‘We Should Be Cleareyed About What’s Happening Here’ | The Ezra Klein Show

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 2:55: Chicago, American politics, Blackhawk helicopters, blue states

Notable quotes from "‘We Should Be Cleareyed About What’s Happening Here’ | The Ezra Klein Show"

• Ostensibly there to defend the government's paramilitary force that now lands Blackhawk helicopters on Chicago apartment buildings in the middle of the night and drags people…

  about Chicago · at 0:10

• Voter that the average American isn't as concerned about this as they are about their own premiums? No, of course not. Because if it's not happening in your city and if it's…

  about premiums · at 1:01

• Are there, paramilitary ICE agents running around the streets around the election? And do we have faith that if the results are close and that there was some problem at.

  about paramilitary ICE agents · at 2:03

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• US troops — Person · 1 mention · first at 0:00
  We have US troops from red states deployed on the streets of blue states over the objection of people's elected representatives. Those troops are ostensibly there to defend the.
• DJ Priest — Person · 1 mention · first at 0:32
  Children half naked screaming and crying who have committed no crimes. They just there was a priest who was praying outside an ICE facility and it was on video and they just…
• paramilitary ICE agents — Person · 1 mention · first at 2:03

Companies & orgs

• Federal Government — Company · 1 mention · first at 0:53
  Administration has decided to make American politics about this. And they have used the federal government to make sure that American politics is about this. Am I surprised…
• ICE — Company · 1 mention

Products & tech

• Blackhawk helicopters — Product · 1 mention · first at 0:18
  Ostensibly there to defend the government's paramilitary force that now lands Blackhawk helicopters on Chicago apartment buildings in the middle of the night and drags people…

Concepts & topics

• American politics — Concept · 1 mention · first at 0:43
  With a pepper ball. He was doing nothing. He was a priest. He was praying. Like we might not want American politics to be about this, but American politics is about this. The…
• median voter — Concept · 1 mention · first at 0:58
  Have used the federal government to make sure that American politics is about this. Am I surprised that the median voter that the average American isn't as concerned about this…
• premiums — Concept · 1 mention · first at 1:08
• ISIS tactics — Concept · 1 mention · first at 1:47
  He wanted. Now Chicago seems like the one city where he is getting more of the reaction that he wanted because ISIS tactics have been so militarized and so aggressive. And so…
• the economy — Concept · 1 mention · first at 2:39
  Going to take to stop it. It is possible people being dissatisfied with the way that Trump is running the economy, the tariffs, cost of living, everything else is enough to just win us the midterms comfortably.
• Cost of living — Concept · 1 mention · first at 2:41
  People being dissatisfied with the way that Trump is running the economy, the tariffs, cost of living, everything else is enough to just win us the midterms comfortably.
• 2026 midterms — Concept · 1 mention

Places & events

• Chicago — Place · 2 mentions · first at 0:18
• red states — Place · 1 mention · first at 0:00
  We have US troops from red states deployed on the streets of blue states over the objection of people's elected representatives. Those troops are ostensibly there to defend the.
• blue states — Place · 1 mention · first at 0:02
  We have US troops from red states deployed on the streets of blue states over the objection of people's elected representatives. Those troops are ostensibly there to defend the government's paramilitary force that now.
• Portland — Place · 1 mention · first at 1:31
  Mean that if we let this slide and we just ignore it that Trump is going to stop at deployments in Portland and Chicago. Remember people thought maybe he would stop at…
• Los Angeles — Place · 1 mention · first at 1:35
  Stop at deployments in Portland and Chicago. Remember people thought maybe he would stop at deployments in Los Angeles and DC. And then he realized, I guess, that he didn't get…
• DC — Place · 1 mention

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 We have US troops from red states deployed on the streets of blue states over the objection of people's elected representatives. Those troops are ostensibly there to defend the government's paramilitary force that now lands Blackhawk helicopters on Chicago apartment buildings in the middle of the night and drags people out uh who are citizens and legal residents and children half naked screaming and crying um who have committed no crimes. They just there was a priest who was praying outside an ICE facility and it was on video and they just shot him in the head with a pepper ball. He was doing nothing. He was a priest. He was praying. Like we might not want American politics to be about this, but American politics is about this. The Trump administration has decided to make American politics about this. And they have used the federal government to make sure that American politics is about

0:58 this. Am I surprised that the median voter uh that the average American isn't as concerned about this as they are about their own premiums? No, of course not. Because if it's not happening in your city and if it's not happening in your apartment building and you're not paying as close attention to the news as political junkies like us, you are of course going to care more about your premiums. But that doesn't mean that it's not important. And that doesn't mean that if we let this slide and we just ignore it that Trump is going to stop at deployments in Portland and Chicago. Remember people thought maybe he would stop at deployments in Los Angeles and DC. And then he realized, I guess, that he didn't get the reaction he wanted. Now Chicago seems like the one city where he is getting more of the reaction that he wanted because ISIS tactics have been so militarized and so aggressive. And so the question is we

1:55 get to 2026 in the midterms and are there troops stationed uh by the polls? Are there, you know, paramilitary ICE agents running around the streets around the election? And do we have faith that if the results are close and that there was some kind of, you know, problem at the polls and there was intimidation or like that everything's going to be okay? I I don't know. I I I hate being like the doomer person and I don't like getting people alarmed unnecessarily and I don't think we should be alarmed but I think we should be cleareyed about what's happening here and what it's going to take to stop it. It is possible people being dissatisfied with the way that Trump is running the economy, the tariffs, cost of living, everything else is enough to just win us the midterms comfortably.

2:47 Um, but that is a that is a bet that we're taking.

Questions about this episode

What is discussed in "‘We Should Be Cleareyed About What’s Happening Here’ | The Ezra Klein Show"?

In order: 0:00 Chicago, American politics, Blackhawk helicopters, blue states.

What is mentioned in this The Ezra Klein Show episode?

19 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Chicago, red states, US troops, blue states, Blackhawk helicopters, DJ Priest. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "‘We Should Be Cleareyed About What’s Happening Here’ | The Ezra Klein Show"?

The episode runs 3 min; the transcript is about 481 words in 4 timestamped sections.

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