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 Donald Trump Junior says, I'm getting an MSNBC weekend show.
We have an amazing show for you today.
Senator Bernie Sanders stops by to talk about bringing progressives back on the Biden train. Then we'll talk to Rolling Stones, NICKI McCann Ramirez about John McEntee, who is a likely Trump administration official if we are very unlucky, and how he likes to make TikTok spragging about his cruelty to the homeless. But first we have the host of the Enemy's List, the Lincoln Project, z own Rick Wilson. Welcome back to Fast Politics, my poor sick friend, Rick Wilson.
Rick Wilson, I want to talk about last night's spicy AFT after hours hearing. On Thursday night, when the Freedom Caucus was done spending the day with Donald J. Trump at his criminal trial, they came back to hold a late night hearing to complain about I don't know.
Go first off, and folks, I'm going to apologize I have pneumonia right now and for the good of the order, I'm still doing the show. Yeah, so I sound like dragged over ass, But here we go. There is no pleasure in the world greater than seeing a bully get smacked in the face. And Marjorie Taylor Green is a terrorist, she is an abuser, she is a bully, she's a punk. And when she went at Jasmine Crockett during that hearing on Thursday night, and folks, this is late at night.
This is like ten o'clock at night. And so I'm sick as a dog. I'm laying there in bed and renamed my Fance pokes me. She's like, oh my god, you have to wake up. You have to watch this clip. I'm thinking, oh God, kill me now. But no, it was so worth it because Margie Taylor Green starts going at Jasmine Crockett, saying, oh, your false eyelashes are blocking
you can't see. She'd already gone at AOC a few minutes before, and Jasmine Crockett just said, I believe I have exhausted the supply of focks available to me in the Greater Washington metropolitan area. And she just went right at her. And I got to tell you, do I wish we had a world where people in Congress debated the key issues and the intellectual framework of their ideas. Sure, but in the meantime, every day the Republicans are bringing a flamethrower into the room, and sometimes you have to
punch them right in the face. And that's why watching Rask and Swallowell, Moskuwitz Kroc, watching them go after their Republican colleagues, when the Republicans come in with these ridiculous stud casting ideas and these ridiculous pranks, watching them get checked on it is a real pleasure.
Yeah, I think what was interesting. I mean, so that was the oversight hearing about.
Judge Merchant's daughter. That's what Green claimed it was about, or something.
Right, But I actually think that it was an issue of contempt for Garland over his refusal to turn over the audio recordings of Biden's Herr interview.
All they wanted them for was to leak them to Fox.
Right, to leak them to Fox already use them in some kind of untoward way. But what is interesting was that the question that Green asked was trumpy propaganda, which a journalist from New York Magazine saw him editing what his surrogates were going to say. Outside of the courthouse about how Judge Mershon's daughter is paid by Democrats.
So you see the through line here.
MTG asked the Democrat if they paid Judge Murshan's daughter. So the through line here is that Marjorie Taylor Green is disseminating the trumpy propaganda. And it's not even a hearing, it's an oversight hearing, and it's not even about that.
One thing to remember, Molly is that the Republicans operate on a continuity of message all the time. Yeah, the rules for Republicans about messaging are absolutely inviable. You must stay on message. And the message right now is that Trump wants everybody out there beating up on the judge's daughter. That's the message. That's all they care about.
The gag order protects only the family of the judge and the DA, not the judge and the DA for whom he's allowed to say whatever he wants.
And look, I don't think anybody is going to mistake Donald Trump for somebody who follows the rules, or who plays by the rules, or who believes in the rules. The gag order technically says that Trump can't induce others to violate the rules. Either, and yet he does. Why
does he get away with it? Well, he gets away with it because the judge recognizes he's only got a few days of this asshole in his court room left, and he didn't end up wanting to be the guy who put Donald Trump in prison as much as we would have all enjoyed it. Here we are.
I think it's probably a smart move.
Yeah, I think so.
Yeah, And Mrshawn is trying to run this.
Trial like a professional, right and also just as carefully as possible. Tuesday we had the Speaker in the House at the trial and he was doing it. Obviously, Trump saved his job. He feels, you know, in Trump world, you have to pay back right away. I think this has downstream consequences, Like I think that there are a lot of voters who see the Speaker of the House at the ex president's criminal trial and they're turned off by that.
Am I crazy?
No, You're not crazy? And actually, look, I'm a big fan of the Lol. Nothing matters philosophy, But in this situation, what you're seeing is in a country where every single day you've got a guy Mike Johnson screaming the border is unsecure. We're being overrun. This is a problem. That's a problem. Fentanyl this and immigrants that, all this stuff, right, all this mania, all these like crazy shout match things that they're always involved in, and it's like, Okay, where
where are you are? Are you actually making any kind of effort to fix the problem, You actually try to actually solve the issue? Of course not, of course not. The reason they're not trying to solve the issue is because they benefit only when the issue continues. They benefit only when the issue is an ongoing crisis rather than a solved crisis. And so they're going to pretend that the most important thing they can do is go and
stand with Donald Trump. But it really just speaks to the unbelievable shallowness and emptiness of the Republicans as a party, because there's no there there anymore, there's no issue, right.
But do you think voters see that and are turned off by it?
I think a lot of the voters that I talk to, and my cohort of voters that we you know, the ex Republicans, the moderate Democrats, the independence a lot of those people are turned off by this stuff. They do find it to be just egregious and tiresome and like, when will they take take the world seriously for one damn minute.
Here's another thought I have.
So a lot of these Senate candidates who are running in swing year districts have stopped talking about how the twenty twenty election was stolen.
They have stopped.
They are no longer pushing some of these trumpy lives.
Now.
They're doing it because they think it'll help them get elected. But I'm curious if they're doing that. They obviously have seen polls that show it doesn't play. So if that doesn't play, how does the Speaker of the House going to Donald Trump's criminal trial help them keep the House?
That is the apperable question. Republicans are always caught now in the horns of a terrible dilemma. And I want to say this for folks listening, every single Republican the UC say Elachi was stolen. Trump's being railroaded deep State, Even in his most passionate supporters, not one of them believe that's true. They know it's not true. No one of them, none, zero the number, even Matt Gates and Merge and all the crazies, none of them them believe
that's true. They know it's not true. They know it's a lie. These rich guys that are paying their consultants a ton of money to tell them how to not lose are very nervous right now because you know, if they want to win primaries, if they want to keep the magas happy, they've got to say that Trump was cheated and all this other garbage if they want to not get their heady into too them in the general election.
They get nothing out of pretending otherwise. Nothing good comes from them doing this except more pain from regular voters when the time comes making these arguments, it means you're just not serious as a person.
So thread the needle here for me, though, I mean, Mike Johnson is obviously going to get reelected because he's in an R plus two hundred and fifty.
Right, well billion, right, But.
Like I mean, does this hurt a Mike Lawler? Does this hurt a d Esposito? Does this hurt in California and New York State? There are you know about ten or twelve total swing state members of Congress, that's.
And in those areas, those people if they bite this apple, if they start up with these talking points.
Like Lawler voted for both impeachments.
Yeah, and those things are a burden to them now. And a lot of the people on the MAGA side of the equation will sort of nod and say, oh, I have to do this and wink behind the scenes, But they're having to do all this on the record. They don't get to hide this. They don't get to pretend that this isn't happening. They don't get to pretend that they're not part of the MAGA game plan, the MAGA movement. Once you start voting that way, you are that person, right.
And do you think that that will come back to get them in the elections?
Look, I think it doesn't help them. I think it actively hurts their chances. And again, in these swing seats, voters are not telling us, Oh my god, my number one concern is Donald Trump's being persecuted.
Now, is anyone telling you that.
No one's telling us that. It literally does not appear in any survey research outside of like the pages of Breitbart.
Right, So that's like an important data point.
Yeah, it's a little bit of a thing. We're not in a world where the things that MAGA voters respond to when they're clicking the directed email link may care about one set of things, but that's not what regular voters are caring about at all.
Right.
Also, I kind of think, Molly, I kind of maybe I'll get your opinion on this. Doesn't it feel just kind of like the shtick is worn out?
I mean, I'm very bored with it. But that's just me. I mean, I am just barely limpy along.
You and I are very different people than the average MAGA voter. But at some point, you know, the lies of Trump's being persecuted and the election was told all that, it just feels tired. It feels broken and worn out.
Yeah, I think they're going to try to run on that forever, but I just don't totally understand where that gets them.
It's one thing to believe in your causes and your concerns and the things your movement wants you to believe in. It's another thing when the movement asks you to believe in things that you know are object actively, untrue and dumb, and that are issues for losers right right right. And look, I've said this for a million years. The only way you're going to beat MAGA is to beat Trump and to eventually cause so much pain in their electoral lives that they go, well, maybe this isn't.
Workking, That's the only way. And I still think the fact that Nikki Haley has not endorsed, and that you have these people who are keeping their powder dry is really important.
Nicki Haley still continues to wreck up. If she continues to wreck up fifteen to twenty percent of the vote everywhere she goes, without being in the campaign, without having a campaign, without spending money in a campaign, just because she's not Donald Trump, it's a signal inside of a lot of the noise that I think people should be paying attention to.
Do you think that Trump's people, I mean, while they would never admit anything, do you think that they see that that's a problem or are they just fully foe focused on flipping Minnesota as this news psychle was today.
I mean, the idea that we're going to flip Minnesota is fascinating. Meanwhile, I'm sure that they're very competitive in Hawaii as well. Yeah, so you know that level of self delusion, man, that is respectable. That is really something. But I think las Avita and Susie Wilds and a bunch of these other people do understand that they need to make this election a referendum on Joe Biden. That's hard when Donald Trump spends every day making it a referendum on him.
Yeah, it is definitely true.
So let's talk about the big news was that their debates have been set.
What do you think about that?
I am thrilled. Okay, I will say this. First off, let's not forget Joe Biden beat Donald Trump in two debates in twenty twenty, beat him like a drum. No, we're not pretending here, We're not like half asking this. Donald Trump did not do well.
Did not know.
Donald Trump will not have the one thing he truly wants in this debate is audience. The second thing he won't have in this debate is RFK. He really needed RFK as a distraction, as a sideline, as a cat's paw in this thing, and he's not going to have it. But the lack of an audience and the fact that he's got essentially you know, look, are they perfect? Maybe not. Are there going to be good reporters who are not going to let Trump completely get away with bullshit? I think they will be.
So.
I think Jake Tapper doesn't want to be a guy who ends up looking like an a hole by letting Trump get away with murder at one of two debates. And I think the fact that it's not a Fox debate, it's not an audience debate, I think all these things add up in a way that is pretty beneficial to
the president. And again, I just want to say this one more time, because people always underestimate Joe Biden every goddamn time they go, oh, this State of the Union will be a disaster if he doesn't do it perfectly. And he's blown both States of the Union performances out of the water, and I think he's going to do the same of the debates. I'm much more sanguine about Biden in these debates than a lot of people. I just I think he's much better out of the people think.
Well, that is what we've seen again and again and again.
Right when he is called and he needs to step up, the guy steps up. And also, let's not pretend that Trump is some masterful performer at the same level he was in twenty sixteen. He's lost a not a step, he's lost a mile.
I'm right, Trump is not the he's not.
The same guy that he was. And while Biden is older, while Biden is older. Trump in many ways feels just weaker and out of control and less capable than he ever has.
We have two more days or three more days, one more week of the Trump trial.
This will probably be the last week coming up.
What do you think again, these are like downstream effects of the Trump trial.
Do we think they exist? What do we think?
Well, look, one thing we know about voters right now is they're not really moved by old information about Trump. Yeah, it feels very baked in the cake for a lot of voters. Yes he's a scumbag, Yes he's a weirdo. Yes he's a bad guy. But there are a lot of things that feel fresher about this whole case because nobody's had to review all this crap for years, right, No one's had to think about this for years.
Yeah, which I.
Am kind of fascinated by the degree to which people had forgotten what a scumbag the guy was. The people had left behind the idea of just who and how venal and criminal and creepy and nasty he is.
Thank you, Rick Wilson, Molly.
You are welcome as always. I'm now going to go back to bed.
Spring is here, and I bet you are trying to look fashionable, So why not pick up some fashionable all new Fast Politics merchandise. We just opened a news store with all new designs just for you. Get t shirts, hoodies, hats, and top bags. To grab some head to Fast politics dot com. Bernie Sanders is the senior Senator from Vermont. Welcome back to Fast Politics, Senator Bernie Sanders.
Well, it's great to be with you, Maia, Thanks for coming on.
You wrote a really good ab about what a second Biden term would look like and more importantly, sort of how the progressive job needs to keep going. And I actually believe Biden has been a really progressive president.
Will you talk to us about that?
Yeah, it is no secret to any of the listeners that we are living in a moment in American history where we say some unprecedented challenges. What has not widely talked about, what is true is we're living in an oligarthic form of society. We have more income in wealth inequality today and have performed in American history. People on top doing fantastically, But sixty percent of the Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. Six hundred thousand are sleeping out
on the streets. All right, We're dealing with climate change, and if we don't solve that problem through international cooperation, the planet that we're going to be leaving our children will be increasingly uninhabitable and unhealthy. We are looking at the time when women's right, the right of women that control their own bodies, is being taken away from them,
and many many other issues that are out there. But we're looking at some really tough times and the American people are going to stand together and fight back to create the kind of government that works for all of us and not just a few.
You've been like one of the great progressive champions of Joe Biden. I feel like progressives are mad at Biden for any number of reasons. Biden World has passed incredible progressive legislation when it comes to American manufacturing or even climate. But there are certainly a lot of places where you know they're upset, and I mean, what do you say to them?
How do you talk to them about it?
Well, that's that's a really good question something that we are looking at. People are upset at Biden. I think primarily because of this war in Gossip, which has been a humanitarian disaster led by Nettignelle White being expremience. In my view that yo should not have gotten a nickel from the American taxpayer is that's stop with Biden thinks,
and people are very upset about that. But what I would ask people to consider is when you look at politics, to understand that Joe Biden is not running against God in this election. He's running against a guy named Donald Trump. And Donald Trump was the most dangerous president in American history in my view, and he will be more dangerous in the next four years. So what I would say
to people out there, well, I'm angry at Biden. Fine, I am angry at him as well, and I talked to him about this biggest policies on God's the odd dead run. But on the other hand, if you are concerned, let's just say about income and wealth inequality and the rights of work as well. Guess what, Joe Biden was the first president in American history to walk on a picket line with striking workers. He is pro union, he is pro work. You know what. Donald Trump is very
much the opposite. If you're concerned about climate change, which I would hope everybody in America is, you know what, Donald Trump's view on climate changes, he thinks that's a hopes And you've indicated Biden has been very strong. We put more money into transforming our energies to some of the Biden's than any president in americanistry. Why are you concerned about women's right? Well, Donald Trump raggs that he appointed three members of the Supreme Quarta over term roby Wait.
Biden has been solidly pro choice on and on and go. So is there a real fundamental difference between these two candidates?
Yes?
Is Biden everything that the progressive community would like? No? But I think what we've got to do is look at the totality of the situation and strongly support not only Biden, but other progressive candidates all over the country.
I mean, we're both Jewish.
You are from an older generation than I am, no offense, and your generation, like my parents' generation, lived through the Holocaust. So you have, or at least the people in my parents' generation, have a real connection to Israel in a way that maybe I, as in the younger generation, don't.
Necessarily.
I'm curious you must have had a lot of feeling about this in a way that I mean, I have such a lot of feeling about this, if that makes sense, you know, no.
Are you right? I do understand where you come from, Allian. Look, there has always been sympathy in this country for Israel because that is the place where a Jewish people deathsimated with six million murders by Hitler, went and tried to rebuild a society where they can live in peace and security, and there has been widespread support for that concept for a decade. What is happening now and it does personally
break my art. I got to tell you that is that this is not the Israel up ten twenty thirty years ago. This is not gold in my ears, you suck from being This is Benjamin N'tena who and Benjamin n'atena who is a right wing extremist who is allied in his government with people who are out and out anti Palestinian racist, and everybody in America. I don't know there's anybody in America who doesn't believe that Israel had the right to defend itself against this horrific Kama terrorist
attack on US. Israel had the right to dependence helps but Israel did not and does not have the right to go to war against the entire Palestinian people and the death so the number of wounded, sixty five percent of them women and children. The destruction of housing, the displacement of people, the destruction of the healthcarecer and no electricity right now, the people being pushed around like their cattle going in right now and wrap up six hundred
thousand people being displaced after they even displaced before. Very few people in Erica or around the world thinks about as successful.
My grandfather was this writer called Howard Fast who is a communist and Jew.
Oh I remember that, I knew the name Howard's Nail.
Yeah, that was my grandpa.
And one of the fights he had a lot was with the people like the parents of John pod Horns Norman pod Horns, Jews, who felt that Jews had to be conservative and it was like a very anti Semitic trope. And I feel like we're seeing Trump do that trope again in there, and I really do feel they're trying to divide blacks and Jews the way they did in the sixties.
Can you talk about that?
Well, Look, you know it's always hard to talk about Trump because he is so outrageous, but you know, the idea that any Jewish person who is critical of net Yahoo is you know, shouldn't be you know, voting democratic or all. This stuff is beyond the pale. But I think what we are saying right now, and you know, it's ironic that in many of the schools that where they were protests, a non insignificant number of the kids were Jews who are legitimately upset about what net yaz So.
I think the point is, and I hope everybody understands this. If you disagree with the policies of the Italian government, they're not anti You've disagree with the policies of the Irish government. You don't hate Irish people, you know. So what you have now is, you know net Yao, who's not the king of the Jews. He is a right winger, he miss who's the Prime Minister of Israel. And you can strongly disagree with net Yao and not be antisemitic.
And anyone who suggests otherwise is really expressing a terrible thought.
You are one of the very few candidates I think of in modern history who connected with young people in a completely unexpected and profound way, much like Barack Obama.
I'm sure it's hard to sort.
Of explain why, But can you just give us a tiny bit of an idea of why you think that happened.
Well, I think for a couple of reasons. Number one, the younger generation in America today is probably the most progressive generation in the history of this country. This is a generation that is very strongly anti racist, anti sexist, anti homophobe. And also, this is a generation that sees through bullshit and I think just wants to be told the truth. And that's what I try to do. You agree with me or disagree with maybe I'm going to tell you, you know, the way I see it and
the way I see it. Also for this younger generation is that despite the fact that you're looking being in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, guess what this younger generation everything being equal on as we change, it is going to have a lower standard of living
than their parents. So when you talk about income in wealth inequality, when you talk about the greed of the American ruling class, when you talk about people not being able to afford housing, paying you know, tremendous amounts of money on their student debt, that resonates with young people. And you know, I think it should right now.
This is like a dark moment with polling, et cetera.
If you were running Joe Biden's campaign, what would you do right now?
What I would do? And you know we've talked to the President about this and his team is You've got to understand that while Biden has done, as you've indicated, a number of good things are he stood with unions, We're rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure. We're lowering the costs of prescription drums. He is fighting for women's rights and the right women to control their own bodies. I mean, there's a long, long list of accomplishments which he has a
right to be proud. But you have to appreciate is that at the end of the day, all over this country, Vermont from America, people are struggling and you've got to give them an gender and hope that things will be better in the future. Just can't look at, Hey, look at what I've done in the last four years. For example, we have a dysfunctional health cassis. It is outrageous to the expensive and the results if the outcomes are not particularly good compared to other countries. Prisidents kind of get
up and say you know what. Healthcare is the human right. We are going to move to universal health cay. I don't give if you're rich and poor, you're going to be able to get healthy you need because you're a human being. We have made some progress, some progress in taking on the pharmaceutical industry, and it is say that the Union. He indicated that he wants to do more, but he's got to stand up to the greed of the drug companies and make it clear we're going to
significantly low drug prices in America. And I'll tell you something in Vermont that I think in many many states, this housing situation is really a crisis. You get some rents are going up, mortgages are going up, and see you's got to say, you know what, instead of giving tax pray the billion as, we're going to start building the millions of units of blowing from an affordable housing that we should have built years ago. We're going to raise the minimum wage to a living wage. We're going
to make it easier for workers the form unions. I mean, there are progressive ideas out there that are all very popular. Give you another one right now, you talk to an older person, talk to somebody on social security on Medicare. They will tell you, my god, I wish that Medicare would come a dental hearing envision because they can't afford it. Biden campaigns that overwhelming support. Everything that I'm telling you is enormously popular, but it requires you to take on
powerful special interests. That's what I think Biden should be doing.
I mean, he definitely has passed a lot of legislation that is progressive.
What is the logjam? Here is it?
And I do think he's ideologically moved, you know, like this marijuana staff is a big deal, and it seems like it's a very reactive administration in a way you want, right, like you say, you know you can't. You know, he's tried to cancel Student Dad. He's trying to work around that now.
And well, the way Mallya's not that he has tried to He hasn't done that, not as far as I would go. Right, he canceled the student that I don't know. I don't know if you've talked to anybody.
But then the Supreme Court overturned it.
Despite that, he's been able to get around it. Millions of people today in America and I've got people have got to appreciate that I talked to a woman that teacher eighty thousand dollars student that will changed her life, and that is true for millions of other people. Yes, so that's a real accomplishment that he should be proud of.
You have been in the center for a long time. You really know how this works. What is the log jam?
Do you think the log jam is the different We live in a corrupt political system in which big money plays these very significant roles. Right, So if you want to do what is immensely popular, for example, expand Medica to cover dental jeering and vision, you can have to
take on very powerful people in the insurance industry. Okay, if you want to make sure that we join every other country and everything guarantee healthcare all people as a right, or a Medicare for all program or whatever, you're going to have to take on the insurance industry, very very powerful.
If you want to demand that the rich start paying their fair share taxes, man, you're going to have to take on some of those powerful people in the world who are delighted that they've had an effective tax rate lower than you pay. That's what they want. They don't want to pay any taxes, you got to take them on. So the question is do you have an administration and
a political movement prepared to take some on. In many ways, the Democrats sets up with the Democrats, or a lot of Democrats are And that's the kind of log jam.
Right.
Part of it is executive orders, and part of it is messaging these accomplishments.
Right.
Well, it's messaging accomplishments, and it's also giving people hope that the future will be better because a lot of people today they're worried about their parents, they're worried about their kids, they're worried about the environment. And you have to say, look, I understand that these are tough times. Democracy is you know, we talked about Donald Trump. This is a guy who is an authoritarian type you does not believe in democracy. So you've got to aut like that.
But you also have got to have a vision for the future that people say, Okay, for next four years, we're going to really accomplish. As you know, one of the problems that Biden has happened, not his fault, is that right now you have right wing Republicans controlling the House.
Very hard to do anything under those circumstances, and then two years before that we had two corporate Democrats in the Senate, which prevent them us asking some really sweeping legislation like build back American voting rights.
Will you hit the trail with mine?
Yeah, I mean to agree that the administration wants. You know, we have talked about this and I and others are trying to figure out the most effective role that we can pipe.
Are you proud of the politician that AOC has become.
I am very proud of them. She and I just did a podcast the other day, actually, and she is a very you know, and I use the word politician here in the best sense of the words.
Not in the negative and the positive.
Yeah, not in a negative you know, being in a democratic society, being a politician, you know, it's not a negative thing. But I think she understands where she has come from, and you grew up in a you know, a struggling family, and I think she understands what people all over this country are experiencing. And I think she
is incredibly articulate. She is a great leader today. And I think there are a lot of people, especially young people, young people of colored women, who looked at her with admiration.
You have influenced America so much, probably more than any other single senator.
Are you optimistic?
I am nervous about the future of this country. What I am nervous about, Molly, is that a lot of people are so discouraged or so cynical that they're giving up on democracy. And we have got to revive hope. We have got to make sure that young people understand that they, in fact can create a very different type of America where all people can live in dignity and security. We can deal with climate change. So I am nervous,
but I am not unoptimistic because throughout American history. You know, this country, I don't want to sound rhetorical yet, but it has responded to challenges. We've gone through terrible civil wore, the racism, the segregation that existed, World War two, the Depression, terrible times in American history, and yet the country has come together and move forward. And I hope very much and believe that we can do.
That at the time.
Thank you, Bernie Sanders.
Well, thank you very much. Enjoyed chatting McKinnon.
Nicki mckat ramirez is a reporter at Rolling Stone. Welcome to Fast Politics.
Nikki, Hi, Mollie, thank you so much for having me back.
So Jesse and I will talking about this video on the soon to be gone TikTok and it was a guy talking about giving counterfeit money to homeless people so that they would get arrested. It's the kind of cruel day that really feels trumpy.
Turns out, tell us who this guy is?
Oh, absolutely yeah.
So listeners might have seen this video of this like violently oranged man with a really bleached smile, pulling out like faked dollar bills from his console and talking about how like, oh, like I give these two homeless people, I'm like cleaning up the streets because when they use them, they get arrested. And in the caption of the video, he wrote like it's a joke, calm down. But of course that begs the question like what kind of person
thinks this is in any way funny? And that person is John mcintee, who not only is one of the founders of the miserably performing right wing dating app The Right Stuff, he's also a former Trump administration official who is at this moment being considered for a return position should Trump win in November and he has a really just gross history within Trump world.
So tell us a little bit about that gross history within Trump world.
Yeah, absolutely so.
John mcintee was hired into the Trump administration as kind of a personal aid to Trump. He was head of the White House Personnel Office, and there's a wonderful article in The Atlantic, I believe about how insane that office was. He had a habit of hiring really hot women and
really unattractive men who were non threatening to him. And as head of that office, he was in charge of basically bringing on liaisons who would operate as the go betweens between the White House and major federal agencies.
And his reputation was that.
He would only hire diehard Trump loyalists who were extremely aggressive in their relationships with these federal agencies. Would constantly be pressuring other government officials outside of the White House, sort of direct sphere to show more loyalty to Trump, bad mouthing people who he perceived as like not being super loyal to Trump. In twenty eighteen, he actually got fired from the White House because failed background check.
I'm shocked, shocking.
He you can kind of tell just by his general vibe apparently had a concerning gambling habit sports gambling in particular was I think the one it was. But he was basically ousted from the White House and in twenty twenty was re hired by the Trump campaign to serve as sort of like a personnel liaison. And yeah, obviously Trump loses in twenty twenty, but mcintee, even in the last days of the administration, was still planning out, interviewing
and vetting potential hires for a second Trump term. He was a true believer that the election had been stolen. He actually wrote a memo to Mike Pence's chief of staff talking about how, like h. Thomas Jefferson used his vice presidential powers to secure the presidency and making like a very very dubious legal argument about how Mike Pence
could usurp the certification of Biden's election. But to the very end, he was still helping Donald Trump prepare for a second term amidst all of the like efforts to overturn the twenty twenty election that didn't pan out. In that in between, mac and Tee launched, along with two other co founders, and the backing of Peter Teel launched the Right Stuff, which was is because it still exists
despite its lack of performance. A dating app aimed at conservatives, and from its launch, the app was a bit of a joke. It really lacked female users, It was overrun by trolls.
Yeah, it was invite only when it.
First launched, and like people were just like giving out the invites willy nilly. So they ended up getting like a bunch of journalists infiltrating the app, a bunch of trolls who just joined it to sort of annoy other like diehard conservatives who were trying to use it seriously. And then the FBI started contacting users because you know, if you've ever used like Tinder or Bumble, they'll give you like those little prompts like what is your perfect
date light go blah blah blah. One of the prompts was January sixth was oh yes, they was like January sixth was blank, And a bunch of like people on the app started writing stuff in response to that, indicating that they had been at the riot or like been at the protest. So they started getting contacted by the FBI, and you know, it was just a flop and a terrible way to launch.
And this endeavor.
The thing that did not flop and has not been flopping is the Right Stuff's TikTok, which seems to be what MC and tee has been doing while he waits to see what the outcome of November will be. And the video about him handing out fake money to homeless people is the surface of how gross this TikTok account is.
It's not like any other dating app where you'll have.
Like couples talking about how they met or like stupid little jokes about how shitty it is to date in these modern times. It's literally just him eating plates of food and making the most like asinine right wing commentary, and then it'll veer into like the really racist and hateful he loves to talk about, like why do white people get hate for slavery when everyone does it? And
that kind of thing. So it's just like your typical sort of like right wing trumper who's kind of in limbo right now and has decided the way he's going to make a name for himself is by just becoming like a MAGA influencer.
Yeah wow. One of the videos he showed, he said.
He was just kidding, Yeah, the whomeless one.
So I guess he sort of knows that he could get in trouble for this.
Oh yeah, I think he absolutely knows.
I reached out to him for an article we wrote in Rolling Stone, and when I asked him, like, were you serious about this? Do you actually do this? He basically told me to like read the caption of the video. So, according to him, it's a joke. But once again, I don't see how anyone with empathy or just like a monochrome of respect for other people discussing.
Yeah, it's disgusting.
Now we need to talk about Rudy Giuliani has had a tough, tough go of it.
There's a lesson here about being a lawyer for Trump. Talk to us about.
Rudy speaking of election deniers.
So, Rudy Giuliani for a long time has had a radio show hosted by WABC.
And it's a station owned by John Casta. Mattides.
Yes, it is Trump humper, John Trump Humper, and yeah, and also the guy who owns Cristiities for those of you who lip in the Tristate area.
Oh really, I did not know that. Oh yes, well, I think in the aftermath of the dominion lawsuit, which was catastrophic for Fox News. A lot of cro Trump media outlets realized that by continuing to push lies about the twenty twenty election, they were exposing themselves to litigation.
So WABC instituted a policy basically saying like, we're not gonna air claims disputing the legitimacy of the twenty twenty election, and last week Castidian WABC announced that Giuliani's radio show had not only been canceled, but that Giuliani had been suspended indefinitely because as it goes, According to Casta Mattides, Giuliani had been warned multiple times that he was not allowed to continue espousing like his conspiracy theories about the
twenty twenty election, and he directly told him, I'm not gonna stop.
By a right to say this. You can't stop me. So they were like, all right, we're not going to air your shit.
And you know, Giuliani has been taking el's all over the place regarding the election conspiracy theories at best.
I mean, yeah, he now is.
Like one hundred and forty eight million dollars to two Georgia election workers that he spread conspiracy theories about He's obviously indicted in Georgia. I believe he also got indicted in Arizona, and he's on the hook for a ton of attorneys fees that he has not paid. And I
think it just goes to show. And I'm we're seeing it a lot as well, with the current Trump trial in Manhattan and Michael Cohen's testimony that the people in Trump's Trump so far has not been held to account in any legal way about over the shit heepoled in
twenty twenty. The people who are typically held to account are the lawyers, the lackeys, the ass kissers around him, And I just don't it boggles my mind how someone who's been put through the wringer like this, with like lawsuits, criminal indictments, like even your lawyers are like, we can't represent you anymore because you're not paying us, would still be pushing to protect Trump in this way, with like the idea that it will save him. It's never saved anyone.
He throws anyone under the bus as soon as they become a problem for him. So I don't know, you'd think he would have learned his lesson. He absolutely has not.
It's pretty funny, though, it.
Is pretty funny, Like I have no sympathy for these people.
It's a real lesson to other people.
So talk to us about what else you're seeing in this cast of characters, you know, the sort of that outer layer of Trump World. I mean some of them are going to the trial with him, some of them, what are they up to?
These people?
All of these people are, you know, making their pilgrimages to Manhattan to show support for Trump, just like flitting around like little gnats around his head because they're all looking for a place in a potential future in minutes A A lot of them are up for reelection, especially the ones that are showing up to the trials, So they want that endorsement. They want to attach themselves to Trump and hope that the enthusiasm for him among his
base continues to rub off on them. But I think a lot of people are really just waiting in the wings, making themselves available and showing that when Trump comes in. And this will take us back a little bit to mcine. We spoke to some sources in Trump world who say that Trump remains like really enthusiastic about potentially hiring him.
If mcine were to be hired, he would have a very similar job as he had for the first Trump administration and on the twenty twenty campaign, which is ensuring that all the federal agencies, all of the cabinet positions, all of the staffing that Trump would have to do, is filled by people who are Trump loyalists, sickophants, unquestioning allies who would not present a barrier to the agenda that the conservative movement would try to implement if Trump won.
Mcinte was actually higher by the Heritage Foundation to be like a consultant on Project twenty twenty five and on a massive database they're building on potential people who are ultra conservative, pro Trump, die hard Republicans to like basically have a hiring database on day.
One of a second Trump administration.
Jessie Same, can you give us like two seconds on Laura Lowe Lumer and all the sort of rest of those kind of the Trump media industrial complex.
See, Laura Lumer is one of those figures where I know there's been a lot of chatter about like her potentially being hired.
Right, No, she's never gonna get hirghed, She's ever going to begin buy uber. I mean that's pretty bad.
Yeah, we've seen these people before.
Laura Lumer, surprisingly enough, has endured, whereas people like Milo Unopolis were kind of just like cast out in the aftermath of like twenty sixteen then the Trump administration. But I think with every Trump's cycle we see the resurgence of the cast of characters who are pushing the misinformation, saying the things that Trump and other elected officials sort of hedge or feel like they can't present in any way outside of like very carefully crafted political speak. They
are surrogates. They are fundamentally mouthpieces for the campaign, for the administration. They are convenient assets, many of whom are delusional in the notion that they will be granted positions of higher power if Trump gets re elected. But I think we've seen it in Trump's last two campaigns. He's perfectly happy to use these people as his surrogates, as
his little angry minions. If he wins. They'll continue spouting their bullshit, they'll continue spreading misinformation, they'll continue supporting his agenda. But I frankly don't think a lot of the Laura Lumer types are actually going to make it into government positions.
Yeah no, no, I mean, and there are people just as bad as Laura Long Lumer probably well, but yes, I agree.
Yeah, and who have been much more careful about their public presentation. Laura Lumer is considered a crazy person even in Republican circles.
Yeah, I mean, but there are quite a few other mac and mac and T is the really scary one.
It's terrifying, but I think it's also just like a really good example of the type of person that I think would make it into a Trump administration because I was not fully aware of him before I started seeing. First, I started seeing like one of his less less egregious tiktoks. I saw one where he was like shitting on the irs, which like cool, the irs sucks, And became more aware of him after I started seeing people like stitching his videos and dunking on him.
And I think the Homelessness video, which really exploded, finally drew the connection for people like, oh my god, that's this guy and this is just sort of like a rest stop that he's inhabiting between now and November is so bad, it's really cross.
Thank you, Nikki, No of Court, It's always my pleasure.
No Mo.
Jesse Canon, Mai jungk Fest.
You know how like the kids say that people are entering their blank era. I feel like Rudy is still in his rake face era.
I don't know what that means, but and I think that's something the youngs say to each other. But I would like to say Rudy Giuliani's eightieth birthday, he had it at a political Republican political strategist for Carrie Lake's house in Palm Beach.
That sentence is pretty cursed. It was a big group of.
People, and hidden among those people was the process server who actually sang him happy birthday. Oh what a happy birthday. It was birthday. By the way, his birthday is until later in the week the present. He celebrates his birthday
on the Friday of the week. But anyway, right, he had just tweeted about how much he was not going to be served, and how he was did not want to be served, and how he wasn't going to be served, and how he was going to get off, and it turns out that in fact none of that was true and he got served. In Rudy Giuliani his eightieth birthday is our moment of fuck ray. That's it for this episode of Fast Politics. Tune in every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
To hear the best minds in 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.