'BradCast' 11/21/2025 (Encore: 'Light at the end of the tunnel, with Heather Digby Parton of Salon, 'Driftglass' of 'Pro Left Podcast')

Today's Bradcast was originally recorded on November 6th, 2025. We're in very good position to make history and grow this majority. The reason we're so enthusiastic about running next year is we have a real record to run on. Zohran Mamdani and Democrats want to talk about affordability? We love that subject. We love it. It's the Republicans who are working every day to make life more affordable for working families. And it's not a talking point for us. We are delivering. Are you? Are you delivering? Because the voters don't seem to think so. Well, I don't know why I came here tonight. That's why. I got the feeling that's something right. It's pretty good this week. I'm so scared in case I fall off my chair. And I'm wondering how I'll get down the stairs. Clowns to let me. From Pacifica Radio in Los Angeles, this is the broadcast. As heard on KPFK, 90.7 FM in LA, and on dozens of other fine affiliate stations on both the public airwaves and the internets around the country and the world, blanketing planet Earth. I'm Brad Friedman, your friendly investigative blogger, journalist, troublemaker, muckraker. And all around, swell fellow says me from bradblog.com. All right, we've got a lot to get to today as usual with two. Count them two of your favorite guests joining me very momentarily and... Desi Doyen, who is always joining us. Hi, Des. You have your latest Green News report coming up this hour. Yes, and some good news at the end of it. I was going to say, is it a good one? Yeah, there's a bit in there. We'll see. Just a little. But let's start here today. 85-year-old Democratic U.S. House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi announced on Thursday just after this year's remarkable 2025. off-year elections that she will not seek re-election to the U.S. House next year, bringing to a close her storied career as not only the first woman in the Speaker's office, but arguably the most powerful in American politics. Nancy Pelosi was represented San Francisco now for nearly 40 years, announced her decision on Thursday and a video address to voters. She appeared upbeat and forward-looking as images of her decades of accomplishments filled the frames. AP reports Nancy Pelosi said she would finish out her final year in office next year. Quote, my message to the city I love is this. San Francisco, know your power, she said. We have made history. We have made progress. We have led the way. And now, she says, we must continue to do so by remaining full participants in our democracy and fighting for the American ideals we hold dear. The decision...

While not fully unexpected, ricocheted across DC and California as a seasoned generation of political leaders, as AP describes them, is stepping aside ahead of next year's midterm elections. Some are leaving reluctantly, others with resolve, but many are facing challenges from newcomers eager to lead the Democratic Party and confront. President Donald Trump. One of those newcomers, of course, was in the very bright spotlight on Tuesday night in New York City as 34-year-old progressive Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani blew the roof off of the Brooklyn Paramount Theater during his victory speech. We played a bit of that last night, becoming mayor-elect of the Big Apple on a promise of a progressive affordability. agenda that includes a rent freeze on more than a million rent stabilized apartments in New York City, universal child care, free buses, and a city-owned grocery store pilot program across the five boroughs to serve food and produce deserts, as well as help reduce the rising cost of groceries. No, they are not free grocery stores, as many. Even in legit media outlets are reporting it. Zohran Mamdani's victory on Tuesday was just one of scores, scores of landmark Democratic victories on Tuesday, as Democrats won in state after state after state by margins that largely far exceeded pre-election polling reported by corporate media outlets as two Democratic congresswomen. Won governorships in New Jersey and Virginia by 13 and 15 points, respectively. As Dems picked up at least 13 seats in the currently, almost evenly divided Virginia House of Delegates and saw one statewide and local victory after another, after another in both high profile and low profile contests and ballot initiatives from Maine to Georgia to Mississippi to Pennsylvania and beyond, including out here, of course, in our great state of California, where Governor Gavin Newsom's plan to temper temporarily set aside the U.S. House map created by an independent redistricting commission in favor of one drawn by the legislature, the Democratic legislature, to pick up five U.S. House seats next year in response to Donald Trump's ordered mid-decade gerrymanders in Texas and other GOP states. became a turnout sensation out here in the Golden State on Tuesday as the only issue on this statewide ballot on Tuesday. Ultimately, it won by almost 30 points.

It was, as we discussed on yesterday's show with longtime progressive journalist John Nichols, one of the most remarkable election nights that either of us remembered seeing in modern times. As a coalition of Democrats and anti-Trump voters showed up in droves in many of the 30 states or so, holding elections on Tuesday in what was America's first opportunity for a mass response at the ballot box. to Donald Trump's first disastrous year in his second term. All of that, of course, amid what is now the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history outpacing only the one that took place the last time we were all collectively dumb enough to put Donald Trump in office and as both inflation and job cuts are now on the rise again. As the Trump administration is announcing they are preemptively canceling thousands of flights at scores of major airports in advance of Thanksgiving, that they are choosing to cut off food assistance to some 42 million Americans in need, though the federal courts are having something to say about that. And as congressional Democrats, for the moment, at least, continue to stand their ground in refusing. to vote to open the government again until Republicans restore historically record cuts to health care, including the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, and yes, Medicare, leading tens of millions of Americans to see their health care costs skyrocket more than double or even triple or even quadruple in many cases as of January 1 unless Donald Trump. And the Republicans agreed to at least negotiate on those cuts that they have already made. Until then. As even Trump seemed to admit on Tuesday night after the election, the shutdown appears to be costing the Republican Party dearly. As Americans hold both Trump and the GOP responsible for the shutdown in larger numbers than they hold Democrats responsible for it. Tuesday's election results in favor of Democrats would seem to bear that out. Now, In truth, I had not been planning to talk to our guest today for another week or two, but I got to tell you, Des all night on election night, I was thinking about them. I was talking about them. Yes, so was I. Wanting to touch base. And then I realized that the name of the show is the broadcast. So I came to understand I could have anybody I want on the show this week. Yes, that is how it works. Now you tell me. And so here they are, joining us today once again to help us make sense of all of the above and or celebrate the extraordinary election night victory for American voters this week. It's our old friends and fellow old school bloggers Heather Digby Parton award-winning columnist at Salon and at her own hullabaloo blog and the man known mostly as just drift glass.

But occasionally as Bill, he is the co-host of the weekly professional left podcast, broadcast from what he calls Flyover Country, Illinois, and author of course of his own eponymous Drift Glass blog. Hey, guys, welcome back to the broadcast. Hello, Brad. Good to be here. Delightful to have you guys here for a happy week for a change, at least somewhat. Before we dive into election 2025 and much more, former Vice President Dick Cheney died this week at the age of 84. Drift Glass, would you like to say anything nice about the former president before we move on to our main topics today? Bill Crystal gave him a real nice eulogy over at the bulwark, and I wrote a whole thing about it, and apparently he was not even involved in the Iraq War. So that's kind of cool. Oh, okay. Well, that is good news. Surprise. It was just a public-spirited public servant who only wanted the best for the country, who occasionally... Got led astray by faulty information. Really, that's his only fault. Is that what it was? Yep. Damn, that CIA again. How about you, Digby, you wrote this week about at Salon about this, that while, quote, President Donald Trump has said nothing in tribute to Cheney, the... Who he has come to despise, I should note, Donald Trump has, after his daughter Liz Cheney led the congressional investigation into Trump's January 6th insurrection. But in fact, Trump, as you describe it, owes Cheney a debt of gratitude. How so? Oh, well, if it weren't for Dick Cheney and his ilk, there would be no unitary executive. There would be no Trump using all of his presidential authoritarian. Article 2 powers that he says, let him do whatever he wants. And if it weren't for Dick Cheney, who, by the way, was one of those unitary executive guys going way back. I mean, this goes all the way back to the 70s with him. He was one of the people pushing that from the get. And when he was vice president, he even went so far as to say that there was a unitary vice president who didn't even answer to anybody, whether the executive branch, because yes, while he was the vice president, he was also.

The president of the Senate. And then the legislature had no ability to question him on anything he did because he was the vice president and a member of the executive branch. They called it the fourth branch, which nobody had ever heard of before. But that's the kind of thing that Dick Cheney was doing. And basically, he was the one who, you know, he created this idea that you can just do whatever you want. You can push the edges, the limits of the Constitution. and just, you know, basically just create your own authoritarian government, and then just throw it out there and see whether anybody would do anything about it. And by the way, as they proved in the Bush administration, When they got away with their entire torture regime and buried the torture report from the Senate and nobody paid any price for any of that stuff, you can get away with anything. So that was his legacy. And yeah, he did a nice thing by, he endorsed Kamala Harris, which was great. And it earned the enmity of Donald Trump and all the MAGA people. So at the end of his life, Dick Cheney ended up being loathed by. everyone. So there you have it. There you have it indeed. And that, of course, is exactly what Donald Trump just continued to do in his own presidency, basically do whatever he wants and just try to stop him. Drift Glass, since you didn't have much nice to say about Cheney, how about retiring Nancy Pelosi? Do you have anything nice that you would like to say about her? I think she was a formidable and effective speaker. I think she is retiring a little bit too late for them a fight. But, you know, people like her, people like my, Senator Dick Durbin, people like in that generation are not made for this fight. And it's time for them to sit down and turn the mantle over to younger people who are more comfortable on social media, who are more comfortable throwing elbows. She was really good. Her ripping up Trump's day of the union speech behind him will live in my memory forever. But they're just not built for this fight, I don't think. She was really good at mentoring people, and she knew how to count votes, which is something that Mike Johnson just doesn't know how to do. True. And she could not only count votes, but she could wrangle the votes. She could get stuff done. She got stuff passed. And, of course, that generational issue you're talking about, that's what AP called the seasoned generation of political leaders, who are some of them stepping aside. They note some reluctantly, others with resolve, many facing challenges from newcomers eager to lead the Democratic Party and confront Donald Trump. Those promised or threatened Democratic primary challenges, Digby, sound like, well, I'm not going to say what they sound like to me. Let me, what do you think about such intra-party challenges in next year's midterms that AP seems to be referring to there?

Well, I think in many cases that they are justified and that they are truly a threat to the older generation. I mean, it's clear. I don't think anybody can argue with the fact that we're on the cousin. I think about Nancy Pelosi and Dick Durbin too and Joe Biden. And, you know, these guys aren't even baby boomers. They're even older than baby boomers. So, I mean, they're the silent generation. And they really need to. be, you know, to go ahead and live out there, have a nice retirement and live it out and let those seats open up for, you know, for the generation that Drift Glass rightly says there are better prepared for this particular fight. They've grown up in an era of much sharper elbows, a much different kind of communication style than what they had. And having said that, I just do want to say one thing about Nancy Pelosi. I think she was a great speaker. I think she was one of the greatest speaker, to be honest. I think she was really, you know, she knew how to do it. And if you see things like the way she acted on January 6th, you know, in the documentary, you could see her. I mean, this was a real leader. And she broke the mold. And I think opened up things for women in a way that we just, you know, we haven't yet really. you know, really come to terms with. She's not going to get the kind of accolades that, you know, she should because Donald Trump is in office. And if she happens to die anytime soon, I think that will be very sad that she won't get the kind of tribute that she should get. And one of her last acts, and I think people really should acknowledge this, as far as sharp elbows, she and Joe Biden were very, very close for decades. They were both, you know, super Catholics. from the East Coast, you know, the Mid-Atlantic States. Right. She's from Maryland. He's from Delaware. You know, I mean, they were really close. And they had a personal relationship. But when he whiffed in that debate last summer, she was, she is the one who engineered him getting out. I mean, she is the one who did that. And that was not easy. And she pretty much destroyed their friendship after all those years, but she put the country first. And I think, you know. Sharp elbows? I think she had them. And, you know, granted, I think her time has passed, and she obviously knows that. But she was great. And she basically, you know, she was something else. I think she deserves all the accolades here today. I really do. And Trump, by the way, you know what he said about her? I think she's an evil woman. I'm glad she's retiring. She did the country a great service by retiring. I thought she was an evil woman who did a... poor job. She caused the country a lot in damages. Of all of all people. Yeah, right. Absolutely. I just want to, I think that I agree with you, Heather, that she was probably one of the greatest, if not the greatest House speakers, definitely in modern history. But I hope that for me, I hope that her retirement sort of breaks the logjam of the elderly gerontocracy in the Democratic Party. Because as we saw with the elections of Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger, who who were former Democratic freshman in the 2018 class, and they have moved on to greater roles in politics, which would not have been available to them if those seats hadn't been open to them. So opening up these seats from the gerontocracy helps to develop new candidates and new politicians like a farm team, kind of. Well, speaking of election results from Tuesday night, as noted, I thought it was an extraordinary night. And one that, frankly, I just...

I don't recall living through anything similar to it where just about every single race or contest or ballot initiative that I was looking at, following, et cetera, saw the good guys win. Drift Glass, your broad thoughts on Tuesday night before we drill down into some of the specifics and what, if anything, caught you by a surprise on Tuesday. I was surprised by how deep the coattails were, how deep the blue ran in all these elections. I am very confident now that a bunch of blue states can now redistrict with confidence. And if I have one piece of advice to the Republican Party is please, please try to redistrict Texas and other states. Please go ahead and do that. Because I think they did not understand that. large blocks of voters were not theirs permanently. And we saw huge shifts in almost every demographic. They hacked off the immigrant community pretty thoroughly. And those people moved. It is a good thing that other than the base, the true base of each party, everyone's up for grabs. And Democrats presented a compelling case that Donald Trump was on the ballot, whatever the hell he says. And it was very encouraging that way down the ballot. Way, way down. In mayoral races, in state legislative races, blue one everywhere. And that should send a signal to Democrats everywhere. It's okay to take risks. It's okay to be who you are. Say what you believe and swing for the fences because that is now being rewarded. Digby? Totally agree with everything that Drift Glass said. And I was surprised. I was surprised. I think part of the problem... The reason I was surprised is because of the polling. And the polling showed, I think they overcompensated for that, you know, that secret or quiet. Trump vote or quiet Republican vote that they've all decided exists out there, you know, in perpetuity, which is not true. Because I think what we've seen here is that people don't come out unless Trump, those people don't come out unless Trump is on the ballot because it's a cult of personality and they want to come out and vote for their, you know, it's like an American idol or something. And they're not serious political people. They like Trump's celebrity and they like him. And those people don't come out. for politics, for just regular politics. Good news here is that Trump's not going to be on the ballot again.

I mean, he may try, but I don't think that that's actually going to happen. So we're looking at a whole new world now. And we can see that by this last election. Trump and Trumpism and this style of politics that he has brought into the Republican Party, the cult of personality that's been, you know, dominating our country for the last decade. I think we're seeing the, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel here. And Trump is now officially. a lame duck. And it's earlier than I think most people thought it would be because, and not because we won those races, but because, as Drift Glass said, it went across the board. People in Kansas woke up and went, you know, maybe we don't really want to redistrict. Maybe that's not really good for us. And people, you know, places like Mississippi flipped three seats into the state, you know, state Senate. State legislature, yeah. State legislature, yeah. I mean, this is the kind of thing that I don't think anybody expected. And as a result, it's in a shockwave, I think, through the Republican Party, realizing that this guy, this guy who's really just semi-retired, spending most of his time golfing and redecorating the White House. He's only halfway paying attention to the job. that he's on his way out. And now let the games begin because the fighting within the Republican Party is going to be a glorious thing to see. And we're already starting to see it. So I think that Tuesday night was the first salvo. And we're going to, we're in a new period now. And thank God, because I'll tell you something, I'm so sick of Democratic. self flagellation and hair shirt wearing and you know oh the trump the the democratic brand is toxic and blah blah i'm so tired of it we did it for a whole year Let's put that aside now. We're in a new phase. Let's move forward. I feel a lot more enthusiastic than I did before. Well, you know, that feels like, you know, that's the media talking. I mean, he won by barely a point in a half last year. And yet the suggestion from the media have been, oh, Democrats have to rethink everything they do because it turns out that the, you know, America and young men and Latino. knows and black voters are all in support of what Donald Trump is in support of. Never mind the fact that even though he won by a point in half over Kamala Harris, in fact, more Americans voted against Donald Trump last year than voted for him. And I have to sort of keep repeating that because I don't think the media understand it. And then that gets applied, I think, to the polling that they use. And, you know, The polls were off last year. The polls seem to be off again on Tuesday. Will any of this, Bill, lead America, or at least the American news media, to ever break their addiction to this pre-election polling that seems to be wrong year after year after year?

Oh, sweet summer child. They're so adorable when there's this age, they're at that age, you know. And they believe that the media will suddenly become our friend, or at least an arbiter of fact. No, they will never stop doing this until they're, until they are replaced by something else. And that's just the way it is. I wish it were true. Digby has been writing about this forever. I've been writing about this forever. My wife just celebrated her 21st blog anniversary. This has been going on as long as I can remember. And it doesn't matter what the outcome is or how right Democrats are or how much the Iraq war was a catastrophe or any of that stuff. They also have a cult. They also have a fetish. And they're never going to give it up. No matter what happens, no matter what we do, until and unless there's an absolute Democratic Party blowout and we win Lyndon Johnson numbers. Nothing's going to change. The good news is that the media, the traditional legacy media is becoming less and less relevant, which if anyone watched 60 minutes, you will have seen pretty much the death of that network as far as anyone, as far as I'm concerned, Nora O'Donnell's pathetic interview with Donald Trump. They're just not relevant anymore. And more and more, this is again talking about the new voters and the new candidates. They understand that this is not a place to go to get your message out. This is an obstacle to getting your message out. There was an interesting thing that has just stuck in my mind that someone had mentioned on Blue Sky, which was that the media is coded for Republicans. They follow what Republicans tell them is important. And what they were pointing out was that Republicans... create the weather. They are the ones that are driving the narrative, and Dems tend to react to it. And in this particular fight over Proposition 50 in California, that Gavin Newsom was creating the weather. Republicans create the weather, Democrats react, and now there are several major national profile Democrats who are now creating the weather. And I wonder if that'll have an effect. Speaking of creating the weather, certainly in New York City, we played an excerpt from the Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's barn-burning victory speech in Brooklyn on Tuesday on yesterday's show. I thought it was one of the best political speeches I had ever seen as the charismatic 34-year-old Ugandan-born Muslim Democratic Socialists stepped into his new role. And yet, as we discussed a bit with John Nichols yesterday, key leaders in the Democratic Party. including, and I think this is sort of to Bill's point, to Drift Glass point, key leaders, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, could not bring himself to endorse Zohran Mamdani, who wildly popular, ended up winning by 10 points against two different candidates, two different opponents. Chuck Schumer could not even say who he was voting for on Tuesday, which I find remarkable. Digby, can you explain that to me? Yeah, I think so. I think there are two reasons. Chuck Schumer in particular. I can't really speak for Hakeem Jeffries.

One of the things that leaders are responsible for is, you know, bringing in the bucks, right? I mean, that's a huge part of their job. It may be the biggest part of their job. If you look at where Zohran Mamdani won and lost in the race the other night, you know, places like Staten Island, you know, you get it, right? I mean, that's right wing. Those are the MOOCs, right? And those are the guys, the Trump guys. But everywhere else, like in Manhattan, there were these discrete places where Andrew Cuomo won and Monta lost. One of them was the Upper East Side. It's money. That's a huge part of it. There are people with big money in New York, you know, it's the financial capital of the world, who were just terrified because Zohran Mamdani has the word socialist in his self-description, right? So they're freaking out. It's stupid. He's a democratic socialist. You know, who's a socialist? Donald Trump, who's out there just today, was sitting in the White House, you know, trying to extort one of the big pharmaceutical companies saying, hey, maybe you should give me a piece of your company like I've been asking. You know, I mean, what? Well, how did this happen? I mean, Zohran Mamdani's not saying that. He's not saying he's going to take over the means of production. Trump's doing it. He's doing it right now. Yeah. So these people are stupid, but, you know, nonetheless, that's part of it. The other part of it is Israel for Chuck Schumer. He is just, you know, he is absolutely 100% and has always been. It's an older guy. Came up at a time when, you know, fealty to Israel was just, I mean, it's part of his identity and is for a lot of people. I mean, that's just for older people that is. kind of the way they think about that. And it's very hard for him to get rid of it. And I just don't think he ever would. So, yeah, short-sighted. Should he be the leader? No. Of the Democratic Senate? No, of course not. But that's, I think those are the reasons. All of that, at least about his age and his support of Israel, that doesn't explain the fact that Senator Gillibrand, also from New York, did not endorse him. That Barack Obama. Could not come up with an endorsement for him. He did call him and wish him luck, told him he ran a good campaign or something like that, but I don't believe he ever came out with an official endorsement from him. Drift Glass here was Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaking to that point a little bit on Tuesday night, I believe, at Mom Donny's Victory Party in... in Brooklyn. And I do think that this moment, a lot of people who are willing to talk about party unity when it serves them, but not party unity when it serves everybody, it puts those folks on notice. And I think it also puts folks on notice that we have a future to plan for. We have a future to fight for. And we're either going to do that together or you're going to be left behind. And I think that...

That is not a partisan issue. It's not about progressive, it's not moderate, it's not liberal. This is about, do you understand the assignment of fighting fascism right now? And the assignment is to come together across difference no matter what. Right on target, as far as I'm concerned. Sounds like she is also sending a message there to folks exactly like Chuck Schumer saying, okay, you're all for party unity until you don't like party unity. She, of course, is believed to be considering primarying Chuck Schumer next year if he decides to run again. But right on point, I think, Drifty. I think if you have an elephant-tine memory like some of us do. We remember about 19 years ago, Ned Lamont. Oh, yeah. Ned Lamont won the Democratic primary in Connecticut, defeating Holy Joe Lieberman. You know, Iraq War. And who did the Democratic establishment rally behind? Lieberman. Exactly. Barack Obama campaign for Lieberman. That was, you know, it was Democratic Party unity until it becomes Joe Lieberman. You know, one of the guys, one of the boys, one of the crowd, one of the power brokers. Then, because, you know, it was, and if I, you know, suck up to Joe Lieberman, maybe he'll support my, you know, Affordable Care Act, which, of course, Lieberman just stabbed him right in the back. Yes. Nobody learns this lesson, which is sometimes there's an outlier that is an outlier. You know, we had LaRushies running in Illinois at some point. That's not an outlier you want to get behind. But. Sometimes the Whig Party is about to be ended and the Republican Party is about to begin. Sometimes the Democratic Party is about to shift massively. And you got to see the tectonic plates in motion. And these people just don't. They just don't. And they get to be like it was before when you could, you know, you could have bipartisanship and hands across the aisle. And if we're all just civil with each other, they long for those days, which never really existed. And their behavior dictates their actions, or their beliefs dictate their action. And that's really sad because you think of all people, Barack Obama would know better. Yeah. He doesn't. He just doesn't. He's built to be a centrist. He's wired to be a centrist. Let me fit in one more question here. I've got to get to a break. But here was Donald Trump's reaction on Fox News to Zohran Mamdani's victory in New York City. Look, for a thousand years, communism has not worked. It just communism or the concept of communism has not worked. I tend to doubt it's going to work this time.

Okay, now, for a few things here, for a guy who, you know, describes communist China as the greatest threat that the U.S. has ever known, you know, to man, apparently communism actually does work. But it has neither been around for a thousand years. And Zohran Mamdani is not a communist. But. You know, that is apparently what Democrats are somewhat frightened of that, oh, we're all going to be called communist. But guess what? It doesn't work. They called Zohran Mamdani a communist for months and months, and he still ended up winning, which raises a question. I'd like to get a quick answer from both of you before we get to a break. I'll start with you Digby. Are the Democrats who just could not come around to endorsing Zohran Mamdani? Are they more fearful that he will be a failure as New York City mayor or that he will be a success? Well, I think it depends on the Democrat. I mean, I think there are people, but, you know, maybe the New York contingent there that we're talking about, Gillibrand, Hakeem Jeffries, and Chuck Schumer, they might be afraid that he's going to be successful because they feel the pressure coming from their, you know, financial. and, you know, donor base there in New York. But I think that there are plenty of Democrats who are hoping that he is successful. And it's not so much, look, if you listen to what he was saying. His campaign, his agenda is not radical. It's just not. It's just, you know, just mainstream progressive stuff. It's not radical. It's certainly not communist. It's hardly even socialist. I mean, his city-owned grocery stores, which they say, oh, he's going to give away free groceries. No, he's not. He's got five stores. They're talking about doing one in each borough. Food deserts. In food deserts and keeping prices, you know, essentially around wholesale prices so that people. This is not radical. And it's not unusual. There are plenty of cities that have co-ops and things like that. It's normal. Same thing with the free transportation. A lot of cities have that. This is not unusual. So, you know, this is ridiculous. They're, you know, being hysterical. But I think what they also, the people who actually want him to succeed, see that he is a younger generation guy with a ton of charisma. and a great amount of appeal to people, to many people across the board. And a lot of them are seeing that. I think at least plenty of people that I know think it's great. And they're hoping for more people.

like him. Wow, sounds terrible. He's charismatic and he wins elections by huge numbers. Get rid of him immediately. Yeah, no wonder they're so afraid. There's a little bit. There's Mr. Charisma. Drift class, I got to get to her. I do have to get to a break, but I want you to ring in on this question. Are Democrats those ones who were afraid to endorse him? Are they more afraid that he'll be a failure or that he'll be a success? The ones who are afraid are afraid he'll succeed because this guy gave Gen Z someone to cheer for and someone to come out of their houses for. And my kids are enthusiastic. You know, on their phone, he's their dad now. He's their Obama. That level of enthusiasm. Nice. And by the way, that Trump quote was perfect because it's for MAGA because MAGA can't do math. They don't know what words mean. So it's perfect for them. I think it was. Well, for a thousand years, it hasn't worked. Okay, let me take a quick break here. We'll come back to discuss more on Tuesday's 2025 off-year election results with the great Digby and Drift Glass, including the redistricting measure in California, whether GOP gerrymandering will work exactly as Trump and Republicans think it will next year. What, if anything, all of this means for the shutdown and the breaking news? on the sandwich guys DC trial, where we now officially have a delicious verdict, which I hope you are all hungry for. Plus, Desi Doyen and the latest Green News report, all of that's still ahead on today's broadcast. I'm Brad Friedman.

Hi, this is Desi Doyen from the Green News Report and the Bradcast. What the public hears on the public airwaves matters. At the broadcast, we do our best to bring you accurate news and analysis on the issues that actually matter, and we do it all independently without corporate or political influence. But we can't do it without you, now more than ever. Please help us stay on your public airwaves by going to bradblog.com slash donate to help keep us going. That's bradblog.com. donate and thanks. Hey, this is Brad. You're listening to an encore presentation of the Bradcast. Donald Trump is an historic president. He is the most historically unpopular president in modern history. In every critical category, Donald Trump is underwater. All I do is win, we, we, we no matter what. Well, you know that Gavin Newsom is starting to look like kind of a winner these days. Welcome back to the Bradcast, Brad Friedman, from brand blog.com with the great Heather Digby Parton of Salon Drift Glass of the pro-left podcast. All right, we will get to California and the Prop 50 redistricting issue in a moment. But while American voters threw a collective subway sandwich at Republicans on Tuesday, and especially the Trump administration in state after state after state. contest after contest, on Thursday, just before air, news from a courtroom in D.C. that the sandwich guy, the guy who berated and then threw a subway sandwich at the chest of one of Trump's federal immigration thugs in D.C. over the summer was found not guilty of the misdemeanor assault with which he was charged after the feds failed to be able to secure even a... A federal grand jury felony indictment against them. So they sought a misdemeanor charge instead for the sandwich hero. You see what I did there. Drift Glass, any thoughts on this? And would you like chips with them? That's a wrap there. There's too many jokes. I mean, this is a big fat one over home plate. I just can't resist. So I'm going to say this is the best story of the week, really, just because it's glorious in every aspect. It was a jury trial. This, you know, badass alpha male cop had to stand up in front of a bunch of people and say he was wearing body armor. Yes. The onions and the mustard. Man, I'm going to dream with them for the rest of my life. And it laughed him out. It laughed him out of court. It laughed him out of court. And it was another example of the Trump administration not knowing how courts work, how their triers of facts. And the jury's like, are you kidding me? This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. So yeah, A plus plus. I agree. Digby, I'll let you get in on that if you want. But as we're short on time, I'm going to sort of try to move us forward at the same time back to Gavin Newsom in California. I've got to say, I figured Prop 50 was more likely to win than not on Tuesday here in California, where you and I both voted. But the margin of victory, almost 30 points.

And frankly, what could once all the ballots are counted over the next several weeks could amount to a two to one victory. You had people lined up for hours to cast this one vote. The only single thing on the ballot and they lined up for that. What does that tell us about the energy against Trump, at least here in California, you know, where the ads were all about vote yes to, quote, stick it to Trump in support of Prop 50. I think those ads were put out by Tom Steyer, weren't they? I think he paid for them itself. No, I think they were all, almost all of them seemed to be stick it to Trump. Was it only to Tom Stair? But I think he literally said stick it to Trump. But yeah, anyway, it was great. And I was surprised by the margin. And I knew it would be good, but I didn't know it would be that good, just like everything else on Tuesday. But, you know, this knew some. did something. Drift class mentioned this earlier, that there was, you know, that Democrats have to learn how to take risk and learn that taking risk has benefit. And yes, sometimes you'll lose, but it's worth it to swing for the fences. And Gavin Newsom did that, you know, there was an article this week that I didn't know, I had not heard this before, but that when they did early, internal polling, this thing was not popular. They had like a 35% approval. And it was recent, you know, this is a recent campaign. July, they had a 35% approval. And a lot of people within his orbit were saying, don't do it. And he said, no, I'm going to, I want to do it. And we have to at least try. We've got to at least try to do this and, you know, sort of set the example. And so he did it. And look at the big win that there was there. And they got a lot of money in and it was not all from the big donors like the other side had. This was smaller donors sending in their money. He actually didn't add saying, you don't need to send any more money. We have enough. We've met our goals. Thank you very much. But, you know, you don't need to do that, which was very cool. And it sort of indicated just how much, how strongly people felt about it. And I think that there is an excellent. a lesson to be had here. And it's ended up, you know, it's got Wes Moore in Maryland. Now he's pushing against some of his own kind of tepid people in the assembly there to redistrict. And you're seeing this kind of kind of have a cascading effect among Democrats. And, you know, Gavin Newsom, love them or hate him is showing away in a lot of ways here. He's just really, he and J.B. Pritzker and some of these other guys that are fighting back from the big blue states and just saying, you know, no, we're not putting. up with this, it has had a really salutary effect. And I think that Democrats across the country are feeling it. And this was perfect. And I really hope, I think, because this is another thing, you know, mentioned earlier, this redistricting in Texas may not work out for these guys. The Latinos did not vote. in big numbers for Republicans in this election on Tuesday. And by doing what they did to sort of embrace the Latino voters in Texas, they diluted some of their overseas. So they ended losing big on your end of this. It could be. I mean, if you look around, you know, they're taking districts where, you know, they're easy 10, 15 point Republican districts. They're changing those down to, you know, maybe eight, five point Republican districts. If you have numbers like you had on.

Tuesday next year, there goes that, you know, that five or six point buffer that these Republicans thought they had could, you know, just immediately slip away. So it remains to be seeing how well that works. Drift Glass, a week or two ago. Well, Heather mentioned what Gavin Newsom was sort of calling on these other states, saying, all right, look what happened out here, guys. It worked. It worked well. We got people to line up for, you know, two and three hours after polls closed for this unbelievably geeky in the weeds idea of, you know, changing the independent redistricting commission to a, I mean, the fact that people even understood that is amazing to me. I didn't even understand it. In his speech, he called out the other states, including your own state, Illinois. Now, a week or two has reported that... Hakeem Jeffries was meeting with Illinois officials to encourage them to redistrict your state, your already gerrymandered state. Any idea where that effort stands at this point in Illinois with a strong Democratic governor in J.B. Pritzker? And will the clear hunger for it out here in California help to convince any of your officials that are still on the fence about it out there in the Lando Lincoln? I think they're weighing the fact that there's not much left to squeeze out in terms of redistricting. I mean, they could probably get one seat. I'm pretty sure they could do that. But again, J.B. Pritzker doesn't talk to me as much as he used to. And I don't know what. It's mostly me. And I apologize. But it is a Democratic majority in the legislature, a Democratic governor. And there's going to be a Democratic governor in the next election. So it's not for lack of an interest in doing it. if it were efficacious. I'm just not sure how much more they can get out of it, and I'm not sure if they want to join. with the people who are saying, this is just a terrible idea, or open the can that Illinois is already very heavily gerrymandered. Yeah. And the reason I have a Democratic congressperson who is a nice centrist farm bill Democrat is because my district was gerrymandered away from the Republican lunatics who occupied it before. So it just might be too big of a minefield for them to dance. And there's a bunch of other stuff they can be doing. Money, support. get out to vote. We don't need people here going to the polls knocking doors as much as they might need a neighboring states. We can loan resources to them. We can be a state where you can come for your abortions. J.B. Pritzker just broke ground on a government-sponsored grocery store in Venice, Illinois. What? I didn't even know that they had communism in Illinois. We do. We're damn proud of it. And his tagline was, I'm a capitalist, but I believe, you know, in, there are food deserts out there.

And I believe the government has a role to play. And he broke ground on it this week. That would be billionaire, J.B. Yeah, he's a big. And he's happy to throw the word oligarch around. He's not a fool. He knows who he is and he knows what he believes. And I'm glad he's on our side. Very quickly, because I literally am out of time here. So let me get a thought from both of you guys, Norm Ornstein. He on social media on Tuesday night, as the clean sweep was coming in for Democrats, said that no doubt Trump will go ballistic, but it will put Republicans in Congress on their heels, expect some resolution of the shutdown very quickly thereafter. Very quickly, is he right? Are you seeing any signs that Republicans have learned any lessons here and that they want to get the hell out of this shutdown that is clearly horrible? harming them? Drift Glass? In our state, Mary Nazi Miller is still on the, they want to give illegal things before they'll feed starving people and blah, blah, blah. So she's still doing that. But I take great inspiration from Marjorie Taylor Greene, who would really like this thing to end, because if it doesn't, her people are going to be plowed under. And she seems to be smart enough to realize that, surprisingly enough. Digby? Well, Marge seems to be, she's setting herself up for presidential run. I just read that this morning. And so she's taking. Where do I donate? Where do I donate? She's creating a persona for herself as a feminist, populist, mega nationalist. So, you know, good luck with that. Anyway, happy to have her, you know, out there talking against Trump. That's always good. I love to see the mega dissension. I have no idea. where they are on this. I think they're all over the place. The Republicans are on the shutdown. It's got in sometime. Trump wants them to break the filibuster. They're not going to do that. And, you know, we'll just have to see. I think they're panic. But I think the Democrats are getting nervous too. So at some point or another, there's something's going to have to break here. But I have no prediction. I don't. I don't know where it is. All right. We will talk to you about that when that happens. And by the way, as far as breaking the filibuster, please make my day. Let's do it. Heather Digby Parton, you can find her work at salon.com and digby's blog.net. You can find and follow her on the social medias, especially Blue Sky at Digby 56. When it comes to Drift Glass, you can find him everywhere, but especially a blue sky where he is Driftglass, and his blog is Driftglass.Blogspot.com, but mostly... His podcast is proleftpod.com, where you can download it every week, rain or shine. Always a delight to speak with you guys. Hopefully we'll do it again soon because I know you're not flying anywhere when all the air.

ports are going to be shut down. So you'll have nowhere to go. Wow. We'll talk soon. Thanks, guys. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, quick break. And we are back with Desi Doyen and the Green News Report with the climate angle on elections 2025 and more. That's straight ahead on your broadcast. I'm Brad Friedman. You're listening to The Bradcast. We are 100% listener supported thanks to listeners like you who stopped by bradblog.com slash donate. You're listening to an encore presentation of the Bradcast. By the way, some good news breaking as I was speaking with Digby and Drift Glass. The federal judge has ruled that Snap must be fully funded. For 42 million Americans, that's food assistance for 42 million Americans, and it must be done by tomorrow, saying the White House did nothing to ensure that this month's payments would be delivered on time. Good. Good for that, Judge. Yes. I'm sure Trump's head will be exploding now. All right, let's get to it. Our latest Green News report. This was never about just winning an election. It was about what comes. next. Democrats win in key climate races in the 2025 elections. Could the president impose a 50% tariff on gas-powered cars and auto parts? to deal with the unusual and extraordinary threat from abroad of climate change. Climate change raised in Supreme Court oral arguments over Trump's tariffs. Plus, Brazil's fight against deforestation is paying climate dividends. All of those stories and more straight ahead. From bradblog.com, I'm Brad Friedman. And I'm Desi Doyen. Stand by for six minutes of independent green news, politics, analysis, and snarky comment. If the court blesses this unlimited presidential tariff power, future presidents, i.e. Democrats, we're going to do the same thing. An all too likely example would be a climate emergency. I could see this happening. Oh, you could see tariffs put in place for an actual emergency? Joe Kernan of CNBC instead of Trump's pretend emergencies? Good. This is your Green News Report.

Cheney died this week at 84. Among many other actions, Cheney worked to spread fear and doubt about climate science and solutions and was instrumental in reversing early U.S. climate policy and obstructing action at home and abroad. Well, that's what happens when you put an oil services guy in as vice president, I guess. In the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, a majority of justices appeared skeptical of Trump's use of... national emergency declarations to impose tariffs. Plaintiff's attorney Neil Katyal argued, If the government wins, another president could declare a climate emergency and impose huge tariffs. My friend's answer, this administration would declare it a hoax. The next president may not quite say that. Finally, good news in Brazil. Since the election of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva two years ago, Brazil has dramatically reduced deforestation of the Amazon rainforest, which absorbs a significant chunk of humanity's emissions. In turn, Brazil's emissions fell 17% since last year, the biggest drop since 2010, proving once again that elections matter. Yes, they do. Thank you, Brazil. For much more on all... of these stories and the ones we couldn't get to today, check out our website at greennews.bradblog.com. Find, follow, and share us planetwide on the social media's, especially blue sky, at Green News Report. I'm Brad Friedman. And I'm Desi Doyen. And this has been your Green News Report.

All right, we're going to dance our way out of here. Thanks again to our guest today, Heather Digby Parton of Salon, Drift Glass of the Pro Left podcast, and of course, Desi Doyen, our producer, thank you for everything you do. Yep. We will, if you missed any portion of today's show or any other, you want to hear it again, share it with someone you know, love or hate. You can do that for free at bradblog.com, no paywall at all. It's all free thanks to those of you who hit a donate button while you're there or go straight to Bradblog.com slash donate to help us stay on. on your public airwaves and to help everyone else enjoy the program. You can drop me email. I am Bradcast at bradblog.com on the social media as you will find me at the Bradblog. We will see you there. Until we see you here next time, I'm Brad Friedman. Good luck, world.