(upbeat music) - That's right, everybody, I'm back. Jared Yates has come back on the Muckering Podcast. How you doing Nick Owson? It's been way too long. - I'm good, I'm good. It's great to hear your dulcet tones. - I have missed you. I'm not even kidding. I've missed hanging out with you and talking about politics. So much has been going on. I can't wait to catch up on it. - I know, but you know, it's always, it's not always bad to have a little break and relax and get yourself centered. - Distance makes the heart grow stronger. And the good news, everybody. So first of all, first piece of good news, Nick and I have decided that we're gonna make this weekend or addition free to everybody. We haven't done this in a while. We wanna open it up. There's a lot of important stuff to talk about. A lot of important stuff to get to. But next week, Nick, you and I, we're gonna be hanging out in your hometown. That's right, shy town, the Windy City. - The Todilintown. - I'm sorry? - The Todilintown. - People. - Chicago, Chicago, that Todilintown. Come on, who I? - No, what Todilint? I've never, what's Todilint mean? - On Great Street, that stage-- - No, what's it mean? What's Todilint mean? - Todilint, you know, it's the city that never sleeps. I guess it's New York. - That's not what it means. You don't know what Todilint means. - You're totalling your out on the town having a great time all the time. - You know what, before we begin this, 'cause you just brought up an important thing. Frank Sinatra saying about every town. It's almost like Uy Lewis in the news. It's like New York, Chicago, L.A., Cleveland, or Cox. - I have a definition from Google. - Give the people the definition. - Todilintown is informally walk or go somewhere in a casual or leisurely way. And if that doesn't describe how you move in Chicago, I don't know what does. - You get, you get you a deep dish and then you're wanting some sausage and you're walking around the soil. I actually, now that we're talking about, I can't wait to get some deep dish pizza. - Oh, it's not very-- - And it's eating beef. I'm gonna get my time. - Oh, Italian beef, I'm very excited. But that's right. Nick Houseman and I are going to the Democratic National Convention. My boy, Nick, got credentialed, y'all. He's going into the Democratic National Convention. They won't talk to me. I'm persona non-grata, except for when they want me on strategy calls, when they want help with strategy, they'll talk to me, but they don't want me around the people. They would much rather have you rubbing elbows with the-- - You know I'm gonna be like texting you at some point and be like, "Hey, where are you?" "Let's go hang out." And you're gonna be like, "Yeah, I'm tired." And it turns out you're probably hanging out with walls and Harris at some point. - They'll talk to me off the record. And basically I'm gonna be talking to the revolutionaries out in the street. But Nick and I, we're gonna have very, very special coverage for you next week. The regular Muckrake edition on Tuesday is going to be reacting to the first night of the Democratic National Convention. Then every night after that, we are going to be getting together, theoretically, in person, if all this works out, we are going to be giving you the man in the arena and the man in the street reactions to what takes place, go over to patreon.com/muckrakepodcast. Nick, I'm very excited. - Oh, for sure. I mean, I can't wait. I'm gonna have, you know, when you're walking around the United Center, if anybody walks by that wants an interview, I can grab them and-- - Grab them. - We will have them. We'll probably put some of it up, you know, on the patreon side, maybe only. So if you, you know, you wanna get involved on the patreon now, so it's all queued up and ready to go. So we have some exclusive content with some, you know, who knows who's gonna walk by and talk to me for-- - Senator Federman, Nick Houseman, from the Muckrake podcast. What's wrong with you? - Right. Or maybe I'm the constituent of Adam Schiff. Perhaps I can talk to him or somebody or Elizabeth Warren might walk by. You never know. - We don't know what's going to happen, but you need to go over to patreon.com/muckrakepodcast. As you all know, you're going to get analysis. You're going to get takes that you're not getting anywhere else. I know you've been missing the patreon.com/muckrakepodcast. Nick, I've been gone for the past 10 or so days. And since I left, the presidential race has shifted so much. We're gonna be talking in a little bit. I got ahold of some internal polls as well. I've had some people from the Trump campaign reaching out to me. So I'm gonna be letting people know what's been clouding up my inbox. But we have to start, Nick, with the fact that the Donald Trump and JD Vance campaign is in absolute dire straits. And we're not talking about the popular band of the 1980s. It is rough out there. We are in a sinking ship type situation. This has led to a ton of infighting within the Trump campaign. I've had multiple people. And Nick, they used to reach out to me back in 2016, back whenever like the horse race was a little weird. And they would just backbite like you wouldn't believe and give me insider information about the Trump campaign. They're doing it again. If you need to understand where this thing is, there have been rumors that Trump is going to drop out. I don't think that's going to happen. Rumors, he's gonna dump JD Vance. I don't think that's going to happen. Even so much that Gabriel Sherman over at the Vanity Fair, at Vanity Fair has been told by insiders that they believe that Donald Trump is purposely sabotaging his campaign. Do you have thoughts on what is going on over there? Because it is an absolute disaster. I certainly have my thoughts. - I mean, it couldn't happen to a nicer set of people. - Just a great group of people. You couldn't ask for a better group. - For sure. And I mean, if you heard the last pod we had when I had Nick Carmody on who talked to him about the psychological makeup of MAGA and Trump, you know, to me, it just sort of sounds like things aren't going well. They have to blame somebody, right? Someone has to be for blame. It's got to be someone else's fault that this is happening versus the fact that the reality is he's a terrible candidate. And he's screwed off so many people. Like a national politician shouldn't engender this much ill will across so many facets of this society, right? I know he's got the cult, but how many people are really, really don't like him? You're talking about a hundred million in the country, maybe? - I maybe if you're being generous, I guess. I mean, how many people are holding their nose and voting for him, you know? - Yeah. So when you get over like 50 million people who are really angry at you, it's like, it's not a good thing. You're not a good candidate. So that's probably the answer versus anything that he's doing intentionally because I don't think Trump's doing anything intentionally. He's just in. - Yeah, I'll go ahead and start off with saying this. And it's very funny whenever I get Trump insiders reaching out to me. Like, I hope you're listening to the podcast. I hope it just makes your ears bleed. If you are actually engaging in any way, I just laugh when I get these things. But I want to say first of all, I don't think he's intentionally sabotaging his campaign. I think it's really important to remember something. Donald Trump is a uniquely terrible campaigner and politician. And one of the things that we're learning right now, he won in 2016, Nick, for a variety of reasons. One of them was that Hillary Clinton had over 30 years of public exposure. She had a link to a presidency, Bill Clinton's presidency, that hurt a number of states that ended up playing a vital role in terms of battleground states, including Michigan, that blamed him for NAFTA and what happened with neoliberal globalism. Also, she was absolutely hated and they didn't think that they needed to campaign in battleground states. And Donald Trump was a largely unknown political property. He made something new. And as a result, you had an election that came together to put him in a place. Nick, am I wrong when I say that Donald Trump as president was lazy? How do I answer that? No. He was lazy. He was absolutely lazy as president. He didn't want to do the job. He wanted to come out to hail with the chief and have people adore him. That was it. Meanwhile, back in 2020, which was a weird black swan election year, take yourself back in your mental time machine, Nick. How was his campaign in 2020? It was just as bad. It was just as bad, if not worse, right? Because he wasn't even actually interested in defending his record because he doesn't want to. He wants to go out and blab on and on and on. He doesn't care. Donald Trump is a lazy, bad campaigner and politician. So what's happened? We now are in our third election cycle with Donald Trump. What is coming forward is the fact that he's a terrible campaigner. He's actually a terrible politician. 2016 was a fluke for a variety of reasons. There's a lot of stuff that happened there. It's just bad. And what are people trying to do at this point, Nick, by saying he's sabotaging it or the campaign is failing him. No, this is how bad things happen. And what do they want to do, Nick? They want to go ahead and create a narrative. He won the presidency once he has to be talented. No, he was really good at catching a certain moment in history. And what we're seeing now, they have nothing. They have no communication strategies. They have no attack on Harris or Waltz who is actually going to work. It is an absolute rat's nest biting each other and cannibalizing each other. And what we're seeing out in front is what it has always been. - I will clarify, I think in 2020, he was a little bit more motivated in the campaign. But what was he motivated by? Not going to prison. So that was probably a big reason why he was-- - Well, right. - However, do you think he had any sense of what was going to happen in the judicial arena in terms of benefiting him over the last couple of years? Do you think he says that that was going to happen because the perilousness that he thought he was going to be under after, if he lost, has not materialized, kind of almost not, maybe New York, little. But you know what I mean? Do you think he would have realized that the canon would have been as effective and the Supreme Court would have been as effective in squashing these things? - I think there's two things to say there. First of all, I disagreed with a lot of what Nick Carmody said in your interview. And I thought you gave a really good interview. First of all, I don't think he's scared of going to prison. Nothing's going to happen to him. We've already seen how this stuff works. He's not going to go to prison. And in fact, I've even said that the judicial system basically went after him because he kept running for president. If he loses again, I think they're probably going to leave him alone. I think the way that Trump works is the same way a lot of these people work. They don't think they're ever going to face any kind of consequences because they've never really faced consequences. But no, I don't think he is motivated at this point by any legal peril whatsoever. I actually think what's happening right now, to be frank, and Nick, I don't know if you've ever experienced this, for me, when I was a kid, it was like I would be playing like Mortal Kombat with somebody or like Street Fighter with somebody and I'd be, listen, I would be kicking their ass because I was good at those games. And do you remember, and I'm sure you've played basketball with these people, the people who lose and the more that they lose, they're like, I don't even wanna play this game anyway. Like Donald Trump is losing and Donald Trump doesn't lose. He quits things before he loses. And so what's happening right now, he's already creating the case. They're gonna steal this election. We know what's going to happen. And so as a result, he's sort of checking out and everyone around him is freaking out. And why Nick? Because they have an actual political project that they wanna carry out. Donald Trump doesn't care about political projects. He'll do them, if you give him money, like Elon Musk, who we'll talk about in a second. But like, he's not really invested in this thing and he's come up against a juggernaut and he can't do anything about it. - I'm asking for a friend. What kind of person is it who will throw the controller in the midst of losing? - Donald Trump. Donald Trump is the type of person who will throw the controller in the middle of losing again. - I am seen, unfortunately. But okay, so, but I won't clear the basketball court, but I certainly would throw the controller across the room, even in my age now, if that happens. So I really actually, that is true. I totally understand that. But as I'm wrapping my head around it, you're right, he isn't afraid to go into prison. I suppose because it's been so long where it never really is gonna happen. He just sort of maybe knew that. But again, the circumstances that we never really even delved into that much with these specific cases has been so egregiously corrupt that it was hard to imagine you could have predicted that, but you know, maybe not so hard. - Well, listen, I'm just back. I don't wanna strain myself, pat myself on the back. I said America does not have a very good record of holding rich white, powerful men accountable. And why? Because they are the bedrock of the American economy and political system. So as a result, like it was always going to get a little weird and a little wonky and somehow or another, you know, he had the entire system on his side. But he's not motivated by that. At this point, he has come across something where he doesn't have an answer and he's not particularly interested in trying anything. Like there's not even any juice there. He's just unmotivated because it really doesn't matter anymore. - Is that true? And you know, I wanna say speaking of other rich white guys who are never held accountable. - Speaking of rich white guys, for those who don't know, Elon Musk, who is absolutely reprehensible, he held a Twitter space that Nick, did you know that they had a massive denial of service attack? Oh my God, they couldn't even get this thing running. It's weird how that always happens. Like they're obviously getting hacked. But once this thing eventually started getting going, Nick Trump slurred and sounded terrible during the entire thing, had no real answers about anything. All he can do is talk about immigrants and call his opponents stupid. That's all he's got. But Elon Musk, he got into this thing and he threw a couple of interesting little ideas around if we could take a little listen. - Sure, now I agree with you. - Well, I mean, I mean, I think it'd be great to just have a government efficiency commission that takes a look at these things and just ensures that the taxpayer money, the taxpayers are harder and money is spent in a good way. And I'd be happy to help out on social commission if it were formed. - But you, you're the greatest cutter. I mean, I look at what you do. You walk in and you just say, you wanna quit? - You go and strike, I won't mention the name of the company, but they go, I'm strike and you say, that's okay. You're all gone. - You know, we got to talk about that too, but yes. So I think I understand where you wanted these, some of these certainly scripts because it sounds like this was done on Musk's end because he's angling for some things. - Oh, he is most certainly angling for some things. So I listened to this unfortunately all the way through. First of all, Trump sounded so disengaged and just out of it. What did Elon, and by the way, we need to remind people, Nick, how much money is Elon Musk giving a Trump super pack every month? - Well, I thought he went, he turned that down. He said he wasn't. - Oh, no, no, no, no, no, he didn't. He lied about it and said, I'm not giving money to Donald Trump, which is technically true. - Ah, yeah. So it's 45 million a month, right? - So he's giving a Trump super pack $45 million a month. God knows what Peter Thiel and Palantir is giving it in that whole tech fascist group. He's giving him all of that money and he's trying to boost his campaign and give it a goose, which this did not help. Nick, on this talk between Donald Trump and Elon Musk Musk proposed an efficiency committee, which basically would go through and create further austerity and give him control over the federal budget. And on top of that, continued to try and plant the idea in Trump's mind that a Trump presidency should have its main goals of, ready for this list, creating tunnels in the ground for transportation, getting us to Mars and creating a moon base. Nick, of those three topics, how many of them would Musk be invested in? - All of them, you know. - All of them. - Well, he's not invested in them. He wants the government to give him the money to do it. - He wants the government to give him the money for the future of his projects, which by the way is the only reason Elon Musk is one of the most rich people in the world, not because he's talented. He literally wants Donald Trump to be the president and rubber stamp everything for him that would basically allow him the co-option of the federal government, which by the way, ding, ding, ding, is what we've been telling people for the past month is why JD Vance got bought onto the ticket, why Musk and Teal have been pushing this, but what are they trying to do? They're trying to get their boy in so that they can have control over the federal government without having to get elected themselves. - For sure. - How much do you think you'd pay to get somebody on a platform that you own, thinking that you'd get a lot more traction and more money? Would you pay? That's what it was, right? $45 million a month for this was to get Trump to get back on Twitter, which it works, right? Trump is now tweeting again. - You're weird, isn't it? - Social, but what? - It's weird that he's back on Twitter after Musk started giving him $45 million a year or a month. So basically what you have now is Musk and Teal and all these people who are investing in this stuff and more on this in a few minutes, they have literally, they're like, hey, old man, run for fucking president. Do it and win, we need you in there. And that's what this whole thing was, and by the way, Musk couldn't even hide it. He got in the room with Trump and basically pushed his entire agenda and told everybody what he wants, which is a piece of the federal government, a large, large piece of it. - And I can't believe I'm going to do this, but I will give the benefit of the doubt to Trump in terms of the slurring, 'cause what I hear is the compression of using a phone over the internet on a space, less those than the actual thing. And so I'm willing- - I hear a man with the dentures is what I hear. - I don't know, 'cause they had the local footage of it filming Trump sitting with his huge shoulder pads sticking up and it didn't sound as bad, but any other way, we don't need to dissect whether or not he speaks eloquently or is cognizant. But let me kind of hit the last little bit of this because it wasn't necessarily part of the sound bite, but this is how bad this conversation was. - It's so bad. - Yeah, so let's listen to the end of this thing. - You want to quit? They go and say, I won't mention the name of the company, but they go and strike and you say, that's okay, you're all gone, you're all gone. So every one of you is gone and you are the greatest, you would be very good. Oh, you would love it. - So if you couldn't figure that out, he's talking about how Elon Musk fired people who were threatening to go on strike, which is intimidation. And there's a lawsuit being filed by, is that you at W, one of the big unions wants to file a lawsuit for intimidation against them. It's probably just for show, but the point still stands. Here are these guys patting themselves on the back and celebrating a notion of removing workers' rights. - I just want very, very quickly, because you nailed it and there's not much else that needs to be said except for this, Nick. This is literally two billionaires yucking it up and talking about how much they enjoy firing people before they organize. It is not a populist movement in any way, shape or form. It is the wealth class trying to take over the government in totality, which is what we've been warning about for forever. - Exactly, and it's gross. It's really just in a way that it will resonate negatively, it should, through a lot of the people that the Trump administration or Trump campaign are counting on to vote for them in those margins. It's gonna be that's that close for some of these things that they need to get more votes. And all they're doing, as you referenced before how bad the campaign is, every day Trump is alienating more and more voters. It's the opposite. It's truly remarkable to the point where, yeah, maybe he doesn't really want to win at this point, because he certainly feels like the winning doesn't, to me, I was so afraid of him winning because he'll get rid of all his lawsuits and he won't be held accountable. But you know what, maybe that won't matter anyway, the next goal way is it is. - I think he wants to win without doing the work, which is what he did in 2016, and what he tried to do again in 2020. - And can you hear where his plans are, if he doesn't-- - Oh, this is really incredible, what he says here. - And again, I told you that crime rates all over the world are going way down, which makes sense. In fact, the next time what we'll do is if something happens with his election, which would be a horror show, we'll meet the next time in Venezuela 'cause it'll be a far, safer place to meet than our country, okay? So we'll go, you and I will go and we'll have a meeting and dinner in Venezuela because that's what's happening. - That's what you want to hear from a potential president of the United States of America. Like, let's go hang out in Venezuela. Also, by the way, we need to fact check this, Nick. Crime in America is way down, way, way down. And why is Trump excited about Venezuela and other countries like that because they use brutal dictatorial means in order to go after other criminals? That's, it's two billionaires who are interested in authoritarian situations talking about how much more they would like a dictatorial thing. Also, by the way, we don't even have a clip of this. Two more weird things from this, Nick, that we're in here that nobody's talking about. One, Trump weirdly talking about the time magazine cover of Kamala Harris saying her moment and saying she looked beautiful, but it was a fake thing that made her look like Melania. And second of all, something no one's talking about, which is him saying he went to North Korea. He saw how much the people obeyed Kim Jong-un and he said, and this is a rough quote, I saw things that you don't want to hear about, but let me tell you he has control over that country, which is Donald Trump saying that he saw authoritarian violence in person in North Korea and respected it. Oh yeah, by the way, I think the Venezuela thing is because they don't have that tradition. That's also a part of it. Hey, let me get out of the country before they really, maybe he still is concerned about these things. We do have the clip if you want of him talking about time magazine because-- Oh God, did you get that? Yeah, I might as well let people hear it. Let's see what this sounds like here. And actually, she looked very much like a great first lady, Melania, she looked, she didn't look like Kamala. That's right, but of course, she's a beautiful woman, so we'll leave it at that, right? I mean, it's a painting, a rendering of Kamala Harris on Time magazine. But yeah, he literally did say that it looked like Melania, who looks interesting these days herself. But I don't know. We know on the top of her looks, but it's worked out. We know. I also want to point out, and I can't remember, I've been gone for so long, I can't remember if I said this on the podcast here in a different conversation, Nick. I also think part of it is he resents having the campaign against a woman of color. He absolutely doesn't think that he needs to. He doesn't respect her. He doesn't address her in any type of way that treats her like a rival. And so as a result, he's not even going to lower himself to it. He's just going to basically make fun of her and disrespect her. Right, well, they won't pronounce her name properly. What was that one, Kamala? Well, yeah, that sounded like Kamala. He's been spelling it Kamabla. Yeah, something like that. And it's just gross. It's like, and by the way, Musk did the same thing. Musk calls Trump, President Trump, and he calls Kamala Kamala. He won't even call her Vice President Harris or anything like that, only give her the proper respect. And there's one thing I hate more about Musk than his person, or his politics and who he is now. His speech pattern is so horrible to try and listen to. And it's so, I would not be able to work for him. I could not be in those kind of meetings where you're trying to wait for him to get through a thought and get there. It was so frustrating to hear, even the minutes at a time, but you actually endured the entire thing strongly. He's an idiot. That's actually, it's incredible. He's done more to show us that billionaires in this environment were more made by the environment than their own work. It's incredible. Speaking of people who do not deserve anything and are disgusting and repulsive, we need to talk about these attacks on Tim Walts, particularly through JD Vance. And I love that they think that Vance, and everybody knows how much I hate JD Vance, people need to also understand that watching Vance crash and burn has been incredible for me, watching it take place. As people listen to this clip, Nick, I want to point out, Dana Bash. And by the way, I just got her name right for the first time. Dana Bash. There, Dana Bash. (audience applauding) Would you agree, Nick, that Dana Bash is not a hard interview? - Huh, let me think. Is she not a hard interview? Well, she did not push back. - Oh, she was wild. She kinda like furrows her brow, right? - Well, but what happens at the end of this answer in which JD Vance is asked about Tim Walts and the weird thing, by the way, and I want to talk about that in a second, I want people to hear this. She cannot hide her antipathy and disgust for JD Vance in this interview. It's actually pretty incredible, but this is him trying to attack Tim Walts. - I had just been announced as a VP nominee. I gave my big speech, and I saw my wife, and I gave her a big hug and a kiss, because I love my wife, and I think that's what a normal person does. Tim Walts gave his wife a nice firm, Midwestern Handshake, and then tried to sort of awkwardly correct for it. So I think that what it is is, two people, Kamala Harris and Tim Walts, who aren't comfortable in their own skin, because they aren't comfortable with their policy positions for the American people, and so they're name calling, instead of actually telling the American people how they're gonna make their lives better, I think that's weird, Dana, but they can call me whatever they want to. - You're saying Tim Walts doesn't have affection for his wife, I don't even understand that. - I said that he acted weirdly, which he did on a national stage in front of his wife and in front of millions of Americans. - I know you are, but what am I? That is the Dana bash. Are you saying that Tim Walts doesn't have affection for his wife, I don't even understand it. Like the JD Vans soul curdling disgustedness, like she can't even hide it, you know what I mean? And by the way, one of the things that I've enjoyed since I've been gone is catching up on the fact they can't lay a glove on them. They can't even get a criticism of Harris or Walts. And by the way, and we'll talk about him in a second, I've been blown away by how perfect of a pick this has been. But there are things that you can say about Tim Walts. Like this is a guy, Nick, he has like a near DUI arrest. Like this, this Iraq stuff that they're trying to push that he left his troops, it's not landing. None of it lands whatsoever. And JD Vans, by the way, if you think he's going to be the one to prosecute your opponents, like it is so impossible for this guy to say anything that anybody around him isn't like, ugh. - It gets worse, Jared. And you know, it's funny because I don't like, I would never have served in the military. I don't feel, I don't know, like for instance, do I'm not even sure I hold it against Donald Trump that he got out of Vietnam? I swear to God, I almost don't know. - I hold it against him how he talks about it, not that he got out of it. - Fair enough, okay. So, but they're using the stolen valor. They're trying to accuse the walls of stolen valor. That in my mind is the equivalent of the N-word or any of the worst groups, or anybody. Because here's a guy that went four years beyond his service required when he did it from the National Guard. He knew, when he filed to retire, it was months before they knew they were going to Iraq. This was not a thing, man. And everyone agreed, you can't really run for Congress and be in the National Guard like this. It's too hard to do both. So, this is how desperate they are. And we keep saying, what's the big mantra? It will always get worse, right? - Real fast Nick, do you know what JD Vance did during the War on Terror? - You know, I saw Full Middle Jacket. I mean, oh, sorry, that was not a great thing. The reason why I mentioned that is because yeah, he was like a journalist, right? He was writing about the experiences. - Let's put heavy scare quotes around journalists. He pushed a pencil. - He pushed a pencil. - He pushed a pencil. And if that asshole wants to degrade a person who served for two decades in the National Guard with honor and by the way, went over to Europe in order to protect military bases during the War on Terror. Like he can go straight to hell. And all of these theatrics, he's done everything from this to trying to confront Harrison Walts on a tarmac and saying that's going to be my plane someday to Air Force II, like none of this works. It doesn't work and they don't have any solutions. They don't have any ideas because they're uncreative reactionary assholes. That's it. And if you want to go after a service, go after a service, but you don't need a pencil pusher to do it. - For sure. And you know what's funny is like, I always talk about this in the last show. You know, I'm actually excited for the first time in a while. I have sort of a built in positive energy out of this whole thing. It could be the print zone from my back, but I think it's also partly Kamala and walls. But like, I think the fever is not quite, you can't say it's broken, right? They haven't broken the fever, but I do think that there's fatigue with this type of campaigning that perhaps in any situation, no matter where you are in history, it just dissipates enough. My dad of all people in, was in Chicago talking to some buddies who are Trumpy. And he's, you know, like, what are they saying now? And they were attacking stolen dollar for walls. That's what they're down to now. Not nothing but Trump and how they want to celebrate that. And I'm like, how can you possibly have an issue with wall service and what he did there? And then, but still support a guy like Trump who got out of his service, right? And then, but their answer was, well, it's because they have vans, then, you know, we have to compare apples to apples. So it has to be the vice presidential candidates have to be compared like that. Not, you know, and separate that in their adult minds. - They'll figure out whatever they need. That's what we've learned. The cognitive dissonance, they'll get rid of it, however they need to do. And when it comes, the stolen baller thing, it's so repulsive to even talk about it. Like, it doesn't work. - How can that get, so I'm always trying to figure out what are they going to do now? Because it's fair to say the stolen dollar is not going to get traction. So what are they going to do next? - That's the question, Nick. And the answer is this. When they run out of ideas, they'll make up things. - Right. - That's it. They'll make up something that they can attack them with. They're already calling, I mean, I'm sorry. Tim Walz, who, by the way, I support as the VP candidate, I'm very, very happy. By the way, thumbs up, we have a ticket that is not Ivy League. Like, we have people who, I mean, he went to man Kato, Nick. He went to man Kato, okay? - No, where's he going? Not even though. Anyway, I know what they're going to do next. What are they going to make up? They're going to Photoshop Walz face over a clinger from Mash in the address. - Well, they'll do something like that. They've already, they're already putting all kinds of things. He's a common, he's a progressive. That's what he is. He's not a socialist, he's not a communist. He's a progressive. Which, by the way, is such a relief. That tells you where our political situation is, that a progressive is like, oh my God, this is a crazy leftist. But like, they can't lay a glove on these people. The only question at this point, Nick, and this is what concerns me, is will a big thing happen? So right now, of course, Ukraine has started invading Russia, which is wild. The Middle East is a tender box. God knows what's going to happen there. Who knows if there will be some sort of a major event in terrorist attack in America? Who even knows? But my question now, like, if it doesn't move, if something doesn't change, the Republican attacks on Harris and Walz are not going to work. It would have to take some kind of major event that would change things. - Great, and forgive me, Kamala went to Howard. - Howard to Howard. Which is an honorary Ivy because it should be. - Okay. And also, you know, flies in the face of the narrative that he really tried to dip his toe into about that she doesn't claim that she's black. Which we haven't talked about when he went in front of the National Association of Black Journalists. - I talked about it because it was literally, it's an old school white supremacist tactic. - Yeah, and you know what? We don't even, I'll leave it there, but it was shocking. Like, I couldn't believe what he was saying and what happened there, what he decided to make work. And I couldn't believe that there were people on that side who were trying to paint it like it was a good appearance. - Well, we need to get to the Harris campaign and the Waltz pick and some of these internal polls and also how the media is reacting 'cause it's repulsive. I just want to say very quickly, Nick, one of the things that is taking place during the sinking ship phase, when you were seeing the far right, including people like Nick Fuentes, the white supremacists, the people who really enjoy what you just brought up. Talking about who's black, who's Indian and all of that shit. They're turning against MAGA. And a large reason that they're turning against MAGA is because they hate the Elon Musk's. They hate the Peter Teals. They see that tech fascists are taking this thing over. They'll make kind and they'll make partnerships with the tech fascists if it helps them, but they don't want MAGA to be taken over by tech fascists. Why Nick? Because the white supremacists, neo-Nazis, want to take it over. They are the ones who want control over. So at this point, they're going to go to war with them, which is what Nick Fuentes and other growers like him are currently doing. - Right. And I think, are they part of the fuel about when you're hearing people say that it's the people running Trump's campaign that are intentionally torpedoing it? - Oh, Nick, absolutely. It's the Jared Kushner put big, big parentheses around globalist, right? They did the exact same thing in 2016 and 2020. I mean, they want to use Trump for the same reason that the tech fascists want to use Trump. - Right. And it's funny because for every person that the Trump campaign can dredge up using hate and fear to vote, they're going to lose like 1.2 voters the other way. It's not like two to one or three to one, but they're going to turn off enough of the voters that they're trying, that they need, where that's why we feel like we've gotten to this sort of intersection or inflection point where it's whatever you want to call it, if it's fatigue, if the fever's broken, whatever, where the desperation is going to ramp up exponentially because they realize that the polling is simply not in their favor. - It's not, and speaking of polling, Nick, I was handed some internal polls by the Democratic Party in a strategist sense. Even the most conservative public polls right now have her up five points. They have her at 50%. The ones that I've taken a look at, depending upon who you're talking to, have her up as many as eight points. She is currently favored not just in every traditional swing state, but we're talking about Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina. And I mean substantially. The Arizona thing is actually shocking that this was able to be done. And I told everybody, like you don't have to worry about getting Mark Kelly on there to try and win Arizona. Like it is, like things have changed. Right now, the estimates have Harris possibly going over 300 electoral votes. Like they are very, very large. We haven't had a chance to talk. The last time we sort of talked the Harris campaign was sort of taking off. We haven't had a chance to talk about this in Walt's edition together. My opinion, and I'll get more of it in a second after we get yours, I think she has grown into this position in an incredible way. I think there's a fatigue what you brought up. People are tired of Donald Trump. They're tired of all this. I don't think a fever is breaking because like even if she wins and she gets a mandate, we're not talking about this thing going away. It will take new shapes and new forms. Don't worry about that. But what are your thoughts so far about the Walt's edition and where the Harris campaign has so far? - I mean, I love it. The only thing I said about Walt's initiative was I kind of wish maybe he's a little bit younger, but he's one year older than her. - Right, right. I mean, you know, remember, you had kind of posited this notion that you can pick someone who's 45, 48, and then you can run the table for 16 years, but I mean, Walt will still be 67 or whatever. If he runs, maybe he won't even run at that point after, you know, if it's kind of like winning twice. But I got to tell you, it's not even the fact that she's up by a point or two or three or here and there. It's the net difference from the day before Biden stopped campaigning or quit to now. That we've never seen a radical shift like that in the middle of a campaign before. So that momentum is even more powerful than whatever the lead is that she has. So even if she's down a point in some of the swing states, she's come back, like the Democrats, you know, generally as a presidential candidate has come back from eight or nine points down in like two weeks, you know what I mean? Like that's unheard of. So, and she's done it perfectly with her, with the rollout and him too. They timed it really well. Remember I was kind of wringing my hands and we don't have enough time to do all this stuff? They timed it pretty well where the Biden steps down, she takes over. Walt comes in a couple of weeks later. Now we have a Democratic convention coming up and then we're gonna roll into the debate and into the thing. This has actually been timed almost perfectly, right? To ride this wave and not have any kind of dips that get back in that horse race notion that we hate so much. - Yeah, so when we were talking about it, as it started to take off, I said there were three momentum points that needed to be nailed, right? The VP pick was perfect. Also, by the way, a little bit of insider reporting, Josh Shapiro didn't wanna be VP. Like that ended up being the thing. And by the way, they're very lucky in that regard that he didn't really want the job. Like, Walt's was the perfect pick. I am delighted and I'm a Midwestern white dude. And I have to tell you, there are good Midwestern white dudes. We are currently seeing one of them as the vice presidential candidate. And by the way, like the narrative of it, Nick, I teared up, I'm not going to lie when I heard about him being not just the football coach but starting the gay straight alliance. That's courage. That doesn't just change a high school. That changes a town. Do you know what I mean? And he did that in the 90s, late 90s. Like, that is courage. That shows like what you're supposed to do. He's dynamite giving speeches. He's overjoyed being out there with her. They make a really formidable ticket. I do not think it has been perfect so far. I will give her props where I will. She gives an incredible speech. She has grown into the role. We talked about how she was sort of put on the back burner with the Biden administration, given terrible jobs. They don't have an agenda yet at all. And I'm saying that is somebody who is on a lot of these strategists calls. And as an organizer who's working with people to try and create an agenda for the future to break the back of neoliberalism. She doesn't have an agenda yet. All they have is an opponent. And by the way, they are spanking Donald Trump and JD Vance at every single stop. They have a shop at this point that isn't held back by Biden and is inside her circle. They know what they're saying. They know how to attack them. When they get the agenda, it will be almost perfect, depending upon what shape it takes. The next thing about it, she's not handling the Gaza thing very well, which I wouldn't be shocked if that circles back around. That needs to be addressed. By the way, today, Thursday, there was a supposed ceasefire meeting between Israel and Hamas. It doesn't sound like that's going to go anywhere. Also, by the way, Joe Biden is the lamest lame duck that I have ever seen. Like, it's incredible. He is just out of the picture completely. Do we know if he's not going to speak of the DNC, correct? - Well, Trump was trying to think it's only he wouldn't, but there's no way he's not going to speak, right? - I don't know that he'll speak. - Wow. I mean, I just can't believe that. - If I had to guess, if I had to guess, Nick, what will happen is they will tape a statement from him. - Oh, right. Okay. - I guess, but that's not going to get taken care of. That's not going to be solved. They need to figure out a way to talk about this thing, but I will say, Nick, they have nailed it. And by the way, while we're talking about this, I want to make a point. There have been lock him up chants at these rallies. She has dispelled them. And she has had the perfect thing, which is let's let the courts take care of it. As we've said, the courts aren't going to take care of it. We don't need people chanting lock him up. We don't need authoritarian tactics. I think she's handled that well. I think she has grown into the position. I think it's been pretty impressive so far. - You know, that's a good point as I saw earlier today on Twitter and I tweeted this out, Biden was speaking. And he said, you know, let me tell you what our project 2025 is. And when he mentioned theirs, everyone who was good. Basically beat the hell out of them was the quote at the end. I don't even think beat the hell out of them is the right way to go either on this. I mean, not that we want to go low. We go high kind of stuff, but like, I feel like now is the time to really go high, you know, really aspire and lift and do the things that are really everyone's channeling into anyway. And I don't necessarily need to hear him or using the rhetoric of that kind of stuff against them because it just, you know, it doesn't, it's not ringing as true as it needs to be. So that'd be the one thing I'd be wary of. And I think Harris and Wallace have been terrific at that. In fact, Wallace has been, you know, complimentary of JD Vance's service, as you should. Like they're, they've been very respectful of that. So I think that they should continue to do that and then continue to hammer them on the policy stuff. - Yeah, I agree. And here's the thing. I actually do think that you do need to be aggressive when you're facing down authoritarianism. I have absolutely no problem with them making fun of Donald Trump and JD Vance. Like I'm sorry, the couch fucker thing is perfect. - Love. - And I've said it before. Why? Because JD Vance looks like a guy who fucks a couch. And he is strange and he is dangerous. You need to undercut him as opposed to giving him power. On top of that, the press releases, the speeches, they have been perfect in terms of neutralizing these people and taking away some of their power. Like you can do that. It's like taking on a bully. Like if you tell a bully to their face, you're a bully, you're pathetic. Like it takes away some of their power because that's why they do what they do is because they are pathetic. They're projecting how they feel in all this stuff. They've nailed this. They've absolutely nailed this thing to the wall so far. - For sure. Now, except the Israel thing is an interesting point. I want to bring up two points. One, I would bet my savings that Donald Trump talked to Netanyahu and said-- - He already did. He already, it's already come out. He did talk to Netanyahu. - Well, we only talked to Netanyahu. I think what they said in that meeting was you better not have a ceasefire before. - Oh no, let me paraphrase it, Nick. Listen, hold on. I'm getting the exact read out of this call. Do not release the hostages in Iran until the day of my inauguration. Oh, I'm sorry. That was something from the, wait, hold on. We don't need a peace deal inside gone. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. That's so weird. I don't know where all this stuff is coming up. Yes, it's absolutely sabotaging all of these things. And Netanyahu is absolutely here for it. It helps him and it helps his bottom line. It's treason. It's wonderful. - Right. And then the last part of it, and I said this before with Biden too, and as they started to dip their toe into this, he's like, she should simply just say, and again, this could be a purely cynical political move, but that's what we're here for. She should say, I will, I will pledge on day one to not send one armament to Israel. - I don't think she can. - She doesn't, she can go back on it. - I agree, but here's the problem, is the Democratic Party is so intractably in this cycle of foreign policy. Like I've said it before, and I want to make it very, very clear, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party are a duopoly in agreement about foreign policy. The only thing that changes at this point is Ukraine, and that's because the Republican Party is absolutely in love with Vladimir Putin and the worldwide international authoritarian movement. In this case, the Democratic Party has a choice, and they need to make that choice, which is, are we going to move away from Bidenism? Are we gonna move away from the old Democratic Party? And are we going to stick up for what's right? And by the way, just to give a preview, like when we are in Chicago, we are going to see the rage of the people who are saying this needs to stop, this needs to end, the Democratic Party needs to change. What shape that takes, what effect that remains to be seen. - And on that flip side, I have a feeling that they've gone through the numbers and realized that however many people who are gonna be upset with the Israeli policy in Michigan, for instance, will not change the election. - Right now, according to internal polls, that is true, which is one of the reasons why we're seeing the perspective on it that we are. - Right, so they could be a little bit more cavalier with their support of Israel and still feel like they'll get Michigan. Now, Michigan is one of those states. I just think if you're looking at the one, as I was studying the math last night, I think it's Pennsylvania. I think it's the 19 electoral college votes they need to get there, and then they can kind of have a firewall across there with Pennsylvania being the center versus anything else. Do you have a feeling for that? - I think Pennsylvania right now is in the back. - Is in the back, I think Pennsylvania is in the back for the Democratic Party. Also, by the way, going back to the old school VP pick, I said this before, Waltz was picked, which is one of the reasons why I thought he was the right pick. Also on top of that is just like, he's more progressive, and I really enjoy that. He seems like a decent dude. I think you get the upper Midwest, and I think that pretty much takes care of it. I think Michigan right now is going to go for the Democrats. I do think it's going to be a lot closer than it needs to be. She needs to have a break in policy. The only thing that's changed a little bit is how the rhetoric is delivered. It's the same rhetoric. It's just delivered a little bit better when it's not Biden, it's somebody else. - People in Florida, by the way, are kind of thinking that there's a movement. We saw the, what's the place? The Oaks, not the Oaks, whatever the-- - The Villages. - The Villages. - I wouldn't be putting any money on Florida going blue. I mean, they are so cooked, man. That state is as cooked as any state. Like Arizona looks at Florida and they're like, "Doo, I don't know." - I'm just looking at Florida on 538. Can I get a handle? I mean, yeah, Trump plus two plus three plus three plus three. So, you know, oh, actually never mind. Oh, no, one of them is plus eight. But yeah, I don't think so either. I think there's too many people who are Trumpy in the panhandle and all sorts of things in Florida that would make it too difficult. But, you know, and whatever happened to Texas. Wasn't Texas supposed to flip blue at some point as the-- - I mean, like they've been like, you know, they've had their voting rights impinged on and all types of things. I will also say, by the way, while we're having this conversation, Nick, I think one of the most telling things that has occurred. Besides the fact that Tim Walts was the perfect VP pick. And by the way, I put my cards on the table. I thought Andy Beshear, Gretchen Whitmer, we're going to be the best picks. But Tim Walts, I think, has been an inspired pick. The media is miserable with this. They can't even like give it where it's to do. We've seen the New York Times, the Washington Post. We've seen all of the major liberal institutions. They're all coming out and basically saying, we're a little concerned about Walts being too left. Also, by the way, Nick, Harris isn't talking to them enough. Like they will tweet 35 to 40 tweets in a threat. Like, we just think she should be talking to the media more. We think it's a real problem. What we are seeing is the liberal media is really revealing itself to not just be centrist, but aggressively centrist. And they're made incredibly uncomfortable by this, which I think needs to be a wake up call for people of exactly what the institutions in this country, what they're about and what they prioritize. - Listen, they're prioritizing the bottom line. They need more-- - The bottom line. - Now, that said, and Kamala has said this as well, that she needs to do the Barbara Walters, whatever she needs to do in interview. - I don't know if Barbara Walters is available to give that interview. - Wait, did she pass away? - Oh, yeah, she passed away. - Well, okay, whoever that is now, let's install whoever is still around. So she needs to do one, right? I think we both agree that there needs to be some major-- - She will after the convention. I'm sure there will be a love parade for her in the media after the convention. - Yeah, and I think she'll do well in that setting too. I mean, I agree, it's just gotta turn the corner on that. I mean, I did see a little troubling answer about the economy at some point a week ago. That kind of reminded me of some stuff, but I don't, I think that is, she's a role that's out as well as she can as she could have as a candidate. And there isn't many, this is the outcome. You couldn't have expected a much better outcome than this amongst all this tumultuousness for sure. - Yeah, no, I do think, and by the way, like listen, the Democratic Party has a long, long history of like shooting themselves in the foot and just like shooting the other foot and then shooting the first foot and then maybe going back and shooting the other foot. This is in spite of the Democratic Party. Back to what we've talked about, which is, there's a generational shift. You have a lot of different people who are coming forward right now as opposed to the old hands. The old hands were conservatives. They are more or less just conservative and right-leaning at this point. And what we're seeing is basically a tug of war over what the Democratic Party will be. Will that translate into policy and an agenda? We don't know yet. This is, and I'm saying this and you know it's true and our listeners know it's true. Every successful political campaign is in essence a cult of personality. It's you get excited about an individual, right? An Obama, a Harris, you name it. Even Trump, I mean, Trump kept the cult of personality, right? In this case, we have a candidate who's exciting people. We now have a ticket that's exciting people. The presentation is fresh. The way they're communicating is fresh. Time will tell whether or not that will shift over to the agenda. I certainly know that myself and others are working on shifting it over into that situation, but we don't know yet. We don't have a clue where this thing is going, but in terms of a very, very abbreviated, accelerated presidential campaign, this thing is running on full state. - Absolutely, yeah. I can't, you know, nothing else from me to add to that one. - Well, all right. Well, before we go Nick, what have you been watching? Tell the people. - Well, I happened to go to a play lesson. What's my name? - You went to the theater. - The theater, yes. I did, I went to the theater, and it was actually an important or a sort of a seminal show in my life growing up, 'cause it was the show Company. - Well, Company is a hoot and a hauler, one of the best. - You seen it? - Yes, I love it. I've seen Company two or three times. - Oh, wow, okay. 'Cause, you know, obviously in my household growing up, we had certain luminaries that we were, you know, we almost had shrines in our house. - Sure. - And when we were like John Madden was one of those, interestingly enough, in the way he broke down football, but Stephen Sondheim was the other, you know, one of the other. - Brilliant. And by the way, Nick, for the record, I know and love many people that for them, Company and Sondheim are on the Mount Rushmore. They are the most important things. What an incredible thing you saw Company. - Yeah, and so here's what's interesting is, I knew all the music could growing up, 'cause it was just always being played. - Bobby baby, Bobby Booby. - Robert Darling, but we haven't, I never saw it. I had never actually seen this show. So I had the whole thing in my head and I kind of was, you know, figuring out, I sort of assumed how it would go. So to actually see it, now you have to remember, in the last couple of years, they radically changed it. So Bobby is now a woman. And if you don't know the story, it's about a 35-year-old in the rental room. And who hadn't committed, he was a bachelor and all of his friends were married and they're kind of trying to convince him that, you know, join us, be married, don't be alone. And, you know, it was also the time when it came out in 1970 where, you know, for decades and decades, you were expected to, you know, get married at 23, have your kids, the whole thing. And then people started to get divorced, right? Late '60s, early '70s, it was right around that time. So it had a lot, it was fraught with a lot of cultural angst, I suppose, at the time. And certainly my parents were, they had been there not newlyweds, basically, but they were, you know, younger married, married a couple when it came out. So this doesn't really resonate as well now. Like a 35-year-old woman, you know, having pressure to get married doesn't, you know, doesn't really have the impact like it probably had then, or it certainly doesn't have it now. And so that was one thing. And then Elaine Strich, who originated in one of the roles, and was my mom's favorite, and just, you know, whenever she appeared at a TV show, she'd always be, you know, just loving and would sing some of the company songs. You know, it's hard to feel those shoes, those shoes were not filled last night, in close. But then to hear being alive, which is the, you know, the climax of the show. - The show's stopper, yeah. - You got to be able to bring it. And she didn't bring it, it was the understudy, first of all. So that was one thing I want to say. And I also wonder, in the context, from my perspective as a male, I just wonder, and I think I've talked to the four, women in my mind, the way I've been raised, women are not people who would shun other people, women are not people who don't know. In my mind, women are people who know how to have relationships, and they know how to-- - I mean, it depends on, you know, the individual, but-- - Yeah, so for me, it was really hard to me. When I see the man doing that, and the man doing all those shitty personality things, and they can't find the connections they can't, and they don't find love, and they reject what they know is good in front of them, that resonates with me more, but also Dean Jones, who did the finale, or did the show, his performance is so amazing, and the emotion that he comes out when he's singing it, can make me really emotional while I'm listening to it, and I didn't get there, I didn't get there frustrated. - I haven't seen the gender-reversed version of "Company," but it's a very important musical to me. I think it's lovely. Were there moments? - There were definitely moments. - And the moment. - I'm not getting married today, which was done by, if you remember the show "Alice," Vera, the funny other waitress, she originated the role on "The Broadway," and it's a fast-talking, and she's manic, and the whole thing, it's hilarious, it's great, they did it with a gay couple this time, and it was equally good and amazing, which tells you that the writing is so good, it almost doesn't matter who the character is, because it's all there for them to perform. So that was a highlight, and then there's a really cool scene that the song "TikTok," where she kind of sees her life in fast forward, going on while she's lying on the bed and moving around her, visually stunning, and by the way, the visuals, the stage design, it was incredible too. So it was good, but it just didn't quite get me there, and I also don't know if the book of the show doesn't necessarily match the amazing songs. Like that was the thing, when I finally put up the actual storyline with the songs that I knew so well, that didn't quite fit with me, and that could be a whole other conversation. So the actual show itself might be a little bit head scratching to me, and fun, I finally actually got to put it together and see it. - I'm happy you got to the theater. - Yes, well, what are you watching? - You, first of all, you seem so much more cultured. Like we logged on here, I was like, Nick got him some culture. - You know, it's funny, 'cause I went to go see another show like this, and someone that ran into me was shocked that I was there, Hollywood Bowls seeing something that was really, and I'm like, like, listen, I was raised on, I love a good musical, I love a good play, I love a good opera, it's so good. - You might not know this, but I was actually in my university's theater production of a chorus line. - That is going to be a topic that we are going to plumb for some kind, at some point, that's fantastic. - That was a legit real deal, like I'm talking like Hollywood, I mean, Broadway choreography and all the things. So anyway, so yeah, I have that in, you know, I'm not just like, you know, it's not just a pretty face, people. - That's right, well, again, enough about me, what were you all-- - Well, so I was in an undisclosed location for 10 days, and I have so much stuff that I consumed that it's hard to get into. I read five books, which was fantastic. One thing that I read, and I haven't talked to you about this, I talked about this on my sub stack, I'll go ahead and put it on here, because it's our community, I've recently discovered that I am autistic, and so it turns out that my obsessions with things like, I don't know, right wing authoritarianism and conspiracy theories, like these are special topics that really interest me, and so I can research them for hours and weeks and months and years. So I read a book Unmasking Autism, which was a really good book to learn that, you know, I'm what they would call high functioning autistic, and it turns out I can mask really well, and I can like have conversations and do all these things and like, you know, do whatever. So that was a good book. I read a bunch of other books. I also read the first book of the Dark Tower series, The Gunslinger. - Oh wow, I never read it. - Are you okay, is that a cry for help? - 300 pages that went down fast. - Wow, okay. - I'll tell you what, Stephen King goes down fast. I also watched four or five movies, I can't remember. - Sweet Home Alabama, which is truly awful. - Well, no, you know this, sometimes you go a place where there are limited options. - Okay. - And you end up watching something that you wouldn't watch otherwise. - Like DPE, like how would you watch that? - We don't have to get into it. I saw source code. - I like source code, you know, I did too. - Oh great, I did too. Adam Sandler's Grown-Ups, which was not as good. - I'm not safe. - M Night Shyamalan's the visit. Oh, Nick, it is truly, truly disturbing. So I consumed a lot of different things, have thought about them a lot. Also, just one weird thing, speaking of my special interest, of like right-wing authoritarianism, the politics of cultural despair, which is about the ideologues and philosophers who preceded national socialism. And Nick, would you believe that they thought that liberalism was out of control, that women had moved out of their proper place, that educators were evil and destructive, they needed to be taken care of. And what did they need? They needed a Caesar-like fearr to put things to right. Weird, it just sounds very, very relatable. - So the theory was that because of all those things happening, we were all becoming depressed? - Well, no, that it was taking advantage of those things, that those are the people who gave the reasons for it. So basically, these things took place in the 19th century in the early 20th century, and that's where the Nazis got their idea and their momentum, which by the way is what happened in America as well, and what has been happening now. - Wow, well, again, that's heavy stuff. And I'm glad that you could, you know, maybe find a little self-reflection, a self-discovery that's always good. - I feel cultured, but I do feel like I've gotten a little bit of... - Well, let me ask you this, do you really think it has to be masking? Is masking have to be the term that you say you were doing? 'Cause or is it just something that you learn to do and who you are? Like, I wonder about that. - Those are different things. Masking is how you learn to sort of hide a little bit and how to fit in a little bit. Like, I had to create just to... We don't have total time to get into this. I had to create a version of myself to go into classrooms and lecture. I had to create a version of myself that went on TV and does things like podcast. And over time, it became me. Do you know what I mean? Like, you sort of learn that. And as you learn it, you sort of grow into it. So what I'm doing now is figuring out like, where does that character in? Where do I begin? And the truth is that they're pretty intertwined. - Yeah, yeah. So it's interesting. And I think we're gonna continue to evolve how this is, you know, viewed and looked at and stuff like that. So it is fascinating to see how that plays out. - Well, I mean, we're in a moment where you have to have self reflection. - Right. Well, you need to understand who you are and why you do the things you do. - And that's how we all interact. Like, you know, it's a dance to figure out, okay, what personality are you? What personality am I? And the better you get at that, the quicker you can get to. Okay, I'm gonna be friends with that person. Or I am not gonna get anywhere near that person. Right? And that's what life is anyway. - That's a little bit, I will say, and I don't wanna blow your mind a little bit, Nick. You're at the end of the weekender, but like, it sounds really familiar. You might look into it like that. That isn't exactly how everybody works. So I do think this is one of the reasons I think that we are friends, is I think that we approach it in a similar way. We gain a very quick insight. There have been times, and I don't wanna pull the curtain back too much. We've been times for you and I have talked to somebody and we've walked away from it and we have the exact same perspective on it. - Yeah, yeah. - And we're like, no, I figured that out pretty quick. And so not everybody does that. It turns out that some people go through life and they don't think about that shit all the time. - Fair enough. Yeah, I actually developed also a lot of coaching because when-- - Yeah, for sure. Yeah. - I need to, the quicker I can figure that out and slot that in and the quicker I can then communicate in a way where they can excel. - Again, Nick, not to blow your mind, but I think that one of your special interests is basketball and improving basketball. One of the reasons you were able to come up for, and we don't have to get into the totality, like you came up with a new defense that nobody had thought of before. It's possible because you have a different perspective than what a lot of other people have. - That is undisputed, I will agree with that, so. - And that is one of the reasons why this podcast rolls on and why we are friends and why we have this community. We are so grateful for you. Reminder, people listening to this free preview of the Weekender, you can listen to this every Friday. Like every Friday as you're going to work, as you're at the gym, as you're going home, you can listen to the, on the weekend, I'm O The Yard, listen to the podcast, you probably know the Yard, listen to the podcast. Like, just go ahead, go to patreon.com/microgridpodcast. On top of that, you're going to want the exclusive coverage and analysis from the Microgrid Podcast at the DNC. That will start taking place starting on Tuesday after we react to Monday's first night. In the meantime, everybody, you can find Nick at Kineerumia, so I'd say it's good to be back. Be safe, have a good weekend. (dramatic music) [MUSIC PLAYING]
