10/30/26: More Midterm Madness, Pelosi Attacks Abdul, Binance 6 Billion Hack, Mai Vang, Angela Gonzales-Torres

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0:16 All right.

0:17 It is Friday, October 30th with a spooky Breaking Points Friday. I am here, of course, with Ryan, Emily, and what?

0:24 Jumpscare.

0:25 Jumpscare. Who have we, who's joined the broadcast this morning?

0:30 I don't know what you're talking about. I just had a little work done.

0:33 Oh, it looks good. I hope you spent a lot of money.

0:38 Is this because you're going to Mar-a-Lago this weekend?

0:41 Yeah, I've got a trip planned down to Mar-a-Lago. I wanted to fit in a little bit better. I wanted to go like a little bit incognito, you know, so what do you think?

0:51 Don't think about it now. It takes a few days and then it's going to settle in. It'll be fine.

0:54 It'll settle.

0:55 Mm-hmm.

0:56 Thanks, guys.

0:57 Don't look for a while, though.

0:58 Did you ride your tricycle down there tomorrow?

1:01 Yes, I did. In fact, I brought my tricycle along for sure. And also some some edible dog food that I hear, like, you know, is good for human consumption.

1:11 But also a great also a great sponsor of podcasts. So that's not a bad idea. Crystal, you just had the business interest in mind.

1:18 I do.

1:19 Yeah.

1:19 I'm always looking out for the team.

1:22 Well, exciting that you will be advising the president very soon based on your attire. We're excited for all that. But it is once again, it is Halloween. It is days before the midterm. We are going to be breaking down the latest going on in the races and where Trump and J.D.

1:37 Are.

1:38 Then we've got a little bit of Michigan. Samuel Robinson returns from the Michigan Chronicle to talk to us about how Abdul is doing with black voters. And of course, after that, Ryan, who are we joined by? We've got a big double panel.

1:51 Yeah, we have Angela Gonzalez-Torres and May Vang, who are both running in California, kind of Democrat on Democrat general elections. Angela is a Justice Dem-backed candidate who's running against Jimmy Gomez, incumbent, and then May Vang running against Doris Matsui, who I think just turned 82. And both of them are kind of begging for AIPAC support and kind of urging AIPAC-backed super PACs to make Hassan Piker a big issue in the remaining days of the election, which is interesting in a Dem on Dem race. But there are, you know, 30, 40 percent of the voters are Republicans. So they're kind of going trying to trying to agitate them. So we'll we'll we'll talk about how that because that could be

2:36 two more incumbents that are ousted. out of the Democratic caucus on election night. But people won't really notice until a few days afterwards because it takes so long to count the votes. But yeah, Doris and Jimmy, their days may be numbered.

2:50 I also feel like Ryan put on a cowboy hat for like 20 seconds and then we never acknowledged it and nobody said anything and we just moved on. So we at least needed to pause and say, nice hat, Ryan.

3:04 Not Halloween related, just something he does to feel secure.

3:08 Well, we did ask him what he was wearing before we went to air. We said, Ryan, what are you? And he said, I'm just a cowboy.

3:14 Just a humble cowboy.

3:16 And speaking of secure, I hope everyone checked their crypto wallets this morning because there has been a big old hack.

3:24 Over $ 6.

3:25 Billion allegedly has been hacked from Bitcoin crypto, I suppose, as well as a polymarket hack, a DHS hack, so Black October hack. is still here for at least another 48 hours. But first, let's get to the midterms. You know, I'm feeling really excited about this race. I'm excited to hear from our amazing president about where things are going in his final message.

3:49 But then wait a second.

3:51 I'm hearing that President Trump is scrapping a planned trip to Kansas this weekend to campaign for the embattled Republican incumbent, Roger Marshall, opting instead to conduct a flurry of virtual tele-rallies.

4:03 Well, that's okay.

4:03 At least I've got J.D., Um, you know, at least JD's here, but wait, what? JD has also canceled his Friday trip to St.

4:11 Cloud.

4:12 So what rally am I going to guys? What do we make of these sudden departures?

4:17 I am not sure. There's a lot of theories. I mean, one could just be Donald Trump was getting way too excited about John Husted's ass and they need to reel it in a little bit. Unironically, it could be the fact that he is devastatingly unpopular and these candidates were not that excited. There was a rumor he was going to go to Michigan where, you know, he's deeply, deeply unpopular.

4:40 One of Abdul's key messages has been tying Mike Rogers to Donald Trump. So maybe not exactly the final push that Mike Rogers and some of these other candidates wanted. But the other theory is, you know, here we stand on the precipice of some sort of restarting of the hot kinetic war with Iran. We've got all this crazy hacking shit going on. We've got Trump certainly plotting to mess with the midterms as much as he possibly can.

5:07 So it could be something ominous like that where, you know, they needed to be in Washington in the Situation Room or directing whatever mayhem they have planned.

5:18 I don't know.

5:19 There are sources in the Washington Sun saying, Republican sources saying, they sense that the rallies are hurting Republicans that Trump is rallying on behalf of. And to a lot of people, that probably doesn't sound surprising, but obviously the strategy behind it is that they need every single MAGA voter to turn out. And so if Trump does a rally, in this part of Ohio, Chili Cloth, Ohio, or in this part of Ohio, or this part of Michigan, goes to Kansas, what you do then is make sure that you have as many MAGA voters as is humanly possible returning their ballots, voting early, or remembering on election day that they actually need to go vote for this random Republican, Roger Marshall, who they've never thought much about at all and don't

5:56 have a strong opinion on. And so the logic is that the rallies should be having an effect, even if it's a turnoff to independent voters. What it does is make sure that you get every single MAGA voter who is hardcore at least to show up in a red state where there should be enough of those types of people to carry you against a Democrat. So if we have people who are telling the Washington Sun at this point after he's done dozens of rallies, I mean, I would say at least two dozen, right, in the last couple of months, that's somewhat striking because the strategy is not insane that you would want to turn on every MAGA voter. And they know that that's what their strategy is.

6:31 So if they're questioning it now, that's like, crazy. It's probably not surprising, and it's nothing we should probably be surprised by, but it's really rough.

6:40 And they have hundreds of millions of dollars in this pack to do, and they're very good at data analysis. And so clearly, they have looked at the effect of these rallies on turnout and on polling. And yeah, typically, if it's a deep red state, South Carolina, Kansas, Nebraska, it's going to be a net benefit for Trump, even if the Democrats are angry and it motivates them because there's just so many more Republicans. So the fact that they seem to have run the numbers and have concluded that actually this is a net negative to us shows just how, you know, just how bleak the situation is for them. The rallies seem to be much less well attended than in the past. That has created a lot of kind of quiet moments, which has open space for

7:31 not just kind of democratic protesters but also you've got a lot of fuentes people it created that incredible moment where a kid was wearing a like blue america first hat which i learned because of news coverage yeah that was a it's a that's apparently fuentes but you know for like right for a normal person it just looks like an america first hat and you see the guy being escorted out for nothing other than wearing an america first hat and looking like a you know some charlie kirk disciple And, yeah, it's just devastating for the party to think that, like, OK, even our guy is a net negative in South Carolina and Kansas.

8:14 Yeah. I mean, every rally, there's now multiple protesters interrupting and many of them screaming about the Epstein files. There was that one dude who was like, take the ballroom and shove it up your big fat ass or something like that.

8:27 You can hear it.

8:29 Yes, very audibly. And so but I mean, also, I joked about the John Husted thing, but that is a bit in every single rally and no one's really paying attention to anything else. So if there was any hope of him really like jazzing up the MAGA base by doing these rallies, I'm not sure that's the closing message that I would necessarily want it to be the one that's getting clipped and recirculated. But that is what they've all decided to lean into. It's so bizarre. Actually, we have this J.D. Vance story. clip that we can play as well, which is just one of the strangest political moments I've ever seen of this woman asking this very earnest question. A conservative, by the way, Turning Points USA person asking this very earnest question about how she's ever

9:15 going to afford housing. And he decides to use this moment to make some John Husted ass joke about Which it's one thing. I mean, when Trump does it, it's weird. But Trump is, you know, doing his Trump thing and has a certain charisma. And J.D. Vance does it. Then it's both weird and sort of pathetic because you're just like copying what the boss is doing. Griffin, you want to play this one?

9:38 I don't, but I will.

9:40 This is a Fox News town hall that Jesse Waters hosted.

9:43 With Jesse Waters.

9:44 Yeah, in Texas. And I watched the whole thing. I think it was all conservatives in the audience. So it wasn't like just your average Texans.

9:51 A constant message that my generation hears from the right is to get married young, have kids young, have as many kids as possible. And I think what the right doesn't acknowledge most of the time is how disincentivized we are currently because of the cost of owning a home and the general expenses of raising a family. And so my question is, how does the right and yourself expect us to start families young when the average price of a home in America now costs more than $ 415, 000, which just feels out of reach for us?

10:19 Sure, sure.

10:20 Well, first of all, again, thank you for the question and thanks for the support.

10:24 I want to point out that I think that I've been asked four or maybe five questions by my count. I've only been asked one question about John Houston's ass, and it was by Jesse Water.

10:34 That's what people are talking about.

10:38 Maybe you should run for Senate on the Democratic side here in Texas, Jesse.

10:42 I'd probably win.

10:43 Yikes.

10:50 I mean, what are we doing?

10:52 Mortifying. I'm mortified for him.

10:56 At one point, he talked about how Republicans had banned Wall Street from buying American homes. And I was honestly shocked to hear that line from the vice president, because that is the bill that the president vetoed. He's on the campaign trail. touting a bill the president, it's true, Republicans broadly passed that bill. It was bipartisan legislation, Elizabeth Warren, Tim Scott and the Senate side. But the president vetoed it.

11:22 And here's the vice president, representative of the White House, touting that bill. I was like, wow, that's bold.

11:31 That's a great that's a great note. That's wild that he's doing that. And I mean, he's not a stupid person. And that's the thing. That kind of is the biggest rub with J.D. Vance in a way is like, you know, this person is smarter than this. Like he knows the president vetoed that bill. So he knows how dishonest what he's doing is. And it's all just so try hard.

11:52 That moment that we just played is just so icky and weird. And the polar opposite of the, you know, the Bill Clinton, I feel your pain. He doesn't listen to this woman or like pick up the tone from her whatsoever. He's got this corny preplanned joke. Again, not even original, just. deciding to go with the flow of his boss's new homoerotic fixation on John Huston's ass. I don't even know. I mean, if Republicans think this is going to go well for them in 2028 with this guy as the standard bear, good luck.

12:23 Yeah, Abdul pegged J.D. Well in his viral clip this week where he said he's just sucking up to the most powerful person in the room and doesn't have his own soul, but he's very smart. And that's another example that it's just him. Like, what are you doing?

12:38 Let's take a listen to the latest Abdul hit on JD here.

12:43 But, you know, there's always someone in that group that's thirsty for attention.

12:49 They keep sending that Ohio State Buckeye here.

12:56 What's his name?

12:57 JV Dance? They keep sending JV here. And asking... And asking JV to do the dirty work, but that's the thing about it. JV's got zero charisma.

13:14 They taught him that at Ohio State.

13:18 When your school mascot's like a nut, what do you expect?

13:22 Right.

13:24 I hate Michigan and Ohio State, so.

13:27 That didn't play for you?

13:28 No.

13:29 But, you know.

13:30 JV is a really good hit. It's a really good hit because it gets precisely... I actually thought in that town hall, he took Crystal's point about matching tone. After he made the joke, he then tried to land the plane and do this answer where he... It was a more normal political answer after the joke about John Husted's ass, of course, which you should know if you're not JV that that's going to go viral. But the JV thing is great because... As a political hit, it's a really great hit because it's like you're in the shadow of the president. And if you're calling him JV, it's like Trump is varsity and you're JV. So you're the one that's just trying to suck up to the president and kind of live in his shadow and be your own man.

14:07 But you can't quite do it while you're vice president. So that's quite a knock from a very talented politician.

14:14 I don't know if it was that same town hall or if it was a different media appearance, but J.D. Vance was talking about how Trump's never complimented his ass, so he needs to hit the gym.

14:27 Yes, I think that was earlier in the town hall, which is why he tried to do that callback to Jesse.

14:32 Yes.

14:33 And by the way, one thing I should mention is Trump has been playing, this is interesting, at his rallies, these clips of Harry Enten. He plays, he queues up a clip of Harry Enten. You'll know the clip I'm talking about where Harry Enten, he's posted on True Social, mentions that Trump has like between 99 and 98 percent of support from the MAGA base. So Trump is obsessed with that. And just think about that as the campaign strategy that Trump thinks. And it's Harry Enten talking about how he has higher approval rating among Republicans than Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan. This is what he's playing at the rallies. So it gives you some insight into Trump's mind, which is that he is this mythical figure that couldn't

15:13 possibly be even slightly more unpopular with his own people. And it's not like it's obviously not true. I know we're going to get to this later in the show. But when you're looking at Michigan, there were people who voted for Trump. They might not have been rally goers, but they're probably voting for Abdul El-Sayed. And so he's got this he's got this kind of egomaniacal. It's not surprising, but egomaniacal narrative in his own mind. That's it's entirely plausible that it's going to look at you're going to look back at the rallies and say that backfired.

15:43 And related to that, we were maybe we're going to play this later. The Chris Murphy got a look at the the war plans that Trump had the military put together for after either before or after the midterms. And he described them as, quote, insane. He said his quote was they are insane. Like they're going to lead to a response that is that is devastating. They're going to lead to a ratcheting up.

16:10 Of the war.

16:10 We're going to attack civilian infrastructure. And the result of that is going to be that it'll take much, much longer for us to dig out of the hole that he's creating here.

16:20 Because if you.

16:21 Destroy all this oil industry capacity on the Gulf side and the Iranian side, even if they open the Strait of Hormuz, you can't turn that stuff back on it quickly.

16:31 So, and by the way, couple that with the stock market is, you know, crumbling because all of these major tech stocks are, you know, all these Big companies that have held up the stock market are missing their earnings and are cratering. And we have these massive hacks. I mean, it's not the narrative that you want going into the final weekend. But I just want to ask you guys.

16:52 So you guys think it's just that he's not helping the Republicans. So he's decided to do these teletown halls. You don't see anything more ominous in the decision to hunker down in D.C. this weekend?

17:04 No.

17:06 Wasn't there a missile defense systems planted at Mar-a-Lago recently?

17:10 Yeah, I did see that.

17:11 Well, yeah. And I mean, maybe it's it's Iranians before the election trying to goad him into something. I don't know that he's like has to feels like he has to stay in D.C. or it's the advisers coming to him and be like, Mr. President, you've been on the road so much. We can do these teletown halls that are just the same because Susie Wiles is realizing that the strategy might backfire. It could be one of those two things.

17:31 I don't know.

17:31 Yeah.

17:32 Because the other thing is, like, Trump is not one to, like, listen. You know, or to believe that he's hurting them. That doesn't seem like a message that anyone would be willing to give him or that he would be willing to receive.

17:44 He keeps saying that he's not on the ballot.

17:48 I don't care.

17:50 And so he needs to at some point distance himself from these losers.

17:53 Yeah.

17:54 If he is out in Kansas and South Carolina and Nebraska relentlessly up until like election night and then they lose South Carolina, Kansas and Nebraska and Iowa, like Then you lost too, buddy. So maybe he's like trying to like get away from the scene of the crime as.

18:12 Far as possible. Maybe. On the other hand, he also is one to like, you know, pretend like he doesn't know his own son when it's inconvenient. Like, oh, Don Jr., I barely know the guy. You know, so it's not like. It's not like it has to make logical sense. But I mean, and that was my my thought as well. Instantly, Ryan was like, oh, he thinks this is going to go badly and he wants to be as far away from the train wreck as possible. Kyle's theory is he just is lazy and wanted to play golf instead of going and doing these boring rallies. So that's possible, too.

18:42 Not impossible.

18:43 A little bit of column A, column B.

18:44 Can I say something quickly? It's that he, in January, gave a speech in Iowa where he was downplaying expectations about the midterm, saying, historically, everyone knows the party in power loses, so we might not do that well. This is January, before the war is launched. So I've honestly been surprised that he's been going to all of these rallies because I feel like he was ready to just throw in the towel and be like, we didn't try that hard because he doesn't really seem to care that much about power. I honestly wonder if he is much more worried about impeachment than people realize.

19:17 I think he cares a lot.

19:18 Yeah.

19:19 I think he is worried about impeachment. I think he's worried about investigations. As your final midterms isn't great. And then if you have these, you know, just endless, devastating, likely investigations that are ongoing, you know, that is going to be a real verdict on your presidency as well. Griffin, can we hit the the Obama cheesecake clip here? Cheesecake factory clip so we can bring that one, you know, bring that narrative to a close full circle. I think he I think he landed some more effective blows. But this speaks again to how, you know, Trump is First, his affirmative message is about Husted's ass. Then he got baited from this Obama cheesecake line into spending multiple days talking about the Cheesecake Factory and defending the sanctity of

20:16 this disgusting, you know, his renovations at the White House and the ballroom or whatever. Again, not exactly the message, if you're a Republican, that you want to be debated here in the final days. So here's Obama going back at Trump over the Cheesecake Factory thing.

20:33 What I said about them being directly responsible for rising prices, they did not argue with that. They did not deny terrorists were contributing to higher costs for families. They didn't say anything about that. I accused this administration based on the facts that they were engaging in unprecedented levels of corruption.

20:57 They didn't say anything about that. The president wasn't even mad about the Saddam Hussein comparison. That part didn't bother him. But he was very upset about the Cheesecake Factory comments.

21:21 And he goes on and does a whole bit about how they said this literally happened. Scott Besson, billionaire secretary of the Treasury, who presumably has some other important things in his portfolio right now, to do a press conference literally outside of the Cheesecake Factory. Like, that is what they've been spending their time on in the final week.

21:40 That's right. So, yeah, 40 chests from Obama, I guess.

21:44 So we have our message that we love men's asses. We love the Cheesecake Factory, but I do think that all S's are made the same.

21:55 We love the Cheesecake Factory, and we are deeply offended if you suggest the White House should not look like the Cheesecake Factory.

22:03 Yes. No, no, no.

22:05 Saddam Hussein's Cheesecake Factory. This is a crucial part. If the White House looked like the Cheesecake Factory, I don't know that this would be as bad as it is. It is Saddam Hussein's Cheesecake Factory. Right.

22:18 Yeah, that's where he was hiding under. So that is the message. But I think there is one final thematic image that can really sum up the entire Republican side of the midterms. And that is, of course, this image of Amy Acton's estranged mother and her car. Now, this, of course, was the Vivek ad. where they found Amy Acton's estranged mother and had her cut an ad. This is her hot car with 12 cats inside of it.

22:53 I don't think that there is a clearer or moral thematic message to what the Republicans have been up to for this election season than this image right here. And you have to imagine Vivek sent someone out to this woman to pull her out of this dustbin, dust her off, get her in front of Western Pennsylvania outside of a church.

23:18 Yeah.

23:20 Yeah. And I mean, so now you're, you're exploiting a clearly mentally ill woman, number one. And then after you like record this ad with her, you just send her back into, you know, whatever squalor with the cat hoarding issue that she clearly has. Um, And then you, of course, have the obvious problem of the fact this woman is a pedophile protector who chose her pedophile husband multiple times accused, including by his own biological daughter.

23:51 Incestuous.

23:52 Yes, exactly. And she chose him over her own children. So Vivek has now taken the ad down. Actually, I don't know if you guys saw this.

24:03 I did see that.

24:04 First, he reduced it to 30 seconds and took out any of the specific claims in the original minute log ad. The mom says we never lived in a tent. Well, then people instantly pulled out the court records and like it literally has your address as this park on the highway.

24:17 Route seven.

24:19 Yeah, you did live in the tent.

24:20 She's lying in the ad about lying.

24:22 Lying.

24:22 Right.

24:23 So they took that part out, presumably because they're like, OK, now that we know that for sure, like we can't. That's actually defamatory. So they pared it down to 30 seconds. Yeah, they pared it down to 30 seconds where it's just sort of amorphous. My daughter's a liar, but no details. And now all this polling has come out that's just shown the bottom falling out for the fact people already didn't like this guy's unfavorable rating. Very high. You have a whole issue with Republican hatred of Indians right now as well that was not helping his case to start with.

24:55 And now they've pulled the ad entirely. Amy Acton is out with an ad that I think is fairly devastating that just pulls local news clips talking about how despicable and how vile this was.

25:08 Yeah.

25:09 To use this horrific trauma that she suffered as a child and try to weaponize that against her, which I think just anyone normal will find completely repellent.

25:19 And now that we know that it's 100% confirmed that they were, in fact, living in a tent, think about what these children had to do to defend themselves against this predator who's literally physically in a tent with them. So at least oftentimes... As a child, you feel safe when you go to bed, like when you fall asleep in your own room and you close and lock the door.

25:44 They couldn't even do that. So they're living in terror all day and all night. And for Vivek to drag out this woman to say, and apparently, according to the reporting, she couldn't string sentences together. She couldn't tell a clear story. She was just visibly and obviously mentally ill. Forget the fact that you just dragged her out of a car with 12 cats in it. Like just her presentation and her affect was like obviously disturbed. And Vivek himself intervened and was like, no, no, keep going, keep going, keep going.

26:16 Just because all you need is enough words strung together. And then you take images so you can edit it together and it and it tells a complete sentence at least. And then he put that on air and and Trump and J.D. Vance have gone around defending it.

26:29 Trump's been leaning into it. His Chillicothe rally the other night, he did like 10 minutes on why the ad was good and how he wishes he said this before, but how he wishes he had his opponent's mom on camera doing that. And I just want to emphasize how important Ohio is to the MAGA coalition project. Ohio is one of the places that was so comfortably read for Republicans over the last 10 years because they had put together this interesting coalition of Obama Trump voters. white working class, along with some Hispanic men. Like this was like ground zero.

26:57 Yes.

26:57 And so they're about to lose their grip on like really the state that was the I don't know, like it was it was the most important representation of what MAGA was doing for the Republican Party in a good way politically in terms of like bringing in new voters.

27:10 Yeah. The number of reporters who went to Youngstown, Ohio. One last thing on this. I think I can't remember which outlet it was actually got in touch with the The sister of, so one of the other daughters of Cletus, whose sister was the one that he had raped. So his own biological daughter that he had raped and been charged with incest for having raped. And she was saying, of course I believe Amy. And by the way, we've heard rumors that these were not the only children that he raped. And she was sobbing and completely re-traumatized by this because, of course. So, I mean, just not only are you dragging this all out for Amy, it's just so despicable. And, you know, the condition this woman is in.

28:00 You also, here's a whole other family that you completely re-traumatized. So congratulations, Vivek. Really job well done.

28:07 We got to get to Samuel Robinson now in Michigan. But Vivek, if you want to turn this thing around, America, everyone in America is asking you to take the hot car challenge. Get in a hot car. Lock yourself in there for a couple of days. Maybe that can turn the race around. Let's move over to something a little bit lighter in Michigan. We've got Sam Robinson, returning champion. Sam, how are you doing?

28:34 Welcome to the show. I'm doing good. Great to be here again.

28:38 Yeah, great to have you.

28:39 Of course, you're from the Michigan Chronicle and you've been great at tracking a lot of the goings on in the Michigan race. Break it down for us. What are you seeing on the ground in these final days in Michigan?

28:51 You know, it feels a lot like the lead up to August 4th in which.

28:56 You're seeing Abdul El-Sad's opponent come out sort of for the first time. A lot of my colleagues, right, like local news reporters, have been struggling to the Michigan Public Radio Network, the local NPR station here. They've been struggling to make contact with Mike Rogers. I've had a little bit of easier go of it. You guys saw my video with Christy Rogers at our Trump-branded gas station. She was giving out $ 10 gas cards there. I was actually the only reporter that they invited to that, which was like, okay.

29:28 Makes no sense. They knew that they were going to get the Twitter clip, I guess. So that was the strategy. But yeah, Mike Rogers is not doing hostile media. I mean, you saw him.

29:40 Not do one of the debates with our local Fox affiliate, Roop Raj.

29:46 I mean, Roop is not a biased reporter.

29:49 I mean, Lots of people wanting to get to Mike Rogers have not been able to. He has been coming out in the last few weeks and days. I do think that there is some energy on the Republican side. There's a lot of people that are going to vote simply against Abdul El-Sayed. However, you know, I do think you guys see those polls. That's kind of the feeling on the ground. He has the momentum. He has the black voters of Detroit. This narrative that he's going to somehow lose a large, significant portion of black Detroit.

30:24 Votes is just ridiculous. I have to say it's a little ridiculous.

30:28 If Republicans can peel away some of those black voters, that might lay bare on November 4 or November 5 once we see where the votes came from.

30:40 However, it's going to be 88, 89, 90, 91, 92. I mean, it's not going.

30:45 To be.

30:48 Something that we end up saying, oh, this decided the election. I don't care.

30:54 Which is higher than what Alyssa Slotkin got among black voters, by the way.

30:58 But that was interesting because Hill Harper, the good doctor, was the candidate, right? And Hill Harper had his whole stake be, well, I'm in Detroit now, even though he just moved there to run. But there was also sort of a nuanced dynamic in that race as well, the reason that Slotkin struggled a little bit.

31:17 So, Sam, I wanted to talk to you more about Black Michiganders in particular, because this narrative has been pushed very aggressively. The idea being that basically, first of all, you had a lot of Black voters vote for Haley Stevens in the primary. So there's that. Second of all, you have this. Idea that there's, you know, deep ethnic division between the Arab American and the Black communities in the area, and therefore you were going to have this large defection towards Mike Rogers. There was one poll that did show a significant number of Black voters voting for Mike Rogers. Every other poll has showed, to your point, 88 percent for Abdul-Assad.

32:02 And furthermore, The polls have shown that there are more Republican defectors to Abdul than there are Democratic defectors to Mike Rogers. So can you talk to us because you do such a great job of just actually talking to voters? hearing from them versus filtering it through various campaign narratives.

32:24 What are you actually hearing from the Black voters that you are speaking with in Detroit and other areas?

32:30 And Sam, if I could tack on to that question, I remember when we talked to you ahead of August 4th, you highlighted that, as Crystal just noted, the Haley Stevens thing, like some of this was real at the time. So it sounds like Abdul in the months that have transpired since did work to win the trust of Black voters.

32:46 Is that accurate to say, too?

32:48 Yeah, there's certainly people that are never going to get on board for whatever reason.

32:52 Most of those folks are insiders.

32:54 When you see Chris Cuomo interviewing some of these people, these are people that we know. These are local business leaders or local conservative activists. The national media decisions being made are sometimes like, wow, do you guys not realize that we all know who these people are?

33:14 I mean, I think there was a CNN story. There was a CNN story that quoted.

33:19 anonymously a local black leader in this. The quote was just like, oh, my God, this could only be two or three different people that are not leaders in our black community.

33:29 I mean, I noticed from the outside that outlets seem to interview the same like three people in every story.

33:36 It is odd.

33:37 And I think in the in the camp with Mike Rogers, people have pointed this out when I put specific Democrat activists, Michelle Nard, And I believe Christina Haynes are the two folks that I spoke to a couple weeks.

33:51 Ago at a John James event.

33:54 People in my comments are like, Sam, you need to include the comment, the context that these people are surrogates.

34:01 Of Mike Rogers' campaign. It is, you know, I don't want to use the word astroturf myself.

34:07 I'll let the opponents of Mike Rogers, Democrats for Mike Rogers, use that.

34:12 But I do think there's going to be a number.

34:15 Of Republicans who, for Abdul El-Sayed voting for him because of their anti-Israel positions. This is an issue that has motivated voters. Do I think it's the number one issue?

34:29 No.

34:30 Do I think it's the number one issue amongst Michigan's Jewish and Muslim community?

34:34 Yes.

34:35 And so, yeah, you're going to see some Oakland County reliable Democrats switch for Mike Rogers. You're going to see some conservative Democrats Arab-Muslim voters all across the state, people who are sympathetic to Palestine and the war in Gaza, going to vote for Abdul enthusiastically. Black voters are going to vote against the Republican. I think that's safe to say.

35:01 The people who perhaps are the loudest voices speaking against Abdul al-Assad, I think a lot of the times, too, you know, I'm talking to people, they say, oh, you know, he's an Arab, he's Muslim. Do these people even vote? I wonder sometimes, but I do think that we're going to see majority black Detroit vote for Abdul El-Sayed enthusiastically.

35:25 I do make real the dynamic that exists, right? We do have tension in our gas stations and liquor stores. Are those people experiencing the tension and talking about it always the people that are lining up in the early voting centers?

35:43 I'm not so sure.

35:45 Sam, you mentioned loud voices, and there was a loud voice specifically that recently made a comment. Nancy Pelosi, who's attacking Abdullah Syed's views on Israel.

35:55 Let's take a listen.

35:56 You know, when you say Israel doesn't have the right to be a Jewish state, that's anti-Semitic as far as I'm concerned.

36:02 Who says that? Who says that? Mandami has said that. I mean, I'll say it.

36:08 I can't account for it.

36:10 Al-Sayed has said that.

36:12 Um... that doesn't believe that they should be a Jewish state.

36:17 That's concerning.

36:19 Yeah, no, it's more than concerning.

36:20 It's wrong.

36:22 And it isn't a reflection of the Democrats in the Congress of the United States. This new person in Michigan, we'll see if he gets elected to the Congress, but the mayor, unless it's hard, I hope he succeeds as mayor, but I don't agree with some of the things he has said.

36:39 Inspiring stuff there.

36:41 So, Sam, is there a big Pelosi contingent in Michigan that is talking.

36:45 About this issue? You know, it's loud.

36:47 I don't know how big it is. You know, it is in Oakland County. That's where you'll find the Democrats for Mike Rogers yard signs. I don't know if all those people putting the yard signs describing themselves as Democrats actually are. However, you know, you do have a large number of Oakland County Jews there. who feel like Abdul's rhetoric has, you know, you heard it from Mr. Turkish, the fiance of Haley Stevens, saying that he's going to vote for Mike Rogers. You know, did Obama make the call?

37:21 Is that why the morning after the CNN, Caitlin Collins interview, you know, Haley Stevens was sort of begrudgingly admitting that she was still going to vote for Abdul El-Sayed. Now, you know, thanks to Joey Capoletti and the good people at the Associated Press, we know that Haley Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed are set to appear together once again.

37:45 They've only appeared together once. And I don't know.

37:47 That's right.

37:49 You know, I don't know if he's going to. I think there's specific holdouts that we thought were going to come around for him. And because Abdul has sort of remained in his positions on that topic.

38:03 They haven't come around.

38:04 People like State Senator Jeremy Moss, he's going to end up being in Congress replacing Haley Stevens in Michigan's 11th Congressional District. We thought he was going to actually come around. He had been speaking to Abdul and his campaign as sort of a moderating force. I think part of the Jewish caucus, the videos that you saw of Abdul apologizing for his comments about Temple Israel attack. That happened much in part because of the advocacy that Jeremy Moss, you know, did.

38:39 And so, yeah, it's something that they know that they're outnumbered. However, you know, I do think that, you know, we're going to see that in exit polling. There's going to be a large contingency of Democratic voters.

38:52 Who- And exit polling, because I think Jewish voters make about one one point somewhere between one and one point five percent.

39:01 Of the national media is going to find them. I'm sure they're going to sit.

39:04 Outside and they'll find them. You know, I have not I have to admit, guys, I have I've stuck around in in Detroit, Metro Detroit. I guess Oakland County is part of Metro Detroit. But I'm not going out. I mean, I'm on the east side. So that's like the west side to me. And yeah, my visits have been about three or four times um, really focused with Haley before the primary cycle. And then, um, afterward with some of these, um, faith coalitions, we've seen, uh, black and Arab coalition partners, right?

39:40 Unity canvas or unity rallies happen.

39:43 You know, there are conversations happening with local groups about You know, what do we do to combat anti-blackness, Islamophobia? There was just a community conversation that happened after a black woman was attacked by a group of Arab men after she got in a car accident. You know, we have like these things all the time where people in a neighborhood are upset with their liquor store owner, albeit Egyptian culture. Abdul El-Sayed and his family have never owned any liquor stores, right? These are like Iraqi Chaldeans that are like owning liquor stores.

40:17 Completely different Arab people, however.

40:20 I actually wanted to ask you about that because there's this kind of assumption that, oh yes, these basically Iraqi origin liquor store owners are going to get lumped in with Abdul.

40:31 But.

40:34 I would assume voters are able to distinguish there.

40:37 No.

40:38 No, they're not. I mean, they're not even able to distinguish the fact that it wasn't Well.

40:42 Not between necessarily Egyptian and Iraqi, but does he get tarred by the association to those tensions at all?

40:49 Yes.

40:49 And it is remarkable how when you tell people, well, he's not even the ethnicity that is harming you.

40:56 So that's a real thing. So I also wanted to ask real quickly about the Arab American vote, which I think makes up about 4% plus. How are they responding to Mike Rogers? I saw this reporting that Mike Rogers had urged people, like, not to make fun of Abdul El-Sayed's name, not to kind of go after him explicitly for being Muslim.

41:17 Did he talk to the president? Right.

41:19 The party and the president did not listen to that. So what are we, like, he was hoping to stem some bleeding from the Arab-American vote. What's your guess as to how, you know, how that turnout and split is going to play out? Because that national media actually doesn't ever go there anymore. Like they, in 2024, they were there constantly.

41:40 Yeah.

41:41 I've been a little surprised about the lack of interest in Arab Muslim voters. I mean, imagine if you're like a Arab Muslim kid sitting in your living room being yelled at by the TV because of your faith, like it is kind of remarkable, the just sheer racism. Um, you know, I do think that there's going to be still as always, right. I mean, there's always people that, um, vote on issues like abortion, right? Vote on issues like I want my taxes to be lower. And so, yeah, you're going to see some Arab folks vote for Mike Rogers. However, there are more people telling me that the amount of disgust and vitriol against his campaign, had he not gone completely, not him himself, but certainly surrogates, people that are walking

42:38 beside me as I walk into Cass Tech to go see Obama, I see Jake Lang with a Mike Rogers sign. Mike Rogers' campaign has disavowed Jake Lang. However, the pastor that invites Jake Lang to Detroit, Lorenzo Sewell, is still his faith coordinator?

42:54 I don't know. Is Jake Lang the one dressing up? And Rogers talks about a duel in 9-11 in the same breath.

42:59 He's not exactly... running a very kind of.

43:02 No, I mean, he quote tweeted the Dave Portnoy tweet calling him a terrorist saying Dave is exactly right. But however, when you see him at the rallies or at his events, he'll be like, you know, it's not about his faith, it's about his ideology. He tries to make a distinction. He tries to invite other people in. You know, there are a fair amount of Indian Americans that are going to vote for Mike Rogers. I've been seeing them at his events. And a lot of those folks will espouse the same kind of things. It is really interesting, you know, Yeah, Mike Rogers will be very careful. You know, his campaign folks will be very careful because they do want Arab Muslim voters. You know, when I talk to Cam Higbee

43:41 outside of the Wayne State Fieldhouse after he gets kicked out of an Abdul rally, he'll tell me that he does not want Muslims around. He doesn't care that they voted for Trump.

43:50 This is a PragerU guy.

43:51 Yeah. He just got indicted. He's the good person. For voter fraud.

43:56 That's a whole other segment we'll have to have you back on for, Sam. We have to get to two Congress candidates that are coming on right now. Any last questions for Sam before we let him go?

44:05 Just real quick, Sam. Turnout in Detroit. Early vote. What are you thinking?

44:11 The election officials are telling us that it's going to be a higher than normal turnout compared to the non-incumbent year of 2018. That was when we elected Gretchen Whitmer, Dana Nessel, Jocelyn Benson. You know, I do think there's going to be a number of Detroit voters that are excited to vote for Abdul El-Sayed. 40, 45 percent, you know, that might not be that great.

44:32 But to us, that's really good. So I think people are excited here.

44:37 National media is going to keep, you know, creating their narrative until they just can't anymore. So we will see who, you know, comes out. I would imagine we're probably going to have a a straightforward night. Detroit, it might take a while. It might be 2, 3 a.m. before we see those ballots.

44:57 All the way counted. So stay tuned. Drink a coffee. I will be there until the end of it.

45:05 We'll keep in touch with you on election night, and we'll put a link to you in the description so people can track your coverage as well. Sam, it's always wonderful to see you, and we'll talk to you on election day.

45:18 Thanks, guys.

45:22 So Black October continues apace, referring, of course, to the cybersecurity nightmare that has been unfolding globally. And this was truly shocking yesterday. Both Polymarket, it looks like, but in particular, Binance was hacked yesterday. and over $ 6 billion in crypto was drained from people's wallets. They're saying this morning that it looks like it may have been North Korean hackers.

45:52 I'm not sure if that's entirely affirmed, but they say that, you know, it looks like it came from North Korea, and that's who officials are pointing the finger at. But you couple this, again, with the fact it looks like Polymarket was also hacked. smaller amount of losses there. And that one is less completely confirmed. But people were saying that their wallets were drained over there. And this is getting really scary. We don't know for sure whether AI was involved in these hacks. But from what the experts are saying, now you should just assume when any hack occurs that AI was involved. And we've had a whole string of incidents such that people who are experts in the field say that this has been the worst time

46:36 in cybersecurity history. So pretty wild. We could put this how it happened piece up on the screen, Griffin, just to read some of the details here of how exactly this all unfolded, because it is pretty wild. It looks like the hackers gained control of one insider's laptop. And then from there, so here, let me just read this.

47:00 Scroll back up to the top. According to initial reports, hackers compromised a Binance engineer's laptop, gaining access to internal systems used to authorize withdrawals. The attackers then hijacked a Binance hot wallet using Ethereum's EIP-7702 mechanism, redirected wallet transactions to a malicious smart contract, transferred billions in crypto attacker-controlled wallets, spread the stolen funds across multiple wallets, and converted some assets into Ethereum to avoid freezes, The attack unfolded across multiple blockchains with most funds drained in less than 20 minutes. Guys, to reiterate, billions gone in less than 20 minutes. Three billion has been frozen, but the remainder has not been

47:46 recovered and may never be recovered. This goes, Binance is saying, don't worry, it's all good. You're going to be made whole. We'll figure out the money. But this vastly exceeds the emergency... I don't know about vastly, but it definitely exceeds the emergency funds that they had set aside. And this is the largest known crypto hack in history. So, massive, massive deal.

48:10 I saw one expert saying it was the largest single bank heist in human history.

48:15 Has to be. Has to be.

48:16 6.3 billion gone in the blink of an eye.

48:19 Yeah. And, you know, I mean, there's a lot... To grapple with here, the AI aspect, the hacking aspect, the also, you know, there has been a narrative, an illusion, I would say, created around crypto that this is safe. This is a safe place to have your money. And now people are logging into their accounts. And I've seen people posting, I literally had millions of dollars taken out of my wallet and now it's just gone. So it's pretty stunning.

48:50 And then it's also for those of us who aren't in crypto and have our money in traditional financial institutions.

48:56 You're saying that because Sager's not here.

49:00 It was not meant to be a soccer slate. It just happens to be.

49:03 But the truth.

49:05 But, you know, I mean, you look at this and you're like, well, how safe do any of us feel? Because people are saying it's only a matter of time before AI breaks all of the, you know, all of the cryptography. that underpins all of the encryption that underpins the Internet, whether it's the confidence that we have making any sort of transaction online, buying from Amazon or wherever else.

49:31 Or the confidence that we have that these numbers on a screen that represent the dollars we have in a bank account are going to just still be there and are safe and secure. All of that is really up for grabs right now.

49:43 Right.

49:44 It's not really a time to kind of make fun of other people who are losing their shirts because they're coming for your shirt tomorrow. And so, yeah, you might think, aha, look at these crypto bros who thought that they were getting around. the financial system, and they were doing the secure thing. And now they're the ones that are getting robbed. Well, you're going to get robbed tomorrow. So, and maybe if you want, if you can laugh at yourself too, and laugh at the entire thing, like all of the money, all of the world's money is just going to be in North Korea by like, you know, March. Like, we're all going to just be calling North Korea.

50:24 What's my password?

50:26 Yeah, maybe there's some kind of deal that we can cut with North Korea that's like, look, okay, Can we like, we'll lift all the sanctions. You can be a normal country. Well, you can do trade, like you can travel, like just stop hacking everybody out constantly. Um, and then we focus on like criminals, but like having a nation state with a bunch of brilliant, well-educated hackers with a lot of power behind them and like electricity and like pure impunity.

50:54 like they're going to just crush the whole world, like the world's financial system. If we don't like do something diplomatically at this, it has to be done at like a diplomatic level at this point, like hat in hand to North Korea. We're sorry. Like you got us, you win. Like the communists have beaten the capitalists by just like completely gutting their system. And we need to figure something out.

51:19 I want you to know, if you're just listening, Brian Grimm just bowed to the camera. He bowed to the North Korean communists.

51:26 We have no choice.

51:28 Griffin, do we have the Binance statement about this? Because people are furious that in their statement, they seem to say this hack came through a single engineer's laptop. If I remember incorrectly, this is the post that Binance put out on X.

51:41 Yeah, they did.

51:42 The vulnerabilities in these systems are so obviously inexcusable at this point. it's insane that they are now trying to cover their own ass by saying, I can find it. This isn't it, but I'll go find it. But it went through a single laptop, basically. And I wonder if insurance even covers that, because that sounds like it's such rank incompetence.

52:03 Yeah, anyway.

52:04 Yeah, that's the Kobesi letter tweet that I was reading is based on the information that came from that Binance statement that you're talking about. And You know, people, I don't know if you guys remember all the backstory with Binance founded by this guy CZ, indicted under the Biden administration and for a variety of reasons, and then pardoned under the Trump administration after, you know, all sorts of financial benefits accrued to Trump and the Trump family. But in any case, yeah, this is Binance saying their initial investigation suggests the security incident may involve a compromised DevOps engineer's laptop. So that's how vulnerable this ultimately was, apparently, that you could just send out, I don't know, it

52:50 was a phishing email or what went out, but you just... Yeah, you just needed one... Exactly. You just needed one person to have their system not be completely secure, and now $ 6 billion, $ 6 billion are gone.

53:09 It doesn't seem sustainable, and it seems like... At a certain point, a lot.

53:14 Of this stuff is going to have to be illegal in some way, or maybe the cat's already out of the bag and people can just do this with open models if they're not using Claude. But all these big companies really rushed to get in on AI, and it seems to now be eating away at the own capitalist structures they've created, which I think leads me nicely to Google saying, who reported their earnings around AI. And during Alphabet earnings call, Chief Business Officer Philip Schindler said the slowdown of their earnings was caused by lower monetization we were seeing in AI mode. That's a worry given that Google is spending enormous sums on infrastructure.

53:52 $ 51.

53:52 4 billion went out the door in quarter three, around two-thirds of it going to servers and network equipment. The rest funded data center bills. And what they're reporting is they are losing large amounts of money that they used to make on Google ads because they put this AI mode at the top of Google. So instead of scrolling down and seeing ads, you're just seeing this AI mode.

54:16 So it's really interesting. They all really rushed to get into it and it's literally taking, eating their own lunch.

54:22 And what's interesting on top of that is that they haven't actually lost money yet. What they're saying is that they're not able to monetize these, these, these, you know, the Gemini responses in the same way. But what they've done is they're just squeezing the hell out of their current business customers. And so they actually have slightly grown their ad revenue, but they're basically robbing businesses in order to do it. In other words, they're changing, you know, what, like in the past you would, you know, buy a search term and you would only pay specifically for those search terms, right? Now they're adding what they call search terms that are similar, variants. And it's a bunch of junk.

55:06 And then they force people to kind of pay for that extra junk. So it's not a long-term solution. What they're doing is just ripping off, basically, advertisers to make an extra buck to try to cover up the fact that this AI isn't returning any revenue for them.

55:25 Look at these tickers, folks.

55:28 Intel down 20% in a couple.

55:34 Of days. There was a big earnings miss from both Amazon and Intel and some other companies as well, tech-focused companies. And so that's leading to this sell-off kind of across the board. And Griffin, if you could put up That other graphic from Kobe's sea ladder that shows a bunch of the companies and how much they've fallen. Keep in mind, the stock market is really, you know, underpinned largely by like seven large companies. So here's the tech stocks that are in bear market territory. You can see the list here.

56:07 Applovin.

56:08 Don't know what that is, actually. Corweave, Coinbase. Sounds like McDonald's related.

56:15 McRib is back. We didn't even talk about that yet.

56:19 Western Digital, Oracle, Armholding, Circle, Sandisk, Robinhood, Seagate, ServiceNow, Supermicro, Computer, Intel, Adobe, Broadcom, Marvell Technology, Alphabet, that's Google, IBM, Micron, and Meta all down more than 20%, some of them a lot more than 20%.

56:34 And so.

56:37 You know, there's a real question. Is this, is it happening, right? We've been wondering if there's going to be, if AI is a bubble, I think most people think it is. That doesn't mean that AI isn't an incredibly consequential technology. You guys probably know I'm personally in the camp that it is an extremely devastatingly, I would say, consequential technology.

56:58 I also think that it is likely to lead to some sort of a massive stock market crash because similar to railroads, similar to the dot-com bubble. Internet was very transformative. There also was a giant stock market crash and a bubble that was built up. We're seeing the massive build-out. So anytime you have a lot of companies that are pulling back, we've seen warnings coming from some inside the industry about the financial situation. I don't know, guys. It's all very it's all very ominous between the hacking, between the financial situation. Then you've got the U.S. military that's like retraining soldiers how to dig mass graves and threatening existential insanity, apparently on Iran. It's it's really a pretty

57:47 ominous landscape out there right now.

57:49 I just want to say that the The administration was trumpeting the economic growth numbers yesterday, and John Carney, who writes, honestly, is a very good economic newsletter every single day at Breitbart, it's called their Business Digest, points out that the Commerce Department reports the economy grew at 3.4 percent annualized rate in the third quarter. That's accelerating from 2.2 percent in the second quarter and beating economists' expectations yesterday. Business investment drove the acceleration, but where was the business investment going to?

58:15 Non-residential fixed investment grew at 12.7% annualized rate, contributing to 1.78 percentage points to GDP growth. it was going to, as John writes, the most impressive numbers came from information processing equipment. Investment in computers and peripherals contributed 0.72 percentage point to the GDP growth. Other information processing equipment contributed another 0.14 point. So nearly nine-tenths of a percentage point of economic growth came from business investment in information processing equipment.

58:43 And so when you drill down to the specific directions of the GDP growth, and then you look at the fact that the S & P 500 is, what, like 30%, 35%? The Mag 7 companies? The bubble recipe with the circular investment scheme as well is just glaringly obvious.

59:01 There is one thing that's up, though, and that's oil.

59:04 Yes.

59:04 There you go. There we go.

59:06 Oil is in the green, guys. Don't worry.

59:09 Yeah, those batteries.

59:10 In my backyard are just getting more and more valuable ryan is.

59:13 A character from it's always sunny in philadelphia have you seen the plot of the episode where they the episode where they go around and they pump their own gas into the barrels and keep it so they're gonna sell that at a profit That's the way to go right now.

59:25 That's unironically might not be the worst idea in the world.

59:29 I think that's just because the game solves the gas crisis.

59:33 We'll release a prepper kit with all the things you can order, a premium membership, a barrel of oil, a cowboy hat.

59:38 That's unironically a good idea.

59:41 Well, there's one area where things are going really swimmingly, and that's the Muse AI, which is solving a lot of people's issues. DoorDash has reported that they've received Not tens, but a couple hundred orders through Muse. So everyone's really taking off in that direction. They've only gotten like 200 orders through the Muse AI app. And they must have been all pizzas that Zuckerberg ordered or something like that.

1:00:09 So this technology is really changing people's lives.

1:00:11 They're all in one zip code in San Francisco, basically, probably.

1:00:14 I mean, hundreds is crazy low, considering how many people have signed up for Muse.

1:00:20 That is really true. I wonder what people are mostly using it for. I am curious about the use case. Please don't give it access to your bank account, people. Please don't do that.

1:00:30 If you work at Binance, do not give it access to your work laptop.

1:00:36 Did you guys see that there was some, I can't remember which company, Deloitte or something, some contractor that gave their AI agent access to classified government systems? And it, I don't know what it downloaded, a bunch of stuff it shouldn't have, whatever. I mean, so people are just like, they're just absolute idiots where this is concerned. And I think it's, I mean, you know, people are used to a certain level, I guess, of trust in companies of like, well, if they're putting the product out, it has to be safe.

1:01:09 you know, if they're putting this product out and I'm allowed to connect it to the bank account, it must be fine or allowed to connect it to the classified DHS system or whatever it was. It must be OK. But you cannot take that for granted. Like you are on your own to think this through. And please, please think it through. There was another crazy thing that happened.

1:01:28 I think we have an element for this, too, where Somebody hacked into some of the freezers at commissaries at, I don't know if it was one military base or multiple military base. And then, okay, six bases malfunctioned. And here, listen to this part. In at least one of the cases, the freezer didn't simply stop working. Instead, the cooling unit's temperatures were cranked up overnight, yielding massive amounts of wilted or melted food in the morning comes as the Pentagon prepares every major U.S. military base to operate for at least 90 days without outside electricity, fuel, water, or supplies.

1:02:07 One person that I saw was theorizing, you know, sometimes hackers, they'll sort of like test, like, what can we do? What can we get away with? This could be a sort of like test run of how what systems are able to gain access to. I'm also reminded something very similar just happened in France, in grocery stores in France, where there were a bunch of freezer systems in just random grocery stores, not on military bases that were hacked into and disabled and a bunch of food spoiled as well.

1:02:35 So I don't know. It's it's all very unnerving.

1:02:40 But don't worry, we're adding ChatGPT to every Whirlpool and refrigerator so that when I put my milk in, it can scan it and let me know that it's expired. I couldn't figure that out any other way. Yeah, next time.

1:02:55 The billions are stolen from Binance, it's going to be like your refrigerator hacking into a crypto wallet to sustain its AI spend or its compute spend.

1:03:08 Yeah.

1:03:08 Well, quite a few different storms brewing around these midterms, as Crystal alluded to. Let's get to some other segments. We have two Congress people up next. Let's talk to them now.

1:03:20 So in California, since they moved to the top two system, oftentimes you'll have either two Republicans or two Democrats in a general election and in two races that we're going to focus on. Today, one Northern California, one Southern California. Mai Vang is running against incumbent Doris Matsui up in the Sacramento area. And Angela Gonzalez-Torres is challenging Jimmy Gomez in the Los Angeles area. California is a whole other world to us over here.

1:03:48 That's a griffin.

1:03:50 Not to Griffin, but the rest of us just.

1:03:52 Do not understand. It's Los Angeles.

1:03:54 I don't know if you've heard of us.

1:03:55 Yeah.

1:03:56 I've vaguely heard of it.

1:03:58 It's a very diverse district, though.

1:04:00 I mean, you've got part of downtown, Koreatown, then you've got Highland Park, Glassell Park up there. So very different communities all coming together in that district.

1:04:09 Exactly.

1:04:10 In my vein, I want to My colleague, Julian Andreoni, wrote a recent piece over at Dropsite, headlined, APAC-aligned groups gift Doris Matsuya $ 785, 000 blitz of last-minute attack ads coming through a variety of APAC and APAC-linked packs. They're not doing it with their own name. Doris Matsuya herself has loaned her campaign an enormous amount of money. How has.

1:04:39 Why is AIPAC interested in this race?

1:04:43 Well, I think AIPAC is interested in the race because I've been pretty vocal about the genocide that's happening in Gaza. And long before I ran for Congress, about a year ago when we launched, about three years ago, I actually led the effort for a ceasefire resolution in the city of Sacramento. And I've been in front of the federal Matsui building, the building named after the Matsui family, with our Muslim siblings and Palestinian siblings to really call for a ceasefire. And so Um, they know, uh, that I've been vocal about the issue. Um, but it's also because, um, the current Congresswoman is probably behind on pulling. I mean, you just said it yourself, Ryan, this past weekend, she loaned herself about $ 4 million, um, in totality for this race,

1:05:25 about $ 7 million in this race. And no one should be able to buy their seat, uh, into Congress.

1:05:31 Uh, and Angela, um, So Hassan Piker has become an issue that Doris has like injected Hassan Piker into that particular race. But also in your race, there's this thing called a red box, which candidates know about, which is where the candidates kind of signal publicly to a super PAC what they would like to see people, super PACs, advertisers, they're not allowed to communicate privately with them. So they communicate in this cryptic public way. They say here, Angela Gonzalez Torres is campaigning and raising money with an online political influencer who has proclaimed that America deserved 9-11. And then they basically say that they want them to specifically target ads at Democrats over 40 who will be offended

1:06:21 by this Hassan Piker connection. All minor party conservatives.

1:06:25 I mean, they don't name him, though.

1:06:26 And all Republicans.

1:06:27 Right.

1:06:28 You're so right.

1:06:29 Is that because they don't want it to show up in Google? Like, that could be like... Um, so Hassan Piker has, you know, done some fundraising for the campaign, um, and has, and has tried to boost your, your campaign. Uh, what has, you know, has he publicly gone after your connection to him or is this the, or is he's doing it this, this kind of subtle private thing? How's it, how's that playing out in the race?

1:06:56 I mean, yeah, I, I think it's another sign of, uh, bad judgment and desperation, um, Representative Gomez's office is also using official office funds, discretionary dollars that should be put back into the community for mailers. And so we haven't seen that in a decade as well. So there's just all these different signs because a lot of people are really turning their back on him this time. And yeah, this district is so progressive. I mean, it's a safe blue seat. We really can choose which kind of Democrat we want to elect. And that's something that I don't think is going to work in this district, but they really don't have anything else. I think in there, there's also something about me not disclosing my student loans. I'm

1:07:43 a first-time candidate. I totally forgot about that. I didn't know people wanted to see that, so we just had to pay a late fee. But really, things like that, they're really trying to stretch, and it's just not going to work.

1:07:55 Angela and Maya, both of you have really inspiring personal stories and, you know, immigrant stories that I think would be relatable to a lot of people and inspiring to a lot of people. If you could just share a little bit about yourselves and how you came to these races. And just so people know, you're both challenging Democratic incumbents from the left. I would say, you know, Israel has emerged as a central dividing line in a lot of ways in both of your races, although it's not obviously the only thing that's going on. Angela, if I could start with you, just a little bit of your personal story. Yeah.

1:08:24 So I'm Angela. I'm running to be the next U.S. House Rep for Los Angeles. I am fifth generation Angeleno, four generations in Highland Park. And really, this was not the plan for me. I was pursuing law school and was at UCLA actually when the student encampment started in solidarity with the Palestinian liberation movement. And so fully immersed myself in that. My mom's been talking about Palestine for a long time, but Like many other Angelenos, I've just been so bound to capitalism. I mean, even working two jobs through the primary election. is a reality for so many of us, with the cost of living continuously getting in the way of us being able to live our lives.

1:09:08 But I think I really felt the urgency of the moment as well when, you know, I saw the blueprints ISIS is currently operating under to terrorize our immigrant communities were created in Gaza. And I just learned so much about this complicity and Gomez, Representative Gomez being one of five, you know, top five recipients of campaign contributions or, you know, he's accepted the most money from AIPAC than any other California Democrat. And yeah, it's just, it was, I said enough is enough. I asked him to sign on to Block the Bombs. and to really show up for our community.

1:09:51 And I had no idea he would find himself under investigation, but I take that very seriously as well, being raised by a single mom who, you know, we've been building women empowerment programs here in East LA for a long time. And so, yeah, we're trying to get down to the bottom of it.

1:10:08 Go ahead, Mai.

1:10:10 Yeah, and a little bit about me. My name is Mai Vang. I'm the proud daughter of Hmong refugees, eldest of 16 children in my family. I'm a current city council member, and I grew up in South Sacramento, born and raised. I grew up on Medicaid and food stamp, and had it not been for these critical programs, I probably wouldn't be here today. I really believe that government can be used for a force of good if you have the right people elected into the halls of Congress, at City Hall. I was the first in my family to go to college, and then I came back home to love on and help mom and dad and help the community that raised me. I was I came back as a community organizer, started a nonprofit called Hip Hmong

1:10:48 Innovating Politics to get our Hmong community, but our diverse community in South Sacramento engaged in the political process. I was on the school board for one term, four years, and I'm a current city council member now. And I often share the story of how I actually love being a city councilwoman because I love seeing the tangible change that we can create at the local level. I never really saw myself running for Congress. Until last year, when Trump was reelected in 2024, we entered 2025 and really didn't hear much from the Congresswoman.

1:11:18 And we were working with immigrants and.

1:11:20 Refugees to really help them because they were getting kidnapped by ICE, taken by ICE, and we were building cases around many immigrants and refugees. And there were many advocates and community members that asked me if I would consider running because we had a Congresswoman that was very complacent and wasn't answering any calls. And at that time, I actually said no, because several things. One, you know, I have deep gratitude for the Matsui family that have served our region for 47 years, almost half a century. And also as a daughter of Hmong refugees, we are taught to love on our elders, not challenge our elders. And I had told the team that I would just meet with the congresswoman, let's meet with her, work with her

1:12:03 in partnership. And so after seven attempts of sending her emails to and finally getting her number and texting her that I wanted to meet with her, we finally got a meeting scheduled. And that was the end of August. I walked into the Matsui Federal Building, had a 30-minute meeting with her. The first 15 minutes, I took that time to thank her for her service, ask her how she was doing under this authoritarian administration, and then started sharing about the work that we were doing on the ground.

1:12:30 And about halfway through the meeting, I asked her, Congresswoman, what is your position on immigration? And she turned to her staff and she asked them, what's our position on immigration? And her staff looked at me and said, you know, have you spoken to the state senator or the assembly member? And I said that I had, but immigration is a federal issue. And she looked at me and she said, look, Mai, you know, the most important thing right now is that we just got to win back the House.

1:12:59 And when she was explaining about winning.

1:13:01 Back the House, which I absolutely agree with her, I just thought to myself, and I was sitting there not as a councilwoman, I was sitting there as a constituent with just such deep disappointment that my congresswoman didn't have the fire and didn't really have a solid position on immigration. And then I started hearing the voices of my friends and family saying, you gotta run when they were telling me to run.

1:13:21 And I thought to myself, should I run? Should I not do this?

1:13:24 I was like debating like in my head while she was talking about winning back the house. And I thought to myself, you know, out of respect, I probably should tell her that I'm considering at least because I may not get a chance to speak with her again. And so at about two minutes left, her staff was like, Council Member Vang, your time is up. It's time for you to go. I got up, I put my backpack on.

1:13:43 And in that moment, I found the courage to tell her that I was considering. And so I said, Congresswoman, before I leave, I have one last thing I'd like to share with you.

1:13:50 And she said, yes.

1:13:52 And I said, I'm considering running for Congress. And she looked at me and she said, are you running against me? And I said, well, look, I'm on city time, so I can't talk about campaigns because it's illegal.

1:14:07 We're in the federal building.

1:14:08 But I'd be happy to move my calendar around and accommodate your schedule so we can talk about why I'm considering. I shook her hand. I walked out of the Matsui building. And then I called my husband. And he's like, how did it go? And I said, I think it went OK, but she didn't have a position on immigration. And he goes, we're running for Congress, aren't we? And I said, I don't know. Let's talk about it when I get home.

1:14:29 And so we've been running our campaign for about a year now. And I'm just so proud of the grassroots campaign. And we've been able to build over a thousand volunteers knocking on doors. District 7, after Prop 50, has become a little bit more purple.

1:14:42 It is a solid. It was a plus 22.

1:14:44 Now it's a plus 7. Still a plus 7 Dem. But 29, 30 percent is Republicans. And so she's hoping to get those votes done. But I've been out talking to Republicans as well, and I think there's a deep frustration, disappointment in the establishment, no matter if you're a Democrat or Republican. And so we're going to do everything we can to see if we can get across the finish line.

1:15:04 And I'm hopeful because I really do believe in people power movements.

1:15:10 I want to pick up on that point. I've heard from some Republicans who are– they call into the SiriusXM show that they do and say– I'm thinking about voting for Democrats or, you know, it's something that I don't maybe want to vote for the Republican. I might vote for a Democrat, especially I've heard that from people in Michigan and Ohio. So maybe not a ton of those voters were in the districts that you're running in, but some, as you were just alluding to. What can Democrats do in the House of Representatives since Donald Trump will still be the president? This is one of the questions that they ask to immediately tackle affordability to end the war.

1:15:42 What would this for both of you, some top legislative priorities be, knowing that they might have to be bipartisan if you want to start bringing prices down immediately?

1:15:52 Yeah, I can take that first, Angie.

1:15:54 I think for me, the first hundred days, I think it's going to be really important to work aggressively to restore all the cuts. made a Medicaid and food stamp, which I would say also Republican, no matter your party affiliation, benefits from. It's so important. Critical safety net programs. I think that immediate relief is going to be really important.

1:16:10 And so I think working with Angie and my colleagues to make sure that we actually, when we get the majority of the House, to restore those cuts.

1:16:16 I mean, that is going to be top priority.

1:16:19 And then once we do that, I think the oversight and accountability piece is really important. I think at least what I've been hearing from my voters and my constituent is like, restore the cuts. And then we have to figure out ways to hold this administration accountable, whether that's bring them in for oversight, for investigation, subpoena, to build a case.

1:16:39 That's really key. But my goal right now, once we get it, is we got to undo the harms of H.R. 1. And so making sure we restore those cuts. Yeah, definitely.

1:16:51 And Angie Mead, this Angie, because I keep getting tagged in Angie Nixon stuff, and.

1:16:55 I love her. I love her, but that's on the other side of the... But someone who I hope we get to.

1:17:01 Work with as well, you know, to really lower the cost for Americans. But here in Los Angeles, Angelenos are really struggling with just making ends meet. I mean, the Trump regime has really brought this fight to Los Angeles. There's parts of our district that are unrecognizable due to the ICE raids. And so I really want to fight for that cash assistance that would just help so many families, you know, breathe a little easier in parts of East LA, Boyle Heights. You know, we had an oil spill, the lineage warehouse fire, you know, the warmest, one of the warmest years on record, no air conditioning in our public schools, or if people did have air conditioning, you know, racked up utility debt. And then on top of that, all this,

1:17:47 you know, these ice raids, and that's been really impacting so many people. So definitely want to address, you know, immediate assistance where we can. Again, Representative Gomez is using congressional funds for himself that should be put back in our community.

1:18:02 And so I take that very seriously.

1:18:03 And we're already looking at what is possible short term, but long term, we definitely will work. You know, there's this bi-coastal effort of how we're going to address this real harm that this administration has caused.

1:18:19 And Griffin might have some Los Angeles questions, Angela, but can you What's good. Do you have DSA support? I've been I've been trying to follow what's going on in the L.A. mayor's race.

1:18:30 Oh, yeah.

1:18:31 Some elements of the some like the NPC committee wants to drop is mad at the local DSA for endorsing Nithya Rahman for mayor.

1:18:42 But like, yeah.

1:18:44 Can you give us any insight into that? And also, so do you have their support? And like, how is that playing out in your race?

1:18:50 Yeah, nearly every person on my staff is also a dues paying member. So before we received the official Democratic Socialists of America, Los Angeles chapters endorsement, we had so many members already engaged just because I've been organizing.

1:19:07 I mean, we've been part of this coalition.

1:19:10 Of local leaders and progressive organizations. DSA LA's carried a lot of that weight in standing with our neighbors, like even fighting this massive warehouse from being built directly across the street from an elementary school in Lincoln Heights. You know, DSA really showed up when I needed their help then in the absence of our current Congress member. And so we built this organizing power that we're now seeing help us knock thousands of doors every weekend. Yeah, and so we're proud to also have the national DSA's endorsement as well.

1:19:43 Maya, is there a DSA Sacramento? I don't even know.

1:19:45 Yes, there is a Sacramento. There's got to be a few.

1:19:48 Yeah, there's a Sacramento DSA. Ryan, we need to send you some. He's got to go on safari to California. I got you, Maya. Thanks, Angie.

1:20:01 Yes, I do have the support of the local Sacramento DSA chapter, but I'm not a dues-paying member. But I am proud to have their support. I identify myself as a progressive Democrat. To me, that means wanting to see progress in our communities. And just this Wednesday, two days ago, Hasan Piker was here, but it was actually Sacramento DSA chapter, along with UAW, that launched that canvassing of 700 people who signed up. It was incredible and amazing sight to see, you know, and I know that Angie has gone Hassan.

1:20:32 Tiger Show too, but he came to Sacramento.

1:20:35 I took him to go grocery shopping, Hmong grocery shopping for my mom and then had him try some Hmong food. And then, yeah, we rallied the crew. But his audience is young, engaged and ready to vote. And I actually didn't even know about Hassan until I was canvassing with my students. And they said, have you gone on his show?

1:20:53 We've been commenting on in the chat to try to get you on there, you know? And so folks are excited about him and they showed up, you know? And I think for young people, because I always say we will be the margin of victory, you got to give them a candidate that's willing to meet them where they're at.

1:21:09 You know, it's about speaking to an audience whom I think so often both parties have left behind.

1:21:15 And I'm excited to get them energized and engaged.

1:21:17 I mean, in Sacramento County, only one out of five newly registered voters have registered as Democrats.

1:21:25 I mean, we should learn from that and ask why.

1:21:27 Right. And so, you know, just really excited to build our base here.

1:21:35 I've got a question kind of leading in that direction. Now, the billionaire tax is on the ballot as well. And I got into an argument with my dad about it because my dad was like, Well, they're going to they're going to take all the money and do do nothing with it. You know, I think these are, you know, I've noticed a rightward shift to a lot of moderate liberals because they see something that a lot of people agree with that. California doesn't get things done. We couldn't build the train. The train is going to nowhere. The people mover at LAX is billions of dollars over budget and just caught an electrical fire. It seems like to a lot of normies that the left or the Democrats just can't ever get anything done in California. And that's

1:22:19 sort of the frustrating conversation that I have with my dad a lot of the time. These are people that are turning into your Spencer Pratt voters, your your Steve Hilton voters. Now, this isn't enough of a contingent to be a majority for Republican to win. But these are real voters with real frustrated concerns that I wouldn't even call Republicans, but more moderate liberals that feel like their sense of the left is that they will take all of the taxes that everyone pays in California and do nothing with it. What's your guys' response to that?

1:22:51 How can you change their minds?

1:22:54 I'll start because if you're throwing your dad under the bus, me too, you know, it's real.

1:22:58 We can't ignore that. I mean, I think. It's real. Yeah.

1:23:05 And it's so real and we can't ignore that frustration. I mean, because they, you know, really stored their hope in this leadership that we have now and I think want to change. And it's something that I'm frustrated with as well. And so even in terms of the Olympics coming to Los Angeles, right, I keep waiting for someone to say, you know, they will share the responsibility of making sure that it's ethical and that there's meaningful and long-term investment in Los Angeles. And so I'm, you know, that voice. I take all of this very seriously as well.

1:23:42 And so what I will say about it is I'm sick of it. And that's why we're running. And we're definitely, I think, California and in terms of our congressional representation and making sure every level of government is talking to each other, I think we're really on the cusp of us stepping it up because even an advocate for justice like me running for this very important seat that I feel like is overlooked all the time. It's one of the poorest districts in the country, yet here in Los Angeles in C-834, we're part of the fourth largest economy in the world and people can't make ends meet. And certainly can't afford to pay attention to issues like this if they're, you know, working so much. And so I

1:24:23 think we're really proving that it's possible to have different leadership and leadership that will also build this coalition here in California, which I think we're doing, and requiring people to step it up and to take responsibility and to recognize that Angelenos um in California they're they're sick of it you know this can being kicked down the road and um I'm not afraid to call it out and I think that I hope your dad and my dad alike will see you know.

1:24:55 There will be a real fighter for us here um holding it down.

1:24:59 Yeah and I think Griffin for me how I wanted to ask both of you yeah.

1:25:06 Go ahead Mai.

1:25:07 Yeah, I was just going to say for me, I've been talking about Prop 40 is really about saving lives.

1:25:12 Right.

1:25:12 Because because of H.R.

1:25:14 1 and just the skyrocketing health insurance, like people are going to lose their health insurance. And it is for me a one time five percent tax on billionaires to be able to just save lives.

1:25:28 And that's how I've been talking about it.

1:25:30 At least to my elders and to my parents and just to our elders, is that this proposition is, for me, it's about saving lives. And I think a one-time 5% on billionaires, they're going to be okay.

1:25:44 I wanted to ask both of you if you're concerned about the elections being fair, because you have Trump, of course, attacking the state of California in particular. This is the latest Justice Department pressures California with expanded election investigation. A lot of this focused on L.A. County. Department has issued grand jury subpoenas to local election officials. It's part of a widening effort to prove unsubstantiated claims about large numbers of illegal voters in the state. They say that they widened this criminal investigation. The move escalates the Justice Department's pressure on the most populous state as the administration seeks to tighten its grip. on the midterm elections by making

1:26:22 unsubstantiated claims that large numbers of illegal voters are on the rolls. Day earlier, a federal judge resoundingly rejected the Trump administration's bid to block the state from counting the votes of some 20,000 people it says are likely non-citizens, even though studies have found such fraud is very rare. So, Angela, I'll start with you, since a lot of this does actually focus on L.A. specifically in terms of the officials that are being subpoenaed. You know, how fearful are you of what Trump may do to try to cast doubt on the results of next week's election?

1:26:55 I mean, it's, it's definitely keeping me up a little bit, um, and, and putting, um, you know, a little bit of stress on our community and in our campaign and just in terms of, um, you know, encouraging people to get out the, their vote. I think it is discouraging some people, but I, I feel like we've always met this moment without fear, you know, that the Trump administration, um, being reinstated into power the second time was, um, the reason why I'm running because we actually really need to push back against this, these tactics of intimidation. I think again, our district is home to one of the largest immigrant populations in the country.

1:27:37 That's something that should be celebrated.

1:27:39 Um, and we've been attacked for it and we've met the moment, um, as grassroots organizers, um, making sure that we have even canvassers, um, that are from parts of the district that people are hesitant to open their doors, you know, and, and afraid to leave their home. Like we have people from those parts of our communities door knocking and.

1:28:01 Letting people know their rights.

1:28:02 And so we are, you know, thinking about the what ifs, but definitely are not leaning into fear, you know? And, and I think, I think that that fight was brought here in Los Angeles and we've been holding the line and we're definitely not backing down.

1:28:20 Yeah, and I would add, you know, Trump knows he's losing. He knows he's losing, and that's why he wants to limit our ability to vote any ways that he can. And I think for him, as he always does, is look for another reason or a scapegoat to blame a group, right? And I really do believe that our democracy is stronger when...

1:28:40 everyone that's eligible can participate. And this is a scare tactic. And before I was a city councilman, I was a community organizer. I've been on the front lines driving people to the polls, doing voter registration, trying to expand vote by mail, advocating to launch earlier vote centers. And so in our campaign, we're just telling people to make sure you vote, to take your ballot to a vote center or a Dropbox and letting them know that it is when they're right and for us not to be scared and to meet the moment. And so that's what we're doing in Sacramento right now or in CD7. I think 22% of ballots have been returned. And so there's still many ballots out there. And so we're letting folks know that

1:29:19 we're going to do everything we can to protect their vote. So for them to show up and we'll be ready to meet the moment.

1:29:28 And last question for me, for both you guys, are there any, are you in any ongoing conversations with other potentially incoming members about organizing around the speaker vote or the rules that are going to set, be set in the first few days for how the Congress is going to operate? And if so, like, are there any demands that you guys are kicking around? Because I think in the past, one thing that has happened is that the public doesn't have any idea what these members of Congress are fighting for internally. And so then they don't know how they can help. They don't know whether they should be for or against whatever they're fighting for. Is that something going on or is it too early to talk about?

1:30:13 Well, it's about 7.30 here, Mai. You want to talk about it? It's a little early, but.

1:30:20 Yeah, well, so I will say, you know, Angie, Angie Gonzalez-Torres and I, we've been on several threads with candidates that we know are going to be for sure, like Melod and Dara Lisa and Claire and Donovan. We've been in conversation. They're kind of guaranteed their seat. Obviously, we take nothing for granted. They're still going to work hard to cross the finish line. And Angie and I over here are just trying to make it out alive to, you know, November next to four days away. But there has been initial conversation about how we will organize. And I think that the block that has kind of a guarantee their C November has begun those conversation and Angie and I would chime in. They're like, kind of focus

1:30:58 on your seat, right? Because we're running right now. But there's initial conversation. I know that I publicly have taking the position that, you know, I want to have a conversation.

1:31:08 With leaders, Jeffrey, if he's in the queue.

1:31:10 I think for me, voters across my district is asking for leaders who can meet the moment to take stance on issues that they've already taken a stance on, right?

1:31:19 Like getting money out of politics, abolishing ICE, Medicare for all.

1:31:23 And I do think that it's so important we have Democratic leadership who will stand up for families that I represent. And so I look forward to having those conversations with them. But I'm also an organizer at heart, and I look forward to working with my colleagues on talking about what are some of the key issues and agenda. And then we also have the Progressive Caucus, too, right? I think, you know, I've come from organizing, but I've governed before.

1:31:44 So I also know we have to navigate these kind of nuances. But for me, it's also going to be organizing with all of my colleagues as well and figuring out what are some of the key issues we're going to put forth.

1:31:56 And I look forward to those conversations.

1:32:01 Yeah.

1:32:02 Can I, I'll add too, because I do think we need more organizers in office, and this is proof as to why, because we've been in constant conversations. And Nobody at the doors when I'm canvassing, you know, 50 hours a week, it feels like 100 hours. But like, nobody's asking about Hakeem Jeffries. Honestly, nobody really even knows who Jimmy Gomez is. It's incredible, you know, but I do think what people want is to see someone who's actually going to fight back against Trump and and they want to be able to eat. This is a president who my opponent, a Democrat, who should not call himself a progressive, shares the same donors with, has found himself under investigation as well at a time when we are seeing the

1:32:49 longest food lines at local food banks, you know, when this president is pleading with the Supreme Court to continue to starve Americans. And so people in this district want to eat, and I think that we have a real opportunity to Should we be elected as this new incoming class in Congress to organize to make sure that that's, you know, possibility also long term that we get corporate money out of politics, that we actually pass Medicare for all, you know, that we prioritize.

1:33:19 Things that will improve the quality of life for Californians.

1:33:23 All right.

1:33:23 Well, I think that'll do it for us. Thank you so much for both joining Mai and Angela.

1:33:29 Thank you.

1:33:29 Thank you for having us.

1:33:30 And we'll have links, of course, to both of your campaigns in the descriptions, but also let the audience know right now where they can find out more about you.

1:33:39 AngelaForCongress.com. That's number four.

1:33:42 We're canvassing Halloween and the Sunday and the Monday and the Tuesday. And then, yeah, and people can learn more. Angela Gonzalez-Torres for Congress. Yeah, and folks can go to my4us. com to sign up to donate.

1:33:57 If you live in Sacramento, Elk Grove, Lodi, Galt, El Dorado, Placerville, and have family or loved ones, please tell them to vote.

1:34:04 If you don't live in the district, go to my4us. com.

1:34:06 Sign up to phone bank virtually from where you live, or make a contribution because my opponent just loaned herself $ 7 million to buy her seat. And what she's spending in this one week is how much we've raised.

1:34:19 For the general election.

1:34:20 So, you know, this campaign will have to show, we're going to show how organized people can be organized. I know it's crazy that like, The amount we raised this week for ads is how much I raised for the general election. So we're going to show them that we can beat money. And so please go to MyForUs.com.

1:34:37 We got this.

1:34:39 Yeah, we got this. Go to MyForUs.com and tap in and let's finish this. We got four days to go.

1:34:46 All right.

1:34:47 We'll be tracking both your races.

1:34:48 And Angela, after the election, maybe our dads can do a little cookout or something.

1:34:53 Come on.

1:34:53 My dad's in Tijuana, so I don't know if your dad has a passport.

1:34:58 We'll talk about it. We'll make it work. We'll make it work. All right, guys. We'll see you later. Good luck. Thanks, ladies.

1:35:04 Good luck.

1:35:06 All right.

1:35:06 It's our favorite time of the week. It's the breaking points AMA. You of course can submit your own question. There's a link in every daily show email for premium subscribers. And we also have some very fun premium stuff coming up for our live streams next week. We of course are going to be live streaming at 6 PM Eastern to the public. And then at some point in the night, we're switching over to the BP after hours where it's going to be an exclusive stream just for our members and We're going to be answering a ton of questions, chatting about the night, and we'll also be going live bright and early the next morning. So you should never not have breaking points on your TV for at least a 48-hour period. But let's get into some AMA questions

1:35:48 for this Friday. It is a Halloween AMA. So let's start with Rebecca Peel. Last year for Halloween, I went as NecroNancyMace. My partner was J.D.

1:35:59 Vamps.

1:36:01 This year, I'll be Katie Zacharia, getting the axe.

1:36:04 Nice.

1:36:04 Nice.

1:36:05 Nice.

1:36:05 Brilliant.

1:36:06 I love that.

1:36:07 Funniest, most unhinged, most problematic, most memorable costume you've ever worn.

1:36:12 Uh-oh.

1:36:12 Most problematic.

1:36:13 Most problematic.

1:36:14 I mean, I don't think I'm going to beat Ray Gunn. Ray Gunn was really good. Ray Gunn was really, really good. Yeah. I mean, I do think the Mar-a-Lago face. That was pretty fun, but Reagan was amazing. I had dance moves. It was wonderful. I enjoyed that a lot.

1:36:36 I was a priest one year. There were some people offended by that.

1:36:39 Oh, interesting.

1:36:40 That's a little problematic. Okay. That's a little problematic.

1:36:43 It was very easy, just a little black shirt and a white pants.

1:36:47 I mean, definitely my most problem. It wasn't actually a Halloween costume, but my most problematic was the one that I got, you know, canceled over during my congressional campaign. When I went, as one does, to my friend's triple Xmas party. And I mean, it caused quite a stir, but it also helped launch me into national recognition. And so I definitely would not be sitting here with you fine folks today. had I not gone as a dominatrix to the triple Xmas party.

1:37:23 MSNBC was like, triple Xmas, tell us more.

1:37:26 Yeah, that is the PG Kardashian launch of a career.

1:37:31 Totally, yes.

1:37:32 Very grateful.

1:37:33 Imagine the backstory is that I leaked my own triple Xmas costume.

1:37:38 Actually, that would have been. You saw the 2010 wave coming. You're like, I'm losing anyway.

1:37:43 Like, fuck it.

1:37:45 It's a tea party.

1:37:47 That was also from an era where there was like a social era when Facebook was early where you would go to a party and people would take hundreds of photos of everyone drinking.

1:37:58 And then post all of them online. Yes, the albums. In the albums. That's such a.

1:38:04 Crazy thing that I'm sure Gen Z and anyone younger could not even fathom. Like Gen Z now, they'd be like, oh, that's for a Snapchat or an Instagram story that will disappear. No, millennials were posting that as like full... 150 photo albums.

1:38:18 And there was no filter on that bitch.

1:38:21 No.

1:38:21 No filter. The worst photos you've ever seen in your life. And we were just, we didn't care. We did not care. It was a better time.

1:38:29 Even worse because you had to plug in a digital camera to your computer and select the box on every picture.

1:38:37 You wanted to upload.

1:38:39 Send it through the cord.

1:38:41 No one saw anything of that.

1:38:43 Yeah.

1:38:44 All right.

1:38:44 Yeah.

1:38:45 Griffin, I feel like you've probably had some problematic questions.

1:38:47 Some problematic questions. No, um, I do. Okay.

1:38:53 There was no, not, not a costume for that, but there was a Christmas costume. I was in a, I was an extra in a Christmas music video where they wanted to be, to be one of the, like the, the Kings from one of those stop motion Christmas movies, like King Frost. So the makeup artist painted my face blue, but it came out way too dark.

1:39:18 Oh, no.

1:39:18 And I'm like, hey, come over here for a second. I was like, this seems like a really dark blue. Like, I don't know if I feel comfortable being on camera.

1:39:29 And they're like, no, it looks blue. We'll fix it in post. I was like, no, we're not fixing it in post.

1:39:35 I'm leaving. Yeah.

1:39:37 So that's my closest problematic one.

1:39:39 I convinced my friend to go right after Steve Jobs had died. He died in September. I convinced him to go as dead Steve Jobs for Halloween. And it was too raw. It was too raw.

1:39:50 That was a nation in mourning around that one.

1:39:53 Okay.

1:39:54 Let's get to another question. This one's for Ryan from Jasmine. I'm not sure what to make of the allegations that Matthew Cole previously revealed sources of leading to at least one of them being imprisoned, John Kiriakou. Can Ryan help make sense of this?

1:40:09 Kiriakou. Kiriakou.

1:40:10 Is that the guy who's on TikTok and he's like, I'm Benjamin Netanyahu.

1:40:14 That guy?

1:40:16 Yes, I love Kiriakou. Yes, he has blamed Cole for 20 years for what happened to him. They were out to get Kiriakou because he blew the whistle on the CIA torture program. And the way that I don't I don't have any personal knowledge of this one. But so this was like 2008. What Kiriakou says is that Cole emailed him and and was working on a book that involved the CIA renditions and asked him a bunch of about a bunch of different people. And he in one of his answers revealed the surname or the first name of somebody who used to be undercover. And I guess they were spying on his or Matt's email and were able to get that email. Matt was also the lead reporter on the Reality Winner story. And Reality Winner went

1:41:18 to prison also. And the mistake he made there, and I think he's acknowledged this, was he handed the document to a source, a longtime source, to try to authenticate it. Um, and what the government very cleverly did is said, oh, because he did that, we were able to find a reality winner. That wasn't true. If you read subsequent, um, uh, indictments and follow the testimony, she, they, she, there were like four people who had accessed the document and she was like the only one who had printed it out. Um, and they found that she had emailed, the intercepts like podcast producers requesting a transcript of a particular podcast. So they would have had, she was one of four. Um, she printed it out and she had emailed the intercept.

1:42:17 So they would have known all that, whether, uh, Cole shared the document with, with a source or not. And when they confronted her at her home, she confessed like immediately to it. Um, You know, so they didn't need anything from Cole. However, it was a mistake to share the document intercepted since... Paid the legal fees, right? Yeah, they spent like $ 3 or $ 5 million on her legal bills.

1:42:43 And it has led to a change in how a lot of investigative reporting is done. Like, if you notice at Dropsite, we basically never, not never, but very rarely will publish documents. We describe documents. We'll quote from documents, but we'll quote carefully from documents because there's even a thing that they'll do now where a document will be, the wording will be even slightly different depending on who gets it to try to, if it gets leaked, figure out who had access to it. So that's why when you see our investigative reporting, we're often not even showing you the document, which leads to then people, or sometimes we only reference that we have a document.

1:43:26 Mm-hmm.

1:43:27 But we use it to guide the investigative reporting. And then you'll have people online who are like, oh, we're just supposed to trust you, bro. It's like, yeah, I wish I could tell you everything we know. But if I did, they'd be at somebody's door like this afternoon. So yeah, so those are reasonable criticisms of his work over the years. And it is a hazard of investigative reporting.

1:43:56 And it can happen to, you know, you do it long enough, like the odds go up that it's going to happen to you.

1:44:02 Probably explains why the new book has a lot of distance with the sourcing.

1:44:06 Right.

1:44:06 A lot of people are complaining. Why don't you give us more detail about, to talk about the documents you have, give us more detail about who these sources are. How are you so confident in this? And yes, that's a good point, Emily. As you can imagine, somebody like him is like, well, I'm going to tell you what I know And I'm not giving these ghouls the breadcrumbs to go out and find jail or execute the sources.

1:44:31 Gotcha.

1:44:32 All right.

1:44:32 This next one is for Bridget Cole. Emily, congrats to your brewers. I am so happy for them. My question is, I saw the dirty trick in Alaska with duplicate names on the ballot, which made national news. But I haven't seen national coverage of the trans flyers that went out in Texas to students instead of parents. It's a Republican dirty trick to scare parents. Have you heard about this?

1:44:56 And what are y'all's thoughts? I haven't heard of these flyers.

1:44:57 Do you have you, Emily?

1:45:00 I've heard of this.

1:45:01 Yeah.

1:45:02 Yeah.

1:45:02 So there was a Republican women's group and this was like tracked down in court. So this is verified that sent these flyers saying like to kids telling them that they should transition to the other gender. And so it was sort of a blatant attempt to foment some sort of trans panic. And there was a candidate who a mom was like holding this letter like, oh, my God, we got this letter. What is going on with this?

1:45:29 And this was all, you know, this the psyop that was created to try to foment exactly that sort of concern of, oh, my God, the Democrats are trying to trans your kid. The public school teachers, the teachers unions are trying to trans your kid or whatever it is.

1:45:45 Emily, talk about Alaska. What's going on with this Alaska dirty trick?

1:45:49 Well, you know, I just want to say with the trans flyer stuff, I have to go back and like look exactly at it. But that's if you're if you're doing that shit, if you're misleading voters, I hate it. I think everybody hates it. I think it turns people against you. I think that's why the Vivek ad turned people against Vivek, because they're like, you're lying to me, bro.

1:46:08 Like this is it's it's disrespectful. And part of me feels like that's could could boomerang on Peltola. I think the Paltola thing is, whether she had any knowledge of it, the New York Times does tie it to the DSCC and to the Paltola campaign. They don't have it to her directly. But part of the reason I think it's so dangerous is that Trump has sowed so much distrust and I think disproportionate distrust in the election system. And so anybody who does that shit is playing with fire right now. And I mean anybody, like Democrat or Republican.

1:46:40 And so it just feels like a really big unforced error. But, of course, they didn't plan on, what was it, the former campaign manager blabbing to the New York Times? It sounds to me like Palpola is a really bad boss and pissed off a lot of the employees, and they started leaking against her, and they haven't been able to contain that. I don't know if anyone has any knowledge of that. But that's what it sounds like to me.

1:47:01 Yeah.

1:47:03 I think it's a fair guess. Because of Meatball the Lizard?

1:47:09 They leaked about having to feed Meatball the Lizard?

1:47:11 This one's for... This one.

1:47:13 Yes.

1:47:14 This one's for Crystal.

1:47:15 I'm shocked you did not ask Abdul how he figured notorious loser Kamala could help him win. Is he whitewashing her image like Zoran did with Obama? Are you failing upper journalistic duty? What's upper journalistic duty?

1:47:30 Well, I mean, I there. Well, first of all, there's a limited amount of time you have to pick and choose what questions you're going to ask, et cetera. So I can't ask everything about, you know, that everyone would want asked.

1:47:39 They gave us 20 minutes. I'll say for myself.

1:47:41 Yeah, my own opinion is that, of course, he's going to campaign with Kamala Harris. He did not change his positions. She came to him. She continues to be a very popular figure among Black voters in particular, which is a group that, according to the national narrative, he needed to shore up. So he wants to win. I want him to win. And he didn't have to change his values whatsoever to benefit from that endorsement. You know, same thing. Like, He has disagreements with Barack Obama. It would be absolutely idiotic for him to be like, no, Barack Obama, I don't want you to come to the state of Michigan.

1:48:16 So that is my that is my personal. opinion on it. I think he wants to win, and he is doing it in a way that has been extremely admirable in how little he has sort of tried to change his positions now that he's appealing to a general election audience. And you can see the way that the knives have been out for him because he hasn't been willing to do that and compromise his principles.

1:48:40 Yep, absolutely.

1:48:41 And finally, from Shelly R. Boswell, all right, what the fuck happened to the fucking set? Okay, this question's for me.

1:48:48 Oh, good one. That's a good question.

1:48:51 I want to know, too.

1:48:52 Jesus Lord.

1:48:53 So we've had some.

1:48:54 We're all trying to find the guy who did this.

1:48:56 I've been working around the clock. There has been mechanical failures within our LED system.

1:49:04 I've replaced cables.

1:49:06 Fuse boxes I'm sourcing parts from all around the country the set will be fixed at some point before our midterm coverage begins next week I promise you thank you all for understanding and I know there's been some later shows because of that but the set still exists it's just it's doing well.

1:49:29 Mind the mess is it gonna be ready by Monday like.

1:49:32 Yeah Ryan it's gonna be ready by Monday.

1:49:35 Well, I do want to shout out Griffin because these meltdowns have been really tough and we want to get the shot on time. And Mac and Griffin have been hanging in there trying to fix some of these things that are like actual analog problems with physical equipment. And it's not easy to deal with. So thank you, Griffin.

1:49:51 So, guys, I have a breaking news update per Kyle, who just texted me this. Apparently, Trump has now uncanceled his rallies.

1:50:00 Someone told him that he was. I bet this is what happened. Somebody told him. That Susie, because there's been more leaks about Susie recently, was thinking that they were hurting him. And he's doing this as a middle finger. I bet what happened is someone told him, Mr. President, they're trying to convince you to do town halls because they're worried your rallies are hurting. The establishment is too scared to have MAGA and they're trying to undermine you.

1:50:31 They're hiding the best asses from you, sir. They're the most incredible behinds.

1:50:36 There's so many asses to see.

1:50:39 So I guess he's going to Iowa and Kansas this Sunday, which, again, we should just all reflect on the fact that Kansas and Iowa are critical battlegrounds. And there was a Washington Post poll out. Did you guys see this? That has Hamilton, the Democrat, up in Kansas by, I think it's nine points. Now, I don't think anyone believes that, including the Washington Post, which put out a whole explainer of like, here's all the problems we had with this poll, getting Republicans to respond and trying to wait the electorate. Appropriately, we're putting this out for transparency, but we have reason to doubt that these are actually the reflection of the public opinion in the state. However, I mean, polls are pretty consistently

1:51:22 showing Hamilton with an edge. CNN had him up four. I just saw another poll that had him up four. Other polls have had him, you know, it tied or one point one way or one point the other way. I mean, I think Blanzas is very much a real possibility. So anyway, Trump back on the campaign trail, you know, so whether or not it's benefits the candidates he's campaigning for, or maybe this is the final nail in the coffin for them, that is... That remains to be seen.

1:51:50 And by the way, if you don't trust the polls, I know we'll talk about this a lot next week, but if you don't trust the polls, all you have to look at is where Republicans are pushing their money and where Trump is going. You can look at the fact that gas is $ 4 a gallon. We're in a war. You don't have to look at the polls to say things are if you don't trust polls, that's not the only blinking red light. Republicans are on the ground just as much as Democrats are on the ground. And so if they're worried about certain states, it's not just because of a CNN poll or New York Times poll. Yes.

1:52:23 Mm hmm.

1:52:24 All right. That's going to do it for us for this Friday. We will be up.

1:52:28 And doing breaking news if anything major gets hacked, if we lose more crypto or something like that. Big week next week. Huge midterm coverage. The set will be back. We'll have a bunch of all four hosts, big panels, live streams. There's never been a better time to get that free trial. So you can join, ask questions and join the live streams. at BreakingPoints.com, and we will see you all on Monday.

1:52:57 Happy Halloween.