Is This The Grossest Thing A Trump Official Has Ever Done?

What this episode is about

The discussion focuses on the controversial actions of Trump officials, highlighting JD Vance's recent remarks, which have sparked outrage. Additionally, it touches on Trump's views on power, ongoing Republican efforts in Congress regarding war powers and healthcare, and the tragic shooting of a mother by ICE in Minneapolis, prompting calls for accountability and broader discussions on immigration enforcement.

Key takeaways

• JD Vance's rhetoric is a masterclass in moral bankruptcy—manipulating tragedy for political gain.
• Trump's claim of power limits reveals a startling introspection: only his morality stands in the way.
• Shooting a mother in her car, and framing it as self-defense, exemplifies a chilling detachment from humanity.
• The ICE officer’s actions reflect a dangerous precedent: where accountability is discarded for self-preservation narratives.
• In the aftermath, the contrast between truth and propaganda blurs—media as both witness and scapegoat.

Who speaks in this episode?

• Zoran Mdani (Guest) · 11 min speaking
• John Favreau (Host) · 21 min speaking
• Dan Pfeiffer (Host) · 21 min speaking
• Jacob Fry (Guest) · 14 min speaking
• J.D. Vance (Guest) · 4 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 10:00: Donald Trump, Renee Mlin Good, Jacob Fry
2. 10:00 – 20:00: Renee Mlin Good
3. 20:00 – 30:00: Jacob Fry, Renee Mlin Good
4. 40:00 – 50:00: BetterHelp, Donald Trump, Wild Alaskan Company
5. 1:00:00 – 1:10:00: Donald Trump, Renee Mlin Good
6. 1:10:00 – 1:10:42: Jacob Fry

Notable quotes from "Is This The Grossest Thing A Trump Official Has Ever Done?"

• On today's show, Donald Trump says the only limit on his power isn't international law, but his own morality.

  about Donald Trump · at 0:19

• Will try to do this without yelling or crying. by now you've heard about the killing of Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three who was shot to death in her car by an ICE…

  about Renee Mlin Good · at 1:07

• It's like a free vote to that they can run an add-on. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. The new year doesn't require a new you. Maybe just a less burdened you. John…

  about BetterHelp · at 44:06

• Pate America is brought to you by Wild Alaskan Company. What challenges do you face when buying seafood?

  about Wild Alaskan Company · at 45:28

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Donald Trump — Person · 7 mentions · first at 0:19
• Renee Mlin Good — Person · 5 mentions · first at 1:11
• Jacob Fry — Person · 4 mentions · first at 1:00
  To Tommy about the new deal he struck on universal child care in New York. And Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Fry talks to Dan about the horrific ICE shooting in his city. So, let's…

Companies & orgs

• ICE — Company · 6 mentions

Sponsors

• BetterHelp — Sponsor · 3 mentions · first at 44:09
• Wild Alaskan Company — Sponsor · 3 mentions · first at 45:28

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 In the 10 years since Trump came down the escalator, that might be the most angry, infuriated, and disgusted I've been at something a Trump official, including not Trump himself, has done or said in this time. JD Vance is disgusting.

0:16 Welcome to Pod Save America. I'm John Favro. I'm Dan Feifer. On today's show, Donald Trump says the only limit on his power isn't international law, but his own morality.

0:26 Sleep well. Uh, he's also thinking about paying off the people of Greenland to join the United States. Little carrot, little stick. Um, you know, maybe we won't invade you. We'll just give you some money. Uh, we'll also talk about how Republicans in Congress are starting to assert themselves just a little bit in passing a new war powers resolution with Democrats and joining Democrats in extending the ACA subsidies, at least in the House so far. Then Zoran Mdani talks to Tommy about the new deal he struck on universal child care in New York. And Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Fry talks to Dan about the horrific ICE shooting in his city. So, let's start there. Uh, and I will try to do this without yelling or crying. Um, by now you've heard about the killing of Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three who was shot to death in her car by an ICE officer as she was on the way home from dropping off her

1:20 six-year-old at school. Uh her family says she wasn't an activist, though others who knew her say she was part of a local group that warns people when ICE shows up. Either way, at some point, Good came across several ICE officers. Uh and this is where everyone's relying on eyewitness videos that are all over social media, though many have been verified by media outlets. What you can see for sure is that Good's car is blocking a residential street. Then the car moves forward a bit. Then she stops and waves by other drivers who are trying to pass. Then more ICE agents show up in a truck, get out, and according to an eyewitness, one told her to leave, and two others told her to get out of the car. Uh, one agent walks around the car to the front while filming the encounter on his phone, and then another tries to open her car door.

2:12 At that point, she reverses the car, and you can see the wheels turn away from the officers as she tries to get away. This is when the agent filming the encounter, who is now in front of the vehicle, yells, "Stop!" grabs his gun with his free hand, shoots her once through the front windshield, and then two more times, point blank, into the driver's side window. The agent then walks away unharmed. Uh, and I would encourage everyone to watch the, um, really well done New York Times analysis of the videos, uh, which we will put in the show notes. Now, the ICE agent, uh, claims he shot her in self-defense because he thought the vehicle was going to run him over. The Times analysis shows that his feet are clearly away from the vehicle when he takes the first shot. But regardless of what you think looking at the videos, in a normal world, law enforcement and government officials of either party would simply

3:13 say there will be an investigation into this tragic incident uh that they don't want to prejudge. And in fact, that's what uh Trump borders are. Tom Hman of all people said in an interview uh before later he uh you know had to put out a statement uh that sort of walked it back because I'm sure the administration pressured him to um because that's not what Trump said. That's not what Christy Gnome said and it's certainly not what the vice president of the United States said uh who came out to the White House briefing room on Thursday to throw a little tantrum. That woman has is part of a broader left-wing network to attack, to dox, to assault, and to make it impossible for our ICE officers to do their job. Everybody who's been repeating the lie that this is some innocent woman who was out for a drive in Minneapolis when a law enforcement officer shot at her, you should be ashamed of yourself. This is classic

4:05 terrorism. You guys are meant to report the truth. How have you let yourself become agents of propaganda of a radical fringe that's making it harder for us to enforce our laws? She tried to run somebody over with her car and the guy defended himself when that happened. Next question. There there's a part of me that feels very very sad for this woman. Not just because she lost her life, but because I think she is a victim of left-wing ideology. I would appreciate everybody saying a prayer for that that agent. He deserves a debt of gratitude. And I think the media prejudging and talking about this guy as if he's a murderer is one of the most disgraceful things I've ever seen from the American media.

4:43 He deserves a debt of gratitude. A man who uh no one disputes shot a woman three times twice at close range. Um keep in mind earlier on Thursday Vance tweeted that Renee Good was a quote deranged leftist. Uh, just imagine what J. D. Vance would have said or done about a Democratic politician who called Charlie Kirk deranged uh the day after he was assassinated. Um, I don't know. Any reaction to what I thought was one of the most despicable performances by a Trump official maybe ever.

5:18 You said you were going to do this without crying or yelling. I cannot make those promises. Um, it was in the 10 years since Trump came down the escalator. That might be the most angry, infuriated, and disgusted I've been at something a Trump official, including Donald Trump himself, has done or said in this time. JD Vance is disgusting. He is He lies with such ease, with such little compunction. He is unbburdened by decency, morality, shame, any concern about possibly about the with by the truth. He does it with confidence and arrogance. And even more importantly, he does it well. Like he's a softest in the truest sense of the word. He can make any argument sound clever, at least on the surface. And it's it's truly truly just to have such little humanity after someone was killed. Regardless of what you think actually happened there and if you want to make the argument this officer legitimately thought they were

6:27 shooting self defense that's not an argument borne out by the evidence that I've seen. But even if even if you were to take that point to just dismiss this person to call them a deranged leftist a domestic terrorist part of some shadowy left-wing group which department which JD Vance said in that press camera should be investigated by the department of justice without any evidence. And the thing that makes me so angry about it, and this is true of JD Vance, Christine Gnome, Donald Trump, Steven Miller, is that they lie with no fear of getting caught because they believe that even even if evidence comes out, video evidence, documentary evidence, circumstantial evidence that says what they said was wrong, they can just blow right through it and bend reality to their will without a care in the world.

7:12 It is. Um, yeah, I've I've re I was shaking with anger watching it because um and you know, he's been tweeting a bunch of about it, so I sort of knew it was coming, but the way he did it and just sort of the anger and smuggness from him. I just want to add a few things that the vice president neglected to mention. Here's the government's use of force policy um that applies to DHS. Uh I'll quote from it. Firearms may not be discharged at moving vehicles unless the vehicle is operated in a manner that threatens to cause death or serious physical injury to the officer or others and no other objectively reasonable means of defense appear to exist, which includes moving out of the path of the vehicle, which is an option that that agent took. He moved out of the path of the vehicle, which is why his feet weren't run over by the car, which is why he's standing there afterwards, which is why both of his

8:13 feet are on the ground and not near the car when he's firing the shots, which is why he walked away unharmed, even though they're like, "Oh, he went to the hospital and was treated for his injuries." I'm sure they made him go to the hospital. He didn't have any injuries. He was walking around fine. Um, uh, Crooked's DC correspondent, Matt Berg, uh, talked to a former FBI investigator about this policy, um, who said this quote, "In prior administrations, this shooting would have been entirely outside the scope of the use of force policy and would have been unjustified."

8:42 Multiple current DHS officials also expressed quote shock to CNN uh, over the department's response so far. These are current DHS officials telling CNN they cannot believe that so many administration officials are prejudging the outcome of investigation. And that's what's really I think that is what has shocked me, angered me more than almost anything else. Like it is a tragedy that this happened. I have watched all the videos, but like it shouldn't be up to the public piecing together and the media piecing together all these different eyewitness videos and then trying to have an argument about who did what. That's what investigations are supposed to be for.

9:22 That's what the legal system is supposed to be for. But we are all left to do that now because this administration has decided they don't give a about the legal system in this country. That they are above the law. That they are above accountability. And so the rest of us are left trying to piece together videos and h have arguments online uh with, you know, right-wing about who saw what in a video. And clearly that's what JD Vance was doing. JD Vance doesn't care about the actual investigation. JD Vance's head is in his Twitter feed all day long. And I see the people he follows. I follow a lot of those people on Magdia, too. Where that where that came from, that press conference that he gave was from all of the that's been on right-wing media. They're all saying the same things as him. They're worse than him, in fact. But like that is his only source of information. And that is why he is so outraged because

10:13 ironically, as he's talking about, oh, I do feel sad that that woman was brainwashed. He's the one who's brainwashed by his algorithm uh because he's just paring all the that's already been debunked by a whole bunch of other people who actually know the facts.

10:26 See, I I disagree with that. I do not think he's brainwashed. I don't think that he is a victim of a toxic media ecosystem that he stumbled backwards into. I he does not that information ecosystem that he that those tweets he's seeing, he is then using that as data to make a decision about what is best for his personal ambitions. and that the way to get support, approbation, enthusiasm as he seeks power in this country is to make those people happy. So he did this was a performance for them. I think if if they've said the opposite, he'd do the opposite.

11:01 I think this is giving him too much credit. I think he actually hates immigrants. I think he actually hates leftists. I think he actually wants to see us all in jail. And I think he actually wants to see them all out of the country. And I think he actually thinks that this woman, as tragic as it was, deserved it. I don't think he's a good person pretending to be a bad person for power. I think he's a person who who changes on a dime. He is the vice president to a man he called Hitler six years eight years ago or whatever 10 years ago.

11:27 He said he he blurted out that his best friend in the White House and the person he'd most want to be on a a globe a you know flight across the country with is Steven Miller

11:36 which that is the like that is the greatest lie ever told. I he but that's because that's good for him to say that

11:42 is Yeah. I I don't know. I think it's true. I think this is I Anyway, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what's in his head. It's disgusting what he what he said. Um, this is also, by the way, and the reason that you can't take ISIS's word for it or DHS or JD Vance or the federal government, this is not the first time that ICE has shot someone or killed someone and lied about it and then was caught later lying about it. But the entire media had moved on at that point. And so you have to go back and like, you know, there's some story that pops up. Oh, DHS was lying and uh and then no one cares. So, in fact, this is the ninth time ICE has shot someone since September. First person they killed was a man named Sylo Gonzalez. He's a 38-year-old undocumented father of two who DHS claimed tried to drive his car into agents and then dragged one agent uh causing quote severe injuries. Then surveillance video comes out shows that

12:47 Gonzalez was actually just trying to back up and drive away and that the agent was caught on video saying that his injuries were no big deal, nothing major. This was in Chicago. This was during the the Midway Blitz. DHS also got caught lying about their shooting of Marramar Martinez. That's another US citizen. They originally claimed she rammed their cars and threatened them with a semi-automatic weapon which forced them to shoot her and that she was then totally fine and drove herself to the hospital. Turns out when all the facts came out and all the body cam footage came out, she didn't have a gun.

13:22 She didn't threaten them. She was taken by ambulance to the hospital. And the body cam footage shows the officer saying, "Do something, bitch." before opening fire. And when that came out, all the charges against her were dropped. Was anyone held accountable? No, they weren't. Was there a big media uproar? No, there wasn't. There was a couple stories about it. And you know, if you're wondering, well, why didn't this woman just Why didn't this woman just get out of the car? Why did she stop or why did she try to drive away?

13:52 She's putting the whole thing in danger. all this. I interviewed George Reis um who we remember is the US citizen veteran who uh was yanked from his car in Camarillo here in uh just north of LA and imprisoned for 3 days uh without access to a lawyer or due process before they realized that they had up or didn't realize it. Maybe they realized it before and then just decided to let George go. And when he tells his story, and of course you can see this on video footage as well, he he basically says the same thing as what might have happened to Renee Good, or at least according to one eyewitness, which is that one DHS agent, one ICE officer is telling you to get the out of the car. The other one's telling you to drive away. So you become confused. You see a bunch of uh agents, masked agents with guns all around you telling you different things. You're in a car. What the are you supposed to do? Right?

14:46 And so like I I I just am I am not not a lot shocks me. I am shocked by just how the administration has handled this when they they could have so easily they could have so easily been like we believe, you know, we have our own opinions. We think that it was self-defense, but we'll let the investigation play out. But they're like doubling and tripling down, which I guess is what they do. It's like never no apologies from the Trump administration ever. But I also think it's a signal to everyone that like we're going to do whatever the we want. We have the guns, we have the legal system, and the rest of you can off.

15:21 They can never admit fault, particularly when it comes to ICE. To ever suggest one single time that one single ICE agent did one single wrong thing is in their minds to would collapse the whole effort, which is an absurd way to think about it, but that is how they think about. So they can never do it. And it's just deadly unserious I guess is how I would describe this administration because just you're responsible for these people. You're responsible for what happens. You're responsible for the citizens, the residents, the people in the United States who interact with ICE agents and you do not care what actually happened. You just have to prove yourself to be right even when you're wrong. No matter what the evidence says, it's such unserious, ridiculous behavior, but it comes with life ordeath consequences as it did this week in Minneapolis.

16:11 And like they always they do this whenever it's an undocumented immigrant. You know, they say it's an alien. It's a criminal alien. It's a violent alien. And now, you know, they can't do that because it's an American citizen. It's this, you know, mom of

16:22 she's a domestic terrorist, right? Mom of three. So they have to say domestic terrorist, deranged leftists. It's so important that they link her to an activist group. Who the cares if she's an activist or not? She was a mother dropping her kid off at school who is now an orphan because the the child's father had died a couple years ago as well. So, she is a mother dropping whether she was also part of an an ICE activist group that that doesn't mean you get shot. Not like trying to speed away from a crime doesn't mean that you get shot by police officers.

16:54 specifically not supposed to shoot them in that case. That is the procedure. The the number the number of people who are just not they're not just online influencers. They are Republican politicians who think that if you disobey a police officer that if you drive away, that if you like if you block a driveway, if you if you if you protest, if you're an activist, that that should get you shot and killed. That that's not the law. But they don't think that we live in a country of laws anymore. They think that power is the only thing that matters.

17:25 They have power. No one else does. the laws. We get to do what we we get to do what we want. That is that is how they're governed. All these things are connected. It's like I when I was listening to the interview with Mark Kelly on from earlier the pot earlier this week. That's exactly it. He said something you don't like. So we're going to take his rank and his pension. Right. you if you disagree with the state, if you disagree with the regime, then you will suffer any measure of consequences from losing your livelihood to using your to losing your life. And the crime is not what you actually did. The crime is a disagreement with the regime.

18:02 The Henipin County uh attorney's office thinks that they can maybe still charge this officer. um though we'll see, you know, the the the feds believe that he has immunity and from talking to George Reis who's trying to even just sue um federal agents, it is tough the way that the law is right now, this is a problem that federal agents have a lot of immunity um from both criminal and civil charges. Um but we'll see what happens with the Henipin County Attorney. Um, but I do think that the problem here is I think when this first started happening, I'm like, well, someday someone's gonna someone's gonna sue and they're going to go to court and the truth is going to come out and then these people are going to look like Which is what happened, by the way, with JD Vance again and Kilmargo Garcia when he was like, "Oh, he's MS-13 terrorist, blah, blah, blah." And we've seen what happens there is this could go

18:53 to court. All the truth could come out. We could find out that there there could be there could be footage of this woman clearly turning the wheel saying please whatever it may be and they would still find ways to say that it was her fault which is what JD Vance said. They don't care or they'll just have moved on. It'll be like months from now and they'll just be like oh whatever we don't care. I mean it's like you and I have been in government there things happen and you know what the where you you know what the what you want the answer to be right but then you don't go out and say it right away for fear that you don't know everything and therefore something could come out that could contradict what you said and therefore you have burned credibility you have been you know even if not intentionally you will be portrayed as having been dishonest to the American people they do not care about they didn't have any of

19:39 the facts in fact most of the things that Christine Gnome said were disproven by the like she probably assume had not even seen the video, just heard a second or third hand report of what happened immediately reflexively said all the talking points that they say every time something like this happens and feel like they suffer no penalty for lying. And now they just the the the ease with which they throw around the term domestic terrorism. Democrats are domestic terrorists. The party's domestic extremists. This woman's a domestic terrorist. like just labeling people domestic terrorist and and Christine yesterday saying, "Oh, I'm going to get the DOJ to charge bring domestic terrorism charges." There are no domestic terrorism charges. It's not a statute, first of all, you dumb Um but like there's the ease with which they lie and they don't care. They just don't care. They don't care because

20:25 you're right, like they don't think they're going to get caught or they do think they're going to get caught, but then they think, "Yeah, catch me lying. What What's going to happen?" Nothing because I I have all the power and I have the guns. Um, so obviously we're hearing a very different story from elected leaders in Minnesota, uh, who've been very outspoken about this tragedy, to say the least, uh, understandably so. One of those leaders is Mayor Jacob Fry of Minneapolis. Um, Dan, I know you spoke to him earlier this afternoon. Uh, we'll listen to that interview right after the break. Today's presenting sponsor is Simply Safe Home Security.

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23:12 Thanks for having me, Dan. So earlier today, Vice President JD Vance referred to Renee Good, the 37year-old woman who was killed by ICE agents yesterday as a deranged leftist said that she was there to obstruct law enforcement, suggested she might be part of some sort of left-wing network that the Department of Justice should investigate. What can you tell me about her, why she might why she might have been there, and what happened on that day?

23:36 I don't know a lot about her. What I do know is that she's a victim and doesn't appear to having doing anything wrong. She went through a two to three point turn clearly trying to leave the vicinity where the ICE agents were located. And you've got this narrative that is coming out of this Trump administration that is immediately saying one that the ICE agents were acting in self-defense and two that the victim was a domestic terrorist. That's a load of Anybody who watches that video could come to that conclusion. You don't need a law degree.

24:14 Uh, and to the extent they're trying to cover up the actions that we all knew were inevitable, I find disgusting because, you know, the chief and I have been saying now for over a month, not just privately, but very publicly, that something like this was going to happen. either a civilian, resident, police officer, or an ICE agent was going to get badly injured or even killed. And tragically, the latter of those two conclusions happened and it should have never taken place. You told ICE to get the out of your city. They don't seem to be going anywhere, obviously.

24:49 What levers do you have to pull or how or what can you do to try to protect your citizens from what's what's going on here? Is it just giving them sort of advice about how to stay out of the way? just like how you're obviously you want to protect your citizens. You have this what you believe to be a very dangerous element in your city. What do you do?

25:05 Obviously, if I had the immediate authority to get ICE out of here, they would have never been here to begin with. Uh the way they are behaving is completely and utterly unconstitutional. And what is clear to me is that the Trump administration is looking for some excuse to cause additional chaos and deploy even more military force in our city. I mean, right now, as far as I'm aware, we've got somewhere in the range of 2,270 agents in some form. That's that's ICE, that's HSI, that's that's border control, and they're located in the region beyond Minneapolis as well. Um, but there's no doubt in my mind that they're looking to have some form of political performance that goes well beyond where we're at in this moment.

25:56 And so the message that we are putting out and by the way the message that our community is righteously reiterating again and again is that we are not going to take the bait. Uh we are going to keep the peace. We're going to demand justice. We're of course going to express first amendment rights and freedom of speech and protest and all the rest. But we're not going to give them the excuse that they're already trying to create to come into our city. There's no doubt in my mind that the reason that ICE is here is not about safety. It's not about driving down crime. Here's the thing. We've worked with federal agencies substantially in the past to successfully drive down crime. We've worked with the DEA, the ATF, the FBI, the US Attorney's Office, and crime on the north side specifically. and and shootings are at the lowest level on record. And so if the goal is to go after murderers, yeah, we're

26:58 anti-murder. We're all for that. The goal is to go after violent crime, absolutely count us in. That's not what this is about. This is about targeting specifically Latino and Somali immigrants. This is discriminating only on the basis of are you a Latino or you are you a Somali person? and then indiscriminately plucking people off the street thereafter. This is not okay. It's not constitutional. Everybody, Democrat or Republican, should be speaking up loud and clear that this is a threat to the endurance of our republic. Since the shooting, have you had any contact with anyone in the in the administration, the Secretary Gnome, someone from DHS or ISIS? Have they spoken to you or or members of your administration?

27:40 Uh, we have been working a number of different channels uh to try to make inroads to get the point across. Um, we've got correspondence that's going out. Uh, we are, look, pulling any levers that we've got. Uh, because look, priority number one is to keep our city safe. Um, priority number one here is to make sure that the residents of our city are able to get through this. We're resilient. We're tough. We've been knocked down seven times and we'll get back up eight. and we don't need to deal with this kind of chaos that they are very intentionally creating in our city.

28:21 Speaking of the chaos, the people keep describing um what what's happening on the ground there is you know Minneapolis being a tinder box that everyone's worried about it. Schools been cancelled over the next two days I presume out of fear of some sort of public arrest unrest. How are you know how are things actually there? How are you thinking about keeping the peace over the next couple days here?

28:40 Look, we're keeping the peace. Uh thus far the message has been widely received by the community that hey if you want to and I know they do want to stand up and protect our immigrant communities here in Minneapolis. Let's not give the Trump administration an excuse to deploy more force and individuals. This is importantly not just coming from me. This is coming from uh activists. Uh this is coming from uh leftists. This is coming from moderates. This is coming from most people throughout our city speaking with a very common accord here.

29:17 Uh that we owe an obligation to the people that we purport to want to help. Uh and that's those that are being targeted.

29:24 During his press conference today, which was truly quite a performance, uh JD Vance declared that the officer had quote unquote absolute immunity. Uh and there also reports that the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI are refusing to cooperate with uh at least state law enforcement officials. What do you like? What's your reaction to that and any sense you have about the ability of the state or the county or the city to uh investigate and potentially seek justice here?

29:52 So, ICE agents have absolute immunity. I have not heard this one yet. Yeah, it's that's that's what he declared today.

29:59 Isn't that guy a lawyer? Yale law school graduate. He is. Yes. Good lord. I had a lot of respect and and I hopefully still do for those Yale grads. I don't think I could have gotten in there, but that is comical.

30:12 Yeah. Um you don't get absolute immunity by way of being a federal employee anymore. You get absolute immunity being a city employee. Um that's some wild stuff, man. Uh, and yeah, obviously it's deeply concerning that the DOJ is boxing out the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in the state of Minnesota from being part of this investigation. The way this was initially presented was that the BCA was going to be working with the DOJ on investigating exactly what happened with no predetermined outcome, you know,

30:55 and that would be the normal course of business, right? Yeah, that's that's pretty pretty standard, you know. And by the way, you know, the BCA is is is not some like wild radical group. This is a group of I think like a lot of police officers and otherwise. I mean, they're going to do an investigation. There have been times in the past where they've come to a conclusion that there was not culpability on the side of the police officer. There's other times where the investigation led to some form of charge, you know, and again, based on truth and facts, not some sort of garbage narrative that's being spun up by the president of the United States.

31:30 So, yeah, to those that are uh concerned uh about the legitimacy and the fairness of a Pam Bondi investigation from the DOJ, I I'd say that that concern is well placed. As you sort of think about this and think about everything that's happened, you know, Minnesota's been in Minnesota and Minneapolis have been in the national conversation with Republicans for a long time. You know, a lot happened in 2020 with George Floyd. Sort of how are you thinking about your city and how you persevere through, you know, these sorts of moments.

32:03 We do not retreat. We don't give up. And here's the thing, our city is coming back. I mean, I know these Republicans out there want to talk about this city as this like wild apocalyptic place, but look, man, crime is way down. crimes down in virtually every category, virtually every neighborhood. The economy is coming back. Small businesses are opening. We just got like the best restaurant in the entire world award is spot called Dian's Place just across the river. Ridiculously good by the way. Uh and so like the city's is rocking along.

32:34 You know, do we have big city challenges? Of course we do. Uh and at the same time is coming back. And here's another thing. Uh I personally as mayor and we collectively as a city have learned a lot in the last five years. You know I'm I'm not the same mayor as I was in May of 2020. I am not the same person. I have learned lessons that have made me a better mayor and a better leader. And I use those experiences every day, especially during some form of emergency or crisis just like this. Uh moreover, I know there are countless people in the city that have also learned a lot, have also uh taken a practice of let's take a beat. Let's figure out what the best strategy is for dealing with this bizarre hellscape that is the federal administration. Uh and then figure out how to per how to move on together in unity together. And I think that's a big part of the message that's going out.

33:37 It's it's unification. It's putting down our silly individual grievances that we might have. Uh, you know, we're a city of like, I don't know, 85% Democrat or something like that. Uh, and it's moving forward to figure out what's the best thing to do for the city as a whole. It's loving our country more than our ideology. And I think that's what the entire city is feeling right now as we unify.

34:02 Well, mayor, thank you so much for joining us. Good luck in these coming days. Uh, we really appreciate you.

34:07 You got it. Thanks for having me. thanks for the work you're doing. Okay, so the president just granted an almost 2-hour interview about his quest for hemispheric domination to his favorite publication, the New York Times. Uh in the interview, Trump said, quote, "I don't need international law and that he believes the only limits on his power are quote, my own morality, my own mind. It's the only thing that can stop me." Jesus. Trump also said that the US could be running Venezuela for years years and that our government will be quote using and taking their oil. He also said that owning Greenland is necessary quote because that's what I feel is psychologically needed for success. I think that ownership gives you a thing you can't do with a lease or a treaty. He's like talking about buying a car. like what

35:01 I think he's this is like how if the reason if you rent your house you can't redo the bathroom

35:07 if you own your house you have full control of redoing the bathroom and of course he's saying this because the times reporters push him and are like well the US already has a military base in Greenland they have the right the US under the treaty has the right to open more military bases Denmark has said hey we we'll do more cooperation with you you can be more involved in Greenland we'll do treaties we'll do economic development all this kind of stuff and and and the and the Danes are like I why does the US just keep rejecting that and say they want to own it by force cuz Trump just wants to own it. He doesn't know why cuz it makes him feel psychologically good.

35:38 Some people are renters, some people are owners. He wants to be an owner. So, uh, this all comes as Reuters reports that Trump is considering sending each Greenlander a lump sum of potentially $100,000 per person of our tax dollars.

35:54 No, see, John, you're you're missing it. It's not going to be our tax dollars. Oh, I'm sure it's it's we're going to get Venezuel, right? Yeah. Or I was going to say it's either that or I'm sure he's going to say, "Oh, the minerals. They got great minerals in Greenland. We're going to mine the minerals. We're going to sell them and then we're going to use that to pay the people or something."

36:09 Or it's the tariffs. Could be the tariffs. Yeah. Get it off the tariff shelf. Right.

36:12 Tickets from the Trump Kennedy Center. We don't know where this money is coming from, but it's not going to you. I'll tell you that. American people.

36:17 Yeah. Well, yeah. If you're if you're in Greenland, you could be getting $100,000, which is going to help make the president feel psychologically successful, I guess. Um, what was your reaction to this fascinating insight into the mind of our greatest geopolitical thinker? Man, it [sighs] reading the interview and reading all the color around the interview about how Trump acted with these reporters and just watching him over the last several days here is it is very clear that Trump and people around them are drunk on power. They are higher on their own supply. They were so impressed with themselves because of what happened in Venezuela about because the Delta Force was able to pull off this pretty astounding mission and have really convinced themselves that the all that matters is power. And even if you think that is true, that the US is so powerful, that our military is so strong, that our special operators are

37:16 so skilled, that we can do almost anything we want, it is such short-term idiotic thinking, right? Because there is a there international agreements, these treaties, these international institutions exist for a reason. The rules exist for a reason. They are to protect everyone, not just the United States, not just every not just the weaker countries, everyone. Because it leads to a more stable world. So a world, the world that Trump envisions in here is might makes right, right? That the strongest countries do whatever they want. And that could benefit the United States in the short term. We could just go take Greenland, right? Like there's this article in the Atlantic that go that talks to the folks in Denmark.

37:58 They've already figured out how Trump's going to take Greenland if he doesn't invade it. He's just going to declare on True Social that it's part of the United States. Yeah.

38:04 And just act accordingly. much like the what he's going to do to Greenland what he did to the Kennedy Center.

38:09 Yeah, he like or the the Institute of Peace or whatever else. He could doge himself to some additional territories. But that

38:15 that could work in the short term, but in the long term that's going to make the United States less safe, less secure because the world is going to be more chaotic. There's going to be more conflict. There's going to be less cooperation. And that is bad for us. We the best times for the United States domestically have been the periods of greatest tranquility, right? And so where there we are in this area of destabilization with China and Russia and everywhere else because we've decided to throw everything overboard so we can get Venezuelan oil and the minerals of Greenland is going to make it's just it's it's truly idiotic. It's just deciding that because other smart people figured one way out, we're going to do the dumb thing because that must be better.

38:56 Also, for all the uh well, it's good that Maduro is out because he's a bad guy. You know, in the interview he's talking about uh Deli Rodriguez, who is um uh uh Maduro, who's Maduro's number two and is now president of Venezuela, interm president of Venezuela, and they're asking about elections and they're asking about her and he's like, well, she's given us everything we need, oil, so nothing else. He he you think he's concerned that anything else is going to change in Venezuela? Um you think that they are on a path to elections anytime soon? And of course, Marco Rubio was saying, "Well, obviously you can't do it right away and give it some time or whatever." Trump's talking about years of managing Venezuela and taking their oil. And he also, oh yeah, we're going to we're going to give them some of the money, too. I'm sure that's going to get to them. Um, so we are now we are now managing Venezuela

39:46 um with no end date. He doesn't seem like he wants to put boots on the ground, but he's not ruling it out. And none of the political issues in that country have been solved, to say the least. Um the repression is still uh intense if not more so

40:02 and maybe worsened in the last couple days here. Yeah, there were some reports that like maybe they're going to uh agreeing to release some political prisoners soon, but we'll we'll see what happens there. Um I don't know. And then the Greenland thing seems real like he I would take that very seriously. Um as some Republicans in Congress are, they were very nervous. A few Republicans in Congress uh then over the last couple days have uh suddenly remembered that they represent an equal branch of government. Um and uh and they've decided that they're not entirely sure that the sole arbiter of US foreign policy should be Donald Trump's sense of morality.

40:37 So um because there was some jitters about Greenland, Marco Rubio was sent to calm some Republicans um who aren't thrilled about the idea of uh invading a NATO ally. Um, and he insisted that Trump just wants to buy the territory from Denmark, I guess, for, you know, $100,000 per Greenlander per person, right? Um, even though Denmark has already made it clear a billion times that it's not for sale. So, I don't know where that goes. Then on Thursday, five Senate Republicans voted along with every Democrat to advance a war powers resolution that would prohibit Trump from taking further military action against Venezuela without congressional authorization. The Republicans were Ran Paul, who co-sponsored the resolution with Tim Kaine, as well as Susan Collins, Lisa Marowski, Josh Holly, and Todd Young of Indiana. Trump responded by calling the War Powers Act unconstitutional, blasting these Republicans stupidity and saying that

41:30 they should quote be elected to office again. Nice. Um, what did you make of the War Powers vote? Big deal that these Republicans join Democrats? How much does this matter at all? Who knows? I think it is meaningful in the sense that there is a majority of Trump skeptical Republicans like true or want to be true America first or isolationists like Josh Holly and Democrats can get you there. And you know the fact that these people would vote against Trump you know right in the wake of a quote unquote successful military operation is notable. The other way of looking at it is if you had just like a few years ago asked how do you think Congress would vote on a resolution uh trying to stop the president from sending troops to Venezuela to protect US oil interests uh after a regime ch change war. You think you'd get more than 54 votes for that or 55 votes or whatever it was. Um the reason it's not super consequential is

42:28 maybe it passes the house, maybe it doesn't. I'm sure there is a majority in the house. uh people could vote

42:34 fire up fire up another discharge petition. Yeah. Um but it's not enough to override Trump's veto um under any scenario. So it's can't I think it is symbolic of something of how far out on a limb Trump is with his new global adventures. It's symbolic of I think the sort of the growing weakness he has as a lame duck president with very poor approval ratings staring down the barrel of losing the House and maybe the Senate. But it's not it doesn't necessarily indicate a real opportunity to hold him accountable or change his policy in the short term.

43:06 Yeah. I think the ability of Congress to constrain him on these foreign adventures. I mean just you know statutoily constitutionally is fairly limited. Um though Congress is the body that declares war. That isn't in the constitution. Um but of course we've talked about that. you know, Donald Trump certainly doesn't care and even the authority the Congress has has been whittleled down over the many decades by various presidents. So, um, so that's a challenge and I think that part of the New York Times interview was Donald Trump saying like, I don't say whatever you want, Congress. I don't give a Um, you know, he did miss miss an opportunity to uh blast the Republicans who voted against him, including Susan Collins, who's who he very much needs uh to win re-election again.

43:50 She might be putting that truth in an ad though. I know. I was going to say that probably helps her more than anything else. That's the other thing is some of these Republicans and we're we'll talk about this with the ACA. Um are probably breaking with Donald Trump because like hey want to save our own asses here. Like they're not they don't think it's actually going to constrain them but it's like a free vote to that they can run an add-on. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. The new year doesn't require a new you. Maybe just a less burdened you. John therapy can help more easily identify what weighs you down by offering an unbiased perspective to better understand your relationships motivations and emotions. It's just a bias perspective. Gh.

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45:25 That's betterhp.com/psa. Pate America is brought to you by Wild Alaskan Company. What challenges do you face when buying seafood? There's so many. Uh you have to go into the supermarket. Sometimes you can't park cuz you're going on your way home from work and then you're like, "Wait a second. I got a I got I got raw fish some seafood.

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47:09 the House to pass a clean three-year extension of the ACA subsidies that expired on December 31st. Over in the Senate, a few other Republicans are close to a deal with Democrats that would extend the subsidies for two years, include income caps for eligibility, require minimum payments, and offer an option to divert your subsidy into a health savings account if you are an idiot. Uh, a sticking point in all of this is the for all the idiots out there that want to do that, a sticking point in all of this is the Hide amendment, which bans federal money from being used for abortions. A lot of ACA plans do cover reproductive care.

47:46 Uh, and even though there are protections in place that are supposed to keep the funding stream separate, how's that for some DC speak? Uh, some conservatives and other groups are pushing for any subsidy extension to include new hide language. um bring this up because this seems like the final sticking point here on a deal that seemingly might pass Congress. Um Trump told a gathering of House Republicans on Tuesday that they need to have some quote flexibility on Hyde as part of a broader pitch on trying to take the initiative on healthcare uh to avoid getting wiped out in the midterms.

48:20 Here's a sampling on healthcare. It's never been our issue. It should be our issue. You can own healthcare. Let figure it out now. You have to be a little flexible on hide. You know that you got to be a little flexible. You got to work something. I wish you could uh explain to me what the hell's going on with the mind of the public because we have a we have the right policy. They don't. They have horrible policy. They do stick together. They're violent. They're vicious. You know, they're vicious people and they stick together like glue. Speaking of clips of putting an ad, uh I don't what's going on with the mind of the public. [snorts]

48:59 You always want to blame the voters, Dan. That is a that's the first rule of politics.

49:03 Yes. The uh we're right, the voters are wrong is a message that has truly never failed in the history of American politics. And I would I think the Republicans should adopt and run on it.

49:11 Yeah, I love that message. That's uh all the way to the midterms. So, what do you think's going on here? It it seems like Trump has finally come around on what I had expected him to do and I'm sure you did for like I don't know months ago which is like okay why not just take this issue off the table and get the subsidies passed and and finally now now that we've passed January 1st um now he's now he's suddenly decided that maybe he should uh he should get on board here or do you think he's not really on board?

49:41 He he's been very busy, John. He's had a lot on his plate. He's trying to get Greenland.

49:46 As he said, that's not really his issue usually. So, yes, he's he's running Colombia. He's got multiple interior design projects going. He's personally sourcing marble for the armrests. Uh uh did you did you see that over the holidays? I know you guys talked about the marble armrest. Did you see he actually went to the marble store as a photo op?

50:03 I did not see the marble store. Yes, he went he went specifically looking for he went to check out the marble himself.

50:08 Did you see the architect today? What the architect said? He's going to add a third floor to the uh west wing.

50:12 To the west wing. Yeah, because it's now he wants he the the new ballroom is now going to be the same height as the main residence. So then they need the west wing to be this the same height as well. So I guess we're going to add what isn't it a fourth floor? Well, I guess if you're kind of in the ground floor the basement

50:28 there's Yeah, there's there's the basement. There's where I was my Yeah, there was there was there was there was your where your office was. There was where my office was and then there's the second floor. There's a floor on top of that.

50:39 Right. So there's already Yeah. And then there's a there's a third floor. Yeah. So, they would add a floor on top of that. Like, honestly, you need more space in the West Wing, but that's neither here nor there. Um,

50:46 it really it's getting so close to just looking like Trump Tower. That's where that's where we're going to end up. It is it is the we we did this we mocked this up for one of the correspondence dinners in like 2011.

50:58 What would happen? Let's not bring that up today of all days. It's the worst. Um, here's the thing. I He doesn't seem particularly engaged here. It feels like he had to he I that last comment there, the one about the voters being wrong suggests that he's kind that despite all the bravado, he kind of is dialed in at least to the fact that things aren't looking great. Yeah.

51:20 Both for him or Republicans. Think about that a little bit. But he's if he was really dialed in here, he'd bring them all down to the White House. He'd want to broker this deal himself.

51:30 He's like h he's very half involved. Uh and he doesn't really care. And I really think the hight amendment thing is someone briefed him in the car on the way over that the hide amendment was an issue. I don't think he could probably identify it or what it stands for. I'm sure he spells it hi D instead of hyd. Um and so he just sort of mentioned it and he doesn't he could not answer one single follow-up question on it.

51:52 I mean I I saw some reporting that uh Senate Republicans involved in this were privately saying that they're fine letting Hyde go. Um, which seems like a I mean the Senate Republicans that are trying to do this deal, it seems like you know Susan Collins of the world. I could see that.

52:10 But it does feel trickier in the House though. Now they have 17 Republicans who voted for a clean extension.

52:18 So maybe this gets done. I can't If it gets done, I can't see Trump vetoing it. Can you?

52:24 No. I I mean I guess he did just veto a infrastructure bill for Colorado because he's mad about uh someone in jail and he's mad at Lauren Boowbert for the Epstein Epstein discharge petition. So I mean who knows?

52:36 She vote she was one of the 17 votes for the extension of the ACA. Lauren, did she change her vote, though? Did she change her vote?

52:42 I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. Um so what do you think this gets passed? I don't know. It feels it's the easiest way to pass it if Republicans really just wanted to be done with this and let it go would be to just pass what passed the take off what to do with the deal with the district session on epste take it pass it be done with it give it take the win on it the hard part is now you're going to send a competing bill back to the house that is worse than this one there's going to be no discharge petition for that one because it's worse than the thing that's already passed so why would Democrats negotiate with themselves and so there I think there's a lot of um obstacles before it can actually get done here.

53:22 But it has a shot, I'd say. And I think we should just stipulate that the shutdown in this case, even even if this is not work, they've brought the shutdown brought this closer to actual completion than anything possible. And we said this before the break, but but Jeff played played his cards very very well here on the discharge positions, held out for the stronger one, forced the Republicans to come his way. And uh I think he just did a good job there. And we've been critical of the leaders, but this is one case where they I think did a very good job.

53:54 If you are a if you were running a Democratic House or Senate campaign in the midterms and this thing passes, what how what are you thinking and what are you saying?

54:07 I think that you are if you are you are it depends. So if you're an incumbent, you're taking credit for this. And if you're a challenger against a Republican, you are probably running against a Republican who just voted for it. Um, and you're talking therefore you're then talking about all the other ways in which the prices are high.

54:25 Yeah. So, but it's good for people. Yeah. We look the thing was is if you're going to if you're going to this is where Jeff was right. If you're going to let solve the Pro Republicans political problem for themsel for them, then you're going to have to get something very real that helps lots of people and like the three-year straight extension is that the Senate thing I have a lot more questions about uh whether that's actually worth going out to see what the actual language is. But now you put income caps on, it's two years, not three years. Who knows what happens with Hyde. That seems like a less worthy that's [snorts] that's a harder deal to take given the politics when you're going to come back next year and hopefully have a ton more leverage because you control the House and maybe the Senate.

55:10 We should also say that because the deadline has passed, it's not impossible to implement this. It's like doable, but I do I think it's also tougher to do um if it's not a clean extension, right? Yeah, I think I think that's right because basically it's clean extension. What would happen here is just you could retroactively um just go back to to make the tax credits to January 1st. The in the federal plans you could just give start take all that money, push it forward, lower everyone's premiums automatically. When the original tax credits were passed, it was in March when it went into law after the open enrollment period was over. So they just did it for people who qualified. You [snorts] could do it here, but now you have a bunch of state exchanges, the places who have their own their own exchange. Those states will have to make their own decision about how they do it. The the reason why so you can help people. The

56:00 downside here is the people who opted out because it was too expensive. You can't it's very hard to get them back in in this scenario,

56:06 especially with a government that really doesn't want to make healthcare work. Yeah, exactly. Like if you the Biden was able to make this work because he wanted to make it work. It's hard to see the Trump administration doing what it would take to actually help people here.

56:17 All right. Well, we'll keep an eye on that and what happens in the next couple weeks. Um, all right. Couple announcements before we get to Tommy's interview with Zoron Mandani. Uh, exciting news. We just launched a new weekly newsletter from the executive editor of Pods Save America, Aron Reed Chirlin. It's called Pods Save America Open Tabs and it drops every Thursday morning. Uh, here it says uh in in brackets hosts to riff on Reed's physical beauty and intellectual prowess. Do you think Reed put that in there?

56:50 He does edit this right before it goes out. And I I will say I did his job. I did see I was in the Google doc and I did see Reed get right into the housekeeping. So I think he must have added that in.

57:02 Yeah. The first that's the kind of wit and humor you will get at open tabs in this at open devs as well as a lot of insight. It was for me, this was the first episode, the first, sorry, the first post. It came out before our morning Thursday calls with Reed to talk about the show. I never felt more prepared for that call in my life because I knew what Reed was thinking. You can be that prepared in your daily life too.

57:22 For those of you who don't know Reed, Reed uh worked with us in the Obama White House, worked with Tommy in the press office um way back when, and so, you know, just part of the Obama mafia working here at Crooked Media. I have worked with Reed for off and on now for 22 years.

57:41 Wow. Hired him in 2004, I believe. It's my carpool buddy. Me, me, Reed, and Tommy just driving to the White House every morning,

57:49 taking advantage of your top-notch uh parking spot right out right outside the West Wing.

57:53 I'd pick those guys up. I'd have Dunkin' Donuts coffee waiting for them. That would be

57:57 You are You are a true and courteous Bostononian. Um anyway, open tabs. It's fantastic. It's a behind the scenes look at how we put the show together, uh, what's coming in the next episode and all the stories rattling around in our heads, uh, as we wait to get into the studio, including, hence the name of the newsletter, some open tabs that didn't make it into the show, but are really interesting stories that we've been thinking about and talking about. So, check out the first issue of Open Tabs at crooked.com/substack.

58:26 The first issue is free for everyone. And if you're already a subscriber on Substack or Supercast, you'll start getting it every week. For the rest of you, sign the up. Become a subscriber. crooked.com/friend. Um we're we're going to have a lot of great stuff behind the payw wall uh in in 2026 here. New shows, new newsletters. We've already got adree episodes of all your favorite crooked shows. We already have some great subscriberonly shows like Polar Coaster uh with Dan Feifer and

58:56 the one and only the one and only and uh and all kinds of fun stuff that you get and you get to be uh proud of yourself for supporting independent uh media that is not going to fold uh to the Trump administration. So uh sign up at cricut.com/friend become a subscriber. Join us. Uh it's a fun community. Um, speaking of which, speaking of roller coaster, first episode of 2026 is out now. What did you guys talk about?

59:23 So, we talked, Caroline and I talked about all the polling around Venezuela, how the voters are reacting to what Trump did and why it has been a big dud for Trump thus far.

59:34 Nice. And the world. Um, to hear the full conversation or to ask Dan a question yourself, imagine. Subscribe to Friends of the Pod at crooked.com/friend. When we come back, Tommy talks to Zoran Mamani. Positive America is brought to you by Mint Mobile. Now that the holidays are over, you might be feeling like you've got a big spending hangover. The drinks, the holiday food, the gifts, it all adds up. Luckily, Mint Mobile is here to help you cut back on overspending on wireless this January with 50% off unlimited premium wireless.

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1:02:33 I'm excited to be joined today by a man who President Trump says is much hotter than he expected him to be. Mayor Mandani, welcome back to Potsave America.

1:02:41 Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here and uh it's a unique intro. Yeah. How'd that go for you? Were you like, "Sir, eyes up here. I'm not a piece of meat." All right, let's get to the serious stuff. So, um we are talking because earlier today, Thursday, you and Governor Hokll made a major announcement about your plan to expand free child care for New Yorkers. Can you just start by giving us the details of what you guys announced?

1:03:01 Absolutely. So, we just announced just a couple of hours ago that we will be receiving a $1.21 billion investment in making universal childare a reality in New York City. And what that means in a tangible level is that we're going to be fixing 3K here in New York City and delivering universal 2are for every single two-year-old across the city in the next four years. And this is something that will transform the ability for working families to actually raise their kids here because it's a city where up until today child care has cost an average of $22,500 a year.

1:03:31 Wow. Yeah. As a as a father of a three-year-old and a almost 2-year-old, I can tell you it's wildly expensive. Um I suspect you're going to get a lot of questions about the cost of this program, how you're going to pay for it. Um during I believe during the campaign you talked about a longerterm vision to provide universal child care from age 6 months to age five that could cost up to $6 billion a year. Will this plan require new taxes or do you anticipate having to kind of move money around um or that this this funding might constrain your ability to uh to fund other priorities?

1:04:02 So the funding of this the 1.21 billion is coming directly from the state. It's in partnership between Governor Hokll and myself and it's being done using existing revenues. And what it does is it starts the process of universal child care here in New York City. We have prek, we have 3K, but the 3K that we have, you have a family in bedside that's being told they can have a seat, but the seat is actually in Atoria. So this investment, it fixes the 3K and it starts to deliver 2are across New York City. And then by the end of the first term in office, we will have delivered universal 2are. And then in the second term, we will be delivering one year and then below that.

1:04:37 Got it. Um, and I will say like a few months ago, there were a lot of people saying, you know, this is impossible. This is one of the many lefty campaign promises that's going to hit a buzzsaw political reality once you take office. There were others questioning whether you could work with Governor Hokll given that you come from, you know, pretty different ends of the political spectrum within the Democratic party at least. Um, how did you guys find common ground on this issue in particular? And are there lessons you think that Democrats nationally can take away from that experience?

1:05:05 Well, frankly, I think this is something that so many New Yorkers have actually willed into reality today is the result of New Yorkers who made more than a million phone calls, who made who knocked on more than a million doors, who were told again and again, like you said, that to believe in a city that would be affordable was to believe in a myth when in reality their work has made that into the life that we are living here in New York City. And the governor said in her state of the state last year that she was going to be fighting for universal child care. This has long been an area of shared interest. And as she said today, the era of empty promises is over. The the things that we said in the campaign, those were not just slogans.

1:05:44 Those were in fact exactly what we were going to fight for. And now on day eight of this new administration, we are delivering on one of the signature priorities of our campaign, which is universal childcare for New Yorkers across the five burrows.

1:05:54 Yeah. Well, it's nice to see Democrats getting some dubs. um putting some wins on the board. Not a lot of that happening in this country at the moment.

1:06:01 Universal Dubcare next. Yeah, that's right. Um before you go, uh I wanted to get your reaction to uh this horrible ICE shooting in Minnesota. I think by now listeners have probably seen the video. The victim is a 37year-old woman named Renee Mlin Good. She's a mother of three. Uh she described herself on social media as a poet, a writer, a wife, and a mom. Um, and yet in the a aftermath of the shooting, um, Homeland Security Secretary Christy Nome called her a domestic terrorist. Vice President JD Vance called her quote a deranged leftist. Um, they both lied about what actually happened despite there being video evidence that we all could see with our eyes. And I think I I'm really struggling with a few things. First, on a human level, like just the lack of humanity in those kinds of statements about an American citizen, a mom who's now deceased and is leaving behind kids with without a without a mother to care

1:06:50 for them. The second is like the willingness we've seen from a lot of Americans um to put a higher standard on citizens to avoid getting killed by federal agents than they put on um the federal agents themselves, the ones pulling the trigger. And then finally, just kind of like knowing the big picture, Steven Miller and some people in the White House, like they want confrontations between ICE and people in blue states because uh violence like kind of helps them justify their crackdown. So, I'm just wondering how are you processing this and what is your message to New Yorkers about how to stay safe and about how New York officials can help them stay safe? I

1:07:27 mean, this is heartbreaking to to to have watched that video, to read the news, to to read of her father-in-law describing that now orphan child.

1:07:38 Yeah. There is no other way to respond to this. And there's no amount of official mischaracterizations that can ever force us to look away from that very video. And I know that there are many New Yorkers who watched that video and felt even greater anxiety about what it means to be an immigrant in this city. And so I am making it clear to each and every person who calls this city home, each and every person who is in New Yorker across these five burrows, that ours is a city government that will stand with them. Ours is a city government that will stand with immigrants today and for every day hereafter. And it's also a city government that's going to follow the law and actually follow our sanctuary city policies. You know, a few weeks ago, I sat down for 12 hours and listened to New Yorkers as they came up and and shared their stories with me.

1:08:19 And a few of them were undocumented New Yorkers, and they told me of the fear that they live with each and every day, the anxiety when they say goodbye to a loved one of whether it'll be the last time. And it is my job as the mayor of New York City to take care of everyone who calls the city home. And just to think about the family of that woman who was murdered. It's to understand just one glimpse into what has been a year of cruelty. And I've said it directly to the president and I'll say it directly as well to anyone who will listen, which is that these ICE raids are cruel and inhumane and they do nothing to actually serve the interest of public safety.

1:08:53 And I know that uh Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey's uh message to ICE was, you know, get the out of Minneapolis. I mean, I I don't know that that's something that he can deliver on in practice, right? I mean, you can't force ICE to leave, but are there ways you think that city officials can steps they can take to to protect people or I I don't know. I

1:09:11 I think there there are a number of ways. I think the first and foremost is to actually inform New Yorkers of their own rights. There are so many New Yorkers who live in the city who do not know all the rights that they actually have by being a New Yorker. And so, we have been doing a number of know your rights outreach as well as just information that we're sharing directly with New Yorkers. The other is to inform New Yorkers of the safety that they have because we are a city that follows sanctuary city policies. That means we will have a police department that does not assist ICE in their operations. That means that city employees when they are at a city property or even a property of a city contractor, they will not allow ICE agents into that premise unless they can provide a judicial warrant signed by a judge. And this sadly shouldn't be something we have to remind New Yorkers.

1:09:54 For a long time, there wasn't a level of clarity as to what their rights actually were and whether city government was willing to stand up for those rights. That clarity is now returning to city hall.

1:10:03 Well, that's very important to hear. Uh, Mayor Mani, thank you so much for joining the show today and congrats on the big announcement.

1:10:08 Thank you so much, my friend. Pleasure to be here. That's our show for today. Thanks to Zoran Mdani and Jacob Fry for coming on. I'll be back in the feed on Sunday with a conversation with our own Alex Wagner about our biggest questions for 2026. Have a good weekend, everyone.

1:10:21 Bye, everyone.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Is This The Grossest Thing A Trump Official Has Ever Done?"?

Zoran Mdani (Guest), John Favreau (Host), Dan Pfeiffer (Host), Jacob Fry (Guest), J.D. Vance (Guest).

What is "Is This The Grossest Thing A Trump Official Has Ever Done?" about?

The discussion focuses on the controversial actions of Trump officials, highlighting JD Vance's recent remarks, which have sparked outrage. Additionally, it touches on Trump's views on power, ongoing Republican efforts in Congress regarding war powers and healthcare, and the tragic shooting of a mother by ICE in Minneapolis, prompting calls for accountability and broader discussions on…

What is mentioned in this Pod Save America episode?

6 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Donald Trump, ICE, Renee Mlin Good, Jacob Fry. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Is This The Grossest Thing A Trump Official Has Ever Done?"?

The episode runs 1 h 11 min; the transcript is about 14,077 words in 163 timestamped sections.

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