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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Welcome to Pod Save America. I'm Jon Favreau.
I'm Jon Lovett. Tommy Vitor.
On today's show, we'll talk about the news that Trump appears to be giving up on his $1.8 billion insurrectionist slush fund. He also seems quite uninterested in ending the Iran war, saying he, quote, couldn't care less whether talks break down. We're also going to talk about Tuesday's big primaries this week in Iowa and here in California, as well as more turbulence in Maine for Graham Plattner.
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Chapter 2: What does Trump think about JD Vance's presidential potential?
crazy it is he wants to lose the midterms do you see him holding up the story being like whoever edited this who did a terrible job the pissy cadaver he looks so his he has such a terrible like kind of his whole facial expression just like just it's so unlikable just the holding up the story with the money on it
So obviously none of this is going too well politically for Trump, but unfortunately for him, even his renovations and corruption are running into some stiff headwinds. On Friday, a federal judge blocked Trump's plan to close the Kennedy Center for renovations and also ruled that he can't just rename it for himself.
There was a very long Truth Social post where he was ranting about that, that I have to tell you, I honestly couldn't get through it all. It's just he was very upset. But basically he's like, I'm giving up on the Kennedy Center. That's it. Forget it. It's like, all right, cool.
Yeah. Hey, man. Yeah. Leave her alone.
The same day, another federal judge in Florida reopened Trump's IRS settlement with his own DOJ because of what she called, quote, grievous allegations that the one point eight billion dollar insurrectionist slush fund was, quote, premised on deception.
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Chapter 3: How is the White House responding to the Anti-Weaponization Fund situation?
Then another federal judge in Virginia temporarily blocked the transfer of money in or out of the fund while she waits to hear arguments in a lawsuit challenging it. Finally, after all these reports that both Republicans in Congress and White House aides were pushing Trump to just give up on the slush fund altogether, it appears as if he's done just that.
Two senior administration officials told Axios that Trump will drop the slush fund with one saying, quote, it's dead for now. DOJ also posted a statement saying it'll, quote, abide by the court ruling blocking it, even though that block is only temporary. Do you guys we haven't heard from Trump as of this recording.
We got to hear from the big boy before it's done. It's not done till the big boy speaks.
Yeah. And even then, who knows?
Chapter 4: What are the implications of the recent primaries in Iowa and California?
Even then, right. But do you think he backs down this easily? And and I think more importantly, do you guys think this is still a political issue for Republicans?
So also, Senate Republicans actually were pretty bothered by this in a closed-door meeting, of course. John Thune was actually out there saying he didn't like this very much, which is impressive for him. Of course, the only thing Senate Republicans could manage to do is...
Chapter 5: What did Senator Andy Kim witness at Newark's Delaney Hall Detention Center?
uh, quietly oppose it and then bravely leave town. That was their way of protesting it. It was, we're not going to give him more money for immigration that we don't need and we're going to leave town to signal our, our unhappiness with it. I assume and hope that we'll still have votes on it this week.
I think there's no, but given that it's only temporarily on hold, uh, and Trump clearly wants to do this, I think Democrats need to get Republicans on record that they would oppose having this kind of a slush fund be legal now or in the future. And so let's get them voting on that.
uh because even if they're privately saying it they'll have to publicly do something yeah the for now bothered me for now part of that report bothered me i'm hopeful that you know when you're primary john cornyn you're primary bill cassidy and when tom tillis hates you all republicans in the senate Maybe they will prevent this from ever passing or coming to be. I don't know.
I don't know if you guys read the big New York Times piece from over the weekend about how the slush fund came together. But it read like the blueprint for a future RICO case. It was like Boris Epstein on the outside, like coordinating things. The Trump kids want immunity for like all IRS audits. for their tax returns in the future. The professional staff at DOJ are either horrified or quitting.
And then the White House political staff was just cut out of the process because they probably knew that it was toxic. And it's like the most corrupt sounding shit imaginable. And so, I don't know, knowing Trump, it's probably not the end of it.
Schumer is going ahead with ā or he said he's going ahead with making sure they have to vote on it. And the vote is going to be on ā originally, I think the first time we talked about Democrats potentially proposing amendments on this, it was like to restrict the fund or whatever. There was a couple of proposals out there to just ban the fund completely forever.
And that's what Schumer is going with reportedly, he said today. And I think that's great because ā Like what Republican now is going to vote against the ban now that Trump has said or at least the White House has signaled that they're giving up on it. So Trump doesn't say anything between now and the vote.
Like if you're a Republican voting on this, you can either vote against the ban and really fuck yourself in the midterms because now the White House has abandoned it. But now you're on record supporting it or you can vote for the ban and then the ban becomes law. And then it doesn't matter if Trump backs off because now it's against the law.
Well, right.
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Chapter 6: What are the conditions like for detainees at Delaney Hall?
Our listeners probably saw him speak in 2011, even though they don't remember it. The owner knew it was him at the time. He was a 19-year-old. He delivered a speech asking Iowa legislators not to pass a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in civil unions that went super viral back in, what, 2011? And it was a great speech, really powerful speech, like supercharged his career.
So I interviewed them both. I liked them both a lot. everyone seems to think that Josh is likely to win. A lot of people I know who work in Iowa politics think he is more electable because he's won in more conservative parts of the state. But we're just going to take on Congresswoman Ashley Hinton for Joni Ernst's seat because she's resigning.
And no matter who wins, Iowa is like ground zero for politics this next cycle because you got Rob Sand, who could be the next governor. You have this open Senate seat. And then there's like three competitive House races, a bunch of other statewide things. So like Iowa is absolutely crucial.
So this was one we're going to be watching going forward. I will say that I've been impressed by both of them, by both Josh Turek and Zach Walz.
Chapter 7: How does the ICE detention system impact the detainees' legal processes?
And I know some of these Senate primary fights are particularly intense, and I know this one is too. I was kind of joking about Josh Turek probably wishing that Schumer didn't spend some PAC money on him or necessarily recruit him. But I think that I understand why Walz has tried to make this a race about sort of an outsider versus the establishment as Turek is the establishment.
I kind of think that like, you know, Turek being picked by Chuck Schumer is not quite the same as Turek being part of the establishment or the establishment spending money on him. Like a lot of the money that's spent on him is vote vets. So it's like, it's not... At least for me, it doesn't worry me that he's some establishment pick necessarily.
I feel like the case for that isn't as strong as in some of these other cases. But I also like, you know, Zach Walls was in here too. I thought he was very compelling as well. So I like both of them. Love it? Anything? No.
I think there's some races where being seen as like the Schumer guy, the D.C. guy, I think has been a real cross to bear. I think that was that happened in Maine, which we'll talk about in a second. I just don't think it's been that in Iowa as much this time, in part because this vote that's by has been so big and so significant in helping push push Josh forward.
Also, he's a known quantity in western Iowa.
um i think he's never been worked in dc yeah so i think it's harder to lay that on him but we'll see we should also say that for people wondering the reason that votes vote vets is uh spending money on him is not because he's a veteran but his his father was in vietnam and potentially exposed to agent orange and that's why they think joshua has spina bifida but also i think vote vets is seen as doing schumer's political getting here also true also true
All right. Let's turn to California. The big race, of course, is the jungle primary for governor. We have covered the campaign a lot. And between us, we've interviewed Tom Steyer, Katie Porter, and Matt Mahan. We also reached out over a dozen times to the apparent frontrunner, Javier Becerra. And even though they expressed interest, they unfortunately wouldn't commit to a time. Okay.
Same question for each of you. Who'd you end up supporting and why? And... Who else did you like? If this were a ranked choice voting, who might you support after that?
Well, my ballot still hasn't been filled out.
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Chapter 8: What are the political ramifications of the current immigration policies?
It's Steve Hilton versus Becerra or Steyer because the state's registration is going to take care of itself. And there's just... It's not a concern I have that Steve Hilton is going to become governor. So I just voted for Katie Porter because I like her. And it's like I realized that she has... It is the least strategic thing. It is the least strategic thing I could do. But...
Katie to me is like, I've known her a while. The temperament with her staff stuff is obviously, it bothered me a lot because we've known her forever and I actually didn't know that until those stories came up. And I also don't think she's gonna win at this point, but I'm like, who do I wanna be governor? She's thought about the job a lot. She has like a really well thought out policy platform.
She's actually worked on passing legislation and getting things done when she was in Congress. And I feel like she's just like done the work for the job more than anyone else.
But if you would rather Tom, I feel the same way, but I would rather like, as of right now, and I want to talk to Javier Becerra, if he's willing now, like I think Javier Becerra has said he wants to come on the show. but he's hoping that he and Hilton get through the other side, right?
And then of course, we're doing an interview about a Democrat versus a Republican, which is very different than a conversation about a Democrat versus a Democrat. But as of right now, I think Tom Steyer has answered some of the harder questions better than Javier Becerra. And if it's Becerra, I'm voting for him.
And if I'm trying to get the best, because I believe you, I don't think Hilton's gonna be the governor of the state. I want the best person to be the governor of California. And right now, if there's, I wanna see, and maybe also Becerra having to beat Tom Steyer would make him a stronger candidate too. So that's my kind of-
hope that we can get Tom Steyer through this thing so that we have a better debate and Javier Becerra has to be put through his paces if he is going to win.
Yeah. I do feel like, you know, as sort of bleh as this race has been for governor, I am very open and hopeful that either Steyer or Becerra will prove me wrong and become a great governor. And you're right. Maybe if it's Becerra and Steyer in a runoff, then there's even more time for them to duke it out and show that they're ready for the job. We also got a mayoral race going on here in L.A.,
Love It interviewed challenger Nithya Raman for the show, who we all know. And I supported Nithya, donated to her, known her a long time. We also reached out to Karen Bass, who has come on the show before, but she opted not to come on before the primary. Nithya and Bass are in a close race with reality TV personality turned mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt.
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