Welcome to Raging Moderates. I'm Jessica Tarlov, and I'm here with the voice of a generation, Aaron Parnas. I love the intros keep getting better and different every week. Well, last week I didn't give you anything, or I even paused to let you say something before I flattered you and you were upset. So the male ego is fragile. I know. Yeah, very, very fragile. I work with Scott. I understand. I know the game. Scott, if you're watching, we all have fragile egos, apparently. He's definitely watching. I actually am always so impressed. No matter what he's doing, he's like, oh, I'm backpacking through Peru. And he's like, great conversation with Sarah Longwell. And I'm like, amazing. You are listening to your product. Fascinating. Yeah. Yeah. Good lesson in how to run a business. Lots of news to get to. I want to start with Minneapolis, of course, and an impending shutdown just hours away. The rollout of the Trump accounts, The DOJ's move to seize voter records. I hate Tulsi Gabbard in the background of that picture that someone got was sent shivers up my spine. I know. And the growing spotlight on Trump's health. Minneapolis first. We have the fallout colliding with the shutdown clock in Washington. Just days left to fund the government. The White House is betting on border czar Tom Homan to cool tensions after the killing of Alex Pretty and hoping he can reassure Democrats enough to keep DHS funded. But behind the scenes, there's open infighting inside the administration, finger pointing between Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem, my favorite plot line, and growing Republican frustration over Noem's handling of the crisis. I want to first start with Holman. He did a press conference this morning. We're recording this on Thursday in Minneapolis. Let's listen to this clip. I begged for the last two months on TV for the rhetoric to stop. I said in March that the rhetoric didn't stop, there was going to be bloodshed. And there has been. I wish I wasn't right. I don't want to see anybody die. Not officers, not members of the community, and not the targets of our operations. whether people out there don't like what i should do and if you want certain laws reformed and take it up with congress again isa's making this up they're enforcing laws enacted by congress and signed by president the same laws have been on the books for the last six presidents i worked for so what did you make of what holman says there and then just the press conference generally i want to hear from you first, but I have some kind of positive thoughts, actually, about what we heard. Well, two words, damage control. I mean, that's what this was, right? I mean, Tom Homan was sent there to lower down the temperature publicly. I think what a lot of people forget is that what's happening on the ground in Minnesota has been happening for a while and will continue to happen for a while, no matter what Homan says today. The Trump administration, Donald Trump, was upset not because Alex Preddy was murdered and the way it happened. He was upset because everyone saw it happening. Same thing with Rene Good. He is not happy with the public perception of his immigration enforcement activities. And his polling is dropping and that is what makes him upset. Not the policy itself. He's fine with the policy. And so sending Homan there in that press conference to me was a way to shape the public narrative, to change the topic of conversation, because Homan also said that he's going to reduce the number of agents on the ground and that this is an effort to kind of de-escalate in a sense. But based on everything I hear, sure, you may reduce the number of agents from 3,000 to 1,000, but 1,000 is still more than the entire Minneapolis Police Department, right? Enforcement will still happen on the ground. You'll still see these horrifying videos coming from on the ground. But at least for today, no one is talking about why Alex Preddy was killed. They're only talking about now Holman saying we need to deescalate a little bit. And so the public narrative is changing. And that is what the White House wants. Okay. So no lies told. I completely agree with you. I just want to add that Holman also talked about prioritizing people that are violent criminals and national security threats. And he did mention if you're here illegally, you could still get caught up in this. But it is not our top priority, which is basically the general understanding of what the Trump administration's immigration policy is going to be. And, you know, I have to regularly separate myself from a Trump voter since I understand it, but I still like my body can't let me get there. So that was kind of a return to where we started. And I think a nod to him doing a reset clock. And I believe that he also has to continue to serve both masters, essentially. And I think if Trump and Stephen Miller, who still wields a tremendous amount of control in there and doesn't hear, if you're here illegally, you could get swept up in this, then they're going to be pissed off. And it also gives you cover if that does happen, right? Like if some dad who's been here for 30 years and has just worked at a car wash and paid into Social Security and has American children gets mixed up in this, then that has to be okay. But in general, I think Holman is saying, I want to return to what the original mission was. And he also threw a tremendous amount of shade at Noam and Bovino saying, mistakes have been made here. I would not be here if things had gone perfectly. And so, you know, I've been called a Pollyanna before I'm going to be called it again. I'm choosing my glass half full at this particular moment. The two agents that shot Alex Prattie are on leave at this moment. We are reducing the number of ICE agents there. Tim Walls and Jacob Fry are at least in conversation with Tom Holman. and, you know, Holman emphasizes, I've worked for six presidents and they were fine with him. They liked him. Obama gave him an award even. So maybe we could get back to some, I don't want to say normalcy, but like something that doesn't feel like our constitutional rights are being stamped on every single day. So this is maybe one of our first decently sized disagreements on this pot. And the reason why to me is because what is normalcy right Since January 20th people constitutional rights have been stamped on every day They said that they were going to go after violent criminals All the data shows over the past year they weren't going after violent criminals. So even if you return back to where we were January 21st, that is still not in a good place in my opinion. And yes, Homan is saying that we're reducing the number of people we're going after. He's saying all the right things, but talk is very different from action. So I'm like, I'm very much holding my breath here. And I know you said like, yes, it is good that the two agents for that shot and killed Freddie are in administrative leave, but I want to see them charged. I want to see them investigated by the DOJ. And we learned yesterday that the Civil Rights Division isn't going to launch an investigation. Right. The agents that shot and killed Renee Good are not on administrative leave. We're never placed on administrative leave, even though that is technically standard policy. Procedure. Yeah, I mean, like, I'm not really holding my breath much here, honestly. I get it. Also, nice way to disagree. I'm totally chill with that. Much friendlier than how I disagree at my other job. What do you think about the potential for a shutdown? It does seem like Republicans in the Senate, they don't want to be in this position, but that Thune and Co know that they actually have to play ball on this and are willing to switch to the six mini bills instead of the larger spending bill that already went through the House so that DHS can be carved out. and the Democratic side saying we could be open to a very, very short-term CR on DHS so that we can get these reforms. You're exasperated. Let's have it. What's your shutdown view? My prediction on this, I'm going to be honest with you, I don't think we're going to end up having a shutdown. And I don't know what this comes out Friday. I think by the time this comes out, there's going to be a cave by the Democrats. That's my prediction. I may be wrong. Do you think a short-term CR is a cave? Yes, and I'll tell you why. Because a short-term CR doesn't actually do anything other than just like punts at the issue. They're going to vote. Say they have a short-term CR, then they're just going to go home. You have to, if you have a CR, you actually have to negotiate like, okay, XYZ has to happen. And I don't see that happening. I don't see Republicans really meaningfully negotiating too much. I also think like to me, like a shutdown here, partial government shutdown regarding, it's just DHS, right? And at the end of the day, like Democrats have talked a lot over the past week or something about how horrible everything is happening, how they want to impeach Kristi Noem, how they really want real accountability. And then to now say, OK, we're OK with a two week extension on ICE funding. A lot can happen in two weeks. A lot can be done in two weeks in terms of what ICE and DHS can do. I don't know. I just to me, it's like how much I mean, people want a backbone and like no one's showing a backbone these days. I don't know. You tell me. What do you think? Well, I'm always the Debbie Downer in this, like looking at reality on the ground, which is DHS or ICE funding is already gone through until 2029. So I think that people think that if there is a shutdown, that there's a way that we can cut off all of these dollars to ICE. And that's just not the case. Like we're talking about $10 billion in a sea of what did they get? $85 billion in the reconciliation bill. and that was the time when, I mean, I guess we fought as well as we could. We don't have the numbers for it. They, you know, barely got it through, but that's really when ICE got funded. So if you have someone like Roger Marshall who's spoken out about this, obviously Tom Tillis, Lisa Murkowski, who are saying that Christine Holm has to go, I'm sure that they would vote yes on impeachment. It does feel like there are going to be Republicans who will at least be in conversation, but I agree with you. two and a half weeks ago, Renee Good and Alex Pready were both alive. So clearly a lot can happen there. But maybe the confluence of Tom Holman and this conversation over funding brings a better reality on the ground. I mean, hopefully. I mean, hopefully. But like, to me, it's like, OK, like, great. There's a better reality in Minnesota. What's next? Are they going to Philly? Right. Like, are they going elsewhere? Like, is this going to happen again? Yeah. I don't know. Well, odds are, yes. Yes, right. And odds are we're going to see more people killed. And it's not even, to me, it's not even like Alex Preddy and Renee Goode. Yes, those are horrific murders. But those are just two examples. Like, thank God Liam Ramos wasn't killed, right? The five-year-old boy who was detained and used as bait. But right now he's literally deteriorating inside of a Texas detention facility, right? So, and for every Liam Ramos, there are dozens of others across the country who are in the same condition in detention facilities. So it's bad all around. There needs to be a complete overhaul. Before we move on to the next topic, I'm curious because I don't think that I've asked you this before. Do you think that mayors of sanctuary cities should play ball with the feds when they know where convicted criminals are, either within jails or somehow out in the public? So I think yes, with the caveat, right? I think like the jails is one thing. I think in the public is a different thing. So I think like and even in Minneapolis, they were cooperating with ICE detainers in jails already before all of this surge happened. I think I think in certain jails and not in others. Sure. But yes, I think you have and I've said it from the beginning. You agree with me that if you have a violent criminal in a jail and they are undocumented, like fine. Like those are the people that I should be going after as far as like where it gets difficult for me is say, for example, you have an unhoused individual who is undocumented, did nothing wrong, never committed a crime, but is going to a homeless shelter. You find out that they're undocumented and unhoused trying to get shelter. And then you call ICE to go and detain them. That's a problem to me. I think that, I mean, for a long time, we've needed to have a conversation about immigration reform and like a path to citizenship for a lot of these people here in America. So that's why I say like, yes, in terms of like the violent criminals, I'm fine with like mayors cooperating, but full cooperation involves apprehending a lot of people who probably shouldn't be apprehended. Yeah, absolutely. And we have some important conservative allies in that kind of argument, like Newt Gingrich. Yeah. Right. I mean, what has happened is forcing people who you would expect never to take a stand on this issue to come out and say, guys, we got to talk about what's going on. I think Hannity even said, like, the Home Depot stuff has to stop. Yeah. Right So and we know that the president is always watching Hannity So at least that Oh Amy Klobuchar for governor Oh I psyched I mean say Governor Klobuchar I mean it coming I know It so funny to me how excited the Republicans were when they got Tim Walls to drop out. And it's like, you guys just fucked yourselves. Like Amy Klobuchar is so much more formidable than Walls. I think Walls would have won, but I think it would have been a much closer race. I think Klobuchar sweeps by 20 points. Like, I don't think this is going to be. How many boyfriends are going to donate to her campaign. What do you mean, boyfriends? You don't know. That's the best thing that Amy Klobuchar said when she was campaigning. She said every single boyfriend I've had has donated to my campaign. All of them. All the boyfriends. Did you see her announcement video? Yeah. It was so good. I thought it was so good. And we're kind of used to announcement videos. Now I know we have to get like jacked up about it. And I'm like, this is the time we win Kentucky Senate. But I was like, you go, Amy. No, she's going to win. she's going to win by 20 points. And I mean, maybe this is her launching pad to a presidential bid at some point. Well, we'll see. We tried that. We did. I don't know. I think if you don't go in 28, then it's hard to go again because hopefully we get eight years of whoever the Democrat is. Please save us. All right, let's take a quick break. Welcome back. The White House is rolling out Trump accounts, a new government-backed investment program for kids, but the math behind it is already raising eyebrows. The administration says these accounts can build generational wealth, yet its own website shows some families would earn more by contributing nothing at all. Add in the corporate buy-in, celebrity endorsements, and Trump branding on everything. What are your thoughts on the Trump accounts? So the Trump accounts, the policy itself is not a bad policy at all, right? And you heard that it was offered to Biden and he said no? Yes, I did hear that. Nothing made me more hostile than hearing that. It's one of those populist policies that like 80 percent of America agrees with. Like to me, it's like if he named it investment account for kids, I don't think there'd be any opposition. But the fact that he decides to just throw Trump on everything, there is opposition to it. And it's unfortunate because the policy at the end of the day is a bipartisan policy. I think you had almost unanimous support in both chambers for that policy, not for the bill itself. I just wish it passed as a standalone and not part of the big, beautiful bill. Yeah. No, I agree with that. It's so upsetting that we live in a world where the branding of everything is what really sells. And I know Biden's spoken about how he regrets not putting his name on American Rescue Plan checks and how much of a difference that would have made in terms of the perception of what he was doing to help people. But, yeah, I was actually expecting the Trump accounts to be much better for people than they ended up being. Are you surprised that, like, it's not as good as they— No, I'm not. But I was actually hopeful because, you know, as a mother of young kids, and I'll be able to pay for my kids to go to college. But a lot of people are living in abject terror of the bills that are coming their way. And this idea that the government can help you out with that beyond your 529 is so good. And even getting big corporations, a lot of family offices, that's where the Dell contribution comes from. But like that's a great way for people to be thinking about their legacies. Right. And what they can give back. And you can get people individually helping out their states. Like I think Ray Dalio is doing it for Connecticut, for instance, where Bridgewater is headquartered. And all of that sounds so good. And then, of course, the actual rollout, you're like, WTF is going on here. Well, I will also say this is my inner socialist coming out right now. And is that your free flag fly? If Congress can pass legislation that provides these funds for newly born children in America, that means we can pass legislation to actually fully fund Medicaid. Right. Fully fund social service programs that Americans rely on. And that means the government can help. Like I am a full supporter. If Trump came out today and said, I'm going to give $100,000 in down payment assistance for first time homebuyers, like the Kamala policy or like close to $25,000, whatever. Great. Do that. Like we have the money to actually help people instead of spending it on like dumb stuff and things that like don't actually impact most Americans. Like let's actually help Americans. And this shows that Congress can do it. It's just chosen not to. Yeah. Congress. Get with it. We would like down payment assistance. Yes, we would. Absolutely. All right. This story I already said in the intro gave me chills. This week, the FBI searched Fulton County's election offices in Georgia, seizing 2020 ballots just days after Trump again predicted prosecutions over an election that courts have repeatedly said was fair. Tulsi Gabbard was there. Huge flares going up from that. Mark Warner, the Dem vice chair of the Intel Committee, released a statement about it saying, like, why are you there if there's no foreign influence issue? Oh, wait, I think I know why you're there. It always just comes down to elections. I think we did talk about it last week, how Pam Bondi sent that letter to Tim Walz saying, like, actually, we'll take ICE out if you just hand over your voter rolls. And it just feels like the elections is always the game. All of this is window dressing and people are getting off and, you know, Stephen Miller, more than anything, wants illegals rounded up. But it feels like all roads lead to these elections. It is terrifying. And I think the Tulsi Gabbard being there in like incognito mode, terrifying to me. They're going after the whole Venezuela theory that Venezuela somehow played a role in the 2020 election. I mean, that's that's like the path they're going down. But if you look at the search warrant, it's so much more expansive than it was once thought. They took all the ballots from Fulton County, every single ballot. They took every single voter roll from Fulton County in 2020. They took printouts from the voter machines. Honestly, I'm going to be like, this is conspiratorial, but this reminds me of, I don't know if anyone has seen Scandal who's watching. Everybody who's watching this has seen Scandal. Sure. But like the whole election voting machine scandal and scandal, like I'm just watching it happen in real life again. It's laying the groundwork for them to now serve search warrants in jurisdictions across the country where Trump doesn't think things were fair. And then ultimately I spoke to J Pritzker and he said why do you think they putting the National Guard down so that when it time for election season you have the National Guard quote unquote defending the polls But at the end of the day they not going and voting for you But most Americans are not going to go and vote if they think that it like the military is like defending the polls It like stifling free speech stifling people ability to vote And that the goal here is to undermine confidence in the elections and then ultimately undermine the elections themselves. And then you also have the SAVE Act going through, which increases the level of identification that you have to show when you go to vote, which we know is going to be especially burdensome on poor and voters of color. We've seen that time and time again. It does feel like a perfect storm. But if he did win in 2020, aren't we in his third term? And then it's unconstitutional and maybe he could leave tomorrow? Well, Steve Bannon says he could serve three terms. Steve Bannon says a lot of things, including that you should wear 75 collars at once. Yeah, literally. It's interesting, though, that Tulsi Gabbard has popped up for this because, you know, she was definitely sidelined in the whole Venezuela's situation. She was on a beach. Yoga on a beach in Hawaii with the aloha vibes. But this is where she's brought back. And I feel like, you know, as a former Democrat, she has very few kind of interlocking issues with this administration, but this is one where she can go full hog. And I guess they didn't want to get rid of her, So they found a job for her. Yeah, I think that's what it is. I mean, we'll see what this ends up leading to. But like, I mean, my question is like, are they about to criminally charge people? Like, what are they, like, what's the end goal here? Like, you seized all of these ballots. You seized the voting rolls. Okay, what's next? Like, are you gonna try to prosecute election officials? Because that's where I see this going. Because to get a search warrant, you need an open investigation. You need a target of an investigation. You can't just get a search warrant just to search. There needs to be a reason you're searching. I also want to know which judge approved the search warrant, but that's a whole other conversation. Yeah. No, it's definitely an interesting one. If you were a Brad Raffensperger, I can't even imagine what it's like being these people. Yeah, crazy. All right. Last thing I wanted to chat with you, Trump's health, which I feel like we're always so casual about. But there was a new huge interview where he obviously is talking about his quote unquote perfect health. And it's reigniting questions about his age and alertness. The piece features his aides explaining away moments when Trump appears to nod off. A medical scan described as, quote, routine and even a claim from the White House doctor that Trump is healthier than Obama. I hate when they do that. Like, it's just so silly. Like, one is 80 and one was 50. Yeah, 100%. I hate it. By the way, before I talk about Trump's health, I do want to show you this. This tweet was just posted for everyone who wants to see. That's a DOJ official, Ed Martin. Oh, no. With Sidney Powell. She's back? He says, good morning. How are you? She's back. The chief election conspiracy, that should terrify people. But regarding Trump's health, the White House isn't being transparent, in my opinion. Like, there are serious health issues there. Now, I don't know what's happening with him. But, like, just be honest. Be open and honest. That interview that you talked about, he, in the same interview, was talking about how, like, his father had Alzheimer's. And he was like, I don't know what it is. Just like, Caroline, tell me what this means. Like, he didn't know. Tapping his head. Tapping his head. Like, he didn't know what Alzheimer's was. And then, I don't know if you saw, there was another report from Politico that came out that the Slovakian prime minister privately told European leaders that Trump's mental state is, quote, dangerous. So, like, you have world leaders saying he's dangerous. You have people in the United States of America, members of Congress demanding an investigation. I think we need to have a serious talk about whether or not Jake Tapper's writing a book right now. Because, to me, this is a lot worse than anything Biden's ever done. Than the original sin. Then the original said, and I will swear to the end of time, I met with Biden in the Oval Office three weeks before he left office. He was sharp as a tack, right? Like, he was sharp. Yes. Was he old? Yes. But he was fine. And Trump right now, based on everything I see, exponentially worse, but no one cares. Well, people care. We just feel totally powerless about it. And then people come back at you and say like, well, where were you when you were talking about blah, blah, blah with Biden? Yeah. And yeah, he was definitely not as great post 4 p.m. But who amongst us is, which doesn't bode well for me since my show is at 5 p.m. What's one thing that makes you rage and one thing we should all calm down about? You're ready? I'm ready for this one. You know, I am so furious at D.C. government officials. And Mayor Bowser, if you are watching this, know that I am very upset because D.C. does not know how to shovel snow. I have fallen at least five times on snow and ice walking this past week. When you go through D.C. right now, it's like an obstacle course. There's like 10 inches piled up of snow at crosswalks. The street in front of my house has not been shoveled a week, almost a week after it snowed. And I have fallen multiple times. So that has made me has made every D.C. resident rage. As far as one thing to calm down about, I guess I'll give a shout out to I'm at a democracy forward conference right now. And something I learned today, which is actually pretty interesting, is that Trump actually hasn't won much in court in the district court level. He's only won about 30 to 40 percent of the time, which is less than 50 percent. Most of the cases never make it to the Supreme Court. Supreme Court never actually rules on a number of these things. So calm down about how all these policies are being enacted when they're not actually being enacted. So that was interesting to me. What about you? I'm curious to hear from you. I could rage with you on the snow. I'm going to add a stroller to it. And also that only women help with strollers now. Like when I was growing up, men, they would like come sprinting across the street or like you walk into the subway, you're not pregnant. You're just like cute. They're like, would you like a seat, ma'am? Now they look at you and I feel like they're laughing. They're like listening to Bill Simmons being like, that's pretty funny. She's trying to love a double stroller. I have two children, But shout out to the moms out there. They always help. We're in this together. Our estrogen unites us. Calm down about maybe just for 24 hours. Tom Homan. I really I I'm not saying give up. I'm not saying become lax about this or accepting of it. But we need a change in direction badly. And hopefully he can be the start of that. Let's see. Let's see. All right. See you next week. See you next week. day one day
