¶ Trump's Iran Deal Claims at G7
Okay. Thank you very much everybody. Thank you.
We're just hearing President Trump. He's at that G se G seven summit in France. He was sitting across uh from an emir from the regional countries. And they were talking taking questions about Iran, even taking questions about Ukraine and Russia. But he spent the bulk of his time talking about Israel, reacting to uh Bibi Netanyahu and his approach. um to the region, especially with his handling of the war in um in southern Lebanon.
So I'm gonna bring in the group chat this morning. Welcome to the show. We've got Sabrina Rodriguez, politics reporter at the Wall Street Journal. We've got Joel Rubin, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State. He's also the author of the briefing book on Substack. And then Chuck Rocha, Democratic strategist and former senior advisor to Bernie Sanders, presidential campaigns, and Penny Nance, CEO of Concerned Women for America.
We were gonna start the show with all the reaction to everything we heard yesterday, and now just moments ago we heard the president speak about this proposed memorandum of agreement with Iran. Um, there was a moment where he spoke quite a bit about Iran itself, talking about how the first tier of leadership was gone after strikes, and then the second uh tier of leadership was gone after US strikes, and then he started talking about who he's dealing with now. In a positive way.
Yeah, Audie. Uh look, the president is still haunted by the shadow of Barack Obama's nuclear deal. Clearly he spent most of the time obsessing over how he it did a better deal than Obama when we don't even have a deal right now on the nuclear program. So with whom he's speaking, uh I don't know exactly. He says that the the Supreme Leader and those around him we're gonna see the Foreign Minister uh potentially on Friday signing the agreement with the vice president.
Uh and and of course the IRGC, the the uh the the paramilitary revolutionary guard, they're the ones really controlling Iran right now. It's basically the same people. And I think that's the key thing to understand is that where President Trump is thinking things are is not actually where they are when it comes to the Iranian leadership.
and he needs to be a little more clear eyed and a little more patient and his rhetoric right now is getting so far ahead of where the paper is that he runs the risk of not just humiliating uh the United States, but also undermining our relationships across the region. We may very well find ourselves with no new agreement, but the President saying he has an agreement, and then the region of course ends up in this sort of uncertainty and that's why you see the Israelis reacting.
So cautiously as they are.
We're going to talk about that more in the program, but I want to come to your point of the language that he's using. One of the things we heard him say today and has said in the past. is that what he is producing is going to be a wall preventing uh a nuclear weapon versus what he calls a road to a nuclear weapon, which is how he characterizes
the Obama administration agreements. It's interesting to see the term wall come back here, which it was helpful to him in an immigration context. Um but how does that fall on your ear in this context?
He's desperate to get this thing over because the American people are anxious about this war. No American wants Iran to have a nuclear weapon, but they also don't want four dollar gallon of gas.
So I think that's the the pressure he's under and we all know Donald Trump and I even give Donald Trump some credit on his politics like he was to come out and say, I got this done, I fixed it, gas is coming down, midterms are coming, and I've got a wall against this thing and y'all know I'm the wall guy. That's the reason this is happening.
Yeah, it's hard to have a wall in the street of Purmuz, which is one of the problems. The Iranians are pushing back.
People know that language.
The Iranians are speci Trump is saying there will not be a toll on the Strait of Four Moose. Iranians are saying there may be some fees. Um I wanna play for the audience some of what we just heard um out of France at this summit.
We appreciate the relationship we've had over the short period of time with the red. And the primary thing is, you know, we can talk about the Randy all day long. We're not investing any money. We have the right to if we want, but we're not investing any money. We
didn't pay for it like Obama did, he paid billions of dollars, he paid 1.7 billion from an airplane, all green cash, it was crazy. I watched that, I couldn't believe it. But the one thing that's happening that's Of note, frankly, the only thing that really matters to me is Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.
Uh I wanna talk about this'cause it gets at goals uh and sort of goals from what he first announced vs versus where he is now. Penny, what did you hear and how we talked about this?
Well, you know, the American people are terrified of the idea of a of Iran having a nuke. And Chris Wright told us that they were about weeks away from actually having that. We hate war, but you know what we hate worse is not having a decisive victory.
And so I think the President what he's saying now goes exactly to what the American people want to hear. We want to know that we are actually standing in the gap and making sure that we are not going to be be abused and traumatized by the Iranian um patriarchy that it takes women um holds them captive, does does uh marriages as a nine year old, I mean is a traumatic abusive regime
But can I underline the word you just said, decisive? I I think that's really important, w especially when you hear the Republican voices that are speaking out. Senator James Langford, um, we're all gonna have questions. No one's even seen it. This is a thing we're talking about. People wanna see specifics. We haven't seen the details. Lindsay Graham, who, you know, was very much a cheerleader in this process for the reasons you talked about, now saying
The way Iran describes it is awful. The way we describe it makes sense to me. Let's look at it and see what it is. And then finally a person who was doing a sort of uh ex slash Twitter combat for him, Mark Levin, uh was saying, I have asked for days, why can't we, the people, see the MOU? Um not through an anonymous person. I've never seen anything like this. If it is a great outcome for peace, then release it.
I mean I'm looking at the cover of the New York Post
Trump's mystery deal.
Uh I think there's so many questions about this going into this. I mean we're only on Tuesday and we're talking about we might not get details until Friday. I mean I there's
But are there also questions because people are not having people are losing faith?
Yeah, I think there's skepticism. I mean we have from the start of this war the president saying it'll get done in a couple of weeks, it'll get done in a couple of weeks, oh we have a victory. I mean we've been by the president's standard, by what's coming out of the White House, we've been very close to the president.
So I think there is an open question of really how close are we? And when we're talking about this memorandum, you know, when we're talking about a framework here, there's still so much to be ironed out, so many of the technical details. So I think it is an open question for many people. Like nobody wants to get overexcited about something that doesn't
We're not at over excited. Eric Erickson tweeting, Trump has surrendered to Iran. Those who kill Americans love this deal.
No one's read it yet.
Yeah, exactly.
But there's a reason.
¶ Iran Deal: Law, Finances, and Goals
There's a reason why this matters because if under law, if the president gets a nuclear deal, he must submit it to
Yeah, we're gonna show that on the screen while you're talking about.
And so Congress says we have a role in this and you gotta be transparent. Why are you hiding? Provided the card.
Well
Just giving people an update. We have to hear about this deal beyond this memorandum, right? We actually have to see a draft of this thing. Uh in 2015, there is a law passed. Specifically on Iran's nuclear stockpile, not on other random stockpiles. on Iran's and it says that you've got to send it to Congress within five days. Congress gets sixty days to review, not coincidentally the sixty day amount of time that this deal could or could not go through.
Um and you can't lift or waive sanctions while this review is happening. Um I notice they call it a memorandum because if you do, it doesn't trigger the law.
Well, you know, Auddi, I I uh had the pleasure of working on this when I was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs to the House of Representatives during the the uh INARA debates in the Iran nuclear deal, and I'll tell you I remember many a day when Republicans in Congress would be screaming about the Obama administration hiding the deals, side deals.
uh uh what is it that they're gonna do pallets of cash, uh all these sort of falsehoods. And then the big one getting a legislation passed to require severe oversight. So now like uh the i the the law of of unintended consequences. Now the Republicans have to eat their own and frankly respond in the exact same way they demanded of President Obama and they better hold President Trump to the same level of accountability.
Well there's certainly a wing that is. I'm reading a lot of tweets that I have to double check the partisan affiliation'cause I'm surprised at how vicious they are. Um but uh we're gonna take a break. When we come back, we're gonna bring you up to speed on what the president has been saying at that G seven summit about this potential agreement with Iran. Stay with us.
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Today.
Tab I got news for your ears. Podcast. I am your host, Michael Ian Black. We're talking explosions in Israel, explosions in Iran, explosions on Meet the Press. California's primary election, will it be settled? In time for the general election? And so much more. Have I got news for your ears? Check us out on Apple, Amazon Music, wherever you get your podcast, even better.
So we're gonna continue to follow breaking news out of France where President Trump is at the G7 summit. He is touting the proposed agreement with Iran. The next phase is the 60 days of nuclear talk. going to take a listen to the president who spoke just moments ago.
It goes to a second stage which I think will be actually easier. Uh I didn't want to attack them last week but we had no choice. And we did it twice actually. We were doing it a third time and uh we were able to not have to do that. But we have a deal that's a fair deal, that's a good deal.
Group chat is back. Let's talk about what we know. Just now the president was saying I think it goes to a second stage. We should be clear we're not We don't know what it looks like, so we're not at the first stage, uh, but once we do, he's saying that he feels like he's going to be able to move forward with this. Some of the sticking points I have heard about financial relief for Iran. Trump and his allies say there's not gonna be money going to Iran.
Well uh that's incredibly unclear right now. There's also discussion about three hundred billion dollars of investment coming from the region to Iran. Now there
That would be a reconstruction fund they claim. That would be funded by Gulf Nations.
Right. So Gulf Nations are gonna fund the reconstruction of a country to just bond them. Uh I I think you're gonna see a lot of hesitancy. There's a lot of commitments historically in the Middle East towards reconstruction that never are realized uh in
And we should say he was sitting next to the Emir of Qatar when he was saying this at the G seven. Um does do you think for Republicans that is better than the pallets of cash they said
But why Well, listen, I um I have met with several members of the GCC. I've uh talked specifically from the ambassador of Saudi Arabia. They believe that Iran is the biggest bully in the region. They have no love law. And so I it gives me confidence if they are going to be investing it's only be going to be because Iran has come to heel and is actually being a good neighbor in the region.
I think they'll I think I'd rather them have control and be able to parse out money if they behave. Uh don't get me wrong, I don't trust Iran. I think they are tyrannical and they're liars and we all have to watch them completely. Over the next sixty days, they can easily blow up this deal if they want to do it. And they tend to do it.
I have is for Joel is is we talk about money and money getting spent, money from other nations. What about frozen assets? Is this different money?
Yeah, Chuck, I look I'm glad you brought that up. They're frozen assets, they're billions of dollars, about twelve billion. in accounts in Qatar that are frozen that is Iranian money that the Qataris held. Why? Because of American sanctions that are requested the Qataris to not move that money. So this goes to a bigger question about sanctions rules. Sanctions are uh are statutory. Congress has a role in this. Now if the president chooses to waive sanctions, he has to justify it.
But the sanctions on Iran are integrated between nuclear and the terrorism issue and their ballistic missile defense.
So you're saying this skirts that entire issue by making it a reconstruction?
Right. And and and so getting rid of sanctions is incredibly complicated technically and diplomatically, politically. So the easiest one is to do this, to tell the Qataris, hey, unfreeze those assets. Let them have it. Which of course would do exactly what he is criticizing President Obama for the Bible.
Those are two pots of money though.
Yeah.
They are different.
The other pot of money is stolen money from the Iranian people that has been sent over to W.
I'm gonna let Sabrina get a a word in here because I think the other thing is when we're talking about the different goals.
There was also regime change and during this meeting we heard the president saying regime change, you know, I've never really seen that work. I don't really think that's a sort of was possible here and I was sort of surprised to hear him dial that back from when he first came out in that social media video saying to the audience, Iran, people of Iran, this is your time to rise up.
One hundred percent. I mean I was at the CPAC uh conference earlier this year just a couple of months ago and there was a huge outpouring. I mean, we're talking about at least a few thousand Iranian the exiles who were there celebrating, chanting, you know, thanking Trump for doing this, thanking Trump for taking this action and we're really calling for him to like
really follow through on bringing regime change. So I think there will be a lot of disappointed people, particularly in the Iranian diaspora, who are gonna say, wait a minute, this was a stated goal. We don't see a change when it comes to the leadership and I mean they know the leadership
And that's just the diaspora. The thing we're gonna talk about next is Israel, because this is another area where the Israeli government is up. Upset with the thought of money flowing to the regime. So Joel, don't worry, you're gonna get to that. I can see you jumping in on that part, but we're absolutely gonna take some time to talk about that. Um we're talking about President Trump's recent comments just a few minutes ago at the G seven summit in France. Stay with us.
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¶ Trump, Israel, and Regional Dynamics
So fighting between Hezbollah and Israel continues in Lebanon. This is despite the US and Iran striking disagreement. Now moments ago, the president weighed in on the impact of Israel.
Can this deal serve?
Five.
Israel.
It can and you know I consider that the minor war, the Iran's a big one, but we have that a little pinprick out there that constantly rears its head and it's Hezbollah. I'll tell you what, Israel's fighting Hezbollah too long and too many people are being killed. And you don't have to knock down an apartment house every time you're looking for somebody. Because there are a lot of people in those apartment houses. And they're not all as well, that I can tell you.
Group chat is back. It's one thing for the White House to sort of you know, talk about how Trump is talking to Netanyahu and say, Oh, it's a sibling thing. It's another thing for him to get up on the world stage and say, This attack was bad. This was too much. What do you think it says about where Trump is now? Um that he'd be speaking like this.
I mean it shows the tenuous nature of the relationship at the moment too because we are seeing on the other side of it and Yahoo come out and say, I don't think this is a good deal. I dun you know, we're gonna do what we have to do to protect ourselves and it's sort of again showing this again, we don't know what's in the deal at the end of the day, but we're showing and Joel was saying it before, you know, it
What he is saying versus what will ultimately be in a deal are two different things and whether there will be a deal are two different things. But clearly Netanyahu's in a position of having a ha a lot of skepticism around what they have agreed to and is very openly talking about
Yeah, just the context for this, Israel wants the conversation to be not just about Iran's nukes, which they want eradicated. They also don't want Iran to have the ability to fund proxy figures in the region like Hezbollah. Um but you have the president not exactly backing them up here in criticizing how they've been conducting this operation and then saying, look, this throws a negative light on the big deal, he called it.
Yeah, look, well the President has it backwards on what's happening in Lebanon and he's really throwing our ally uh out out to drift alone, uh sticking the knife in Netanyahu. I I I can't say it enough. Uh what he is doing now is crushing Netzang Yahu politically inside of Israel.
But across the board Israelis are very concerned. And Hezbollah is not a private concern of the Israelis either. We in the United States for decades have designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. Remember Marine Barracks bombing in Beirut in 1910?
Let me follow up on that.
This is not a sideshow.
Here's what you here's what I want you guys all to hear, because he's not just talking about Israel and Iran. Now he's drawing in another actor entirely. This was said just moments ago.
I was very responsible for Syria and the man that's running Syria now is a person that I put there along with President Erdogan and some others. He's done an amazing job of pulling it together. He's not a Boy Scout, but he's done an amazing job. job of putting pulling that together. And he is very good with Hezbollah, does not like them. And I'll tell you what, Israel's fighting Hezbollah too long and too many people are being killed. And you don't
You don't have to knock down an apartment house every time you're looking for somebody. Because there are a lot of people in those apartment houses, and they're not all Hezbollah, that I can tell you. And I suggested to Israel to let Syria take care of Hezbollah.'Cause to be honest with you, I think they'd do a better job of doing it.
Okay, first of all, uh Al Shar of Syria took power during President Biden's term. So let's just make
And after a lengthy civil war.
Where Hezbollah fought against Al Shar's forces inside of Syria when Hezbollah was backed by Iran and Russia. So the president's logic on this issue is very concerning. It's very circuitous. It is not uh accurate. And uh if he's calling for Syria to somehow now invade Lebanon to defeat Hezbollah, he's only calling for further regional war and escalation, not de escalation, but it makes no sense and so uh I really think he needs to stop talking about this fast.
Well, it's not that but he's like I said, he's introducing New ideas into this. What did you guys I I'm just getting reactions to this right now? I don't know Sabrina if you've covered as well. Obviously Trump does have a good relationship with the new leader of Syria. I didn't know was this good? Drag you into war good.
I mean it is unusual to hear what is coming out of the president's mouth. Granted we know he speaks extremely off the cuff and the way he'll speak about world leaders today could be different from how he speaks about them a week from today.
Um but again I think when we're talking about something as serious as a war, when we're talking s as serious of what's going on in the Middle East right now, of course you wanna see the president moderate what he says and be measured in what he says and this certainly raises concerns and questions about where we're at.
For the first time in a long time, probably s in my thirty-five years of running political campaigns, most folks, most voters, and I know we'll talk about independence later. is they don't know or understand all the things that are coming out of us or understand wars. They understand large things. They understand nuclear bombs, bad. They understand genocide. They understand those things. But in American politics, for the first time in a long time, uh APAC
Palestine, things that are happening with Iran, gas prices, they become a bigger part of issue sets that people care about. Affordability is still number one, let me be clear. But it's still in the
We talked about here, you see there, this is the G seven, they're actually sitting down to lunch the one. Should Syria be involved?
Well, I don't know, but Audie, we are only three years past October 7th. And you have an entire country that's traumatized. 1,200 people died, over 400 people kidnapped around that. twelve Americans. The last one finally came home because of Donald Trump who um is the Nutra family, Omar Nutra.
Um and so this to your point became top of mind to the American people because it doesn't feel so far away when we know Americans were kidnapped, raped, murdered and the horrific things that happened October.
Just to bring the focus around, just because October seventh uh
If I could just finish.
Yeah, no, but it was about Hamas. And right now I have we were listening to the president speak just moments ago, saying that Israel has gone too far and where it's done with Hezbollah, not Hamas. in southern Lebanon and now asking another country to support.
Okay, so the point is that they are surrounded Israel is surrounded by people who hate them. If the president could be successful in getting Syria to fight their battles for them, to come to their defense, that would be great. I mean we we have they have peace with Egypt, they get along with the Jordanians, like things have are better for them. But the people in Israel, they're a sovereign nation nation.
They have to protect themselves. BB Netanyahu is up for reelection before October twenty seventh. There's a lot happening in that country. Listen, if he can do it, if he can bring the Syria to the table to help out, that would be great. And I bet you Israel would be
Diplomatic person way in Joel.
Well I mean what this shows is that the president really doesn't have a strategy for how to deal with the regional issues that are dogging this whole conflict and I agree with you on October seventh a calamity. Uh but you know the hope at the beginning of this fight was that there would be not just a nuclear issue resolved, but also these other issues related to Hezbollah, regional.
proxy terror groups, the m missile issue. That's all to decide now. That should be part of a diplomatic program to really hold Iran's feet to the fire, but he's left the heat he's taken the heat off. And so now he's flailing and I fear that the Israelis are only gonna read this as a a sign they are on their own, which increases the likelihood of more fighting inside of Lebanon rather than less.
Here's what he had to say about his role and support uh for Israel. This was just moments ago.
Without me there would be no Israel'cause no other president was willing to do what I did. I've had a great relationship with Bibi, but now Bibi has to.
Thank you.
uh be more responsible with respect to Lebanon.
All that happens.
I listen.
Crazy.
I I had forty young women for America leaders that were in Israel last week and had to go underground because of sh uh bombing.
Yeah.
So they are actively in the middle of a war zone in Israel, and Lebanon.
Did they say thank God for Trump?
Donald Trump is not responsible for the state of Israel's
No, but I'm just saying that it is absolutely s I I'm just saying that I think that Israel has every right to protect themselves. Yes. And I would say that we have to be very clear eyed about the fact that what's happening in that entire region And if we can bring other partners like Sirius. Trump just said.
Trump just said if it wasn't for me
That is a that is absolutely counterfactual. There is no truth to that. Donald Trump did not create the state of Israel. He did he he joined in a military action alongside Israel. Against Iran, clearly, but the state of Israel's existence is not dependent upon the President of the United States. We have a relationship.
But is the state of state of Trump's deal dependent on Israel?
Absolutely integrated and this is the core this is an Achilles heel problem that we had in the Obama administration when the Israelis were outside of that deal. That meant that there could always be problems that would have to be dealt with that weren't integrated.
The same thing is happening again. President Trump did not include the Israelis in this deal. He's not talking about the hot issues like Hezbollah until some later date. And so it creates mischief and it cre uh potential for mischief and spoilers. And I think he's gonna see that be very uh uh uh problematic for executing the next phase of negotiation.
Which could happen as soon as Friday. Uh basically the status quo is people are waiting to see the draft of this multi point. Memorandum of understanding potentially between Iran and the U.S. And on Friday there could be a meeting about that, which uh J.D. Vance and others will be in attendance.
Joel Rubin, we put you to work this morning. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. And straight ahead on CNN this just in, we've got new polling. And it's showing that half of Americans now consider themselves independents. So who benefits most in the midterms coming up? And then there's Gavin Newsom of California claiming he's under investigation by the Trump administration. So we're gonna ask whether he is, whether this could somehow help him politically if he wants to run for president.
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Yeah.
Amen.
¶ Explaining the Rise of Independents
All right, we want to talk about this. A brand new CNN poll just out this morning. It finds more Americans are identifying as politically independent. So this poll is finding nearly half of you, 47%, do not consider yourselves a part of either major political party. Here's the thing, that is up eleven points in just the last five years. Now the remaining population, it's split pretty evenly, coming in at 27% for Democrats, 26% for Republicans.
So what could these numbers mean for the midterms? Joining the group chat Sarah Fisher, CNN senior media analyst and senior media reporter at Axios. So on this show I often talk about independence, but my secret take is They aren't real. That there's basically people who stay home, people who turn in. Well, but they're actually all partisan. They actually do have a side. They're not just totally, I don't know, up for grabs. But you're the consultant, tell me I'm wrong.
You're partly right. Uh in an off your election it's much different than an on-year election. And what I mean for those of you at home, we're coming up on a midterm election. The president's not on the ballot, and normally about forty percent of the electorate stays home.
The independents when you ask folks, are you independent, they want to say, yes, I'm independent. But to your point, Artie, you're right. They run into a polling move and they go, yeah, I'm leaning a little more Democrat, I'm lean a little more Republican, and they follow kind of a wave or a shift or a vibe. The independent movement is bigly, bigly on the rise.
Especially among men. I want to show male voters eighteen of forty four. Well I'm looking at my notes. It says nothing about hats, but what it says is that these folks are um younger. Than partisans, sixty-three percent um are younger than fifty. They're more likely to um live in a city uh than Republicans, but less likely than Democrats to live in a city. And then their incomes are a bit lower, their annual household income falling below fifty thousand.
I think there are two trends at play. One is that for younger generations they've lived through now a very uh inflation heavy economy where it's been hard to for example buy a home, make long term investments, both in the Biden administration and now in the Trump administration. So you become disenfranchised with your economic opportunity with either party.
And then two, the University of Pennsylvania, their Annenberg School, puts up this incredible study every year on civic engagement. And what they found is just that year over year the broad trend lines, sometimes there are anomalies. are that younger generations are just less civically engaged, meaning they can't name the three branches of government. They don't understand how government works.
Yeah, we're gonna put up numbers of how frequently each group um seeks out political news. Uh Democrats forty two percent, Republicans thirty nine, independent just twenty five percent even looking for that news.
Yeah, I think well they have a lot of options. We talk about this all the time on this show. You know, when you have social media algorithms that are catering to your every uh want and desire, oftentimes that's not going to be political news and if you're not somebody, like I said, that's already predisposed to civic engagement and news and information around how the government works and why you should care.
then you're not going to be seeking that information now. I think that is very reflective in these numbers as well.
Important to mention that the groups that y'all are talking about have the vote the least. The younger you are, the poorer you are. Wherever you live, they vote, they just don't vote at the same level old folks vote. That's why we all of our politics is geared towards old folks because they show up reliably even in an office.
But I think people cared because when you look at party identification. um for instance men under the age of forty four, the number who are saying their independence is up eleven percent, but it's down twelve percent for Republicans, meaning Trump won those people. Those people are he's hemorrhaging those folks.
But we saw the president, I mean in twenty twenty four he made a very concerted effort to try and court these people and part of the the magic of Donald Trump throughout his rise in politics has been him bringing in people into politics who were not traditional voters. We're not the people in the consultant models of who they send mail to and all those things. And I mean Chuck can talk about this all day.
A consultant.
But the the point is that Donald Trump brought into the process people who were not traditionally engaged in politics and for some of those people who voted for him in twenty twenty four and what this gets at, it wasn't like, oh, and now suddenly I identify as a Republican and I have a loyalty to a party. It was a Okay, the vibes are right. I'm gonna vote for him and we'll see what happens. And we're seeing for some of those people, and we see it in his approval numbers. Yeah.
These numbers right after U f the UFC thing.
Well I think one thing to note when it comes to that sort of populist outreach, which is part of Donald Trump having the UFC at the White House, there is a misconception that those types of podcasters and those types of activities, the UFC, what have you, are Republican. In reality those hosts don't view themselves as political. They view themselves as populist. And I think that we are sort of recognizing where we got that wrong in terms of our analysis.
with these numbers. The people that we thought Trump was reaching were not diehard magas. They were actually sort of disenfranchised populists who like the Joe Rogan.
Yeah, which we could have played tape of them disliking the Iran war as well. Like that's a another aspect to this. I wanna turn to something else. California Governor Gavin Newsom saying he is being targeted by the Department of Justice.
¶ Gavin Newsom's Presidential Strategy
In recent days, federal agents have knocked on the doors of family friends and former employees. Not because they found a crime, because they're simply trying to find one. They're demanding records. They're abusing the grand jury process, digging through years and years of random documents. Donald Trump isn't just coming after me because of my mean tweets. He's coming after me because I'm considering running for president.
Okay, weird sources tell CNN that Newsom is not the subject of an investigation, but that his wife, Jennifer Newsome, is part of a greater investigation into tax crime. So the group chat is back. Um I wish I could show you, you know, an indictment or some investigatory uh question, but I will show you the number of people the administration has investigated that um various people in the cabinet have deemed kind of enemies.
um whether that is Jim Comey or Lisa Cook or whoever. So clearly Newsom is trying to say, Hey, yeah my f friends and family, my wife could end up on this list as well.
He is loving this by the way. It makes him more interesting. It brings him back into the news. He's having a great day today. But the truth is what this started under Joe Biden. This this whole um investigation started, but the timing is really good for Gavin Newsom to announce it right now. And the issue is three point seven million dollars that went into the coffers of the rep project, which which is a Jennifer Newsome
But do you mind pausing because we don't have confirmation and I do not know if this is true right now because we literally are not hearing anything, I don't want to be talking about Newsom's wife all as though she has committed crimes when we have not heard this. And I I wanna understand though why Newsom would come out ahead of an actual investigation to talk about it.
Uh, presidential politics are about two things. It's about money and votes and he's working on both right now. He wants to get out and try to make himself be a victim. We've seen politicians, uh some of which may be in the White House, always want to be the victim of press or
whatever investigation may be happening. And Newsom is positioning himself politically to do that. And as uh Sabrina a consultant, it's a chef's kiss is what this is. A chef's kiss of getting ahead of it on camera with the flags behind him. I'm surprised he hasn't run away to another country saying I'm gonna go into exile until Donald Trump leaves me alone.
And tweet it out. Let's let people know back in May, Emerson College actually did do a poll looking at people's potential choices, Democratic nominee for president, and Newsom was not the first name on it.
I mean there's no question that Newsom is amongst the top contenders.
I mean I'm amongst the top content. Like that list is so long at this point.
But he is certainly one of he has he has established himself under Trump's second term as like one of the leading people trying to take him on.
Post a sample tweet so people can see.
This furthers that national profile that he's tried to build. I mean he has specifically strategically over the last year and a half. He has at every turn tried to take on President Trump. And this does further that. I mean he has already fundraising off of it and sending emails. So it's clearly a
And we just showed that tweet not not because we think it's funny, but because uh to your point Newsome likes to quote unquote do online battle with the Trump administration in the language that they quote unquote understand, so to speak, the language of memes and jokes, and he's been at the forefront of that.
And all those contenders that you just put up on that list, they're all following in his footsteps and launching podcasts and doing their own direct to consumer media and messaging. That's what this is all a big part of. Gavin Newsom doesn't want anyone to be reaching his potential voters except for him.
Okay. Sarah Fisher, thank you so much for being here. Can't wait to have you back next on CNN This Morning. We're gonna talk more a little bit about 2028. We got JD Vance reflecting as he sets up a potential bid.
¶ JD Vance's Faith and Political Ambition
We're effectively run in this country via the Democrats, be via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who
Now that was back in 2021. We're gonna talk about why Vance is now saying that that moment was one of the dumbest things he's ever said.
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Recognize very much that I am a baby Catholic, that there are things about the faith that I don't know. If you ever hear me pontificating about the Catholic faith, please recognize it comes from a place of of of deep belief. But it also comes from a place of not always knowing everything all the time.
Okay, that was just in uh twenty twenty five, I think, at the National Prayer Breakfast, Vice President J. D. Vance admitting, look, he's new to the Catholic Church. At the same time, he has also made it a central part of his political identity. It's the main topic of his new book.
NCNN obtained an early copy, it's out today. It's called Communion, Finding My Way Back to Faith, in advance talks about his conversion to Catholicism, but also his conversion from Trump critic to Trump's vice president.
There's this sense that God was always looking out for me. Even when I strayed from the path, even when I called myself an atheist. That faith that my grandmother had sort of imbued me with was always there in the background. And of course it's an important part of the way that I go about my duties today, but it's just an important part of of who I am. It fundamentally illuminates everything else about me.
Joining us now in the group chat, Christopher Hale, publisher of the Letters from Leo Substack. We've been talking to you a lot because every time Vance or the Trump administration has gotten sideways with Pope Leo, we call you up and we're like, what's what gives? What about this book? um strikes you about how he talks about his Catholicism and how it informs how he thinks about governing.
You know, I think the first thing that I I think is remarkable is not what's not in the book. I mean so that uh the speech he talked about where he said he had made um some mistakes. Uh really the first week of his administration he said two things about the Catholic Church. He accused the Catholic bishops of getting rich off uh off migrants uh resettlement in the United States and he uh
I think he actually ended up apologizing for yeah.
He apologized to Cardinal Dolan for it. And then he said that uh he gave the his theological expose on Ordo Amoris, a good Latin phrase from Saint Saint Augustine about the order of love. And he got smacked down. One of the last acts that Pope Francis did was write this letter to the Bishops of the United States talking about what it means to have an order of love. That letter was actually ghostwritten by an American cardinal named Robert Prabost, who became Pope Leo the Fourteenth.
Uh these weren't in the book. And I think that's I think that's right speaks a lot that
Meaning he didn't do a story of like, here's what I learned when I actually dealt with Popes and when I talked publicly. It's it's about his personal past journey.
Cr absolutely. And I think that for Catholics he course he converted to Catholicism in twenty nineteen. Um he's the only Catholic I know who's gotten rebuked by two popes in one year.
Well he's just the most high profile. There's also the zeal of the convert, right? He brings that energy.
You know, the church loves converts. We we have we have places for converts, but like any any tradition, um when a new guy comes in and tells you you're doing things wrong, there can be issues there.
Okay. One thing about getting things wrong,'cause I double checked this three different ways. Like I'm not sure this is true. That the church on the cover of this book is not a Catholic church. And um it's worth mentioning the publisher actually issued a statement to USA Today saying that this church comes from the part of the country where Vice President Vance grew up. He was raised Protestant and in evangelical churches.
And he talks about Christianity in an ecumenical sense throughout the book. Uh Penny, I think you said you're familiar with this area but actually.
Not many. Okay. No, I mean, you know, I'm proud I'm a proud hillbilly and I'm not actually at all surprised that he wrote this book. Um and if you understand where he grew up, you understand that he is was very impacted by the faith of his grandmother. Yes.
This was in Hillbilly Elogy.
Evangelical Christian. And there's not many Catholics in Kentucky and the area he grew up in Ohio. It tends to be a much more evangelical area, but people of deep faith. And despite what he went through in college and all the trials that he lived through as a child, his mother's drug use, um, faith was always there. He departed for it briefly from it briefly.
And I...
And what this book is about I think is about how he got Yeah.
And that story feels familiar for for those of us who grew up in the George Bush. era as well of kind of like church can bring you. I want to talk about one other thing though in this book about communion. He talks about a comment he made on Fox News five years ago. Uh let me play it for you.
We're effectively run in this country via the Democrats, via via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they've made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable too.
Um he doesn't need to in this very personal book called Communion go to a political fumble. Why do you think he did?
Because he wants to run for president. That's why that's A.
Because he no, but he called it one of the dumbest things I ever said, boneheaded.
Look, I'm not gonna sit here and defend JD Vance. Uh the only thing we got in common is we both had a mammoth. But the reason he wrote the book he wants to run for president and he's trying to g get in touch with a very important part of the electorate. Not saying that he's not Christian or not theological or all the things out there, but he's trying to become a real person and have a little bit of a redemption story.
And as somebody who loves a redemption story, because I am a redemption story, I can respect that. And the churches in Tennessee, just FYI.
Wait, which the picture of it?
The one on the
On the cover? No, no. We gotta we've gotta verify Oh yeah, Elk Creek, Virginia. There you go. Monsion, English. Shout out to y'all because you got a bunch of attention.
¶ Final Group Chat Topics
Yeah. Um we do group chats and you're new, so what's in your group chat?
So uh keeping on the same beat with the Pope, uh Spike Lee um that last November uh saw Pope Leo the Fourteenth and he asked for a miracle. He wanted the Nick. to win their first NBA championship since nineteen seventy-three. And he did. Um and so he was pareded through Fort Green of Spike Lee um on after Games Ford or they were down twenty-nine points and they came back at victory. And if you look at him on his little vehicle, he kinda looks like the poke.
Why is Spike Lee in a Pope mobile? Like what happened? There's like a Nick's Pope, he's his little head's popping. Well, um that's another spike in popularity for the Pope if he's responsible for this. He's gonna have both Chicago and New York in his corner. Um can I ask you, Penny, because you haven't been here for a while, what's in your group chat?
Um I would like to remind everybody about HHS's new program moms.gov. It's a great place for women who are needing help to find out where the local pregnancy care centers are, what services are available for them. And just it's called moms.gov. It's all indexed by your zip code. So we'd just say if you know someone who needs help, that's a great place to go.
And thy holy political consultant, what say you?
Today in Washington D C is election day.
Oh, all right.
You can get out and go vote it in election day today in DC. And stop sending me mail. Today is the election day over. I don't need any more mail. I voted four weeks ago. Okay.
Okay, the good reminder, there are still these elections going on and we'll soon be talking about a new mayor of DC. In the meantime, thank you for being here. Thanks for waking up with us. We're gonna have the headlines coming up next.
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