Hi, I'm Molly John Fast and this is Fast Politics, where we discussed the top political headlines with some of today's best minds, and a new Washington Post ABC News IPSOS poll finds it eighty percent of the twenty twenty four Trump voters and seventy nine percent of Republicans reacted negatively to Trump posting an image depicting of himself as Jesus. We have such a great show for you today, the Jim Acosta Shows. Jim Acosta stops by to talk Trump's
unlawful aggressions against his enemies. Then we'll talk to former North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper about his run for the Senate. But first the news.
Smiling, you know, we're always shifting gears in Trump World, and we're always trying to cover up for something really stupid. He's done that he's going to have to reverse course on, like sal a war in the Middle East, and this week's destruction is lawfair. We're in lawfair.
When I saw this come across my feed, really upset by this. This is a woman, she's a state senator. She's actually I think she is the Senate pro temp right, that's right, she's the head of the Senate in Virginia. Her name is el Louise Lucas and she's actually eighty two years old. She was the driver behind the Democratic redistricting of Virginia, which Donald Trump does not like because he does not want to lose the House. And he has started redistricting. Remember he started this when he asked
Texas Republicans to get him five seats. And now here we are with the FBI reading the office of the Democratic Virginia President pro temp. And it is completely wild. It's what we call law fair. It's completely not how any of this is supposed to go. And the story, which I think this is sort of the coup de grass was leaked to Fox News. So you have this administration doing something that is not okay and having their propaganda, their favorite propaganda outlet, leave the story so that she
gets as much bad publicity as possible. Look, do I think this is law fair?
Yes?
I absolutely do. And we've seen Trump go after hiss enemies before, and so many of us know what this is and what it looks like because it looks like what else he's done. But I'm sure we'll hear more about this. This is like a very developing story.
Yeah, and right at the same time of this Cash Battel is the FBI on the reporter who covered his drinking abuse.
Yes, the FBI has launched a criminal leak investigation into the Atlantic reporter who report on Cash Btel's excessive drinking and unexplained absences. This is a journalist called Sarah Fitzpatrick. It is interesting, to say the least, that Patel is denying the story while also investigating it. Usually a person would either deny it or investigate the leaks. But the idea that he's denying it and then investigating leaks makes
me wonder if in fact it's actually just true. She reported last month that Patel was known to drink and excess We saw photos of that. Remember when he went to the Olympics in Italy and there was a picture of him drinking with the hockey team, routinely delayed meetings and time sensitive operations, and was often unreachable. So now he has said that's not true, but is also trying
to investigate who told The Atlantic this story. After The Atlantic published the story, Patel filed out two hundred and fifty million dollar defamation suit against the publication. So here's and he said quote that the story was replete with false and obvious, fabricated allegations designed to destroy Director Patel's reputation and drive him from office. But my is that if it's not true, why would you investigate the leagues?
And we will see more from this, and my gas is that like so many of the lawsuits coming out of Trump world, it will either get dismissed or Patel will you know. I think it'll end up getting dismissed as my guess.
Yeah, So mister Trump was very big mad that Indiana's legislature did not want to do his bidding for redistricting, so he endorsed a bunch of kids in the state House that did not go for it. And well, mister Trump got his way, as most of them have been defeated.
So these are Indiana state legislators who voted against redistricting and Donald Trump was able to go into their primaries, support their opponents and make them lose their seats. Now, I want to talk about this for a minute because it is both bad and good for Democrats. So this happened. It's bad for democracy that the base supports Trump no matter what, but it's also a piece of data we already knew. We already knew that Trump World has absolute fealty,
that it demands it and it gets it. What I think is meaningful here is that this is not the same atmosphere it was in twenty twenty four. Trump is as unpopular as he has ever been, and now you have Republicans who must hitch their wagon to him in order to win MAGA. But we'll lose in a general or in a world that's not MAGA because of their association with Trump. So this is a really bad spot
for Republicans. Right if the people who had gone against Trump had won, then you could say, well, the base had there's some room with the base in order to you know, you can run, you know, like Biden let people run against him, and some of them were able to keep their seats because they said, well, you know, we're not full bidenight. But Trump doesn't do that. So this means that if you are a Republican, you're going
to have to hit your wagon to Trump's start. There's going to be you're not allowed to have any daylight between him and yourself. And also he's wildly unpopular, So I think that is going to be a real problem for a lot of Republicans.
I agree.
So yesterday on the show, we had Mike Madrid on and we were discussing the concept of our Republicans just being caught flat footed coming into the midterm elections, and this interview Notice has with the NRCC chair says that no, they're just absolutely delusional fools.
Uh yeah, so, I mean again, like I just want to so Trump is not so popular the National Republican Congressional Committee chair. They are the people who are tasked with Republicans trying to keep Congress. They know that the House is looking really tight. And the reason that we know that they know that is because Donald Trump will not be trying to steal congressional seats if he thought he was winning, right, I mean, my man is doing
everything he can to prevent it from being fair. They're just doing whatever they can to try to spin this because just like with those Indiana Republicans who all lost their seats by not going full maga, these people know that Trump demands fealty. So instead of saying, well, you might be some headwinds, they're saying, we're still on a rescue mission. Remember how bad it was before. Give us a chance to continue to make your lives better. Problem is,
gas prices have risen and risen. In risen diesel is a record highs. I just don't think that there's a world where this message resonates in any which way.
Really saying that there is nine dollars gas in some parts of America and that the voters will be happy with mister Trump six dollars guests won't resonate.
I'm so shocked.
It's, you know, yet another place where Donald Trump has tied these people's hands. Right, they can't say anything that's not maga, and yet they also can't make a case for themselves. So I think it's a tough spot for them, which is good because they stink.
YEP.
So we are ten years past the debates about whether the Democratic Party should have gotten involved in the primary between Bernie and Hillary.
Oh, tell us your view, tell us your view. I'm curious.
You want to know a really funny thing. This is not one of those things. I'm passionate about it. I feel like anybody who was shocked that that happened was a political fool. This is actually not my left wing bone to pick.
I'll take it.
The point being there is a lot of fighting about this right out. In fact, I even saw some fights last night about the California governor's debate about how much party officials were saying bad things about other candidates that they should just stay out of. It was a big war on Twitter in the past twelve hours or so.
Oh, I'm so glad I miss that. How did I miss that?
You're really missing just gripping commentary. I'll tell you how you missed it. I was ready to get after midnight, after you've been turned into a pubkin.
Yeah, I've been asleep for four hours at that point. So here's what's going on. There are a bunch of candidates that Democrats that the leadership went and stuck their finger in these races. These were primaries that were tight, some of them tight, some of them not tight. And look, Democrats should not do that. They should not be getting involved in primaries, even leadership unless it's really I mean,
I think they should stay out of it. But what they did was they did they did something where they got everybody really mad. And so here we are. Democratic leadership is acting undemocratically to boost the candidate's They view is more electable, and the truth is like, sometimes that's true, sometimes that's not true. Like, for example, Schumer got involved in this Michigan Senate primary and boosted Hayley Stevens because
he felt she was more electable. She is not, by any stretching imagination, more electable.
And even just as egregious as Angie craig and versus Peggy Flanna get.
In it right, I mean, I almost feel like Angie Craig versus Peggy flann And again is more egregious because Peggy flan again is the lieutenant governor, so she's already a known quantity in the state. She's won a statewide elected office, and it's just baffling. But yeah, this is another one though, where it's like the leadership may not know better. You piss a lot of people off in the party when you do this. I mean, it's a really good example of what happened to Maine. So Schumer
endorsed Janet Mills, governor, who was seventy eight. The people didn't want her, they wanted Graham Platiner, and so she just couldn't you know, the main primary people gave Platinum money and polling showed he was way ahead, and so she dropped out. And I think that's a really good example. It's like, I mean, I do not live in Maine, so I do not know what the people may want, but they seem to like him better than their governor. And you know, who knows what the calculus there is.
But it's a really good example of why, like probably Schumer really got over his skis when he started. I mean, certainly there are some people like Roy Cooper who's on this episode, who Schumer convinced to run, or Shared Brown, who was probably the only person who could really have a shot in Ohio. Mary per Tola in Alaska, that's another one where she's a really good candidate and a really hard red state. But these things where they get into a little congressional race and they upend the race
and they piss everyone off. It's just such a dumb, enforced error, and there's no reason to do stuff like that and let the people decide who they want and then get in there when you're in a general and get involved. I think it's a really important and just really disappointing on the part of Democrats.
Yeah, and especially when you and I keep hearing from people that they really just choose this by who can raise the most money, which is a really bad way of doing this.
I mean, who even knows because some of these candidates it doesn't even seem like that's how they pick them.
So well it sure it isn't from the Grassfords people that they're talking about. They're talking about the donors class.
Right, But even then, and the other thing is we're in a moment where people are so mistrusting towards the party and power and they're so angry, So why do this? Why push it?
And one of the more funny things in this article is they're talking about this that this is good messaging for people, as they say the party endorsed this, so that people actually go, great, I won't support that person.
It's stupid. It's just so stupid in every which way. Hey, it's Mollie john Fast here. My memoir How to Lose Your Mother is out now on paperback, arriving just ahead of Mother's Day. How to Lose Your Mother has garnered a lot of praise from Good Morning America, then Your Time, Book Review, Vogue, Vanity Fair, and a lot of other outlets Washington Post. The book is about what it's like to be part of the Sandwich generation, to take care
of your mother and your children. And I talk about being a mother and a daughter and the relationship I have with my mother and all of its complexities. It's funny and it's fraught, and it's sad, and it's about life.
My story, this story, the Story of How to Lose Your Mother, follows a year in which my mother, Erica Johng, is diagnosed with the demnia, my husband faces a life threatening illness, and what unfolds is a really honest story about what happens when the shit hits the fan and everything goes wrong. As The Washington Post said, the book is filled with lines so good you won't just want to underline them. It's a memoir that continues to resonate, so please pick
it up. Jim Acosta is the host of The Substacks, The Jim Acosta Show and the author of the New York Time's bestseller The Enemy of the People, A Dangerous Time to Tell the Truth of America.
Jim, Hello, Hello, Molly, where are you welcome?
Welcome? I'm an undisclosed, tosstered location. I can say no more. Just like all that just a little jail cell. That's how you know, you know what? I like this. The lighting is so bad. Look at how bad that lighting is.
I look at you.
That's ten thousand.
Years old of emotion.
That's right, baby, So listen. Uh here we are. It is another day in Donald tromp to America and the war is over the.
World until tomorrow morning.
Until tomorrow because you know, by lows Sell High, all the market manipulation happened, and all the betting markets they did their thing before Trump called Axios or whatever he did this morning.
He really likes. He seems to have some kind of relationship with Axios.
It's like, get the people at Axios. I don't want to make any accusations without any.
They are just breaking a lot of stories which end.
Up being I know, but it seems like it seems like we're living in a crazy like it's like mad money Twilight Zone. That's right where you know there's like some mad there's a there's an evil Jim Kramer on one of Donald Trumps shoulders, and then there's a there's an angel Jim Kramer and they tell him, you know, manipulate it this way a network.
Now we're at war now we're at peace.
And I mean, in Trim's defense, Donald Trump truly believes that the markets are the only indicator of the economy. So he could be watching the markets freaking out and then being like, let me see if I try to you know, if I say the war is over. And he's had a lot of success working journalists. I mean, you and I can. I mean, every time he calls someone, they're like, I talked to the president, and the President says and that historically you could do that in reporting.
But the problem is the president says a lot of stuff. Our president a lot does.
Like he says that Jerome Palell should be prosecuted for cost overruns at the Federal Reserve, while there are cost overruns at the proposed White House ballroom that was initially going to be funded by private donors, which will now be funded by the taxpayers to the tune of one billion dollars.
But anyway, you know that, by the.
Way, that's going to be in reconciliation, which means, if you are a Senate Republican, you're gonna have to vote yay or nay on a billion dollars of a billion tax dollars to go to Donald Trump's ballroom.
Huh yeah, no, I know. And and to me, I've been making this point. I don't know if anybody else wants to make this point with me, but all of this is a sign of he's just not there anymore.
He's gone.
It's one flew over the cuckoo's nest, and we just need as adults, as adults in the American family writ large, it's time we have this conversation and have this intervention with one another and we just admit that he's cuckoo for cocoa puffs and he's just building one thing after another in his honor, because I don't know, that's what some people do at the end.
This is just what they do.
There's the Palm Beach International Airport that's going to be renamed, there's the ball I mean, it's just it's all bananas, you know.
So I wonder if we could talk for a minute about Trump has put his Republicans in a bad spot, and I, for one, love it. I love it so much I couldn't love it more. I do happen to be in a jail cell, but if I were not in a small jail cell, I would be you're like.
You, okay, right now, that's right, go in the jail cell next.
But there was this incredible Indiana primary and in it, Donald Trump exacted his revenge on the people who would not go full maga, who would not redistrict for him, and he knocked out like five of seven. Okay, there's one who may go, and there's another one who won. So he knocked out five of seven Indiana state reps. So here's the deal. My guess is that publicans will take from this that they can that they must hitch their wagon too MAGA full stop.
Yeah.
There, it's sort of we're at the Branch Davidian phase of MAGA. And yeah, I think that they have to stay in the cult to survive, even though at the end everything's going to burn to the ground and they'll be inside. Not to get too dark and descriptive, but I don't think they have any other choice. A lot of these guys, and I mean Indiana is kind of like if a state were the Branch Davidians or the Branch Davidians were a state, it would be it would
be Indiana. No offense to there're a lot of nice folks in Indiana, but it's a very conservative state, right.
We're looking at the red part of the red state, right, because these are primary voters. And what's important about this is so goes the Republican primary voters are not so goes the nation.
That's right, if that's exactly right. And this they've done this, We've made this deal with the devil. They've hitched their wagons to him, to the crazy train, and it's it's going to go off the tracks and into the canyon and there's going to be a giant bugs bunny explosion at the end of it. But to me, they have no other choice as political animals. Now, I will say to the state lawmakers who risk their political skin and you know stood against the redistricting thing that that Trump
wanted to do. There, you know, my hat's off to you. Thank you for your service to your country. But they had to have known that this was going to happen. And this is going to keep playing out over and over again wherever these ruby red districts and states are, you know, wherever.
They may be.
One of the things that I think is really interesting about this moment is if you look at this in the light of like Brad Rathensberger and the people in Georgia who were able to keep their seats despite the fact that they did not let Donald Trump cheat in the twenty twenty election. I do think it's interesting, like you do see just how hard it is too. And remember Rathensberger got a ton that crew in Georgia and
Brian Kem they get a ton of outside money. So there are people in the Republican Party who are trying to shore up the not crazies. Now maybe they're doing that to protect themselves and maybe they're not, you know, who knows, but they not come in for Indiana.
Yeah, George is interesting. George is an interesting Republican stronghold, and that they have two Democratic United States Senators and Atlanta continues to boom as the southern metropolis. And I think it's really just sort of changed the political landscape in Georgia and that they just they reward establishment type Republicans and they're more and more not in the mood
to elect mega people like Donald Trump. And I think that this is this is a trend that you're going to see maybe continue, I think building across other parts of the South. I mean, let's wait and see what happens to Lindsey Graham and South Carolina. There are a lot of folks who think that he could get knocked off in the upcoming I mean, he's freaking out on Fox every night, begging for money as if he thinks that he might get knocked out in the upcoming midterm election.
So there's something happening, I think, and I.
Think it's somebody place, and newly is a big problem for Republicans, right. It says they are now they have to go full maga in an environment that is very anti maga. So when you get to a general, you are hitching your wagon too a president who is underwater on everything.
Yeah, underwater and maybe under medicated. You know.
That's the other thing too, you know, or over madicate. We're not sure which one it is. Yeah, but he you know. I mean to me, like the whole Iran war back and forth where they announced this operation will guide your tankers.
Through the straight orfour moves, whatever the hell they called it.
Gas Freedom or whatever it was. I mean, Operation Buller up Mac.
That was yesterday when we heard that the ceasefire was not holding. The day before we heard the ceasefire was not holding, And so yesterday he except did a whole president whole thing about how the ceasefire there was a little bit of firing.
A skirmish is not a ceasefire, but bringing the sea fire. He also said Trump is not capitulating, and then he capitulated like within within like twelve hours.
I think he capitulated if he.
Said room and defended it too, and then got the rug completely pulled out from under him. And he's the National Security Advisor and the Secretary of State and a DJ apparently on the weekend, and.
He's also the pope whisper because he's on his way to the Vatican to meet with the Pope because JD Vance, the guy who should historically have a relationship with the Pope as a Catholic convert, has already alienated the Pope so much so that he's sort of at war with the Pope.
Yes, I mean it's that Dominus Obdis who goes under the bus, you know, one of those things. And it maybe Marco and maybe JD. Maybe both of them. We don't know. Yeah, I mean, they're they're sort it's like Lucy in the chocolate factory right now.
They don't know.
In the chocolate factory. It's got to be Lucy in the football or Charlie in the chocolate factory.
Well, remember of luci O'll ball. I love Lucy when she was.
Like, okay, right, that's a good one.
They're coming off the conveyor belt and she can't load them fast enough. So anyway, I'm slightly no.
No.
I love Lucy a lot growing up.
I love I love.
That scene is iconic and I think that is where they are right now. And that got my Joe Rogan into the White House. We got to see Marco Rubio to the Vatican. We got to you know, pressure Indiana to toss out these Republicans. I mean I called this operation mid Terms freak Out, because you know he will, he know that Trump will pump his chest out and say, you know, we're back at war over the weekend, and then three days later it's a one page piece plan
that he's talking about with the Iranians. Because he can't, he can't take it anymore. They must be showing him poll numbers. They must be looking at poll numbers internally over there right now with whatever that guy's name is. They always bring it.
The polster Tony Fabrizio, who freaks them out.
And I assume that this is what's happening and they're having a full blown mental breakdown over what they see is coming.
And so he's got to wrap this shit up. The other thing is Marco.
He might want to go ask the Pope if it's okay to invade Cuba, because that's the you know, Mark Rubio is posing in front of maps of Cuba with Sentcom earlier this week. But I'm sorry, if you want to topple the Castro the communist regime in Cuba, they're gonna have to bomb the shit out of Havana.
And I don't see how that's going to work well with the Catholics either. So they're in a giant But also.
Donald Trump is a big which is gas is really expensive. Yes, American people hate that he made it expensive by going into Ron and messing with the straits. Now there is no is You and I both know from the Biden administration one sprice to go up very hard to get them down.
Yes, No, the oil companies really like that extra money that's coming in, and you know, why would they want to give that up? And so I assume there'll be some modest easing of gas prices. I'm no economists, but I don't think they're going to be back to where they were a year ago now.
But even you you know, the Iranians are not They do not want to play ball with us.
So that's right.
They're you know, the idea that they could church two million dollars a ship to the Straits. I mean, like, why wouldn't they do that? They have no love for us.
I mean this is like and also they have to rebuild their military. They kind of need some money right now. They got some bills, they got to rebuild it. Maybe they got to rebuild this.
They you know, their nukes.
I assume they're going to want to get some nukes now. They're going to want to rebuild their nuclear program and get the centerfuges going again. And that costs money. That good just to be paying for it, the American taxpayer. You can pay for a ballroom, and you're going to pay to rebuild Iran's nuclear program. Congratulations, America, well done.
And the joke is that if only we had had an Iranian nuclear deal.
Yes, well, that's the thing that's part of this is apparently they're going to go back to negotiating with the Iranians that you know, they should not have a nuclear program, you.
Know, like the thing we had in twenty sixteen.
Yes, obamba, figure this out. And now Donald Trump just like remember when he got rid of NAFTA and then put in like Trump TOA or whatever it was that USMC.
I remember it was like the WAT That's why he likes the song YMCA so much, because it's it's like the us MC A.
But and I remember covering that stupid yeah.
I know, I remember that, And I was like, isn't this NAFTA. This is NAFTA, right, It's kind of like NAFTA.
You'll call it n You'll call it NAFTA, I know.
And maybe he'll make maybe he'll get Barack Obama or John Kerry to negotiate with the Iranians.
I don't know, but it is rather I don't know. I don't I don't really use the word ironic anymore. Yes, disturbing Ystopian. That's apparently a writing crutch, but I keep going back that word.
Yes, Jim Acosta my favorite person to be in the Dystopia with. Will you please come back?
Yes, as long as you're not in the jail cell. I will come back.
Yeah, I just have to get freed. Roy Cooper is the former governor of the great state of North Carolina and a candidate for its open Senate seed. Welcome, Welcome, Governor Cooper.
Mollie, thank you for the opportunity to be with you. I'm excited about being here.
Well, I'm excited to have you and especially because you're this very interesting moment running for very important Senate seat in the state that Democrats have not had a senator in in a long time.
Yeah, this is the number one flip from red to blue US Senate seat in the country. It's hard to find a path for a Democratic majority in the Senate without taking North Carolina. I'm excited that we can do it. But you're right. Even though I served as governor for eight years and we've had some success electing Democrats in state offices, our last Democratic US Senator was kay Hagan. She was elected in two thousand and eight, and that was the same year that Barack Obama won North Carolina.
And in almost four years we've only had two Democratic US Senators. So it is so important for us to step up and win this seat. Now I feel positive about it, But we need everybody's help out there, going to Roy Cooper dot com finding out about our campaign, signing up to volunteer, helping us financially. We really appreciate the help from people, not only here in North Carolina, across the country.
I find North Carolina to'd be so interesting because it's one of those states where the governorship flipped and now there's an opportunity to flip a Senate seat. We haven't necessarily seen that in other states, like I'm thinking about Kansas or states where Democrats were able to flip a governorship and not necessarily flip the federal positions. And so I'd love hear to talk about what you think is happening right now in North Carolina.
Well, I've defeated an incumbent Republican governor in twenty sixteen and served two terms. I think people understand that it is important to have those who care about their lives and who care about the cost of living right now.
I mean, I've worked to get health care across North Carolina as governor, and they saw me with a Republican legislature for eight years, bring them around to expand Medicaid, and now we have almost seven hundred and fifty thus thousand people who have health insurance, many of them in the Republican rural counties, and they're recognizing that this is a positive thing that's happening in their life, and it's
reducing their cost and making them healthier. So I believe in North Carolina that we are ready to take this step to send a Democrat to the US Senate. But I know that they expect me to be putting them first. And that'll be the difference between my opponent and me. My opponent is Michael Wattley, who was the chair of the Republican National Committee along with the chair of the
North Carolina Republican Party. He's going to do and say whatever this president tells him to do and say I, on the other hand, will be a strong independent senator who will put the people first. I think the bad thing about Wattley as an opponent is that he will draw a lot of money outside Republican money. We're already up the eighty eight million dollars of outside Republican money
that's going to be bought in airspace. But the good thing is that in order to continue to ingratiate himself to the president, you know how they have to do that. He's saying things in North Carolina like prices are down and we've defeated inflation and the economy is going great. I've been out there on going to make stuff costs less to her. I'm talking with people. I know that that is not true. Being with Gerard yesterday, who is at Greensboro UNCG student who's getting ready to leave for
the workforce, looking at the cost of rent. He doesn't know what he's going to do. I talk with Stephanie, who's the teacher whose budget is getting busted by grocery prices that are going up seemingly every week for her. I talk with Meredith, who has a child, Vivian, who has cerebral palsy. Meredith scared to death that her medical treatments are going to be taken away because of all of these attacks on healthcare from Washington. So people are
hurting right now. So many people are looking up at the middle class and thinking that they're never going to get there, and so many families have too much month at the end of the money. They had an administration who promised them that they would fix us on day one, not only have they not done that, They've made it worse, particularly with this one big beautiful bill that has snatched healthcare away from so many people. So people aren't feeling
that right now. What they are feeling is they want someone in Washington to look out for them, not for the billionaires and for the very wealthy.
Watley seems like pretty kooky. It feels like you have a micro of the macro with Republicans of being a Republican who has to support pretty crazy stuff in order to keep in Trump's good graces. Is that what you're seeing.
Well, he's an election denier, a twenty twenty election denier. He as chair of the North Carelina Republican Party, recruited right wing candidates, and he's part of the DC insider crowd. He worked on the Hill for Republicans and then opened up a lobby and firm and he's been a big oil and utility lobbyist for years and years, and so he's part of that inside crowd. He's spending a lot of time advocating for policies that help his clients that
he had as a lobbyist. The utility companies. We're seeing the rates go up, We're seeing his strong support for this war in Iran. He owns a lot of oil stocks. Those are the kinds of things we're seeing from him. He's going to look after his wealthy buddies when he gets to the US Senate because he's certainly advocating for policies that help them now. And when he's trying to tell the people of North Carolina that prices are down and that inflation has been to people know that he's
selling them a bill of goods. And we know why he's doing it, because he's continued to try to stay in the good graces of the person who anointed him to run for this US Senate seat. So we have an amazing opportunity here to win this race. And the you know, we've seen some polls where things are tight, and then there's some polls where I'm a little bit ahead. But I want to warn people this that we've tried to win US Senate seats in North Carolina in the past,
and what has happened. The Democrat has been ahead, ahead, ahead, ahead until they're not and then at the end, at the end these races close. Republican Senator Tom Tillis, who's the incumbent won two races in North Carolina and never led in a public poll.
Why do you think that is?
I think a lot of times in North Carolina, people go home at the end and they may be telling pollsters that they don't they aren't decided yet, but they end up going where they are most comfortable and voting for a candidate that they feel comfortable with. So it's but it's really hard to know. But it's just a
warning that we cannot take this race for granted. Some people think that we are going to win this race, and I do too, but only if we invest, only if people stand up and recognize that this is going to be critical to taking back the Senate, which is going to be so important. I told my kids the other day that my parents had left me a better country, but I had work to do, along with everybody else, to leave them a better country. And one of the
reasons that I decided to run. Look, when I left the Governor's office in January last year, I kicked off my dress, shoes and ripped off my tie and decided that I was going to do some other things. But I kept seeing the chaos coming out of Washington and understanding that I needed to step up because I knew I had the best chance to win. I knew Democrats had a hard time winning US Senate races in North Carolina.
I could not sit on the sidelines right now. And I think we all need to look inside of us and do whatever it is that we need to do to make sure we have a course correction in our country, to make sure we have a legislative body in Washington that will take back its constitutional authority and trade in tariffs, will take back its constitutional authority, and declaration of war in budgetary matters, the checks and balances that the framers
of the Constitution intended, and that's going to help everyday people, many of whom when you're trying to fill up the grocery basket, you're not really thinking about abstract government issues. But in fact, we really need to step up and do these things, like because the tariffs are making a huge difference in the price of groceries right now. They're making a huge difference for our farmers in North Carolina, hurting their budgets, sending up the cost of equipment and fertilizer,
hurting people. And the Congress has the authority over trade in Paris. The US Supreme Court has said so, and these things are still happening because the Republican leadership will not step up and contest this president. So we need people there who will do that.
You guys have a lot of FEMA drama in North Carolina. Can you talk about that?
Well, we had the worst natural disaster this state has faced with Hurricane Helene. When you have a hurricane in the mountains, that is an extraordinary catastrophe. And what has happened is that the President came in and said we're going to fix things, and he appointed my opponent, Michael Wattley as the Western Recovery Czar. He has failed miserably
in North Carolina. Only twelve percent of the damages so far have been funded by the federal government, when in previous hurricanes across the country that number has been so much higher, and people in western North Carolina are frustrated and he has just simply failed in this mission. I think it's going to be really important to recreate FEMA
to make sure that it works more efficiently. But I think what Michael Whatley and Washington DC insiders are going to do are simply going to push more responsibility and expense back to the state and local government and reduce federal funding with whatever changes they're about to make. And I think that's wrong.
I have a follow up question on the FEMA stuff, So that seems like a very low number of people who percentage of people who are getting the FEMA assistant their assistance they are entitled to as taxpayers, do they are they able to thread the need all because these are people who are living in a very rural area to understand that want he is the guy who was supposed to put the FEMA response together and they did not get that money or now.
Well, yeah, I mean certainly, not only have we been talking about that, but people in western North Carolina have been talking about the fact that the federal money just has not come as it's been promised. And when Trump tapped Michael Whitley to be the one to help oversee this process, clearly people are looking to him to try and make this administration respond. If he can't do it here, he's certainly not going to do it in the US Senate because, as I said earlier, he's just going to
do whatever the President tells him to do. And it's very frustrating for the people of North Carolina. It's frustrating across the state that things cost so much right now, with utilities and childcare and housing and healthcare. These prices right now aren't keeping up with people's paychecks. And I've been rolling out policies. People can go to Roy Cooper dot com not only to help us, but to look at the policies that we've rolled out that I want
to bring to Washington to direct. We're not just complaining about the harm this administration is doing and being pushed by Michael Whitley because he's in favor of all of
these things. We have solutions to this, and we want people to know that we are ready to step up and help them with the childcare tax credit, to help them with trying to roll back these teriffts, to help them by putting more restrictions on these health insurance companies that are blocking people's coverage, to make sure we restore
the federal subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. We had a couple hundred thousand people Molly who simply just couldn't afford their health insurance anymore, and then we had hundreds of thousands of more who had to buy at a higher price, policies that covered less, and now they have more out of pocket expenses. So people are highly frustrated about this right now.
Are voters putting together that Trump has made things more expensive?
You know?
One of the things I like to ask people when they're in states where I am not and they're talking to voters, is like, are you hearing people put it together? Are you hearing them be like, oh, he went to war in Iran and that is why gas is now five dollars a gallon? Or are you not hearing that? Just because I think we're in such media silos, I don't know what people are hearing.
Well. I think in my campaign it is so important for people to understand that Wattley is supporting all of trump policies. And you know, Trump may be more popular personally with people than his policies are, and Michael Wattley is supporting these that are hurting people. I think people know. I think it's pretty clear that the reason they are paying so much more at the gas pump is because of the war in Iran, the war that this administration
said that they would not engage in. I one hundred percent support our troops and we need to make sure that they are protected and supported. We have ninety five thousand active duty service men and women here in North Carolina, but I've talked with a number of their families and many of them are worried. They don't see the strategy
that is happening as it should. Well, Michael Whitley is out there supporting all of this, and I think people know that that's the reason why they are paying so much more for gas and diesel, and we're going to continue to let people know that in this campaign. And I think that's why it's important for people across the country to support our efforts so that we can make sure that we are telling this story and also defending off the lies that will come from the other side.
And we know that they have no problem with continuing to tell lies. It's pretty extraordinary. But I'm positive about where we are, Molly. I'm positive that people will understand that I am for them, making stuff costs less for them, while Michael Whitley is for the wealthy and the billionaires, and I think that we can win this race because that's the truth.
Roy Cooper, thank you, Thankie, thank you for joining us.
Molly, this has been fun. I really appreciate it, and I'm grateful to you and your listeners, and I hope you guys help us in North Carolina. We got to get this thing done.
Such Jesse Tannon.
Soiley, let's take a trip over to Arizona. I really don't want to, but let's take a trip there.
I like Arizona.
That's a little for me. Yeah, the culinary is great, though. Okay, but they fell one vote short to criminalize blowing a whistle when ice is around.
So here's the story. And I know this from going to Arizona when I spoke at the Arizona List. Basically, the Arizona State House is really even though the governor of Arizona is a Democrat and all the sort of leadership in the state and even the senator is I think both senators are liberals. The problem, right, you have two Democratic senators in that state. The problem with Arizona is that it was a very conservative state and the
state legislature is kind of a disaster. They at one point had a bill that I think they still have it where there's a tax incentive for data farms. So they've come up with some real dumb shit, and this is very annoying. It's very much what you see in this state. Now, the good news is it didn't pass because they did not have enough Republican voters there, Republican
lawmakers there for the vote. The twenty nine to twenty two vote in the Arizona and the Arizona House of Representatives one shive the number needed for the bill to pass. So that is good. But you should be watching these state house bills because they're cooking up a lot of crazy stuff. I mean, that's what happens in the state houses. And that's how remember they overturned Roe v. Wade that way right by coming up with a crazy state law, S B two in Texas which ended up criminalizing abortion.
That's what happens a lot of times in these state houses. You just have to watch them like a hawk, especially Arizona.
Yeah.
I always just think of their vote against celebrating Martin Luther King Day sticks in my brain forever.
That's it for this episode of Fast Politics. Tune in every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday to hear the best minds and politics make sense of all this chaos. If you enjoy this podcast, please send it to a friend and keep the conversation going. Thanks for listening.