Republicans and Trump In Shambles After Democratic Midterm WIPEOUT (ft Abdul El-Sayed + JB Pritzker)

What this episode is about

A post-election overview critiques the Republican Party’s performance in the midterms, arguing Democrats gained a decisive advantage in the House and Senate, while noting internal optimism, party strategy, and key electoral outcomes across states. It references notable figures and speculation about seat changes and upcoming political moves.

Key takeaways

• Trump’s ballroom obsession masks a retreat into safe, familiar real estate nostalgia rather than policy grit.
• Polls vs. headlines: the promised red/blue waves crack under tangible seat shifts and lingering doubts.
• Democratic trifectas loom, but governance hinges on turnout, not fanfare, and on actual policy wins, not slogans.
• The spectacle of ‘winning’ can distract from real margins; psychology often outruns precise math in politics.
• If Trump leans into collaboration, expect a tactical yield: symbolism over systemic reform, at least initially.

Who speaks in this episode?

• John Fabra (Host) · 7 min speaking
• Alex Wagner (Host) · 7 min speaking
• John Love (Host) · 4 min speaking
• Tommy Vizour (Guest) · 6 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 10:00: Democratic Party, Donald Trump, Senate, JB Pritzker
2. 10:00 – 20:00: Democratic Party, Republican Party, South Carolina, Annie Andrews
3. 20:00 – 30:00: Crooked Media, CookUnity, Senate, Abdul El-Sayed
4. 30:00 – 40:00: Israel, Senate, Michigan, Tariffs
5. 40:00 – 50:00: Blinds.com, Trees.com, Crooked Media, Pod Save America
6. 50:00 – 1:00:00: Republican Party, Democratic Party, Iran war (2026), J.D. Vance
7. 1:00:00 – 1:10:00: Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, Democratic Party, Aura Frames
8. 1:10:00 – 1:20:00: Democratic Party, Redistricting, Donald Trump, Illinois
9. 1:20:00 – 1:29:24: Chicago, Chicago Bears, Illinois, Alex Jones

Notable quotes from "Republicans and Trump In Shambles After Democratic Midterm WIPEOUT (ft Abdul El-Sayed + JB Pritzker)"

• Really exciting. but we got some news to talk about first. on Tuesday, Donald Trump and the Republican party suffered the biggest electoral defeat in 50 years.

  about Donald Trump · at 2:28

• Story, there's a lot of these stories and I liked a lot of parts of them. the part in the Times story where the political geniuses identify that the Iran war is a problem. So…

  about Iran war (2026) · at 10:24

• Which faction of the Democratic Party do you think came out ahead after Tuesday?

  about Democratic Party · at 18:32

• So, one of the ways I would say they tried to use schoolyard politics was around you being a Muslim turning your criticism into Israel as a way to attack you more broadly. a lot of charges of.

  about Abdul El-Sayed · at 30:42

• Actively foreclosing on the possibility of a second state that has not been good faith. We are actively funding their military. We're selling them the equipment that they're…

  about Israel · at 34:29

• The number one most important thing we can do is protect people from the healthcare nuclear bomb that's about to go off in our system with Medicaid cuts.

  about Medicaid cuts · at 37:07

• And so I just want us to understand how that operates. It operates because when you have a $100 million super PAC that will play in every single congressional race, you are…

  about Super PACs · at 39:44

• Bada boom. Get your friends, your family a frame that's got aura, as the kids say. Named number one by wire cutter. You can save now by visiting aura frames.com. For a limited…

  about JB Pritzker · at 1:07:25

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Donald Trump — Person · Referenced political actor / President · 18 mentions · first at 2:33
  Central antagonist in the episode's discussion of the midterm results, Republican strategy, and White House reaction
• JB Pritzker — Person · Guest — Governor of Illinois · 6 mentions · first at 1:05
  Major guest who discussed why Democrats did well, state and national agenda priorities, redistricting, and specific actions (e.g., protecting SNAP/Medicaid)
• Abdul El-Sayed — Person · Guest — Senator-elect (mentioned as senator-elect in episode) · 5 mentions · first at 1:00
  Guest who discussed his campaign, views on Israel/Palestine, priorities for Senate (Medicaid, ending war), and political style
• John Favreau — Person · Host · 4 mentions · first at 1:58
  One of the primary Pod Save America hosts leading the episode's discussion
  So, one of the ways I would say they tried to use schoolyard politics was around you being a Muslim turning your criticism into Israel as a way to attack.
• Tommy Vietor — Person · Host · 4 mentions · first at 2:06
  Pod Save America co-host contributing commentary throughout the episode
  Yeah, they patching Maggie Haberman. she just like part of the team writing it down. so I liked the part of the story, there's a lot of these stories and I liked a lot of parts…
• J.D. Vance — Person · Referenced Republican politician · 8 mentions · first at 15:49
  Discussed as attempting a post-midterm repositioning from Trumpism and as a potential 2028 contender
  JD Vance's strategy for running for president is so stupid, right?
• Dan Pfeiffer — Person · Host · 4 mentions · first at 2:06
  Pod Save America co-host participating in analysis and questioning guests
  Than the Democrats. He did not deal with affordability, did not try to take it on, and they switched. And if we don't demonstrate right away that while setting expectations…
• Hakeem Jeffries — Person · Referenced political leader / incoming House leader · 4 mentions · first at 7:33
  Quoted on House Democratic priorities (reverse Medicaid cuts, stop tariffs, end war) and strategy on investigations vs governing
  Man who is on the verge of becoming the first black speaker of the house, Hakeem Jeff. he told Punch Bowl that their priorities are to reverse the Medicaid cuts, stop the…
• John Lovett — Person · Host · 3 mentions · first at 1:58
  Co-host moderating and contributing to analysis
  Say it with me. Permitting reform.
• Marco Rubio — Person · Referenced Republican official / potential 2028 contender · 3 mentions · first at 55:00
  Discussed as someone reportedly considering leaving the administration and as part of GOP leadership debates post-midterms
  And then there are now two reports from the Independent and Bloomberg that Marco Rubio is considering leaving the administration maybe for a possible presidential bid.
• Alex Wagner — Person · Host / Co-host · 2 mentions · first at 2:01
  Co-host participating in the panel discussion and questioning guests
  Alex, were you surprised? not just by that, but he seems very chill so far.
• Benjamin Netanyahu — Person · Referenced foreign leader · 1 mention · first at 1:00:31
  Mentioned as influential in pushing the US toward war; criticized by guest for role in policy
  There is one person in the world that has been trying to get this war fought for nearly all of our lifetimes. It is the prime minister of a foreign government. Gets invited to the.
• James Talarico — Person · Referenced candidate · 3 mentions · first at 14:08
  Mentioned as an example of a Democrat who outperformed party brand in a red state
  Party did the best. Like Rory Cooper, for instance, is 20 points more popular than the Democratic Party. James Telerico and Josh Turk are 14 points more popular than the…
• Tucker Carlson — Person · Referenced media figure · 3 mentions · first at 1:02:24
  Mentioned as a potential future presidential/podcast figure and as part of right-wing media landscape
  Man, Tucker Carlson. Tucker Carlson says it's the end of Trump and the end of Fox News and the beginning of Trump of Tucker Carlson as a podcast or presidential candidate. I think.
• Gina Hinojosa — Person · Referenced candidate / governor-elect ally · 3 mentions · first at 1:17:11
  Mentioned as Gina Hinojosa (Gina Inahosa) as the governor-elect of Texas who ran a strong campaign despite limited DNC support and outside spending against her
  Speaking of Texas, Jamie Nosa is now the governor of Texas. that she's the governor elect when the National Democratic Party was not giving her campaign a lot of money.
• Ron DeSantis — Person · Referenced Republican politician · 2 mentions · first at 54:48
  Mentioned criticizing Republican tactics and messaging after losses
  Also might run, said, We should have attacked Iran even harder. Ron DeSantis hit Republicans for stonewalling on the Epstein files and running too many anti-trans ads. and then there are now two reports from the Independent and.
• Barack Obama — Person · Referenced former president · 1 mention · first at 19:27
  Referenced as part of the synthesis of political styles and historical approach to Democrats' successes
  Happened in this election, the truth is, and this is going to be a very takey take. This election is the kind of synthesis of Barack Obama style politics and Bernie Sanders…
• Elon Musk — Person · Referenced major political spender / influencer · 1 mention · first at 1:18:59
  Mentioned as having spent large sums in races (e.g., Texas) but still not producing wins for Republicans
  We got outspent everywhere and we do on a regular basis. It's just true. when you've got Elon Musk spending $240 million like in Texas, we're we're going to get outspent. He lost, but and I felt he spent $240 million, I spent a million.
• Annie Andrews — Person · Referenced candidate · 3 mentions · first at 0:53
  Mentioned as a Democratic victor representing a center-left approach and populist economics in a red state
  Of belongs to the best parts of both of those movements. It's like oh Annie Andrews is center left because she's for a public option and doesn't believe in Medicare for all but…
• Pete Hegseth — Person · Referenced conservative commentator · 3 mentions · first at 11:33
  Mentioned as being blamed by Republicans (jokingly) for electoral outcomes and as a media figure in conversation
  The architect of the disastrous war is Pete Hegsth. It's nominally D Donald Trump. Impeaching the architect of a disastrous war is the first step to bringing down the price of gas,.
• Maggie Haberman — Person · Referenced journalist · 1 mention · first at 10:17
  Journalist referenced; ensure correct spelling and role
  Or someone's just getting off the call and like calling Maggie or Yeah, they patching Maggie Haberman. she just like part of the team writing it down. so I liked the part of…
• Ted Cruz — Person · Referenced Republican politician · 1 mention · first at 54:40
  Mentioned for commentary about Iran war and Republican post-midterm debate
  Disaffected Trump voters ahead of 2028. This is according to Fox. This is his grand strategy. Ted Cruz, who also might run, said, We should have attacked Iran even harder. Ron…
• Nick Fuentes — Person · Referenced extremist figure · 1 mention · first at 1:03:51
  Referenced in discussion about JD Vance and the far-right/Tucker Carlson–aligned audience Vance might be courting; used to underscore Vance's unlikelihood of winning over that crowd.
  JD Vance's strategy for running for president is so stupid, right?
• Steve Buscemi — Person · Referenced actor · 2 mentions · first at 1:05:14
  Mentioned as a cast member (name misspelled in transcript) of the advertised film 'Wild Horse 9'.
  And Oscar winner Sam Rockwell alongside Steve Bushi. Wild Horse 9 delivers laugh out loud humor and gripping suspense.
• Alex Jones — Person · Referenced conspiracy figure · 2 mentions · first at 1:27:42
  Named as author of an extreme take used in the 'Two Takes & a Fake' segment; referenced as part of the broader media landscape discussion.
  Or C. I think he's a Democrat. I've tried to salvage Trump. I've not been sure. I've invested so much. Maybe I was blind to it. He is the ultimate Democrat sleeper cell and he works for them. And.
• Ken Paxton — Person · Referenced political figure · 1 mention · first at 6:41
  Mentioned as an example of local Republican issues blamed for losses in Texas; used to illustrate GOP internal explanations for poor outcomes.
  Yeah. Like right now, he's probably being told well, they're blaming like Ken Paxton and these bad candidates and it's not you. And he's going to tune in to something. Something's going to slip through and then he's going to blow.
• Jonathan Karl — Person · Referenced journalist/interviewer · 1 mention · first at 6:59
  Cited as the journalist who interviewed Trump where Trump said he wanted to 'get along' with Democrats; used to discuss Trump's stated posture post-election.
  Trump has also been saying this about working with Democrats. This is what he told Jonathan Carl this morning.
• Nancy Pelosi — Person · Referenced political figure · 1 mention · first at 8:32
  Referenced indirectly when discussing potential bipartisanship and post-2018 comments about Trump working with Democrats; used as context for political norms.
  He said the same exact thing right after 2018. He's Maybe Nancy and I can do beautiful together. Like 2 days later, he's like storming the capital.
• Jonathan Martin — Person · Referenced journalist · 1 mention · first at 27:15
  Quoted as having written a Politico profile headline about Abdul El-Sayed ('Washington isn't ready for Hurricane Abdul') used to frame discussion of Abdul's persona.
  Cocky and maybe ill-considered thing to say in the middle of a competitive Senate race. Then you won the race by seven points.
• Henry Kissinger — Person · Referenced historical example · 1 mention · first at 35:12
  Mentioned when Abdul criticized a foreign policy approach that prioritized short-term 'realpolitik' rather than principles; Kissinger invoked as emblematic of that approach.
  Do we get what we want? And then what is it? How is it that we want to behave in the world? We've allowed a certain kind of real politique since Kissinger to goat us into…
• Markwayne Mullin — Person · Referenced Republican congressman · 1 mention · first at 49:35
  Correct alignment between transcript usage and canonical name; fix alias issue
  Bringing down the price of gas, right? You can't think of this as an eitheror proposition. The reason the home construction market has bottomed out in the Rio Grand Valley in…
• Jesse Watters — Person · Referenced media figure · 1 mention · first at 53:44
  Mentioned (with a misspelling variant) as an example of right-wing media reactionary punditry in episode's Two Takes & a Fake segment.
  I got to say Jesse Waters exclaiming in horror we lost whites. I got Adderall in my veins, Trump derangement syndrome in my heart.
• Chris Christie — Person · Referenced Republican figure · 1 mention · first at 1:02:34
  Mentioned among potential Republican presidential hopefuls or commentators weighing in on the post-midterms state of the GOP.
  I'm telling you, man. This is the he was feasting on the returns on Tuesday like a king and a like eating a lamb chop. I don't even know what that means. And then there's, you know,.
• Donald Trump Jr. — Person · Referenced political figure · 1 mention · first at 1:02:51
  Mentioned jokingly as part of speculative Republican 2028 ticket possibilities.
  Like a king and a like eating a lamb chop. I don't even know what that means. And then there's, always the Don Jr. Omar Kremlev ticket.
• Francisco Franco — Person · Historical reference · 1 mention · first at 1:04:35
  Referenced as an example of a long-lasting authoritarian leader when discussing political eras ending; used rhetorically.
  Where the wind takes him. I will say though, Franco led Spain for a very long time and it was fascist for a very long time and he died and then everyone was Boy, that was crazy.
• Martin McDonagh — Person · Referenced filmmaker · 1 mention · first at 1:05:02
  Named as the director of the advertised film 'Wild Horse 9' during sponsor reads.
  Martin Mcdana, director of The Banshees of In. And three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri, comes Wild Horse 9, a sharp, bloodthumping comic thriller starring two-time Oscar nominee John Malkovich.
• Al Gore — Person · Referenced political figure · 1 mention · first at 1:13:58
  Invoked when discussing the controversial Bush–Gore 2000 election outcome and the importance of addressing electoral system issues.
  Solving the problems that we face particularly electoral problems because this is a challenge. for those of us who are long enough in the world to have seen the Gore Bush fight, Al Gore won that election.
• Greg Kelly — Person · Referenced media personality · 1 mention · first at 1:27:05
  Named as the Newsmax host responsible for a particularly extreme take cited in the 'Two Takes & a Fake' game.
  Conservative media, especially Fox News, bears a hell of a lot of responsibility for what went down. Or C. Okay, screw it. I'll say it. This election is yet again a reminder of why we need to.
• Matt Walsh — Person · Referenced commentator · 1 mention · first at 1:28:06
  Cited as the author of an extreme take during the 'Two Takes & a Fake' segment (real example).
  Darkest part of the human soul just to find something to that was extreme enough. Next up for John and Tommy. A.
• Susan Collins — Person · Referenced politician · 1 mention · first at 0:47
  Referenced as a long-time Republican senator whom Troy Jackson was predicted to beat in an earlier montage; used in broader montage of election night claims.
  In a huge episode, Adam Hamilton, Amy At Troy Jackson will beat longtime Republican Senator Susan Collins.

Companies & orgs

• Democratic Party — Company · Primary political affiliation / actor · 34 mentions · first at 0:24
  Central actor — election victories analyzed, intra-party debates about the left vs center, and governing strategy discussed
• Republican Party — Company · Political organization · 15 mentions · first at 0:10
  Primary political opponent discussed throughout episode in context of midterm losses and internal turmoil
  Really exciting. but we got some news to talk about first. on Tuesday, Donald Trump and the Republican party suffered the biggest electoral defeat in 50 years.
• Crooked Media — Company · Producer / media organization · 14 mentions · first at 2:26
  Producer of Pod Save America and organizer of Crooked Con, referenced in episode context and callouts
  Theater tape was the first time I've had fresh air all day. So the it's a really fascinating study. It's going to be on the crooked media substack tomorrow and I know all of…
• New York Times — Company · News outlet · 1 mention · first at 9:22
  Cited for investigative reporting on White House missteps and internal communications
  Seems like the rest of the White House isn't taking the loss quite as well. the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, other outlets have been giving us some just incredibly…
• Searchlight Institute — Organization · Research organization · 1 mention · first at 13:01
  Established think-tank/organization referenced; correct classification to organization
  Signed up obviously or you wouldn't be here. but a couple of key takeaways from it. So they did a poll of the seven key battleground states in the two weeks before to see what…
• Fox News — Company · Media organization · 3 mentions · first at 54:38
  Referenced critically for role in conservative media ecosystem and responsibility for election outcomes
  Conservative media, especially Fox News, bears a hell of a lot of responsibility for what went down. Or C. Okay, screw it. I'll say it. This election is yet again a reminder of why we need to.
• Democratic Governors Association — Company · Political organization (referenced) · 3 mentions · first at 1:04:32
  Mentioned (DGA) in criticism over not providing adequate late support to certain gubernatorial campaigns (e.g., Texas); Gov. Pritzker's supplementing of funds was called out.
  The governor of Texas. that she's the governor elect when the National Democratic Party was not giving her campaign a lot of money or resources. you stepped up and I talked to…
• Democratic National Committee (DNC) — Company · Political organization (referenced) · 1 mention · first at 1:17:56
  Referenced in discussion about perceived lackluster national party support/fundraising in certain state races; mentioned as part of fundraising/resource allocation critiques.
  The governor of Texas. that she's the governor elect when the National Democratic Party was not giving her campaign a lot of money or resources. you stepped up and I talked to…
• Twitter — Company · Platform · 2 mentions · first at 54:12
  Mentioned as the platform where politicians post essays and statements (e.g., JD Vance)
  He so he posts this Yeah. No, I know he sucks. so he posts this 600word Twitter essay as one does. and where he blames the midterm loss on the Iran war, calls for a new focus, a new focus.
• Wall Street Journal — Company · Referenced news outlet · 1 mention · first at 9:22
  Cited along with the New York Times for investigative pieces describing dysfunction in the White House after the midterms.
  Seems like the rest of the White House isn't taking the loss quite as well. the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, other outlets have been giving us some just incredibly…
• Punchbowl News — Company · Referenced news outlet · 1 mention · first at 47:41
  Cited as the outlet that reported on Hakeem Jeff's stated House priorities (Medicaid, tariffs, war), used to outline incoming House agenda.
  What's on the agenda for the biggest Democratic majority in 15 years. we've already gotten some hints from the man who is on the verge of becoming the first black speaker of…
• Federalist Society — Company · Referenced organization · 1 mention · first at 56:30
  Mentioned as an event venue where a speech by a political figure would get attention; referenced as part of discussion about staying in administration vs. running for president.
  Right now, Marco is at the heart of the action. He's a part of everything. And I saw he's doing like a speech at the Federalist Society next week, right?
• Writers Guild of America East — Company · Union affiliation · 1 mention · first at 1:29:17
  Referenced to note that the show's staff is unionized with WGAE — part of production credits at episode end.
  Desmond Taylor, Dan Farrell, David Tol, Mia Kelman, Ryan Young, and Naomi Single. Our staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East.
• Chicago Bears — Company · Cultural reference / local interest · 4 mentions · first at 1:20:54
  Mentioned humorously in conversation with Governor Pritzker about keeping the team in Illinois
  You have a quarterback who looks like he could be a generational talent. Will you promise right here and right now that you will not allow the Chicago Bears to move to Indiana?
• Politico — Company · Referenced news outlet · 1 mention · first at 27:15
  Referenced for Jonathan Martin's Politico profile headline about Abdul El-Sayed and broader political reporting; used as source context.
  And people are still calling you cocky. I keep thinking about the headline of Jonathan Martin's Politico story about you when he sat down with you, which is Washington isn't ready for Hurricane Abdul.
• The Independent — Company · Referenced news outlet · 1 mention · first at 54:58
  Cited alongside Bloomberg regarding reporting on Marco Rubio's possible departure from the administration; used as source context.
  Stonewalling on the Epstein files and running too many anti-trans ads. and then there are now two reports from the Independent and Bloomberg that Marco Rubio is considering leaving the administration maybe for a possible presidential bid.
• Bloomberg — Company · Referenced news outlet · 1 mention · first at 55:00
  Mentioned as reporting on Marco Rubio potentially leaving administration for a possible presidential bid; used as source context.
  He did knock down those rumors, but they said that sources close to Rubio said that he's been thinking about stepping down. So that's a lot. Tommy, let's start with the micro rumors. because.
• Wire Cutter — Company · Referenced review source · 1 mention · first at 1:07:29
  Mentioned in a sponsor read claiming a product (Aura Frames) was named number one by Wirecutter — used as credibility for advertised product.
  A frame that's got aura, as the kids say. Named number one by wire cutter. You can save now by visiting aura frames.com. For a limited time, listeners can get $20 off select…
• Supreme Court — Company · Referenced institution · 1 mention · first at 1:23:36
  Mentioned indirectly in an example take about losing a Supreme Court justice; used in satirical/critical context during 'Two Takes & a Fake' game.
  A I hate to say it, but America is over. The communist and jihadists are going to open our borders and replace our votes with votes from illegal aliens. We now have reps who openly.
• Newsmax — Company · Referenced media outlet · 1 mention · first at 1:27:05
  Mentioned as the outlet of a host (Greg Kelly) whose commentary was used in the 'Two Takes & a Fake' segment.
  Conservative media, especially Fox News, bears a hell of a lot of responsibility for what went down. Or C. Okay, screw it. I'll say it. This election is yet again a reminder of why we need to.
• Cheesecake Factory — Company · Cultural/polling anecdote · 1 mention · first at 12:35
  Referenced jokingly as a predictor—Democrats overperformed by 26 points in counties with a Cheesecake Factory, used to illustrate quirky correlations.
  The other stat is Democrats overperformed by 26 points in counties that have a cheesecake factory.

Products & tech

• Wild Horse 9 — Product · Sponsored media product (film) · 2 mentions · first at 1:04:58
  Promoted in episode sponsorship reads; listeners encouraged to get tickets for theatrical release
  And Oscar winner Sam Rockwell alongside Steve Bushi. Wild Horse 9 delivers laugh out loud humor and gripping suspense.
• Gatorade Zero — Product · Personal anecdote / consumable · 1 mention · first at 42:56
  Mentioned as part of Abdul El-Sayed's campaign/staff habits (he drinks Gatorade Zero), included as a light personal detail.
  Yes. Hey, we know that those chips are in defiance of sort of science and God's law, right? Like it doesn't actually make sense. Like everything can't be made of protein, right? So what is going.
• Quest Nutrition — Product · Snack product · 1 mention · first at 43:33
  Mentioned by guest/candidate as a favored snack during campaign; light endorsement
  Hey, are you still guzzling Gatorade Zero and Quest protein chips?
• Malort — Product · Alcohol product (joke) · 2 mentions · first at 1:22:44
  Product referenced in joke context; keep as product
  I wanted to force all of us to take a Malort shot. but let me just tell you something. The enthusiasm was not there.

Concepts & topics

• Senate — Concept · Institutional body discussed · 12 mentions · first at 0:13
  Referenced repeatedly regarding seats, majority control, and Abdul El-Sayed's incoming role
  So, votes are still being counted, but when all is said and done, Democrats are on track to hit about 257 House seats and 56 Senate seats once Alaska and Mississippi are.
• Medicaid cuts — Concept · Policy threat / priority to reverse · 5 mentions · first at 37:15
  Highlighted as an urgent threat to rural hospitals and vulnerable populations and a top legislative priority to reverse
• Super PACs — Concept · Campaign finance factor · 3 mentions · first at 39:49
  Discussed as a major influence in races (e.g., AIPAC spending against Abdul El-Sayed, Elon Musk spending in Texas), shaping outcomes and distortions in politics.
• Redistricting — Concept · Policy topic / strategic consideration · 6 mentions · first at 1:14:12
  Discussed as a tool Republicans tried to use for long-term advantage and as something Democrats must consider (independent commissions, not unilaterally disarming)
  Donald Trump, his effort to gerrymander his way to a permanent congressional majority did not work. No. it didn't it didn't totally backfire, but they didn't win all the seats they thought.
• Tariffs — Concept · Policy issue / priority to reverse · 5 mentions · first at 38:19
  Raised as a harmful Trump policy (e.g., tariffs on Canada) that Democrats want to reverse to lower costs
  The diplomacy that had contained the nuclear threat in the first place. And the third one is how are we picking a tariff war with Canada? Like I'm from Michigan. is the only…
• Two-state solution — Concept · Framework debated · 2 mentions · first at 33:01
  Raised as an aspirational U.S. policy goal that has been undermined by on-the-ground actions; used to frame El-Sayed's foreign policy critique
  Can we do? And the challenge that we have right now is we've told ourselves a series of lies. We've told ourselves that we are in pursuit of a two-state solution. The problem…
• War Powers Resolution — Concept · Policy proposal · 1 mention · first at 38:06
  Mentioned by Abdul El-Sayed as a necessary mechanism to end the foreign war the hosts discuss — presented as legislative priority for new Democratic majority.
  It at the gas station. We're paying for it at the grocery store. We're paying for it in our tax dollars. We need to have a war powers resolution. We need to hold them accountable. They are not allowed to make war on their own.
• Trumpism — Concept · Political ideology · 5 mentions · first at 3:30
  Used to describe the political movement around Donald Trump and assessed as collapsing after midterms
  Trump. Said screw you to the Republican party in places in the deep south. Is woke coming back? This is the end of an era. You sort of mark it on your calendar. Trumpism gone.
• Medicare for All — Concept · Policy concept · 3 mentions · first at 19:50
  Referenced as part of candidates' policy positions and ideological positioning in election discussion
  You're about to be in the Senate. beyond just a change in policy around military aid for Israel, beyond just trying to figure out how to stop the ways in which the policy has been contributing to.
• International Law — Concept · Normative framework referenced · 3 mentions · first at 35:21
  Used by Abdul El-Sayed to argue for applying international law consistently to U.S. allies such as Israel and Egypt
  Somehow dictate the future by just figuring out what's in our best interest in the next 5 minutes. I believe in international law. We built a lot of that international law…
• Electoral College — Concept · Institutional reform topic · 2 mentions · first at 1:13:01
  Discussed in context of possible state-level action (National Popular Vote Interstate Compact) and broader electoral reforms
  Yeah, we could do him a huge political favor and end the war, too. That'd be another way to do it. there's a lot of chatter right now about Democrats using our wins in states…
• Populism — Concept · Political strategy / ideology · 1 mention · first at 20:06
  Referenced as part of the synthesis of Obama-style and Sanders-style politics that characterized winning Democrats
  Annie Andrews is center left because she's for a public option and doesn't believe in Medicare for all but she ran a pretty hard campaign a populist economic campaign which…
• National Popular Vote Interstate Compact — Concept · Electoral reform option mentioned · 1 mention · first at 1:13:03
  Discussed as a method Democrats might use to address Electoral College outcomes; Illinois is already a member
  Yeah, we could do him a huge political favor and end the war, too. That'd be another way to do it. there's a lot of chatter right now about Democrats using our wins in states…
• Stock trading ban — Concept · Policy proposal · 2 mentions · first at 47:55
  Policy concept discussed; keep as concept type
  Any order, but we like Abdul is exactly right. repeal the tariffs, end the war, ban stock trading, restore the Obamacare tax cuts, raise the minimum wage, repeal the Medicare…
• Veil of ignorance — Concept · Philosophical reference / framing device · 1 mention · first at 33:59
  Referenced as a philosophical tool to reframe allocation questions in the Israel/Palestine discussion — speaker invokes a Veil of Ignorance style thought experiment when discussing fair division.
  And I don't think if you should apply what I'm saying to a very complicated region and I regret who said a little couldn't figure this thing out.
• Realpolitik — Concept · Foreign policy critique · 1 mention · first at 35:10
  Guest criticizes the Cold War / Kissinger-style realpolitik approach that prioritizes short-term national interest over international law
  Do we get what we want? And then what is it? How is it that we want to behave in the world? We've allowed a certain kind of real politique since Kissinger to goat us into…
• Twenty-Fifth Amendment — Concept · Constitutional concept · 1 mention · first at 1:02:06
  Mentioned jokingly as a theoretical path to replacing a sitting president in political speculation
  You're referring to the 25th amendment, I assume. Correct.
• Protein chips — Concept · Anecdotal / cultural reference · 1 mention · first at 42:59
  Referenced by Abdul El-Sayed as a quirky campaign/staff anecdote about snacks he relied on (Quest protein chips); part of light personal detail.
  Hey, are you still guzzling Gatorade Zero and Quest protein chips?

Places & events

• 2026 Midterm Elections — Event · Primary event / backdrop · 1 mention · first at 47:28
  The entire episode is focused on analyzing outcomes, causes, and consequences of these midterms
  So, votes are still being counted, but when all is said and done, Democrats are on track to hit about 257 House seats and 56 Senate seats once Alaska and Mississippi are.
• Israel — Place · Subject of foreign policy debate · 8 mentions · first at 9:41
  Discussed in the context of U.S. policy, military aid, accusations of genocide/apartheid, and the two-state solution debate
• Iran war (2026) — Event · Core topic / catalyst · 7 mentions · first at 10:30
  Framed as a major policy and political issue that hurt Republicans, affected costs, and drove election outcomes and intra-party debates
• Illinois — Place · Relevant state / Governor's jurisdiction · 9 mentions · first at 1:04:53
  Setting for JB Pritzker's governorship and examples about state actions (redistricting, protecting visitors like Texas House Democrats)
  In August of 2025 and they came to Illinois and we protected them in Illinois because I mean they were literally planning to send the FBI, the Texas Rangers and so on. But I mention this because just FYI, James Tarico and Gina Inahosa.
• Michigan — Place · State discussed re: Abdul El-Sayed and election results · 6 mentions · first at 19:08
  Abdul El-Sayed's elected position and campaign originate from Michigan; state used as example of what Democrats won and policy priorities
  The number one most important thing we can do is protect people from the healthcare nuclear bomb that's about to go off in our system with Medicaid cuts.
• Washington, D.C. — Place · Setting · 5 mentions · first at 1:53
  Episode recorded live from DC; referenced in discussion of White House and politics
  Welcome to Pod Save America. I'm John Fabra.
• Texas — Place · Key battleground / discussion point · 4 mentions · first at 0:38
  Mentioned as a state Democrats flipped/won races in and as a focus for debates about turnout, external spending, and Elon Musk's contributions
  We got outspent everywhere and we do on a regular basis. It's just true. when you've got Elon Musk spending $240 million like in Texas, we're we're going to get outspent. He lost, but and I felt he spent $240 million, I spent a million.
• Chicago — Place · Referenced location / political context · 4 mentions · first at 1:20:54
  Mentioned multiple times in relation to Illinois, the Chicago Bears, and political events; relevant to Gov. JB Pritzker's jurisdiction and anecdotes about hosting Texas House Democrats.
  We are the ones who put the equity into that team. Look, we're going to give them what we do for other businesses.
• Citizens United — Event · Legal precedent / context · 1 mention · first at 1:19:42
  Invoked when discussing the difficulty of matching billionaire spending in modern campaigns and the need for campaign finance reform.
  And so, we're never going to be able to catch up in that regard until we have campaign finance reform and Citizens United, and that would be fair. But,.
• Gaza — Place · Geopolitical topic · 1 mention · first at 40:20
  Geopolitical region; kept as location with context
  Actively foreclosing on the possibility of a second state that has not been good faith. We are actively funding their military. We're selling them the equipment that they're…
• Indiana — Place · Referenced state in redistricting discussion · 5 mentions · first at 1:14:58
  Used as an example of how proposed Republican maps would have changed outcomes and as a foil in redistricting bargaining
  And again we didn't know the outcome was going to be as it was but at the time anyway my view was if they're going to redistrict and take away two seats from Democrats, I can…
• Kansas — Place · Referenced battleground state example · 3 mentions · first at 17:33
  Mentioned as one of the states where Democrats had success and as part of turnout and policy discussion (e.g., tariffs, gas prices) influencing results.
  And we I should also add that we should be going after a nationwide redistricting. We should have independent commissions in every state, but not do it individually by state. And so these are, not easy problems to solve. But actually, that.
• Canada — Place · Referenced country · 3 mentions · first at 38:19
  Discussed in relation to an ill-advised US tariff dispute and cross-border economics affecting states like Michigan
  The diplomacy that had contained the nuclear threat in the first place. And the third one is how are we picking a tariff war with Canada? Like I'm from Michigan. is the only…
• Georgia — Place · State referenced · 2 mentions · first at 1:10
  Mentioned as a state where Democrats scored victories and as part of broader electoral map analysis
  Turnout surges with three groups that drove this election. The first is young voters. Voters under 35 turned out in huge numbers particularly in the races where the candidates engaged those voters like Texas and Georgia. Two, across the.
• Lebanon — Place · Region referenced in foreign policy discussion · 1 mention · first at 34:43
  Referenced in context of attempted annexation and regional conflict related to Israel and broader Middle East tensions.
  Genocide, maintain apartheid, and take us to wars we have no business fighting the attempted annexation of southern Lebanon. And then we use the argument that if you push back…
• Oval Office — Place · Referenced setting · 2 mentions · first at 5:33
  Referenced in discussion criticizing Trump's focus on decorating and gilding the Oval Office after electoral losses.
  Do his own HGTV channel for the next two years. But just it's worth just taking a moment to think that the first thing the White House did after losing an election where the…
• Mara Lago — Place · Referenced presidential residence / campaign hub · 2 mentions · first at 57:10
  Mentioned as part of Trump's operation and travel pattern; used to illustrate proximity to power and campaign activity.
  Know, the ability to get noticed. And right now, Marco is at the heart of the action. He's a part of everything. And I saw he's doing like a speech at the Federalist Society next week, right?
• Venezuela — Place · Foreign policy example · 2 mentions · first at 57:35
  Mentioned by Abdul El-Sayed when arguing for treating other governments like Israel — he said Egypt and Venezuela should be treated similarly when violating human rights.
  And my family comes from Egypt and I want to do the same thing with Egypt.
• Ohio — Place · Referenced battleground / example state · 1 mention · first at 6:33
  Referenced in the context of past election performance and as part of analysis of JD Vance's underperformance and Republican map strategies.
  If you want to know the stat that's going to ultimately cause him to lose his mind. It's he's going to see that in that article. Maybe it's already happened.
• Camp David — Place · Referenced setting · 1 mention · first at 11:15
  Mentioned as the site of a planning meeting for the midterms where attendees forgot to invite NRSC — cited as an example of chaotic Trump-team planning.
  Clap it up for money. There was a planning meeting at Camp David to plot out the midterms and they forgot to invite anyone from the NRSC.
• South Carolina — Place · State referenced · 4 mentions · first at 15:12
  Referenced in relation to candidates and turnout dynamics
  Candidates engaged those voters like Texas and Georgia. Two, across the deep south, black voters turned out at a near presidential level.
• Mississippi — Place · State referenced · 3 mentions · first at 3:04
  Mentioned among battlegrounds and turnout analyses
  More than half of Americans will live in a state with a Democratic trifecta.
• Iowa — Place · State referenced · 2 mentions · first at 0:24
  Referenced for Trump rally comments and as an early state example
  We just had a great rally. As in Iowa, they're always saying the Democrats have great enthusiasm.
• Chile — Place · Referenced country / film setting · 2 mentions · first at 1:05:22
  Referenced in ad for film 'Wild Horse 9' set around the 1973 coup in Chile
  And Oscar winner Sam Rockwell alongside Steve Bushi. Wild Horse 9 delivers laugh out loud humor and gripping suspense.
• Alaska — Place · Referenced state · 1 mention · first at 3:04
  Mentioned in an opening summary about projected Senate seat counts (Alaska and Mississippi not finished yet).
  So, votes are still being counted, but when all is said and done, Democrats are on track to hit about 257 House seats and 56 Senate seats once Alaska and Mississippi are.
• Tel Aviv — Place · Referenced city · 1 mention · first at 32:35
  Location reference only; evidence includes contextual mentions but role remains location
  We treated all of our kids like all of our kids if you take seriously that a Palestinian child in Gaza and a Jewish Israeli child in Tel Aviv deserve the same right to grow up, look forward at their future, and think, I'm.
• Egypt — Place · Personal background reference · 1 mention · first at 35:55
  Guest references family background from Egypt to illustrate evenhanded foreign policy principles
  Egypt violates human rights law. Egypt shouldn't be getting $3.3 billion of our tax dollars. And I would hate if somebody would be Well, because you share the ethnicity of 95% of the.
• Cuba — Place · Foreign policy reference · 1 mention · first at 56:51
  Mentioned as an area of interest/foreign policy focus in a discussion about Marco Rubio's supposed passion projects.
  He's already doing, which is pretending he doesn't work on Iran policy. You know what I mean? Maybe you pursue one of your passion projects like toppling the Cuban government…
• Florida — Place · Referenced state · 1 mention · first at 1:20:13
  Mentioned in passing as an example where more Democratic funding might have influenced a governor's race; part of broader discussion on resource allocation.
  But I don't want to place blame because it's really not it's not fair. I do think that there were places like Florida where, we could have had that governor's race possibly if…
• Hammond — Place · Referenced rival location · 1 mention · first at 1:21:27
  Used pejoratively as the place the Bears might move to (Hammond, Indiana) — governor promises to keep the team in Illinois.
  Because the reality is that they shouldn't be on a slag heap in Hammond, Indiana. They should be either in the city of Chicago or in Arlington Heights or somewhere in the state of Illinois.
• Arlington Heights — Place · Potential stadium/site location · 1 mention · first at 1:21:31
  Mentioned by the governor as a possible in-state location for the Chicago Bears to remain in Illinois rather than moving out of state.
  Because the reality is that they shouldn't be on a slag heap in Hammond, Indiana. They should be either in the city of Chicago or in Arlington Heights or somewhere in the state of Illinois.
• Anchorage — Place · Anecdotal example · 1 mention · first at 11:02
  Evidence references an anecdotal context; preserve as location with clear evidence
  Rush and make all their plans at the end of the day. Which meant in practice there was an anecdote about how the Democrats bought an ad slot in like Anchorage TV News or…
• Studio 54 (venue in New York City) — Place · Cultural reference · 1 mention · first at 58:11
  Clarifies that Studio 54 is a nightclub/venue, not a company
  These are over 50 ft high. That's like a fivetory building. And marvel is a really magnificent. It's a cut. It's a vein that people have been after for 50 years. You can put as many.

Media & podcasts

• Pod Save America — Media · Program / podcast · 4 mentions · first at 1:58
  The episode itself; platform for the discussion and interviews
  Welcome to Pod Save America. I'm John Fabra.
• The West Wing — Media · Cultural reference · 2 mentions · first at 28:25
  Represents a TV show title in context; garbled references corrected
  That for whatever reason, Democrats seem to want to keep up. M and I think it's because all of us all of us came up watching the West WING and then Donald Trump rolls in and is…
• Two Takes and a Fake — Media · Segment · 1 mention · first at 1:22:55
  Show segment played live during episode featuring outrageous right-wing reactions
  So, now it's time for a game we call two takes in a fake.

Sponsors

• CookUnity — Sponsor · Sponsor · 4 mentions · first at 22:45
  Episode sponsor; promoted as chef-led meal delivery with a listener discount
  Podsame is brought to you by Cook Unity.
• SimpliSafe — Sponsor · Sponsor · 2 mentions · first at 21:41
  Episode sponsor mentioned during ad reads offering home security discounts to listeners
  Security has been on your mind lately, there's no better time to protect it than now with Simply Safe. Right now, you can save 70% on a new system, their biggest savings of the…
• Peter Thiel — Person · Referenced funder / backer · 1 mention · first at 1:04:04
  Raised in the conversation accusing JD Vance of being created in a 'VC lab' funded by people like Peter Thiel; used to underscore Vance's perceived inauthenticity.
  People hate him. They hate him. And that is not ever going to change. They hate him because of his identity. They hate him because of his ties to Peter Teal and the fact that…
• CrookedCon — Event · Promotional event / community gathering · 3 mentions · first at 2:26
  Mentioned in episode context as an upcoming Crooked Media event and a reason for excitement
  Has it they will have special postcards that you can mail from Crooked Con. So, be sure to check them out. Also, if you're just looking for a gift for someone you love, Aura…
• Aura Frames — Sponsor · Sponsor (ad read) · 3 mentions · first at 1:06:13
  Episode sponsor; product promoted with discount/promo code for listeners
  Bada boom. Get your friends, your family a frame that's got aura, as the kids say. Named number one by wire cutter. You can save now by visiting aura frames.com. For a limited…
• Blinds.com — Sponsor · Sponsor (ad read) · 4 mentions · first at 44:43
  Episode sponsor; provided promotional discount code for listeners
  Of styles to choose from, you'll find exactly what works for your space and your budget. Everything is backed by Blinds.com's Sure Fit Guarantee. If you measured wrong, they'll remake it. No returns, no hassles. We love blinds.com.
• Trees.com — Sponsor · Sponsor (ad read) · 4 mentions · first at 45:51
  Episode sponsor; promoted plant/tree purchases with discount code for listeners
  Growing trees, but now they're trees.com. The same trusted online nursery with a simpler name. Trees.com is America's largest online nursery with thousands of trees and plants…
• Wild Horse Nine — Sponsor · Sponsor / promoted film · 2 mentions · first at 1:04:58
  Episode sponsor segment promoting the film as a theatrical release (call to action to get tickets)
  Don't miss the year's most talked about film now playing only in theaters. Get tickets today. Pave America is brought to you by Aura Frames. You know how certain photos just freeze a moment in.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:03 We're going to be so big. We're going to win by so much. I think it's going to be a red wave. There's no blue wave. I think Republicans are going to do pretty well.

0:12 If my math is correct here, then Republicans are going to drop a seat. And that means that right now they have 53 seats in the Senate. That means they end with 52.

0:18 The blue tsunami that has been promised is not materializing. We just had a a great rally. As you know, in Iowa, they're always saying the Democrats have great enthusiasm.

0:30 The Democrat is up more than a million votes right now. James Kler will win the US Senate. Steve makes history.

0:38 We just took back Texas. Troy Cooper will win the Senate seat. Are we having a good time tonight or what?

0:44 In a huge episode, Adam Hamilton, Amy At Troy Jackson will beat longtime Republican Senator Susan Collins.

0:51 WE DID IT. WORKING PEOPLE DID IT. HAPPEN. Shared Brown, Dr. Annie Andrews is going to win the Senate seat.

0:57 You have shown the nation what is possible. Abdul Elsa will become the next senator. Josh,

1:05 John, Lance Bonds will become the governor. Georgia, this win is for all of us.

1:15 The Democrats will win control of the House of Representatives. Democrats will win control of the USA.

1:26 Today, of course, is a day of celebration and it's a day of gratitude. What's up DC?

1:58 Welcome to Pod Save America. I'm John Fabra. I'm Alex Wagner. I'm John Love. I'm

2:06 Tommy Vizour. I'm Dan Viper. How's everyone's week going? Yeah, that's pretty cool. Uh, we have a great show for you tonight. Governor JB Pritsker is here and Crooked Con is almost here, which is really exciting. Uh, but we got some news to talk about first. Uh, on Tuesday, Donald Trump and the Republican party suffered the biggest electoral defeat in 50 years.

2:47 So, uh, votes are still being counted, but when all is said and done, Democrats are on track to hit about 257 House seats and 56 Senate seats once Alaska and Mississippi are finished. Uh hopefully by next week, more than 75% of Americans will live in a state with a Democratic governor. More than half of Americans will live in a state with a Democratic trifecta. Uh it is the beginning of the end of the Trump era, uh as we know it. And you know what? The president seems kind of fine.

3:40 It's going to be uh not only one of the biggest, but it'll be the most beautiful ballroom I think anywhere in the world. These are over 50 ft high. That's like a fivetory building. And marvel is a really magnificent. It's a cut. It's a vein that people have been after for 50 years. You can put as many helicopters as you want on the roof. thing very high ceiling and essentially we beautified Washington. You see we had 83 monuments statues etc.

4:14 That was his mic feeding back by the way, not ours. That was his What's that mic? The way he holds the mic really

4:21 awful. Yeah. Yeah. Um so Donald Trump's uh answer to electoral annihilation is more ballroom. Um, Alex, were you surprised? Like, not just by that, but he seems very chill so far.

4:38 Well, John, I'm not a psychologist, but it seems to me from just anecdotally, the demented mind retreats to areas of safety, early memories, foundational memories. And for Donald Trump, that is being a real estate developer. He can no longer control Congress, but he can control a hot glue gun. And what we're seeing is that steel rebar is his rose bud. You know, this is someone's origin story is cement.

5:12 It's a It's a little like how like um Lady Gaga could get Tony Bennett out there and even though he didn't really know where he was, he still knew all the songs.

5:22 But can I say I'm fine with it? Like if if this is what's going to occupy grandpa for the next two years, he needs to like it.

5:33 Focus on the m, you know, further gilding the oval office or a helellipad and not more war. Like let him do it. Put him out to pastor in the sandbox. I'm fine with it.

5:44 Like I am obviously fine if he wants to do his own HGTV channel for the next two years. But just it's worth just taking a moment to think that the first thing the White House did after losing an election where the verdict of the voters was that the president was too distracted to focus on costs was to have him do a press conference about his corporatefunded ballroom.

6:07 It's all he's got. Dan. Yeah. Well, it really answers the question of um does he not give a or did he not know how bad things were going to be? cuz the electoral results punched him in the face and he still doesn't care.

6:19 So Tommy, I kind of there's part of me that thinks there's going to be a delayed reaction. Um and that like Natalie has kept him from all the worst news.

6:29 She's like ensconced him in a bubble and he's only getting some good He's getting like old tweets. He's like we lost Ohio.

6:35 Yeah. Right. Yeah. He doesn't even Texas yet. Yeah. Like right now, he's probably being told like, well, they're blaming like Ken Paxton and these bad candidates and it's not you. And he's going to tune in to something. Something's going to slip through and then he's going to blow his top. That's my that's my guess on this. And he also doesn't care about like he didn't lose. He's still president for others. Yeah, he doesn't care.

6:57 Um Trump has also been saying uh this about working with Democrats. This is what he told Jonathan Carl this morning. Um quote, "I think we can get along. It's good for the country if we do. the country has had enough. Uh where are you guys on the maybe Trump will work with Democrats and become friends in in his as he sunsets? So, I think I think he actually does mean he wants to get along with Democrats in the sense that he would love to have Hakeem Jeff and show them the ballroom and point out different things, right? And and to your point, he's not he doesn't really care about Republican priorities.

7:44 And he would love to be celebrated with a couple of bills and be, you know, get a couple victories and even if it over his former uh uh the people that he that that he doesn't that whose majority he just lost, but you can't really square that with the fact that they're also Democrats are going to launch a bunch of investigations, right? So the idea that he wants to get along, he doesn't really care.

8:04 I think that's true. So huge oversight fans here. Yeah. We we probably have some ranking committee staffers here.

8:16 Yeah. So, I do think it's a little bit of a, you know, unstoppable force, immovable object problem that's coming. And so, inevitably, that leads to him losing his

8:26 Yeah. Right. Where else can This is Well, this is a nice period right now. Yeah.

8:30 He said the same exact thing right after 2018. He's like, "Maybe Nancy and I can do beautiful together." Like 2 days later, he's like storming the capital. when he was shot in the ear. Also, he was a changed man for a week.

8:42 Say it with me. Permitting reform. Permitting reform. Permitting reform. No. Okay.

8:50 Going to let that window close, I guess. Did you have something? I just feel like it's his body and mind have dissociated themselves from one another. And it's I mean, I I'm old enough to remember when he first came into office and there was suspicion that he might be more bipartisan. No, that shit's never going to happen. The question is whether he's so adultled now that he doesn't actually realize that he's the president that everybody rejected resoundingly across the country a day ago.

9:16 Yeah, it's going to hit him. Uh so it seems like the rest of the White House isn't taking the loss quite as well. Uh the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, other outlets have been giving us some just incredibly satisfying accounts of how they blew it so badly. um including the New York Times uh got like from a phone call that Trump aids have and had uh before the midterms and they were talking about they were joking about cyanide um and whether they could get asylum in Israel uh Tommy what were your sub

9:49 Israel is like we don't want these war criminals full house. Uh Tommy, what are some of your favorite revelations so far uh from all the the Tik Toks on what went wrong?

10:08 Oh, there's so many Tik Toks. But by the way, it sure seems like someone is recording all their conference calls, right? They like verbatim quotes from these things. So,

10:15 or someone's just getting off off the call and like calling Maggie or Yeah, they patching Maggie Haberman. she just like part of the team writing it down. Um, so I liked the part of the story, there's a lot of these stories and I liked a lot of parts of them. Uh, the part in the Times story where the political geniuses identify that the Iran war is a problem. So their solution is to have a meeting in the situation room and talk about ways to hide all the bombing that's happening and all the fighting. So that's a good thing for the US military to be doing. That's the CIA's job. Um there was uh oh the Trump gave them so little clarity over how much pack money he was willing to spend and where to spend it that they had to rush and make all their plans at the end of the day. Which meant in practice there was an anecdote about how the Democrats bought an ad slot in like Anchorage TV News or something like you

11:05 know the nightly news for $2,700 and the Trump super PAC paid 30 grand for the same duration in the same time slot. Clap it up for money. There was a planning meeting at Camp David to plot out the midterms and they forgot to invite anyone from the NRSC. That seems like a bit of an oversight. Um I like the $5,000 check thing was just Trump riffing. No one knew it was coming. They're all blaming Pete Hexth. I like that. I think that's on the money. Um it also the the the joke about them all moving to Israel. It's just funny that they joked about that. And then on election day, Trump announced that he'd be cutting off aid to Israel, making them all maybe a little less welcome.

11:51 And like Cortez burning the ships. T I mean, in the course of all of the of Trump's quoteunquote midterm strategy, it's worth noting that he did this rally tour which then forced every Republican to recommmit their feelalty to the very unpopular president. And then we've now seen studies which show that in counties where Trump did a rally, Republicans did five points worse than in counties he didn't do a rally.

12:19 That was that was my favorite my favorite stat. If you if you want to know the stat that's going to ultimately cause him to lose his mind. It's he's going to see that in that article. Maybe it's already happened.

12:31 It was so good. Um the the other stat is Democrats overperformed by 26 points in counties that have a cheesecake factory.

12:36 Wow. Yeah, that worked well for them. Um, so, uh, speaking of polls and results, uh, let's talk about how and why Democrats won now that we've all had a couple days to just nerd out and all the exit polls and the the county results. Is that just me? No, that's you guys did, too. Dan did. I know. Uh so our friends at Searchlight Institute conducted a really comprehensive entrance poll uh in the battleground states that they very kindly shared with us uh first just this afternoon we got it. Um Dan, did you have a chance to get a look and is there anything?

13:13 Boy, did I. Sean, I will say there was eight attachments and the first one was 36 pages. So I was like I'll I'll read the first one.

13:23 I would just say that the walk to this theater tape was the first time I've had fresh air all day. So um so the it's a really fascinating study. It's going to be on the crooked media substack tomorrow and I know all of you are signed up obviously or you wouldn't be here. Um but a couple of key takeaways from it. So they did a poll of the seven key battleground states in the two weeks before to see what voters were thinking as they went in to vote. And key like obviously as we know Trump's deep unpopularity and his and costs are the two issues that drove the election. But what it really looked at was what can we learn from the Democrats who overperformed the most. And there are a couple takeaways there. One is the Democrats who were able to carve out a brand independent of the Democratic Party did the best. Like Rory Cooper, for instance, is 20 points more popular than the Democratic Party. James

14:10 Telerico and Josh Turk are 14 points more popular than the Democratic Party in their state. Which it makes logical sense that if these are red states, these are states Trump won by double digits. the Democratic party is not going to have a natural popularity there. It also just reinforces the idea that this election was a repudiation of Trump and a validation of specific Democratic candidates but not the Democratic party as a whole. And you know it looks they definitely thought that Democrats were more focused on cost than Republicans but not as focused on costs as they want them to be.

14:40 And that's a really important thing to think about as we think about what Democrats are going to do as we head into Congress. Something I think is separate and apart from the study that I think is really important to focus on is turnout surges with three groups that drove this election. The first is young voters. Voters under 35 turned out in huge numbers particularly in the races where the candidates engaged those voters like Texas and Georgia. Two, uh across the deep south, black voters turned out at a near presidential level.

15:12 And in states like South Carolina where one in four voters is black and and states like Mississippi where more than one in three voters is black. That made a gigantic difference. There's no way without that. And then Latino voters uh obviously there was this huge swing back of Latinos to Democrats in Texas in particular of Senate seats. But the one the really important thing is that turnout among Latinos in Texas was up six points compared to 2022 which is why James Hillary Kini and Hosa were able to win by such margins. Yeah.

15:42 I also thought it was interesting that um the other turnout story was turnout was just really far down with Republicans like a lot like and JD Vance we'll talk about that in a bit but he had this whole poster was like I talked to the pollsters and they said our people turned out but just some of them voted for the other party and it's like actually no a lot of Republicans didn't turn out and especially uh the group that didn't turn out that had the worst turnout among Republicans was young Republicans uh and especially some of those people who voted. So you wonder like did they vote for Trump in 24 and are they lost to Democrats? Do they just not turn out this election? So it's like a group to watch, but they did not come out this time.

16:17 Especially in rural areas too that a lot of the rural counties that have been basically the the engine for Trump since 2016, you saw real not just they're turn they did not turn out high, but Democrats won higher vote share there because voters were so mad at Trump over costs, gas prices, etc.

16:32 Yeah. Uh, Alex, you weren't uh with us on our our Tuesday night uh pod, but like what what if anything do you think Democrats did to earn this victory aside from just not being Republicans? Um, and were there like any campaigns like you thought were good examples?

16:50 Well, I mean, I think it's meaningful that they weren't Republicans. I I think it's meaningful that there's another party. And I think there's going to be a lot of parsing about whether whether it was a mandate. What the reality is, and I think this is so essential, for years, if not decades, Democrats have existed in these red states as caricatures.

17:10 They have not been real people with real governing abilities. And Republicans have been able to caricature Democrats as woke libs or people that are completely out of touch with real Americans. And now the people of North Carolina are going to see Democrats raise the federal minimum wage. They're going to see Democrats in Texas curb AI data centers. They're going to see Democrats in Kansas and Iowa end disastrous wars that have skyrocketed their fuel prices. It's no longer the sort of opposition party in the abstract. It's real actual governance from human beings. And you know, we all know this. Like when a party is just an abstraction and a meme, it's easy to hate it. It's easy to dismiss it. But when it becomes real governance, when it's a your real governor and your real attorney general or your real senator or your state senator or your legislator, then you understand the merits of that

18:06 party, the humanity of that party and the principles of that party. So I think parsing like whether or not they won because they weren't Republicans. What you are seeing is a sea change in how people in deep red parts of the country understand the Democratic party.

18:20 Yeah. Um, love it. There's been a a pretty cut and dry debate online um that I'm hoping you can resolve for us fairly quickly.

18:32 Um, which faction of the Democratic Party do you think came out ahead after Tuesday? So, I think it's great that there is a sizable group of highly engaged, very smart political watchers that found their groove about how they talk about politics in the 2016 primary.

18:55 Hey, us. It includes us. Uh, but you know, there's this effort to to claim different candidates, right? that like Abdul in Michigan is the candidate of the left and and Annie Eds in South Carolina, she represents more the old center left, right? But in reality, I think is if you kind of look at what happened in this election, the truth is, and this is going to be a very takey take. This election is the kind of synthesis of Barack Obama style politics and Bernie Sanders style politics. These are the two most successful movement builders in our lifetimes. And uh I think every one of these victories kind of belongs to the best parts of both of those movements. It's like oh Annie Annie Andrews is center left because she's for a public option and doesn't believe in Medicare for all but she ran a pretty hard campaign a populist economic campaign which really appealed to people. uh the conversation around

19:58 Telerico uh uh is uh uh about how he's sort of an Obama-like figure in the way he talks about faith and bringing people together, but he's an economic populist. Even in Michigan, where because of the debate around Israel, it's been sorted as a left uh uh campaign. If you listen to his longer conversations, he's a capitalist. His support for Medicare for all is about building a capitalism that works for people. And so I I think what we're actually seeing is a really positive development because we get to figure out new things to fight about, right? Like we get to let's get mad at each other, but not about the stuff we were mad about in 2016 and 2020. Let's figure out new things to be mad about in 2028.

20:42 Yeah. I mean, I I do want to a point you made there, like speaking of of Michigan, um we haven't really dug into those results yet, and I do think we might be able to have someone here who could help us uh maybe talk about Michigan a little bit more. Um Abdul, are you are you

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24:19 All right. Thanks for coming. Good to see you. I heard I heard you doing a live taping learning sector. That was good. I was going to say I want I did I wanted to I wanted to start with you know some some pretty significant history um that that you made on Tuesday and I just want to know like WHAT like what does it feel like to know that you are going to be the very first Crooked Media podcaster to serve in the United States Senate. I'm so very honored.

25:11 You know, it's it's it's funny, but a lot of I mean, what is it that politicians do? We market public policy. That's the job. You take the most boring, arcane thing and then try to figure out how to market it so that people think, "Yeah, that's actually what I want." And modern communications has evolved in a way where there's so many different ways to talk about what you do. And I actually think that like somebody's asking me what's the what is the most essential form of public communication. I actually think it's podcast. And here's why. Because there is no length. There's no expectation for you to have like 30 seconds and get out.

25:55 Yeah. You can follow up a question as many different ways as you want. And so it really forces you to to become an expert on the thing you're talking about and be able to defend it. Uh and so all that time hosting podcasts, I actually, you know, I think about it, it was a really really good way to start thinking about how do you start talking about the things that you talk about every day. So when you're on a town hall and people ask a question, it's like a podcast conversation. So in all in all ways, I actually think that like, you know, being a crooked host was pretty good prep for running for US Senate.

26:27 There you go. Said it once. I've said it a thousand times. Podcasts are the hero's medium and will be the source of our salvation. Back over to you, John. So long ago, uh, you predicted that you would win this race by seven points, which which at the time seemed like a pretty cocky and and maybe ill-considered thing to say in the middle of a competitive Senate race. Then you won the race by seven points. And you know, people are still calling you cocky. Um, I I I keep thinking about the the headline of of Jonathan Martin's Politico story about you when he sat down with you, which is Washington isn't ready for Hurricane Abdul.

27:25 At least he didn't call it a sandstorm. What's that? But like I What's it called? What's that term that uh uh for

27:34 It's It's a haboo. I knew you were going for it. Yes. There you go. That's that there's literally an Arab name Arabic name for a sandstorm that only happens in the Gulf.

27:47 At least you didn't go there. That's true. But like it made me wonder cuz I've known you for a while and like this whole perception of you that has like developed over the campaign. I'm like he's like do you see yourself as Hurricane Abdul coming to Washington? How do you see yourself? So, you know,

28:07 WE WE this expectation for decorum that for whatever reason, Democrats seem to want to keep up. M and I think it's because all of us all of us came up watching the West WING and then Donald Trump rolls in and is the most unserious fool and then we're still out here trying to be like, well, he doesn't fit into an episode of the West Wing.

28:43 Yeah. And I think I think there is a a responsibility that we have to engage with him as the unserious fool that he is.

28:56 And I say that because if you've ever watched a bully in a room, if you don't stand up to the bully, it's not like the bully will just go away.

29:08 If you don't stand up to the bully, the bully just gets stronger for two reasons. because they think they can get away with it and they always want more. Like they don't bully because they they take what they want. It's because they like to oppress people

29:22 and so they get stronger and then other people around them who might be willing to stand up too see nobody standing up and say, "Well, it's impossible to do."

29:31 And I just think there's a responsibility for us to walk out of the West Wing episode that our politics used to feel like and into the reality of where we are. And so I've just made a habit and maybe it's because you know my name is Abdul and I've seen all the things that somebody named Abdul will see that you you have to stand up to the bully. And so I think that's the part of things people wanted to fixate on because it's so uncommon in our politics that you're like you're being crass and obnoxious so I'm just going to be crass and obnoxious back because you're an But

30:06 it's not to be crass and obnoxious because that's how you want to do politics. It's that you have to be crass and obnoxious back because otherwise what happens is that that system of politics will persist.

30:18 And when you stand up to a bully, what tends to happen is they will back down. And when they back down, we all get to decide where we want to go. I would rather I mean, you all know me well. I'd rather have an extensive policy conversation about the monopsiny power of Medicare for all, but if we if they want to do schoolyard politics, all right, let's throw it on.

30:42 So, one of the ways I would say they tried to use schoolyard politics was around uh you being a Muslim uh turning your criticism into Israel as a way to attack you more broadly. uh a lot of charges of anti-semitism uh but also just a this is a very contentious issue and you've been unabashed in your views at the same time you're about to go into the Senate you know this is a debate that's very heated obviously it's also the last democratic president was basically incoherent in explaining his policies uh a lot of people that I think are

31:22 a number of other things yeah but a lot of people who are I think are sincerely ly uh defenders of Israel are kind of stuck in a worldview that I think is pretty old, talking points that are pretty old. You're about to be in the Senate. beyond just a change in policy around military aid for Israel, beyond just trying to figure out how to stop the ways in which the policy has been contributing to something destructive, what do you view as your role in uh using America's power in the region for actual good, both for the sake of Palestinian sovereignty and human rights and also an ultimate solution.

32:07 I appreciate this is why podcast is the is the queen of all forms because you can ask me a nuanced question about this issue and we can step back and ask what is our goal here very simply put if I have one political philosophy it's what would we build if we treated all of our kids like all of our kids

32:30 if you take seriously that a Palestinian child in Gaza and a Jewish Israeli child in Tel Aviv deserve the same right to grow up, look forward at their future, and think, I'm I have a clear way forward, and violence isn't going to curtail my opportunities. That's what you want to build. What then can we do? And the challenge that we have right now is we've told ourselves a series of lies. We've told ourselves that we are in pursuit of a two-state solution. The problem though is that we've been actively aiding, arming, and abetting the very people who are trying to foreclose on a second state. And even then, their idea of a second state does not start from the premise of equal rights to peace, dignity, and self-determination. It is essentially unjust. It's like saying, you know, you and I are going to split a meal. And so, you get the meal first, you eat what you want, and then you give me the rest, but

33:25 we split the meal. That's An actual splitting of the meal is saying, okay, we got a burger and some fries here. You take half the fries, I'll take half the fries. You take half the burger, I'll take half the burger. And maybe you like the ketchup, so take the ketchup. Sometimes the rule is whoever cuts goes second because the person who cuts chose the size of each side.

33:47 And I don't think if you should apply what I'm saying to a very complicated region and I regret who said a little couldn't figure this thing out.

33:57 Look, the sort of a veil of ignorance thing you could do. Sorry. continue. No, but but the point that I'm making is this, right? Is that we are right now in a culde-sac where we keep going around and around and around and nobody wants to back out and ask all like where do we really want to go? It is an unstable equilibrium because if you start from the premise that both of these kids deserve the ability to live a good life, neither of them have that one because of state violence and one because of the risk of terrorism. So I I want to start there and then ask ourselves where do we go? You have a government that is actively foreclosing on the possibility of a second state that has not been good faith. We are actively funding their military. We're selling them the equipment that they're using to do genocide, maintain apartheid, and take us to wars we have no business fighting the attempted annexation of southern

34:45 Lebanon. And then we use the argument that if you push back on this state of affairs, it must be because you hate somebody. No, it is because I love both that Jewish Israeli child and that Palestinian child to the same degree. And so I think we just have to go back to our principles. What is it that we want? How do we get what we want? And then what is it? How is it that we want to behave in the world? We've allowed a certain kind of real politique since Kissinger to goat us into thinking that we can somehow dictate the future by just figuring out what's in our best interest in the next 5 minutes. I believe in international law. We built a lot of that international law after World War II and we have become the chief violator of international law. So how is it that we should be engaging with a country that is using our money to do terrible things, war crimes at the minimum, genocide at the maximum, that we are

35:42 running cover for at all of the institutions that are supposed to enforce international law? My approach is simple. treat the government of Israel the way you would treat any other government that did the same thing.

35:55 And my family comes from Egypt and I want to do the same thing with Egypt. Egypt violates human rights law. Egypt shouldn't be getting $3.3 billion of our tax dollars. And I would hate if somebody would be like, "Well, because you share the ethnicity of 95% of the people in Egypt, for us to say that the Egyptian government is doing terrible things must be anti-gyptian." No, it is just applying our principles evenly everywhere. So feel like the biggest challenge for Democrats in Congress over the next two years is that, you know, you were all elected because people want you to focus on putting money in people's pockets.

36:39 Um, and but because Trump is in the White House, it's going to be very difficult to do that. And you can already feel that with this Democratic majority and the way that you won on Tuesday, expectations are very high. And so like what is your top priority as senator over the next 2 years in terms of like actually getting something done for the people of Michigan? The number one most important thing we can do is protect people from the healthcare nuclear bomb that's about to go off in our system with Medicaid cuts.

37:20 And I actually think we may be able to pass it in a bipartisan fashion. I actually think we might be able to get a get to a veto proof majority. And here's why. We all know the structural failure of the of the Senate is that it allocates a lot more representation to rural communities. Well, who's going to get hit the hardest by these Medicaid tax cuts? It's rural communities.

37:40 So, I'd love to sit down with my colleagues from South Dakota and Idaho and say, "What do you think is about to happen to your hospitals if these Medicaid tax cuts go through? Why? To give a billionaire based in Delaware some more money." And I actually think that we need to have that conversation. That's number one. Number two, end this stupid war. It makes no sense. We're paying for it in the lives of our service men and women. We're paying for it at the gas station. We're paying for it at the grocery store. We're paying for it in our tax dollars. We need to have a war powers resolution. We need to hold them accountable. They are not allowed to make war on their own.

38:14 And this war needs to end. We go back to the diplomacy that had contained the nuclear threat in the first place. And the third one is how are we picking a tariff war with Canada? Like I'm from Michigan. is the only place in America where you can go south to get to Canada. And Canadians are nice people. Like they're the only people who preemptively apologize. Prophylactic apologies, right? You meet them and they're like, "Sorry." You're like, "For what?" They're like, "For whatever I'm going to do that's going to offend you."

38:39 You're like, "So if you're picking a tariff war with Canada, you're the asshole." And so, and we're paying a tremendous amount of money for this. Tariffs are taxes that we pay on Canadian goods. And so those three policies alone, right, would ex improve the quality of healthcare for a lot of people or at least keep it where it is, put a lot more money back in people's pockets, and they also highlight exactly the folly of the role that money plays in our politics. This war, I just want to be clear about it. And President Obama wrote about this in his most recent book, A Promised Land.

39:17 There is one person in the world that has been trying to get this war fought for nearly all of our lifetimes. It is the prime minister of a foreign government. Gets invited to the situation room where he gets to dupe the dumbest guy who ever was president. And then and then now we're now we're in a war that everybody could have told you was a dumb idea to fight, which is why every other president was like, "Yeah, no, I'm not doing that." And so I I just want us to understand how that operates. It operates because when you have a $100 million super PAC that will play in every single congressional race, you are able to manufacture a bipartisan consensus about where our public policy should go. It's the truth when it comes to healthcare.

40:04 It's the truth when it comes to union rights. And it's the truth when it comes to foreign policy. And I just think it's important for us to connect the dots there. So when they spend $42 million to beat me, Apac spends $42 million to beat me, it is because I have the audacity to say what I said, which is that a Palestinian child and a Jewish Israeli child get to have equal rights of peace, dignity, self-determination, and maybe we shouldn't be fighting wars that are not in our best interest so that another country can annex territory of another country inconsistently with international law.

40:34 But like most people are like, well, you can't say that. Why not? Well, cuz I don't want Apac playing in my next race.

40:40 YEAH. SO, LOOK, there's a lot of people that have said there's some pretty nefarious motivations going on with you, that there are things about you that we don't know. And I've talked to some people that have known you behind the scenes. And we're just going to get to the bottom of a couple things. Do you disavow? Yeah. I'm not. Who do we

41:14 I wasn't even going to do the joke. Uh, look, I have a brother. He's Muslim and he and I have a Muslim brotherhood. All right. He's just because we're both Muslim and he's my brother.

41:33 Do you have four? That's about to show up in the next attack ad in six years. Now we're

41:38 I just wrote the attack. Yeah. Hi Jesse. Uh like we told you four double shots of espresso a day plus usually some cold brew.

41:52 Truth. You make your own dangerously strong cold brew in a five gallallon bucket. Truth. You

42:03 So it's a funny story on that. I started making cold brew for my staff and when you make cold brew, you actually brew cold brew concentrate. So this poor guy on my team drinks it straight and then it's like so he he was my call time manager and we're we're on phone calls calling folks asking him for money and he's liked I I can't I can't keep going. I was like what's wrong? He's like I can't stop shaking. I was like what happened? Are you okay? Like what's wrong? He's like I had some of your coffee and I can't stop shaking. I was like, "Did you did you cut it with water?" He's like, "No." I was like I was like, "You may be having a caffeine overdose." Like, "Just go lay down, my guy." Should have hooked him up to like a heart rate monitor.

42:49 He starts to have like a paranoid. I think I think Mike Rogers in my house. Hey, are you still guzzling Gatorade Zero and Quest protein chips?

43:02 Yes. Hey, we know that those chips are in defiance of sort of science and God's law, right? Like it doesn't actually make sense. Like everything can't be made of protein, right? So what is going on?

43:14 I like those. It doesn't make any sense. So you know what they are? They basically they basically take whey and then and then crisp it and then put whatever the the magic powder that makes chips say like chips on it.

43:31 Wow. But like I'm like cheat code. They like really quest chips are a cheat code.

43:35 I mean they're amazing. They taste delicious. God bless Quest. Thank you. You got me through this campaign.

43:41 Chips secretly made of milk. Anti-semitism. We were almost there. And do you make art in the foamed milk of the espresso of the lattes you make in your own home? Are you capable of doing that? Not well. But I I do it.

44:03 You can do that thing. Do the little pour. Yeah. Gay. Yeah. I think you've been exposed.

44:20 Over to you, John. That's all we got. Uh, Senator Elect Abdul Alad, thank you. Thank you for stopping by. Thanks, buddy. Pods of America is brought to you by blinds.com. Settling into a new home or giving your current space a refresh? Don't forget your windows. Beyond filtering light and providing privacy, the right blinds make a room feel truly finished. Blinds.com makes it easy to complete your space. And right now, you can get $50 off when you spend $500 or more. Whether you want to go full DIY or have vetted pros handle everything from measure to install. You're always in control with Blinds.com. Need help picking the right style? Book a free consultation with one of blinds.com's award-winning design experts. It's free, virtual, and on your time. They'll even send up to 10 samples fast and free straight to your door. And with hundreds of styles to choose from, you'll find exactly what works for your space and

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47:09 That's a nice visitor. Young man really going places. I think he's going places.

47:16 You could be the next podcaster in the Senate, Alex. representing the great state of Washington DC.

47:25 Uh, all right. Uh, let's talk about what's on the agenda for the biggest Democratic majority in 15 years. Um, we've already gotten some hints from the man who is on the verge of becoming the first black speaker of the house, Hakeem Jeff. Uh he told Punch Bowl that their priorities are to reverse the Medicaid cuts, stop the harmful Trump tariffs, and end this reckless and costly war of choice. Wow, sounds like he end up They're already on the same page.

47:55 Uh he also mentioned banning stock trading, going after corruption. Uh Jeffre was also asked about investigations on Morning Joe and said, quote, "The American people don't want us to get even. They want us to get things done on their behalf." Now, there you go. There you go. You doubted the audience. Love it.

48:15 Oh, I'm sorry. I How many of you were cheering for Get Even? I know my country.

48:26 We can have both. Alex, let's talk about it. Not Not everyone has been thrilled with that answer. Yeah.

48:32 At least on the internet. Um, how do you think Democrats should uh view what accountability should look like and like do you think that they can go after Trump's corruption without those investigations overshadowing everything else that they want to achieve?

48:50 If I were in the room, I'd say, Mr. Speaker, Hakee, if I might, accountability and affordability are related. The architect of the disastrous war is Pete Hegsth. It's nominally D Donald Trump. Impeaching the architect of a disastrous war is the first step to bringing down the price of gas, right? You can't think of this as an eitheror proposition. The reason the home construction market has bottomed out in the Rio Grand Valley in Texas is because Mark Wayne Mullen and his ice goons have been rounding up and destroying the lives of black and brown construction workers. You want that sector to rebound? Hold Mark Wayne Mullen and ICE policies accountable.

49:50 The I the idea that affordability exists without policing the corruption at the top levels of the government that have took taken us into this economic spiral is the most shortsighted thing I can imagine and to allow this to be an either or proposition is totally foolish and not addressing the problems at its root concern. So Democrats need to do both.

50:11 Nice. All right, Dan, if if you were running the message calendar uh for the new House Majority, in case you're in the market for a job, um

50:23 am I need one? We'll see how you answer the question. Uh what does that first month look like in terms of bills uh you'd want to introduce and like and what did you think about what Abdul said about the possibility of actually being able to reverse the Medicaid cuts? I think that we have to recognize that voters picked us because they believed with some skepticism that we would do a better job of dealing with affordability than the Republicans. Two years ago, they picked Trump with some skepticism that he would do a better job of dealing with affordability than the Democrats. He did not deal with affordability, did not try to take it on, and they switched. And if we don't demonstrate right away that while setting expectations that we are not in charge of actually signing bills, but we're going to fight like hell to try to lower your costs. If we don't do that, these voters are going to flip right

51:20 back the other way. And so I don't think we should do some giant HR1 affordability omnibus It has to be a series of votes that are spread out over a one a week for a several weeks. And I think it begins with res Yeah, we can do you can do this in any order, but we like Abdul is exactly right. repeal the tariffs, end the war, ban stock trading, restore the Obamacare tax cuts, raise the minimum wage, repeal the Medicare, the Medicaid cuts, and let's find some ways to and and then pass a bill that requires the data centers to pay for all of their own energy, right? I think that is an agenda that is directly responsive to the reason why Republican why voters put us in office. And I think to the Hakee Jeff point, I 100% agree that incorruption should be a part of this because one of the reasons why voters turned on Trump was they believe that his corruption was raising their costs. So we not should

52:18 not shy away from that. But I think it's incredibly important that we not make investigating Trump our entire personality as a party because that's one of the things that showed up in focus groups was that the swing voters who came to us, these rural voters, some of the younger voters who were more a-political or less engaged is they think we're too obsessed with Trump.

52:38 And you see, and that's why Democrats, other than the ones who were in real in pretty blue states, never mentioned Trump in their ads. It was about other stuff. And I think we the Trump era is over. Voters have turned the page and we should do the same. Yeah. So, uh, as far as what's next for Republicans, uh, they already seem to be looking beyond the next two years in a way that's actually been deeply satisfying to watch. Let's take a look.

53:03 Well, that was a disaster. I am the only statewide elected Republican in Texas. We can't win in places like Texas or Kansas or Iowa. You know, we are not viable nationally. Big picture, the Trump era is over.

53:20 The American people, young men, white Americans, said screw you to Donald Trump. Said screw you to the Republican party in places in the deep south. Is woke coming back? This is the end of an era. You sort of mark it on your calendar. Trumpism gone.

53:36 The coalition's totally collapsed. I mean, we lost whites. I got I got to say Jesse Waters exclaiming in horror we lost whites. I got I got Adderall in my veins, Trump derangement syndrome in my heart. I'm like I'm amped. We lost whites. Um so what does come after the Trump era? JD Vance thinks the answer is JD Vance. Uh he so he posts this Yeah. No, I know he sucks. Uh so he posts this 600word Twitter essay as one does. Um and where he blames the midterm loss on the Iran war, calls for a new focus, a new focus on cost of living issues and changing our relationship with Israel. Um, and this is part of his apparent plan to quote, "Forge a new alliance with disaffected Trump voters uh, ahead of 2028." This is according to Fox. This is his grand strategy. Uh, Ted Cruz, who also might run, said, "We should have attacked Iran even harder." Um, Ron DeSantis hit Republicans for stonewalling on the Epstein files and

54:52 running too many anti-trans ads. Um um and then there are there are now two reports from the Independent and Bloomberg that Marco Rubio is considering leaving the administration maybe for a possible presidential bid. He did knock down those rumors, but they said that sources close to Rubio said that he's been thinking about stepping down. So that's a lot. Uh Tommy, let's start with the micro rumors. Uh because we deserve to have fun. Uh what do you think about that? And is leaving soon like a good move or a bad move? If you're Marco and you want to be president,

55:27 so if you're a little Marco, um, which is his legal name now, the the argument for quitting is the Iran War is a historic disaster. People are really pissed at Trump. His approval rating is in the tank and dropping. Um, so maybe you quit early, you take a couple months off, you like charge your battery to start running in what, two, three months max. Or, you know, you just like quit. You go whole hog. You start going to early states, you start campaigning, you start raising money, you try to get ahead of JD Vance, and you decide like I need to get as much running room as I possibly can. Now, I think the hole in that argument is that Donald Trump wants to play kingmaker in the primary and probably will. And so, you know, you probably just want to stay as close to him as humanly possible. There's also just like the practical fact that Trump will continue, I think, to blot out the sun in terms of just like political

56:22 coverage and Tik Toks and just like, you know, the ability to get noticed. And right now, Marco is at the heart of the action. He's a part of everything. And I I saw he's doing like a speech at the Federalist Society next week, right? Like that will get a lot of coverage given his current position and because of the assumption that he is going to run for president. So you like I guess my if I were him, I'd stick around. I'd stay in the White House. I'd do what he's already doing, which is pretending he doesn't work on Iran policy. You know what I mean? Maybe you pursue one of your passion projects like toppling the Cuban government or whatever. You know, the things you really care about like Trump does with decorating. Um, and you kind of b your time and then you just like knife JD. And also going from like being the national security adviser, the secretary of state and the guy who's in the mix all the

57:10 time on Air Force One in Mara Lago doing all the things to like leaving your event at a Dunkin Donuts in, you know, like Ipsswitch or Peter Burrow or something to go to your next event. Yeah, Ipsswitch. Is that what I got? Um, you know, it will feel a little bit small. So I I think he's going to stick around for a minute. Don't Don't you think it's weird and and like probably hard for him to do to act like he's the secretary of state for Venezuela and like nothing else?

57:39 Like he's the he's the national security adviser. He's not just the secretary of state. He's the national security adviser. All these people and and this goes to Vance too, right? Like they're all trying to pretend like Iran war. How did that happen? I don't who who's responsible for the Iran war? It's not JD Vance. It's not Marco Rubio. Like think about it for a It's like, okay, what is our biggest political problem? The the worst conflict going on in the world, the thing upending the global economy, Iran. Who should we throw at that problem? Uh Steve Witoff uh had a building in Harlem in the 80s and used to go to 54 with Trump. Have him do it.

58:15 Yeah. They're just like pretending that they have no like they just want any piece of this. Yeah. Every's like, well, Marco's not out front on this. It's like, okay, does he work there? Like he's he's got all the jobs. I think he genuinely just wants to topple the the Cuban government and then he'll leave.

58:30 That is his passion project. Um, love it. As for Vance, uh, Trump speculated openly on Wednesday that maybe he won't run and there's reporting that Trump doesn't plan to endorse him at least anytime soon. Um, what is your overall assessment of this week's unofficial Vance 2028 roll out?

58:47 Uh, so first of all, I do think it's like an extraordinary document. like the sitting vice president a few days after an election. He doesn't say it out loud. He writes it down on a social media platform. Basically saying, "I've crunched the numbers. We've got to do opposite, folks. It's opposite time." And I just want to and I have a message to anyone out there who thinks the answer is opposite on the things the bass doesn't like. No. That's bad opposite. We've got to only do the things that the base likes and stop doing the things the base doesn't like. And that means doing opposite on everything except immigration.

59:37 Uh, and one day we will figure out who's responsible for all this. But that's not my job. That was Rubio's job. Rubio did this. Uh, I actually think you can't run for president while being Secretary of State. It's very hard. It's why he probably either he can't really go campaigning cuz his job requires like that's a real job. You got to kind of be in that job

59:59 normally. Yes. Absolutely. He was like three jobs. He's an archavist. He's a national security advisor. He's got a lot of jobs.

1:00:06 My sorority of Venezuela Venezuela. But like what Dantis is doing, by the way, he keeps this trans. It's the trans there. We're too anti-trans. Trump's going to call him Ronda Dantis before the week is out. Just just getting ahead of that one. But they're all still doing this dance, which is that like Trump can't fail, he can only be failed, right? That like it's it was Pete Pete Heg's fault. But we all know the truth. Like Donald Trump is responsible. He's the one that that that got bamboozled by Netanyahu. He's the one that wanted to do the tariffs.

1:00:38 We see all these stories about how he was making them do these charts with for for for tariffs where they didn't have time for anything else. He's the one that's coming up with these $5,000 schemes. Donald Trump is responsible. So, you can play games on social media and you can do these backgrounders with the press, but eventually you have to stand in front of people and talk to them. And it's just not possible to stay in Trump's good graces while running against Donald Trump. There's no way to do it.

1:01:03 You guys think any of these other Yahoos who do not work in the Trump administration, Cruz, Dantis, like have a real chance if they decide to run again?

1:01:13 Hands for one second. Oh, yeah. Of course. JD Vance's strategy for running for president is so stupid, right? JD Vance has run for office once in his life. He underperformed every single other Republican on the ballot in Ohio at the time and he thinks he's going to pull off some trick where he serves as Trump's vice president but also separates himself. It's like watching a elephant walk on a tightroppe. Like, what are we doing? It's just like there is only one way in which JD Vance can become the Republican nominee. It is Donald Trump picks him.

1:01:50 That is the only way. And the only way he can become president is Donald Trump picks him and he gets lucky and Democrats are nominate the wrong person.

1:01:55 Well, there's a second way. I I Yeah. Yeah. I thought that's where he was going. That's a stop.

1:02:03 Stop it. You're referring to the 25th amendment, I assume. Correct. I am referring to the 25th amendment.

1:02:11 Yes. Thank you. But it's just he it it's idiotic. He has no idea what he's doing. It's so stupid. Okay, I'm done.

1:02:20 You should keep posting through it. Um, rest in peace. Any any outsiders? Man, Tucker Carlson. Tucker Carlson says it's the end of Trump and the end of Fox News and the beginning of Trump of Tucker Carlson as a podcast or presidential candidate. I mean, I think that is distinctly on the horizon. Chris Christie sees everybody else. I'm telling you, man. This is the he he was feasting on the returns on Tuesday like a king and a like eating a lamb chop. I don't even know what that what that means. And then there's, you know, always the Don Jr. Omar Kremlev ticket.

1:02:57 DON'T BOO ME. WHAT'S HAPPENING in Republican politics? I think the question is, can someone else run and win? I think the answer is yes.

1:03:06 From besides Marco. JD. Yeah. Espe especially if both Marco and JD run and then someone can absolutely run

1:03:14 because they're like the same lane. I mean the the interesting sort of the most interesting thing about JD Vance's statement to me besides seeming to break from Trump on a Ronald that the White House is spinning that they did not is he was like uh Iran war was bad also cost of living by the way Israel sucks was like point4 in his thing. He's like these are the the top four things that came up in polling were these four issues. There's absolutely no way that the number four issue from the smartest data scientists he knew was Israel. Like we've all seen the same data. It was like 15 on a list. Obviously, it's wrapped up in the Iran war and inflation and cost of living. But this is JD Vance trying to play to the Tucker Carlson audience, to the Nick Fuentes audience, the kind of groper far right. And those people hate him. They hate him. And that is not ever going to change. They hate him because of his identity. They hate

1:04:04 him because of his ties to Peter Teal and the fact that Peter Teal basically created him in a little VC lab and then birthed him onto all of us. Like, it's not happening.

1:04:14 He could he could have kept him in there for a little bit longer. Came out too early.

1:04:18 Take him. He came out a little undercooked. Yeah. A little little soft. Little little raw in the middle. But and part of the reason they hate him is they have his number, which is that he's a cipher, right? He's a he'll he'll go where the uh where the the wind takes him. I will say though, you know, Franco led Spain for a very long time and it was fascist for a very long time and he died and then everyone was like, "Boy, that was crazy." All right. Well, uh, speaking of speaking of 2028, maybe when we come back, Illinois Governor JB Pritsker. How's that?

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1:06:48 We're very excited to have them at the event. They're going to be there. You can stop by their on-site activation. You can check out their frames and rumor has it they will have special postcards that you can mail from Crooked Con. So, be sure to check them out. Also, if you're just looking for a gift for someone you love, Aura frames make an incredible gift. Uh, you know, if you get someone just like a plain ass old photo in a frame, that's it. Never changes. But an Aura frame, you can update it whenever you want with new photos. It's a gift that keeps on giving. I was just at my parents house the other weekend and saw their aura frame and I was like looking at it and I'm like, "Oh, I have not updated this in a while." So then I just went home, looked on the I went on the app and I dumped in a bunch of more pictures of the kids.

1:07:25 Bada boom. Get your friends, your family a frame that's got aura, as the kids say. Named named number one by wire cutter. You can save now by visiting aura frames.com. For a limited time, listeners can get $20 off select frames plus free shipping with the code crooked con. That's auraframes.com. Promo code crookedcon. Support the show by mentioning us at checkout. Terms and conditions apply. Our guest tonight was just reelected for a third time, the governor of the great state of Illinois, JB Pritzker. Great to see you. Good to see you.

1:08:03 I don't know. We'll sit here. This is fun. Thanks for having me on after Abdul.

1:08:18 Listen, they love you. I can see it in their eyes. They're living out. Um, okay. Big picture, what's kind of your elevator pitch for people who ask you, why did Democrats do so well on Tuesday?

1:08:30 Well, interestingly enough, if you go back to the beginning of the season, I think everybody was saying that there was no common message. I kept hearing across the country, what do Democrats stand for? This is from Democrats. What do Democrats stand for? You know, we we just lost a terrible election in 24. We don't have any message. How are we going to possibly move forward? What does Democratic party stand for? And of course, we set our message as Democrats in presidential years. That's typically what happens. Whoever it is that runs and wins is really the messenger. And um and that's who we are. And of course, after we lose, nothing. So coming into the election, that was kind of where we were. But as you know, like 2018 when I got elected governor, uh I think there was a common view that Donald Trump is terrible for the country and that was something that we could all gather around. Um and uh and so that was kind

1:09:28 of the beginning of 2026 or at least 2025 going into 2026. I think what we all uh discovered separately, but I think listening to one another is there was a common message that we'd all developed and that the Republicans had no reply for, which is your gas prices have gone up by a buck 50, your diesel prices have gone up by two bucks. Uh grocery prices are through the roof. We all understand what we can do, which is end the war, which is to make sure that we're ending the trade wars. and we've gone into a trade war with Canada for goodness sakes. These are our friends.

1:10:04 So these are all things I think commonly everybody talked about across the country and even governors who are like I mean we're burdened by all of those problems and others coming from the Trump administration taking away SNAP and Medicaid and so on. So this was kind of a a message that got developed in common despite the fact that we were all in separate states, you know, and dealing with the separate populations of our states and different views.

1:10:27 Yeah. Um, so you've talked about being on team fight. So I want to unpack what that means. Um, you put out this 200point national agenda. Uh, you've talked about, you know, the need for the people who were just elected to Congress to fight Trump from Congress. What does that look like over the next two years when we know that Donald Trump is going to be able to veto things? Like what are the fights that are worth taking? I at what point is there a risk that we you know screw up people's expectations if they think that Democrats can deliver them a big policy agenda with Donald Trump still in office oval office?

1:11:03 Well, let's start with the idea that we should not create one bill that has every bit of the agenda in it. And instead what the Congress should do, the Democrats in Congress is put one by one start with raising the minimum wage. put that on Donald Trump's desk. Make him veto it if he's going to veto it. Um, we ought to put on his desk universal paid leave for every worker in the United States and one by one without going through the entire agenda and you can start those are easy. I think those are easy things for us to gather around and get past.

1:11:40 And once again, Donald Trump will choose is he going to stand against every working person in the United States by vetoing these things or not? And so I think that that's the way to go about this. Um I do think that there are fights worth fighting that uh and then there are some that are worth negotiating about. I can tell you as a governor of a state I've got 150,000 people that are losing their SNAP benefits. I've got half a million people that will as a result of the Medicaid cuts lose their health insurance. And uh this is not something we can sustain. We can't replace that at the state level. I need the Congress to go deal with that.

1:12:19 Trump is not going to reverse his big ugly bill unless we're willing to stand up and fight against some of the things that he might like to have done. So, and then by the way, just in December, there's going to be a CR related to the, you know, to to appropriations. And

1:12:37 I think I mean I have never been for backing down in those fights. And I think this is a moment when he's got to understand that we are in control of the Congress now. And so he needs to back down on SNAP and Medicaid at least.

1:12:50 Yeah, we could do him a huge political favor and end the war, too. That'd be another way to do it. Um there's a lot of chatter right now about Democrats using our wins in states to circumvent the electoral college by enacting what's called the National Popular Voter uh vote interstate compact. They know uh it's basically an agreement among states to give all the electoral votes to whoever wins the national popular vote, no matter who wins the individual states. It only kicks in though once there are enough states to uh in the compact to reach 270 electoral votes. Illinois is already a member of the compact. Do you want to see other states really fight for this idea and push it forward? And and do you worry at all about the constitutionality one, but also a backlash of being a person who who lives in a state when you feel like this kind of gets forced upon you?

1:13:40 I'm not sure how to answer that except that I mean we you you've got to start solving the problems that we face particularly electoral problems because this is this is a challenge. I mean, for those of us who are long enough in the world to have seen the the uh Gore Bush fight, um I mean, Al Gore won that election.

1:14:05 And we I mean, I should also add that we should be going after uh a nationwide redistricting. We should have independent commissions in every state, but not do it individually by state. And so these are, you know, not easy problems to solve. But actually, that last one is one that should be relatively easy if we elect a Democratic president.

1:14:29 Let me follow up on that. Oh, I'm sorry. When we elect president, um, another sort of team fight question is about redistricting, right? Donald Trump, his effort to gerrymander his way to a permanent congressional majority did not work. No. Um it didn't it didn't totally backfire, but they didn't win all the seats they thought they would win. Now, there was um a map floating around today of the Republican proposal for how they would have drawn up the map in Indiana. Had that passed, we would have won either 9 to0 or 8:1 in Indiana.

1:15:08 So they dodged a serious bullet there. When you see like that, does it make you think rethink redistricting at all? Is it a good idea? Do you still support it? Uh well, we had the option. There was a lot of discussion in Illinois about having an independent commission and drawing the districts, you know, in a different way. Um the reality is that you can't unilaterally disarm. And so there was no chance. And and by the way, when I mean despite the fact that we now could look at that map and say we would have done much better uh in Indiana at the time, you know, there was a push for for Illinois to redistrict and we have you know we have 14 Democrats and three Republicans out of our map and uh Indiana of course was looking at redistricting and basically what I said was if they're going to redistrict I'm going to redistrict and you know they can maybe find two seats and again we didn't know the outcome was

1:15:56 going to be as it was but but at the time anyway my view was like, if they're going to redistrict and take away two seats from Democrats, I can redistrict and just take three. And so that was my threat to Indiana. And I'm not suggesting that I was the reason that Indiana didn't actually redistrict. But it was at least a factor. They had to be in their Republican cloak rooms saying like, why are we doing this? You if Illinois is going to just turn around, and we could. We have super majorities. I'm a Democratic governor. We could have done that. And I would have done it.

1:16:30 Real bummer they didn't though over real bummer they didn't do it over there in Indiana but

1:16:35 90 I I do you you you talk about uh team fight I just want to remind and redistricting I want to remind you that the uh Texas House Democrats you remember before all the redistricting happened everywhere else it was the Texas House Democrats who broke quorum in August of 2025 and and they they came to Illinois and we we protected them in Illinois because I mean they were literally planning to send the FBI, the Texas Rangers and so on. But I I mention this because uh just FYI, uh James Tarico and Gina Inahosa were in that delegation coming to Illinois.

1:17:20 So I I got to know them when they were with us, right? And but what we didn't know was they were doing more than just trying to stop the Texas redistricting. They were actually alerting the rest of the country as a result of the attention that they got that this was going to happen all over the country. And so they really are deserving of a hell of a lot of credit for the fact that people stood up and fought back. Um, speaking of Texas, Jamie Nosa is now the governor of Texas. Uh, that she's the governor elect when the National Democratic Party was not giving her campaign a lot of money or resources. Um, you stepped up and I talked to a bunch of folks on her team who were very frustrated uh at the lack of support they got from the DGA. Uh, but you wrote a million-dollar check and one of them said to me, "Ritker really threw down for us. I will love him forever." So, first of all, shout out to Governor Pritsker for

1:18:26 putting some chips in the table. I know you're a poker guy. Um, my question is though, you know, talk about your political strategy, but also when you kind of look at the near misses, the states we almost won, does it make you angry that the DNC fundraising was so anemic that there weren't additional resources to push into the table late?

1:18:49 I I'm not going to give you the answer that you want to hear. Um, I I look uh we got outspent everywhere and we do on a regular basis. It's just true. I mean, when you've got Elon Musk spending $240 million like in Texas, we're we're going to get outspent. He lost, but and I felt I felt like, you know, he spent $240 million, I spent a million dollars. I figured like like pretty good return on investment, right?

1:19:18 Yeah. Yeah. But but not taking credit because Gina Inahosa was a great candidate. She didn't get a lot of attention because James Terico is such a unique talent and he got a lot of attention but she really was a great candidate and she was doing a hell of a job getting outspent like 20 to1 and so uh when I think about the the the the challenge I really think look we Democrats don't we've never been able to raise as much money and they've got the trillionaires I mean I realize I'm wealthy and I'm doing my part but I'm just saying they've got people who can like the turnipss that fall off the truck are like hundred million dollar checks for them.

1:19:54 And so, uh, we're never going to be able to catch up in that regard until we have campaign finance reform and and Citizens United,

1:20:03 and that would be fair. But, but I I don't want to place blame because it's really not it's not fair. I I do think that there were places like Florida where, you know, we could have had that governor's race possibly if more money had been put into Florida. Um but I I got called about it and like with four days left in the election you know saying can you you know fix it and you know my view was I I can't be there I can't do all of them. I did you know I was like I I put a million7 to Kansas you know I put I mean I was involved in Kansas Mississippi and South Carolina and everybody thought I was crazy I should have played the lottery.

1:20:49 Yeah, you should have been on, Kelshi. Um, final question for you. Uh, the Chicago Bears are six and two.

1:20:57 You just beat the brakes off of the Super Bowl winning Seattle Seahawks. Yep. You have a quarterback who looks like he could be a generational talent. Will you promise right here and right now that you will not allow the Chicago Bears to move to Indiana? I will promise you this that we we are working our tails off to make sure that the Chicago Bears have the option of staying in the state of Illinois and they have to make a good decision because the reality is that they shouldn't be on a slag heap in Hammond, Indiana. They should be either in the city of Chicago or in Arlington Heights or somewhere in the state of Illinois.

1:21:35 We are the ones who put the equity into that team. Look, we're going to give them what we do for other businesses. We're going to build the infrastructure. We're going to build the utilities, you know, the underground utilities, all the things that they need. It's going to cost us a lot of money to do that. We do that for other businesses. You know, we're in charge of infrastructure. Uh but I will say, you know, they haven't always made great decisions, the Chicago Bears about

1:21:59 and and uh although Caleb Caleb Williams was a great decision. Um so I I do think they're going to stay in the state of Illinois, but but we need to pass a bill. It's actually later this month um and early in December that we'll get that done. The Gary Bears, what are we talking about here? The Chicago Bears. Uh Governor JB Pritzker, everybody. Now I think the governor's agree to play a game with us. Hopefully hopefully you cool.

1:22:29 Here we come. We um we promise we won't fight. Is it a drinking game? Uh, you know, I will tell you something.

1:22:43 We get you a beer. I wanted to force all of us to take a Malort shot. Uh, but let me just tell you something. The enthusiasm was not there.

1:22:52 Oh, yeah. I would drink almost anything but that. So, now it's time for a game we call two takes in a fake.

1:23:00 Uh, we have two teams. It'll be John and Tommy versus the governor, Alex and Dan. Uh, I will read you three political tanks about the midterm elections. Two of them are real, one of them is fake. I will flag that this game is particularly difficult this time around because uh they are crashing out. All right, first up, let's start with the governor's team. Uh, which of these three takes is fake? A, I'm not trying to crash out, but we nominated Hitler with Down syndrome, and guess what? He lost. He lost. and now we lose a Supreme Court justice. It is a disaster.

1:23:43 Or B, it's funny how Democrats spent the last few months crying about how hard we made it for black people to vote. If anything, we made it too easy. Or C, Texas, there is a lesson here. Don't be so welcoming. The first one is real. Yes,

1:24:04 the first one's definitely. I agree. The Hitler one is real. Yeah. Yeah. That was a a GOP organizer an election night party at Butterworth's

1:24:15 I think I think C is fake. Yeah. Okay. All right. C was real. That was Lawrence Jones Fox and Friends co-host.

1:24:23 Sure was. Was a tweet. Next up for John and Tommy. This is going to be They're going to know all the takes. You guys are up against

1:24:32 two of the real real sickos. Hey. Well, that was a disaster. And not like a metaphorical disaster, but a real disaster. More like the Lucatania sinking than rain at a wedding reception. This is the end of the Trump era. It may not be what we deserve, but it's definitely what the Republican party deserves. B. It's It physically hurts me to see the state of Texas colored blue on a map. It actually makes me feel sick. It's like Texas is my strong, handsome son, and he just came home from school and said, "Hey, mom. Hey, Dad. I'm actually a woman now.

1:25:06 Or C. Trump is still your president. Jesus is still Lord. Knowledge is power. Maybe now our people will wake up. That one's right. I think I feel like the B one about the Texas.

1:25:19 Yeah. I feel like Lucatania is something Love It would write. I thought that too. But then B also seems like something he would write.

1:25:25 Do you want to go with Lucatania? I don't know. Whatever. Dealer's choice. B. B is fake. You got it.

1:25:33 B is fake. A was Tucker Carlson. Uh, and we both said you guys are a lot of like

1:25:40 And C. Yeah. And C was Nicki. Yeah, we are. you. And C was Nicki Minaj. Nicki Minaj. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Next up. Uh, a I hate to say it, but America is over. The communist and jihadists are going to open our borders and replace our votes with votes from illegal aliens. We now have reps who openly speak about their hatred of America. We won't be able to undo the damage they caused to our country. America 250 was a funeral. B. I agree with President Trump. Conservative media, especially Fox News, bears a hell of a lot of responsibility for what went down. Or C. Okay, screw it. I'll say it. This election is yet again a reminder of why we need to seriously revisit the 19th amendment.

1:26:34 They could all be real. Honestly, they all sound real. Wow. You say you think BRC

1:26:43 Well, I'm not. You're going to make me pick this. You're the governor. I got it wrong.

1:26:48 You're the one you got to call balls and strikes in your job. What do you think?

1:26:54 I think B. Yeah. I want to phone a friend. What does the audience think? B. Do you think it's C?

1:27:02 B. B. B. B. C was fake. B was a Newsmax host was Greg Kelly. Wow. Yeah. It's crazy out there. It's crazy out there. I'm sorry, but to figure out the fake ones, I had to challenge like I had to channel the We had to channel the darkest part of the human soul just to find something to to that was extreme enough. Next up for John and Tommy. A. I'd rather have Iran have a nuke than my country be run by communists. B. Now I want to read the Quran. I want to try to understand what it is that Michigan and New York and Minnesota find so godamn compelling.

1:27:42 Or C. I think he's a Democrat. I've tried to salvage Trump. I've not been sure. I've invested so much. Maybe I was blind to it. He is the ultimate Democrat sleeper cell and he works for them. And he was a Democrat before. He's not that rword.

1:27:59 I think B is fake. Yeah. A I heard. C just sounds real. Yeah. Uh you got it. You guys are crushing.

1:28:06 You guys are crushing. A was Matt Walsh. C was Alex Jones. Oh, and I have and uh I have to tell you, Governor, you guys got crushed. All right. You got both questions wrong. Tommy and John got both questions right. Uh, they've won the game

1:28:24 and un We should have put some money on it. I got a billionaire on the stage. We I should have said yes to the Malort cuz they would have taken the shot. That's the thing. If you guys had done the Mealort shots, we would have done a lot better.

1:28:35 Yeah, you're right. Yeah, totally. And that's our game. That's That's OUR SHOW FOR TONIGHT. Thank you to Governor Pritsker. Thank you Abdul Al. And thank you all. See you. Pods of America is a crooked media production. Our show is produced by Austin Fischer, Saul Rubin, McKenna Roberts, Michael Goldsmith with Reed Cherlin, Elijah Conn, and Adrien Hill. Our team includes Matt Dgro, Ben Hethco, Jordan Caner, Charlotte Landis, Kenny Moffet, Adam Liippard, Joseph Dutra, Desmond Taylor, Dan Farrell, David Tol, Mia Kelman, Ryan Young, and Naomi Single. Our staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Republicans and Trump In Shambles After Democratic Midterm WIPEOUT (ft Abdul El-Sayed + JB Pritzker)"?

John Fabra (Host), Alex Wagner (Host), John Love (Host), Tommy Vizour (Guest).

What is "Republicans and Trump In Shambles After Democratic Midterm WIPEOUT (ft Abdul El-Sayed + JB Pritzker)" about?

A post-election overview critiques the Republican Party’s performance in the midterms, arguing Democrats gained a decisive advantage in the House and Senate, while noting internal optimism, party strategy, and key electoral outcomes across states. It references notable figures and speculation about seat changes and upcoming political moves.

What is mentioned in this Pod Save America episode?

132 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Donald Trump, Pod Save America, 2026 Midterm Elections, Democratic Party, Republican Party, JB Pritzker. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Republicans and Trump In Shambles After Democratic Midterm WIPEOUT (ft Abdul El-Sayed + JB Pritzker)"?

The episode runs 1 h 29 min; the transcript is about 15,707 words in 216 timestamped sections.

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