Talkin' Politics: Bombs and bombast

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1:01What a deal. Your new morning groove. Ice coffee from McDonald's. Any size for just 99 cents to 11 a.m. Price and participation may vary. Can I be combined with any other offer? Buh-buh-buh-buh-buh. Peace to the planet. Shall I mean to God here and listen? We are back. The Black Effect podcast festival is back in Atlanta on April 25th at home in Yars. Yeah. And the full lineup is nuts. We got the Gripson Age podcast, Beyond Take How, and Big Ice Cup Cat. We got Club 5, 20 with Jeff Teague in the gang. Yeah, yeah. Don't call me white girl. Mona will be there. Keep it positive, sweetie, with crypto or nay. We got reality with the king with Carlos King. And yes, drink champs will be in the building. No, no, no, no. Okay. Plus you know we're going to have a lot of guests. So you need to join us. And we got the Black Effect marketplace. The Pitchy podcast and everything you expect from the Black Effect podcast festival. Take us around to right now. Go get yours at blackeffect.com slash podcast festival. Don't play yourself, okay? Pull up.

2:03Good people. What's up? What's up? It's Questlove. So recently I had the incredible opportunity to have a real conversation with actress and producer Jamie Lee Curtis from routines to recovery, true lies, and a certain germane jacks of music video. Jamie's real and raw. And something I really admire about her. I am so happy that I'm the head kitchen charge at 67 that I have the perspective that I have at my age to really be able to put all of this into context. Listen to the Questlove show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Bailey Taylor, and this is Ik girl. This podcast is all about going deeper with the women's shaping culture right now. Yes, we will talk about the style and the success, but we are also talking about the pressure, the expectations, and the real work behind it all. As a woman in the industry, you're always underestimated. So you have to work extra hard in a way that doesn't compromise who you are in your integrity.

3:06You know, I like to say I was kind of like a silent ninja. Listen to Ik girl with Bailey Taylor on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to Talking Politics. I hope you all had a great week. There's so much going on. I want to talk a little about Iran, and then what Iran is actually about. And I have a great guest joining later in the show to talk about what Republicans are thinking as they're heading into an election amidst one bad headline after another. But let's start with Iran and look, let me say I'm, I'm not anti-war, but I don't like this war. I don't think we should be in this war. I don't believe the reasons Trump is saying that we're in this war, and I don't support the reasons I think we're actually in this war. But we're here, and I'm rooting for our success. However, that's defined in a war where the goal and the mission have not been defined.

4:07If it feels hard to see clearly right now, especially when it comes to the war in Iran, you're not alone. We've not been told specifically what our intentions there are. What the end goal is. How long will be there? Whether there will be boots on the ground. The messages on this war have been mixed to say the least. If you ask President Trump, he'll tell you we've already won. We've already won the war in Iran. He was asked for an update by Axios on Wednesday, and Trump sounded like he was talking about the progress on one of his hotels. He said the wars going great were way ahead of the timetable. We've done more damage than we thought possible, even in the original six-week period. Then he offered there's practically nothing left to target. As for an ending, he said, anytime I want it to end, it will end. The war is going great. How exactly are we measuring that?

5:07What's the timetable that he referred to? What's the original six-week period he's referring to? Shouldn't it end when the missions achieved and not like when Trump simply gets bored of it? His administration has simultaneously given no rationale to justify our strikes in Iran. They did not prove that we were the target of an imminent attack, but also all the reasons why we had to go and invade Iran from regime change to oil to support for Israel. I mean, they've named every possible reason, while also not naming the goal. It sent mixed messages on timing, promising both that it's practically over, and that it could take a while. And it's been unreliable in its own accounting of what's actually happened. Have we decimated Iran's nukes? Because I thought we did that last year. That's what I was told.

6:08Who's responsible for the attack that killed 140 schoolchildren in Iran? We saw no answers to these really important questions. And when pressed on the school attack for one, Trump has said everything from Iran was responsible for it. To most recently, I don't know about it. An initial report determined the US was at fault. The US struck that school as a result of a targeting mistake. As for the nukes, which the White House declared were obliterated last June, our own intelligence assessment just found that Iran can still right now. Can still access about 60% of its enriched material stored at Espahan. And as the nonpartisan arms control association notes, all those strikes can set back Iran's nuclear program and destroy key infrastructure. Military force cannot eliminate Iran's proliferation risk.

7:09They're going to get right back to enriching uranium. Just like they did after Trump, quote unquote, obliterated their nukes last summer. Trump's version of events, as is so often the case, isn't based on facts, but wish casting, projection, bombast, bluffs. And abroad, it isn't working. I took some time to go through some European papers to find out what they're saying about us. It's not good. In France, for example, Le Monde calls Trump's treatment of the war as spectacle, lambasting his celebratory tone. It noted his grotesque joke that it's, quote, more fun to sink Iranian warships than to seize them. And they noted Defense Secretary Pete Hegsett's boast that, quote, we're punching the Iranians while they're down, which is exactly how it should be.

8:10Oh, between the two of them, Trump and Hegsett, they're just so gross, guys. We're so gross right now. In the Guardian, columnist Rafael Barra points out that the chaos and incompetence of Trump's war is a feature, not a bug. He writes, regime change was the plan, but Trump finds it easier to change plans than regimes. He says he's won, but also that he has more winning to do. This is the familiar stage of rhetorical climb down, indicating dawning awareness that a problem is more complicated than the president initially thought. Complexity resists his whim. It boars him. Yup. Yup. And in Germany's built Europe's highest circulating newspaper, they ask a very pointed question, which is simply whose pockets is Trump filling with bombs? It declares the clearest winner in the biggest Middle East conflict in decades is the US arms industry, and Trump's sons, who are conveniently now in the drone business.

9:15So look, the world can see through Trump's charade. But do American voters? Most polls are showing that more voters oppose the war than support it. But I'll be honest, it's by a shockingly slim margin. This is like a 60, 40, 55, 45 breakdown right now. And most Republicans, somewhere around 80% of Republicans are still with Trump on Iran. But here's what I can see clearly, and I'm sure you can see clearly. President Trump is lost. He's decided to go to war with Iran with about as much time and consideration as he has for choosing between a big Mac and a quarter-bounder. He doesn't know what the end goal is. He doesn't care. He's there for the oil. He's there to get rich. He's there to distract us from a terrible economy.

10:15And the fact that he appears in the Epstein files more times than Harry Potter appears in the Harry Potter books. He's never fought in a war. He's never had to send his sons to fight in a war. He's probably never read a book about a war. Because of this, he doesn't know how to talk about a war. That is both brutally and comically obvious, like anytime he gets in front of a microphone or a camera and says literally anything about the war. Because whenever he does, he sounds less like the President of the United States and more like a kid who just got the conch. I just want to share a few things he said about the war just to show you how out of his depths he is. Take a listen. We did a little excursion. We had to take this little couple of weeks, few weeks of excursion, but it's been incredible. Our military is unbelievable. The job they're doing. A little excursion.

11:17A little excursion is what you take when your cruise ship gets to port. It's not how you talk about a war. Next shot. I would say to put it mildly way ahead of schedule. Okay. This is how you describe the ongoing renovation to your basement or the group project you have to turn in for AP Bio. This is not how you talk about a war. Next shot. We're not leaving until that job is finished and it's going to be very fast. It's going to be very fast. This is also not what you say about a war. This is what your contractor says when you ask how long it's going to take to install new kitchen cabinets. Now, here's what Trump said about the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively closed. Strait of Hormuz is a major commercial waterway through which 20% of the world's oil flows. And Iran's been attacking the ships since this war started. Here's what Trump said about that. And now we're going to look very strongly at the Straits. The Straits are in great shape. Straits are in great shape.

12:19It's fundamentally untrue. There have been 22 reported attacks on ships in the straits since this war started. They're in great shape. What does that even mean? That's how your mom describes the sauce pan set. She's been saving for you for when you went away to college. That's not how you describe the site of major kinetic activity that's closing off the flow of a major global commodity. Okay, next Trump was asked when the war will end. Here's how that went. What board do you need to do militarily for this operation? More the same. And we'll see how that all comes out. Okay, the question was what more do you need to do militarily to end this operation? He says more of the same and we'll see how that all comes out. That's not a substantive answer. That's what you say when you don't know or that's what you say. That's what your bikini waxer says when you ask how much longer.

13:22She says more of the same. We'll see how it all comes out. Next Trump is asked about the strike on the Iranian school. Here's what he said. You know what's that? You report that the military investigation has found it was the United States that struck the school. I don't know about that. I don't know about that. Who does? Who is the person we could call up? Who would know about that? Who would know who struck an Iranian school that killed 140 children? Who would know if you don't? I don't know about that. That's what you say when your mom asks why her car is out of gas. It's not what you say about a strike that killed 140 kids. Next stop. We've already won in many ways, but we haven't won enough. We go forward more determined than ever to achieve ultimate victory that will end this long running danger once and for all.

14:22This is how you talk after only four people show up to your college protest. This is what you say when you're fumigating your apartment for cockroaches. This is what you say when Canada drops out of the Kyoto Protocol. This is not how you talk about a war. He said some other things that we don't have sound for, but they're worth pointing out. He said, I think the war is very much complete, pretty much. Is that an actual sentence from the president of the United States? Very much complete, pretty much. That's what you say when you send a giant, a spaniard, and a masked man to go kidnap the princess. That is not what you say about a war that's killing our troops and innocent civilians. Trump was asked whether he had a message for the new Supreme Leader. He said, I have no message for him, none whatsoever. That's what you say when you find your husband's tender profile. Not how you talk about a war or a new leader you may need to negotiate with at some point.

15:24He was asked about Iran's capabilities and he said they've shot everything they have to shoot. And they better not try anything cute or it's going to be the end of that country. This is un-serious, you guys. This is how you talk when you're about to roll three red dice in risk. This is what Gargamel says to Asriel when he's about to capture a smurf to turn it into a potion. This is how the U.S. men's basketball team talks when it plays Luxembourg at the Olympics. This is not how you talk about a war. Honestly, listening to Trump talk about wars like listening to my dad talk about the real housewives. All the names are wrong. He doesn't know where anyone's from. And he's entering 20-year-old storylines without having watched a single episode. Except this isn't my dad. This is the president and a war that's already seen casualties. I think the lesson here is, if you don't know how to talk about a war, you probably shouldn't conduct one.

16:29Okay, when we come back, Charlie Dent joins the conversation. Don't go anywhere. This is Dr. Laurie Santos from A Happiness Lab. As a happiness expert, I know that mindfulness isn't just about meditation. It's also about being present with your choices. And for me, present at meal time. That's why I choose Deets and Watson. They're a family-owned and operated business, and they never cut corners. Ever. I use their chicken sausage with no added hormones in my family recipes. Deets and Watson have been hand-crafting meats and cheeses for over 85 years. They know that good taste doesn't need a long list of ingredients. They're totally transparent about what goes into their food and what doesn't. And that's why their meats and cheeses taste so great. They stick to what matters, using the fewest, highest-quality ingredients to craft their meats and cheeses. Because that's how they've always done it. If you want a more mindful meal, check out Deets and Watson.

17:31Deets and Watson, it's a family thing, since 1939. Visit deetsandwatson.com slash the right way to learn more about the Deets difference. That's deetsandwatson.com slash the right way. Mmm. One iced coffee. 99 cents, please. For real? No way. Mmm. One iced coffee. 99 cents, please. For real? No way. Mmm. What a deal. Your new morning groove. Ice coffee from McDonald's, any size for just 99 cents to 11 a.m. Pricing participation may vary. Cannot be combined with any other offer. Ba da ba ba ba. Mmm. One iced coffee. 99 cents, please. For real? No way. Mmm. Mmm. One iced coffee. 99 cents, please. For real? No way.

18:31Mmm. What a deal. Your new morning groove. Ice coffee from McDonald's, any size for just 99 cents to 11 a.m. Pricing participation may vary. Cannot be combined with any other offer. Ba da ba ba ba. I'm Bailey Taylor, and this is Ik girl. You may know me from my Ik girl series I've done on the streets of New York over the years. Well, I've got good news. I am bringing those interviews and many more to this podcast. Yes, we will talk about the style and the success, but we are also talking about the pressure, the expectations, and the real work with the women's shaping culture right now. As a woman in the industry, you're always underestimated. So you have to work extra hard, and you have to push the narrative in a way that doesn't compromise who you are in your integrity. You know, I like to say I was kind of like a silent ninja. Each week, I have unfiltered conversations with female founders, creatives, and leaders to talk about ambition, visibility, and what it really takes to build something meaningful in the public eye.

19:33Because being an Ik girl isn't about the spotlight, it's about owning it. I think the negatives need to be discussed, and they need to be told to people who maybe don't do this every day, just so they know what's really going on. I feel like pulling the curtain back is important. Listen to Ik girl with Bayley Taylor on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Everyone needs to take care of their mental health, even running back Bijan Robinson. When I'm on the field, not feeling the pressure, I usually just take a deep breath. When I was breathing and seeing what's in front of me, everything just slows down. It just makes it feel great before I run the plan. Just like Bijan, we all need a strong mental game on and off the field. Make a game plan for your mental health. At loveyourmindplaybook.org. Love your buy. Brought to you by the Huntsman Mental Health Foundation, the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, and the ad console. Welcome back to Chocolate Politics. My guest today is a friend and colleague. You've seen him on CNN and MS now.

20:34Charlie Dent was a Republican member of the House of Pennsylvania for Pennsylvania's 15th Congressional District from 2005 to 2018. Welcome to the pod, Congressman Dent. Hey, SC, great to be back with you. Good to see you again. It's always good to see you. And I'm really glad you're here to get your take. I just want to reduce some headlines from this week, Charlie, just this week, okay? Fox's Stuart Varney declares Iran War not going that well as oil prices rise. Mortgage rates increase due to Trump's Iran War and inflation concerns. 48% of Americans blame Trump for high gas prices more than any other factor. Trump brags about roaring phenomenal economy as jobs and stocks crater. Trump brags about high oil prices as Americans bail at the pump. U.S. economy grew just 7%, I'm sorry, 0.7% last quarter.

21:38Finally, nobody gives an F about housing. Trump reportedly shouted about Senate bill. Charlie, these would be very bad, very troubling headlines like any time, but it's an election year. I know Trump doesn't care about that, but don't Republicans? Well, they should, especially given the low approval numbers for the president, they ought to be concerned. Because well, the president's name is not on the ballot. He is, he most certainly is on the ballot. And voters are angry at the president and they're going to take, a lot of voters are going to take it out on, on his party. So if I were Republican, I'd be alarmed by many of the things that are happening. All this focus on building ballrooms and, you know, arches. Of course, the foreign entanglements when he had promised that this was going to do just the opposite. And lack of focus on the domestic economy and particularly prices. An unnecessary and destructive trade war that, that, you know, the Supreme Court, of course, has stepped in and thrown out.

22:44The tariffs under IEPA and now Trump is trying to reinstate them in various, under various other authorities. So none of this is really particularly, is very good at all. And you forgot to mention food prices now that this war in Iran is affecting. Fertilizer costs, it's affecting food generally. There are certain things that we get from the Middle East that are also stuck. It's not just oil that flows through the straight of hormones. There's various other commodities as well. So there's a lot here that's, it's not going well. But the, look, all these midterm elections are always a referendum on the president of the United States and his policies. And in this case, it's going to be referendum on Donald Trump, the economy and his conduct in office. If you were still in the house, what kind of conversations would you be having with your colleagues or maybe even with with Mike Johnson speaker? My conversation with Mike Johnson would be, you know, voters, especially in a midterm, want there to be a bit of a check on the executive.

23:45They want to check might as well be your own party to do it. And I would say to the speaker, you know, your job as the speaker is to protect the institution. Your job is not to be the deputy legislative director for the White House. Your job is to protect the institution. And I'd be, I would have been screaming bloody murder saying you should have fought back against this mid decade redistricting. Right. I'd be pushing back on the tariff saying these are destructive and certainly contrary to what I thought were core Republican principles about the opening markets for our producers. Instead, we're making it harder for our producers. I'd be fighting like hell, pushing back saying, you know, why don't we stand up for certain things that we believe in? It's okay. We can have different views than the president on some issues. We agree with him great, but when we disagree with him, you know, we don't have to roll. We Congress in the Republican conference in particular does not have to roll over and embrace policies that they know are bad for their constituents and for the country.

24:46Your constituents in, you know, let's say you're still in the house, your constituents in, you know, Pennsylvania, steel towns, right? What kind of conversations do you think they're having right now? Same conversations everybody else is having there. Yeah, they're in the Lehigh Valley area. It's actually, you know, it wasn't once a great steel producing area. It is not anymore. It is a very dynamic robust area. It's a great economic success story, actually. Eli Lilly just announced, you know, multi billion dollar investment here to make some of these GLP one drugs. And so, you know, it's an area that's been doing very, very well and heavy manufacturing base, but they're worried about things like tariffs. These are adding costs to our region's manufacturers. I'm not hearing any manufacturers saying this is a good thing. People think because I'm from an area that produced a lot of steel, we'd be all in just quite the opposite. You know, there are a lot more steel users here than there are steel makers. And yeah, and there are a lot more people impacted that way.

25:48You know, say on steel tariffs, but the whole point is they're, they're angry like everybody else. You know, our housing prices here have gone up because of our prox 70 to New York and Philadelphia with I 78. We have a, you know, it's a dynamic area, but housing prices are high. You know, obviously we're feeling the effects of grocery prices like everybody else. And of course, electricity bills are higher than they used to be. And now, because of the war, gasoline prices have again surged. Yeah, and those economic headlines I read had to do both with tariffs and the war. That's not even touching like Epstein stuff. I mean, I've never seen such a disregard in the White House and in the Republican Party for bad news, bad polls, bad headlines, bad news. I mean, I've just never seen such a disregard in an election year for what voters are telling the president and the party.

26:51What's the strategy here? Do they think that like there's just too much time between now and midterms and they'll forget about all of this stuff? Well, I think the White House's political strategy is the same one that it's always been, which is to simply, you know, keep the base together. Especially the maggot base. Everything they do seems to play the maggot base, but there's a problem with that. The numbers, poll numbers among independence are terrible for Republicans right now. They're just horrible. And so that's an issue. You know, certainly because of what's been happening with immigration enforcement, you know, scores of Latinos are now turning against the GOP, both on immigration and on the economy. And so even women, you know, if you look at what happened in New Jersey and in Virginia in the most recent off-year election, those two women, I think they won women by about 21 points, if I'm not mistaken, and Trump lost women in those two states by about six points.

27:58So that's a big, that's a big flip there. But if you're in one of these suburban New Jersey or Eastern Pennsylvania seats that are competitive, or one of those suburban New York seats, I can't imagine that you just simply can't play to your base. And expect that to carry the day because your base simply isn't big enough. You need to win independence. And in some cases, my old district, depending on the election cycle, I needed to win 20 to 30% of the Democrats. So I mean, how do you do that? If you just, you know, wave an omega flag every day and write them off completely. And speaking of seats, a bunch of members are retiring. Besides upsetting the math, like how badly does that bow for the party? Well, look, when you're when you're the incumbent party for the Speaker of the House, you want as many of your members as possible to seek reelection because they have a better chance of winning. So look, I, it's hard to see a path for Republicans in the House right now to hold on to the majority. Hell, they could lose the majority before the election at this rate.

28:58If there are any more resignations or, you know, God forbid, a death, you know, there's one you'll done who's not in good health. You know, so I mean, but they could, they could easily slip to the minority before the election. And so, but I mean, I just, I'm just trying to see, see how you get there. I mean, there's, look, anything can happen in politics, but it just don't see the path forward in the House. And even the Senate, which, you know, a few months back, you know, we thought was, okay, you know, lean, lean Republican now looks like the Senate said the toss up. And so one of this is good. And the retirements, the retirements are certainly making the task for Speaker Johnson and leader Thun much harder. I was just with Jeff Flake at CNN and, you know, you guys left the hill around the same time. My paddle ball partner for years. Yeah. And I just love him. And, and I mean, the two of you, both of you just remind me of such a bygone era, even though it wasn't that long ago. Can we ever get back to a time when lawmakers were like decent and civil and sober and wanted to solve problems and that was rewarded? Or is that just over?

30:05Well, you know, the whole political vocabulary, the rhetoric has gotten so toxic. I mean, just look at the last day. I mean, Tommy Tupperville and others are out there saying really horrible things about Muslims. Yeah. And, you know, you just see, you just see it all the time on a daily basis. And, you know, frankly, the president, you know, his, he's very, he makes these incendiary comments himself routinely. You know, we, what he just did with the Obama's posts and the photographs, images, you know, by any other standard, we would go, yeah, that's, that's like, that's this out of the closet racism, you know, just take the hood off, you know, just a bit. But I mean, that's where we are. And, you know, and like Jeff, like, you know, I was, you know, I really good friends. And, you know, he was in the house. You know, there was a little bit of a wild man. He would probably tell you that, you know, he would vote against just about everything he was purely libertarian. Yeah. But he always did it with a smile on his face. And he was always, you know, and everybody liked him. I mean, and he had his, you know, he had strong views. He was highly principled. But nowadays, there's very little tolerance for any type of dissent within the conference on within the party on any issue that this whole thing about.

31:14You know, Trump is right about something. You know, Maggie is whatever he says it is. That's right. And, and, and, you know, many of us thought, okay, if there is some defining aspect of Trumpism, I thought it was okay. It was isolationism, protectionism, nativism, you know, it's a lot of nationalism. There's a lot of things like that and nihilism, populism, you know, now it's turned into adventurism, you know, maybe the isolationism is less of an issue. And imperialism is not a coherent, yeah, imperialism. It's not a, it's not a co, it's not a coherent governing philosophy. And, you know, and you may remember SE2, prior to Donald Trump coming on the, on the stage, you know, we used to have what I used to call the self designated chiefs of the Republican purity police. All these outside groups like Heritage Action Club for growth, always telling us that we needed to be ideologically doctrinaire that we had to be, you know, we had to be loyal to principle. And if we weren't, we were a rhino with squish, a bed wetter, you know, we were called all kinds of disparaging names. And here comes Donald Trump.

32:19You know, we can agree on one thing about Donald Trump. He is not doctrinaire. He is a raise. And he's all over the place. And, and, and those guys were flummoxed by it. And so all these guys were, oh, big time free traders and all sorts of big big big budget hawks, I mean, budget hawks, all out the window, all out the window. And the new letness test became fidelity to one man. And that's how they won't just stay relevant and continue to raise money. So I'm convinced that a lot of our politics is just driven by people who are in the ecosystem, both right and left, who want to stay relevant. And they can never deviate from their orthodoxies, whatever they are, they can't deviate because there's a financial interest that they're going to be upsetting, it seems. And you know, there's, it's really sad in our country is we used to have parties that did tolerate some certain degree of ideological diversity within them. And it had a moderating effect on how we used to operate. Right. And now there's, there's a demand for conformity in both parties.

33:26Yeah, you know, I use, I haven't been to CPAC in years, but I used to go to CPAC and I'm sure you remember. I never, I never went, I never went because I was, I thought I was a clown show. Well, it was always that, but you could go to CPAC, you know, and see like the Ron Pauli is over here, the religious right, the Ralph Reads over here. Of course, they were the Trichorn Hat people, but also like there were civil liberties people and libertarians over here. You know, we did tolerate a lot inside the party and we, we, we fancied ourselves a big tent party and that all changed. It actually changed before Trump. It kind of changed when the Tea Party came in and populism started dictating where the party was, was going. But I really miss the time that we opened our arms to get more voters inside the tent, whereas now Trump is actively kicking good conservatives, right. Good conservatives like Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney and you and Jeff Flake, like, you know, pushing people out of the party.

34:33It's just so gross and I just don't understand the end game. I understand the short term gain was just to get Donald Trump in power, but what is the long term goal here when it comes to the health and survival of the Republican party? Well, it's always been a problem. You know, the party was always supposed to be about addition, not subtraction, multi-cate multiplication, not division. You know, we were supposed to, we were trying to get more people into the tent. And then, you know, we're not, it's not a club. We're trying to get people in. We're not trying to throw people out. They want to, they want to excommunicate heretics all the time. That's right. But the problem is they, they say, but they'll tell you they're a big tent party too. They're letting people in. The problem is the people they're letting in. Yeah. When you allow them, the Nick Fuentes is the world. Yeah, the proud boys, the youth keepers, the anti-sensory greens before she was the, the earlier version. People like that, we welcome those folks in. And then, and then we say, boy, but this shady and Adam Kinsinger, you're, you're out of step. But, you know, but a Fuentes and Marjorie Taylor Green, your first iteration, all good. Yeah.

35:36So that's crazy. That's what's really bizarre. So you, okay, so you're, you're, these what was once considered extreme voices that were always, not permitted within the party structure, have been unfortunately welcomed in. And, and in too many cases, these people who used to be on the fringes, you know, have it now have a seat on the stage. Yeah. Yeah. It's super dangerous and really disheartening and disorienting for a movement conservative, like myself. Charlie, we end with an exit poll, which is three questions of varying degrees of seriousness. Yeah. The first question is, what is your favorite movie about politics? About politics. Oh, darkest hour. The British is about the, you know, 1940 World War II, the inside politics of the, the Tories, you know, with Winston Churchill. Oh, good. Lower Halifax, you know, all leading up to, you know, his great speech about, you know, we shall never surrender. That's a wonderful movie. Oh, great. We haven't heard that one. That's great. Love it.

36:37And who is someone you admire on the other side of the aisle? Uh, you know, I really like Senator Chris Coons of Delaware. You know, he's a very sincere individual. He, you know, he tries to work with people on both sides. He's, uh, he's just a, he's just a good guy. He's very approachable. He cares about a lot of things. And, uh, and I thought he was, I liked working with him both in Congress and out of the amount side over at the Aspen Institute. But somebody like that, that's, he's a, he's terrific. I think. Yeah. And finally, Charlie Dent, how do we save our democracy? Yeah, I, I think it comes back down to people in this ordinary people. I, you know, I'm disappointed by some of my friends in the business community who, you know, I get it that they have to be worried about their shareholders and their bottom line. But I've, I've learned that, you know, we can't rely on American business to protect democratic institutions. Yeah, they need to protect their, their bottom lines and their shareholders. I guess I kind of understand that. So, you know, we're not going to get that kind of leadership out of maybe some of the, what I used to consider the, you know, the establishment, you know, corporate community.

37:43But what I think will happen is if ordinary Americans continue to express themselves, they have a great way of self correcting. And they, you know, like I have, I still have faith and confidence that our institutions are a little stronger than we like to believe that, you know, the courts have stood up on the Trump on say things like tariffs. I've seen other areas where, you know, people are standing up and saying enough is enough. I mean, like we, even as a Republican who was involved with very much involved with Homeland Security when I was in Congress, I was on the committee when we stood it up. You know, I did the secure fence act. I did all we worked on immigration enforcement, but to see how these programs have been like, you know, immigration enforcement has just gotten so bad. But you know, Americans, you know, who voted for the president, for example, are many of them are saying, boy, what did I just do? And they're going to, those same people, enough of them are going to self correct and they're going to go the other way this time. And when the Democrats get to extreme, you know, that's, that's what happened. That's why Trump won again because a lot of the soft Biden voters turned around and said, well, you know, I'm not too happy where those guys are taking us. They're too culturally bizarre and whatever.

38:55It didn't like the way they were handling the economy to anti-business or those sorts of things and said, you know what? I'm going to give these, I'll give Trump and Republicans another shot. But the same folks are going to probably swing back again because of the extremes that are this comfort that they're feeling throughout the country right now. Yeah. Well, that's a little optimism. I appreciate that, Charlie. Thanks so much for joining me. It was really great to see you and talk to you. Yeah, great to be with you too, Essie. Stay well. And thanks to all of you for tuning in. We'll see you next time. Off the cup is a production of iHeart Podcasts as part of the Reason Choice Network. If you want more, check out the other Reason Choice Podcasts, Spalatix with Jamal Hill and Native LandPod. For Off the Cup, I'm your host, Essie Cup, editing and sound design by Derek Clements, our executive producers are me, Essie Cup, Lauren Hansen and Lindsey Hoffman. Rate and review wherever you get your podcasts, follow or subscribe for new episodes every Wednesday.

39:55Peace to the planet, Charlemagne to God here and listen. The Black Effect Podcast Festival is back in Atlanta on April 25th at Pullman Yacht. And the full lineup is nuts. We got the Gripson Age Podcast, Beyond Take How and Big Ice Cup Cat. We got Club 5, 20 with Jeff Teague in the gang. Don't call me white girl. Mona will be there. Keep it positive, sweetie with Chris Thurwin, we got Reality with the King with Carlos King. And yes, drink champs will be in the building. Plus you know we're going to have a lot of guests, so you need to join us. And we got the Black Effect Marketplace, the Pitcher Podcast, and everything you expect from the Black Effect Podcast Festival. Take us around Stale right now. Go get your other BlackEffect.com slash podcast festival. Don't play yourself, okay? Pull up. Good people, what's up? What's up? What's up? It's Questlove. So recently I had the incredible opportunity to have a real conversation with actress and producer Jamie Lee Curtis from Routines to Recovery, True Lies, and a certain Jermaine Jackson music video.

41:03Jamie's real and raw, and something I really admire about her. I am so happy that I'm the head kitchen charge at 67 that I have the perspective that I have at my age to really be able to put all of this into context. Listen to the Questlove show on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Bailey Taylor, and this is Ick Girl. This podcast is all about going deeper with the women's shaping culture right now. Yes, we will talk about the style and the success, but we are also talking about the pressure, the expectations, and the real work behind it all. As a woman in the industry, you're always underestimated, so you have to work extra hard in a way that doesn't compromise who you are in your integrity. You know, I like to say I was kind of like a silent ninja. Listen to Ick Girl with Bailey Taylor on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.

42:03Then she says, have you seen a photo of my son, and I'm like, who is this person? Welcome to the Boys and Girls Podcast. A ranged marriage is basically a reality show, and you're auditioning for your soulmate, and who's judging. Only your entire family, I sacrificed myself to this ancient tradition, hoping to find love the right way. I found chaos, comedy, and a lot of cringe. Listen to Boys and Girls on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. On paper, the three hosts of the Nick Dickenpole show are geniuses. We can explain how AI works, data centers, but there are certain things that we don't necessarily understand. Better version of play stupid games when stupid prizes. Yes. Which, by the way, wasn't Taylor Swift who said that for the first time. I actually thought it was. I got that wrong. But hey, no one's perfect. We're pretty close, though. Listen to the Nick Dickenpole show on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.

43:03This is an I Heart Podcast. Guaranteed Human.