Today's presenting sponsor is Simply Safe Home Security. The aftermath of a break-in isn't just about what was stolen, it's about the lost sense of safety in your own home. Simply Safe prevents that before it happens. The moment someone sets foot on your property, a live, US-based agent steps in. Unlike traditional systems that only alert you after a break-in is underway, Simply Safe stops threats before they start.
Smart AI cameras monitor for potential threats and notify Simply Safe's live agents. The agent intervenes in under 30 seconds at speaking through the camera to stop an intruder in their tracks and calls for urgent 911 dispatch when it's needed most. Our CEO here at Quick Media, Lucinda, had a Simply Safe system installed recently. She said that she loves it, the app is easy to use, it allows her to arm or disarm the system right from her phone. She can monitor the cameras from the app itself to check in with family or friends as they arrive and everything has worked perfectly and it has been a seamless transition.
Join the more than 6 million people who entrust Simply Safe with their home security. Right now, save 60% off with professional monitoring when you visit simplysafe.com slash crooked. That's simplysafe.com slash crooked. And when you order, please write in Potsave America in the checkout survey. It tells them we sent you and it really helps support the show Simply Safe ahead of crime in real time.
Welcome to Potsave America. I'm John Faber. I'm John Lovett. I'm John Lovett. On Today's show, we'll talk about the life and sudden death of the Republicans' Talafrico conspiracy, the party's decision to go all in on attacking Abdul El-Sayed as a Muslim terrorist, Elon Musk quietly spending more on the midterms than he did on the entire 2024 presidential campaign, federal agents raiding Ilhan Omar's house, Pete Hegzeth's plan to livestream an execution by firing squad and Kimberly Guilfoyle's Greek sugar daddies.
What a list. Plural. Yeah, there's two that we know. Oh, yeah. But that's dessert for the end.
Stories still young. Daniel here, Lovett's conversation with the Democratic candidate for Senate in New Hampshire, Chris Pappas. All right, let's start in Texas where the Republican desperation to hold on to a Senate seat that's slipping away led the MAGAverse to concoct a conspiracy so stupid and short-lived that it barely survived the weekend. It all started on September 30th when James Talafrico said during a virtual campaign appearance, he said. Why are you doing?
It's because it's too much as a traditional Greek dessert. I was realizing all I had was Bocklava. Hey, we've got a joke in the oven. Joe's on the oven. Don't look at my screens.
Don't look at my screens. That's my space. That's like a hundred full. I can't believe it's the time. I'm feeling better that it's at least connected to something we're talking about because it's very well done, something that he planned on baking this evening.
I made a lovely, lovely Instagram. I am getting very good at baking. No, no you're sharing. I was reading about the actual news and I thought, oh, I don't know, I don't know, Greek dessert besides Bocklava and I thought, well, there's got to be a pun somewhere. like what do you need, what do you need aside from Buckleba?
Well, I don't, I was thinking, oh, like, you know, I was thinking, I can't really guilt boils on the dolomades or don't, that does, you know what I mean? Oh, yeah. But that wasn't very good. So I thought I was like, oh, baby's got back a lot. You know, that's nothing.
So I was looking for other options. Okay. Well, anyway, should we go back to Texas? Yeah. Okay. What happened there?
So it started on September 30th when James Telleriko said during a virtual campaign appearance that he was sick with the flu, went to urgent care, and would be staying home for a while to avoid infecting anyone. The following week, right-wing influencers reach the only logical conclusion about Telleriko's extended absence, which is that he was actually at a psychiatric hospital in Ohio called the Lindner Center of Hope, experiencing what Ken Paxton's campaign called, quote, a full-blown mental telefrico. The entire basis, the entire basis for this allegation was that a Texas Democrat named Lena Hidalgo took a leave from her job in 2023 to get treatment at the same Ohio mental health facility, which led some online magus luths to discover that last week a private plane made a few trips between Austin and the Ohio airport closest to the facility.
I don't get your skeptical tone. Then two magus influencers published a clip of a secretly recorded phone call with someone they claimed worked at the facility, who supposedly confirmed that Telleriko had just been discharged. How about that? How about that? Well, I was late at the whole thing fell apart.
The hospital denied Telleriko had ever been a patient there. Telleriko said he's never even been to Ohio. He was on camera and Austin the day he was supposed to have been discharged, and then the bulwark published the full recording of the phone call, which revealed that the magus influencer had apparently pretended to be Telleriko's cousin, made up a patient code and had repeatedly been told by the employee that there was no James Telleriko in their system. My favorite part of that is it was like, oh my God, how they acquire the full tape? They asked.
And the guy said it was really a bodge on their part. And it's worth saying to you that several other right-wing outlets, none particularly reputable, also declined the story because when you listen to the full audio, Daily Mail, the blaze, the blaze turned the story down. Maybe there's examples of people going from Texas to Ohio to get mental health care, and I'm sure that takes place, but could have also been going a whole bunch of other places in Ohio. For sure. It was like 30 minutes from the airport in Mason, Ohio.
So they just would have all the other accessories there. Down is a sort of, not really a Sherlock Holmes and Watson situation. It is funny that this all stemmed from a bunch of right-wing lunatics being like, oh, every Texas lib who's crazy goes to the same place in Ohio. It's like they had a thing. The Telleriko, the Paxon campaign is flailing and slowly dying, and they have this thing, which is James Telleriko disappears off the campaign trail for a while.
So they're like, it's totally legitimate to ask where he was, or probably to use it to cause his campaign problems. But there was not a there, there was not a reason that then disqualifies him from office. He was sick. He said so in the video where he actually looks doesn't look that good. Well, they've also like concocted this whole story that no one knew where he was and no one told anyone and it was been two weeks and it's like, now that is true either.
He skipped an event and it got on the, he attended an event by zoom and was like, I have the flu, so I can't be there in person. He's a guy with type one diabetes who got a bad flu. So it was probably exacerbated by that. Like that's probably why he was sick. And by the way, I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often because campaigning is disgusting.
Yeah. We're talking to strangers and close quarters and touching them constantly. You are kissing babies, which are the biggest vector for disease that I've ever met. You're also exhausted. You're working all the time.
I think so. Anyway, and then like, but these QAnon-brained fucking morons start with the private plane thing and then like Frank calling a mental health facility in Ohio and recording themselves, probably committing crimes. I mean, I just want to call out the leaders of the pack here, just the stars who gave us this Spencer Pratt, who, a bunch of people here in LA who called themselves Democrats, that maybe it was a good idea to elect him as mayor. He kept pushing it, said he had the conspiracy. He's heard from his sources.
He looks like a fucking moron because he is Caroline Ran, who was a J6 organizer and used to be like a semi-normal fundraiser for a working party. Just friends with Tim Miller. Yeah, became a J6 organizer, was like sued for defamation over the match slap incident. Slap, slap, slap. Slap, slap.
I'm just saying. No, sorry. I thought I said it wrong. Someone named Tikal Text. No, not Tikal Text.
Tikal Text, yeah, who's got a sort of a criminal background. And Nick Sorter, he was the one who published the call. He was one of the influencers that was involved in the recording. Do you know he has an open warrant for his arrest in Kentucky for violating his probation? He was convicted of a DUI harassing police officer, stalking woman, kidnapping her dog and sexually assaulting her.
Jesus Christ. That's a long list. That's a long list. That's a long list. That's a long list.
That's a long list. That's the guy that everyone was like, and then Elon Musk is like, oh, something's wrong with this campaign. Elon Musk is amplifying the whole thing. Megan Kelly has always said, well, has anyone spoken to the woman who was on the phone? Can someone get in contact with her?
Because maybe she's being not, she's, they got to her. Megan Kelly's like, well, it said he's never been a patient, but he has ever, has he ever been there? They're like, release the records. Like what records? I've never been there.
You got it. What are you talking about? Everywhere you've been. We need body cam footage of James Tellerico from the moment he was sick, until the moment he was back on the trail. That's the only way we can put this direct.
It's also very like this idea that James Tellerico, well, there have been Democrats who I think like you wouldn't be surprised how to mental health breakdown. You know, you feel like you got to have that energy. You're like, yeah, people that seem like they're barely holding it together. People that could lose it at a moment. So just Tellerico so even keeled, he's so calm and restrained.
So I guess the idea is being like, oh, that no human, no person can actually be that, you know, that chill and that can't like there must be a dark underbelly. And whenever that emerges, he of course goes to Ohio. He's also getting screwed by the Biden of it all and the lack of candor there, the Federman of it all, it's such a lack of candor there. But it's like, it's just, I was texting with Tellerico's flack over the weekend. Like the most annoying story in the world is when everyone's like proven negative.
Right. And then you're trapped in like the Elon Musk Twitter information ecosystem where if Elon replies to a tweet is like, seems troubling, it amplifies it to, you know, 100 million people. I get that people were worried about like the Biden comparison too. But there really is no comparison there. There was a bunch of reporting there where people were like, I was around him.
He kind of seems a little old and forgetful. There's, there's no, there's no anything that James Sellerico had any kind of mental issues whatsoever. Nothing zero. And it is funny watching like some of the right wing influencers were pushing it after the whole thing fell apart. We're like, yeah, this is crazy.
Like current revolt, which is like a right wing Texas news source. They all did this Twitter space. This conversation is amazing. And this guy from current revolt was like, this story sucks, man. This is shit work, bro.
I'm actually upset. And then there's people like TP USA is Andrew Colvat who tweeted, it genuinely doesn't matter if it was a mental health hospital or the flu. It matters. Disappearing for two weeks was bad enough. Wasn't two weeks.
He said he went to a primary care and urgent care. So now this is the new thing that he said. He went to urgent care in Dallas. But then he told a station in Austin that he also saw his primary care doctor in Austin. Like, well, I guess when he got home to Austin, he saw his doctor after going to urgent care because he was traveling on the road.
He saw urgent care. Then when he was talking, it's fucking idiot. It's fucking idiot. It's so funny to say, look, whether it's the flu as he said, which is common in ordinary, or a secret trip to an Ohio-based mental health facility. What six to one half dozen of the other?
Tomato and tomato. Also, I'd rather be crazy in Texas than saying in Ohio. I'm not sure lucky my wife doesn't listen to me. Do you also see that some of the people in another might have been the same or different Twitter spaces was pinning this all in Jeff Rowe who was a longtime Ted Cruz. He also worked for Ron DeSantis apparently.
He was shopping this around according to some former Trump officials, MAGA influencer. So this story could have a little bit of a longer tail because it is a person who knowingly and improperly obtains someone else's medical records and then uses them to do harm can be fined up to a quarter million dollars. It's very funny that a HIPAA violation actually became a door. We've got a HIPAA. We've got a HIPAA.
You might all be asking yourselves, what do we do about a right-wing media ecosystem that can so easily amplify bullshit with us? What do we do, John? The answer is support your friends at Cricut Media because we're trying to build a counterweight to that ecosystem and subscribing is the best way to support the work we're doing here. Plus you get every episode of your favorite Cricut Pause, all of our newsletters, all kinds of fun subscriber benefits. Cricut.com slash friends.
We're right here in this rubber room every day. Full Frontels of Dan. Full Frontels of Dan. Full Frontels of Dan. Yeah, you just, you just, I'm gonna just go ahead.
Did you see that guy from Smallville posted a selfie that said, I posted a picture, hey, everybody, I'm in New York City, but it was the reflection. I saw the guy, I saw the past tweet about it. You can see his hogs. He deleted it. I don't know what the guy from Smallville is.
Is that a show? It was a show. He said a career since then, I'm sorry if I'm only referring to him as a small man. Anyway, not a small man. I hope that, yeah.
Right, exactly. A small, a small, you know, a man from Smallville, not a small man. You know what I'm saying? I'm trying to figure out a transition to Ken Paxton here. Speaking of small hogs.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There we go. There's a real recording where Paxton complained about Trump's midterm convention, the Iran war, the price of gas, how little control he has over his own campaign message and the need to cut Medicare and Social Security.
Here's what he said on Fox. There have been now five audio leaks, big brace with some flags, maybe among other Republicans over your thoughts, publicly and privately over the President and Washington. So just because they were able to clip a few things doesn't mean that's actually what I meant. He is. Good answer, sorry.
He is. Generational talent. Such a, it is extraordinary how far he's gotten. This man is the Attorney General of Texas. He is the worst communicator.
Corruption gets you pretty far. Yeah, I guess so. He kind of relieves you with the burdens of campaigning. Right. That's never run against Democrats.
Yeah. Yeah, that's true. And he's never faced anyone like crazy, six-gender Jimmy. Yeah. Yeah.
J.S. I think he's going to beat him from inside of that fucking, what are those things called? What are those things called when they wrap your arms around a straight jacket? Yeah. J.S.
I think he's still going to beat you, dumbfuck. Yeah. I can't, I can't. That's right. That's right.
You need a whole fucking tea bone steak with no arms. At least Trump had a funny explanation for the whole thing. Trump said that he was so sick because he was eating a bunch of meat. Yeah, that's right. But he wasn't a vegan.
He was growing up all the meat. I once again stand by my pitch that he did a campaign ad while eating a steak from top to bottom. I don't think that's a good idea. I got to say, I've been more hungover from big steak dinners than alcohol at times. You know, you eat too much meat.
You feel like you have bad dreams, you know? Yeah. In that same box interview, Paxton was also asked about Trump challenging Telerico to a debate on his behalf. President Trump, he called you guys, asked that you all should have a debate and talk about issues, contrast between your policies, is that in the work? So, well, now look, we've been working on that for months with them.
And of course, we can never quite work out the details. Wow. It's okay. Tell her to go quite sweet at that. And was like, here's the details.
Any time, anywhere, any place. It's, you see, I think it's called Rovius that if Paxson doesn't debate, he loses. Oh, I didn't see that now. Which I think is a great way to just say, I think Paxson's going to lose. It's just like, everyone thinks Paxson's losing.
The polling suggested, the spending levels from Republicans suggested, the fact that Trump is repeatedly going to Texas suggested. And then, but the fact that Paxson will not debate in that context, tells you that his team has so little confidence in their guide. I think they're right. Even just juxtaposing his face with Talarico's is too much of a risk. It's a one more thing.
That's the only good advice he's gotten. Yeah. And I do think one reason this has gone so far is because Ken Paxson isn't doing that much campaigning. He's refusing to debate. He's not really out there.
And so this is like, oh, man, Talarico's been gone for nine days. Like Ken Paxson's been basically absent the whole fucking campaign. In July, someone spotted him in London with his mistress. That's what he was doing in July during the campaign. And I'll just say, I don't know much about that.
But babe, you can do better. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Is she the biblical influencer or something like that? No, no, no.
That could be making that up. Yeah, whatever. It's going around. In Michigan, where Abdul is ahead of Mike Rogers by a few points, the Republican plan to win is pretty subtle. See if you can figure it out from this clip.
We are not. And we will never be one nation under Muhammad, because we are. And we always will be one nation under God. Muhammad El-Soyade. I call him Muhammad.
Somebody said his name isn't Muhammad. It's Abdul. I said to me, it's Muhammad. I'm the president. I can call him whatever the hell I want.
The guy said she had us. Look at the statements from two years ago. He said she had us. I don't want it she, hottest as a senator from Michigan. I'm not sure if it's a rally in Tennessee with Trump.
And the first gentleman you heard from is Kid Rock. Did he just go to political events now and work out with Bobby Kennedy? Is this only a relevance to him? Wasn't that much beyond that? Probably place it's in birthday parties.
Oh, he did do that alternative halftime show. I remember that. There was an event that had fallen apart, sort of a conference where they didn't sell on a VIP ticket, so they pulled the whole thing down. They could rock so much to attend. I don't think it's been that well.
In Michigan, a super pack is up with an ad accusing Abdul of being funded by, quote, Islamic extremist groups who hate America. And Rogers himself chuckled along as Louisiana senator John Kennedy attempted this joke outside of Detroit on Friday night. Hey, Pack, wouldn't be? Don't you? If Dr. El-Sayed didn't sleep and have been lobbed.
I'm not in church. I'm just telling you. Third time's a charm there. Nailed that line, Mr. Duckfire went to Oxford to get that folksy.
Remember Abdul responded with a tweet saying that's rich coming from someone who wears his bed sheets out at night. But the campaign's main response to the Abdul as a terrorist attack is a closing message that's all about Rogers, the Iran war and prices like this new ad that went up over the weekend. Props for a broad cost taxpayers a billion dollars a day on a war we have no business fighting. Our schools crumble, our factories shut our gas prices skyrocket. But when they want war, billion dollar blink checks.
Mike Rogers has been advocating for war after war, my entire adult life. I'm running to invest our tax dollars here in Michigan. So Republicans all in on full blown Islamophobia, thoughts on how well they're executing that strategy and how Abdul is responding. Say it's subtle what they're doing. But if you can't read between the lines.
I thought what Axe said to you on Sunday episode was good. Like the first Abdul ad out of the primary was with his grandparents. And that was obviously because they saw what was coming and they've sort of been aware of this the whole time. I think the more you are seeing just Abdul being a, he's a jihadist, he's a doctor. And the more you have him out there kind of just sort of being himself, I think the less those attacks will resonate.
But obviously they're trying to, I don't know how many people are going to come away believing he's a fucking jihadist, but they're trying at the margins to try to get enough people to either have just a tiny bit of concern that he's too far left, that he's too extreme that for some Jewish people in Michigan that he's too anti Israel, right? Just enough to kind of on the edges make a difference. And I do think that's a legitimate thing to be worried about. Yeah, I mean like the dual in reality is a lax bro, Dr. Nerd.
You know, that's who he actually is. Pretty dorky too. Yeah, I mean, he's like a very smart like academic guy. I was like, this is all just disgusting. I think what folks need to know is that this is a law in the phobics up.
It's not like a one off thing. It wasn't like a surrogate going off script or kid rock going off script. Like this is the main message they are closing with. And I think for us, we grew up in a political context post 9-11 where this stuff was really powerful. Like Democrats are Republicans, one in election against a triple amputee Vietnam veteran by calling himself on terror in Georgia, what, 2002 midterms.
And so it makes me nervous. Obviously it's no longer 2002. I think people are a lot less scared of terrorism than they were then. I think that people are a lot angrier about the economy now than they were then. And they're believing Republicans.
But like Republicans think it's working. And it's not just about Jewish voters. I think it's about scaring away moderate white people. I do wonder like Michigan has a relatively large Muslim American and Arab American population. I hope this will upset and animate that group of people and get them to turn out.
I think Abdul needs to keep doing what he's doing. Like stay focused on the cost of living, tying the Ron Warren into it is good. I hope when Obama comes, Obama will talk about Abdul just being a normal guy in the way that Republicans tried to like other him as well and make him a scary kind of terrorist person. And obviously just bullshit. But Abdul's getting outspent two to one.
That press conference with John Kennedy is about how APAC is now coming in and spending directly, probably on the IE side when initially they weren't going to. So it's like the money advantage in Michigan is just as bad as everywhere else. I do think if you if you want to do Islamophobia or any phobias, you've the most effective political attacks, there's like a you got to be in the dog whistle zone. Yeah. And if you get if you go from the dog whistle zone to the just the bullhorn zone, you do risk that it becomes so extreme to people that it starts backfiring.
And I think left to his own devices, Mike Rogers would be right in the dog whistle zone because he's lived through because he loves he loves those wars. All the wars love the Patriot Act, love surveillance. He's a George W. Bush Republican in that way. So he would be there.
Trump goes up and does his thing and calls him Mohammed and says he's a jihadist and then fucking John Kennedy is talking about bin Laden jerseys. And I do wonder if they are getting to the point where they risk a backlash against their attack. So yeah, also you have to assume they're on this because, you know, like it is a tough environment for them. There's not a lot that doing this working. They don't have a lot of good arguments to be made here in the home stress.
Trump is deeply unpopular. The gender is deeply unpopular. Mike Rogers has basically embraced it. So this is what they've got. Yeah.
Positive America is brought to you by Chili Pad by Sleep Me. When stress and late night doom scrolling spike, your core body temperature, your body can't drop into deep restorative sleep. You're not just drained by the news cycle. You're missing the nightly physical recovery you need. The good news and yes, even now there is some science has a real answer and it's simpler than you'd think your bed temperature.
Enter Chili Pad 2.0, the water based mattress topper that actively controls your bed temperature from 55 to 115 degrees all night long. Who the fuck is having it? I said it 115 degrees. Lunatics. 55 sounds nice to me.
I like I would do 55 for sure. No matter what you already have, Chili Pad 2.0 actively cools or warms your bed using water. And water is the key here. Love the water. We love water here.
Fans just move hot air around. Chili Pad. It's the difference between standing in front of a fan and jumping into a cold pool. The ladder works to cool your body's temperature. It's one of the most efficient natural ways to regulate temperature which means precise consistent comfort all night long.
From 55 to 115 degrees, no matter how chaotic it gets up there. If you and your bed mate can't agree on anything this election season, here is one thing you can settle without a debate. Don't set it to 115 degrees. Dual zones let each of you dial in your own temperature independently. Bipartisan comfort.
You're welcome. Chili Pad was delivered to the office today. He's sleeping on it. On the floor. He's very excited about his chili pad.
It looks comfy. He's one of those weirdos I think who likes hot and just sweaty. Yeah, it's hydrating throughout the night. But you know what? He's happy that Chili Pad delivers for him.
Visit www.sleep.me slash cricket to get up to $255 off your Chili Pad 2.0 with code cricket. That's a www.sleepslep.me slash cricket. Free shipping career turns at a 39 trial so you can test it out, dream big, and wake up better. Pause America's brought to you by Jolie. You might have a skin and hair care routine or you might not.
But regardless of what products you're applying, none of them will perform the way they should if the water coming out of your shower and tap aren't filtered properly. Help your water work for you rather than against you with a Jolie shower head. If you struggle with dryness, break out spritle hair or scalp issues, Jolie filters out chlorine, heavy metals, and everything you don't want in your water to give your skin and hair their best chance. Beyond the benefits, Jolie's sleek design adds an instant touch of elegance to any room. The best part, it couldn't be easier to install and you'll have it up and filtering in minutes.
Lots of folks here at Cricket have installed the Jolie shower head. It only takes a couple minutes. It's super simple and unlike some filtered shower heads that affect water flow and make it so you're going to trickle out of your shower, that is not the case with Jolie. The water pressure is excellent. You'll notice a difference in your skin and your hair in only a few days.
If you live in a place like LA, what do you have? You feel like you have soap on you all the time. Jolie will fix that. Try Jolie risk free for 60 days by going to jolyskinco.com slash cricket. That's jolyskinco.com slash cricket.
Jolie is now available in Costco in Target both online and in store. We had one more Senate debate over the weekend. The only one scheduled between newly minted, Nepo Senator Darlene Graham and Democrat Dr. Annie Andrews who's nipping at her heels in the polls. Andrews had a lot of great hits during the debate.
But the most notable moment from Darlene Graham was this about the war in Iran. Why in the world would it we stop now when they're still dangerous and we're close to ending the war? Annie Andrews referred to Graham's famously bad answer during the primary debate in August, where she said national security is not my thing and Andrews replied on Sunday. If your surgeon said that appendectomies aren't really his thing, would you still hand him a scalpel? Or if your surgeon was like, you know, I can't finish the surgery.
My sister's gonna just run it. Can you get it done for me? Yeah. Or if the surgeon said it's not her thing. That's important.
So this race, this race should not be close, but Andrews is just two and a half points down in Nate's soldiers model and Republicans just committed $5 million. So they're clearly seeing something in the data as well. You think it's the same thing they're seeing everywhere or is Graham making the problem even worse? This is a terrible candidate. She's embarrassed herself in the big sort of statewide moments of the race.
I'm sure there's a lot of affinity for Lindsey Graham, but I don't know that it carries over to wanting to make someone a senator for a full term. And so the environment is bad. Look, we lost that sense here by 14 points. The last time you take a nine point swing towards Democrats for some five or six points for her being a bad candidate, all of a sudden it's not crazy. It's not crazy.
The last five is probably tough. Yeah. I'm gonna do it. I have two points for her being great. Whatever.
You can find it's easy to imagine us losing narrowly. It's harder to do it as winning, but this environment we just don't know. By the way, like worth saying, this could also be a race where there is a wave. It is not extraordinary. It doesn't carry all the way across these dark red states.
We can still win the Senate, which case we will have invested and built an organization in a state like South Carolina or other states that were closer than we have any business being and that will help it help us in the future. So it's worth fighting this out, even if it is ultimately one of the more difficult ones to win. It's a tough one. There's got to be some subset of the population of South Carolina that does not like seeing their Senate seat get passed around the family. Like it's just a weird thing, especially someone who just seems manifestly unqualified for the job.
I should just I do want to say why in the world will we stop the war now when we're so close to it being over is like, first of all, this makes sense. But it's also how you end up in Afghanistan for 20 years or Vietnam for eight and a half years or for fighting an endless war on terror. It's like that sunk cost fallacy that just is the dumbest way to think about war and foreign policy generally. So I mean, so her credit, she is really channeling. She's her brother in the best possible way there.
That is true to what Lindsey Graham would have believed. He's looking down and having taken a break from having sex with the hottest duties ever seen. What do you think he doesn't have to say? Wait, it goes this. It goes this.
Got it. Do those up. Do those up and then. Okay. It's obviously not just.
It's obviously not just South Carolina that's become a problem for Republicans. Trump super PAC leaked on Monday that they are now quote trimming the map just like you might trim a rose bush to keep it. Keep it beautiful. You know, I got to pull off some of those dead leaves to come to the growth around yesterday. Michael Watley in North Carolina, one of those dead leaves.
They've trimmed that trimmer. As the leaker put it, they're quote moving on from districts that we don't think it's the right time for and piling in further on ones we think it is the right time for. Beautiful. That's like right from VEEP. Yeah, I could say.
Yeah. For the Senate, that means focusing their spending the final weeks on the pieces. Three states, Ohio, Iowa and Alaska. They're very focused on those three. They think if they sweep those, there's no chance the Democrats win.
They think if they get two out of three, that's a pretty good shot too. As for the House on Friday, the political report moved 18 more House races towards Democrats. One Republican House member in a tight race, bravely complained to CNN on the background. The Trump is quote dragging the party down. But good news.
The piece also says Trump's rallies in the deep red places where he's still popular have reportedly quote bolster the president's mood. Okay. That's which is what matters. Are you happy? Yeah, that's right.
Trump was in Ohio on Monday night and heads to Alaska on Tuesday bringing with him the same urgent closing message we heard over the weekend. When you stand up here, it's just like the love. I could say the stupidest things and you'd clap me. Oh, I love you. So, I'm sure.
And they do. Yeah. And he was right. We put that hypothesis to the test. Boy, boy, if they all knocked it out of the park.
On the money, Teddy Schlefer at the New York Times reported on Monday that Elon Musk has dumped more than $276 million into Republican groups in Super PACs just since July, making him by far the biggest player in the midterms. And again, it was more than he even spent on the 2024 presidential race. What were your takeaways from Teddy's piece? Big pictures that we have the most broken campaign finance system on the planet and then hopefully someday people will upset people enough that we change it. But the more proximate thing I was thinking, I mean, the total for Elon is now at $366 million in the 2526 cycle.
But we don't actually know the full extent of his giving because he's also given to dark money organizations that don't have to disclose it. So it could be way more. But it does seem like Elon Musk's money is the sole reason the Republicans are able to afford to dump $200 million into Ken Paxton's race in Texas. He's like single-handedly potentially saving that race. I also maybe wonder what the kickback going to be from Trump on the back end, right?
Like Elon got to be deputy president the first time. Didn't work out great. You got to figure there's going to be some Pentagon contracts. Maybe Grock will fly the F-35 or something. I mean, I think that all of these fuckers now, they are so close to realizing their AI dreams.
And they just want to make sure that Trump lets them continue to step on the gas and that there's no regulation whatsoever that Elon can continue to walk into the oval like he did and show him the latest Grock show where he impressed him by showing like, look, Grock thinks we should kidnap Maduro. Trump's like, put you in the bikini. Let's do it. It's also just, so there was one number from another just jumped out of me that he's putting at least $76 million into this canvassing operation for the local Penn City Republicans, right? If you want to squint your eyes and find the places to be worried, it's that these polls are not wrong, but they're not capturing some Republicans that might turn out and that could make the difference, right?
Maybe that's part of the theory. So that's a bit alarming. The other question I had in all of this is Donald Trump is sitting on $400 million and a lot of these pieces are not about money being pulled but being reallocated and at least about to come in and you have all these people dropping hundreds of millions of dollars. And my question would be how much money is going to be in Donald Trump's pack on the day after election day? Right?
How much is he actually going to put out of his thing? Should we take that? I think it's close to 200 of that 400 they've spent. So we'll see. But how much is he sitting on coming out of this?
I bet it's at least 100 million. There is one other way to look at it, which is Elon, all these other Republican donors, Trump's pack, they have already spent hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars, much of it concentrated in the month of September. And it has done them very little. Very little. Now, in that scene in peace, Republicans are saying, well, no, if we hadn't spent all that money in September, it would have been even worse.
And the money we spent in September has stopped this race from being over already and for more of a bloodbath. Exactly. Right? Yeah. The cash in for more ads, right?
Yeah. But it is interesting to me. One thing I'm going to be interested in after this race is over is more money was spent on this race than any other race in history, including we're region like presidential levels, if not more, at least from Elon. And how much can a crazy amount of money still make up for a dog-shit political environment when people are like, fuck you? It's just so inefficient at the end, too.
Like, Tallarico was on the air all summer long alone, I think, and running local abis. Now Republicans and the super PACs are buying nationally televised Texas football games to try to get their message in front of people. There's just so much wasted spend there. I think like, I read that story and I thought it was interesting that the MAGA Inc people decided to go out and pitch it. It's partly because like all these operatives like to brag and hear themselves talk and just like can't help themselves.
Also like the ad traffic changes will be public so you might as well frame it up. But they're clearly pre-spinning defeat. And they're going to pin this whole thing on Ken Paxton if a bunch of races don't go their way because they had dumped so much money into Texas. And like, sure, on some level that's true, but also Donald Trump could have endorsed John Cornyn and avoided the whole problem. Yeah, they're going to blame the candidate that's already saying to do that because they can't blame Trump because that's not allowed.
And I do think part of this is wanting to be able to say after the fact, I know we lost this in it, but don't blame us. We put in all the money we said we would. We did everything we possibly could. The billionaires, the AI billionaires, the money we were there for you when you needed us. I'm sorry, Ken Paxton was an idiot.
Obviously, it's not your fault, Sir, Glorious Leader. But we did the best we could. The other part of this too is the money toward the end. You know, in all these stories, there's this moment of lamentation about like the Democratic billionaires just aren't putting the same amount in, which is true. Part of that is because those are people that all felt burned by the waste of putting money into campaigns and not feeling like there was a return.
And I wonder if that's not coming for these people after this race. I think Elon has this reselatory of the convert. And for him, right, he's made a trillion dollars. He's a trillion or now, whatever, close to it. And so for him, the amount he's putting out there pales in comparison to how much his net worth has gone up over the course of this race.
But for a lot of these people, $100 million, it's been a lot of money. Also for Republicans, political donations are investment because then they have tax cut or deregulation or something on the back end. For us, we go to our rich people and we say, please vote for us and give us money so that we can raise your taxes. It's a little different deal. It's interesting that in 2025, Musk said in terms of political spending, I'm going to do a lot less in the future.
Clearly changes my. Clearly what happened there is he was too much the public face of his involvement in politics. And I think probably the advisors around him and the communications people with his many companies were like, hey, it's probably pissing off investors, hurting our bottom lines. Yeah. And so maybe you can continue to be involved in politics, which you know you want to do, but just do it with your money and mostly shut up and show up at the White House every once in a while and sit next to Trump and smile and just don't say anything else and maybe tweet a little less.
Remember him and the cheese head? Yeah. Well, that was weird. He dropped like 50 million into that fucking thing. Yeah, that did nothing.
Pause America is brought to you by him's when it comes to seeking support to get the sex life you want. It's not always about managing a condition or treating a symptom. What is it about? I guess we don't. It's about bonus and pills that will get you some hymns combines personalized treatment plans and a 100% online process.
No office visit, no pharmacy line, no awkward conversations. You just connect with a licensed provider who can determine if treatment is right for you. Not every guy needs the same thing. Some want daily support so they're ready whenever some just want an extra boost when the moment strikes him works with you to find the best option for you. And if a provider decides it's the right fit, your treatment plan is prescribed online and shifts discreetly to your door ready to build a better sex life is at hymns.com.
Good for personalized plan for sex, weight loss and more. That's hims.com slash cricket prescription products require an online consultation with a licensed health care provider who will determine if a prescription is appropriate. Restrictions apply individual results may vary based on a survey of hymns customers. See hymns.com for full details. Pause America is brought to you by Zip Recruiter.
Zip Recruiter is everywhere these days. Why? Simple. That's where the top tier candidates are. Just like you, your ideal hires are tuning into business programs, sports and podcasts just like this one.
When these candidates hear all these ads, it increases the chances of them going to zip recruiter and responding to your job posts. So ultimately, you will meet them sooner. Of course, you can't meet them unless you go to ziprecruiter.com slash cricket and try it for free. Once you post your job, Zip Recruiter's matching technology finds top talent quickly and Zip Recruiter has a new feature that shows you the most interested and qualified candidates first, so you meet them faster. Zip Recruiter is the number one rated hiring site based on G2.
And we have used Zip Recruiter here at Cricket Media. It shrunk the process down and honestly, we found great candidates fast. We hired them quickly. We met a bunch of great people. We hired a bunch of great people.
Can't speak highly enough about the process and why you should try Zip Recruiter. No wonder four out of five employers who post on Zip Recruiter get a quality candidate within the first day. So you can go to ziprecruiter.com slash cricket to post your job for free. Again, that's ziprecruiter.com slash cricket. Oh, if you forget where to go, don't worry, you're going to hear another Zip Recruiter ad soon enough.
All right. Another big story we're watching. Federal agents from DHS raided the DC home of Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. Fox News reported that it's related to the citizenship paperwork her father filled out for her when she was a kid. She was born in Somalia.
So I think she was 12 when they came over here and she was 17 when she became a citizen. JD Vance told Benny Johnson back in March that he thinks Omar committed quote immigration fraud. And DHS Secretary Mark Wayne Mullins said on Johnson's podcast last month that the investigation was quote ongoing and that quote something's going to happen. He added, if we actually move a case forward, it's not a political case to Benny Johnson on his show. We think about it.
Yeah. Omar who like every member of the House is up for reelection responded to the raid by saying she won't be silenced. The House Democratic leadership put out a statement calling the raid corrupt weaponization of the federal government against Donald Trump's enemies. Trump himself was asked about the raid and here's what he said. They're looking at it very carefully.
I've always thought that to be totally crooked personally, but then that's nothing to do with me. I think she's a terrible person. Just a complainer. She comes from a country that is enough to non-country. And then she comes over here.
And then the B's got him. Go inside and do that. So much for the longstanding precedent at DOJ that they don't investigate election officials right before an election because that's out the window. Let alone for alleged immigration fraud that supposedly involved her late father when she was just a child. What do you make of all this craziness?
Yeah, I mean, clearly, I mean, it's outrageous to do this in October of election year. I mean, it's supposed to be like a 60 day blackout period. There's no indication that they couldn't have just done this the day after the election. And it would have harmed the case in any way. The reporting around what happened is very weird though.
Like the investigation, the investigation was just a little bit of a mistake. The investigation was reportedly led by the Homeland Security Investigations Division at DHS. And again, for folks at the timeline, Elan was born in Somalia. Her family had to flee when a war erupted there. She did four years in refugee camp in Kenya and then came to the US at H12, as you said.
So even if her dad did falsify the paperwork together to the US, first of all, who could blame him. And second of all, we generally don't hold children culpable for crimes committed by their parents in this country like this and that wages thing. You can't if it's a criminal investigation. Right. There's a potential that they could do a civil investigation to denaturalize her if for some reason they found that the paperwork was fraudulent.
But again, all the reporting said it's a criminal investigation. Yeah. And so the question is how did they get a criminal search warrant? Some of the reporting suggests there might also be an investigation into personal finances or campaign finances or something about if there's some nebulous line and some of the stories about an interaction with a foreign person. But we don't know.
Obviously we do know that these guys are out together. I mean, JD Vance in that interview you mentioned was talking about trying to build a case with her and talking about it with Stephen Miller. So this is coming from the highest level of the White House. And it's just like Trump, the things he says about her and everyone from Somalia, it's so racist and so vile. It's nice and relaxed.
It's not a non-country. He says it's a non-country. Last thought, I don't want to be alarmist. But if I was Donald Trump and I was kind of flailing and looking at some last gasp way to cling to power and punish my enemies, I would turn to DHS because they are extremely well funded for a very long time. You will build within DHS this private militia force that he calls ICE.
And then there's this 7,000 person HSI group that does these criminal investigations. And it's like, the whole thing is very, very weird. And the one about is Republicans are like, oh, you were fine when Trump's, you know, Mar-a-Lago was rated, but that wasn't right before an election. You know? And there was clear like evidentiary basis because you left the talk of secret documents by the shitter.
Also, yeah. There's stolen documents there that we're going to bring a case against them. And then it turns out there were. And there was plenty of evidence. So yeah, two things.
One, like that 60-day rule, it's just a kind of cultural rule. Like let's all be respectful of the democratic system and not launch investigations that will be sensationalized in the last days of an election. That's why what James Comey did in 2016 was so despicable because the reason you don't do this is because you understand that first of all, people are innocent until proven guilty and a raid of a home or a press conference about potential charges, all of it is salacious and garners of tension and makes people look terrible. There actually been examples of raids and things that take place in the 60-day windows. The Republican member of Congress who did this day thinks he was railroaded by actually the DOJ under Bush because of an investigation into his, related to his sister that he can cost him the seat, whatever.
It's a cultural thing, right? And so why do you go after Elon Omar? Well, because you try it out. You see how far you get, right? Trump will have DOJ going into a presidential election.
We can expect them to try to weaponize it against any prominent Democrat. They're already trying to do that against Gavin Newsom. When it comes to the, and the thing is the reason it has always been so important that you enforce the laws and find the guilty and don't go after people and find the laws they broke because we understand that in a society of laws, people will make mistakes. And if you go digging, you can find someone. If your citizenship paperwork can be opened up at any moment because of a mistake, because of a reason, because someone doesn't like you, no naturalized citizen can trust that their citizenship is secure.
And that citizenship is what protects all the rights under it. And so that is what makes all this so dangerous. That is why it is similar to when they send two random fucking DOJ people to Wyoming to go investigate the election. They are testing what they can get away with and they are socializing what they're going to try to do at scale in future elections. It's completely fucked up.
And I was like, why not? You could probably, if there's paperwork issues, you could try a subpoena first, right? Before you do a raid, I was sort of wondering too, how they got a judge signed off on this warrant. DOJ got the warrant even though HSI did the investigation or actually raided the house. But I guess you only need probable cause of a crime that will be found at the place, right?
So they could say that somehow maybe they think that her father's paperwork could be found at the house. You probably need more than that. I think it's probably more than that. I reset a couple of years. I think we don't know.
We don't know. And we also know that the Biden, DOJ opened and then shut some sort of investigation into Illinois. So obviously the Trump administration will know that. So they'll probably try to use that. Who knows?
None of it's on the level. Right. Close to an election and then make a big fucking new level. Yeah. Speed and plot dictatorship.
We have had a chance to talk about the literal snuff film our government wants to produce. Pete Higgsath announced last week that he intends to livestream the death by firing squad execution of Nadal Hassan who killed 13 unarmed soldiers in the horrific attack at Fort Hood back in 2009. Here's Higgsath breaking the news. Execution by firing squad. Army major betrays his country radical Islamist kills a bunch of Americans at Fort Hood.
Of course we're going to do it at Fort Hood. And on Thursday, we're going to do it at one o'clock, which is when he did it. And it's going to be soldiers with rifles executing the firing squad. And we'll make sure that people are able to watch it. That is public because people need to understand that this is a serious consequences for these types of things.
So if Trump and Higgsath go through with it as scheduled on December 3rd, Hassan's death would be America's first public execution in almost a century. Democrats and the UN of course condemn the decision along with several Republicans. Here's how the three highest ranking Republicans responded. I see this announcement. I don't know that's actually going to happen.
Let's sort of see what I think is going to happen in December when he's executed. It was very busy yesterday when that news broke and I haven't mentioned this talk to President about that or Vice President Vance or Higgsath. But there are colleagues who have concerns. He was vicious. He was violent.
There are two thoughts. Don't show it and show it. Because you know by showing it maybe other people won't be doing what he did. So I'll make a decision ultimately. So those comments from Trump came a day after he said he absolutely approved the livestream plans.
Mark Caputo, it actually also reported that Trump has, quote, privately shared misgivings about the livestream idea. I think there's a chance the blowback actually makes Trump back down from this one. Yeah, I don't think, look, I'd be shocked if this goes through. It seems like an adult dumb secretary defense going off with his idea without having thought it all the way through or without talking anybody particularly smart about why it's a terrible idea. Well, obviously it's morally despicable.
But it, he just doesn't, why does he think, P-Tecks are things that we don't do public executions? It's because we're woke, because we've gotten too woke. We stopped doing it because these were big public spectacles. And actually to the point a lot of people made about this. Oh, you think it's going to be a deterrent?
You think people that want to go out in a place of glory will really hate the idea of knowing that if they commit a gruesome murder they'll get to be killed in front of the world stage. And it actually goes back to why we stopped doing this in the first place, right? It wasn't because people weren't interested. Tens of thousands of people gathered at the last public execution. But these spectacles were not something people could control.
And what would happen? People would yell. People would scream. People would give a speech. People would cheer for them.
People would try to free them. People would get drunk. And they would fight. It was a disgusting display. And it wasn't just the do-gooders who were against capital punishment who thought it was a vulgar act and wrong kind of aesthetically and morally.
It was actually advocates for the death penalty who thought, oh, let's get this behind closed doors because then people won't see how gruesome and despicable it was. They thought it was a way to prolong it. There's a reason they ring bells. When the executions moved, sorry. I'm having a bad book about this reasoning.
When the executions were moved behind the prison walls in England, they would ring the bells. And the neighbors would ask the present, can you please stop ringing the bells when you do the executions because it's making us uncomfortable. And it reminds us all, this is where you're doing your killing. And the warden was like, no, unfortunately, we're going to continue ringing the bells. So you think they should be public then?
No, no, I'm against the death penalty. But I don't think Pete Hagg's thought through what he would be doing for the death penalty. He's just a comic evil fucking wannabe alpha man. This is the high-T version of this. At the same time, same place.
We're going to kill him here with rifles. Shut up, man. If Ndalassan was killed or irrelevant or something, witnessing the execution helps you find closure. Okay. But to livestream it to the world, we look barbaric.
We'll use it to make him a martyr. The guy's in a wheelchair. He's a 56 year old man. When he shot off Fort Hood, they shot back. He was wounded.
He can't move from the waist down. So you're murdering an old man in a wheelchair and you think that's the high-T thing here? It's like fucking psycho, Pete Hagg's stuff. It's always these religious fanatics who are born again that love this stuff. I hope this gets to walk back.
Yeah, to your point, they did interview a couple of the family members. The daughter of someone who was killed, the daughter of Michael Grant Cahill objected to the whole broadcast because she said it turns the tragedy into a public spectacle. And it shifts the attention away from the victims, which is like that's at least one family member. Look, there's all the pragmatic reasons not to do it, right? Which is what about the members of the firing squad?
Like will they be known to the world now? What about the rest of the military? Putting the rest of the military in danger? I'll kind of threaten to kill prisoners in their custody of the sevens. Yeah.
What about kids who stumble upon the livestream? We're going to do this now. The government's just going to let... And it's like, I oppose the death penalty, but you don't have to oppose the death penalty to find this morally repugnant. Like, what additional purpose is served by turning the death of someone into a public spectacle?
There's none. Well, that is why is our government inviting us to become spectators? To the violent death of another human being. Like, one of the reasons, like you said, we stopped it, uh, fucking century goes because it is degrading and dehumanizing, not to the person being killed, executed, but by all the rest of us. Yes.
And the head set sort of stumbles upon his words there when he goes, well, because the kids is a deterrent. So people know you're not supposed to do this. Are you, do you think that people on the impression you can commit mass shootings on military basis? We are all aware. I was supposed to doing it.
And then I saw that guy get murdered by our military on live TV. And so now I'm going to hold off on my plans. Do you think, Hassan, this guy that did this, do you think he was under the impression that he was going to get away with it? Right? And this is somebody who went in with this under the expectation that they were either going to die then, die in the future, whatever, go out in this place.
Why are you giving them the fucking glory? Why would you do that? More on. Yeah. All right.
Before we get to love his interview with Chris Pappas, we got some Kim Guilfoyle updates and you've all been waiting for those. Dan and I talked about the Wall Street Journal and Daily Mail stories on Friday's show, which involved Guilfoyle soliciting $100,000 from a Trump donor to pay off her Amex card in exchange for the promise of access she never delivered, along with her champagne-fueled Greek party life as ambassador. Over the weekend, the journal published another piece about Guilfoyle's overly-friendly relationship with two wealthy Greek businessmen who reportedly bankrolled her private jet travel and luggage at the same time. And she was also caught on tape bragging about the PJs and calling one of the businessmen her people. She also threw a temper tantrum after not being able to get into a dinner party for Eric Trump, being held at Greek House Davos.
The horror. According to the AP and other outlets, Trump and Marco Rubio are now considering firing Guilfoyle with a senior U.S. official telling the AP that the president and secretary of state who was just in Greece defending Guilfoyle are quote, extremely pissed off. And here's what Trump had to say about the situation on Monday. I suspected that Trump may not fire her because she knows where all the bodies are buried, having been almost a Trump family member.
But it sounds like she's going out. I've heard a Barry Harris in Greece and it didn't work so well. Yeah, I know. Please give us the sun. My son dumped her like a dog and how so did I.
I just want to say I cannot get enough of these stories. These are the best. Like what's amazing is they're all going to the Wall Street Journal, but they're kind of disconnected. Right? So it can't be the same source.
It's like someone, people just all over the world just fucking hate her guts and are running to the Wall Street Journal to talk about it. I mean, from her text, I understand. Yeah, well, the first story is like the lobbyist thing and then she threatened to topple the Greek government. That's a fun little detail. My favorite part about the Amex story is repeatedly telling, scolding him in writing for putting the crimes in writing.
She says, Eric, I really wish you would stop papering all these things. Then there's this IG report. I don't know if you and Dan talked about this where she fired her head of security. The best. This is my favorite part.
She called him at 4am looking for more ice. Obviously, shit-facing. You can notice it was some grandpa who was like on her security detail. And then the story is demoted. Demoted the next day.
And then like a recording of her unable to get into Eric Trump's party is the funniest thing in the world. You were engaged to his brother, Eric Trump's party. And some Greek business guy, one of her sugar daddies is on the guest list. And she's like, you should be kissing my ass. She should be kissing my fucking ass.
That's a quote. I also think it doesn't really matter that she knows where any of these bodies are buried because even if he fires her, she's going to need a pardon. Right? She is going to need it. She is going to need it.
It's so brazen that the texts are so brazen. And by the way, she wasn't undone because they put it in writing. She was undone because he showed this text. He is leaking. He's on the record saying it was definitely a quid pro quo.
He is basically saying that she was asking for and receiving bribes. God only knows what details we'll find out about the relationship with these Greek businessmen. So she's really fucked. She doesn't have diplomatic immunity. So she might even need the pardon.
I don't listen. I know how it works from lethal weapons too. But I'm not sure how I don't know that it protects you from taking outright bribes before you were confirmed. The quotes are amazing. I see Nikos every fucking day.
I'm flying from to Paris. I'm with him for a fucking week. He loves me honey. I spent Christmas with him. New years.
Okay. Shh. You know, someone was saying last week was supposed to be like, are we supposed to believe that maybe there was more than a friendship or a business relationship with her? And I'm like, actually now reading all of the texts. I kind of think that's just how she talks to people, which is like just an annoying fucking person is like, Hey, baby, hey, honey, fly me here.
Fly me there. This is like, she seems like she. Oh, did you guys read? Did you guys catch the response from the embassy? Like some poor flack.
I'd give this the unsubstantiated claims are simply distractions from the great work she is doing increase in the broader Eastern Mediterranean. I love the throw in the throat. That is such an NSC goof. Right. Because we're all I guess she's also responsible for happening in Cyprus.
Yes. Yes. How awesome that Marco Rubio is so pissed. He gives this big fucking speech in front of the Acropolis and is just completely overshadowed by this dingbat. It's funny to say it's very tough.
You know, he's got the hubris. She's staring at her reflection in the fucking pond. Yeah, he's so arrogant that he is giving a speech about saving Western civilization. And it's destroyed by the US ambassador degrees. A person you should not know exists or ever hear from.
And yet she ruins all the stories. It was incredible. Honestly, it's a great symbol for like what Marco Rubio's entire presidential run at some point will be like is he's like, try so hard to sort of present himself as this sort of stable, normal adult in the room of Republican. And all the shit he's done by being connected to the Trump administration is just going to keep fucking biting that guy in the ass. It's almost as if he's going to have to keep rolling this boulder uphill and it's going to keep rolling back down over and over and over again.
He was so pissy with that. You guys think this is awful. I don't think it's awful. I'm part of your family. He's like just absolutely a whiny bitch.
I didn't even know this. I did this. I definitely have. Yeah. No, I mean, I imagine just having to go to your ex's dad to get a part.
You know, like you don't know what kind of terms are you on? You know, like, like she's got a text on be like, Hey, I know, I think he's going to do it like literally right down the names of every single person who has ever worked in the Trump administration and I'm partying all of them right now. Oh, no, there will be no requests for you, Kristi. No. Yeah.
He'll go through anyone who like really pissed him off. I realized that Kim follows me on Twitter. So I followed back and I de-under. Oh, really? Yeah.
I just thought I said, Amix, do you have Amix issues? No, I said, stop Kimbo slice. Congrats on the epic run of press coverage. Not sure how they will increase. But here in America, we respect the big bollar lifestyle.
Want to come on my show and talk about it. We can tell off that dumbass security guard. He wouldn't get you ice. Nice. Let me see a show back.
Can you tell us when Jared Kushner follows me? Yeah. Should I DM him? Yeah. Do you want a message or message that you want me to?
You should be falling back? Yes, I have. I did do the fallback. I felt embarrassed that I hadn't been following Jared Kushner. Send me a note that's like, hey, man, sorry that my co-host called you a literal war profiteer.
We don't even like that guy anymore if you ever want to talk about it. You're fine. Perfect. All right. When we come back, love it, talk to New Hampshire Senate nominee, Chris Pappas.
Pazia, America has brought you by Bambas. Cozy season is upon us. That means curling up on Chris mornings and soft layers. Bambas makes your comfiest false tables. So you can make the most out of arguably the best season of the year.
Bambas, new suede moccasins are perfect for fall with cushy soles, shearing lining and water-resistant suede. And there's slippers everything you want for a cozy night in made with the softest and most cloud-like materials. Then there's Bambas compression saw collection. Choose from specialized designs for travel, everyday workout and recovery. There's a fatigue fighting pair for every moment.
Don't check this out. You got some? Ooh. Look at those. I see no holes in those.
They look very soft and comfy. Thank you for putting your feet on the table. No problems. A little hard for your face. The best part about Bambas.
For every item you purchase, they donate an essential clothing item to someone facing housing insecurity. One purchase equals one donated with over 200 million donations and kind of head over to Bambas.com.com and use code Cricut for 20% off your first purchase. That's B-O-M-B-A-S dot com slash Cricut code Cricut at checkout. Joining me now, he's a member of Congress running for Senate against former Republican Senator Johnson, who Chris Hobb is welcome to the show. Great to be on.
Thanks for having me. Let's start with this. Your family restaurant, the Puritan back room. I could not believe this. Your family claims to have invented the chicken tender.
Well, it's been written. So we long didn't really claim it and publications like the New York Times have done the research and dug into the issue and credited us with. Pioneering, inventing a chicken tender, whatever term you want to use, but we sell a lot of fried chicken tenders these days, usually 10,000 to 12,000 pounds a week, sometimes a lot more than that during the busy season. Yeah, obviously there are many who make similar claims. Is there technically a difference between a chicken tender and a chicken finger?
Yeah, no, I think there is. A nugget is very different from a finger. I think a nugget is processed ground up chicken, right? I think a finger could be any piece of chicken, but a tender is a specific muscle on the chicken itself. So there are only two per every bird.
Thank you for clarifying that. I don't know. I feel like if my family had invented something as wonderful or been affiliated with potentially having invented something as wonderful as a chicken tender, I think I'd make a bigger part of my campaign. I think it'd be a mistake. It's out there.
You know, I've most of the new Hampshire voters have eaten there at one point in time. So usually when I'm talking to voters, the first thing I hear is I met my spouse at your restaurant. I love going there for family functions or whatever happens to be so it's great. And actually a few weeks ago, we had Joey Chestnut in town and he led a chicken tender eating contest at the local minor league ballpark because New Hampshire has been declared the chicken tender capital of the world by the mayor. So there's a lot of chicken tender lore in this city here.
How many did he eat? Do we have any eight? I think 50 pieces in five minutes and there were teams of three people each that could not eat more than the one Joey Chestnut good in the five minutes. Pretty cool. So your opponent actually said to room full of Republicans that he's running to send you back to busing tables at the Puritan.
He seems like a guy that's really in touch with the working people of New Hampshire. I mean, that one's that's like a slow pitch right over the plate for you. What was the reaction to that? Yeah, well, it does show how elite and out of touch this young sinu is who's part of a very famous political dynasty in New Hampshire. I don't think this guy knows what hard work looks like.
And when you run a local business, you do everything from top to bottom. And I did that for about 15 years between college and getting elected to the house in 2018. But the fact is there's dignity and all work, including buzzing tables, washing dishes, serving other people. That's how I discovered public service to begin with. It was working at my family business, running the show there, being part of the local community.
And Johnson, who clearly is out of touch. He's part of an elite political class. He's been our US Senator before when he was defeated by voters. He went and fed at the corporate trough for the last 18 years, working for corporate special interests and one of the biggest lobbying firms in DC. So this guy doesn't know what hard work looks like.
So you mentioned that he has this name in New New. It's obviously a big New Hampshire political name. He's once credit for having been anti-Trump in the past while embracing the Trump endorsement and the agenda now. He hasn't an add up. And I want to roll a clip of it because basically just says don't believe the haters, something like this.
Oh, the things you'll hear about me in this campaign. They'll say I'm a **** that when I was in Congress, I ****. It goes on like that. It seems like people are hoping the name and sort of the independent vibe will carry the day and they won't hear the argument that you are making. What was your response to that?
Well, the good news is the more this guy's on TV, the more they recognize that he's not his younger, more affable, gregarious brother who's our moderate governor for about eight years. So I think that we want him to be out there as much as possible. So they realize which is the new he is. But the guy just doesn't relate well to voters. He's running a very 1996 campaign, which was the first year he ran for Congress.
He's been in office. We're working in Washington for 30 years. And I think he just doesn't get what this moment is about. This is a moment where people are so hungry for change, including generational change. They want new voices at the table.
The last thing we need is to put someone back in office who was there before, who didn't get the job done for New Hampshire. I mean, he was drummed out of office in 2008 because he was down the line for George W. Bush and the unpopular policies of the moment. And now he's siling up with Donald Trump in this election where people want to fundamentally change the way Washington works and want people who are going to stand up to this president and the policies that are making life more expensive. So he's trying to do everything he can to relate, but he's a pretty lazy campaigner.
We're running circles around the guy. The only thing he is going for him is his big name and tens and tens of millions of dollars about a state money that's flooding into New Hampshire, which is making this race close. It's funny, he was bringing up the name. You know, you've had Senate races that are decided by about a thousand votes. I mean, these things can be, New Hampshire can be raised or thin.
There is, it's been noted that his campaign signs do not say his first name. They say sinu new because he's counting on there being some confusion. Are you hearing about like, is this something you're actually feeling and worrying about inside your campaign? Is it actually something you need to address to make sure people understand which sinu new is running? It's less of an issue now than it was maybe a year ago or six months ago.
I think people are figuring it out because they're seeing him on their television sets and on their screens. Yeah, he doesn't put his first name on his signs. And frankly, he didn't when he first ran for Congress in the 1990s because at that time he was hoping people would confuse him with his dad who was our governor back in the 80s. So look, he's part of this family dynasty. New Hampshire deserves so much more than this right now.
We need a full time senator who understands the challenges out there, who knows the communities of the state who understands how our small business economy works and who will stand up to Trump and the political class in Washington DC. He's part of that broken system. And he's the last person that can bring change and challenge the status quo from New Hampshire. So if you're in the Senate, you've said that there has to be accountability for the Trump administration while focusing on the economic issues that are driving a lot of the discontent with the Trump administration. So you're colleague Thomas Massey proposed an impeachment resolution for HEGSIF.
If you're in the Senate, would you like to see a Democratic House impeach HEGSIF so that there can be accountability for the Iran war and other abuses of power through that kind of a trial? Do you think that's a worthwhile endeavor? Well, one of the reasons why I think that we were sent home by Mike Johnson early was because he didn't want this resolution to be on the floor because he knew it was going to be a political problem for Republicans and he was afraid he might actually lose some Republicans on that vote. Look, that's a process. Obviously that starts in the House.
I, as a House member, have had the unfortunate opportunity to vote on two Trump impeachments, the first one back in 2019 and then again in the wake of January 6, I will always stand up for my oath of office and there's got to be accountability for these guys. The fact that Pete HEGSIF has fired or drummed out dozens and dozens of top military officials continues to lie to the American people about how this war is progressing, is hiding basic information from the American public and from Congress. We have to reckon with that and that starts by ensuring that we're not confirming unqualified appointees like HEGSIF that we have committees that are actually holding real hearings, including on the way this war has been conducted, which hasn't been done in the Senate today because Republicans refuse to dig in on those topics.
So this is about national security and making sure we have the right people in the right place to keep America safe and keep our troops out of harm's way. And I do hope that we can focus on ensuring that there is accountability for Trump administration officials who have been following the law in the Constitution and have been making our country less safe. Well, at the same time, making sure that we don't lose sight of what people want us to focus on here all across the country, which is the affordability crisis bringing down costs, making this economy fair. We can do both at the same time, but it shouldn't come at the expense of how we can make progress for the American people. So you'd be the first openly gay man elected to the Senate.
We've had some women who have been elected to be the first guy. I don't think anybody cares or is really talking about it. I think that actually if you asked a lot of people, they would have no idea that you would be breaking this barrier. Do you think it's important to you care? Do people ask you about it?
Well, I always have to add the caveat that we know of. Of course, yes, for sure. Hundreds and hundreds of senators elected through the years and no doubt. There was someone who was in the closet at one point. Not for sure.
But look, I'm not running to make history clearly, but it is interesting that we are continuing to take steps forward in this country even while this administration and Republicans play the culture wars and target the LGBTQ plus community with some of the most cynical attacks. And as someone who grew up in New Hampshire, I live my whole life here, I wasn't sure as a kid that I would be able to have a full life, that I would be able to find love, that I would be able to represent New Hampshire as an outgame man in Congress. So it's a signal of how far we've come. We've got more progress to make. But this campaign is really not about making history.
It's about making a difference for New Hampshire, how we fight to change things in Washington, stand up to this president and make people's lives better. I wonder if you'd inspire other closeted members of Congress to come out. We're in the house right now. There are closet cases all over that building. Do you have any your gate are ever going off in the hallways?
I am. Look, it's we have the largest quality caucus that we've ever had in congressional history, and we are always open to new members. Okay. All right. Well, that's not a no.
I'm not hearing a no. I have not thought that boy that seemed like a that seemed like a closet case walking by me in the hallway, but you don't write it right. Some of these Republicans, I mean, come on. Everyone should be able to be themselves. The thing I have a problem with is folks that have family members, you know, people that have staff members in their voting against their fundamental dignity and full quality under the law.
So we will take any converts who are willing to actually step up and make sure we're including everyone in the destiny of this country. It is serious. And I know. All right. Last question for you.
You got tens of millions of dollars. Elon Musk puts some money in. This a Coke back group billionaire back right wing group is put in I think like $15 million the Senate Republican pack is putting another $17 million. That's a huge amount of money coming in. First of all, what are they, what are they trying to do?
And what do you need? Like what are you trying to do right now to kind of fight back against this money that's coming in? Yeah. And so I think that's what I think is about people's feelings on the economy, people's feelings about Donald Trump and the direction of this country, we're going to build the broad coalition of Democrats, independents and Republicans that we need to win a tough centaurase. But if they succeed in making it about anything other than that, and they've got messaging all across the board on a number of different topics and really, you know, just trying to, just trying to make voters, I think, now and walk away from their responsibilities, this election.
If it's about anything other than those core issues, you know, Johnson and who could win the centaurase. So, you know, we just want to do our part in New Hampshire to lock down a tough seat and ensure that then we can take the steps in the four other states we need to flip the Senate majority. So people can go to Chris Pappas.org, help us flip the Senate, help us do it one state at a time. This is a state where we had a centaurase in 2016 that was decided by 1,017 votes. Those 1,017 votes saved the Affordable Care Act back a few years ago.
So politics is a game of inches here. We're an all election day voting state. So we got to work hard over the next 22 or so days to get out the vote and win this thing. And as long as we can communicate our message, I feel hopeful about what we're going to be able to do here. And in so many other battleground states across the country, voters are onto this president.
He has breached trust with the American people, including people that voted for him in the last election. And we have a moment where we can really broaden the conversation beyond just the base of the Democratic Party and talk to people's challenges and how we can do a lot better. Chris Pappas, good luck and thank you for being here. Thanks so much. That's our show for today.
Thanks Chris Pappas for coming on. Dan and I will be back with a new show on Friday. Pappas in America is a quick media production. Our show is produced by Austin Fisher, Saul Rubin, McKenna Roberts, and Ferris Safari with Riturling, Elijah Cohn, and Adrian Hill. Our team includes Matt to Groat, Ben Heftko, Jordan Cantor, Charlotte Landis, David Tolz, Mia Kelman, Ryan Young, and Naomi Single.
Our staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East.