It's Nick Councilman. I am the co-host of the Muckbreak Podcast, joined by Jared Yates Section as well as always, and we're doing our show on Tuesday. Thank you all for being here. A packed show, lots of things to talk about. Biden stepping aside, Kamala Harris being embraced. We have to deal with how the Republicans are going to now deal with all of this. Plus, J.D. Vance Feeds, Trump's Feeds, V.P. discussion. It is chock full of things to discuss. And thank goodness that we have Jared Yates Section here with me to help me figure out and coalesce what is going to happen. Jared, back in studio, baby. No more talking on the phone in the car. Ready to go. Hello. Yes. You know what you sound it's you know, I know your points today are going to be that much better because there's going to be so much more cogent and pertinent. But I will say, by the way, for anybody who didn't listen to it, we did an emergency podcast on Sunday, which is technically yesterday because we recorded this on Monday. Nick, the entire political world has shifted on its axis. Like even since you and I talked yesterday to do that emergency podcast, everything has moved. Like what an incredible moment like we talked about like what 2020 for was going to be like, we predicted a good deal of what has happened. But it is still so strange to see what it is metamorphosizing into. You know, and it's good in a good way, right? Because things are good right now. Things are good right now. Yes. I mean, it could be conceived that I'm sure there are scary movies that use the word, none amorphous, to make us feel that way. But I'm a little bit surprised that I am happier that this is positive. And we got in some good vibes out of this. I think part of the thing was, I was convinced that there was going to be more of a battle for who was going to become the nominee, even if Biden said I would like Kamala to be it. You know, I thought, you know, people might step up there and try and take advantage of the chaos and situation. It turns out though that the Democratic Party, you know, they kind of stick together a little bit. No, they never stick together. It's not even close to being a true, a true characteristic of the Democratic Party. They're allergic to sticking together. Come on, you have to be pretty darn ruthless to try and step up there and say, F this, I'm going to be the one I don't think Kamala can win. And I'm a Democrat, like I don't think anyone that's, you know, that's a tough one to. So I have a I have a quick hypothetical for you. Are you ready for this? Yeah. You ready? Because what you just said very well could have happened. And by the way, we'll get more into debt, more in depth about Biden, Harris, Trump, all of it. Nick, if this would have been taken care of sooner, it would be a different story. Okay, it is getting so close to the convention that it became out of necessity. And on top of that, one of the things that has happened in the past few days is that behind the scenes, the people around Kamala Harris, the people behind Joe Biden, and the people around Barack Obama, and everyone's making hay out of it. They're like, why hasn't Obama endorsed her yet? You know why he hasn't endorsed her yet? They're going to have a big giant event where he wraps her in his arms and basically makes her the heir apparent to his legacy. That's coming. So all of this got orchestrated put together. It's absolutely incredible how much the gravity has changed. And Nick, and by the way, everybody go to patreon.com/muckregpodcast, subscribe, the show. We're growing. Are we not Nick? We are growing by leaps and bounds. It's really crazy as we're moving into the election season. It turns out people enjoy actual intelligent analysis that doesn't do all the conventional stuff and kind of tells you what's going to happen in a couple of days or a couple of weeks. Go over to patreon.com/muckregpodcast. You get the weekend or you join the community, you support us, keep us ad very editorially independent. Nick, we got to talk about Joe Biden stepping aside. We had talked about how the momentum was moving back and forth between Biden staying and Biden getting out of the race. What eventually happened here was that Biden was given a bunch of different. How do we put this? Pieces of reality is what happened. Basically, everyone in his campaign with any sort of an understanding of polls came to him and said there's absolutely no way you can win at this point. Everybody who is involved in fundraising went to him and said, sir, you're not going to raise any more money. Nancy Pelosi gave him the bad news, Chuck Schumer gave him the bad news, and I will say to his credit, Joe Biden did the right thing and stepped aside. We'll talk about the historical implications of this. We'll talk about exactly how this kind of came to be, but I will say this, Nick, it is incredible today as we record this. Does it not feel like this big giant weight has been lifted off of us? It's like there was a blockage within the Democratic Party and it wasn't just Biden. It's Schumer, Pelosi. It's it's the leadership that has been there forever and has held on to power. It feels like something is shifting that attention was building and building and building and something had to give. And the fact that it has given now gives this party a new lease on life. It doesn't mean that they're going to do well with it. It doesn't mean that they're going to succeed with it, but the party does have a new lease on life right now. For sure. Well, you're proverbial or metaphorical or I probably haven't actually read real shower that you were going to have to take after voting for voting. I don't have to take that shower anymore. No, I mean, I would recommend taking showers anyway. Well, I like showers. I like showers. We need to have both hands on the tile head down the water going for 20 minutes while the music fades up. You don't need to do that anymore. No, that's huge. That is the way, right? Because we both understood that he wasn't going to be able to campaign as well as what we thought he was going to need to do to win. So that's out of the way. For sure. I do find it interesting that you use the phrase the phrase pieces of reality to help to help him figure this out. I would have probably called it a version of like a wrestling hold. You know, the one where you kind of grab a few fingers and you twist and then the arm gets whatever. Maybe one of those jabs with the fingertips to the neck, you know, that was what was happening. And it was going to slowly get worse and worse for him as he would get strangled over days if he didn't step down, right? I think there was going to be a coordinated campaign slowly but surely over until he finally did capitulate because everybody else didn't understand what it took, you know, a little long for providing to discover. I want to put some of this in the context. I've had a lot of time to think about what has happened here and a lot of time to think about Biden historically. And I want to make I want to make two points that work together and this is part of what happens with the American presidency. Every president that we have had and we will ever have is a fascinating individual who has been driven to the highest point of power. You don't just do that without certain needs and psychological complexion like they're like to become the president of the United States of America. You have to have so many strange things going on with you to even want that job. Do you know what I mean? Like it's really, really incredible. Joe Biden's main characteristics as a politician and as a person are as follows an agreement and resentment that people underestimate him that they don't think he's very smart. They've always thought that he wasn't very smart. He wasn't very capable. He wanted to prove them wrong, right? He nobody thought he was going to become president of the United States of America, including Barack Obama, the president that he served under as vice president. That is one of his main characteristics. The second is a sense of duty. Joe Biden believes in the system for good and for bad, you know, ill and for game. There's all of that. There's also a third characteristic in all of this and it is hubris. It it has been there throughout. He was the one guy who could beat Donald Trump Nick. He was the one guy who could return America back to where it was and preserve America's soul. That means that when you got to 2024, he couldn't leave. He's the indispensable man in the arena. And what happens? He's told you have to get out. Well, you know, screw you, pal, I don't have to get out on the president. Everybody underestimates me. On top of that, he believes in the system. He wanted to see the job done. All these different things came together. I think to call balls and strikes Nick, you have to say that Joe Biden showed tremendous hubris in this situation. But when push came to shove and when it really, really got down to it, he made the right decision not just for the party, but for the country itself. And that's what they have to frame this as because they're going to be sending off all sorts of 25th amendment accusations from the Republicans. I brought this up too, right? And you and I both were so probably so worried about how we appeared after the debate that it was like, how is this guy running the country day to day anyway? I'm sure he can finish out the last few months. Did you see what his brother said about this whole thing? By the way, actually, I actually didn't. Brother came out and basically said that that health was a significant factor in this decision. He had COVID whatever, but he also seemed to characterize it a bit as like, you know, living out his the land of his life and more comfortably, whatever. And like, I don't know, man, you really wonder, you know, where he is. And that's in that in that timeline. Well, and by the way, everybody, every news organization, cable news program, podcast, they're all like, they're they're all hyped up for Kamala Harris. I understand it. We'll get to her in a second. They all want to go ahead and do the proper thing through the media, which is to say, Joe Biden did the right thing, you know, like all his great servant, all of that stuff. The Democratic Party right now has a chance to redefine itself. But I want to set the record straight on this, Nick. There are stories that are leaking out right now because they need to be on the record, but they're not going to get any attention. And the stories right now are that Biden's cognitive decline and impairment was obvious back in 2021. You're hearing about him giving speeches and addressing the caucus and Nancy Pelosi having to come up after him in order to deliver the message that he was unable to do and then got lost. The Democratic Party did America disservice in this situation. We shouldn't forget that. We should not forget that this was a situation where Biden's health and his ability to do the job was hidden from us. And it was hidden for us for political purposes. That's wrong. That was not good for this country. And I have to tell you and I know you, you know, this as well, but we saw moments where Biden had great leadership, but guess what? That also changes one more thing that I want to get on the record, Nick, because people have been listening to show need to hear it. Do you remember when we talked about Joe Manchin and Kirsten cinema and the whole filibuster thing, whenever they were like, they were being the de facto leaders, you know, as Joe Biden wasn't in the arena fighting and advocating. You had to bring that up, huh? We talked about it as maybe Joe Biden doesn't think the president should be getting himself involved in the Senate. Don't you think with the information that we have now that maybe Joe Manchin and Kirsten cinema and other members of the Democratic Party who who squabble or like who set aside his agenda and ruined parts of it? Do you not think that they were taking advantage of that situation? I could see that, but they weren't taking advantage in the sense that they were already planning to get involved in the race because they figured he was going to be not run, right? That's part of it as well. Also, Joe Manchin is nothing but a narcissistic opportunist. He's a disgusting person. And I think in this situation, Joe Biden could not effectively do the job of advocating his own policies or fighting the fights. It's why the Congress was left alone to its own devices. And I think now we need to understand that the Democratic Party did this. This happened. It's problematic. We need to move on. We need to do other things. But we do need to remember how this thing took place. Well, here's a question. It's probably we can spend 10 seconds on it. But traditionally, when you have announcements like this, you have Reagan, you have Nixon, you have Clinton, they sit down over the office, the lights that put the mic on them and the whole thing. And they speak to the camera and they talk to us for however many minutes. This did not happen. It's a little bit strange. They decided to do on X of all places. Is this only because he's got COVID and would probably be coughing during during it or what is going on? Well, how did that end up happening? It is an interesting thing that it took place on Twitter. I think you're right about that. It's been it's been running around in my head a little bit. Can I say one last thing on the Biden thing before we get into his historical legacy and how this changes it? Sure. I'm looking at this entire thing. And I'm going to say something which I couldn't imagine saying a month ago. Are you ready? I'm sitting down. It was an apocalyptic, terrible moment. All of us were stressed out and depressed. And my God, was it traumatic to have Joe Biden go out and give that debate performance? You ready for this? We're very fortunate. We're very fortunate that it happened that it happened when it happened that they took the gamble to have the debate that it took place. It was awful for him. I feel so bad that that happened to him publicly. It had to hurt and he has to be incredibly hurt by this whole thing. It hurt his family, all of that. Politically, culturally, democratically, we are very fortunate to be where we are today. As we record this with Kamala Harris as the nominee with a coalescing Democratic Party that has energy and hope. I know that's terrible, but now in hindsight, it seems like we were very fortunate. Jared, I'm going to reiterate that that is no moon. I don't think it was an unfortunate accident that that's how it played out. This is going to be something you and I are going to talk about for years, by the way. I feel that. We're going to be able, for someone to figure out the actual answer and then rub the other person's face, we won't do that. But you know, somebody, somebody knows and someone's going to be able to tell us, maybe we won't have to tell the public, but we'll get that sorted out. But I refuse to believe that that was part of the calculation. And it actually makes a lot of sense. Maybe Aaron Sorkin would have written this in a Western world. And do we want to bring up what he's suggesting? Because I, you know, I for those who don't know, Aaron Sorkin out Sorkin himself and suggested that they pick Mitt Romney as the VP, which shut the hell up shut the hell up Aaron Sorkin. Go home, go to bed, do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Go to bed. Wow. Yes. We might as well use monopoly levels. Nick, when we get to January, when the next president is being sworn in, we'll talk about the larger legacy of the Biden administration. But just before we get into the Kamala Harris nomination and campaign and everything that's happened in the past 24 hours, how do you think history is going to look at this particular decision by Joe Biden? Okay. Well, you could do it as a results based thing where if Kamala wins, right? And he does become that patriot who, you know, sacrificed for the country and all those good things. You know, if Kamala loses, it becomes a second guessing game and all sorts of issues that we've written in your hands. But either way, I do feel like it should be a positive. It should be a thing where, you know, somebody did put country over party, over ambition, over all those things, over power, which is rare. So overall, and I do feel like Kamala has a good chance to beat him in a way that it feels good that he'll get even an extra bump from that. So I think this will be one of those things where we'll use it like we mentioned Nixon against JFK and how that costs him the election to some degree. And the same thing here, but then also, you know, bowing out to let somebody else win is I think it'll be a good thing. If Kamala Harris wins this election, it will be seen as an active, incredible selflessness and political courage. If she loses, I have to tell you, I think we're going to look back at this very much like the Lyndon B. Johnson decision in 1968, which of course, eventually you see Richard Nixon winning the presidency. And I think it is very fascinating because history does not repeat. It rhymes. Joe Biden came into his presidency saying that he was going to be the next Franklin D. Roosevelt. He wasn't. He was the next Lyndon B. Johnson. And that is not who anybody necessarily goes out looking for. But if you look at Lyndon B. Johnson, Lyndon B. Johnson's great society had a ton of programs that actually made life in America better to a degree. They weren't as sweeping as the New Deal. And by the way, all of it was hurt and diminished because of an incredibly unpopular, unjust war that was absolutely tied to this person. So I think it's very, very strange. This is going to be seen as sort of a repeating moment or episode that looks a lot like Lyndon B. Johnson one way or another. I know, but now you're making me worried. And we have to have a bit of a frank conversation for a few minutes because after what happened in Pennsylvania with Trump, and now what's going on here, if you've been monitoring what the right is doing, the crazies are really getting whipped up because they feel like this is not fair. They thought they were going to be able to do it. And no problem. This is a circumvention of democracy, like of all the things that we've been sort of warning about Trump, they have now 720 flipped it around. 723, 60, whatever. It's all the way around a couple of different times. And so what my big worry is, and remember, this is the Lyndon Johnson legacy as well, because when he steps down, Nixon didn't have to win. Bobby Kennedy, I'm sorry, but Bobby Kennedy stepping in late has momentum and certainly would have given a big run for his money. And so Bobby Kennedy would have beat Richard Nixon. What's that? I think Bobby Kennedy would have beat Richard Nixon. I think that would have happened. Fair enough, right. So yes, we're in this. I don't want to be in a similar situation here because what I'm worried about is someone's going to be like, Oh, you're going to do that to us. You know, fine. Well, somebody would be crazy enough to sacrifice their life to make this point as some twisted, horrible version of what they would have felt like is protecting democracy. She's got to be very, very, I mean, that's what making me is keeping me up on the last night about that. And as we see the head and secret service being hauled in front of Congress today, I don't know if you saw any of that, did you see it? Yeah, I paid attention. So, you know, all of that is coming into a thing too, which I'm really, really worried about. And of course, as the 68 is brought up, it just comes back and hits me in the face. Yeah, I'll tell you this. And I know that people listening at home don't want to hear me say this. The twists and turns of this election are not over. There is no way, shape or form that this thing is going to calm down. It's only going to get weirder and more convoluted. I hope that that's not true. I hope we have seen an end to the political violence. But my my instinct tells me that we're we might see something a little rough happen before this whole thing's over. But into better news, Nick, Kamala Harris is now the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party. Joe Biden immediately endorsed her as his pick for the Democratic nominee. What followed was rank and file within the Democratic Party. Nancy Pelosi wrapped her arms around her. All 50 states have now devoted their their delegates to her at the convention, making her again, the presumptive nominee. In the past two days, the party and the campaign have raised record amounts of number north of a hundred million dollars in roughly 24 hours. All of those faucets and spigots that stopped when during the Biden campaign have not only opened, but they have exploded in cartoonish fashion. We are seeing incredible enthusiasm within the Democratic Party. Again, it feels like a weight has been lifted. People are getting excited. People are getting hopeful. I think and there's a lot to discuss about this, including her strategy, the VP hunt, all of that stuff. Nick, I feel like within 24 hours, Kamala Harris, who has been the vice president of the United States for the past four years, had been a senator before that. I feel like she came into her own in the public perception. I don't know if it's people wishing for it. I don't know if she's meeting the moment, but it feels as if there has been a transformation or an evolution there. And it feels like literally everything has changed. And it feels that way. She's got about two weeks to get out there now and fulfill that reality, right? That's still a little bit of the concern. But you have to imagine she's grown and she's learned and she's studied what happened in 2020 and can figure it out. I mean, the funny thing is, I've been looking at how the rights reacting, I got a chance to see the RNC's talking points. They're hilarious. I don't know if you saw them, but they want to hit her on laughing too much. It's really as horrible as that or as ridiculous as that. Can I say something about that very quickly? Yeah, first of all, she's goofy. She is. She she she laughs. She jokes around all of that stuff. I actually think that makes her likable to a degree. But I will say, isn't there a segment of the population? It's pretty popular or pretty big in this country that would respond to dancing with a good rhythm and laughing. A lot of people respond to it. She's kind of cool in a lot of different ways, even though she's kind of a goofy stepmom. And I want to say this, I've been doing a lot of research on her. When the Biden thing started going down, I started looking at her and trying to wrap my head around whether or not she could be an effective candidate. I was saying about two and a half weeks ago that if he dropped out, it had to be her. And one of the reasons I started to feel that is this. And this is like some of that, you know how like when you like with you and basketball, you study a team and you know what's happening underneath the hood that maybe not the casual observer can. Yeah. You know what her problem was as vice president? I mean, I thought part of it was oration. Oration is part of it. And do you know why? Why? They didn't challenge her. They didn't give her things to do outside of the bullshit that Biden didn't want to do. And she didn't want to do it either. Dude, in her speeches and presentations, she wasn't engaged. She was just kind and that's a problem. If she wants to become president of the United States and not just president, the first woman president in the history of the United States and become an incredibly transformational president, she has to lock in. And in a way, she's kind of lucky that it's a shorter campaign because, you know, a lot of candidates, they get tired. Like we see the highlights and the stuff, but it gets boring, giving the same sort of speech everywhere you go, just seeing the same sort of people. Like she has to lock in and show up to game more or less. Yeah. And one of the issues is she got a little loose in laughing and talking and ad living and maybe not even really paying attention or preparing. And I think the vice presidency, I think that she kind of didn't particularly like being the vice president until Roe v Wade got overturned. And she was vociferous about that. She was locked in and talked about it constantly and was an incredible advocate for the women of America because she cared about it. Well, absolutely. That is going to be one of the biggest factors in this race. The Democrats need to figure out how to get more women out to vote who don't. I mean, like the white women are going to vote for Trump. I think it's more than half. I believe when you look at the polls, at least from the last one, if it's not, it's really close. And you would think that even still, and I had a conversation with my dental hygienist about this in California, and she was leaning towards Trump. And I said, well, as a medical professional, wouldn't you think that abortion is important to you? And she goes, well, yeah, but it doesn't matter other than California. And I was like, well, in thinking this, I'm like, well, shouldn't you care about everybody else in the country as well? Shouldn't this be a thing? Like, and then solidarity. But at the very least, she's going to tap into all the other women who understand the threat that Trump is and won't vote for him. And that's going to probably be the big sway here. Are we, is that where we're at? Or are we still at this whole bullshit about it's going to be three states for 60,000 people? I, you know what, I, we talked yesterday about how a lot of things are still up in the air. And by the way, we're going to play a clip here that's going to show you the main Kamala Harris campaign strategy, the message that's going to get across. And we'll talk a little bit about that. I, I think what she needs to do is she needs to show America. And by the way, Trump's already said that he said he'll debate her. Who knows if he does? I don't know if you remember this, Nick. Do you remember what happened to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the primary in 2020? Oh, I remember it very well. Yes. Joe Biden was in the middle of talking about his record and Kamala Harris grabbed the platform and told him off the former vice president and the future president on his position on busting and did it in a way that nearly knocked him out of the race. And I mean, she is, she is really tough on a debate stage. And if she's locked in, she's, she's a brawler. She really, truly is. If she can humble Trump or show America, she can stand up to him. I, I think there's a good chance it's her election balloons. Absolutely. And we saw her with Bill Barr when she was in the Senate Committee, grilling him. Although again, there, she didn't quite go all the way. It seemed like she had more information that she was letting on and trying to lead him into it. And he was doing the literal thing. But there's no question that's her strongest suit when she is being lawyerly, you know, and prosecutorial. It's not that kind of, you know, where you're, you wouldn't like it. It's the kind that you see like in the movies when the big Harry Mason moment happens. She's really good with that. I don't think you don't think he's going to debate him. He's going to debate her. If he is smart, he won't. Absolutely. He's sexist and he's racist. So he probably is not going to approach her with a lot of respect. And so that'll, that might get him. So Nick, I had a call today. I had a strategy call with a few people. What you're getting right here from Kamala Harris is more or less baked into the cake. The election communication strategy when it comes to Donald Trump, and we'll discuss it in just a second. This is from today. So in the days and weeks ahead, I together with you will do everything in my power to unite our Democratic Party, to unite our nation, and to win this election. You know, as many of you know, before I was elected as Vice President, before I was elected as United States Senator, I was the elected Attorney General, as I've mentioned to California, before that I was a courtroom prosecutor. In those roles, I took on perpetrators of all kinds. Predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So hear me when I say, I know Donald Trump's type. Nick, I want to point out for people who maybe don't follow this stuff or study it, something she did there, which is really, really smart. You can, and by the way, it's a perfect made narrative, right? We have a prosecutor now against Donald Trump. It's the people's prosecutor against Donald Trump, a convicted felon, a perfect storyline. It's exactly what needs to happen. Anybody else or most people would make those statements and would let everybody fill in the blanks. I've dealt with men who have abused women, fraudsters, criminals. They wouldn't take it the extra step and make sure that you know that not only is she talking about Donald Trump, she is calling Donald Trump a sexual predator and a felony, absolute crook. And she's not afraid of it. And look how comfortable she was doing that. Now that was masterful, especially because she has to be careful about coming off as someone who was going to quote unquote like prosecute her political rivals, right? That is a probably a fourth rail. Is it third rail? Third rail? You can't touch because that would probably be a little bit of getting close to somebody's independent who would be worried about that. And that would be something that the probably could could latch on to, right? So it's enough to be able to do it that way. And I think that was, I was getting a chill. It's like the way in also that her oration then cheer and then not speak. It was terrific. So but again, there's a little bit of a tight rope there, don't you think? Oh, absolutely. And that's a that's one of the things that you have to be careful with. You don't want to say that if you win the election, you're going to use the power of the government to persecute Donald Trump, because you don't want to do that, right? But what if we've been waiting for Nick for for eight years since he came down that damn escalator, we've been waiting for someone to play it to him. And there have been moments like Hillary Clinton got a couple of shots in on him. Joe Biden called him a clown. I think everybody kind of enjoyed that. Like there have been moments. Dude, the catharsis of watching a competent, intelligent black woman put Trump in his place on the national stage when he is posing the largest threat to the country. That's what we want. That's what we need. There's one thing that's missing in all this. And by the way, Kamala Harris has a very interesting political record. She has been very, very progressive at times. And as a former prosecutor and attorney general, she has been less progressive at times. We're not really sure how that's going to work out in the wash because you don't always know until the person becomes president, who they are and like what they would do with all of that power. There's one thing that's missing. The prosecutor storyline is absolutely the perfect narrative. And in a sexist, racist country, it lets everyone know that you are strong and capable, right? It gets rid of that just to start. And by being a prosecutor or an attorney general as a woman Nick, you have to dispel that notion to even get in that position, right? So she knows what she's doing there. There's one thing missing. What are you going to do with all that power? What's the agenda? What's the big change? Don't just tell us hope and change. Tell us what it looks like. Tell us what you're going to get done if you get the house in the Senate. What are you going to do about the Supreme Court? How are you going to change your economy? How are you going to make America a better place to live? You get that down with that narrative. That's a winning ticket. Absolutely. And I feel like they're there now, you know, getting down there to figure out this whole thing out and give her that platform that she will then be able to run with and won't get tired of it, right? Because it's not a lot of time until the election. And so I think that's, I think she'll be really good with that. As long as she avoids the the phrasing, what was been the past and had the two, whatever that one was. But the funny thing is, you know, again, there's not a lot to attack her on. If you're looking at it from the rights perspective, what are they going to say? She was too tough on crime. You know, like, they're not going to, well, there's progressives who are upset with the way she handled, you know, pot people who had pot and that's up in California. And but again, the Republicans can't hit her on that. It's like, there's a very well, there's a diminishing list of things that they're going to be able to do that make them look more like the foods, the more they try and get this going, which is why as an act of desperation, Trump actually might do the debate because he might feel like it's his last chance. It's scheduled in September. I want to say like September 10th, which is also as early, right? Isn't it normally like October? Yeah, it's both of them would usually be in October. They're going to hit the DEI candidate replacement candidate heart. That's all they can do. That's literally they can just lean in into the sexism racism. Well, they got the deeper racism, though, that she's not a citizen. They're going to. Well, that's that's another thing where this is going to go. Nick, we need to update. We had talked on the emergency episode yesterday about the VP nomination push. And we've had a change today. It appears that Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has pulled her name out of the race saying she's focused on being the governor and she will support the ticket wherever it goes. Whitmer was a top tier candidate, but also still a dark horse. The idea here has been recently that Andy Beshear, the governor of Texas, Pete Buttigieg, the transportation secretary, Mark Kelly of Arizona has started rearing up as a potential candidate. And Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, who I'll talk about in just a second. But Nick, just for my own personal gratification, can you roll that beautiful bean footage of Andy Beshear talking about JD Vance? And I want the American people to know what a Kentuckyan is and what they look like because let me just tell you that JD Vance ain't from here. Now, in the nerve that he has to call the people of Kentucky of Eastern Kentucky, Lazy. Listen, these are the hardworking coal miners that powered the industrial revolution that created the strongest middle class the world has ever seen, powered us through two world wars. We should be thanking them, not calling them Lazy. Nick, I got the vapors over here. Can you play that one more time? Oh, I think so. You just can I just purely journalistic purposes. It's not like I'm getting any gratification from this. No, no, it's not a personal to me at all. Oh, what a Kentuckyan is and what they look like because let me just tell you that JD Vance ain't from here. Now, in the nerve that he has to call the people of Kentucky of Eastern Kentucky, Lazy. Listen, these are the hardworking coal miners that that powered the industrial revolution that created the strongest middle class the world has ever seen, powered us through two world wars. We should be thanking them, not calling them Lazy. Nick, do you feel the generational shift that has taken place in the last 24 hours? Yeah. You know what it's made me think? Here's what's going to happen. You already talked about bumping the poles. Again, I don't know how long it's going to last. I just feel like this is just designed to always get close and whatever. But let's just say she maintains that bit of a lead. How long it's going to take for Trump to turn on JD Vance and certainly. Oh, we'll we'll we'll get to good old JD in just a second. Just you believe me. Yeah, that that's an interesting idea that he's going to turn into. Oh, yeah, hold on. Hold on. I need to compose myself. I was very excited about Beshear's attack on him. Now I'm having to imagine a terrible situation where JD Vance has Trump turn on him and call him a loser and blame him for his defeat. That's a spicy meatball and I will take it. I will hold on to it in my heart and in my mind. Andy Beshear has become the front runner in the VP Canada Sea. And I got to tell you, Beshear's politics are really good. He's he's right on so much. You name an issue and he is practically 100% right on all of this stuff. He's a bulldog. He's a fighter. He gives you a foothold in the Midwest in the beginnings of the South. He's a great contender. And maybe you want Mark Kelly because you want an older white man who can maybe give you Arizona. Although I have to tell you, Arizona's gone. You're not getting Arizona. That's not happening. You're not getting Indiana with Pete Buttigieg and I have my problems with Pete Buttigieg. I don't think it should be him. Andy Beshear is a really, really attractive vice presidential candidate. I agree. I mean, he needs to do another a bigger job of getting more on the scene and letting everyone else know who he is. He's still a little bit obscure, you know, to the general national, you know, discussion. But I like him. Yeah, I certainly think he's hitting a lot of those boxes right in terms of that. He's not now does he have a Tim Caine vibes to you or is he something? Oh, no, no, no. He's got charisma. He's got personality. He's got it. I mean, listen, the way Tim Caine played with those balloons after the DNC last, you know, 2016. That was charismatic, Jared. Come on. That was childish is what it was. I want to I want to share with the audience. I made a suggestion today on the strategy call that I took, which is this. Josh Shapiro, the governor of Pennsylvania, popular effective governor of Pennsylvania. He's on the list. I don't think you put him in there. And here's the reason why. Josh Shapiro is one of the most talented administrators and technocrats in American politics today. He has created a modern political machine in Pennsylvania, the likes of which you wouldn't believe. Do you know where you need that? The DNC. You need him running the party and putting together a strategy. You play your cards, right? You actually put together a coalition that does things and actually addresses neoliberal austerity. Nick, we're not just talking four years of Kamala Harris. We're talking eight years of Kamala Harris, eight years of Andy Bashir. And God knows what happens after that. You have a consensus change and shift with actual strategy. Jamie Harrison is not getting it done. Did not show up in this entire Biden situation. Josh Shapiro to take over the DNC. That's the move. You do that. Maybe Pete can help him there. I don't know, but whatever. Wow. Now you're giving me the vapors. There you go. Vapors is a good thing, right? Oh, yeah. No, you got to sit down on your couch. You got to catch your breath a little bit. You got excited. Okay. Yes. Okay. Yes. I like all of that. That what you just laid out. I'm on board for. And at least today, I can see that last two days ago. Couldn't have seen it, right? I couldn't even visualize what that looked like. But yes. Now, the thing is, Shapiro better serve like being the governor. The funny thing is she can't think anybody's a senator anyway, because they can't afford to lose that seat, right? And the only thing about Bashir is he gets called up now. He doesn't get to replace McConnell, which I think would have been the chef's case. I like to see him be able to do that as his final act in office. But either way, that's where the winds are blowing. And you know how this goes, once the winds are blowing in a direction, it's hard to get them to go anywhere else. So Bashir, that's really what it feels like. And do you really think it's going to take more than a week? I don't know. I really, really don't know. There's a small shadow campaign being waged. Wes Moore of Maryland held an event for Kamala Harris today. She didn't go, but he wanted to like show her how enthusiastic he was. So there is a race is basically what's big. Yeah. You know, all the tweets came out. Everyone was congratulating her. You know, and they were very excited for. I just want to say before we get into the shit show that was the RNC and JD Vance, because man, I can't wait for people to see this. Nick, it's a hopeful optimistic time. The Democrats have a lot of things breaking their way right now. And they have the potential to not just win this election, but to change the country in a way that will fundamentally change our lives for the better. The question is whether or not the party will meet the moment. And we don't know yet. We only know what that last generation did. And they capitulated and they did everything that the Republicans wanted them to do save for a handful of things. They had basically the same domestic policy. They have the exact same foreign policy. So it is time to see if something changes now. It's an interesting bridge because Kamala isn't quite in the younger generation either. She's on the younger side, but yeah, she's not, I mean, she's not Bashir for sure. Yeah, so but we're getting back to where like, I mean, you know, Obama was around this age, I think when I have to look at the ages, but you know, I mean, listen, one day, we're going to find somebody who's magnetic and who's 38, 39, like under 40, right, just barely eligible to be the president, who really can can tap into that and lead us. But we've got to start somewhere. And this is where it would be. So yeah, I'm looking forward to that day though. I want to see, and I know everybody under age 30 is also looking for that as well. We don't know. We don't know if she's her. Yeah, we haven't seen enough. I will say, I am so grateful that we I'm so grateful we've gotten beyond the Biden nomination. Yeah, I'm so grateful for it. I'm so glad. Nick, I'm so glad I get to go into the ballot box in November and not feel conflicted. That's great. And let's not forget, this was the plan from the very beginning anyway, right? I'm convinced that's the other thing I'm going to be human service that he was always going to run one for one term and let her take over until the beginning of the of the administration, where things didn't go great for her. Let the records show, by the way, because again, we call balls and strikes where they are. Yeah, the reports are, and the scuttlebutt is that he, one of the reasons he wasn't getting out is because he didn't believe that Kamala Harris could bring the Democratic Party together. It happened in four hours, Nick. It happened in four hours. It worked out. Okay, we got to talk about Donald Donald Trump's speech at the RNC very, very quickly. It was absolutely awful. I don't know if you saw this. He was introduced by the trio of trios, Hulk Hogan, who if you remember was canceled for saying the inward. Kid Rock, one of the worst performances I've ever seen anybody ever give the the white squares at the convention looked very confused. Dana White, UFC who just screamed at everybody for a long time. Trump then came out, and Nick, tell me if I'm wrong, our entire media complex was rooting for him to have had a spiritual reawakening following the assassination. It's a he's going to pivot guys. It's going to happen this time. We're going to see a tone of unity. He's going to be a different man. And what did we get? The same Trump that we have always had. It turns out that this guy isn't going to change ever. He gave a rambling hour and a half speech that people were visibly trying not to pass out during. It was self serving. It was divisive. It was disgusting. They shot themselves in the foot here. They had this whole race to win, Nick. They had a huge advantage during the Biden thing in the assassination attempt. And they squandered it because they're the most self destructive destructive assholes that we have ever seen. I mean, listen, he did spend the first, you know, 20 minutes retailing the tale of him being shot at. Oh, yeah, God saved him, by the way. God, God saved him. I had you seen, you know, I just seen like some of the things where they demonstrate what it looks like when a bullet passes by your ear that quickly weren't supposed to look like whatever. Piece of glass, bullet, whatever. It doesn't matter. But the point being that you could tell actually the word it was written like pretty well. I think he was on the script for a lot of that. But you could also tell that he was so mortified by having to describe the situation where he was weak, you know, and they and just about shot and like he wasn't wasn't this uber guy who's in dodge bullets or whatever. And so it was almost like that's that that energy was coming out. But the other thing is is it feel like a lot of people were sort of surprised or shocked or couldn't believe what he was saying in the speech. This is the exact speech he's been doing the entire time. I did an interview. I did an interview the day before this thing, Nick. And the person interviewing me was like, do you think Donald Trump is going to give a different type of speech? What are you expecting? And I said the exact same thing that he always does. It was cheap and embarrassing and demeaning. Nick, we haven't even talked about the fact for people who didn't watch this. The firefighter supporter who died at his rally, they wheeled a dummy with his uniform on it onto the stage. Trump walked over and hugged it and gave the helmet a kiss. One of the most disgusting stunts that I have ever seen in American politics. He can't change. It's who he is. Would you believe if I told you that they spelled this last name wrong on the phone? They misspelled his name. So that was not his jacket. They misspelled his name. One of the worst stunts I have ever seen. Trump cannot change. Nick, all he had to do was go out and give a scripted speech that wasn't crazy and wasn't dangerous and divisive. And the media would have ate it out of his hand like a starving kitten and he couldn't do it. He couldn't even do it. Remember there was that one moment in 2016 where he finally had like some almost a normal speech and everyone's like, oh, there it is. There it is. He's now filling the shoes or whatever. And that by the way, that was the moment that we realized that he really is a candidate who could possibly win back in 2016. And this is another one of those moments where. But like, I'm not sure the picture was painted properly for people who are listening to this. You know, you have a mannequin, right, with a jacket on it and then the hat on top of it. And so, and on the bottom of the jacket, like facing the audience in the back of the jacket, is his name. And that was misspelled. Not like a name on the screen or anything. They misspelled the name that they stitched onto this fake jacket of someone else, whatever it was, to memorialize the guy who got shot at this rally. If that's not abject disrespect for somebody, I can't even imagine what it was. They don't even care. That's the four seasons press conference. Yeah. They're just stupid and lazy. They're the most entitled human beings that you can ever imagine. And by the way, that guy was killed at Trump's rally. He was a Trump mega fan who was devoted to him. Look at how he uses these people and spits on them. Like people have to recognize it. Nick, that was bad enough. And by the way, squandered any good will that was left over from the assassination survival. But here's the thing. And I want to say, if it's okay, I want to be indulgent. Are you ready? It's old. Someone asked me a couple of weeks ago when JD Vance got announced as the, I guess it was last week, when JD Vance got announced as the the nominee, they said, what is it like for your own personal nemesis to be nominated for vice president in this country? And I said what I felt, which is it's upsetting. It's really, really upsetting and infuriating. But do you know what, Nick, watching JD Vance show the world how incredibly untalented and unlikable and miserable and nauseating, watching that play out so far has been way more enjoyable than I ever expected. Here's JD Vance, stretching his little wings. What a tough little beard boy here, stretching his wings as his first Trump rally. I can't wait to see. I assume it's going to be thrilling. It is the weirdest thing to me. Democrats say that it is racist to believe well, they say it's racist to do anything. I had a dime Mountain Dew yesterday and one today. I'm sure they're going to call that racist too, but it's good. I love you guys. There's one person clapping while he's saying I love you guys. Have you ever been in a thing? We're like a comedian is bombing actually. No, bring it back on. No, don't don't get rid of that. We're watching that again. We're watching that again. And oftentimes I close these out pretty quick and like watching that again. Nick, do you know what that was? I want it. I want it for the people who were listening to this and not watching. I want you to listen to it again. Do you know what energy this is? Are you ready? What? Please clap. That's the energy. The Jeb Bush, please clap. That's what this was. Dude, these people are at a Trump rally. They're maniacs. They're ready to go, baby. Diamond and Silk went out there. Do you know what they're thinking right now? Do we still have Doug Birkham's cell phone number? Exactly. Do you think he's on vacation with his big eyebrows? Like, is there some way we can get him? Dude, literally, I want people to listen to this. Not just what JD Vance is saying, and it's so weird. Listen to the literal sound of silence here. Yeah, I have to make it a mission real quickly. For most of this time, I kind of just sort of had a big shrug for this guy. You were selling the alarm and really trying to make it. And I'm like, yeah, okay. At least I'm starting to get a much clearer glimpse, even from something like this, because just even the racist line, and then, by the way, people laugh, that's a laugh line. Oh, yeah, it's so funny. So funny. It's gross. It's just it's all gross. He advocates for women to stay in abusive marriages. Like he is one of the most disgusting individuals who has drawn a breath of modern air. And I love it that he's sitting here eating shit. Roll it again. All right, give it to it. Give it to it. It is the weirdest thing to me. Democrats say that it is racist to believe. Well, they say it's racist to do anything. I had a dime Mountain Dew yesterday and one today. I'm sure they're going to call that racist, too. But it's good. I love you guys. One human soul clapping because they couldn't stand to watch him. They had to do it. It's like when a person that a complete stranger in a store says something weird to you, you go, that's what that was. Right. And I don't know. I don't think he should be drinking Mountain Dew. Wait, why? What you want to do? Oh, no. You drink Mountain Dew? No, I don't. No, I don't. But I mean, I did when I was younger, you know, because it's racist. No, it's not. It's just really, really bad for you, man. Not good for you. No, no, I mean, if it's correct me by wrong, Mountain Dew has got like more caffeine per square inch than, than, you know, a shot at a line of cocaine or something like that. Oh, man, Nick, your California is showing my man. I will also say, by the way, there are certain people. And by the way, I hate Jay. And I really struggle to think about anybody that I hate more than JD Vance. Like, there's just something very, very intense about it. Dude, if I saw him drinking a giant Mountain Dew, like I would, it would upset me. Do you know what I mean? Just look at his face. Just just look out on the screen. Look at, he's almost at the angle where he would drink a Mountain Dew. Would that not ruin your month? Would you not want to go home and sell your house if you saw this man drinking a giant Mountain Dew? I would be, he's upsetting. There's no question. The more we see him. And again, I really want you to ask in the, in the, in the visualization of Trump blaming him for everything that's going to happen. It gets bad for their, their campaign. Because again, it really doesn't feel like there's going to be Trump is stuck, right? He's not moving up in the polls, right? This is only really a matter about can they, can they reach, you know, what's that movie where the hand comes through the ground and grabs them and from the grave? Is it? That's, uh, Kerry. Kerry. Yes. Do you know what it is? In my mind, Nick, because I'm running this movie in my mind and it feels so good. Like I, I'm going to be thinking about this for the rest of the night while I'm eating dinner while I'm doing things. It's like the 1980 screwball comedy. Like it's a bunch of guys like skiing against the cool preps who have all the money and the power. And there's like a real villain. He's like the, he's like the developer with all the money. But then he has the ski, like henchman, the main cool guy. He would play, he'd be played by what? Zubco? Was that the guy's name? Billy Zafka. Zafka. He would be played by Billy Zafka, but like at the end of the movie, like even the real estate developer would be pissed off at the bully and would turn on him. It'd be like a double catharsis. Oh, that's so enjoyable. Think about J.D. Vance on election night being left on the tarmac by Trump Force One. Think about Trump taking off in his stupid ass plane and J.D. Vance standing there, just like weeping and wetting his pants. Just just just weeping and weeping and weeping. Well, hopefully that took a picture of Trump with the bullet whizzing by his head. We'll get the picture. Oh, get that picture. Get that picture. We need that picture. All right, everybody, I need to, I need to go calm down. This was too enjoyable. This dare, I say, Nick, we, we, we cover a lot of, we cover a lot of scary shit on this show, a lot of disturbing shit on the show. This was one of our happier episodes. Yeah, it wasn't. Yeah. Yeah. Because when we started this thing, it was kind of like, you know, Trump was being elected. Oh, so yeah, we've had a long time to get to this point. It's just a pretty happy one. Let's keep it going. What you say? Yeah. We'll let, we'll let next week be even better news. All right. We'll be back on Friday with the Weekender. Go over to patreon.com/monkrickpodcast. We appreciate our subscribers. You're growing and we're hearing from you. You're digging it. We knew that you would. Why do you think we told you to go to patreon.com/monkrickpodcast? We knew that you would like it. We were trying to help you. That's what happened. patreon.com/monkrickpodcast. In the meantime, you can find Nick at, can you hear me? That's, I'm E.J. West Sexton. Be safe.
