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 Mitt Romney says GOP policies don't always align with the working class. We have such a great show for you today. The Lincoln Project's own Rick Wilson joins us to discuss the political realignment after the
twenty twenty four election. Then we will talk to Congresswoman soon to be goubernatorial candidate Mikey Cheryl about her home state of New Jersey and what it means to run for governor there.
But first the news, SAMII, I saw a lot of people very very very mad on the tech steps since we're all using three different short form text steps. Now that ABY is giving into a fifteen million dollar Trump settlement, what do you see here?
So basically, Donald Trump very very just always been like a job right. He often tries, you know, I think he's of the theory that if you bring people into court enough times, they will leave you alone. And in this case it actually did work. ABC News is going to pay fifteen million dollars and they are also going and they issued a public apology in order to settle
a defamation suit. So this is like one of those banana banana situations where Stephanopolis said that Trump was found libel for rape in connection to the Egene Carol lawsuit. Now this is like neither verdict involved a finding of rape as defined under New York law. So it was sexual misconduct sexual assault, but it was not technically rape because New York State has a different definition of the term rape. And so while this may seem a semantic argument,
he did. Actually the legal definition did not track with what Stephanopolos said. A lot of judges would have thrown this out because it's not you know, he's a public figure. There's a much lower bar to harm when it's a public figure who was who was in the media, and it should This really would not have been a case five years ago. But now judges are more in bold and magial world is more aggressive, and we're having stuff like this. Now, why do I think ABC settled this case?
I as not a lawyer who does not play one on television. My guess is that ABC's parent company, Disney, was thought it would be easier just to write a check than deal with it. Remember, one of the things that people have found out about Trump is that he's very transactional, so he will in fact play for pay, or that's what history. History has dictated that he's willing to pay for play. So I don't think we should
be super surprised by this. I think that it's very hard to play k Trump, and that generally, when you're going into the discourse like this with someone who is notorious for hitting back harder, that this is a road that is going to be very fraud And by doing this, ABC has now created a roadmap for suing for defamation for things that are not necessarily really straight deformation. Straight defamation should be things like when a Fox News anchor says something they know is not true, right.
Like Jesse Waters does on a weekly basis.
Right says they know something said something they know is not true to malign someone. So for example, you know, any number of lies or but or when somebody makes a mistaken does not retract it.
Right.
But this is a kind of you know, this is a kind of sort of nuanced legal language issue that well, maybe you know, would it have been better for Stephanopolos to have said sexual misconduct or sexual violence or sexually inappropriate you know, assault, yes, but that was so he was sort of gotten out of technicality. It's fifteen million dollars. It'll be a charitable contribution to Trump's library. Trump's library will happen. Perhaps never so Wally.
I was recently reflecting, you know, we've almost been doing this together for five years, very soon, and I was reflecting for an end of year segment on the jackass as we've encountered over these years. And one came to mind that I hadn't thought of it a bit, which was Devin Newness. And then sure enough I looked at the news and what do I see? That Trump is going to bring them into the administration. So what are you seeing here? Because it doesn't feel.
Good to me.
Another very litigious fellow, Devin Newness.
Once what Suita Twitter accounts.
One suit of Twitter account of a cow the young guy was in the house. Was had a lot of theories, many of them wrong. Some memos Big protector of Trump is memo written by Cash Battell, big protector of Trump, Like what we're seeing here is that Trump is Loyalty is number one. If you want a job in magal world, you need to have shown you're willing to defend the indefensible.
And if you're willing to defend things that are just blatantly obviously not true or stretching the truth, if you're willing to defend Trump, you can get a job in this admin. And Devin, who knows, is the CEO of Trump's truth social platform, and now he's going to be chairman of the President's and Intelligence Advisory Board. He's not renouncing his job. He's not renouncing his outside business issues
outside business. This is like not how any of this works. Usually, if you're going to go into the admin, you have to divest, you have to put things in blind trusts, you have to do the typical things so that there is no even the appearance of corruption is as bad in the federal government as corruption. This is not This is just not just the appearance. I mean, who even knows what's going to happen here. But it's hard for me to imagine that what happens here is good, honest stuff.
You know, what I keep thinking about is that there's it can be whole new tombs of law for law schools on conflict of interest law in the government after this administration, since every one of them has it and most Notably, we also have this case with one doctor Oz.
Yeah, doctor Oz. You'll remember him as having run for the Senate and losing against John Fetterman. He has a multimillion dollar conflict of interest. Shockingly, as opposed to everyone else in this administration, who has just multi one hundred thousand dollars conflicts of interest. Doctor memin Oz, most famous as a daytime television host and also for doing very good surgery on my departed father in law. Trump has picked him to run the Center for Medicare and Medicaid
Services CM. He has a direct he may have a direct financial stake. Again, we're not sure he may. I guess this is some very couching language here in a digital so he has in his twenty twenty two tax disclosure disclosures and revealed that the Trump ally owned up to a twenty six million dollars stake in Sharecare, a digital health company co founded by Oz that operates care Links, an exclusive in home benefits program, so it is used by one point five million Medicare advantage and rolely is
the company one private in twenty twenty four, so it's unknown whether Oz still owns a stake in the company. It's possible that he has divested. It seems would be shocking to me because no one in this administration tends to do things like that, but certainly Diana if they do. Nova nor Disk, which produces ozemic and mogovi among other drubs,
is also a client of Sharecare. As a head of CMS, Odds has considerable impact on the pharmaceutical industry, but with business ties like these, it's equally likely the drug companies could have a profound impact on him. Again, I do not consider this to be the worst thing in the Trump medicine Trump drug company world, because I am more worried about the guy with the polio vaccine stuff. But this is also in a normal government, this would be
a huge scandal. In Trump world, it is but a speed bump.
Yeah.
So, speaking of things that I think are not the biggest deal, but definitely getting missed and not good. Last week we saw Postmaster to Joy cover his ears in a hearing on the Capitol, and now we're starting to see that Trump's plan is to privatize the postal service, which was always the plan when he put Postmaster to Joy in.
I mean, I don't know what the fuck these guys are doing. I mean, they're they're you know again. He wants to, he doesn't want to. He has wanted to privatize the postal Service, but he's also he wants to overhaul it. They're very you know again. This is this ethos of life, wanting to get rid of the federal government goodies, right, like things like the National Weather Service. A lot of Project twenty twenty five is about taking away these small things that the federal government does and
getting rid of them. Again, the National Weather Service is not a huge you know, it's a sort of rounding error. But the idea here is that somehow taking that away will show the American people that the federal government can't work.
There's so much in a lot of Trump's plans. If we look at Project twenty twenty five, which he said he knew nothing about but now has been slightly warming too over the in the discourse, there's so many of these things that are just they seem designed to impale federal government agencies, to make them toothless, to make the government work less well for people, and this is one of them. So it looks likely to me that we'll
see a lot of fight with this. Rick Wilson is the founder of the Lincoln Project and the host of the Enemy's List. Welcome back to Fast Politics, Rick Wilson, Hello.
OBALI John Fast. How are you this fine?
After an I like that you are, like you seem really depressed. I feel like we're in that period pre new administration when everyone in the world has decided. And I think this happens with all administrations. And you tell me if you think historically this is true that the you know whatever, the three months between the election and the inauguration are three months where everybody takes a deep breath, holds it and it's like, maybe this'll be okay, good luck.
But I mean, isn't that true for anyone who's running for a president?
Look, generally speak, this is that window where people try to project their best scenario onto what's coming. And I will say, there are a lot of people that I've spoken to, you know, in that Republican universe, like you know.
Could turn out to be okay, and.
You know, and they know what this game is and they play it with themselves over and over again, and every single time it's like, wait, I didn't know he was a psychopathic authoritarian. But they're gonna you know, as always, the fucking round has proceeded. The finding out will soon begin.
I mean, it definitely seems like there is no and no moment has Donald Trump signaled that he is planning on moderating his stance towards deportation, towards tariffs, towards any of the things that seem like they may towards RFK Junior that may really cause enormous problems.
Right.
Yeah, Look, there is as of now, no obvious departure from the cuckoo. There is no obvious moment where they're saying, hey, you know, Trump's change, it's real, It's not the same way. It's not going to be the same. Of course it is. Of course it is. And this belief that it's not it's charming in some ways, but it's naive as hell.
So let's talk about the leadership. So one of the there have been a couple things going on in this weird period, and one of the things is that the Senate and House leadership has turned over to some degree.
And in the House, Democrats have jettisoned a number of the older members who were running different committees and replace them with younger members, which is pretty healthy, which is good, yeah, because Democrats don't actually have so Republicans in the House have the have term limits and if you want to go more than six years, you have to get a
waiver to your waiver. Democrats don't have that. So even though last year they turned over their leadership, and how now have Pete Aguilar and Cheme and Rep. Clark when it comes to these leadership positions, these ranking positions on different committees, they've now turned over. Republicans did that and now one hundred percent of their leadership.
Can you guess, Molly listen, I think the most put upon, the most, the most oppressed, the most, the shamefully economically uncertain group in America. They are all white bros at this point. And I just have to say, finally, in Congress, at long last, we're seeing that finally some faces that really represent Darien, Connecticut as well as they.
Could white hundred percent now.
One hundred percent.
What is this signal? In your mind?
What it signals is that the Republican Party occasionally has some stunt casting of you know, a Byron Donald's or somebody like that, or you know, a Carry Lake or what have you.
But at the end of the day.
These are the same white guys that were in the Leadership Institute when I was young, and then they, you know, became part of either the Federal Society or the or the or the Freedom Caucus or whatever. And it's just a it's a system that is, you know, largely composed of white brose.
Here's something I'm always a little bit surprised about when we talk about elections. Republicans don't make overtures towards women, really, right, I mean they sort of have. You've got you've got a few women, not in congressional leadership, but you have women around, and they don't make overtures right towards people of color. But Trump's still got both those groups of voters. So make it make sense.
Politics doesn't move demographics the same ways it used to.
So what does that mean?
People? So so imagine this for a second.
You have three guys, an African American guy, a white guy, and a Hispanic guy, and they work on our road crew in the middle of the fucking summer, and the liberal white lady with her with her save the rainforest bumper sticker on her fucking land rover drives by them and they all fucking hate her. Okay, they there is a sense in this country among working class voters. And this is really something I've been thinking a lot about
in the last few weeks. Those working class voters. It's been building for a long time, and the messaging machine on the Republican side of the equation has been getting better and better at communicating to them and blaming wrongly blaming. Oh, it's the rich people, it's the educated people. It's the women, it's the it's it's the liberal Hispanics.
That that hate you.
They all they don't care about your about your job, but they care about making you say LATINX.
They want war on Christmas.
And there was a long running misread by the Democrats that African American men were going to stay exactly where they were when African American men are much less liberal or progressive in their voting patterns. Now, as we're starting to see emerging, they really did not like the trans issue.
For instance, we're seeing that in.
Some of the polling they really did not like the thought that they were going to get left out. And the Democrats have promised them for generations, we're going to fix this. You're going to be this you're going to get that in terms of economic and personal opportunity. They don't feel like they got that. And so essentially, I had a friend who was on a radio showay in Chicago,
a bunch of African American men. All you would scan them as progressive is they're all like, no, no, no, no, no. You know what, We're sick of being promised stuff that never happens. And it is something that is disconnected from policy because right now, when a working class voter of any race, here's a Democrat say well, you know, listen, we don't like that oil and gas industry job that pays you thirty eight bucks an hour, so we're going to retrain you to be a holistic solar panel installer.
With their responses, go fuck yourself.
So here's my question, Well, what you're talking about. There are a couple of things you're talking about, but the one I want to focus on is economic populism. People are mad, right, They're making less money, they have less things, are more expensive. They're mad. And that was definitely a big driver in this election.
It was real, it was real, So.
There was a real sense that people had we're not getting what they needed. So explain to us kind of what you think should happen there and what is not happening, and sort of where this goes.
I think the Democrats have to take a very hard look at the way they're talking to working class voters, because when you propose a policy to them, when you propose some sort of plan to them, it has less emotional impact than when the Republicans say we're going to hurt the people that you don't like. Now, I'm not saying you have to adopt the philosophy of saying we're going to hurt people you don't like to these voters, but I do think there is a question of language, intent, style,
if you will, in all these things. And I think it is something that is dangerously pendant for the Democrats. They don't have two years to do this. They have about seven or eight months to figure this out before the twenty twenty sixth election starts.
How to harness populism?
Yes, exactly, when voters get in a habit of voting a certain way, they keep voting that way as a rule, all of the things being equal. Okay, So it took something to change those African American men, and it took something to change those Hispanic men who meant for the Republicans over time, but they're not locked into that voting pattern yet. And some of that voting pattern did come from the fact that Trump is a celebrity.
Right, and also that he was not bound by the truth, right. I mean, a Ron DeSantis might be an aspiring autocraft. More, he may be able to lie with quite the same zeal that a Donald Trump will.
Quite without exaggeration. It is very difficult to find anyone in our political history in this era, including Richard Nixon, who could lie with the faculty of Trump. I mean, he is a man who lies without a single sentilla of guilt or regret or caution.
So part of what happened here was that people were sort of addicted to giving him the benefit of the down.
Per some Molley, that's completely correct. People have always said, oh, that's Trump being Trump. They price it in, but.
They don't do that with anyone else.
It is unique, isn't it.
And it partly is because over time, almost a decade, they've said things like, well, he's a businessman, he's not really a politician.
We're not going to hold him in the same standard.
He's a he's an entertainer, not a politician. We're not going to hold him the same standard. All those things I think really add up to this kind of terrible equation we find ourselves in. We are still not out of the woods here. Donald Trump is going to start proposing things that are you know, when he says I'm going to listen to Bobby Kennedy, and Bobby Kennedy says, yeah, we're going to stop vaccinating people for polio, that's gonna have real impacts.
So, I mean, what the waere the polio story came from. Important to just be clear on this is that he one of his lawyers who is in his who is helping him through the process. It actually did file complaints against the company that makes the polio vaccine, which is in some ways more insane and worrying than if RFK Junior had just said something like that that was more clear, right, because it's like, clearly these guys would actually like to
end the polio vaccine. Thing that does seem really in congruous is like, do you think Donald Trump really does like RFK Junior and does because he never I mean certainly he came out on vaccines where we thought he might because of the base, but this seems like very sort of out of his This is not something. This is not like tariffs.
No, this is this is sort of out of band even for Trump, and it is it is, But there is a part of Trumps as we see over and over again, where he finds something and he thinks, Okay, the base likes this, My people like this. They expect me to do this. And if that happens and he gets into that frame, there's a chance he does it. And I think that is super disturbing. Yeah, I mean yeah, I think that is incredibly risky in this country and incredibly dangerous.
Frankly, do you think Republicans sign off on that because.
That what if he does? What if he just runs an executive order?
Well, I mean, like a question. Here is Mitch McConnell, right, Like Mitch mcconnall did come out against the polio vaccine.
Literally a guy who survived polio.
But I mean it's hard for me to imagine that Mitch McConnell will go along with that. And you have Murkowski and Collins, and then you have like four or five senators who are doctors, like Rand Paul Is certainly not going to do anything because he's a complete anomaly. But there are quite a lot of doctors in the Senate. I mean, these people. It's hard for me to imagine that these people are like.
Yes, right, like this is the greatest idea ever.
Right, Like polio wasn't that bad? Let's go.
You posted this the other day on your things from the Internet, one of your posts that you know there are people out there say, well, you know, we haven't had any cases of polio in a long time, so why don't we get rid of the vaccine. I'm like, oh my god, right, they don't get it, don't understand it.
They don't understand it. Listen, there's a part of me that would really love to let this be an option for people and to say, Okay, if you don't want to get your kids vaccinated for polio, go forth and prosper And but by the way, you don't get any you're not going to be covered by any kind of federal health insurance. Because the only lesson sometimes in the
world is brought by pain. And while I don't want anyone to suffer from polio, this anti vaccination thing that has grown in our country, and it weirdly used to be this isolated, little sort of Beverly Hills Mom's weird progressive bubble, like we're all holistic here, we're gonna, we're gonna, you know whatever. But now it is this widely accepted on the in the Republican mainstream and the MAGA mainstream, if you can use that word there, that vaccines are
a bad thing, and it is it constantly. It constantly amazes me that we're in a world right now where there's an argument against vaccinating people for polio. Just so my friends on the right understand this, the polio virus still exists in the world endemically, it's everywhere. If you aren't vaccinated for it, enjoy your time for the rest of your life in a sixteen square foot condo called an iron lung.
No, I know, it's really dark. So we have a couple of different problems going on. We have that the leadership in the House of the Senate. We have the judges, which again I don't want to criticize democratic leadership, but the I do you can do it, doubt I do.
Look, here's the thing. Harry Reid one time said that Mitch McConnell's better in the minority even than Chuck Schumer is in the majority. Okay, there's a reason for that. He's not good at this work. This bullshit. We're gonna wait and see and figure it out and see if we can find the moment to pounce.
It is unfun.
It's like saying, well, I know the Germans just rolled through Belgium and they're gonna take France, but we might as well just sit back and wait.
You cannot.
You cannot let these people get ahead of steam. You cannot let them build up momentum. Look, Trump is going to try to push through in the front end. They're going to try a lot of crazy shit. Okay, it's going to hurt, it's going to be nuts. It's going to be terrible, and people who are not ready for it are going to be shocked how fast it moves. This idea of we're going to wait for our honorable friends on the other side to see reason and light and do the right thing. Have you met these people.
We are in an insane moment in American life. The House is really tight. The Senate again, they don't have the majority they need to break a filibuster. It strikes me that there was a fair amount of warning about Trump trying to do these try to do recess appointments like they're clearly not going to go along with it. I mean, whether or not Trump does it, who knows, but sort of Democrats should do right now.
Well, look, I think I think every one of these nominees, and some of them are going to go through. Okay, I'm not saying they're not going to. Some of them are going to go through. Listen, Marco is going to get through, pambody is going to get through. A lot of them are going to go through. But the Democrats need in every single one of these nomination fights they do, make them all into fights. They need to say, here's what Project twenty twenty five is going to look like,
here's what they're going to do. Get them on the record. Get these people on the record. Joe when Taught, when Homan from you know, on.
The wann just say whatever. I mean. Holman is not even trying to hide it at all.
Well, but here's the thing.
I want those people to have those pieces of video on the record. I want them to know. You know, those things are going to become ads later, those things are going to hurt their candidacies later on the Republican side, that these people aren't going to get like the my honorable friend nod and a wink bullshit And look, you know, Marco Rubia, they need to be asking him questions.
Like this, Marco.
When Donald Trump says he wants to not do Article five with NATO, what is the position of the State Department on Article five with NATO? What is your position on Ukraine? What will you be doing viz Israel and the fight with Hamas that is not related to Trump.
I think these people are going to have to do a lot of things that aren't on the agenda yet, and so we want to make sure that they are on the record about how they're going to govern, how they're going to lead, what they're going to do in these departments, because if they're not, it will just be, you know, they will have nothing but the whim of Trump to guide them.
Yeah. I think that's right, and it's also I think that like there is a real opportunity here for Democrats to remind us what we're doing a little bit.
Yeah.
Rick Wilson, thank.
You, as always, my friend. I'll talk to you soon.
Congresswoman Mikey Cheryl represents New Jersey's eleventh congressional district and is a candidate for governor in the Democratic primary in the state of New Jersey. Welcome to Fast Politics, Mikey.
Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Great to be back.
Yeah, delighted to have you. You're in Congress. I want you first to talk about what it's like right now in Congress.
You know, I think there is this like just general need for grit right now in the democratic way to just move forward in the best possible way to serve the most amount of people while protecting what we can, but being really clear eyed about it, because I have to tell you the attacks have already started on vulnerable populations, and there are going to be areas where the federal government legislates in ways that are really harmful people, including kids,
really harmful to you know, a lot of the work we have done to create a more stable economy, to create a better pathward for opportunity for the most amount of people, to run government more efficiently, which creates equity in and of itself. So there's just a lot that we're going to see rollbacks on. And when we tell people elections have consequences. Boy, are we going to be
paying the price. So it is incumbent upon Democrats to con continue to move forward, to continue to connect with constituents and to say, look, this is where we can move forward. These are the things we can do. And I'm going to continue to look for those bipartisan coalitions of people and those areas where we can move forward. And there are always those pockets. I am really disappointed. I had hoped in this Congress one of those areas would be the Kids Online Safety Act, because that was
really bipartisan in the Senate. And I don't know why Mike Johnson and Scalise have decided that they don't want to protect kids online. I mean, I am getting NonStop complaints from my district. I see it in my own home. Parents are just unable to sort of deal with the onslaught of the algorithms and the new apps and what
kids have access to. So even if, for example, I took away all of my children's smartphones, they get issued computers at their school that they have access to, and so there is just an ability of parents to control it all. And I think a sense that we're all failing because you're you know, we're constantly being told as parents, Oh, there's these protocols and protections that if you want to, you can sign up for and you can protect your children online. Well, it's a full time job because, as
we all well know, the apps changed quickly. Our kids have a much better understanding of technology and can override a lot of these protectings. I remember when my daughter was eleven, her friend was grounded because her parents kept putting safety restrictions on her phone and she kept, you know, working around them, and the answer was they hadn't found one. I guess she couldn't crack. So the answer what she got grounded. But I mean it's really really difficult, and
you know, we're not seeing movement here. So but I still think I can build a broad coalition as we go into the next Congress, and I'm still going to work on that kind of thing.
One of the things that happened was you guys passed a military funding bill and Mike Johnson put some stuff in there at the last minute. Can you talk about that?
Yeah, So it was really bad.
It's pretty unusual, too, right, and very unusual.
Yeah, So we conference the bill, meaning what happens is we have hearings all year. As you can imagine, the Defense Bill, it's, you know, almost half the nation's budget. It's a huge piece of legislation. I sit on the House Arms Services Committee, and that's unusual in and of itself, because we only pass one bill basically, and it's the
Defense Act. And so we spend all year hearing about what our nation's national defense needs are, what are the concerns, Where are we not supporting our soldiers and sailors as well as we should be. So we spend all year dealing with this. We come together after months of hearings, both public hearings, and then we go into it's called a skiff, so we can do secret hearings and make sure that we're getting all the information we need to really push in this in the places that protect our
national security and take care of our service members. And so we then get to the Defense Act and we pass this bill. Sometimes it takes you twenty four hour. I mean I've been there. I've gotten in there at nine in the morning and not gotten out until seven am the next morning. I mean, we pull Allas, yeah, which I don't think I really believed when I heard it and experience it We spend all night just going over this bill, and we craft it. We get the
bill done, it goes onto the floor. People outside the committee work to amend it. We try to make sure that we're continuing to move forward on a bipartisan bill. We work really hard. This bill has passed every year. It is so unusual to in these times get a piece of legislation that passes every year. So it's really important to us that we continue to do that because the national security of the nation should never be sort of a part is an issue. So we keep working
to do that. We get the bill done. We then conference the bill, meaning we take the Senate's defense bill, we take the Houses defense bill, and then we meet to conference them so that we can get you know, get an agreement on what the final piece of legislation
will be. All that had been done, there was an agreement, it was teed up to be put on the floor, and at the eleventh hour, I assume, because you know, he got the sort of word and nod from Trump, which really I think shows the concerns that many of
us have with an independent legislature in these times. Gets the call from Trump, and Johnson subverts everything and puts in this piece of legislation that will block medical treatment and therapy for trans children, so families in the military can't get access to that, which is just horrible.
But also Republicans in leadership were furious too.
Yeah, everybody, I mean, this was this was one person Trump talking to, you know, somebody who is I guess just his total follower, Johnson, who is a Speaker of the House should be an independent voice our government, and is not telling him, Yeah, just subvert the whole system up in the apple cart.
And he did.
And so we got this piece of legislation, and you know, we're looking at it and here we have the national security at stake. We also and it wasn't just dealing with drones, which we're having a huge issue with over New Jersey. It wasn't just supporting cybercom to deal with, you know, protection of our networks. It wasn't just how we are going to deter aggression from China and how we are going to be ready to deal with the problems throughout the world like Ukraine and the Middle East.
But also getting a pay raise for sailors who are on food stamps, getting contraception prescriptions extended from three months to one year. Imagine if you're a service woman and you're going non deployments for six months getting you know, there were some really innovative things, getting women's eggs frozen. Imagine if you're a service you know, and the lifestyle end and serving with burn pits and other pathages. I mean,
amazing stuff. And then this, So it was a really I think it's a sign of things to come.
Yeah, so speaking of bad signs of things to come, let's talk about Pete hegg set It's that's not that's it. Let's talk about.
Because yeah, we need to talk. I don't even know where to begin. I am so incredibly disappointed that, again, which should be an independent branch of government, the Senate, seems to be caving to Trump. I mean, there is a reason the Constitution has advice and consent, and it is for just the moment when an irrational president puts forth a nominee like Pete Hegseet for the Secretary of Defense. I mean, this is a person that on every single
level is unqualified for this position. Somebody said to me, we were talking about whether or not he would get through the Senate, and I said, it just seems like he's got that momentum. And they said, well, you know, maybe if just you know, another shoe drops, and I said, what shoe are you waiting for? He has got credible sexual assault claims, has problems with intoxication, he has sexual harassment claims. He has been unable to run small veterans
organizations or has run them into the ground. He has, you know, in every single level. If there is any qualification you may think of to be the area of defense, he has not met it in any way, shape or form. And then furthermore, has said women shouldn't be in combat, which man I graduated thirty years ago with the first class of women to be able to serve on combatant ships and aircraft. And I have to tell you it
has been a game changer for women in service. They are no longer second class citizens and because of that, they have thrived, They have come to the fore. And now we have a woman who is the CNO, and who was a CEO of an aircraft carrier, and who's the superintendent of the Naval Academy. I mean, women competing in our military at the highest possible levels. And all
that's been put in jeopardy. Imagine thirty years of service to the Navy and the growth of this professional navy, the best fighting force in the world, and Pete Hegseth is going to go in there and try to tear down all that we have built. It's shocking. It's shocking that this is going to possibly get through the Senate.
Talk to me about you, what your plans are next? Sure?
So I am running to be the next governor of the great State of New Jersey, which is exciting for so many reasons. And the possibilities in our state just feel somewhat endless. But the challenges in our state also feel somewhat endless. But it's such an exciting thing to take on such an exciting role. But it's also a unique opportunity because there are only two statewide race is twenty twenty five, and that's the governor's race for New
Jersey and the governor's race for Virginia. So the opportunity here when we know that we lost the presidency, we don't have a majority in the Senate, we don't have a majority in the House. The opportunity for I think leadership and vision comes from democratic governors. This sets the table for that future, and it just feels like such an exciting opportunity, especially given that you know, I'm sitting
here in Washington today we just voted. Being here is really tough, and it's really tough to see the way forward. We're just all trying to hold the line until twenty six. So to have the ability to run for an office where you can actually have a proactive vision and engage in that feels great. I have to say, it feels really great.
Yeah. I mean I have just been to Washington recently, and the vibes, I mean, I was meeting with some different congress people just too I'm friendly with them. The vibes are so fucking bad. I mean, it just feels like hard to imagine how this is not going to end in tears.
I think the vibes are bad because we've been through it. Many of us have actually been in office when Trump was president, and it's tough. And the way I put it to people who've not had that experience is he does something that you think is the worst attack on our democratic system of government, or is the worst case of self dealing by any president of the United States, or is doing something that is going to harm so
many people but enrich himself or his family. And he does that thing, and you start to get to work, right, like you gather the forces, you investigate it, you go study the constitutional scholars, you know, you start to think of the communications plan and the legislative plan and how you are going to address this and bring people together so that this never happens again, or you block what's
going on. And before you get about a quarter of the way through this big effort, he's done five other things that are equally awful, and so it's just churn. So that's why I think people in Washington are so grim and resolute, because we understand that now, and we are going to have a proactive vision and we're not going to get into the mailstorm of whatever this is going to be, but rather fight on the legislative floor, fight on the floor of the House everything we can.
And remember in the House we have that really slim majority, made even slimmer by Trump pulling three people out of the House, and then at the same time coming up with our proactive vision, having the democratic governors lead on that. In the States, now the laboratories of democracies they were envisioned to be figuring out the path forward and then you know, really showing that compelling path to the American people.
In other words, it doesn't have to be this real horror show of sexual assaults and sexual harassment and demeaning of women, and demeaning of families who want to get medical care for their children, and demeaning of the military,
and I mean, on every level. Doesn't have to be that our values are strong in the States, and we are going to make sure that we take our case to our constituents and not only win in twenty five, but then set the table I think compellingly for a vision of the future that's going to actually be I think what flips the House in twenty six.
New Jersey is a largely blue state. This election will actually take place at the primary level, really, so talk to us about what your primary contest is starting to shape up today.
I think what's exciting is there are just a lot of people that are looking at this as a really key moment in our state's history and the vision of going forward. So I am in a six way primary, which is something that we don't normally see in your Jersey.
You know, I think we have different competing visions, and it's something as the front runner in the race, it's something I actually love to hear the different ideas of the different candidates because I think they make my candidacy stronger as people push in on different efforts to really say, Okay, I need to address that. Oh wow, that's really interesting coming from this community or this group of people. I
need to address that. So I actually think it's going to make everyone more thoughtful candidates and going forward kind of going through the rigor of a primary, coming out of it with again just a really great vision for the state and even for many states across the nation to follow.
So you're not going to talk to ash about any of your primary challengers.
Oh, I won't go that far. It's right, that's just not a thing in my state, right, Like we're tough competitors. Nobody's gonna just you know, there will hash talk, yes, that will be coming, but what will be as important
is really the vision. And that's actually why I think my candidacy has been so impactful in the state is because the state, I think people myself included, I think they want new leadership and a fresh perspective, and what speaks to people in these tough times, when they see so many people in office who are self dealing and acting as if this is all all the things we thought about government are fake, and that everybody's just in it to make a buck or to secure power for themselves.
I think it is incumbent upon me to show that that is not the case. That the majority of us are in public service because we desperately and deeply want to serve the public. I want to make the state of New Jersey the best possible state in the nation. And I want that because I have four kids who
I want to move back to the state. I was just at a by a Harvard professor who tacks about happiness, and you know, it's funny because if I'd heard this tack, if I had been some young, you know, graduate student in my twenties, maybe wouldn't have resonated because I wanted to seek adventurancy the world. But he was saying, you know, one of the keys to happiness is your family and your interactions and having your family around. And at this stage in my life, that speaks to me. You know,
I want all my kids. I have four kids. I want them all to move back and live in town with me. I realize that's a bit of a pipe dream. And when I Old Night Contrarian twelve year old that vision, she said she was going to go live in China. But nevertheless, still working towards that. But you know, you look at New Jersey and costs are too high. The thought of my kids actually being able to afford coming home seems hard. That's what one of the things that
drives me is. I want to serve the people of New Jersey and at the same time, I want to make New Jersey the kind of place our kids can live and our kids can have opportunity, and the future looks bright. So maybe the end of the day, it is a little self serving right my kids to live for me.
Thank you so much, really appreciate you.
Thank you well, back at you. I love your podcast and thanks again.
No moment fuck Rick Wilson, Molli Jong Fast, what is your moment of fuckery? My favorite moment of fuckery this week is the unbelievable tension and ugliness between Ron De Santis and Donald Trump. There is a reason Pete Hexath is still the nominee for Secretary of Defense, and that is because Ron de Santis will not make Laura Trump US Senator as with Marco Leaving. They want him to
make Laura Trump. They want this dynastic fantasy to live out in first in the form of Laura Trump is slow Eric's wife and make her the US Senator from Florida. DeSantis doesn't want to do it. If he does it, he can't give it to because he's going to run for it in two years.
Right.
We think he's going to run because I thought he was sort of well.
He's this is what I'm hearing from from that universe. He wanted to put either Janet Nunez, his lieutenant governor who's loyal to him, or his chief of staff James Utmeyer into that job, or Casey into that job. Now Trump has been pressuring him. Trump World has been pressuring him. Susie Wilds, who hates Ron De Santis, has been using this to further diminish him. It is a great piece of fuckery inside Trump World, and it speaks to a
larger question. These people are going to eat themselves in a lot of cases.
Yeah, I think that's a real thing. Is let them go and get each other fight. Rick Wilson, thank you, Thank you.
Anytime I've talked to you. Soon. Bye bye.
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.