Stuck in the Road

0:00music Hey everyone, welcome to Groundewitch on Testor and Marience, Georgia, a happy Monday, Senator. Happy Monday. The, uh, what is it today? The 14th or down-air, half way through September. Can you believe that? I'm sorry to believe. Yeah, it's hard to believe. I'm 37 degrees last night at my house. 37? Seven. Ooh, that's getting cold. Yeah, killing frost was on the way, for sure. Okay, so wait, why do you call it killing frost? Because it's going to kill everything? Because you're going to have a frost that doesn't kill everything and then you can have a frost that does. It's killing frost. Oh, okay, okay, okay. Uh, say, I want to say welcome everybody. Thanks for being with us. We're here kind of at an odd hour. Usually, Senator Tester wants to do these very, very early in the morning. Um, but we had a little like last minute change in the schedule.

1:02So we are here today and we are going to have as our guest executive, producer and host of the long play. And of course, long time political consultants, Jennifer Palmyrie. Yeah, it'll be fun. I haven't seen her a while. And, uh, yeah, you guys have some history and we're going to talk about it. We're actually going to play a video of it. I got some shit. We got to add it over. Yeah. All right. So if any of you folks, um, have any questions for Jennifer Palmyrie, go ahead and put them in the chat. We'll be watching those and monitoring those. But let's do some headlines before she joins us. Sound good? That sounds just dandy. Thanks. When you hear my dog barking right now, like, yeah, yeah, you can't. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, everybody. It's doggy out there. I hardly hear you all the dog. You can't. That's not true. Okay. Let's get to some headlines before we get started. Um, all right. I'm going to put this up on the stage. So we have some explosive new reporting from the

2:04Incredible Pro Publicate team today. And it says that Donald Trump Jr's wedding in the Bahamas was actually secretly paid for by Umar Kremloves, who is a Russian oligarch close to Russian president Vladimir Putin. So Pro Public is reporting actually found that he paid this this Russian oligarch paid to rent out one of the private islands for this three-day wedding event. And also, Bankroll, the fireworks show among some other high ticket items. It says that it was a very small wedding of about 50 people. But Kremloves was part of a larger group who sometimes stood off by themselves speaking Russian. Important to note that the Ukrainian government has imposed sanctions on this man personally, citing his close Instaputin and Russian security services. And the real big question becomes Senator what motivated him to do this? What's the end game for him? Why would he put all this money into this?

3:05And You're talking about Kremloves. Kremloves. Kremloves. Kremloves. K-R-T-M-L-E. You're talking about one motive at him or what motivated Donald Jr. On John Jr. He gets a free wedding out of the thing at a pretty posh place. Kremloves. Use your imagination. He just paid probably nearly everything for a wedding for the President of the United States son. I would say that probably gives him access. It's totally totally corrupt and absolutely shouldn't be allowed. And for those folks out there, they're listening. They say, well, there's no big deal. No, it's a big deal. It's a big deal. Now the President owes this dude something. And the United States of America will be the ones that pays the bill. No, it's crazy. You know, you get there's probably a lot of oligarchs in the United States. It would love to pay for something for the President to be able to

4:06motivate him. You know, look 60 minutes yesterday. He had a thing on Donate and Checks to campaigns and political events and then getting getting a what's that called when you get off scot free. A cardin. Yeah, getting then getting a card. This is no deal. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. Just writing a check. And there's motivation behind it. And in the end, especially when it comes to Russia, it makes this country weaker. But here's the deal. Okay. First of all, remember, the President didn't even go to Don Jr's wedding. This maybe was the reason why he didn't go, but it still doesn't matter. Listen, Russian oligarch paid for the wedding of the President of the United States's son while the President of the United States is in office. And the President of the United States's son has a lot of money. I think he's estimated to be worth $300 million.

5:08Like, there's money there. He could have paid for that wedding. And it wasn't the entire wedding to my understanding. You should read the full article. I'm going to link to it in our sub-Sac post when we post this because it is a very interesting and informative read. And I want to remind you that over the weekend, President Trump warns Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to stop knocking out diesel fuel plants in Russia because it's causing a shortage. I wonder what else is causing a shortage. Yeah, I wonder if we're looking to blame Zelensky for the high price of diesel fuel. When, in fact, it's the straight of Trump being closed and occupied war started six, seven months ago. And by the way, further screw it up the energy situation in the world by getting in a fight with Canada. Not smart. Doesn't understand world economy. Doesn't understand what he's doing to the American consumer

6:11and the American citizen. And it's just stupid. Just really stupid. John and the chat is saying, make Don Jr.'s laptop public. Yeah, I mean, when you think about everything about Hunter Ivan, yeah, has gone through. I'm like, good idea. Great idea. Okay, so last week in your remember or last week, I should say, President Trump called for $5,000 Trump dividends to Americans, but only, only, only if Republicans keep control of the House and Senate in November. So Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, went on a couple of Sunday shows this weekend. And he really had to answer for that. But I want to play for you what he said on Meet the Press with Kristen Walker, because I caught something and I'm wondering if the rest of you caught this. Let me play it for you. The poor sending $5,000 to every American citizen if Republicans hold on to the House and Senate.

7:15Like every idea that the President comes up with, he's a great idea generator. We're going to process that in Congress and figure it all out. But I'll tell you that the trend will continue. What the President is trying to emphasize there is that the American people want to continue on the pace we're on, which is more economic growth, expanding the pathway to poverty for more people, providing more jobs. Expanding the pathway to poverty for more people, I think he didn't mean to say that. I hope he didn't mean to say that. That is an act, an actuality. What's happening? I mean, the truth is that with $5,000 on its way up, by the way, with what this tariff has done for increasing taxation on angry American, yeah, we're increasing the pathway to poverty. This administration is. So it may have been in slip, but it's accurate in reality. Yeah, I'm surprised more people didn't call that out.

8:16But when I heard it, I mean, I even paused and rerunned my TV. And I said, did you say that? Does he actually say that the way I think I heard that? And he also didn't say that giving $5,000 if people voted a certain way, wasn't flat corruption. We just want to came off a story that dealt with corruption with Donald Jr. Now we're talking about the speaker, the House, and the President colluding and even more corruption. You wonder why people think our government's corrupt. All you got to do is look at this kind of crap. And this is an issue that I hope when Democrats take a majority this November, hopefully in both houses, that they deal with the corruption issue as it applies to Congress, the executive, and judicial grant. Because it's really important that they do. Because this kind of crap needs to stop. Otherwise, we become just like every other corrupt country in the world. Yeah, that's not right. And I want to remind everybody that there is a lot of pulling out,

9:19specifically the ECU Education Fund in Partner with you, Gov, found that 92% of voters say that corruption in government is a serious problem. My dad, for a whole country, this party, for a Republican party, is in your face with it every day. Every day. That needs to stop. Okay, so, AI really controlled the headlines over the weekend. It's continuing today as we enter this work week. It all comes after Anthropics CEO called for a global slowdown of AI development over the weekend. And it's really on the heels of one of Anthropics researchers quitting and going public over fears about AI killing us all, not in the not too distant future. And it's causing Washington to really scramble to bait over what we need to do about this, over policy to put guardrails around this. But I want to tell you something, folks, you don't need to worry, I guess, because this morning

10:24on through social President Trump, again, rejected calls for regulation over the AI industry. And instead said the only thing that's needed to reign in AI is a smart president. And we're screwed. You're failing to, we got problems. No, we're waiting for waiting. We're waiting for that smart president. I think we might have had some, but not this one. If any of you heard the interviews by Daria Amadeh for this weekend, he was pretty clear. At least I heard him being pretty clear that they need to slow down. That the Congress needs to do their job fancy that. Have Congress actually do their job and put some sideboards and some regulation on AI. This was a CEO of a major AI company saying this is what needs to happen. And yet, in that same interview, I don't know if it was a meet-to-press interview where

11:27Mike Johnson said, oh, we people in Congress, we don't know enough to be able to regulate AI. Well, that's bullshit. I'm not a doctor. I served in. We dealt with public health issues as a farmer. Your job as a legislator is to get educated and educate yourself on these issues. So you got to do it. And Congress needs to act. Everybody knows that. But yet, Congress sets on their ass and does nothing over and over and over and over again. They need to regulate. There's just no doubt about it. Senator, if our fold is closure, you are on the advisory board for Anthropic. And so I'm wondering. I'm not on the board. I'm on the advisory board. I advise them to do things when they ask me. And so I'm guessing, wonder, when you saw all the headlines of Sweden, what, I mean, what went through your mind? Was it a surprise to you? Is it something that, you know, people have been talking about in Europe circles already that

12:29this is why you need guardrails? Well, yeah, I mean, look, I made a call into Anthropic and talk to a lady that works through that I know very well in that trust. And I think everybody agrees. So, you know, I think I can do a lot of things good, a lot of things bad. But if Congress is your job and regulates, it's, it's positive. I got, I got, there's a comment in the mind says I need to be more transparent about the issue. I said on the advisory board of Anthropic, I have for about a year now. I'm worked exactly a year. And it comes to issues that come down the pipe like this one. I call and say, what the hell is going on? Is this, is this real? Is it not? Is it a disgruntled employee? Is it, is it somebody that actually has credibility? Look, I think maybe use, maybe use, could have used different words, but in the end, AI is something that Congress needs to act and put guardrails off.

13:31That's a period done. It needs to happen. And by the way, I might add one more thing. It's another reason why we need campaign finance reform in this country. The truth is, is that the AI industry has way too much ability to influence because of the money they have. And, and I don't think that's healthy for democracy. Okay, two quick headlines before we get to our guest who just hopped in. I do want to say that, Washington Post has an exclusive out saying that officials say the Kennedy Center could close as early as tomorrow Tuesday. And those same officials say that adding President Trump's name may be the only way to avoid bankruptcy. And it's important to note that those officials were in fact installed by Donald Trump and the second quick story I want to mention is that the EPA now plans to repeal Biden era rules that limit power plant climate emissions. It's part of this broader announcement that the EPA chief is

14:31calling the largest deregulatory announcement in US history. And we, Zelda, says it would reduce the cost of electricity bills. So those are my two quick headlines. Any response to those before we go on our guest? I have as 18 months ago the Kennedy Center was not on the custom bankruptcy. Put Trump in charge of it. This is what happens. It's happened to happen a dozen times before with him in the private sector. So this shouldn't be a surprise. The truth is he took control of it and has driven the Kennedy Center in the ground. And people from road with the truth Kennedy Center will tell you that the EPA kind of repeal rules that limit power plant and climate emissions. This is like shooting yourself in a foot. If you don't want to do anything with carbon, it's going into the atmosphere. Look forward to higher insurance rates because our climate is getting more unpredictable and more severe. And it's just going to cost more and more money until we start leading the world by the way. And our other countries that are far ahead of us on this, leading the world on developing energy that is not carbon based. That's it.

15:34All right. Well, I want to welcome to our conversation now. We're done with headlines for right now. But we're going to talk a lot more about some of these issues because our guests joining us now add our to the stage is Jennifer Pomerie, executive producer and hosts of Long Play who also happens to be a New York Times bestselling author and also by the way served as the White House Director of Communications and Director of Communications for the Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign. Hi, Jennifer. Hi. I'm also a wannabe Montana. Really? Welcome. I mean, come on. How can you not see that, John Tester? Well, I think it's pretty cool. I mean, especially, I'm going to say that the middle of September one last night, it got down to 37 degrees. You're probably somewhere where it's warm. I'm in New Jersey, actually. My husband's from New Jersey and so we're and it's actually beautiful here today. It's like a high a seven day. It's great. Oh, that sounds lovely. It's like overcast. You kind of chilly here. I'm coming. I'm coming for Thanksgiving. My sub-dot is in

16:35Missoula. So we're coming. We want. Yeah. I mean, I so you know, yeah, I am like a Montana person. My husband did a Tata class at the University of Montana. In 2019, we had a little place that we rented and the University District and Helena. I mean, in Missoula that I loved so much should about it, you know, could never afford it now. But we just, I mean, I thought you had like them. I thought you had a Montana connection. But like the bigger question is, can we hang when you're here? Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. We're going to come for a while. Catherine's got this great house. Yeah, Missoula, love it. So I made my 95 year old father, John Paul Mary, has never been to Montana. He may actually just exciting. I'm gonna say, I'll just say Jennifer, it might be a bad career decision to hang with Marita. I'm just saying. Yeah. It's really rough on you, Senator. It's really been rough.

17:37Just look at Sarah. You know, it's crazy. That's right. Well, we're gonna get into all this. But before we do, Jennifer, I need to play a clip because you are one of the very few people who've been to John Toster's farm. And I got to, I got to play this. All right. What's happening is we got one of our vehicles stuck in the very snowy road. So I just don't think you're going to get it out without a tractor. Really, you're going to do this for. You're going to like get your tractor for us. What's either that poor? We just leave it there to spring. Spring's not far away though. I mean, so mortified. First of all, we land in, I think we flew into Great Falls. We flew into Great Falls because we went up to Glasgow and yeah, um, um, however, how do we say it?

18:39Have her. Have her. Have her. We got pull. And I like get on playing. I was like, I said to our crew, I was like, Hey, what what kind of rental cars do you have? We're in there like, oh, it's whatever. It's mini vans. I think no, we're what what are the license plates and their legs? Um, uh, Oregon and California. I'm like, no, no. That's my red career decision. You made right there. That's good. Yeah. Like California's not bad enough. You had to add in Oregon. I was like, oh my god. For sure, we got pulled over, got tickets. You had like unhappy people in Glasgow. You can imagine like John Tester who goes everywhere and I told him into Glasgow. He's like, yeah, uh, yeah. Yeah. That's out there. Um, and then mortified, you know, you want to be tough and burly and like, I can hang when you go to John Tester's farm and then our city's mini van with the Oregon plates get stuck. Like, I don't know what this kid was thinking. The kid just the kid who drive the cars and not wearing boots.

19:42And then finally like he like it. And by the way, this is like a three hour thing. I mean, we took like three hours out of John Tester's day because he had to the tractor. We were like a mile away from where the tractor was. So then and then, uh, we're closer to two, but go ahead. Yeah. Yeah. So then, uh, it was great that we shot inside the showtime loved it. It was like, it's like one of their all time favorite scenes is John Tester and in this situation. But they, um, and so then we finally like get the car out of this. No. And I'm like, okay, great. Thanks Senator. I think we're good now. He's like, I don't think you are. No. I need to drive. I now need to drive this vehicle out of here because you all are not going to be able to handle it. It was great television, but more defined. But yes, John Tester, big time came to our rescue. Yeah. Oh, well, look, it was no big deal. The birth was scared me the most. So as after we pulled them out of these,

20:42the nylon toe rope, toe rope, the toe amount, it was on the minivan. It was underneath. And it was having a hard time. And one of my staff members pulls out of Jack. I can use about to cut my nylon rope. And I said, uh, no, Jack, you got to find out a different way to get this thing on. It was tight. And, uh, well, we did. But that was about the scariest part. Truth is, is that a staff member was supposed to tell you not to go down that road and he forgot. And, uh, Google Mac, okay. That, uh, you didn't, you shouldn't be going. So it really wasn't your fault, but it sure was fun to blame. It was such a flat land or move though, you know, it was just going to feel like it was a very New Jersey. What do you mean? Let me, let me make you feel better. Let me make you feel better because I think they've had to pull people out even when it's not winter, because the other way in is dairy, muddy and gravely. So you're not alone. I know that. But also, you didn't tell you that that's a fact. And I'm glad you brought that up because it was either UPS

21:46or FedEx last winter. It was 30 below zero. And we look up on that road and there's a set of headlamps lights. And about the same spot you were in with the mini. And they moving the truck. And in fact, it was so cold. It was fairly warm the day you were out. So I could fire a tractor and be on our way. It was so cool. No, none of the neighbors equipment would start because it was so cold. Oh, you had to wait for, you had to wait for a snow cloud to come out from Big Sandy in the middle of the night. You sat there for about eight hours. Yeah. Colder now. Oh, my God. Yeah. So second to our conversation, I will say, I can't tell you how many times on the campaign trail here in Montana, I have heard a politician say, when why neighbor goes into a ditch and then pulling them out of a ditch, I don't ask if they're a Republican or a Democrat. That's not what we do. So that is like just kind of way of life. It's not a flatlander thing. That's just what happens sometimes. So Jennifer, I want to talk about long play. I watched quite a few of these episodes.

22:50And we talk so much on this podcast about DC ignoring places like Montana, rural America, etc. And you haven't barked on this adventure to really explore the South as a region and how to actually win it. And what I love is that you're going into these places and you are listening. Imagine that. You are listening to the voters on why they voted for a Trump. How immigration plays into their decisions, how the economy plays into their decisions, history of that region, the local issues that had home and the nuance. So let's start with just how this came to be. Like, why did you start this project? I did that. You saw the show, the circus that we I used to be part of that Paramount canceled that early, early victim of the Paramount, like cleaning out not so into sponsoring political shows. And since that time, it really missed the ability to do what you

23:51all do, like, be out in the country, right? You're and so had been looking for a while to find a way to kind of bring that element back where you can be on the ground somewhere. And I was born in the South. I'm southern enough to know that I'm not southern at all because my parents are from the South. But I was born there. I stayed there. So I was 11. I was born in Mississippi. And I love this region. I think some of our best politicians, the Democratic Party come from red states, you know, from Rocky Mountain West, like John Tester, Steve Bullock, two of my favorites. But then also, you know, Bill Clinton, see John Assoff, Rafael Warnault, really great politicians that I think you learn to you learn to be able to make an argument that appeals across the board and you stay out of silos. And you're like more grounded, so to speak, and feels lives. So I wanted to and it just it really bothered me, you know, because I worked in two white houses.

24:54Obviously, Bill Clinton was a Southern governor. So that was the end of the South was and it was a time where the South was still competitive when he was governor. I wasn't sure when Barack Obama was in the White House, but it's like just just right and off whole swath of the country as not the thing that we should pay attention to because they're not going to vote for us and we can get there another way with the, we can make the electoral college map. We're going to go away. And you're like, hey, everyone, if you're a Democrat or care about democracy, look what ignoring the South has brought because so many, you know, culture, some of the cultural, conservative efforts from abortion, succubversion bill and the, you know, the eventual overturning of Roe, right? What was that? That was a case of starting in Mississippi. There was another bill that started in Texas that, you know, first outlawed, you know, effectively outlawed abortion. And then a lot of the, a lot of the, you know, the gerrymandering Texas starting with redoing their maps first,

25:59but it's not just in the recent last 10 years of the Trump era goes back for decades. And so I think, you know, I love this area. I know it can be more dynamic. I know there's more happening there and wanted to shine a light on it because it is the political epicenter of America, particularly after the Kale decision. And going forward in 2032, after the 2030 census, Texas is going to get more congressional seats. So is North Carolina. So is Georgia. You cannot win the presidency without winning multiple states in the South. But more over, like, I think there's just a moral argument. You know, Mississippi, the place where I was born, highest black population per capita in the country. Poor, these are some of the poor states in the nation. And they're, they're suffering in America and, you know, need to do better. So even when you politics aside, you just want this part of the country to be more engaged, less in a silo. And it's just so many states as one party rule. And it's not healthy for the states,

27:03the states themselves either. It's not as if they're doing well. So it was really interesting to go spend, you know, we did a week, we're coming back, but we did six weeks and six different states. And you get a sense of like this region, Texas in particular, just like on the verge of, on the cusp of wanting a lot of change. So I think there's a lot of possibility there. So you might be able to answer questions. I'm not being able to answer. I live in a pretty red area of Montana, actually. And I got a couple of neighbors who are Democrats with the rest of them. We're all pretty Republican. And I got an ocean. The rest of them would probably all vote for Trump if he was up for election right now. Have you, I mean, if you look at the tariffs, and you look at what's going on in Iran, if you look what he's doing to Canada, and we're not, we know, we're a border state with Canada. I mean, up and down the line, even even the border security stuff, he's throwing US citizens and taking them to middle of Africa and all sorts of crap. Have you had a chance to talk to people if they still like him? If they don't believe in his

28:05policy. And if they do as to why? Yes, I have found people that in Texas, in particular, who don't, who no longer believe in him. And what I, the, like, it seems like the circumstances need to be the general malaise that he's idea that he's not doing a good job. He's not doing he said he was going to do, like he said, he was going to focus on the economy, you know, all the reasons why that hasn't happened. Keep us out of wars. But there was something that touched these persons lives very personally. So, for example, to Hispanic businessmen, their contractors in Texas and Houston, they were, you know, one guy voted for Trump three times, like really believed in him. The other guy voted for Trump twice, including in 24 because of the economy. And for them, it was the economy's not going great, but then also it was ice and the way ice was treating, you know, very, very emotional. And they were, these were men who said, the Democrats blew it on the border. You know, that is, part of the reason why I voted for Trump is because I

29:09wanted that border to be secure. It's secure now, but what they're doing now is undignified in an humane. The other group of people were three, well, one woman was a never-trump Republicans. I don't think she'd ever bought it into him, but the other two were mothers in Terrent County, Fort Worth, Texas. It's like their swing area, who were really upset about the MAGA take over of their school boards. Okay. So like what's interesting about this to me is remember back in 2021, and Glenn Youngkin and the Loudon County, Virginia, Loudon County school board, like he ran on all of this. He ran on those, like critical race theory. And, you know, and one of the women I talked to, she said, you know, my son was like a toddler in those years. And I just heard that they were teaching critical race theory. I heard that they were allowing boys and girls bathrooms and boys and girls sports. And I was really concerned. And so I voted for this, you know, MAGA backed. And by the way, in Texas, it's like there's a country, a company called Patriot Mobile.

30:14And they have Patriot Mobile action, like a pack that backs these recruits and backs these candidates. It's very orchestrated. And she's like, so I voted for them. And she said, and then I said, this is cool. She's like, they're not teaching critical race theory. They're teaching normal history. Good stuff, bad stuff, all the stuff you want your kids to know. There are no boys and girls bathrooms. There are no boys trying to get into our girls sports. I should like, I kept telling them, show me where it is. And she said, so now she used the word duke. As first of my heard this, you know, and they're mad. And the thing is, you know, I said, okay, so maybe you're not going to vote for Ken Paxton, because you're upset about what's happened to Texas schools that, you know, the Republican gubernatorial candidate, but you're not going to vote for Gina in a host, the Democrat. I'm like, oh, no, we're voting for Gina in a host, and we're voting for James Tallerico. And I think, so it is, I think there's three factors. He's doing a bad job. Their lives personally hurt by something that they hold him accountable for.

31:15And then the third thing is a good alternative. Like they were psyched about James Tallerico. They were psyched about Gina in a host that they were like, she's really made education a priority. And we really appreciate that. And with Tallerico, two of these women are evangelical. And they said, you know, he's, he's not a pastor, but you know, I'm not sure if seminarian maybe. But he's very involved in his church. He was a middle school teacher. He really cares about our kids. She said, I would be proud to have James Tallerico as a neighbor and have my kids, you know, have him as United States Center. She's like, I do would not want compacts of the next three. You know, so I think it's like, so I do find people who, and you just have the sense that like people, I don't take it for granted that it's going to go in a good direction, but it does feel like people in the South anyway felt like we're coming to the end of something. By the way, Jennifer, you just, you just made a great ad for Tallerico, right? When you set that. I mean, you can look at the fact is done in the bottom. Say, you want him for your neighbor?

32:20And then list all those. What would you want? I mean, this clip from the show did get caught up in the Kenpacistan Tallerico race because I, it was on Morning Joe and the Tallerico campaign took the clip of these women saying basically what I just said. And it on X alone, it got one point seven views. And then Kenpacistan fired back. These women really aren't Republicans. And it's like, okay, well, that's what I mean, they said they were in the clip. But okay. So yeah, it is getting. And yeah, it's like, but that, so that is, it's that center. And then it's the other sense of source of energy is people just deciding that they're going to do something different this time. Yeah. Well, they have, um, go ahead, Senator. I was just going to say,

33:20I think you also said something about the, the, the opponent matters. And if you have an opponent to, if you have a Democrat and Republican and folks going to relate to the Democrat or the Republican, they're more inclined to vote that direction. If they can relate with that person who's run it, you have a lot better chance to get in their vote. And I think that's, uh, that candidates matter. That's for sure. Uh, go ahead, sorry, Marisa. No, that's good. Our friends Anders and the chat saying the grassroots organizing has been at the heart of a lot of these success stories for the left and the south too. Um, you know, and I know you talked to some of these groups like Black voters matter and, and, um, fair fight, faith in action, et cetera. But, you know, I, I have found myself being guilty of this. And I shouldn't anymore because I have met so many people who surprised me in so many ways. But it's a making assumptions. And what I love that that this show does is, and the series does is just explaining the new ones. Oh, here we go. Here we go. Oh, he's muting himself. It's not,

34:26I don't want you to mute the phone. It's not, it's not an episode of grounded if his phone doesn't ring. That's just a rule. Uh, but you're serious. Like you, you explain the new ones based on the geography. I love that you start in Georgia and you start in Texas and you say like if you can't, when the south, you can't win America. So, you know, I, I, I, I want to, you can't, like, you can't lead if you can't like, this is, this is, this region is like, it's the fastest growing region in every age group. Uh, the SEC schools are exploding in applications every, I mean, everyone wants to go there. They like the culture. They like the weather. They like the sports. They like the music. They like the food. It is like driving American culture and driving American politics. The, uh, but can I say that? Georgia. That's like, yeah, I love to talk about Georgia. So what I found, so what is, um, Georgia is different than every other state. And this is like,

35:28I read the state in the south and this, it's more competitive. Um, it has a, um, you know, it's pretty diverse. It's not as, it's not as diverse as Mississippi and Alabama in terms of a, uh, of a large black population, but I think it's like 20 something percent. Um, uh, Atlanta, obviously, it's a high, high, uh, lot of black voters in Atlanta, in the, Atlanta area. But what I, what comes across is that decisions people made 60 years ago in Atlanta and Georgia have made it a battleground today because Mayor Hartzfield, white mayor, Evan Lanna at the end of the Jim Crow era, he said Atlanta's going to be the city that's too busy to hate. Cause he's like, economic racism is bad for the economy, right? It's like, we have, we could, uh, we could have a thriving black middle class in Atlanta if we plan right. That's why the Atlanta airport was built as bit largest. It was to be a driver of jobs. Um, that has paid off, um, and then you said, and of course, you had some of these civil rights leaders and are from

36:30Georgia or certainly came through Georgia. It's a cradle of this Confederacy. It's the birthplace of the civil rights movement, very dynamic. You know, John Ossoff was a, uh, uh, John Lewis is a mentor of John Ossoff and John Lewis really hit, uh, you know, would, would bring home to us off how important the black Jewish alliance was in the civil rights and how it was on him and Warnock to carry that on going forward. And he's really aware of that. He's really aware of that history. And you have, and then you have women like Latasha Brown from Black voters matter that are caring, that are not going to be, um, demoralized as stuff as it is about the Clay decision and undoing the Voting Rights Act. Like they're motivated to have more people to turn out and, and, and vote. When this is state legislature tried to, uh, take up redoing their maps after Kalei, they organized a, you know, kind of a wrap around the state capital and the Republicans backed off. Like we're not doing that. At least we're not doing that now. So it is, it's, and then of course, Stacey Abrams,

37:34and a lot of the, you know, the groups, um, that work sort of outside of the Democratic Party, said it, but an apparatus and infrastructure. Some of that is starting to take hold of Mississippi. Now, too. So it is, it's a decision from 50 years ago, 20 years ago, and today with people that, you know, just think that this is in their power to make a difference and they do in Georgia. And that is a, that's a model for some people talk about Alabama is the next Georgia in terms of the economy. Some people talk about Mississippi is the next Alabama. I mean, see the next Georgia in terms of building infrastructure there. Uh, but, you know, what individuals do has a big impact. Matters. Yeah, absolutely. So Senator, do you have a question or can I keep asking? You keep rolling because I, I, I, I, I asked a lot in the rough so I, no, no, no. Well, I'm wondering where, because I spend some time in Georgia, um, just east of Atlanta when I, when I, I mean, I used to go to Atlanta all the time for work, but in the last year, I went down there when, um, DHS bought that warehouse that they were going to turn into the ice

38:39prison camp. And that community was so interesting. Uh, social circle, Georgia, because they had, a lot of people were really concerned about data centers. They had just put in a, uh, there was a data center that was, um, I think used by meta nearby. So did you hear about data centers when you went to these places? Like, what are, what is this how saying about data centers? If it's an issue in your, it comes up into ways. If it's an actual issue in your, uh, area, it's going to come up, but it honestly, it comes up more with Democrats and progressives as an example of something that is, you know, that is, uh, motivating to stop, right? It's like, it, it, it is. So I don't, honestly, I, I don't hear about it so much from, um, um, from, you know, like that's from independence or, um, people that are not so politically engaged, but politically engaged people. And it, you know, it's like, you know, it's, there's not, you can't

39:47compare it to anything. You can't compare it to Keystone. You can't compare, you know, it's like, it's, it's, it's that on, um, on steroids. Yeah. And I'm wondering, um, when you kind of, I know, like, there's this, George, like, this place is in particular. Okay. So there, so there's new one, go ahead Senator. Well, it's just clarified that the people you're talking to are against them against anyone who brings them up or against them, um, but it comes up. I would say it's like very, um, motivating or there's a lot of energy on the left with it in the South, right? It's not so that is that's where most of you hear about it But I think but if you have a data if if they are thinking of putting a data center in your area Like that and just because that's like that I So did they tell you why they're objecting to it is because of electricity rates or because I think Southern company has been very

40:52I'm not gonna say the progressive but they've been very Where are the fact that they don't want residential rates going up because of these data centers? Yeah, they're seen to make any difference It's more you know, and this is why I said like it's more it's there's politics here, right? It's more ID It's I you know, it's like an ideologic. It's so like a little bit of an ideological thing and so it is it's more about They it's I think like tomorrow. I feel like it's about a control. It's like I don't like what they're doing I don't like what AI does I don't like that they're taking big swaths of land. I don't like that. They're using water. I don't like the noise I don't want it in my backyard and it's something I just feel like And you're right about I mean, I know enough about like how it's gone down in Georgia and Southern company and all that to know that it's It's a little that it's that it's different But I just think that it's sort of a physical manifestation of something that people can rally against to say stop

41:58Yeah, you know like it's like it's like it and it it's huge and it's It's monstrous and it's in their community and it like represents everything They hate about the economy right now and it's like no, this is something So I think that's partly why it's got you know why people are So motivated by it So we Don't have a ton of time left, but I want to hit on a few other things but just to wrap up on On this on this series. I want to know like is there one thing like one big takeaway or surprise that you learned on this project so far that That you didn't know before you started Texas is for real. I didn't think I went into Texas, you know being skeptical of Tallahuret visibility to win there and so and like because that um and you know what is and there but there's something more underneath that with underneath that is a willingness for people

43:01To consider something other than you know maga or no um and you know it was so great so great to hear things like I know or I believe As opposed to I heard or I saw or online Yeah, that's nice. That's really nice to hear And you you sat down with marjorie Taylor green and that that whole exchange was very interesting to me I was watching your face but in the end she said something like well, they don't have to vote for anybody and you're like no They do and she's like no, they don't So yeah, she's so curious to see if that pays out It's I that's what I thought that's what I expected to see in Texas right I expected people to say I didn't discuss with Ken Paxon I'm just not gonna vote Which what marjorie Taylor green said about you know like in Georgia because I was like are you gonna vote for my Collins and that's when she was like I think I don't like anything on the menu Um, she had nice things to say about John Hustoff by the way um, she had very interesting things to say about um

44:03All the ways Trump did not understand Georgia kind of malamalized what I was saying about Georgia's history and its racial history and You know like how we're just kind of different here and he would never understand that because I like cares about it's himself it was pretty astute actually um but um Yeah, but she's like yeah, it's uh You know, she's an interesting yeah interesting, Phil So if the elections held the day not talking about marjorie and talking about Taylor Rico the election is held the day yeah Would Taylor Rico in? I feel like it was held today he would There's like and like the the the you know more demorath voted in the primary there's just like a lot of stats yeah So if you were betting on one of the uh Sites is and many sites that are out there and I heard him all was watching football yesterday totally Uh, and you know there's gonna be a lot of money dumped into Texas. Yeah, you think it's even odds come November You think tell Rico still has a leg up

45:04Oh I think come November I don't know I I thought come November would be even odds because republicans come home but what seems to be happening instead is More people are like it may be slipping further away from Paxton. I think I think That's actually like whole said that I saw it's actually really Teller Rico I got a hand it to that guy Like he has improved dramatically as a candidate, you know when you start off your state rep and then all of a sudden you're You know running for the Texas, you know sent in state of Texas. It's really and Everett's calling you Jimmy six genders and Jimmy low T and like you're a vegan and you think god is non-binary and like that could There anybody off their game and he's good man. He's like hey, I said some stupid things That I don't believe anymore, you know like that was that was a I wish I could take that back but like here's what I do think and He doesn't he he engages he doesn't like try to avoid the hard questions and he's just gotten better and I think

46:10You know, so people it feels like people are more buying into him So maybe he could even get further away from Paxton as opposed to people coming home To republicans their life becoming more comfortable with voting for a democrat this time this one time Does the mean Texas is blue means Paxton's terrible? Yeah, that's true I want to ask you also about independence in this cycle I wonder what your take is because we're seeing this rise of the independent candidate and I I know I'm sure you're And you know you have South Dakota Idaho and Nebraska the dumb candidate just drops out makes way for the independent In Montana, it's a little bit hairier for sure But what what is your take because some gems are all in on this to say hey, whatever we got to do and some are really mad about it What do you think Jennifer? I'm on whatever we got to do like I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm you know and let that be a lesson to Democrats that you got to figure out

47:10You got to figure out a way just to You know there is broad support for not just a democratic economic agenda But I really progressive democratic agenda, but it's got to be presented in a way that brings people in and doesn't you know and doesn't divide So you know, I just think if you can't if you can't get there in a state with the democrat label because it's too tainted as being too left Then like that is something You should fix and support candidates that are really great at talking to everyone Thanks for saying that you know, you were talking about talent getting better. I mean that's I watch moderner early And I will tell you the body is the end of the country. I mean my channel and he He was not good early, but I'm gonna say I'm not good early, but I would say Seth is very good now It's the same kind of the world. I mean, he's just a talented guy. So he's gonna rise to the occasion You can't see this but I can you fucking amazing

48:13Yeah He goes down the guy on list and I'm telling you if you're a normal human being Yeah, you don't agree with the stuff he's saying you're you're living in a different world. I mean Republican independent libertarian whatever this dude is got his shit in the pile. I'm telling Pretty good. What do you mean people that Montana swear more than people in the South FYI No Especially the sky especially the sky no, I mean look Like Steve what look is no better than John Tester remember I remember me during the Senate He was like he's like, I talked from the Senate camp I was like, well, he's like, I mean I was just talking to reporter like on you know live television and I was like You know, and I was answering a question. I was and I said shit. I don't know. It's been like eight weeks or something I'm like you God casually shit. I don't know Okay, so I have like just random direction questions for you now. Would you want to say something senator?

49:14You're gonna say bullet cuz far more refined than man. I mean he's okay. He's a little bit more refined than you Yes, no, yeah, but could he pull her out of it? He could either way if you'd have been stuck in the snowbank You would still be in that snowbank to do Yeah, even when it melted years later you'd still be there I don't agree there. It's still be Well, let me out with it. We would go out and hollern or something. He'd be trekking cool, you know, okay So we know Flack into our cart down for us on a snowy night in Helena, but he definitely did not dig as out of a ditch that there you go Um, okay, so you know you served a White House director of communications and I had a friend Want me to ask you what the hell's going on with the press secretary job at the White House and Do you think it's gonna be Marielle barter, barteromo? That's what I thought That's what I thought even if that's not what happened even if she just like for real got fired by Fox news It's a kind of thing that would be like trumpet see that and be like oh that makes sense. She's good. She loves me I just it's kind of weird. They haven't appointed me anybody but like who

50:17You gotta be a true believer to want that oh it seems like a terrible job It's a really hard job and it's it's It is a very very Humans are trying It's a very it's a very trying job on dealing with the press and then dealing with the Your president and your colleagues because everybody holds you responsible for everything to get stunned by the presence It's it's very difficult under any circumstances, but I don't I guess they people still want it. I don't know Okay, and then yeah I'm sorry. We're going in so many different directions here But I hear a lot of people talk to me about electability and it comes up with women and it comes up Whenever we mentioned people to judge a same and so I'm wondering from where you sit you wrote deer madam president You were on the Hillary campaign. I remember specifically that that documentary series about that campaign when you said like It could have been any number of things that pushed her over the edge and it just didn't happen. So

51:22Where do you say right now? Do you think a woman could be elected president today? I totally do. Yeah, I definitely do I mean that it is it's it can be harder for women, but then it also If a female politician is successful, it means that she's probably pretty darn good at this um, and we got super close obviously with Hillary um, I think that I mean America has gone from electing Barack Hussein Obama to Donald Trump, right? So we have range I think that what matters the most is do you get the American people? Do you love this country? Is it a parent that you love and respect this country and everyone in it? And then do you have not just a plan to move this forward but credibility like experience that you've actually gotten something done And I think America like I really believe that America would elect a gay person who did that a black person who did that A woman who did who was that thing but like that's You know That's what people jump immediately to gender

52:24Or skin color and not can not consider How good is this you know, what is this person convey to To voters, but I really and you got to think so deeply about about that um About you know how how you're conveying that you like get and respect people's Um, yeah people are hard in this country. It's really hard. It's hard to get by it's getting harder and harder to get by um, and There's such a credibility gap for people thinking that government can do anything or you know So I think you got a people have to really trust that you're on their side not you know not that we just like Democrats, the leaders judging the coast. Oh my god the people on the coast the worst uh And and then you need you need you need a big vision about where we're gonna go because we have some many problems And if you don't have a big vision, you're gonna get eaten up by the culture war

53:25You know, but like that's how that's how successful you know Bill Clinton that's what Bill Clinton had to do in 92 right he had to kind of the party was in rough shape. He had to You know, he had to he had to like tell you I'm a different kind of Democrat, you know He's been a lot of time doing that He's a lot of pulled stuff up by a boot strings boot strings bootstraps um also also the boot strings don't forget angel work they they drink a little Get the nylon rope out again um And um, you know, you're like he was you know, he was be he had some issues and he was different from traditional Democrats On and had a big vision about where he's gonna take the country It's like you got to do all of those things, but I think it could be anybody The problem what makes me so crazy is when Democrats say I would be fine with a woman, but I don't think America would elect and what it's like what do you say about America pal? You what do you say about America there?

54:25Um, yeah, observation. I think you're set up and fine shaped around against booker, you know I'm gonna tell a book No exactly. I think I think bookers in trouble. I'm gonna call him and tell him right now You see each other it's springstein concerts a new book in wave Could we if you're gonna call him and say that could you do it live on speakerphone on this? I guess You never answer the same phone you only take the message never answer just uh Yeah, yeah um well I I just thank you so much for your time. I Where can these find a long story? Oh Oh, thank you um, it is youtube.com slash at longplay series It's also on crooked media

55:25It's also on their um website They're okay. I guess yeah Senator you have a few minutes right can we do some can we do some rapid fire fund You can do some rapid fire fun. I actually uh and move to two-fifth game now so you can oh Oh, so we have some time okay. Are you okay with that some rapid fire fun Jennifer? Okay Um, where's the rumor you had ever had to deal with as a comms director Babe Have you looked at the people I worked for I have I have I worked for let's do it in like Descending order Barack Obama Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton I know Nothing over No rumors ever and never know no stories that ever came out of those three administrations. Yeah um

56:26I mean, I would say it's a serious matter the craziest thing the craziest most Like endlessly And frustrating was emails You know that was when I that was for Hillary Clinton that is when I was like because we did you know It was like tell us why you did it So it was like then we have a gron say like I did it because it was easier I did it because you know this is you know, I had my the You know, it's like why did you have your own server? It's like well because my president my husband Before president of states and they put a is a server in for us because it was more secure So obviously I used that server like what do you mean like why did I use this why would I use some other server that was you know And it was every every answer that we gave and it's like colon Powell also had a personal email account Like when I started using a personal email account like it wasn't that unusual in my government but like And every answer just may you know, it's like the dixie chick swung song um uh Question, you know answer just make more questions and ever you know, and it was like

57:29It was like then it was like she needed to apologize and we're like oh my god. Okay. Fine fine fine Just apologize. Just we got to move on and then we apologize, but it's like it's like not enough and I was like There were some weird like you want her to confess Like it was like, you know, you were like this is a weird gender thing and I just think that It doesn't mean you know something because everybody's sexist or wants to hold people back That's like not what's happening, but like she was pushing a lot She's always been on the forefront of like change for women her whole life since she was in college And like spoke at Wellesley and gave this very challenging commencement dress. So she's always Been you know made us a little uncomfortable. There's something about. I just don't like right so it was emails for sure Yeah, but it must drive you crazy to see like we talked about this before you got on But pro publica has a thing about Donald Trump junior having part of his wedding paid for by a Russian oligarch connected to Putin But that's fine. That's I think it seems to get the The attention. Okay, uh, this will be easier during a crisis coffee or wine

58:35Wine yeah, cuz I need to kill yeah, I don't need I don't need to get more amped up Then my next my next thing is during a crisis wine whiskey or vodka Mm-hmm whiskey cuz that's when you feel like you're in it right Okay, yeah, I mean like this. Yeah, I feel like I feel like it's the 30s and I'm like Which which particular brand of whiskey and you can't say you can't say crown because Canada You're gonna give us anymore that's that Um, I Like you know what there's a well, there's something locally around here called the black black dirt bourbon that I like I like bourbon though, that's you know, so jack jack is always good. You feel like you've just You feel like pretty and charge and gritty when you're doing in this shot. Yeah. Yeah Okay, do you have a favorite political movie or show? Um Well, Vip is not a satire

59:37Right that's right I mean for it be all can we take one second on V because This was during it was like big during Hillary's campaign. So I was like what was like oh West Wing I'm like yeah, that's great That is a drop that is a movie that's a fiction The White House's Amy oh, it really is even like you know, I mean now it's like beyond Vip but um Amy the character Amy she was like running the reelect campaign and she was at a bar with Dan and she said I was like this is what it was like to work on the Clinton campaign She was like I feel like not not because my colleagues of her book just because of the environment She's like I feel like I'm on life support and people keep pulling the plug to charge their phones That is what it felt like My the show that does the best job of telling you what it is like to work on a presidential campaign is the bear Because it's oh yes

1:00:39100% like that That it's just like people who care a lot have a lot on the line are really smart kind of insane and under like insane pressure Like senator that's a that's a show about a kitchen a cooking a cooking just so you know he's not Express drop Yeah, he's not up on he's not up on you know movies and TV. He's never seen Star Wars Cooking show my wife is launching it right now as we speak it was a cooking show because that's all A reality show. It's about yeah, it's about a restaurant kitchen like it's not watching the bear Okay, do you have one final the rapid-fired question for Jennifer senator? Well, I mean I you got a couple of them here that you didn't use go for it take one for bad news Do you send a text to you make the phone call? I send a softening up text and make the phone call Soft enough text and then you they talk yeah, and then this is the most important one

1:01:41What's your favorite word that you can't say on cable news? I All the time if you could I mean I guess shit. I say like Christ almighty is what I say the most Which I guess I don't say on television But um Yeah, I got you. Yeah, yeah, just just a good old fashioned 30 words to get all of our shit. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah Senator Taster like prefers the f-word I think Well, it depends it depends what you're talking about if you're talking about people who are saying Stuff that's not accurate and claiming it to be accurate. I've got a string of names. I call them and shit Bullshit is the good one though. That's fun. That's like you know what's even better bullshit horseshit That's horseshit is good That's horseshit. I mean what you doesn't get any worse than that

1:02:42I mean you tell somebody with coming out of their mouth is horseshit. I mean they know that what they're saying What they're selling nobody's buying must just put Okay, so at the end of every show we have Senator Taster what his hat means I think he's already worn this on our show, but Jennifer. I will let you guess. What do you think the Hawaiian cornflakes Is from or means Uh Hawaiian Oh, that's a guy gross Hawaiian cornflakes is not Hawaiian macadamian nuts Because we didn't know what a macadamian dot was at that moment Ha All right, Senator still the beans. What is it Hawaiian cornflakes? We we were in a talent show and there was four or five of us and our drummer It just quit, but at any rate that doesn't matter the guy came back and said what's the name of your band And we didn't have an infrared band. We were just a band and since the band was already being used

1:03:46Um, my good friend who is incredibly creative and would make incredible Political advertisements if he was in that business came up with the We're the Hawaiian cornflakes Pretty great When you that when did this happen about 1970 So is that Uh, did you play along with the mission wood band is that what There's a there's a big difference between the mission mountain wood band and the ones and the mission mountain wood band Mission mountain wood band they actually made real money and were pretty good They're good my husband has their vinyl from the 70s and you know well And I was like Cornflakes No vinyl the cornflakes no vinyl but you know you know that big sandy is known for its musical talent because you know who else There of Jeff Ainsworth program. Yeah, so so maybe the one in cornflakes Yeah, he's he's fabulous and maybe the Hawaiian cornflakes has a future still like you're you're only 70 you've got a long musical career ahead of you, Senator

1:04:54Yeah, what is she doing? She played Jennifer. Why she was like your own The new twist it's been very quick. There's a lot of people Money pain concert tickets for people in their 70s. So absolutely Yeah, cool. Well, we want to thank everybody for joining us here as you're joining us live on sub-stacker YouTube or what You're pointing at me before you don't let me talk again. I'm gonna say Jennifer I'm right is an absolute treasure It's you being on and we appreciate all the work you do to help people get informed About what the hell's going on in this world because I'm totally confused all the time Honestly, yes, I was about to thank her because um really like this series is so great If you want to understand these regions in a really new way and they're not they're not super well like it's not a huge time Yeah, about 20 minutes and um and they're fascinating and you talk with like really

1:05:57Incredible change makers and real people in the ground and I I really enjoyed watching it If you like politics at all and you want to know what people are thinking and other Parts of the country. This is a great series to check out. Thank you so much to Jennifer for joining us We want to thank progium who lets us use their music for this podcast. We want to thank all of you Who joined us here both live and listen later you can find us on sub-sac who's Sky Instagram and YouTube and we will chat again soon There we go Oh