:46

weekend, there are a few tickets left for

45:48

an event I'm doing for my book, Prequel.

45:51

It's this Saturday night in Kingston, New York.

45:53

All the details and tickets

45:56

online, msnbc.com/prequel. Again, a few

45:58

tickets left in Kingston. New

46:00

York for Saturday, May 4th. That's going to do

46:02

it for me for now. Have

46:04

you ever wondered what the stars have to

46:06

say about your favorite artists and writers? Listen

46:10

to Stars and Stars with Isa,

46:12

where I, your host and astrologer,

46:14

Isa Nakazawa, read and

46:16

interpret astrological birth charts of luminaries

46:18

like W. Kamau Bell, Gia Tolentino,

46:20

and so many more. You'll discover

46:23

how astrology can unlock fascinating insights

46:25

about these stars and who knows,

46:27

maybe you'll learn a little bit

46:29

more about yourself. Listen

46:32

to Stars and Stars with Isa wherever

46:34

you get your podcasts.