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more at breezeline.com I

4:02

know how to do this job. I

4:05

know how to get things done. When

4:08

you get knocked down, you get back up. So

4:16

a lot of Chubba Wumba fans

4:18

here tonight. I

4:24

love that. Donald

4:27

Trump had a bit of a different take at his

4:29

rally in Virginia. Let's listen. The

4:31

question every voter should be asking

4:33

themselves today is not whether Joe

4:35

Biden can survive a 90-minute debate

4:37

performance, but whether America can survive

4:39

four more years of crooked Joe

4:42

Biden in the White House. Yeah,

4:47

you can boo that. All

4:49

right, Mehdi. Well,

4:52

so a lot of our listeners, they've already heard our

4:54

takes on the debate. So I'm going to start

4:56

with you. I want you to

4:58

know I don't enjoy doing this, but yesterday before the

5:01

debate, you tweeted. I

5:05

think Republicans will regret setting the bar so low

5:07

for Biden and helping spread the distorted image of

5:10

him as a guy who is totally out of

5:12

it, suffering from dementia, no grip on reality, no

5:14

ability to speak. Any

5:16

updates there? John,

5:20

it's even worse because there was an extra line at

5:22

the end of the tweet that said, it's a very

5:24

low bar for him to clear. The

5:28

update is that the bar was not clear. It was not

5:30

clear. The update was that I am

5:32

someone ... The reason I wrote that tweet, John,

5:34

is because for several months, actually for several years,

5:36

when I was at MSNBC for three years, I

5:38

did a lot of monologues, a lot of segments

5:40

saying the age thing. It's not as big as

5:42

people say. Yes, he's old, but that can't be

5:44

the defining issue when you're up against a

5:47

deranged, narcissistic fascist who

5:49

tried to steal democracy. And

5:51

I said for a few weeks since I left

5:53

MSNBC, same position. In the last few months, we

5:56

had all these distorted videos from Fox to TikTok

5:58

nonsense. It's like, come on, this is bullshit. And

6:01

then last night happened. And

6:03

I can't say that anymore. And

6:06

from like 901, I couldn't say that anymore.

6:09

I don't know what I was watching. Because as

6:11

I say, I wrote the tweet, I thought this

6:13

should be straightforward. I don't know what I

6:15

was watching. The inability

6:17

to finish whispered sentences, the deer

6:19

in the headlights. The inability

6:21

to, actually my biggest complaint about last night

6:23

was separate to age or abilities. I

6:26

want a presidential candidate who is going

6:28

to batter Donald Trump because Donald Trump

6:30

is for the battering. And I-

6:35

And he didn't do well. Like

6:37

Donald Trump turned in

6:39

a terrible performance. Yes, by any, he

6:41

turned in the second worst debate performance

6:45

we have seen in 2024. RFA

6:47

erasure. Joe

6:50

Biden lost a debate to a guy last

6:52

night who when he was asked about climate

6:54

change said, we had H2O. That

6:58

is what he said. I took that note.

7:00

I had notes on the debate. And so I would once in

7:02

a while type out something that Donald Trump said. And then every

7:04

time Joe Biden would speak, I

7:06

would just type, Jesus Christ. He

7:10

said we had H2O. And Joe Biden,

7:12

of course, passed the biggest

7:14

climate investment in American history. And

7:16

yet, Donald Trump said we had

7:19

H2O not in a whisper and

7:21

with a great confidence. And

7:23

therefore, he wins the debate. And I'm not OK with that.

7:25

But you have to live in the world as it is,

7:27

not as the world was we want it to be. And

7:29

that's why I think it is a real problem for the

7:31

Democrats now to have Joe Biden over the next few months.

7:33

I have not said that until now. I'm not somebody who's

7:35

going to get rid of him, get rid of him. After

7:37

last night, I have to be honest and say, I don't

7:39

know how we continue like this. Yeah. Tommy,

7:43

let's talk about the Biden campaign's reaction

7:46

and strategy going forward. You

7:48

heard the president's speech in Raleigh. The campaign

7:51

also says that after the debate, they had

7:53

their best hour of fundraising yet. They've raised

7:55

$14 million since last night. They

7:57

are claiming that their own focus groups in Poland

8:00

look better and other

8:02

than that full speed ahead. What

8:04

do you think of their strategy and sort

8:07

of Biden's message at the rally where he

8:09

acknowledged what happened? Yeah,

8:11

so we all watched the rally.

8:13

I think it was good that

8:15

in his remarks I think President Biden acknowledged

8:18

the obvious which is that last night didn't go

8:20

well. It was sort of an oblique reference to

8:22

it but he acknowledged it. It

8:24

was smart to do a big rally to show

8:26

some energy behind a campaign that could use it

8:28

right now. I think Biden was

8:30

able to deliver some lines at this North Carolina

8:33

event that they probably wanted him to land last

8:35

night. So maybe that will help

8:37

kind of shape the narrative on the margins, but

8:39

we'll see. But I do think

8:41

we have to be honest about

8:43

some big challenges. The first of

8:45

which is exponentially more people

8:47

will watch the debate last night and

8:50

the coverage of that debate than will

8:52

ever see this rally. And that's just

8:54

an unfortunate fact. The second is

8:56

I just, we're grading on a curve here. Yeah.

8:59

We're comparing a rally today

9:01

to a very bad performance the

9:03

other night. And if you

9:06

really dig into the performance, like Biden is sticking

9:08

with some lines that I feel like just don't

9:10

really work. I don't know what's going on with

9:12

the alley cat comparison. Why

9:14

are we attacking unhoused cats? You

9:17

know what I'm saying? I didn't know they were,

9:20

they're known for their bad morality. Yeah, lack of

9:22

morality, I didn't know. They

9:24

live in the fucking alley. What

9:27

do you be grudging them? Look at

9:29

that immoral alley cat going through my

9:31

garbage. What do you want it

9:34

to do? The Supreme Court criminalized them living in

9:36

those alleys just this morning. Now

9:38

we're going after a bunch of unhoused alley

9:40

cats. All

9:43

cats are serial killers.

9:46

I had cats, I love cats. They

9:48

would leave dead bodies on our doorstep

9:50

all the time. If you die in your

9:53

home, they will eat you. I don't want

9:55

to live in a world where rich cats

9:57

are held to one set of fucking rules.

12:01

But I would like the media to be talking about this. I

12:03

would like the Democrats to be talking about this. I would like

12:05

Trump to be put on the spot for what he plans to

12:07

do in terms of putting the military on the streets and ripping

12:10

families apart, et cetera, et cetera, like

12:12

firing half the government. And,

12:14

you know, we have to ask some questions about the

12:17

CNN debate coverage as well, right? I'm not

12:19

gonna defend Joe Biden's performance, but it took them

12:21

39 minutes to mention the fact

12:23

that the guy on stage is a convicted criminal.

12:26

I would argue that should have been 39 seconds into

12:28

the debate. I know, but like they

12:30

probably, I am sure that Jake and

12:32

Dana were like, well, Joe

12:35

Biden is debating a convicted felon. He's

12:38

probably going to bring that up on

12:40

his own, relatively early in the debate,

12:43

since no presidential candidate has ever debated

12:45

a convicted felon before. Biden failed in

12:47

that. And we could park that

12:49

and say Biden failed at that, but the media's role

12:51

there as ever. I mean, I've spent nine years trying

12:53

to stop the normalization of Donald Trump in our media.

12:56

I spent the last three years trying to stop the

12:58

rehabilitation of Donald Trump in our media. I have failed

13:00

miserably at both tasks. And I think last night's debate

13:02

was evidence that Donald Trump is standing up there in

13:05

a first debate since he was impeached for trying

13:07

to overturn American democracy, since he was found guilty

13:09

for financial crimes, since he was adjudicated as a

13:11

rapist by a judge in a civil trial. And

13:13

we opened with, what about the economy, as if

13:16

this is like any other presidential debate. What

13:18

the hell? And by the way, John

13:21

very kindly said, I'm

13:24

a guy who likes to debate, I do.

13:26

That was not a debate. You can't moderate

13:28

a debate if you're not moderating. There has

13:30

to be some kind of fact checking. Donald

13:32

Trump can't say, hey, they're trying to kill

13:34

babies in Virginia, and then you go, thank you. Over

13:36

to you, Joe Biden. What the? I

13:38

just don't. I just like, I fundamentally

13:41

disagree with what we watch. There were

13:43

plenty of times in that debate, multiple

13:46

times the moderators followed up, the question was

13:48

about the child tax credit, or the question

13:50

was about would you accept the election. I

13:52

think they went back and forth. I

13:54

just think like, sure, in a debate,

13:57

a live fire exercise like that, are they gonna

13:59

follow up? at every moment, no. But I

14:01

do not believe any change in how

14:03

that debate was moderated

14:06

would have changed the outcome. Because ultimately, that was

14:08

not a failure of moderation. That was a failure

14:10

of Joe Biden. There were plenty of moments where

14:12

Joe Biden didn't do the basics. Agree. That shouldn't

14:14

have been up to the moderator. It wasn't their

14:16

job to discover in real time that the person

14:18

that showed up wasn't the Joe Biden of the

14:20

State of the Union, but something much, much worse.

14:23

And the reality is, I think Tommy's right, we are grading

14:25

on a curve. And you know what? That would be OK.

14:27

We could accept that the best Joe Biden we could get

14:29

was maybe the Joe Biden at the rally or the Joe

14:32

Biden at the State of the Union, but not when the

14:34

worst Joe Biden we have ever seen

14:36

showed up at the most important moment in this campaign.

14:39

That is the problem. It's not that his best isn't

14:41

good enough. It's that his worst is too low for

14:43

us to potentially get out of it. I don't know

14:45

how to get out of that. But we just have

14:47

to be honest about it. Yeah.

14:53

Love it. You'll be shocked to learn that Republicans are feeling great.

14:57

They're kind of just stepping back, eating popcorn

14:59

while the news cycle plays out and

15:02

the terrible debate clips make the rounds.

15:04

Though Speaker Mike Johnson and others are

15:06

calling the cabinet to remove Biden from office

15:09

using the 25th Amendment, it seems

15:11

like that's gilding the lily. But

15:13

what are you thinking? What did you make of

15:16

Trump's rally? You

15:18

know, one of the points Trump

15:20

made in his rally was like, oh, it's not about

15:22

how old Joe Biden is. It's about his incompetence. Because

15:24

he is well aware that he doesn't have to do

15:27

any work on the question of whether

15:29

or not Joe Biden is too old. Because Joe Biden

15:31

is doing that work for him. There's a moment where

15:33

Trump was shit-talking Joe Biden by doing a golf swing

15:35

and saying, let's see Joe Biden do

15:37

that. This is a victory

15:39

lap because he's winning. I mean,

15:42

it wasn't a draw. And we needed better than a

15:44

draw. So of course they're going around and crowing. Of

15:46

course they're going to do the same 25th Amendment shtick

15:48

that we did. They're having a great fucking time. It's

15:51

a great time. Don't you think Trump's like, hey, guys,

15:53

chill with the whole 25th Amendment thing? Yeah. Let's

15:56

just wait this out and let this thing play out for

15:58

a minute. You think he doesn't want to? I

16:01

think he probably is pretty happy with the state of the race.

16:03

I think Donald Trump is

16:05

the master of the hashtag every accusation is a

16:07

confession right? So he's mastered everything he's ever said

16:09

is taken from the other side. Fake news began

16:11

as something about right-wing media he weaponized it to

16:14

make it about the media and of course if

16:16

somebody accused him of you know we know that

16:18

his own cabinet were considering the 25th, he loves

16:20

this shit. He probably told him go put it

16:22

out there 25th Amendment. He didn't want him to

16:24

go through with it. Yeah I saw

16:26

some Republican tell reporter like maybe we went a

16:28

little too far because we didn't bind to be

16:31

bad but not so bad we get someone

16:33

else right? Well that's that's I was wondering that too. I

16:35

right I mean I think there there it's a little be

16:37

careful with there a little bit of caught the car here

16:40

because of how bad it was but I do think it's worth

16:42

pointing out a distinction because you

16:45

know I've seen people compare the democratic

16:47

reaction to Joe Biden to internal Republican

16:49

concerns that they've had about Donald Trump

16:51

but there's an important distinction which

16:53

is I think Democrats right now

16:56

they're nervous and scared for the country because they

16:58

understand the stakes of this election and I think

17:00

that leads some people to believe the right thing

17:02

to do is to embrace Joe Biden and continue

17:05

on this path and others that believe that we

17:07

needed open convention but the one thing we're not

17:09

is scared of each other. Republicans were afraid to

17:11

question Donald Trump not because they cared about the

17:14

country but because they were afraid of Donald Trump

17:16

because they believed Donald Trump was a threat not

17:18

just to the country but to their own safety

17:20

that if they were honest about the threat Maga

17:23

posed they would face physical intimidation that they'd be

17:25

have to worry for their families if they would

17:27

get death threats and I do think part of

17:29

what is I think good about this moment is

17:32

that we are reacting to this with like good

17:34

old fashion democracy and having this open conversation collectively

17:36

trying to figure out what the best thing to

17:38

do is but are we are we doing that

17:41

because you're right there is there

17:43

is the threat you know Joe Biden's not gonna

17:46

send people out to try and kill you or

17:48

incite you know your death but the conversation

17:51

is it really happening and we're

17:53

trying we're trying but but

17:55

like not a senior level you're right this

17:57

morning everyone's like it has to be Jill

26:00

a presidential candidate on the ballot could, because Trump will be

26:02

on the ballot, could affect turnout

26:04

for shared brown and congressional races there.

26:06

So that is an important wrinkle. Now,

26:09

what happens if Biden were to decide

26:12

afterwards? Would the DNC

26:14

actually scarily explored this

26:17

in 2016 when Hillary Clinton had that

26:19

incident on 9-11, when she had a

26:21

concussion, and would

26:24

the DNC members would get

26:26

together and pick a new nominee?

26:28

Now, that person would almost certainly be Kamala

26:30

Harris, because it would be the one person

26:33

who had been ratified by a majority of

26:35

the delegates as vice president. But so they

26:37

have the power to change it. Now, it's

26:40

even more complicated if the states have printed their ballots.

26:44

Because we've had situations in the past like in

26:46

2000 when the government of Missouri died in a

26:48

plane crash, his name was on the

26:50

ballot. And he ended up winning.

26:52

His wife said she would fill his seat. So

26:55

you could be in a world if that were to happen.

26:57

Biden could still be on the ballot, but not running for

26:59

president. But a vote for Biden could elect.

27:02

So it's complicated. Democracy.

27:04

Everybody feels good. How's

27:07

that? That good? Yeah. Happy Friday. You're

27:09

thinking about it. All right. When

27:12

we come back, we are

27:14

bringing out your governor, Maura

27:16

Healy. Potty

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at cedarpoint.com. Welcome

29:49

back. So

29:53

we are in Boston to help launch

29:55

our new book, Democracy or Else. Seems

30:00

like, uh, else is winning

30:02

right now, but that's okay. Um, but

30:06

because Tommy and I are proud assholes... Uh... CHEERING

30:14

We're always looking for an excuse to come back home. Uh,

30:17

and we are especially excited to

30:19

be here right now. Uh, that

30:22

you've elected a fantastic Democrat to

30:24

represent the Commonwealth again. Please welcome

30:26

to the stage, your governor, Maura

30:28

Healy. CHEERING

30:36

Oh my God. This is

30:39

the best thing ever. Are you kidding me? CHEERING

30:46

Thank you. Holy shit,

30:48

there's a lot of sugar in this. Oh

30:52

my God. Not enough for me. This reminds

30:54

me of the summer I spent, uh, the

30:56

summer between high school and college. I

30:59

painted the exterior of houses, and

31:01

I would get... Duncan

31:03

this tall, extra sugar, triple cream, you know, kind

31:05

of... Yeah. ...white goop up

31:07

to here. So thank you very much. It's hard to paint

31:09

at ten o'clock at night, because you'd still be up. Exactly.

31:12

Governor, I will tell you what this reminds me of.

31:14

A couple hours ago. LAUGHTER

31:18

Because I have had four

31:20

of these since we've been in Boston. LAUGHTER It's

31:23

amazing. And you had like six in New York, too. Six

31:26

in New York, too. I love Duncan Donuts. John

31:28

postmates Duncan Donuts to his house in Los Angeles.

31:30

I do. He like

31:32

lives and dies. And you know what I postmate the

31:34

coffee with? This exact donut, because my son Charlie is

31:36

obsessed with this donut. So thank you. Thank

31:39

you. This is amazing. Well, good for Charlie.

31:41

Welcome home, guys. Thank you. Let's

31:44

welcome these guys back to Massachusetts. CHEERING Honestly,

31:49

right? North Reading? We have North Reading

31:51

in the house? North

31:54

Reading? Yeah. All right. Here

31:57

we go. And Worcester? Hornet.

31:59

And datum. Datum.

32:05

What's up datum? Amazing. How

32:08

are ya? I said datum, not

32:10

Dover. Oh no, datum, I'm datum.

32:12

My mom's Dover. Alright,

32:17

so I want to start with a topic I

32:19

know you must be as excited as we are to talk about. Last

32:22

night's debate. So, I love

32:25

Joe Biden, I support Joe Biden. I

32:28

am eternally grateful to Joe Biden for

32:31

defeating Donald Trump and for accomplishing

32:33

just an amazing number of

32:35

things as president. As

32:42

you just heard us talk about, what I am

32:44

worried about is Joe Biden's

32:47

ability to defeat Donald Trump again. What

32:49

about Joe Biden's performance last night

32:52

makes you confident that he can beat Donald

32:54

Trump again? Well,

32:57

how about those Celtics? See, yeah,

33:00

that would have been easier. No, I mean,

33:02

I think what we've got to remember here,

33:04

this is about defeating Donald Trump. And for

33:06

all of Joe

33:08

Biden's failures last night, it was

33:10

a big fail. I mean, that was horrible, it was

33:12

tough to watch. We also had

33:15

standing next to him, somebody who

33:17

just repeatedly lied, and actually, if

33:19

you weren't so distracted watching Joe

33:21

Biden and listened, what he said

33:23

was downright scary. So, I think,

33:25

John, part of what gives me

33:27

confidence is that this is about

33:29

defeating Donald Trump. What he

33:31

says he will do, what he's talked about. Because

33:33

if there's one thing we know from the Trump

33:35

years, as the guy who brags to

33:38

this day about overturning Roe, when

33:40

he says something, he's going to

33:42

do it. So, I think that's where

33:45

we are right now, and we need to settle

33:47

from the other night, but

33:49

continue to really press on what this is about. And

33:51

this is about keeping Donald Trump out of the Oval

33:53

Office. Yeah, no, for sure.

33:58

And I think it's also about getting the Democrats to

34:00

do it. It's also about talking about what has happened

34:02

the last few years that has been good. People's

34:05

rights and freedoms have been protected. We're

34:07

on a new course. We see the

34:09

benefit of it here in Massachusetts, where

34:11

we are home to North America's first

34:13

utility scale offshore wind facility. All of

34:15

that is happening because Joe

34:18

Biden in that administration is standing

34:20

up a climate economy. So these are some

34:22

of the good things that we really need

34:24

to be focused on and talking about, and

34:27

that are very important. I mean, look at

34:29

the healthy economy. How many students are worried

34:31

about debt right now? How many young people

34:33

can't afford homes right now? Joe Biden's building

34:35

homes. He's relieving student debt, right? He's finding

34:37

ways to grow salaries. We've got a problem

34:39

with inflation, no doubt, right? But we had

34:41

a heck of a lot to come out

34:44

of and to come through. Yeah, and he's

34:46

done an incredible job, and he's

34:48

clearly a better choice on every single issue.

34:50

A couple other New England Democrats were asked

34:52

about this today. Senator

34:54

Jean Shaheen said, we'll

34:57

let the process play out. Senator Jack

34:59

Reed from Ryland said, it's Joe Biden's decision.

35:02

If Joe Biden called you and asked for your

35:04

advice and said, you know, I'm not sure what

35:06

I should do. Should I stay in? Should I

35:08

not? What would you tell Joe Biden? You

35:11

know, the one thing I think I believe

35:13

so deeply about Joe Biden is that

35:15

he is a true patriot. He loves

35:18

this country, and he's a thoroughly decent

35:20

human being. I don't think it's about

35:22

telling Joe Biden anything. Okay,

35:31

okay. So Governor, you kind

35:33

of, you tick through some

35:35

of President Biden's accomplishments that helped

35:37

younger voters, but you know, it's

35:39

a fact that the Biden campaign

35:41

is doing very well with

35:43

people over 65, but is struggling

35:45

badly with younger voters. How

35:48

do you think the campaign should tweak its

35:50

message or its policy to

35:52

make sure that they're appealing to

35:54

Bill Belichick and his girlfriend? Ouch.

36:09

Ouch. You

36:13

got this guy. You know, we got this

36:16

new guy though. This is Gerard Mayo. Great

36:18

coach. Great coach. Good things. You know, we're

36:20

just going to build on winning streaks here.

36:23

You know, I don't know, more .5s maybe?

36:26

I think

36:28

it's about talking to the

36:31

issues. I mean, this is about defeating Donald Trump.

36:33

But I'll tell you the one thing we have

36:35

to do is remind young people what

36:38

this is about. Young people care about the economy. They

36:40

actually want to be able to afford a house. They

36:42

want to be able to afford to have a kid,

36:44

right? They want to be able to grow in a

36:47

career and in opportunities. And

36:49

Donald Trump's the guy who all he

36:51

did was cut taxes for the very,

36:53

very wealthy. It's been

36:55

Democrats who've been finding ways

36:57

to relieve student debt, to build more

37:00

housing, to support the middle class. It's

37:02

Donald Trump who wants to raise costs,

37:04

including by doing things like cutting Social

37:07

Security and cutting Medicare, which are for

37:09

an older population. But those are also

37:11

people's parents, right? So if you're young,

37:14

you care about the economy. You care

37:16

about healthcare. You sure care about access

37:18

to reproductive healthcare. Did you

37:21

know in Worcester, John knows this.

37:23

John's been a lot of time at

37:25

the cross. We love Bob Coosie.

37:29

Do you know what else Worcester

37:32

produced other than the amazing

37:34

fabs? The

37:37

birth control pill. You got it.

37:39

So young people, you

37:42

know, young people actually care about things

37:44

like having access to contraception and healthcare

37:46

generally. And they care a lot about

37:48

climate. They care a lot about climate

37:50

and they are not going to be

37:52

well served by somebody who is just

37:54

going to allow billionaires and fossil

37:57

fuel CEOs to write a check and determine

37:59

in the fate of this country and this

38:01

planet. That's what young people have to know.

38:06

Did Clarence Thomas go to Holy Cross? He

38:08

did. Yeah. Me

38:11

and Clarence Thomas and Bill Simmons. When it

38:13

comes to birth control, Worcester giveth and taketh

38:15

away, I suppose. Tough,

38:19

tough but fair. Apologies.

38:22

So, Governor, you recently sent a team down

38:24

to the border to basically educate migrants about

38:26

the lack of space in homeless shelters here

38:28

in Massachusetts. For those who don't know, I

38:31

believe Massachusetts is the only state in the

38:33

country that has a right

38:35

to shelter law. I believe it

38:37

was passed in 1983 by Governor

38:40

Dukakis. An incredibly kind, decent, empathetic

38:43

effort that I think has

38:45

been overtaken by events because

38:47

of changes in migration. What

38:49

does it say to you about how

38:51

broken our immigration system is when the

38:53

governor of a state has to send

38:56

delegates to essentially say, please don't come

38:58

to our state because it might overwhelm

39:00

the services? How can you

39:02

even address that? Yeah, Tommy, well, this is not

39:05

a new issue. Most recently,

39:07

it's Republicans in Congress who

39:09

passed twice, failed to take

39:11

action on necessary border reform,

39:13

immigration reform that would have

39:15

included relief for states like

39:17

Massachusetts that are now having

39:19

to house this extraordinary number

39:21

of new migrants because

39:24

of the geopolitical situation and the violence in

39:26

other countries. So

39:29

that's just a damn shame, right? That there was

39:31

a path, there were things that were going to

39:33

be done. So I support the

39:35

president's executive action. I think that's absolutely

39:37

necessary. And what I've said here, and

39:39

I'm proud of the people of Massachusetts

39:41

because we have found ways

39:43

to house people, but we've reached

39:46

full capacity here. The

39:48

good news is we've been able to process people

39:50

for work permits. So about 3,700 out of 4,000

39:52

have been processed for work permits. They're

39:56

working now. They're

39:58

taking ESL. Right? And they're

40:01

here lawfully. And, you know, that's... But

40:03

I wanted to send folks to the

40:05

border because I needed to communicate to

40:08

service providers and others there that the

40:10

situation here in Massachusetts. And, you know,

40:12

we are a humane people and we

40:14

are humane state, but we don't

40:16

want people coming here if we're not gonna be able

40:18

to safely house them. And that's where we're at. But

40:20

what needs to happen is that this is

40:22

a federal issue. The federal government and Congress

40:24

needs to act. And if you put governors

40:27

in the room and they were honest with

40:29

you, Republican and Democrat, we'd sort this out

40:31

because, you know, we know what needs to

40:33

happen, but there's a lack of political world

40:36

right now and a lot of,

40:39

obviously, politics and gamesmanship. And it's ridiculous

40:41

because people are paying the price. So...

40:45

So... So... So... So...

40:48

You mentioned some of what you've been doing

40:50

around the issue of abortion. You recently asked

40:53

healthcare providers in the state

40:55

to stockpile doses of abortion medication.

40:58

You said this week... Yeah. You

41:00

said... Uh... You

41:04

said this week that if Trump and

41:06

Republicans in a possible Trump

41:08

administration actually enact a national

41:10

abortion ban, that you would

41:12

absolutely not enforce it in the state. Uh...

41:15

How, um... How

41:36

confident are you that

41:39

could withstand legal challenges

41:41

and a potential future

41:44

administration that has talked about,

41:46

like, sending federal agents and

41:48

troops into recalcitrant blue states

41:50

that don't pay attention to

41:52

what they wanna do on

41:54

abortion, immigration? How are you

41:56

thinking about that? Well, I'm

41:58

just thinking about what's right, you know? And

42:00

I can wear my old hat as

42:02

an attorney general and talk about protecting

42:04

the freedom of choice, the freedom of

42:06

bodily autonomy. I mean, how outrageous is

42:08

it that right now, because of Donald

42:10

Trump and what he said he would

42:13

do, which he then did in overturning

42:15

Roe, one in three American

42:17

women live in a state with an abortion

42:19

ban? I mean, it's outrageous. So I

42:22

think my job is to make sure in

42:24

Massachusetts, you know, after Dobbs, we stockpiled doses

42:26

of Miffy. So we have those for years

42:28

to come, because I want women here protected.

42:31

We passed laws to make sure

42:33

that patients and providers here and

42:35

elsewhere were protected. And yes, this

42:37

week I issued an executive order,

42:40

knowing this case was up and coming out of

42:42

the Supreme Court, that said, in

42:45

Massachusetts, let's be clear, any

42:47

woman who needs emergency care,

42:50

including emergency abortion care, hospitals

42:53

are going to provide it and insurers are going

42:55

to cover it. That is the way it's going

42:57

to continue to be. So I.

43:02

I. I. I.

43:05

I. I. I.

43:08

I. I. I.

43:11

I. I. I. I.

43:15

I. I. I. I.

43:19

I. I. I.

43:21

I. I. I.

43:25

I. I. I.

43:28

I. I. I.

43:33

I. I.

43:38

I. I. I.

43:44

I. I.

43:48

I. I. I.

43:51

I. I. I. I.

43:55

I. I. I.

43:59

It. Do you ever get sick

44:01

of riding on duck boats? Good

44:06

times that We've

44:09

been so blessed right? Yes

44:12

Is that is the duck boat maintenance bill like

44:15

through the roof you gotta get some budget cuts

44:17

It's the tires, you know, they

44:19

wear Seriously, you were telling

44:21

us upstairs how much you love

44:23

this Celtics team how fun it was to be

44:26

out with them I mean just talk about it because you're you are

44:28

a You are a basketball fan.

44:30

You are a basketball player So

44:33

you understand the sport you've lived and bled on

44:35

the court with folks like tell us what this

44:37

team meant to you My god, well, who's

44:40

from Massachusetts here, right? Yes,

44:42

I Mean this team

44:44

was awesome and and they're they're just to

44:46

a person such incredible humans. They're out in

44:48

the community They're doing all sorts of things

44:50

But what I loved about this team and

44:52

it reminds me of 86 too

44:55

and you're too young But we have these

44:57

guys bird. That's that's Larry Bird Parrish

45:01

and McHale and and age and DJ these

45:03

guys and there were superstars But on any

45:05

given night people were ready to step up

45:07

and play and with this team, it was

45:09

the same thing You know, we had all

45:11

these people who were like any given night

45:13

Somebody was ready to show and so the

45:16

other thing I like about this team is it's really

45:18

hard if you're number one and you're at the top

45:21

to go into the playoffs with that pressure

45:23

and perform the way they did and It's

45:26

super cool. They're they're built for

45:28

success. So hopefully we'll

45:31

give them a break and We're

45:33

done our red Sox that are

45:35

patriots and our does then soon

45:37

it'll be Back in

45:40

the garden the cells. So I

45:42

saw that a couple weeks ago you named

45:44

I think was June 12th Tom

45:46

Brady day you said he issued

45:49

a proclamation that he was a goat We love goat

45:51

debates here and I guess we're sports media for the

45:53

next six minutes None

45:57

of our listeners know what the fuck we're talking about really it's

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1:08:00

Dan, is it difficult hearing an argument like

1:08:02

this from someone like Mehdi when you

1:08:04

find out that he

1:08:06

has the food

1:08:09

taste of a four-year-old child and has never tasted

1:08:12

sushi and has literally never had a fucking

1:08:14

smoothie in his life? How can a person

1:08:16

that incurious about the world be

1:08:20

someone we take seriously in a debate as important

1:08:22

as this? I,

1:08:24

for one, do not want to delve into personal attacks here. I don't want to

1:08:26

end this on sort of our version of

1:08:30

the great golf handicap debate of 2024. I

1:08:33

would like to respond to John's idea about media

1:08:35

coverage because I think he has it backwards. I

1:08:38

personally do not subscribe to the Kim Kardashian theory that

1:08:40

all press is good press. And

1:08:44

what I would say is, the problem is

1:08:46

not that the... Like, maybe we have

1:08:48

a great open convention and there are great candidates and

1:08:50

it's very friendly, but the problem

1:08:52

of the seven weeks where Donald Trump

1:08:54

is running unopposed is that

1:08:56

there is no attention on Donald Trump. Every

1:08:59

single moment of press is

1:09:01

on us. It's who is Gretchen and

1:09:26

it's 90 minutes last night was a chance

1:09:28

to go after Trump and they blew the

1:09:30

90 minutes last night. And you keep saying,

1:09:32

well, the people voted, the people voted. I

1:09:34

dare you to ask all those people to

1:09:36

vote again this morning after what they watched

1:09:38

last night. It's just not the same thing.

1:09:41

We're in a very different place. People saw

1:09:43

the car crash in front of their eyes.

1:09:45

I understand that. I respect that. I

1:09:48

respect your food choices as well. I think

1:09:50

they're yours. Oh, on food choices. They're your

1:09:52

choices. I am not going to be lectured

1:09:54

on food choices by the side that is

1:09:57

promoting the ice cream guy for another four

1:09:59

years. We know you want to mulligan. We

1:10:01

have that much in common. We love our

1:10:04

issues. You know you want to mulligan, but

1:10:06

Joe Biden just hits big, sweet, long drives.

1:10:08

And that's what we're going to keep doing

1:10:10

here. And I think that that's a beautiful

1:10:13

place to leave this very, actually genuinely interesting

1:10:15

and passionate debate. I think

1:10:17

that actually did a great job of representing

1:10:20

the fact that anyone who says

1:10:22

this is easy or that we

1:10:25

shouldn't have this debate is

1:10:27

not being honest. And

1:10:31

that's it. I

1:10:34

want you all to know we've had this debate many

1:10:36

times. I could have argued. We all could have argued

1:10:38

the other side too. We have. Absolutely. Because it really

1:10:40

is. That is how tough

1:10:42

the choice is. And that is how good

1:10:44

the arguments are on both sides. It is

1:10:46

very difficult situation, which is why we've talked

1:10:48

about having this in public. Because I think

1:10:51

people who deeply believe that we should stick

1:10:53

with Joe Biden, I get it. I totally

1:10:55

respect it. People who think, no, we need

1:10:57

to, he should step down. I totally get

1:10:59

that too. We're in a fucking tough space.

1:11:01

Find people on both sides. As I

1:11:03

think. That is my, yeah. That's the

1:11:05

key thing here. No labels. When

1:11:09

we come back, a game. When

1:11:21

disaster strikes, we think of all who are

1:11:23

directly impacted. Whether it's a natural

1:11:25

disaster like a snowstorm, or a

1:11:27

man-made disaster like what Kanye did to that mansion

1:11:29

in Malibu. All

1:11:36

right, not an architecture TikTok. Well,

1:11:41

we think of almost everyone who is impacted.

1:11:43

But when there is a massive blunder or

1:11:46

mistake or human error, when a decision is

1:11:48

made that cannot be unmade, we often overlook

1:11:50

one particular impacted individual. The poor spokesperson sent

1:11:52

out to the microphones to defend the

1:11:55

company whose oil tanker is currently coating

1:11:57

an endangered seal with crude, or the

1:11:59

aircraft manufacturer. struggling to keep doors attached

1:12:01

to the planes, or the campaign

1:12:03

whose candidate was chased into a bathroom stall

1:12:05

by the National Enquirer while he was visiting

1:12:07

his secret baby. Hey, I didn't

1:12:09

work there anymore. I

1:12:13

made reference to Bagdad Bob to a producer

1:12:15

who I realized was too young to understand

1:12:17

the reference. That was my

1:12:20

personal disaster. So

1:12:22

here's how it works. I am gonna assign a

1:12:24

disaster to each of our boys out here and

1:12:26

they will have to spin that disaster. Are

1:12:28

you ready? I hope so. First

1:12:37

up, Dan, you

1:12:40

are the spokesperson for the Big Dig and

1:12:42

you are... And

1:12:46

you are speaking to someone who sat in traffic from

1:12:49

1987 to 2006. Okay,

1:12:58

are we ready? We're ready, go. Look,

1:13:00

I get it. No one likes traffic. You

1:13:03

have places to be, you have things to do. I

1:13:06

understand that. It can be frustrating, it can be annoying.

1:13:08

I feel your pain. But

1:13:12

I think you're thinking about it wrong. It's

1:13:14

not just that you're waiting in traffic. Like

1:13:17

the greatest generation, you are

1:13:19

sacrificing for future generations. There

1:13:22

will be a day, maybe

1:13:25

a decade from now, maybe

1:13:27

several decades from now when

1:13:29

your grandchildren, your great-grandchildren are getting

1:13:32

from Charleston to Dorchester on time, they're

1:13:34

getting to Logan Airport without any traffic

1:13:36

and they will like the greatest generation,

1:13:38

they will think back to what you

1:13:40

did to help them. That

1:13:43

your time in traffic is

1:13:45

sacrifice for their punctuality.

1:13:47

Dan, I'm at the Zacom Bridge.

1:13:50

When you are very

1:13:53

slowly storming your own Omaha Beach. Dan, I

1:13:55

got to press. You're

1:14:00

a journalist in this case. Hey,

1:14:04

when a project takes an extra decade

1:14:06

and $8 billion, don't you

1:14:08

think there should be someone in charge of gluing

1:14:10

the ceiling to the fucking roof? Time's

1:14:15

a construct. All

1:14:18

right, well done Dan, well done. Next

1:14:23

up! Let's

1:14:26

go to Tommy. You are the spokesperson for

1:14:28

Mitt Romney after he put the family dog

1:14:30

on the roof of his car. And

1:14:34

you are trying to defend yourself

1:14:36

to Sarah McLaughlin. Hey

1:14:48

Sarah, thanks for taking my call. I

1:14:53

know we'd reached out about licensing your

1:14:55

music for the Mitt Romney Senate Family

1:14:57

Library. This is why I think it

1:14:59

will work for you. The

1:15:02

fake news media has written a lot about

1:15:06

strapping Seamus to the roof of a car. What

1:15:09

they don't talk about in these

1:15:11

stories is that

1:15:13

dogs famously love putting their faces

1:15:15

out of cars when

1:15:18

you drive in places. So

1:15:21

why not go the

1:15:23

extra yard? Why not level up the experience

1:15:27

for your dog? Wow,

1:15:30

powerful words. I

1:15:35

actually think that that's a really good point. I

1:15:37

can't believe how much hay we made out of that. Dogs love

1:15:39

being outside in their cars. It's

1:15:42

like a dream come true. It's al fresco. People

1:15:45

didn't like it. It was fucking weird. It

1:15:48

is weird. Hey, wait a second. That's weird. Well,

1:15:51

in fairness, it was a drive from

1:15:53

Boston to Canada. I

1:15:58

do think the dog shit down the window. Not

1:16:02

really making a good case for yourself now. But... if

1:16:05

you give your music to us, it

1:16:09

will remain in the arms of a

1:16:11

Romney. Oh, wow. Well

1:16:15

done, Tommy. Thank you. Thanks. Next

1:16:18

up, Mehdi. Chernobyl...

1:16:24

is unfolding. And boy, do

1:16:26

you have bad luck. Because at the

1:16:28

very moment they're trying to figure out how

1:16:30

to place a kind of cement sarcophagus over

1:16:33

the steaming disaster

1:16:36

site, it's your job to convince

1:16:38

the people of Worcester that

1:16:40

it's Worcester. Worcester. How

1:16:44

do you say it? Worcester. Worcester.

1:16:48

Worcester. Worcester. Oh, please. The city is

1:16:50

where I went to college. That's not

1:16:52

on me. I'm gonna pick half the

1:16:54

fucking letters to pronounce you illiterate fucks.

1:17:00

Please. Worcester.

1:17:08

You got your accent from the British

1:17:10

rejects of 300 fucking years ago.

1:17:14

Mehdi, back to you. I

1:17:18

have no patience. I have no

1:17:20

patience for Boston. Mehdi,

1:17:25

it's trying to open a nuclear plant

1:17:27

in Worcester. Thank

1:17:33

you. Thank you. Convince these

1:17:35

vulgar, rude cretins why

1:17:38

nuclear energy is the right path forward. Like

1:17:42

Dan, I believe that we need

1:17:44

to sacrifice for future generations. Climate

1:17:48

change, existential threat to our way of life.

1:17:51

We need to get on with it. We need to stop

1:17:53

climate change. Nuclear is the fastest way to stop climate change.

1:17:55

Don't worry about what happens in Russia. That's

1:17:58

Russia's problem. You

1:18:01

don't care about what's Russia's problem. You care

1:18:03

about what's Worcester's problem. Worcester

1:18:06

wants to save its children. Worcester... I

1:18:08

don't know how the fuck to say it. Worcester...

1:18:12

Worcester... Worcester

1:18:15

wants its... Worcester! Worcester

1:18:20

wants nuclear! Yeah, you got it.

1:18:22

Worcester wants nuclear. And

1:18:25

to quote the next president... To

1:18:28

quote the next president of the United States... Nuclear

1:18:31

is very strong. Oh no.

1:18:34

Oh no. Well... powerful words. Much

1:18:39

like we don't care what happens in Russia, Boston

1:18:41

doesn't care what happens in Worcester. Because it is past 495. Oh

1:18:48

yeah. You say that now but then a

1:18:51

bunch of radioactive suburbanites are wandering down the

1:18:53

fucking boulevard. All

1:18:55

right. John... You

1:18:59

are Buckner's

1:19:02

agent... After

1:19:05

the Mets beat the Red Sox in

1:19:08

the World Series. Oh

1:19:11

boy. Okay, look.

1:19:16

Everyone has a bad night. Everyone

1:19:21

has a bad performance. Had

1:19:26

he been injured all season? Sure. Had

1:19:29

he been struggling with that injury? Did he walk like

1:19:31

he used to walk? No, he didn't walk

1:19:33

like he... He hasn't walked like he used to walk anymore. Did

1:19:36

he run like he used to? No, couldn't run like he used

1:19:38

to run anymore. But you know what? Did

1:19:40

he cost the Red Sox game six and then

1:19:42

the World Series? Sure. As

1:19:46

a five year old was it the first time I saw

1:19:48

my dad punch a wall? Yes. Yes.

1:19:53

But you know what? No

1:19:56

one ever talks about the run he scored in game seven.

1:20:00

No one ever talks about the pitching. Maybe

1:20:02

it was the pitching. Maybe they shouldn't have

1:20:04

put Buckner in when he was injured. No

1:20:07

one ever talks about that. It's

1:20:09

not, we shouldn't be

1:20:11

focusing on Buckner's

1:20:14

one night of bad performance. We

1:20:17

should be focusing on our common

1:20:19

enemy, Mookie Wilson. But

1:20:24

John, wait a second, John. But wait a second. That's

1:20:27

all well and good if there are other factors. But

1:20:30

if one bad night is the difference between

1:20:32

winning the World Series and losing the World

1:20:34

Series, is

1:20:37

it worth thinking about whether or not it was

1:20:39

right to put someone like Buckner in that position,

1:20:41

especially after we saw what had happened? You

1:20:44

know, it's a good point, but

1:20:46

here we are. So what else are we going

1:20:48

to do? Wow.

1:20:52

Powerful words. Bill

1:20:55

Buckner. And

1:20:57

that's our game. And that's our show for tonight. Thanks

1:21:00

to Mehdi for being with us. Thanks

1:21:02

to Governor Healy. And thank you to Harvard

1:21:04

Bookstore for selling democracy or else. Go

1:21:06

get a copy. And thank you, Boston.

1:21:08

Hang in there. We're

1:21:25

friends of the Pod subscription community

1:21:27

at crooked.com/friends. And if you're

1:21:29

already doom scrolling, don't forget to follow us

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at Pod Save America on Instagram, Twitter and

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and more. Plus, if you're as

1:21:38

opinionated as we are, consider dropping us a

1:21:40

review. Pod Save America is a

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crooked media production. Our show is

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produced by Olivia Martinez and David Toledo. Our

1:21:47

associate producers are Saul Rubin and Farrah

1:21:49

Safari. Reed Churlin is our executive producer.

1:21:51

The show is mixed and edited by

1:21:53

Andrew Chadway. Jordan Cantor is our sound

1:21:56

engineer with audio support from Kyle Seglen

1:21:58

and Charlotte Landis. support

1:22:00

by Hallie Kiefer. Madeline Herringer is our

1:22:02

Head of News and Programming. Matt de

1:22:04

Groot is our Head of Production. Andy

1:22:06

Taff is our Executive Assistant. Thanks to

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our digital team, Elijah Cohn, Hayley Jones,

1:22:11

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