New Heat on Trump AG Pick

Watch Disclosure Day at Home Now with exclusive bonus features. If you found out we weren't alone, if someone showed you, proved it to you? Would that frighten you? Well, now the truth belongs to 7 billion people in an original event film directed by Steven Spielberg from a screenplay by David Kep starring Emily Blunt, Josh O'Connor, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson, and Coleman Domingo. Find Disclosure Day on major digital platforms now with no subscription required, also in theaters. The days are longer, the calendar is filling up, and I want to feel as good as this beautiful summer weather. That's why I've been loving Grooons. It's one daily pack of gummies that covers my greens, vitamins, minerals, and even has 6 grams of prebiotic fiber. So I don't need to juggle a complicated wellness routine on top of everything else. They taste amazing. They're easy to toss my bag on the go, plus they're vegan, gluten-free, and HSA-FSA eligible for reimbursement. Save up to 52% off with code podcast at grooms.co. That's code podcast at GRUNS. Welcome to the beat. I'm Ari Melbert. We are tracking a lot of stories tonight. There's been a lot this week, and we have some special guests. Moments away. We're joined by Ty Cobb, a former White House lawyer under Donald Trump, turned critic and advocate for the rule of law. We're looking forward to having Ty here tonight. We all know what's going on as we end the week. If you follow news and politics, the system has been clearly flashing red as we have a president lying to the country about an election. He lost. On the one hand, kind of an old, tired storyline we've all lived through, and yet with the midterms coming, not one people can just ignore completely. Trump is leaning on his Justice Department to continue these revenge cases, to try to bury all kinds of critics, independent reporters, and others under harassing investigations, subpoenas like we saw, new to the New York Times, and outright efforts to jail critics. Then there's the Epstein scandal today, acting attorney general Todd Blanche, who of course is under actual pressure because he still needs Senate votes to turn into the permanent attorney general. He is, of course, up for that vote any time. He just had the hearing this week. Well, he's facing heat from Epstein survivors. Remember, up until now, this is an administration that has obviously mishandled the Epstein case in all sorts of ways, even Trump allies, MAGA podcasters, a lot of different people have said that and observed that. But it wasn't until Todd Blanche actually needed to get the votes for this job he wants that he's now decided to meet with some of those survivors. That's after one Republican senator said they would at least delay, if not spike the confirmation, if he didn't do it. Now, The people in this meeting are characterizing Todd Blanche in this basically session that we know he was dragged to as acting dismissively. They thought the meeting overall was in a sense demoralizing. One accuser speaking on the record, Annie Farmer, saying, quote, after meeting with Todd Blanche, I feel even more confident in urging senators to vote against his confirmation. And again, we are just quoting what some of these people have said on the record. She added that she found him abrasive, condescending.

and intentionally non-committal to survivors. Another survivor telling MS now this. It was demoralizing, to say the very least. He... completely talked around questions. He didn't give transparent answers. He didn't give us any promises as far as following up on investigative leads. He had no real answers for the Ghislaine Maxwell transfer and no real explanation for the improper redactions. Now, think about that. If there was anyone that you might want to use this meeting to address, it would be these survivors who everyone agrees. The facts show have been harmed by some of those redaction mistakes. And of course, the softball sort of special treatment for Maxwell, who's an actual co-conspirate of Epstein, the only person currently in a federal prison related to the entire Epstein case and sex trafficking scandal. Of course, she got better treatment under... Todd Blanche. So if he had a good reason or good explanation or something to offer them, this would have been the time. According to these survivors, he failed to do that. All of this following the confirmation hearings where Todd Blanche, who comes out of a background of being Trump's personal, former criminal lawyer, had to kind of clean up his history, including the obvious conflict of interest that he's too close to the president to be an independent leader of the DOJ if he still thinks of himself. as the lawyer, the personal representative of the president. And so one of the things that his job was, at least if he was trying to make that case, make it easier for him to get confirmed, was to try to put some distance, some air, as they say, some daylight between his recent job being Donald Trump's criminal defense lawyer, when Trump was the first former president to ever need a lawyer to keep him out of prison, by the way, and what his job is now. And even by the lower standards of this era, When he made a kind of a slip, you can decide for yourself if you think it was one of these Freudian slips that was telling or just kind of a flub because he was testifying for a while. But what he said certainly added to the questions and heat on him for just being the president's lawyer, fixer, or hatchet man. Senators also putting Todd Blanche on defense over the now frozen plan to try to give your taxpayer money to MAGA allied convicts, the claimed IRS immunity for Trump and possibly his family, which also may not be legal. and other important issues. Take a look. Are you in President Trump, France? I'm his lawyer, was his lawyer. Is the Department of Justice that you are running independent from the White House? The Department of Justice, like every single department in the executive, is part of the executive. You have said that the weaponization fund is a moot issue. Is that your position? Yes, it is a moot issue. I suppose if President Trump's counsel sought to enforce it, they potentially could. Including the weaponization fund. Well, they could try to enforce the...

the contract, do you personally believe that someone who's forcibly entered U.S. Capitol assaulted law enforcement should be rewarded with taxpayer money? Yes or no? I can't answer it yes or no. Can't answer a yes or no. A lot of senators, a lot of experts, certainly people who are supportive of police would say, yeah, answer it no. D. Todd Blanche was also asked about these new subpoenas fresh this week, sent to New York Times journalists. Trump has also threatened now to go back after the broadcast licenses for ABC and NBC. This is over the network's decision, which of course in a free society like ours is their independent press decision over whether or not to give him airtime. And this wasn't exactly an election night speech or a war address. This was a political presentation he wanted to make. He's mad that they didn't deem it newsworthy enough to bump other programming. So he is retaliating with these threats. Todd Blanche's nomination does hang in the balance. Republican John Cornyn reportedly on the fence. A defection could derail the nomination out of the committee, which is now down to a one-vote margin. So when you think about what it takes to be a prosecutor at DOJ, how this attorney general nominee is viewed inside that department, as well as the interplay with the Trump White House, with the rule of law under threat, well, we think one of the best experts in the country is the one we actually have on deck for you right here. Joining me is Ty Cobb. I'm a White House attorney during Trump's first administration. It's become a prominent Trump critic and advocate for the rule of law. Welcome back, Ty. I enjoy our chance sometimes at the end of the week with a little more time to go into these things. I haven't heard from you yet on what we saw in that nomination hearing and how you view now with this new testimony, Todd Blanche's prospects and qualifications to be AG for good. I think it's clear, you know, Todd Blanche has said, testified yesterday. He is Trump's lawyer, tried to correct himself, but that's his mentality. You know, keep in mind that he just gave a press conference just a couple of weeks ago where what he said to the president was, I love you, sir. You know, his fealty is totally devoted to the president and not. sadly to his oath of office, which requires him to pledge to preserve and protect the Constitution, which is, you know, the time-honored approach of people who have been honored and selected for the position, which he will now sadly fill, if confirmed. Yeah. We think about what has been a decline in the integrity and frankly sometimes just the professional quality of appointees for Donald Trump in the second term. Bill Barr was controversial for certain reasons, but I want to just show a comparison of him to Todd Blanche on some of these issues. Take a look.

I repeatedly told the president no uncertain terms that I did not see evidence of fraud. I made it clear I did not agree with the idea of saying the election was stolen and putting out this stuff, which I told the president was bull. Today, a grand jury sitting in the Eastern District of North Carolina returned an indictment against James Comey on two counts. I love working for President Trump. I love you, sir. Do you see a contrast or a decline here? Oh, extraordinary. You know, Bill Barr, for whatever quarrels people have about some of the decisions he made, you know, he made him on a legal basis. And he was a good counselor to the president trying to explain to the president where the guardrails were, what the evidence was, what the appropriate response to things were. There are no people in the White House, this White House, who take that road. The reality is they know. as Jay Clayton proved yesterday, that if they say anything that's contrary to the narratives, the false narratives that the president is so attached to, that they'll be fired, as the chief lawyer at the IRS was, in essence, today because they didn't like the way that he handled, that he objected to certain measures that the president and the White House wanted to do with regard to tax audits, likely of the president's enemies. Yeah. And, you know, you look at some of the back and forth. I wonder what you, as a DOJ veteran, thought of Todd Blanche trying to sort of drape himself in the credibility of these other people, some of whom are residing in protest or having their careers railroaded over what are, again, not a left or right, not a red-blue thing, but baseless cases, cases floundering the grand jury, cases tossed by independent judges and Republican appointees. That's context for this exchange. Take a look with White House. When for the first time in history there's an inquiry into fraud upon the court committed by the Department of Justice, the silence from the department in response to that is deafening, Mr. Todd Blanche. This seems to be the most troubled Department of Justice in history. The Department of Justice works hard. The prosecutors work hard every day, and I appreciate the hand-picked words that you have behind you right now, but that's not reflective of the 100,000. indictments and information that have been filed to do the work that I talked about earlier today. Ty. So the work that they do is carefully curated by Todd Blanche and his colleagues. They're not allowed to go out and pursue some of the obvious corruption that is rampant in this administration. The president, as we know, made 22,000 stock trades and amounts between $750 million and $1.6 billion in the past year.

by comparison made zero and Biden made 13. You know, this is The level of corruption that we're faced with at this stage of the game is shocking. And Todd Blanche was a participant in what is probably the most corrupt act in the history of the Justice Department by a Justice Department official when he tried to facilitate the transfer of $1.8 billion for Trump's own purposes and on his own after that agreement had been reached. On his own, he added a provision for no consideration immunizing the Trump family and the president from IRS scrutiny in perpetuity. You know, he is corrupt. He's unqualified. Very, very telling that in the same week that he shows up for his nomination here, a federal judge in Florida referred him to the New York bar. for disciplinary action because of the fraud that he committed on the court in connection with the slush fund case. Yeah, it's bonkers. It's brazen. It's preposterous. People say, where's the line on the bottom? Well, they found it on that because you had Republican senators publicly, which means politically they probably already tried it privately to tell the White House there's a no-go. I did want to ask you, Ty, because you're a skilled lawyer, and I think people can tell the way you present yourself and your ideas is very crisp, very clear. Did you notice and do you think Todd Blanche was effective? at lawyering so much of the day. In other words, he had arguably a poor hand, but he played it sometimes effectively by parsing and making things seem like this was just another Washington back and forth, when for the reasons you just reminded everyone, there's nothing normal about any of this. No, I do. And I think, you know, sadly, we've seen the, you know, cowardly Republican senators, you know, supportive of him and, you know, feeding him softballs and doing what aboutism, you know, that functionally comparing as far as I was concerned, Jay Walker's with Jeffrey Dahmer. You know, Trump is. Trump's level of corruption and the misconduct that Todd Blanche has engaged in in terms of these revenge prosecutions extorting a favorable statement out of Ghislaine Maxwell in exchange for treatment at a facility to which she's not qualified to be. And the slush fund, you know, those are only those are only.

tip of the iceberg. You know, he has hollowed out 20% of the most experienced, talented people at the Justice Department. You know, the Justice Department, national security efforts, counterterrorism efforts, civil rights efforts, you know, major corruption efforts, you know, particularly public corruption. You know, they've been hollowed out. Lawyers have been reassigned. to immigration cases. You know, a substantial portion of the lawyers that used to try to keep us safe in the security world and in the major fraud world, they are now doing only immigration work because that's the priority of this administration. It is the most politicized Justice Department in our history, and it will take a generation or maybe more to correct that for the benefit of the people that they're intended to serve. Yeah, I think that's fair, and we've discussed this. There are other countries that have had these problems, this level of corruption and cynicism, and it is hard to go back because people look at it and say, well, I guess this is where we live now, or they want to get away with it too, or why would you want to even work there? Look what it's become, which may not be the happiest Friday, you know, message, but it's where we're at. Ties agreed to stick around. I want to show JD Vance running into a buzzsaw on Joe Rogan and some other important stuff, so we'll be back with you. in just 90 seconds. Nothing beats tradition, like weekly game nights at Mom's House and Tostitos. Crafted with Maza made the traditional way, starting with whole corn kernels, with flavors worth gathering around, like a hint of lime and Mexican street corn, and no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. That's the Tostitos way. Bring Tostitos to your next game night, and you'll be winning either way. Tostitos, Tradition Matters. Summer means firing up the grill, getting together with friends, and making the most of the weekends. Total Wine and More is my first stop, whether it's Celsius and ready to serve cocktails for the cooler or a good bottle of bourbon. Everything I need is at Total Wine. With the lowest prices, it's easy to stock up for whatever the weekend brings, and I can get everything I need in one stop. Shop Total Wine and More and get ready for your next summer party. Spears are not sold in Virginia or North Carolina. Drink responsibly must be 21. The days are longer, the calendar is filling up. And I want to feel as good as this beautiful summer weather. That's why I've been loving Grooons. It's one daily pack of gummies that covers my greens, vitamins, minerals, and even has 6 grams of prebiotic fiber. So I don't need to juggle a complicated wellness routine on top of everything else. They taste amazing. They're easy to toss my bag on the go, plus they're vegan, gluten-free, and HSAFSA eligible for reimbursement. Save up to 52% off with code podcast at grooms.co. That's code podcast at GRUNS.

We're back with White House Legal Veteran Thai Cobb. Here is JD Vance on Joe Rogan, which I wanted to play, and some of the other Todd Blanche reactions to these Epstein issues. If people want to say we mish handled the Epstein release. guilty. We did say the... That doesn't excuse the mistakes of which I take responsibility, but it does mean that we tried to fix them. We complied with the act. It takes a little time to review the stuff, to find the stuff, to redact things where you have victims. Whenever we learned that any victim's name had been improperly not redacted, we immediately took the document down and fixed it. Some of the names were redacted weren't victims. Ty, your view on this, the substance and sort of the, hey, the answer they seem to have landed on is, hey, my bad, we'll keep it moving. But they won't keep it moving. And actually, the most important point was the point that Joe Rogan made at the end when he said some names that were redacted weren't victims. In fact, that's true. We know from multiple senators and congressmen that the evidence with regard to Trump and, you know, a seriously underage girl who alleged that he raped her. was redacted. We know that multiple references to the president have been redacted. The president is one of the most talked about people, though, in the files that have been made available. And the fact that they have done this in a way solely to shield him is palpably obvious to all Americans. Even the MAGA people, you know, who... are willing to forgive him many other things, but have been very concerned about this, understand that they're not being treated fairly, that they're being lied to, and that this Justice Department, you know, notwithstanding the fact that Congress almost unanimously, almost unanimously passed the Epstein Disclosure Act, that this Justice Department has not complied, they have no intent to comply, and we will not see these documents absent a court order. And finally, we didn't give much coverage to what was largely not a new or newsworthy presentation by the president last night. But given that you've worked in his White House, what do you think is the right way to respond or contextualize that, if at all? I think what's important is to understand that the president losing the 2020 election was the most grievous insult and injury that he ever suffered, and psychologically it burns. His malignant narcissism cannot abide that insult.

And he has devoted himself to trying to rewrite history, pardon the January 6, you know, protesters and, you know, people who assaulted others violently destroying, trying to destroy the Capitol and whom the president basically was willing to let hang Mike Pence. You know, he's, they're all, they're all pardoned now. He want the slush fund that has been slowed down, but is by no means dead, no one or what break. Todd Blanche says, was intended to, you know, help them, not to help the, you know, the poor police officers like Danny Hodges, who just got injured severely and tortured, but, you know, by that crown. But no, it's to help the people who actually did the torturing and the destruction. So I think what we saw last night when he talked about these elections. It was fascinating because not a single thing he said of consequence was true. He claims that the deep state hid stuff from. The deep state included his head of the CIA, his ODNI, John Racklep, who is currently the head of the CIA, who you didn't see prominently featured anywhere in statements today or yesterday with regard to support for the president on these things. And the documents that they release. clearly lay bare the fact that the president simply lied to America last night. The Chinese atrocities that he referred to are clearly referenced in the documents as aspirational under consideration, low-level players, and that had never happened. The National Intelligence Report that followed the 2020 election, came out in March of 2021, made it plain that not a single foreign actor had taken any consequential action. not a single vote had been affected. So what the president said last night was simply false. And some of the documents that he released, oddly, you know, portray him in a very negative way because they demonstrate clearly that Russia interfered in the 2020 election to the detriment of Biden in order to support the president. And with very clear documents showing that that was Russia's intent. So I think what we saw last night with the president was a moment that, you know, even Fox News has been unable to cheer lead on. Many people today, you know, on Fox and Friends today, for example, their three-hour lead-off show in the morning, there was not a single mention of the president's speech. That should tell everybody how well it went over. And perhaps it's a moment like January 7th when the country recognized that the emperor has no clothes. Let's hope that people wake up because of what happened last night. Yeah, for those who saw it, and as you say, even his allies looking and going, well, you can't defend it, would rather pretend it's not there, which is a real indictment of a sitting president. We covered the Epstein matters where, of course, Donald Trump has denied wrongdoing, has not been, of course, indicted for anything. Related to that, we say in fairness. And on January 6th, he was indicted, but everyone remembers he legally is presumed innocent because we didn't get the trial, but his choice to pardon the violence.

has shown the country, as you've pointed out, exactly where he stood, being for violence and against police. Ty Cobb, thank you very much. I wish you a good weekend. We've got a lot more in the show. I'll tell folks, there's great to have you, Ty. Maga, Civil War, remember the burning hats? Some of that is back. Tucker Carlson and the new right-win culture war. We will be hitting that. And Zohran Mamdani finding a new way to route around not only an aging democratic system in D.C., but getting his licks in on Donald Trump. All of that coming up. Elections often boil down to the economy, and here is the economic report card for Trump, growing pessimism. 61% of Americans say they see things getting worse, a whopping two-thirds say groceries are still not affordable, something that was the core of the 2024 campaign debates. It's up actually 20% since this war that Trump started. 15% of Americans say they still strongly support Trump. That's half. of what it was after Trump's prior low point after January 6th. So you just think about how he's struggling to even hold the kind of red-hot base he once had. Now, Trump made this big effort to basically push his pet priorities, erase parts of American history, and that's something that in this new podcast, Barack Obama is addressing. It's so interesting to see.

today this contest over what is the dominant narrative of America. And, you know, you have an administration that is trying to change, you know, the plaques at national monuments. But it does speak to the power of stories. We have a republic if we can keep it. If we can keep it. The narrative, the story, the propaganda, with efforts by Donald Trump, the famous reality show PR guy that get more and more extreme and bizarre as people are tired of the schick. I showed you the polling. Trump's defense secretary basically ridiculed for his testosterone announcement. I'm authorizing a new screening program for testosterone deficiency for our service members, ensuring you have the right testosterone levels to operate at your absolute best. It's self-parity. It's like a South Parker Simpson's episode. But of course, we're at war, a war that Donald Trump's having trouble ending. So this being the content priorities of the Pentagon is, well, a problem to many Americans. As for this whole T obsession, it goes all the way back to a big part of the manosphere that Steve Bannon thought they could successfully kind of recruit into Republican politics. If you really want to go back away, as you have Tucker Carlson's film, The End of Men.

That is the real video of the thing, not an attack ad or satire of the thing. And yet the people sharing that thing's testosterone worldview are running while your Pentagon and an open-ended failed war in Iran. I have Juanita and Jason here as our special political guests when we come back. The days are longer, the calendar is filling up. And I want to feel as good as this beautiful summer weather. That's why I've been loving Grooons. It's one daily pack of gummies that covers my greens, vitamins, minerals, and even has 6 grams of prebiotic fiber. So I don't need to juggle a complicated wellness routine on top of everything else. They taste amazing. They're easy to toss my bag on the go. Plus, they're vegan, gluten-free, and HSA-fSA eligible for reimbursement. Save up to 52% off with code podcast at grooms.co. That's code podcast at GRUNS. summer is for spending time with friends and family whether it's dinner on the patio a girl's night or a last minute get together it feels like there's always something on the calendar total wine and more is always part of my plans i'll usually pick up a couple of wines i love maybe a ready to serve cocktail and something new to try I get everything I need in one stop, and there's always a great selection to choose from. With the lowest prices, I can say yes to every summer get together. Shop total wine and more and get ready for your next summer gathering. Spirits not sold in Virginia and North Carolina drink responsibly must be 21. Avoiding your unfinished home projects because you're not sure where to start. Thumbtag knows homes, so you don't have to. Don't know the difference between matte paint finish and satin or what that clunking sound from your dryer is. With Thumbtack, you don't have to be a home pro. You just have to hire one. You can hire top-rated pros, see price estimates, and read reviews, all on the app. Download today. We're back with Juanita Tolver, MSNal Analyst, host of the Archival Podcast, and Morgan State Politics Professor. Jason Johnson, welcome to both of you. Juanita, we checked. There was no end of men. Men are still here. But I wanted to get your view on the... Baroque silliness of it is matched by an open-ended war that Trump promised would be done by now and gas prices up and the economic backlash to the Republicans going into the midterms that I mentioned. So your thoughts? Like, Ari, all I could think about as I saw that image of that man sunning his genitalia was like, oh, so Republicans do support hormone therapy. Are they going to bring back all the trans soldiers that Donald Trump unceremoniously dismissed from the armed forces? I just want to be clear because having testosterone injections is hormone therapy. It is gender affirming care. It just seems like they only want to do that for the manliest of men in their definition, the men who they're going to likely deploy in an unending war that they have started unnecessarily that has prompted economic fallout, which is prompting Republican voters to turn away from them. I want to go to that economic polling, though, Ari, because what it shows is that when the rent is too high, when gas prices are too high, when health care costs are too high, when the cost of the shoes for your kids is too high, and you're sitting at

your table on the first of the month looking at those increased prices, there is no way to avoid that reality. And people know exactly who to blame. Like the first of the month is something that comes with a sinking feeling. And every time I say that phrase, I think of bone plugs in harmony. I got, I don't know if y'all are like me, but the first of the month does come with a sinking feeling of the reality of your bank balance compared to all of the expenses that you have to try to cover. Well, let you, I'll let you finish one. I need to. I mean, bone thugs, I know Professor Johnson appreciates that. I believe that's a shout out Ohio. And the first also makes me think of Hove, who's been celebrating this past weekend. No two days are alike except the first and 15th pretty much. And there's a lot of music that talks about the struggle of getting by. And you're saying, Oneida, people know why it's harder to get by right now. They know why gas is up. And Republican voters aren't impervious to that, Ari. And that's why you see that dramatic decline in Trump's support among Republican voters. They feel it the same way as anybody else because the math isn't mathing for them in their day-to-day lives. And no message, no amount of racism, no amount of transphobia or testosterone shots is going to deflect from that reality. Jason. All right, when I heard that PTAG Seth was pushing hormone therapy or testosterone, it was Curtis Mayfield's push a man, is Jay-Z talking about dope boys. One thing we know about these Republicans is that they love the grift. And so many of them from Dr. Oz to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.. to Alex Jay Jones, they're supplement pushers. That's what they're going to do. We're going to find out that after this testing is implemented, that there's going to be some wealthy MAGA donor who has a supplement company that's going to get some huge contract because what they're saying right now is, well, it may not be mandatory for these soldiers to do this. They will eventually try to put pressure on them to do it. And not only does it make no sense. Look, the reason that we're losing to Iran right now is not because Basmades Rice is healthier than Uncle Ben's, right? It's not genetics. It's called technology strategy in geography. And that is what's missing right now, the intelligence that we need to run these kinds of agencies, not some sort of MAGA-N-cell nonsense. And look, the voters realize it. That's why they're unhappy. That's why Trump is giving these kinds of speech. Every single distraction you can, other than the fact that people are unhappy with the incompetence of this administration. Yeah, and then broadening even beyond sort of the hijinks of administration, Jason, there's something larger happening. There is the current economic crisis affordability, but there is a clear deeper distrust and revolution against a lot of the elites, elites in Washington, people clinging to power we've seen, elites in New York and Wall Street, the AI tech thing coming out of Silicon Valley. People can see it. People don't think AI and the plans are working for them or the labor protections are there. Interesting because this kind of cuts multiple directions, but this chart, when you look at MAGA and a label that people would say actually makes them on a glance be more interested in supporting a candidate, MAGA is down to 27 below Trump. Trump is about 29, which gives him leverage in primaries we've seen. But the label Democratic Socialists now adjacent beats those slightly.

This is a CNBC poll. That's our sister business network, business news. What do you think about what might be a fracturing but also reflects a kind of a populist revolt against the economic business as usual, even beyond inflation? This is the political scientist to me. I've been saying this for a long time. Democratic socialism in 2026 is what we used to call good governance in the 1960s. It's just the idea that cities and urban areas should be affordable, that people should be able to walk to get to the grocery store, that public transportation is cheaper than when you used to have to live out of farms. And so what people have been seeing is Democratic socialism is being branded by Zohran Mamdani. It's being branded by people who have helped to lower costs and lower crime. And it's more branding than actually politically changing because I point out all the time that what Brandon Scott has accomplished in Baltimore is almost as impressive. It's just Baltimore is not as interesting to most people in the public as New York City. If you look like a government official who is accomplishing things, lowering costs, listening to people, going to concerts, championship teams win, watching the World Cup of people who are in prison. people will take they will accept whatever you want to call your policy if it looks like their lives are being improved and that's what we're seeing now the challenge is going to be if you get a certain number of democratic socialists in congress this fall are they able to push legislation or are they able to just stop things but right now it looks like the best deal in town because the democratic branding is garbage the republicans are incompetent and maga is afraid of their own tails I think it's also important to highlight what Jason mentioned about these mayors, delivering to the public. They are, as in vogue says, giving people something they can feel in real time. There is no lag. Yes, your potholes will be filled. Yes, we're templating a free child care program so parents can go out for anything. Yes, we're offering free child care for city workers. That is something that has immediate impact. That is also the beauty of being a mayor. I think that's something that is going to have to be part of the vision that Democrats present in this midterm election cycle, because it can't just be bad, bad, bad over there. What is your vision of possibility that will impact people's lives? And sure, being a stopgats against Donald Trump and the Trump administration is a big point. But what are you giving people that they can potentially feel with Democratic control? All makes sense. Do you have a favorite Bone Thugs and Harmony song? already said it first of the month. Like, growing up in Memphis, Tennessee, that was on repeat. Because Crossroads, Jason Crossroads played a lot, and then there was the Biggie collab, Bone and Biggie. Yeah, yeah. Crossroads is like, that's a big, every graduation, someone is playing Crossroads. Like, that's my song. Oh, it makes me so sad, though. It makes me sad. Well, it's like it's so hard to say goodbye by Boys to Men. It's just once you hear it, you're like, I'll give you a fun fact since it's Friday. That was the last song we played at my Bar Mitzvah at the dance. We ended on Boys to Men. It's so hard to say goodbye.

I will vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh. The eyes are 50. The nays are 48. That's how she actually governed, leading, of course, to the end of Roe v. Wade. Susan Collins has a record that is over 90% voting for Trump with Trump in this current term, which is what's made her vote so vulnerable in the blue state of Maine. We will be right back. There is a lot going on. We might need this even more than usual because we have a special edition of Fallback. And wait, do you see this pairing? MS now analysts and veteran fallback expert, Alex Wagner. She's a Webby Award winner known for newsmaking interviews and her political reporting in the field. She hosts the Runaway Country podcast. She also was editor-in-chief of the celebrated music magazine, The Fader, which is relevant today because making his fallback debut, along with Alex's Juvenile. The New Orleans rapper has 12 albums, his latest boiling point. and hits that have transcended what was once rap's regional pockets to become national favorites we all know in love. He was recognized recently as a hip-hop pioneer by his hometown. Shout out to that and made even a brief foray into the Democratic primaries with his memorable call to back that vote up. Cash money records taking over for the 9-9 in the 2000. Tom Steyer and the popular musician Juvenile at a Get Out the Vote Rally.

All these little bounce stuff, you see all these people out there filing my hands trying to do. They could do it, but they can't do it like I did it because I'm the originator. Respect. Great to have you in for the first time. Great to have you together. Thank you all for having you. I'm thrilled. I'm always thrilled that I'm particularly. This is thrilling. And so we're going to get to everything, including back that voter. But Alex, you're the hometown. That voter, yes. You're the hometown. What's on your fallback list? On my fallback list is the news made by the head of the Center for Medicaid, Dr. Mehmet Oz, on Eric Trump's podcast, wherein Dr. Oz explained that President Trump believes that soda kills cancer cells in the body. Really? Wow. Yes. This is not science. Just in case anybody's wondering, much like you don't want to drink bleach or ivermectin if you have COVID, you do not want to drink Fanta if you think you have cancer. But apparently, because if you pour soda out on the ground, it will kill the grass. President Trump is under the impression that soda will also kill cancer cells in the body. This is, I just, this is part of a portfolio of poor eating choices that the president's making. You know, he loves a Big Mac. He loves McDonald's. I will also. like eat a chicken nugget from time to time. No disrespect, right? But he eats a lot of it, sir. He eats a lot of it. And according to Dr. Oz, it is because he believes that fast food is cleaner and safer because it is ultra processed and there is high quality control. I just need to remind our audience of the E. coli scare of McDonald's 2024, the salmonella outbreak. I believe it was at Taco Bell in 2023, the norovirus outbreak. at Chipotle, it's not a winner to suggest that you're always going to be safe eating fast food. And the follow-up question then becomes, Alex, are we in a movie? I mean, that would explain a lot of this because it's like you couldn't write it unless maybe you are. Yeah, wild. I would also, can I just say one of the thing? It's hard to take Trump's word on food safety when his FDA is literally dismantling food inspections. And you were out on the campaign trail. Tell us about back the vote up because Tom Steyer, people know, is now a big figure in California politics. Just tell us about all of that. You know, the whole thing with that was, you know, at a time, we was trying to get people to go out there and get out there and vote. And, you know, you know, the whole thing with the coronavirus and all of that was my second thing. But I wanted to get out there and tell people to go out there and vote because, you know, everybody have a word to say. I have something to say if they take their... if they used their rights. The other part was I wanted to do it in an entertaining way. So what better way to do it than back the vote up? Did you come up with that? I didn't come up with it. Who came up with that? I can't even remember who came up with the whole idea of it, but they knew I was the perfect person for it. And, you know, I had to be with it to do it. Yeah. Yeah. When you were like back then vote up, okay. Yeah.

Do you feel like, I mean, hip hop's also always been political. There's always been social, racial, cultural element to all of it. Do you feel like, I mean, what do you feel about right now in terms of politics and also the intersection of politics and hip hop? Do you feel like? You know, we have elections coming up this year. There's going to be elections in 2028. Do you feel like people, do you feel like hip-hop fans are following politics that this is like... We are. We are. I mean, my guy Luke Skywalker is running for office. I don't know if he ran yet, but I hear Luke Skywalker is running for office. Okay. Who would you like to work with that you haven't worked with yet? Oh, man. One, like make music with, it has to be, it has to be Drake. Uh, Kendrick. Drake was, got his start with help from the South and Birdman. I mean, you guys are all connected. You get one call away from Drake if you want to say, hey, put me on the ice man. We've had Birdman on the show. Put me on the Ice Man remix. I saw him breaking the ice up over there. Yeah. I hope I could have caught a flight over there and got them 50,000, right? Yeah, man, y'all put the word out for me. Tell Drake Juvian wants to do a song with him. All right. We'll put this, we'll put this not only on TV. Let's do that. We'll put it on the gram. Yeah, I appreciate you. Great to see you. Thanks for coming in. Thanks for coming in. Alex Wagner, showing the musical chops. People forget. People do. What a nice way to end the week as we look out at Washington. What we can learn. Back that vote up. Stay involved. A fitting message there. Our thanks again to Juvenile and Alex Wagner, our colleague, that does it for us. The weeknight is up next. Hi, I'm Angie Hicks, co-founder of Angie. And one thing I've learned is that you buy a house, but you make it a home. Because with every fix, update, and renovation, it becomes a little more your own. So you need all your jobs done well. For nearly 30 years, Angie has helped millions of homeowners hire skilled pros for the projects that matter. From plumbing to electrical, roof repair to deck upgrades. So leave it to the pros who will get your jobs done well. Angie, the one you trust to find the ones you trust. Find a pro for your project at Angie. com.