Gisele Barreto Fetterman, Rep. Ritchie Torres & Tim Miller

Then we have the pleasure of having on the second Lady of Pennsylvania, just Elboreto Fetterman, whose husband is of course running for Senate against Dr Oz in Pennsylvania, and she's gonna talk to us all about her husband's race. But first we have Tim Miller, who's of course a writer at The Bulwark, co host of The Next Level podcast, host of Not My Party on Snapchat and MSNBC analyst and the author of Why We Did It. Welcome, and it's the first time, but certainly not the last time.

I'm so happy to have you. Welcome to Fast Politics. Tim Miller Pod Molly, I'm so excited to be here. And we're a long time mutual admiration society. So it's gonna be good. Let's do it. Certainly true. I want to say, we'll really have the Bullwork connection, which is a strong connection. It's been so nice since the pandemic. Jesse'll probably cut this, but that's okay. Since the pandemic, we've been doing Bulwork events in public, and I have to tell you it's like crazy people people come out

from the woodwork. It feels like such a nice community of folks. I've loved like seeing people up in the flesh. It's been so fun. Yeah, no, it's so fun. So we are doing an emergency session here to talk about the last January six committee hearing, which started with a bang and ended with the subpoena. Is that fair? It is fair. Finally, on the subpoena, I think that the committee has been doing so well and have almost nothing but overwhelming praise for them, So please think this is

the smallest caveat. It was February one when I wrote for the Bullwork that they should subpoena Donald Trump and dare him to testify. This was before this committee even existed. It was when they're still negotiating a broader committee. That was very clear that whatever came out of it, they should subpoena him, and I also still unclear. It's unclear to me why they haven't subpoened Mike Pence. And I

think that both cases are win win. I understand some of the concerns about whatever given him a platform to spread his lies, but I think on balance their win win. I'm so happy they did it today. Who knows. It's hard for me to get inside the lizard brain down there on the pool deck at Cougar Beach and mar Lago. But I don't know exactly what he'll do, but I

think it's a lose lose for him. Right, it's either you're a coward and a whimp and scared for not doing it, or you do it and obviously that you are under oath, which is uniquely challenging for Donald Trump. No. I mean, the thing that I'm so struck by is like, we're in this situation where no one is going to hold these people accountable if the January six Committee doesn't, I know, And that's depressingly true. I mean, eventually the d o J but like voters will not. Yeah, that's

where I was going to. That is depressingly true. So I was in Arizona last week. I was one of the guest hosts for the circus, so I went around and to a bunch of different events. I got to yell at Ted Cruz, which was pretty fun that I'm gonna watch. We had a spirited exchange actually rather than young, does Ted Cruz know who you are? He figured it out afterwards. It was kind of funny. Walks up to the gaggle and looks at me, and I think I was in a different context. I had met him five

years ago. I was quasi supporting Ted Crutiz and he's the only guy who had stopped Donald Trump, and so he just sees me in this different context. He looks at me first and kind of I think it has this thought in his brain that maybe I'm friendly, and I was not friendly and asked him very directly, over and over again if Joe Biden actually won Arizona, and we had a spirited exchange back and forth. He did not answer. You'll be shocked to find out though. He

was the one that challenged the Arizona account. So that was fun and it was scary to see carry Lake and then all close. But the most distressing part about it all is that this stuff just isn't landing for the important voters, the voters that matter. Right. It is important to democratic loyalists, right, and I'm sure people listen to this podcast, people read the bullwork. This is very important those of us who care about democracy. It's really important to the maga freaks who I still think that

Donald Trump won and should be exalted leader forever. But it like not that important to the voters that matter. If you look at the polls as far as swing voters or marginal voters, whether or not they turn out, that is distressing. So really it is up to to Liz Cheney and Benny Thompson and crew. Yeah, so talk to me about I do want like one second. On Arizona, you saw Carry Lake do you a rally? Yeah? It was a Cruise had a rally, his packet rally with

Lake and Masters. So I watched all three of them. Boy, Patrick Bateman. Masters couldn't be more low energy. Oh yeah, Masters is a disaster. I mean, also my favorite thing about him is he looks like he's nine years old. Yeah, I mean, he looks creepy poured. Jeb By comparison was like the speedy Gonzalez up there. Math like Masters has no energy. He looks like a serial killer. And then Carry Lake and Ted Cruz come on and you get out shown by Ted Cruz. That shows you how weak

you are. So Masters are not great. Carry Lake, though, man, she is. She's really good. You know, she is unapologetic and both mass there's in Lake on this election fraud stuff and the January six material. They're not doing this game where only the media wants to talk about this and we're not going to talk about it. And I'm focused on playing that like a little two steps. We're sure I wanted to coup, but you know now that we're in general actually don't want to talk about it anymore.

That's not Lake. I like, Lake keeps talking about this stuff and and does so in a way that you know, I mean, to any sane observer is like, you're a lunatic. But but you can understand how a low info voter, you know, somebody wasn't following this stuff day to day. And she's a good job of having the you know, TV anchors me in of making it seem reasonable, right, And so I'm deeply concerned about that about the Arizona government, people.

I mean people think she's I mean not the people who listen to this podcast, but the MAGA people really like her. And she's and her entire um, her entire raison dtra. If we're going to go throw in pretentious French phrases, which I am happy to do because I grew up in Manhattan, Uh is is election fraud? I mean that's it, you know, election fraud and being an anchor who is able to make really good eye contact,

really good eye contact. Yeah, it's it's it's really something. No, that is and I mean she she does this bit where she's like even Trump says to her that she cares about it more than anybody talks to you know what. Trump's like, Hey, how's the weather today, And Carry's like, oh, it's a little hot, you know, Arizona, but not as hot as that election fraud rumor that I just heard was. And she brings everything back to it. All right, Jesse is telling us we have to get back to January six.

She's very bossy, Um tell me top lines in your mind. So some of this we knew, right, but I think just seeing the super cut of all of the people between December when the Electoral College certified the election in January six. Who said that they knew the election was over? Who told Trump the election was over? Who said that that they heard Trump kind of acknowledged that he lost

in varying degrees. Um, you know, that includes Bill Barr, and includes Mike Pompeo, Hudges, Hutcheson, Sarah Matthews, Um, you know, random mid level calm staffers, the lawyers. Like it was just over and over and over again. It was people saying, you know, we knew it was over. We told him it was over. Now. There are a lot of implications to that, which is like, why didn't you guys do more to stop the carnage? But but I think that

it was just very compelling. And then it showed that one of the interesting facts also that to sort of prove this point, which was that Trump at some level knew it was over, was that he had signed this order to pull out of Afghanistan and Somalia, pull the troops out of Afghanistan and Somalia, um three days I

believe it was after the election. And so that was again, you know, that's not the type of thing that you do if you think that you're gonna have four years more to to do it at your own pace, right. So I just think that that evidence and um in the pump stuff. Susan Glasser to retweet, I mean, you know said this was in my book too, but you know it's like, okay, seeing it on video though the Secretary of State, like I knew it was over December

December fourteen and and told Trump as much. That speaks to this premeditation element of it, that they that they knew what the truth was and they tried to they tried to game it anyway. The other one I think is this the violent element of it and the Roger Stone And you know, some of this had leaked out in the the last couple of weeks, but the videos of Roger Stone with the Proud Boys, the Secret Service, how they knew about the threats that were incoming, you know.

And there are these two kind of strains here. One is the Roger Stone strain, where you know, we don't know exactly he is communicating with Trump, but it's very clear that Roger Stone knew that that violence was on the offing, um and that there were there were gonna be you know, people don't try to you know, physically and and and forcefully disrupt the result. And then there was you know, the threats that came into Secret Service,

and Secret Service was briefed about this. I think that in a lot of ways that tearing, say, raised more questions about why Secret Service wasn't doing more and it was Trump holding them back, you know. And one of the examples of this was like Jason Miller, that chinless, gutless piece of trash like sent a tex like weird,

facial really weird. He sent this text in to like Meadows and others, you know, saying, hey, look at how how de bait, how happy the base is with us, And it was like a link to the Donald dot Win and in this link where all these threats of violence and you know, all of these we're bringing guns to the capital, etcetera. And so it's like that is the other element that that not only did they know that he had lost, but they knew that violence was possible that day. Uh and and and yet you know

not only did nothing but but egged it on. Yeah, oh no, I mean that is for true. And I think I also wonder, like Jason Miller does have facial hair because he thinks it makes him look like he has cheek bones, right. I think he's trying to create some kind of facial structure. Yeah. I don't exactly know. It's not working whatever it is, but that's an important thing to clare. He does have one of the weakest

chance I've ever encountered. Yea, well, that's not the only weak thing about him, but yes, the thing I always am struck by with these hearings is like I was at a dinner last night talking to a bunch of political people. They were saying, like, you know, is anything going to happen? Is anyone going to be held accountable? Yeah? Yeah, you know that anxiety that a lot of us have, like is American democracy gonna slide of a cliff? And then when you sit down and you hear these hearings,

it's like, holy sh it. I do think they moved the needle. Yeah. I think that it's always good to just raise the salience of this and like refresh people's memory. Right. I just people have a lot of things happening in their lives, right, and it's like, despite the fact that how dramatic and how unprecedented it was, you move on right, right,

like you have other concerns. You have more prudential concerns, and so I think that at minimum it is good to have this to just even me and nobody's in this as deep as I am, right, like watching all the details, reading all the articles, and even sometimes like those show some thing like they showed this picture of the meeting that Trump had of the staff on January five in the evening, when where the doors of the Oval office were open and you could hear the pro

the protests were already gathering at this point, and you know, they talked about how you can hear them outside, and how Trump is talking to staff about how they're angry and they should be angry. Just that even remind that kind of gets my blood pressure boiling again, right, like to remember that these guys were there and that they knew what was happening. They could hear these you know, soon to be domestic terrorists outside, they knew the results, and yet they still went out the next day and

spurred on the violence. You know, to me like that kind of stuff, you know, getting people just more engaged and reminded about what is happening for those who them followed it as closely, I do think it's important to the political side of this. I also have to tell did you see that were you watching the Pelosi clip? Yes? Yes, I mean that was just nothing else. It's hard to make a little harder to demonize Nancy Pelosi, doesn't it.

I mean, she is just a cool cucumber talking about the poop pooh that's being smeared on all over the building and then having to call Mike Pence and called the d O D and called the head of d O J and you know, asked for help. As I just I thought that that was really powerful behind the scenes video that that sort of showed who the who

the responsible actors were. Yeah. I also think that what you're really seeing is like how much Trump did not you know, and he's sitting there watching TV, playing with his balls, you know, and like he's literally doing nothing. Yeah. The other thing that this refreshed for me is just when closes on with the acting in a lot of these cases, cabinet members exactly because Dad and even put

in real cabinet members the abdication duty of Trump. Yeah, and at least some of these guys we're trying to help plos were at least engaging that they couldn't do anything because it was that you know that you need the commander in chief to order, you know, some of these assets to come into play to protect the capital, and he wouldn't do it. So Pence ends up doing it, and goes back to this question of like who was even the president for a little while during these hours,

who was issuing these orders? The one thing I was hoping from the committee and I think might still be it to come based on folks I talked to you over there, is like this twenty five amendment question right, like shouldn't from that moment all the cabinet been gathering and saying, okay, we need Pence, like like we need to move on from this guy. Like he is like the capital is under attack, under siege, and the Speaker of the House and the VP are having to call

for help in the White House. They're not answering, you know, they had to go around him. The thing that I'm struck by two is like we remember when those Black Lives Matter protests in d C. And you saw all the guys, all the guards wearing like black face masks, holding batons being do you you know what I'm talking? And then you see this where the Secret Service new

ten days before anyone on the internet new, and there's nothing. Yeah, and you know, obviously there's a racial element to some of this, but there's also just a direct element of the Trump didn't want there to be anything, right, and that I thought the most I'm forgetting whether it was Sarah Matthews or Cassy Hutcheson now, but one of them had testified right that this really jarring quote from the President where he said kind of let them in with

the weapons. They shouldn't be stopping people who want who want to bring weapons, you know at the mag's at the magnometers right right. That was like, yeah, I remember that, and and that is ca Yeah, and that is so telling because it's like Trump knew that he wasn't in danger, right, like these people weren't coming for him, and he even

said they're not here herd. So so sure, we can send out all the jack bododed thugs we can find for the Black Lives Matter protest, and you know, we can shoot, you know, tear gas grenades into a peaceful crowd at Lafayette Parks that he can walk through and like hold down an upside down Bible like, uh, you know, we can do it, but but for this, we don't need any of that, right because we being Trump at this point, Pence was a part of we are not

in threat. The contrast is extremely, extremely alarming, And I think that the Secret Service text today are certainly the if not the headline, you know, one of the top two or three headlines on that front. Oh yeah, And I mean the other thing is the burner phones. I guess from what I've understand, they couldn't track down all

the burner phones, but there certainly were burner phones. Yeah, And I do think that the convos like that the thing that is missing going back to the Roger Stone point, right, is all right, so we've tied Roger Stone directly to the Proud Boys, and we've now tied the Proud Boys directly to this premeditated violence, right that this was It wasn't just you know, they just all decided to get rowdy because they got caught up in the moment, right Like there was on the Proud Boys websites and the

texts like they were planning bounce. And we know that, you know, Trump and Stone talk occasionally. I do think that like that the Burner phones speak to again like one of the very few left missing threads, which is we're there direct you know communications was Trump talk in the Stone? That was was meadows right? Where where other kind of people that were, you know, in the actual government talking to them? You know that that's something that

I would love to have found out. But then you know, they showed the Roger Stone testimony today with the big tough guy talking about fighting and you know, talking about war in the lead up to the election. You know, it was a little mouse just played in the Fifth Amendment. Every question right, Well, these guys are all like Tom Cotton right with that in that hearing where Tom Cotton is making the fist to the protesters and then he's running Judge Hollie, Judge Holly, sorry that they are. They

are mixed up able. So where do you think this goes? Now? Well, and I think obviously the big question now is Trump right, So it's well, how does he react to being subpoena at I'm just it's hard for me to predict that. I think that hopefully this gives a minimum Liz Cheney and and the rest kind of a platform and a cudgel with which to continue to pressure him and eat them over the head and do interviews and continue to talk about this and the coming weeks as interested. They

showed some Pompeo video today. Yeah, something about that makes me think that maybe that there's some more there on the twenty fifth Amendment side of things, in particular. You know, we hadn't seen correct me if I'm wrong, Jesse, but I don't. We hadn't seen the Pompeo testimony video before today. I don't. I don't believe so either. Yeah. So it was only like two clips today, you know, and they were just so, do we think they're gonna keep going?

And they did. They certainly didn't make it seem like they were stopping today when by doing another subpoena. So my sense is, and I got to actually got to see I didn't ask you this question directly. I got to see Concion in Cheney in Arizona, just by coincidence. She was there giving a speech to the McCain Institute while we were, um, we're taping the circus, and um, the strong impression I got was that they're going to run out the clock on this, you know, in this

this committee. Now you know self self destructs. Uh if if the Republicans take over, so they are down to what is that, you know, two and a half months basically, and so you know, I do think that they will continue to be pushing through for that period of time, you know, public hearings, you know, I think all that is TVD that. I think that's right. Tim Miller please come back and JF anytime Fast Politics. I like it.

We keep it fast here and none of this bloviating on some of these other podcasts, like we get to the point. I like that. Congressman Richie Torres represents New York's fifteenth congressional district. Welcome to Fast Politics, Richie Torres. It's an honor to have you my friend. And I always feel like anyone who's my friend feels like they're a fill in. And I want to point out that we schedule this way in advance. Even if I were a filling it would be are that's very diplomatic of you.

So I want to talk to you first about Puerto Rico. Can you explain to us what's happening there and what you're working on, and you know what you've been doing there. So I went to Puerto Rico in immediate aftermath of Fiona.

I think first it's important to just consider the magnitude of suffering that has taken hold of the island and the people or Puerto Rico have lived through a seven tulli dollar deck crisis, Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Maria which led to the longest blackout in US history, a six point

five magnitude earthquake, and now Hurricane Fiona. You know, during the worst of times, the people Puerto Rico have no electricity and even during the best of times, have no reliable or affordable electricity despite paying the highest electricity across in the country. So Puerto Ricans have seen not one, not to but seven electricity rate increases in the span of a year, which is unsustainable. So the island has

been relegated to the status of a colony. And and that means the hart of the issues that Puerto Rico is neither a state nor an independent country. It's essentially a colony of the United States and has and to second class status. Why is Puerto Rico is electricity so expensive? Can you explain that to our listeners? Part of the problem is the Jones Act. It's no accident that the two places most affected by the Jones Act, Hawaii and Puerto Rico, have the highest electricity cost in the country.

The Jones Act arguably restricts the supply of energy and raises the cost of living on the island. So the Jones Act requires that all cargo all goods shipped between US ports be shipped by a US vessel. But what happens when US vessels are no longer available? The Jones Act was passed when it's an early twentieth century relic of the past, and the issue is that it prevents the shipment of critically needed fuel to Puerto Rico join

an emergency. That's the problem that we saw in the wake of both media and how can Congress get rid of the Jones Act. Well, the President has granted Puerto Rico a short term waiver, but is a real need for a long term way and that would have to happen by statute um. But the politics are are complicated. There are strong constituencies for the Jones Act. Why the employees of the U s vessels are the teamsters and

check to repealing the Jones Act. But I feel there's room for compromise that we can grant an emergency exemption for Porto equal in particular, or we can grant an exemption for energy, or we can grant an exemption during emergencies. You know, there there is room for compromise, but the status quo is no longer bearable for the island. Jesus, the first thing that needs to happen for Puerto Rico is this repeal of the Jones Act. The worst of

it is the lack of equity and federal funding. Imagine here in New York State, the federal government were to announce that New York would no longer receive SNAP benefits food stamps, it would no longer receive Social Security DESIGN, and it would receive only a fraction of the Medicare funding it presently receives. If that were to happened, even in a state as wealthy as New York, it would

be a catastrophe. It would bankrupts. Described as the reality in Puerto Rico has no access to SNAP, no access to Social Security ss I, it receives only by statute one seventh of the Medicare funding that it eats, and it has no access to reliable and affordable electricity. So the island has been set up to fail because of discrimination on the part of the federal goverment. Are the other territories treated the same way that Puerto Rico is?

And really Puerto Rico is the biggest and most consequential territory. Puerto Rico has more than three million Americans citizens, So it's by far, I mean Puerto Rico as a territory is larger than a number of states. Puerto Rico it would have four or five members of compress. It's bigger than the Dakotas by a large margin, Rhode Island, Wyoming name it. Yeah. So what are you working on right

now with US? I have too concerns. One is we have to expedite the rebuilding of the grid and structure, Like there's a dire need not only to repair our infrastructure in the same form, but to rebuild the grid, to rebuild the infrastructure with an eye toward resiliency and renewable energy. A second parity of mine is something knows

the Medicare cliff. So Puerto Rico is in danger of facing the Medicare cliff, which is going to be effect on December two, in which Puerto Rico's funding for Medicare will go from about three billion to two so more than the Medicare funding, which would be catastrophically so Puerto Ricans won't have Medicare, will have a fraction of the Medicaid funding it presently received. How how how is this possible? It seems insane. The situation is much worse than people think.

Um like federal law actively discriminates against the people of the island. And for me, the second class standard of living and the second class grid of Puerto Rico is symptomatic of a deeper problem, which is the island's second class status goes neither state nor colony nor an independent country.

It's essentially a colony. Right, if you're an American citizen who lives on the island of Puerto Rico, you cannot vote for the commander in chief who can send you to not so you can die for your country, but you cannot vote but not vote for it. Where is Puerto wec and wanting its own country or state status? I mean, it seems like not clear to me what the will of the people there is. There have been several referenda in which a majority of the Puerto Rican

electorate has consistently voted for our statehood. So a majority of the island favor statehood. So they want statehood based on the referenda that have been held, Yes, but they can't get it because Republicans don't want another state that they worry might be democratic or is there something more complicated there, No, it's more complicated. So with DC statehood,

the opposition comes exclusively from Republicans. Puerto Rican statehood the opposition comes not only from Republicans but also from Democrats. There are Democrats who prefer independence, who are independent the stats, or who prefer an alternative to statehood, like free association, which is a which is a form of independence. So that's that's part of the problem is that there's opposition to Querto Rican statehood within the within the Democratic court.

What could Biden do if you had a magic bond right now to help them? Look, I think most of the inequalities can only be addressed by changes in federal law, by changes statute. What is in the control of the Biden administration is the need to rebuild the infrastructure. So

here's why the recovery is struggling. Most of the funding that we've appropriated for the island flows through FEMA and FEMA funding partically takes the form of a reimbursement, but in order for reimbursement to work, a recipient like Puerto Rico needs to have the ability to pay the cost upfront, needs to have access to capital. Puerto Rico is essentially in a state of bankers ruggling to recover from a

seventy two billion dollar debt crisis. It faces barriers to accessing capital, and that lack lack of access to capital has led to a delay in the recovery of the island. So Puerto Rico needs debt forgiveness, It needs advanced payments. These programs, these funding programs have to be restructured and may and may work for the island of is there a precedent for that. There are pilot programs that have offered advanced payments, but those programs have been poorly strong.

So that's what needs to happen. That's where the Biden administration we have the greatest impact in improving life on the app. Talk to me a little bit about the mid terms right now. A few months ago, it felt like a near certainty that we would face a blood bath in November, and there have been a few seismic events that have given us a fighting chance of holding onto our majority. I think the Doob's decision of repersonal

versus Way January six hearings. The central issue remains the economy, but when it comes to secondary tertiary issues, there's been a shift in the priorities of the electorate from issues like education and immigration and COVID, which were arguably winning issues for the Republicans two issues like democracy, guns and abortion,

which are winning issues for the Democrats. And we have been much more united in our messaging on abortion, like we are united as a party in favor of codifying the right to choose in federal law, whereas the Republicans messaging on abortion has been modeled and incoherent and lacking in self confidence. And when Lindsey Graham introduced a national ban and abortion, he made a mockery of his own party. That was amazing. That was really just an incredible unforced

error on the part of Lindsay Graham. I thought, he's the gift that keeps on giving. Congratulations Democrats. I want to talk to you about marijuana because it seems again like an easy win for this administration. Is it No question about it. What the President did on marijuana represents a historic strike toward reversing the legacy of mass incarceration.

You know, when you've had contact with the criminal justice system, even from minor crime, you know it produces collateral consequences that haunts you for the rest of your life, that limits your access to employment, housing, public accommodations, and higher education. I'll tell a quick story, and it's not related to marijuana, but I think it tells us the larger story about

the need for criminal justice reform. When I was fourteen, I visited my two half brothers in prison, and I remember asking one of them, what are you gonna do when you're no longer in prison? And he said to me that if I can't find a job where I can't go to school, that I'm simply going to go back to the same life that I had before, the

only life I've ever known. And so record to me that, you know, we have a system that sets up the formally incarcerated for failure, that we allow people to be haunted by their criminal records, and I feel like we have to create a much more redemptive society. Yeah, I think that's right. Do you prescription drugs. We've seen Republicans vote against this thirty five dollar insulin cap. It seems

like this would be a winner for Democrats. There is no policy that is more popular that empowerment government to negotiate more affordable drect first. It is by far the most popular policy of the Democratic Party. It's the great achievement of the Inflation Reduction Act. I'm excited that we pass legislation that caps the price of inculin at thirty five hours a month. We have among the highest insulin

costs in the country. It's been reported that as bunch of twenty seven percent of Americans who cannot afford insulin often skip doses or ration insulin in their lives at risk. There been stories of Americans we have to travel to Canada to obtain affordable insulin, and they're about a hundred million Americans who are either diabetic or pre diabetic, but whom insulin is either a necessity in the present or

could be a necessity in the future. And capping the cost of inculent at thirty five a month for senior citizens those on Medicare is a profound game changer and likes it. I have one last question for you, which is, so, what are you going to be in the Democratic leadership after the mid terms. I'm retiring from kidding. I had to ask. I thought I would trick you, and just telling me that you were running for the leadership, I

thought that was good, right. I'm looking forward to a new generationally like for a long time, Congress has been a generatocracy. We should create space for a new generation of leaders. To Richie Torres, thank you so much for joining us. It's always a pleasure. Gazelle Boretto Fetterman is the second Lady of Pennsylvania. Welcome to Fast Politics. Gesu Fetterman, thank you for having me. I'm so thrilled to have you,

and I wanted to talk to you. I always want to talk to you because you're my friend, but I also want to talk to you because you guys are in the race of a lifetime in Pennsylvania. I mean, what is happening? You know, you follow these races and I followed, of course mid terms. I've always been engaged, and then to be it is a whole different experience. I mean, just unbelievable. We had John on the podcast two weeks ago. He's had a stroke, he has closed caption.

He's been very upfront about the close caption. He seems in my mind to be able, completely able once he has a closed caption. Is that right? Is that your take on it? Yeah? He I mean, first, he's like the bravest, most amazing man. I mean, like just incredible. Absolutely a very simple accommodation one that I love. I mean, I learned English reading close captioning, So a very tiny accommodation helps make the huge difference while he's still healing.

You know, it is temporary, it's not a long storm thing, but right now it is the tool that helps him in so many Americans, you know, twenty six million of us, including myself with a h D. I need a small accommodation here and there. It's not that serious. So let's talk about what's happened now with It feels to me like this Republican campaign has they've sort of gone into overdrive. Yeah, and I think, you know, I think desperation makes you

do things. But also, you know, you have a candidate who is not a nice person, right and they're doing what they They're showing you who they are by doing this. And you know, a doctor of all people who I think should be, you know, in in his oath to do no harm, to be rooting for people, I think he's showing us exactly who we get. Kara Swisher interviewed him too, and Kara had a stroke as Wow, the

recovery process, how has it seemed to you? I mean I never experienced something like this, so you know, I had to go through what millions of other Americans aren't going through. You know, every four seconds someone has a stroke, So this is a reality for a lot of people. It became our reality too. And I'd say with John it's like a like a locomotive, right, Like every day I see him better every day, he's getting closer to

a hundred. But it is a process, and you know he's had to heal with the world watching like it's really difficult. But he's incredible, and I think it makes him that much more qualified to be a center that he has overcome so much, that he is extra empathetic on top of what he already was and has first hand experience. He does a lot of these rallies, I see humongous crowds. It feels like he's been very good at connecting with these rural, purple state voters that Democrats

have had trouble connecting with. What do you think the sort of secret there is, Well, yeah, I mean the rallies are huge no matter where we go, whether it's you know, blue Montgomery County or read parts of the states. I think it's that one John is authentic and I think people can see that, right, It's very easy to see this is a real person. It's the person who really cares. But also he shows up like he doesn't

write people off. And I think that's something the Democratic Party has done for far too long, is like, oh, those folks are not going to vote for us, so we're not even gonna try. And we try. I mean we we meet them where they are, We have difficult conversations, we engage, and I think that's what's been missing for a very long time. So he's doing rallies now, is he back on a full schedule and what does that

schedule look like? He's been back on a full schedule for a while now, I mean as as long as he's been doing rallies. I mean if I'm with him on the road, I see him otherwise, you know, doing a lot of things that I'm doing my own things. So yeah, definitely a full, full schedule every day. He had one evening off in all of October and November leading to you know, election night, which was last night, and we went to the pumpkin patch with the kids. Were the kids happy to see you guys? They were?

They were, and they've been troopers, you know, they're they're really great kids. They know what's happening. They get it. They see the commercials. And my youngest even said, Mom, don't worry the pumpkin patcheck Fusco is fine this year. And I said, no, no, we're gonna do the real thing. Do you are the kids? I mean, do you guys feel like you're in danger? I mean, are you guys in physical danger or now physical Benjo? No, I think

our country is in danger. Democracies in danger danger. No, we've had scary moments throughout, but I don't think so. But you know, I don't know. Yeah, again, exactly that's how I feel too. So let's talk about marijuana, because Pedoman had actually a win with marijuana, and the Biden administration explained that to us. Yeah, so we've been very vocal on legalization decrimination for a really long time. I myself am a medical marijuana cardholder, have always been very

open about it. And we met with the President when he was in Pittsburgh ahead of his visit. We did call on him to to move towards these steps, and during that meeting he assured John that it was going that way and that he would reach out before and then we had a really big win this past week. Can you explain to our listeners a little bit about what this big win is. Sure, it included pardoning folks with existing non violent marijuana charges, but also moving towards

um re labeling marijuana and a different schedule. So actual efforts towards that, and I think we're none of us are used to seeing government work, you know, for us that it was so exciting and and just you know, we can do these big things like we can do them. We can do the hard things. You have to have folks working together to do that. We're in these last twenties two days or twenty one days or whatever it

feels like, twenty million days to the mid terms. I mean, what is this sort of game plan for Team fatter Man. It's you know, very busy. Our schedule at this point it's, you know, seventy two hours in advance, because it's just it's kind of NonStop. We're gonna keep doing what we've done. We're gonna keep visit in all the places, talking to all the people, doing as much as we can. Leading

to to November eight. Would that interview yesterday when the journalists sort of took some liberties with her sort of supposition of his house, how did you feel? I don't like saying rage, because I think that's a really unhealthy feeling and when you feel those things, that only harms yourself. But I just, you know, what of the service that she did, not only my husband, but to anyone facing

a disability and working through it. And I don't know how they were not consequences, right, I mean, there are consequences for folks in these positions who are any of the isms. I mean, she was ablest and that's what she was in her interview. It was appalling to the entire disability community and I think to journalism. So I

was shocked. I'm still really upset about it, and I think the positive is it's that it's brought a lot of conversations around accommodations, around eights around able is um right? I mean able is M was trending on Twitter. It just shows there's so much work to do, but these networks have to take accountability, right, like where is your training? Uh? It was appalling to see and you see that in schools, You see that with young children. You don't expect to

see it at this level. And you know, I haven't heard an apology. It hasn't come. I am hopeful that you know, there will reflect and see that they did an incredible disservice to all Americans. What John's take, You know, I don't know that he watched it. You know, I

don't think it's healthy to have to yell that. Obviously he knows that it happened, and to him, you know, it shows just what a challenge it is for for folks with disability to to want to pursue careers and you know, and and just the challenges that come with that. Our family is newer to the disability world. I was diagnosed a d h D as an adult and he's going through this now. So there are families that have been going through this their entire lives were newer to

the space. But you know, it's very easy to see first hand the discrimination that still very actively exists. So Oz is not talking to the editorial boards, he's not participating in some of these you know, more traditional candidate things. What do you think of that? I don't know. I think he is, you know, hiding. I think he he's hiding from his record or the things he's called saying. And you know, he talks about this debate, debate, debate. He has an opportunity to to talk to these folks

and he refuses to. So I don't know what the thinking is in this campaign. But these are also folks who are you know, extremely disparaging towards someone who had a stroke, who make fun of it. There is no there is no soul in that campaign. So I really can't imagine, you know, what they're thinking is because it's just so foreign from from the way I see the world and see things. What do you guys need right

now in your campaign? Volunteers? Of course, always you know, text banking, we're doing all the things connecting with the many folks as possible. Of course, we're continuing to raise money to compete with the millions of dollars that ODDS continues to pull from his own bank account as well as dark money venues to attack John. So it's continuing fighting back and and doing it with the decency right

like against someone who has none. So you know, we'll always stay on the right side and we'll continue that, but it is difficult. Thank you so much for joining us. I'm really glad that we just got to catch up on this. I really appreciate you coming on too short notice. Absolutely always got to talk to you, Molly, John Fast, Jessie Cannon. You know, we hate the Supreme Court, but then some days I don't think we hate them. We

just consider six of them to be partisan hacks. Yeah, yeah, well that's that's better assessment that I Yeah, I'll take it. That's why they pay you the big bucks. Three of them to be profoundly partisan. Yes, continue, what happened. What happened today is the thing about this Supreme Court is if they don't do something for Donald Trump, it's newsworthy. Right.

So today you'll remember Justice Clarence Thomas did not save Donald Trump from the documents case that the d J has that is ultimately very likely the sort of most ace in the whole case against Trump. He went to his buddies at the Supreme Court, three of whom he put he stole the seats for, and they were like, sorry, buddy, you have to like face the music on the documents. So it turns out that the Supreme Court is slightly less corrupt than Judge Cannon of Palm Beach. Congratulations, guys.

Well here's my thing though, Like this is like his lapdog rebuked Clarence Thomas, Like, how would you feel if Leonidas did this to you? Leonidas would never or do this to me. You have a real relationship. No, it's true. He really loves you. Yeah, exactly. That's it for this episode of Fast Politics. Tune in every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to your the best minds and politics makes sense

of all this chaos. If you enjoyed what you've heard, please send it to a friend and keep the conversation going. And again, thanks for listening.