Trump Rejects Iran’s Offer as Democrats Hit With Devastating Redistricting Blow Ahead of Midterms

What's up y'all? I'm Skyler Diggins, 7-time WNBA All-Star, Olympic gold medalist, and mom. And I'm Cassidy Hubbard, host and reporter for nearly 20 years, covering the biggest names and stories in sports and mom. And this is and mom, a community for athletes, game changers, and moms of all kinds. Dropping May 14th. Tap in with us. Do you ever wonder what's in your lotion? If you look at the back of the bottle, it could contain more than a dozen ingredients. And they may not all be regulated. The threshold is so high that only 11 cosmetic ingredients have been restricted by the FDA since 1938. This week on Explain It To Me, the chemicals lurking in your cosmetics. New episodes Sundays wherever you get your podcasts. Will America recover its political decency after Trump leaves office? I think the bigger concern I have than Trump's staying power is, let's say he's cratering. He has had an effect on the civic mind that is not going to go away. I'm Preet Bharara, and this week, George Packer of The Atlantic joins me to discuss Trump's lasting effect on the American mind. The episode is out now. Search and follow. Stay tuned with Preet wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to Raging Moderns. I'm Scott Galloway. And I'm Jessica Tarlev. The easiest way to support the show is to subscribe to our YouTube page. All right, let's get into it. Iran has responded to the U.S. proposal to end the war in the Middle East as fighting between the two countries continued in the Persian Gulf. Tehran is reportedly offering a phased de-escalation, including reopening the Strait of Hormuz and temporarily suspending uranium enrichment in exchange for sanctions relief and access to frozen funds. The major gaps remain over Iran's nuclear program and Israel is signaling it has no interest in a deal that leaves Iran's nuclear infrastructure intact. Here's what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday. Is the war with Iran over? And if it isn't, who will decide when it is? I think it accomplished a great deal, but it's not over because there's still nuclear material enriched uranium that has to be taken out of Iran. There's still enrichment sites that have to be dismantled. There's still proxies that Iran supports. There are ballistic missiles that they still want to produce. Now we've degraded a lot of it, but all of that is still there and there's work to be done. So, Jess, with Israel signaling the war is nowhere near over, is there any realistic path to a deal that doesn't involve Iran's nuclear program? So, Trump has already come out and said that he's not interested in their latest counter-proposal. I get it that there's a lot of back and forth and I do like the idea. If it's feasible to get a 30-day deal, then hopefully you can get a longer-term deal because obviously it takes time. It took 18 months to get the JCPOA, so obviously we're not going to get a deal in two weeks. But I am very concerned about the different pages that it seems like the U.S. and Israel are on when it comes to this. And I think it's a pretty big deal that Netanyahu came on 60 minutes to send that message, right? That he came to American media, that he didn't do it as a press conference, he didn't do something with the Trump administration, did it on his own, and it was quite a shot, I think, across our bow. Not necessarily saying, we're going to do this whether you like it or not, but to make it very clear and to our largest news-consuming audience that Israel does not consider this anywhere close to done. So if the Trump administration was thinking that maybe they could take a deal that was like a JCPOA or a JCPOA light even, Israel is saying not so fast. Well, so oil prices did drop and U.S. markets rallied, even as reports of mass layoffs in Iran continue. Do you think the economic pressure on Iran might actually start forcing some kind of resolution here? So this is stuff, I thought it was a really interesting piece of the New York Times at this deep dive on what's going on inside the actual Iranian economy because all we've been focused on is how long can their oil last, right? And we've heard everything from two weeks to now it's three to four months, apparently, that it can. And so we haven't heard much about regular people in Iran. But I don't think the RRGC or the Ayatollah cares, frankly. Like, if people are losing their jobs, if they're starving, if they can't stay in their homes, I mean, these are people who are happy to murder protesters in the streets. So I think that they're very dug in on this and they see a lot of evidence that the U.S. isn't as strong of a position as they were or certainly as they project when they're in these press conferences or at these Pentagon briefings with Secretary Hegzeff. So I'm not that concerned about that aspect of it. They do trace it back to, you know, before 2026 that the economy was struggling. And that was even, frankly, a stronger argument for not doing a military intervention like this and finding some way to support the very brave protesters and see if they could get the old Ayatollah out who was 86 years old and dying of cancer. But I don't see these guys as like the, you know, the types that really care if you're complaining about the fact that you can't put food on the table for your family. What's your take on the economy side? Well, we make the mistake. We have an inability to empathize with the enemy because Americans' tolerance for pain is about a million times lower. It's like comparing men to women in terms of their ability. I love that meme that I finally understand what childbirth is like because I have a really bad cold, you know, set a man. The man flew as we call it. Americans, I think we underestimate how much economic pain the Iranian people would likely endure perhaps under the threat of death or what have you. I agree with you. The IRGC is not that worried about people's living standards, but I do believe that economic warfare is probably the way to go here. But we vastly, I think, underestimate the amount of time that these folks could hunker down in terms of just straight economics. The straight of Hormuz carries 20% of the world's oil and closing it is a bit of a tourniquet on kind of the global economy's femoral artery, if you will. And the Iranian economy, these economic sanctions are working. The economy there is feeling the hit. The IMF has estimated the Iranian economy will shrink by 6.1% in 2026. That may not sound like a lot, but smaller declines have caused revolutions and get this, speaking of revolutions, with 69% annual inflation, which is worse than Russia after the Ukraine invasion. But most economists who understand the fulcrum or the intersection between what the economy would need to do and when there would be some sort of civil unrest, they would need to decline another 20 to 30% before it destabilizes the Iranian public. Or they got to the point where they were willing to take those sorts of risks, which involves them being murdered in the streets. And Iranians are historically more resilient to economic pain than any Western democracy see above. Their tolerance for pain is much higher than ours. And I still believe the most underreported story of all of this is that Reuters is reporting $7 billion in bets on foiling oil prices that have been placed literally minutes before major Trump announcements. Just on March 23 alone, $1.4 billion was wagered in a single one minute window before Trump delayed strikes on Iran. That's just not a coincidence. It's a purposeful business model. And again, sort of under the notion of we broke a euphyxia, Europe has six weeks of jet fuel left. The flip side is British Petroleum's profits just doubled. American oil companies are having record profits. So the war is working out really well for some people. But I'm reading this stuff every day and it is difficult for me to understand the strategy and objectives here because it's sort of the war is over. That's why we need to continue it. They have no cards. The negotiations are going great. But I might destroy their entire civilization. It's just so all over the map. Almost like they're lying to our faces depending on the hour. And you see even some of the most dedicated Trump administration boosters in the media getting frustrated and actually asking tough questions of people like Secretary Wright, the energy secretary, who's now having to float a gas tax holiday, which would only get you 18 cents off your gas. But think about the posturing of the administration to affordability as a hoax. Foreign policy matters to like, we're going to try to get you some relief because they know also that even if we pulled out today, right, like all American troops disappeared, you would not have gas prices going back to normal until into 2027. So that's the midterms, obviously. But like just for regular cost of living issues, they're not going to be able to unwind this. And I think you're so right to point out the capacity or the threshold that either country has for taking economic pain or even physical pain from this. Like Iranians, at least true believers in this think, you know, 72 virgins await, right? And we're mad because it's going to cost more to get to work today. And we feel those things very deeply. We project them. We get in the streets. I mean, people are showing up at these town halls all over the country, very conservative to very liberal places and absolutely losing their minds about this. And I don't know if you saw this piece in the Atlantic that Robert Kagan wrote. So, you know, big neocon left the Republican Party in 2016. He started the project for the New American Century, which is this very imperialist think tank. He's basically been advocating for intervention in the Middle East since he was in diapers. And this piece is called Checkmate in Iran. And he says that the U.S. has suffered a total defeat with no precedent in U.S. history. He thinks that the consequences are going far past the region, global arms race for naval power. And I also, our munitions problem, which this was, we talked about this last week, that JD Vance is actually leaking to the Atlantic. It's kind of great for the Atlantic that they're getting all of these, you know, hot articles. But JD Vance is concerned that we don't have enough munitions to go forward. So like if China, for instance, as we're on our way to the summit in a few days, if they want to go after Taiwan right now, what would we be able to do about it? Everyone's sitting in the Middle East theater anyway, and our stockpiles are depleted. And it seems like at least the reports are indicating that the Iranian stockpiles are not nearly as depleted as we thought or what the administration is projected. So it seems like a real cornered rat situation. That's what the true social posts read as well from President Trump. And I don't know, besides a diplomatic solution that is reminiscent of the JCPOA, which is what they had agreed to. I don't see how Trump can get out of this, frankly. No, it's the definition of a quagmire. If he leaves, it looks like glass jaw. The only way the oil comes down is to guarantee or have the Iranians agree, at least in the short and the medium term, to decide that they're going to let a safe passage of any ship through the Strait of Hormuz. So if he leaves, it looks glass jaw and they have effectively constructed a toll booth, which the left can troll over. And if he stays, he alienates his party and there's just increasing frustration with him. Okay, let's take a quick break. Stay with us. And I'm going to get into it every Friday. I'll break down whatever chaos is happening in the world, then I'll sit down with a comedian. You can be progressive and not be like fucking annoying. Maybe an actor. They go, feminism has gone too far. You go, why? Because the Sadie Hawkins dance happened. Maybe a filmmaker. Since leaving that show, I'm challenged to sparing. I just got to hang out and try to do so. You're the one with a charmed life. Could be a politician, basically anyone who responds to my cold DMs. We're recording the whole thing in a beautiful studio, so yes, you can watch it on YouTube or you can listen wherever you get your podcast. This is not the place to get the news, but it is the place to feel a little better about it. That sounds like a lot part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Complex and unprecedented, the Spanish authorities are calling it. Antes del desembarco, asintomáticas. Passengers who'd been stuck aboard the Hanta or maybe Hantavirus-stricken Dutch cruise ship disembarked in the Canary Islands this weekend, prompting the highest stakes game of where are they now since maybe COVID? Some of the evacuees, American and French, have since tested positive for the virus, and yet public health officials seem remarkably calm. We do have one individual who was taken to the biocontainment unit early this morning, and we assess that individual. They are doing well. Possibly because this is not the one to freak out over. Today Explained drops every weekday afternoon. This week on Net Worth and Chill, we're diving into another edition of Am I the Asshole? Finance Edition. Trust me, these money dilemmas will have you questioning everything. I'm breaking down real stories from real people who are navigating financial situations that range from mildly awkward to absolutely unhinged, and I'm giving you my unfiltered take on who's on the right and who needs a serious reality check. Because let's be real, when it comes to mixing relationships and finances, someone's always asking if they're the asshole. Learn how to set boundaries, protect your wealth, and avoid becoming the villain in your own financial story. Listen wherever you get your podcasts or watch on YouTube.com slash your rich BFF. Alright, so let's move on from the uncertainty in the Middle East to uncertainty in the U.S. midterms. The Virginia Supreme Court has struck down the state's redistricting referendum, ruling that Democratic lawmakers violated procedural rules in placing the constitutional amendment on the ballot. Rep. James Clyburn, whose seat in South Carolina could now be at risk, had this to say about recent actions in the Supreme Court. I never thought I would see today that the United States Supreme Court would be so openly partisan with what it's been doing. And I really believe if you look at all of these decisions and you look at the history of the country, I think that Justice Roberts is going to take his place alongside some other infamous justices like Taney, who gave us the Drescott decision. That's pretty serious. To invoke. And you know, I get it. I was surprised that, and I mean, I learned this a while ago. I didn't just find out when the SCOTUS decision on Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act came out, but that South Carolina only has one Democratic seat. When you think of how important it is to the Democratic Party, right? The size of the black population there typically vote for Democrats and then it's only Jim Clyburn and then seven Republicans. I was like, oh, that doesn't seem fair. And then you look at how quickly Republicans are moving sometimes illegally through the southern states to change the map. And there's this lingering question, which I understand why our leadership doesn't want to overtly answer. But there was no way that you knew that this decision was coming. You just took $70 million and lit it on fire, right? $70 million that could have gone to other candidates that are running tough races. You know, we need to flip Ohio and Alaska, North Carolina, et cetera. And there's real palpable frustration with that, that we were galvanized into this movement. And there were, at least from the reporting that I've read, you know, signals that the Virginia Supreme Court was going to take this up in March. And the president was going to take this up and was going to rule against it. And maybe that explains why Abigail Spanberger at first was, you know, dragging her feet a little bit on this front. Well, I mean, so Democrats, I understandably thought that you fight gerrymandering or gerrymandering. And kind of, I mean, unfortunately, it looks like we've lost the map and the moral high ground. I think a big reason that Republicans continue to chalk up victories despite the satisfaction of what it feels like, just blatant corruption and poor leadership, is that I think the American public has decided they would rather have someone who is wrong and effective than someone who is right and ineffective. And that's how we would describe the Democratic Party right now. And unfortunately, I think when the autopsy is done on this, they'll see that the Republicans are much more strategic and played a much longer game around appointing judges at every level, getting people elected to city councils, you know, sort of like a ground game. And then it feels as if the law, if you will, is definitely, I don't know, these decisions just seem to more regularly come down on the side of whatever is in favor of Republican Party, even if it's inconsistent across other legal precedents. I mean, the playbook here is pretty straightforward. In Tennessee as a template, they had two Democratic Congress people in 2020, National and Memphis, and then Republicans redistricted in Nashville in 2022, and now they're on to Memphis. The playbook is pretty straightforward. Find the Democratic city and begin redrawing the lines until it disappears. And this notion that they're going to take it to the Supreme Court, I think at this point with the Supreme Court, it's like throwing a Hail Mary into the wind with a few seconds left on the clock. It's possible, but it's not probable. And the opportunity here is what Representative James Tallarico has been talking about in terms of messaging, and that is if elected, and a presidential candidate should adopt us, if elected, first 90 days, I'm going to de-jerrymander the United States. Full stop. I'm going to put together a bipartisan commission and maybe AI does it. Maybe we just take a grid and put it on top of the U.S. But we need to de-j-... I know it'll be chaos among the House representatives, so be it enough already. We are going to de-jerrymander the U.S. I love it. I mean, there is a gerrymandering ban that was a Democratic policy proposal 2021 and started, and all the Republicans voted against it. Voted against it, yeah. And some of them are losing their seats. If you talk to a California Republican, they would be pretty interested in a nationwide ban. But we have to get through this election with a map that will now be tilted against us. And I was... I totally agree with you. I was totally for fight, fire with fire. I was so excited about Virginia. I'm just like mad to lose that money. The odds of Democrats taking the House went down 10 percent, according to Cal. It's down to 76 percent. Dems are still going to take the House, and there's a very useful chart that the political report, they came up with it, that it was an R plus five in the end. So, you know, that's not great. I loved it when it was, you know, D plus, and we had totally offset their gains from what they did in Texas that started all of this. But R plus five, I won't say we can live with it. We have to live with it. You know, and this is what leader Jeffries has been saying. You got to go out and you've got to win. Right now, amongst likely voters, it's looking like a D plus eight-ish advantage. That is a good midterms environment for us. But undoubtedly a setback, you know, this talk of that they want, that Democrats are going to move to lower the age that justices can mean so that we can throw out this decision and get these judges out. Like, Jeffries isn't interested in that. We're not doing that. You've got a campaign. You've got to have good policies. You've got to go and win. I think we've got some swing seats that I think Dems are going to pick up that are not even assumed in the Cook Political Report chart. Virginia one, Virginia two, California 22, and North Carolina one are very winnable for us. So I think, you know, kind of eye on the prize that way. But, you know, I sat down to do the five on Friday and Jesse Waters walked in and he goes, reading about that decision and just thinking about you saying F around and find out just two weeks ago on the show. And I was like, oh my God. Yeah, but I mean, they fuck around and they get to fuck around. We fuck around and find out because we have a series of judges up and down appointed by a Republican. Quite frankly, there just is no fidelity across Republican controlled New York, New York state tried to gerrymander and the New York state to their advantage and the New York state court overturned it because the New York state judiciary is actually has some fidelity to the law. We need to de-gerrymander the U.S. and quite frankly, I don't think we should pack the Supreme Court, but we should absolutely institute retroactively term limits 12 years, somewhat of Brazil and Britain and shed some of this dead wood off of off of the court. Are you for DC and Puerto Rico becoming a state because these are going to be big 2028 topics by packing the court, getting rid of the filibuster DC and Puerto Rico. So I have a bias because I would, you know, I think I like the idea of acquiring Canada because then we would immediately have. I don't think Mark Carney wants to come even if we do love him on Raging Modern. No, I get that. It's not going to happen, but I love the concept because I think we should do an Aqua hire and that is invade Canada and then put them in charge. Oh. And I'd love the idea of national health care. Anyways, but you're not going to. I don't I don't see this. What was your question, Jess? I'm not sure I answered your question. Oh, DC and Puerto Rico. Oh, I'm sorry. DC and Puerto Rico. Well, I'm biased because I think that would obviously be to our advantage. I don't know the mechanics or what is the litmus test or what becomes a state. What are your thoughts? Well, that they're Americans that don't have the same kind of voting power. So, you know, that the argument is for democracy without representation. Yeah, we because we used to not like that. So, you know, that's the argument for it. Obviously, that gets complicated to some degree, but it's definitely going to be a 2028 issue. And when you hear Republicans talk about what we're going to what Democrats are going to do when they get into office, they're like, you know, retroactively impeach Donald Trump. Throw him in jail, whatever. And then, you know, but one of them is pack the court, then DC and Puerto Rico and each of the candidates is going to have to answer for why they're for and against those kinds of proposals. The problem with packing the court is then a Republican gets in and expands it to 18. I think you need systemic structural change that makes sense for both sides. And I do think that everyone or the public would be very supportive of term limits. You know, people on the court for 40 years to the point where they're no longer really adding any value. They just have a certain political viewpoint and they have their their aides doing all the work enough already. There needs to be a shedding of skin. I don't care if it's mandatory retirement of CEOs, an electoral body where we decide to figure out a way for young people to have more representation. One of the most damaging things in the world, and it's also affected the U.S., is simply put old men who won't fucking leave. I mean, it's just in the world, I mean, I'm taking it down my industry. In academia, there are so many talented young academics on the faculties and they end up leaving because there's no room for them to go up because we find some administrative job for a 75 year old who was the bomb and gap to accounting in 1988 and they won't fucking leave and they're not going to leave until its feet first. And they not only don't add any value, they become negative value because they feel their relevance slipping away so they become obstructive, constant opinions and faculty meetings and it's just like, Jesus Christ, put this put this person on an ice flow. And I think that infects the corporate world and I think it infects the government. And if I sound agist, I'm absolutely an agist. And you know who else is agist? Biology. And it's no accident that we keep transferring money from young to old. I'm getting well off script here. Let's take one last quick break. Does Chinese President Xi Jinping see Trump as a partner or an opportunity? So President Xi comes to this meeting with quite a lot of confidence. They recognize that President Trump is dangerous, potentially is unpredictable, but I think they also believe that they can manipulate him. I'm John Finer. And I'm Jake Sullivan. And we're the hosts of The Long Game, a weekly national security podcast. This week, former US Deputy Secretary of State, Kurt Campbell joins us to discuss the Trump-Xi summit in Beijing. The episode's out now. Search for and follow The Long Game wherever you get your podcasts. It's a new collection called Culinary Masters and we revisit interviews with some of the people who have really changed how many of us cook and think about food. People like Martin Yan. When I was so small in the first few years, I can only work and help out to wash vegetable to cut up something and help to bone the chicken. So that's why now I can bone a chicken in 18 seconds. Dr. Jessica B. Harris. Well, you know, I now know that it was neither the iron pots nor the wooden spoons, but there were multiple unspoken and as yet still unheralded and in many cases unknown gifts that Africa gave to the cooking of not only this hemisphere, but the world. And Claudia wrote in, to name a few. Why is this dish here? Who was here before? What kind of life did the peasants have? That's why this dish is the way it is. Search for the splendid table in your podcast app to listen to the series now. Welcome back. Jess, even with the apparent wins in the gerrymandering war, MAGA World found something else to be outraged about this weekend. A video of former President Barack Obama shaking hands with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. The two have known each other professionally for years, but that didn't stop conspiracy theories from exploding online with far right activists. Jesus Christ. Let's not even mention her name. A far right activists calling it a coup. Okay. Trump himself spent part of Sunday posting about Obama and true social and blaming him for the Iran situation. Okay, that makes sense. Jess, what are your, what are your thoughts here? People need more to do with their lives. So no one has ever been successfully prosecuted for violating the Logan Act. So like, let's just put that to the side. But, you know, this is the algorithm doing its job, right? People are making money off all of the cliques. It's obviously complete bullshit. Like, you know, former presidents meet with current heads of state all the time. And he was there to speak at a private company, right? He was like doing a speech. He was on the speech circuit, you know, and I assume he's getting paid more than I do for a speech, but, you know, he was just showing up to do it. And Carney came out of a sign of respect, which totally makes sense. And everybody is forgetting, and it should have been a much bigger deal, that Donald Trump spoke to Vladimir Putin no less than seven times when Joe Biden was in office in those four years and then came back to be president. So if you want a Logan Act violation, please redirect your attention to Mar-a-Lago and Donald Trump and, like, get over the fact that everybody likes Obama. And then Mark Carney, just not like Donald Trump right now, has a terrible relationship with the United States and is refocusing the world on Europe as the epicenter of Western democracy and commerce, or he thinks it can be, at least for commerce. And, like, there are just two guys who like each other and they're just smiling and shaking hands. I hate this stuff. It's like the faux outrage. It's like the tan suit again. Obama left office almost a decade ago, and this is the political equivalent of blaming my college roommate for my stocks going down. It makes absolutely, what a shocker, it makes no sense. No sense. But for those of you who prefer a good old-fashioned conspiracy theory, we've got UFO news. The Pentagon released 162 newly declassified files dating back to the late 1940s as part of a Trump administration transparency push or distraction push. The documents don't point to alien contact or a massive cover-up, mostly unresolved sightings, eyewitness accounts, and grainy infrared military footage the government can't fully explain. And despite all the online speculation, get this, Cal, she currently puts the odds of aliens actually being confirmed this year at 19%, one in five. Jess, is this anything useful here or is this just a distraction? No, they were, I actually like UFO porn and this was not great on a relative scale. They're quite grainy and I'm sure some of them were just, you know, like some kid. Remember the Chinese spy balloon that was actually just like a kid and his dad or whatever floating around? So they were not that exciting to me. But one in five chance, aren't we basically at 100% that aliens are real or are you not there? Because I kind of am. 99%. If you believe space is infinite, then everything has already happened and everything already exists. So it would be impossible if you believe what astrophysicists are saying about space never ending in the space time continuum that aliens, it would be impossible that aliens are real. It would be impossible that aliens didn't exist. Whether they're hovering around and wasting any time looking at us, I'm somewhat skeptical. And if they had the power to do that, I think they probably would have just said, oh, there's some uranium we'd like and like do away. I don't know, or maybe we're pets in a zoo. But the thing that just, maybe the thing that just struck me so much here is that on Cal, she the odds of a recession this year are about the same as the odds of alien confirmation. So before you go to sleep tonight, just realize that according to the wisdom of crowds, there's now as great a likelihood as aliens being confirmed or a recession. Sleep well. It's aliens or a recession. I love that. I think I would take, I think I would go, I would bet yes on a recession more likely than alien confirmation this year. But that's just me. I'm a skeptic. Go ahead. No, I like it. I just also think about, you know, like the people who write these questions or like come up with these comps and then obviously some of it is just, you know, user feedback as well. But it's like my dream job to name the nail polishes. You know, like they always said that the guy who actually like picks the names for all of the Faro and Ball paint has the best job. I would like to do it for nail polishes. And I want to add to the distraction, which you did in the read-in of this. There is now a Jeffrey Epstein and Epstein files exhibit. Oh my gosh. Did you see that? Yeah, it's nearby. They have 3.5 million pages and 3400 volumes of the partially redacted Epstein files on display. And some of the survivors have come really moving stuff. I thought it was AI when I saw it online. It is so powerful and well done and its museum quality. I thought, my gosh, who organized and executed and funded this because it is for what they are trying to do. It is genius execution. I was just totally, anyways, go check it out. People should go check it out online. Regardless of your political leanings, it's just such an interesting activation for trying to get a viewpoint across. I thought it was really super, super interesting. Anyways, moving on to even something lighter. 17 Americans exposed to the Hantavirus on a cruise ship have arrived back in the U.S. Health experts are trying to confuse over the outbreak saying the situation appears to be contained. Calci currently puts the odds of the World Health Organization declaring the virus a public health emergency at 22%. But the headlines are reviving memories of the COVID pandemic and experts warn that outbreaks like this are becoming more common at a time when cuts to the CDC. The U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization and broader political dysfunction have left the country less prepared for the next major pandemic. And then there was the president yesterday saying he thinks kids should have fewer vaccines. Let's watch. But I look at these beautiful little babies and they get a vat, like a big glass of stuff pumped into their bodies. And I think it's a very negative thing to do. And I would like to see it. I'm not doing this in terms of Bobby or not. I hope they agree with that, but that's just my opinion. I would love to see much smaller shots, like four visits to the doctor. And I think you would have a much better result with the autism. Old dads. Have less old dads. And then you would have better results with the autism also. That hurts. Let me just say that hurts. No, just when you started, you're appropriately aged. No, I'm not. I'm 42 and 45. My swimmers were slowing down at 42 and 45. Don't say that because then my girls are going to have a problem because we were also, or Brian wasn't as 40. It's when we consummated our love. But Brian's big and handsome and robust. I look like the alien from close encounters of the third kind. I think your kids are going to be fine. As are mine, by the way, my kids are doing great. If you're listening, guys, you're fine. And my girls, maybe you'll listen in 20 years. You want her crazy sad? Yeah. Here's a crazy sad. More babies were born to women over the age of 40 for the first time than women under the age of 20. It's crazy, that reversal. And I felt better. I had one at 37 and one at 40. And I asked my OB because they say, you know, advanced maternal age, they've gotten over calling us geriatric pregnancies because they know that that's terribly mean. But, you know, I go to like a, you know, a cool OB in Union Square. And I said to her, do you even have any patients that are under 35 who are pregnant? She was like, no, I don't. I'm like, so could we just get rid of this classification, at least in the big cities? But it's a big, big shift. The demographic implosion across the West really is a threat. And I've always said that it's about money. But some of the research doing a deep dive around this shows that it's not just money. And that is even in Northern Europe and in Japan where they've put in place really strong economic incentives to try and encourage people to have kids, it hasn't been working. There's something around, we've got to make having kids cool again. Anyways, we'll do a deep dive on this. So back to the... Back to the hand to virus. Back to the hand to virus. So the consistent incompetence or the consistent loyalty over competence that has infected both Trump administrations is bubbling up in terms of strategic blunders and sclerotic messaging in Iran. It's also, I think the worst, probably the worst outcome that Americans took for granted is the competence of our good men and women at the CDC and our ability to cooperate with the World Health Organization. And I think, unfortunately, probably one of the most lasting legacies of the Trump administration is unnecessary death, disease and disability. Not just among the millions of women who we've kept funding for HIV, preventive care in Africa, but domestically with kids where for the first time we're seeing outbreaks of measles. And, you know, my feeling is we can't have enough vaccines. All the propaganda around the COVID vaccine, every time they tried to chase down a vaccine related death, it ended up, they could not confirm it had anything to do. And saying we should have fewer vaccines is like a pilot suggesting the plane has too many engines. The redundancy is the point. Any thoughts? Yes, to all of that, very pro-vaccine. I understand people's anxieties about the vaccine schedules, for instance, and like our pediatrician always offers. Like we can do two on this day or if you want to spread it out, if you think it'll be better for your baby or your toddler. Like we can talk about that, but not this idea of wiping vaccines generally off the map. Hantavirus-wise, hopefully everyone will be fine. We have the folks who are exposed. Quarantine only one is showing the mild symptoms. But the cuts to the CDC are a huge problem. The 2026 budget was an absolute disaster when it came to virus preparedness. It proposed eliminating about 750 million in preparedness grants that the states rely on. It's zeroed funding for hospital preparedness programs. Pulling out of the World Health Organization, we rarely talk about that. Because it's all like, oh, we pulled out of the Paris Climate Accords or pulled out of the JCPOA. The WHO pullout is an enormous deal. So we basically don't get the communications that the rest of the world is getting on time. So probably for the first time, certainly in recent history, the US is the slow one. Right? Like we're the tortoise and they're the preparedness hare, essentially, in this. And folks across Europe have spoken out about the fact that we would have been able to perhaps contain this hantavirus outbreak faster if the US had been plugged in from the start. There was also a role that Congress created in 2023 as we were coming out of the COVID pandemic to oversee preparedness to biological threats. That is vacant. And the White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy is also unstaffed. That was created in 2022 when we thought, hey, we had this crazy COVID-19 pandemic. Maybe we should be more prepared for the next one. The problem in a weird way is that there isn't enough shareholder value and profits that have been captured by vaccines by private enterprise to bribe the president. If you think about, in my view, the most seminal technologies in terms of benefiting the world, I would say jet transportation. My parents took nine days to crawl across the Atlantic in a steamship. I'll get there in seven hours. And you can book a flight if you book it well ahead for less than probably one or two days of average income. It's just extraordinary the way that it's opened up the world in terms of human connection and global commerce to PCs. The personal computer just changed. Absolutely. Absolutely. Everything. And then you have jet transportation, vaccines, and PCs have, and I would argue, vaccines have absolutely been one of the most seminal breakthroughs in technology. The problem is none of those three industries have been able to sequester that advance into shareholder value. So as a result, there isn't a multi-trillion dollar market cap industry similar to AI that can bribe the president. In other words, if you had several Moderna's two years ago, Moderna's lost 90% of its value, you would have an ability to essentially bribe this administration. This administration is pay for play. And unfortunately, because the vaccine industry, the winners are people around the world and not a small number of companies that are able to sequester shareholder value through IP distribution agreements, cheap capital, whatever it might be. So the problem is because this industry isn't profitable enough to create a small number of multi-hundred billion dollar companies who can then engage in corruption and bribe the president, we leave our kids catching measles because no one is out there making trillions of dollars that can then pay off the biggest prostitution ring in history. And that is a Trump administration. I'd like to leave it there, Jeff. Any comments? No, I love it when you talk Iraqi whorehouse and the Trump administration as a prostitution ring. So I think that's a great note to add on. Well, that's what I told you that. That's what Trump said to his decorator, make this look like the best Iraqi whorehouse in Baghdad. And just a quick reminder, Raging Moderates has a new schedule with longer episodes dropping Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday afternoons on YouTube and all the podcast apps. Plus, we're ad-free on Substack to get access to those along with exclusive live streams, take a priority for live shows and interact with us and our community of listeners. Join PropG+, at ragingmoderates.propgmedia.com. If you do, you can also expect our Raging Moderates newsletter, the Monday Rage, in your inbox every week. Sign up now at ragingmoderates.propgmedia.com. That's all for this episode. Thank you so much for joining us today. I'll see you tomorrow. Okay, see ya. There you go. Ready to launch your business? Get started with the commerce platform made for entrepreneurs. Shopify is specially designed to help you start, run, and grow your business with easy customizable themes that let you build your brand, marketing tools that get your products out there, integrated shipping solutions that actually save you time, from startups to scale-ups, online, in-person, and on-the-go. Shopify is made for entrepreneurs like you. Sign up for your $1 a month trial at Shopify.com.