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So we're supposed to start the podcast. All right, patriots, gay triots and they triots. The donning of a beaver, the HBIC, the head beaver in charge is ill. She is in the fetal position at home and in bed. And so none other than my husband, Josh Welch, America's head metrosexual in charge. Time to bring in the big hitter. He's joined today.
So that the beaver could take a rest. You know, we started calling her the head beaver in charge. Do you ever listen to our podcast? I do sometimes. I have to. It's the only time I see. I have to kind of see what you're wearing, see what you're saying, what you're doing. I recently, one of my habits was hypochondriacs.
And I used you as an example and shared with our listener about the earwax situation. I recently had a brain tumor. I'm losing my hearing in my left ear. So all this happened within the past 10 days. I'm still investigating all of these things. How many doctors have you seen regarding this? Three or four. I had two CT scans scheduled simultaneously at the same time.
One with contrast, one without, because I'd called so many doctors and they had all scheduled them. And eventually I thought I cannot go get a second CAT scan. I just had one. They said I'm normal. That would just not be smart. So.
I'm always chasing something down. As you get old, shit starts to break. Things fall apart. But I mean, don't you think you're kind of a little bit of a hypochondriac? Completely. Yeah. Absolutely. Completely. All right. So let me tell you what I've had it with. I've had it with people that ask you what time it is when they're holding their own iPhone in their hand. And I'll give you an example of this.
Yesterday we were in the airport, you and me and our son Roman. That's right. And you start shouting to me like three or four times in a row. What time is it? What time is it? What time is it? I turn around and I'm on one of those moving platforms. And I see that your cell phone isn't just in your hand, but it's like about eight inches from your face. And I decided this is a new thing that I do with you. I just don't answer.
So I just, I don't answer. You keep... You've just decided not to start answering me. I mean, it's been going on for years. So I keep it up. And then Roman finally is like, answers what time it is. But I've decided I've had it.
with people asking you what time it is when they themselves have the answer right in their very hands. Right in front of them. It seems like I was carrying several bags or one or two bags. You know how you get like a strap that's intertwined with your fingers? And I'm holding my iPhone. And it was such that I couldn't maneuver to where I could press the
the button or press the device and the time would pop up. So that's why I continued to ask. But I did realize the absurdity of asking when, in fact, I was holding an iPhone. The answer. Yeah. But I just wanted to qualify it as there were some handicaps that were preventing me from completely just taking that extra step and punching the
the face of the iPhone just to get it to light up. Like there was something that caused me not to be able to do that. What have you had it with, Josh? It's kind of a broad umbrella, but I think I'm getting to the point where I've had it with society celebrating children so much, just in a general sense. Like everything is a celebration.
Every child is going to be an exceptional athlete. They're going to train when they're in fourth and fifth and sixth grade. They're going to the NBA. They're going to play professional football. If you go to an award banquet, there's 87 awards given to assure that everybody gets one. I think just the celebration of children makes me want to not celebrate children.
I agree. It's like a, it makes you, because it's so unrealistic that you're celebrating just normal accomplishments that are just the bare minimum. And it turns into this huge hyper celebration that I think that there could be a very dangerous anti-child backlash to this over-celebrating of children. I think so. And the reality of it is, is that if you're lucky,
you're just a normal kid. You're not exceptional. You're not killing it. You're not getting A pluses all the time. You're not scoring 30 points in a basketball game. You're just a normal child and that needs to be okay.
Even being a subpar child at times is sort of being a good thing. Right. But when you elevate it to where we at all times have to applaud and cheer and talk about how great this is and how great that is, and in reality it's not.
You're just an average kid. At times, you're a little below average, and that's okay. You don't have to be exceptional. Everybody doesn't need an award. You don't need another certificate that you're going to trash the moment that you get home. We don't need all that. What about the parents that overtly brag about their kids' and or grandkids' accomplishments? I'll give you an example.
So I saw my aunt the other day, my dad's sister, love her. She's darling. But she says to me that her grandson, who's 15,
took an ACT exam, a practice exam, and got every single question right. Every single question right on the ACT exam. I immediately knew that this was not true, that this was completely, you know, conflated, hyperbola, you know, we're connecting things that shouldn't be connected here. I'm sure he got an okay score, and maybe it was a good score for a 15-year-old.
I would bet both of our kids' lives and the French Bulldogs that that child 100% did not make a 100% on the ACT exam. No doubt. And what it does is it places you in these untenable positions in a conversation where you have to look at the person and say, that's complete bullshit. That didn't happen. The way that you're describing this just simply did not happen. You can either say that or
Or you just have to kind of sit there and nod your head and think, okay, when the fuck do I get to get out of here? I just did one of these. Oh, wow. Yeah. Wow. 100% on the ACT at 15. Wow. You know, sitting there knowing, like, that just didn't...
Fucking happen. And I don't even have to get any of the details. You just know that it didn't happen. But this happens a lot where people are telling you something that is so over the top. And then for this kid, knowing his parents and grandparents are perpetuating a bald-faced lie. And then let's say when it's time for him to take the real ACT, let's say he makes about a 15 on it. He's really going to feel like a dipshit considering everybody contributed and participated. Yeah.
in this bald-faced lie going on years about this fake 100% on the ACT exam. But let's dissect this even further because it's part of a bigger problem with parents or grandparents wanting to take so much pride in their child or grandchild that they make something about the child or grandchild about them. This isn't about your aunt wanting to brag about
about her grandson as much as it's a moment for her to tell some outlandish lie that's just simply not true, that just takes it to another level. You see this a lot in sports where parents are talking about their kids and what a great, they're great at this or they're great at that, and you're just thinking...
They're not that great. You know, it's okay not to be that great. And your grandson's not that smart. Nobody gets a perfect ACT. That's a bald-faced lie. Quit saying this shit so we can have other conversations. Yeah, and it's always like, it's always kind of a one-upman type thing. It's always like...
Like you can't just, because I think that she had asked me where one of our kids was going to college and I shared it. And then that was the response to it instead of just staying with the moment. That's the, see, you've pegged the worst there. That's the worst thing in the world. Whenever someone's sharing something with you about something they take pride in, and then you take that.
and you one-up it and totally shift the conversation to where it's not even about the thing that you're being vulnerable with and sharing. It then becomes about their one-upping. Right. And it's awful. People that do that, it's awful. All right. Welcome to I've Had It. I'm Jennifer. This is where you're supposed to say I'm Josh. I'm Josh. I'm filling in for AKA, what is it? The HBIC. The Beaver. You know, you have a lot of...
stories that our listeners like, particularly our gay triads. I think your, you know, epic story about going to Best Buy for manscaping consultation. Manscaping. I think prior to that, some of the gay triads were kind of like, is Jennifer's husband gay? But the minute you confess that you went to Best Buy to receive a manscaping consultation, you
advice from the Best Buy clerk, they were like, that's pretty straight. It totally removed me from the gay camp. Yeah. As far as was he ever gay or not? No self-respecting gay man would go to Best Buy for manscaping equipment.
And then I think most recently, a lot of our Gaitriots were really tickled with, remember the shoes you got me for Valentine's Day that I returned? What was it that they had on them? The Sequeen? Is it Sequeen? Try again. Sequeen. It's more Sequeen. Sequeen.
I can't say it. Sequin. Sequin. Sequin. What made you think I wanted a sequin shoe? Well, in my defense, the Gucci website didn't pop the sparkles on the shoe like you would expect. Okay.
All right. I guess it's the thought that counts. And I'll tell you that finding out after 25 years of marriage that you didn't know how to pronounce sequin, you know, that was a real, I just had a little pep in my step that I needed. I've never said that word before, I think. Further confirming your heterosexuality. That's right. That's right. I'm too busy at Best Buy looking for...
I don't have time for all this other stuff. Kylie, what is going on on the World Wide Web regarding I've Had It podcast? I've got a couple reviews that I need to read you today. Okay, let's hear them. Up first. This is a recent one. Okay.
Titled, Josh Welch is a DEI hire. Five stars. And Lenny writes, shout out to Josh Welch. I have extreme OCD too, and it's nice to see neurotic narcissism represented in media. He's the black little mermaid for the obsessive compulsive. Thanks.
Wow. Now, who said that? Do we get a name attached to that? Their name was Lenny. Lenny. Okay. A D-E-I, higher? Yeah, because you're a neurotic narcissist, and he's happy to see neurotic narcissists represented in the media. Yeah.
You're not even touching on all the other things either. The addiction, all the other things I am that would make me a minority. Yeah. Yeah. You are. You are a little. This is a DEI substitution here. Yeah. Yeah. Totally is. Okay, Kylie, who's next? Okay. Up next, we've got.
Three stars titled Closet Magas, and they write, as has been said on the show, anyone who repeatedly bashes a particular group is definitely participating in said shenanigans. These ladies are closet magas for sure. Bring back the petty grievances and leave the politics to the other pod. Hooky B. Here's what I have to say to Hooky B. You know, it takes a special person to think that
We should personally curate the podcast for you that you want a podcast full of petty grievances.
Meanwhile, the government is weaponizing itself against black people, brown people, gay people, trans people, and women. And you think we're going to sit here and talk about filing our nails all day? That is as insulting as it is selfish on your part. And you might as well have just given us a one star. I don't want the three. You can go fuck yourself. Three's being generous and-
She's fortunate that we're not going to have all these petty grievances about people like her who try to tell us what to do. Yeah, and I don't mind a one-star review based on our performance, but it sounds like her three-star review is based on that she wants us to believe the way she believes, and then she would like us. And this is the inherent, and I would go out on a limb and say that's a white woman.
And this is the inherent problem with white women right now. And we've talked about this on the podcast before. You have black women who voted 90 percent for Kamala. Jewish women, obviously white, voted around 90 percent for Kamala.
White women like the beaver in me, you know, you have a split and you have these women that have this princess syndrome that think everything in the world should be personally curated for them and handled for them. And that kind of shit, I've totally had it with that kind of princess syndrome. Well, it's also part of the just shut up and dribble LeBron stuff. It's exactly what it is. Just stay in your lane and...
here's a novel idea for that particular viewer. I guess we can call her a viewer. If you don't like the content and maybe you don't have to fucking watch it, you know, that's just a thought. If it gets a little too political, maybe you just turn it off because I turn shit off all the time that I don't want to listen to. I mean, the only thing I can say is that at least the reviewer understands that calling someone MAGA is,
is a critique and is a criticism. That's the only thing. There's a slight bit of unintended self-awareness in that because she's trying to insult us by calling us MAGA. So at least there is some sort of negative connotation. Yeah, probably unintended on their part. But I have some news stories I want to share.
All right. The first one is breaking up is harder for men than women. Research reveals research shows that men often struggle more than women after a breakup, both emotionally and psychologically. While women are more likely to seek support and process their feelings through conversation, many men tend to internalize their pain, leading to deeper emotional distress. I think that's 100% true. Women are just stronger emotionally.
Mentally, emotionally, psychologically, they're just stronger than men. They just, when they've made a decision, there's some finality to it. It's over. You know, men just constantly are just titty babies and they're sorry. They're sorry over and over. And, you know, women are just
What do you think about, like you're a guy from rural America, a town of 5,000 people. Right. That I'm sure is just a hotbed of MAGA activity. That's right. Your hometown of Hugo, Oklahoma. That's it. The Fighting Buffaloes. The Fighting Buffaloes. Homecoming King, 1987. Let's get that out there.
Football captain, football captain, the full nine yards. That was before you came out of the closet with your sea queens. Randy Travis, Clint Black, you name it. With your sea queens. George Strait. But what's your take on, like, there's this whole movement when you see, like, Trump and
And J.D. Vance and Elon Musk and Joe Rogan trying to act like they're so macho, like overly talking about how masculine they are and how men are under attack. What's your take on that? Having just where you are now as a metrosexual, sexual sea queen wearing man that just discovered sexism.
Manscaping. But also your former, you know, redneck self. Well, see, what being tough meant back in those days is could you kick someone's ass? Could you whip someone's ass? That's what like being tough meant. So when you ask me these questions about Trump or Elon Musk, like what if, you know, they were to be in a dark alley and meet some, I don't know, guy like me or six foot three, six foot four African-American or whatever, and that you literally had to get into a fist fight.
like fight each other. Like, are you thinking that Trump or Elon Musk or I don't know, Joe Rogan? I mean, he's kind of cut a little bit, but he's like five, three. Yeah. I mean, are these guys that are you going to be able to fight your way out of that? Are you just one of these like loud talkers?
Because I'm kind of a tree hugger, kind of progressive, but I would love the chance to get into a fist fight with someone that I didn't like that was MAGA. I mean, so if you've got road rage and you see me driving my overpriced Range Rover, flip me off and let's get out and let's fight. Like that's what it means to be a tough guy.
Like, can you, you know, can you whip someone's ass? And do you think that maybe psychologically they know they can't kick anybody's ass? And so then and maybe then they're playing this out. I think that's the point. It's just rhetoric. It's just talk like guys like that. Back when you're in my high school that would talk like that, you would just quickly get your ass beaten.
Like, you know, you would talk shit. Somebody would call you on it. You'd get into a fight. You would get your ass whipped. You couldn't get on social media and type a bunch of shit out and put out a bunch of propaganda about how tough you were because all the kids just saw you get your ass whipped.
What do you think from your childhood growing up in a very guns and religion style culture, not your personal family, but the community in which you lived, where Obama said people cling to guns and religion? That's definitely true. We know of people in Oklahoma. What messaging would the Democratic Party have to have today?
to ever get these people on board, or is that over? They take these issues like trans playing sports, which is probably less than 1% of any factor in anything, and they take that and highlight it. But to your point, we know a lot of people who have trans kids, and the way that the kids are treated, everybody universally agrees, is horrific. The way they're vilified, the way their government has turned people
It's back on the treatment of these kids. Everybody can universally get behind that. However, in rural Oklahoma, in rural parts of the country, when people don't understand an issue, their immediate go-to is to fear it.
And not understand it. So there's a lot of fear based around issues that they don't understand. And so part of that is incumbent upon the Democrats to be able to present this messaging in a way that resonates. And I think sometimes we just intellectualize too much or we're not as...
As you pointed out, we don't take a firm enough stance and dig in on certain issues. Because with what I do for a living, I'm very unapologetic about certain things I believe in. And if you don't like it, you know, you can F off. And I know that regardless of what we say about Donald Trump, I think we can say that a lot of
People were gravitated towards him initially because he spoke off the cuff and said things that normal politicians don't say. Now, we don't like those things, but that was his, I think, part of his attraction to a certain sector. I saw a tweet on Twitter probably in the last week, and somebody wrote, I just wish for one election cycle the Democrats would run as being dicks.
Like dicks for social justice, dicks for the economy, dicks for Social Security, dicks for Medicare. Just fuck you. Yeah, we're fighting for old people to get the money that they paid into and not give it to billionaires. Yeah, we're going to fight for your poor ass to have Medicare. You don't want to vote for it. That's fine. We'll vote for it anyway. Just one election cycle to vote as we're dicks. And speaking of somebody who is not afraid of a fight.
I'm really happy to have on today Rahm Emanuel. He is a former U.S. ambassador to Japan, the former mayor of Chicago, and the former chief of staff to President Barack Obama. So let's welcome Rahm Emanuel.
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It's the home search you've been searching for. Go to homes.com today for home shopping the way it should be. Homes.com. We've done your homework. Okay, let's welcome to I've Had It, Ram Emanuel. Ram, how are you today? I'm very good. How are you? Very, very, very well. I hear that there is when your team was emailing you about coming on this podcast, you were somewhat confused. Well, oh, yeah.
I got a text and it was from a staff person who said, I've had it.
And I said, what did I do? I don't even know. What are you so upset about? And I thought they were quitting or something. I've had it. I can't do this. And, you know, they have two young kids. And I said, well, we'll talk about the hours. Well, you know, you don't have to do this in a text. And I didn't know the name of the podcast was called. I've had it. So that's not me. Yeah. And so this has been something that even before Trump's second win, he
Um, there has been a lot of grievances in the country that I think have become, um, overlooked, particularly by Congress. Like, you know, what's going on with all of these group texting, you know, people are having individual conversations. Nobody's regulating this at all. And so it's kind of, you know, caught on like wildfire. So we always ask our guests what they've had it with. So what have you had it with? Well,
Well, there's a long list. How long are we going to be here for? We can get we can go. Well, you know what? I've had it. First of all, a couple of things in political life right now. I've had it with us, you know, not focusing on the American people.
And I've had it with us talking around each other and kind of scoring political points. And I'm not beyond scoring political points, but not at the expense of the national project, so to say. So that's what I've had it. I've also had it with, I would say, we have a series of topics that I think sometimes consume and other topics that don't actually get the attention that they should get. I don't know how many kids you guys have. I have three grown children.
I've been animated. I've spent a good portion of public life on education. Nobody's 30-year worst reading scores ever and math scores. 30 years, you know, we're literally at the bottom of where we were when we first started. And nobody wants to talk about it. We're talking about everything else but our kids' education. And it's a disaster. And so I've had it with the fact that certain things we're not talking about versus certain things that we do talk about.
to ad nauseum that are really diversions. Well, we can speak to that because we live in Oklahoma, which is a red state, deeply red state, often brags about not one county flipping blue. We have had a Republican supermajority in the executive branch in the governor's office.
And the House, the Supreme Court, all of it, state Senate, we're ranked either 49th or 50th, whatever you look at. That's what Oklahoma is ranked. That's what MAGA policies get you. And what irritates me as a progressive person that lives in a red state that sees firsthand how damaging, uh,
these policies are is that liberals and progressives and Democrats on the coast never use the tried and true experimental breeding grounds that are these red states to show you exactly what a heaping pile of dog shit these policies are. When you have Republican super majorities, people are dumber,
poorer, sicker, all this stuff. And you don't we don't ever hear about it. You know, you say you come from a state. To me, that's another way of scratching this itch of how do we not. And that's not really a Democrat or a Republican. How do we make sure that every child, not just your children or my children, have a plan for themselves, a future? Because we know a high school diploma just uncut it no more.
And so that to me is how we have to approach these things. There are things going on in red states, and there are things that are going on in blue states that are a problem, but there's things that we can learn from each other. I've had it, and this gets back to where I started, is neither Democrat or Republican governors are calling an international emergency meeting of the Governors Association dealing with the fact that we have a massive academic crisis on our hands, and our kids are failing.
And all the adults are looking at their shoes. They're not talking about it. They don't want to deal with it. It's going to take a lot of hard work to reverse this. Well, I think that there is...
Particularly in our state, we have this unhinged superintendent of school and he sits in his car and he makes videos every day. I'm not exaggerating. You can see it on his Twitter. I've seen it. Yeah. And he's talking about this transgender and radicalized gay agenda that's happening in Oklahoma. I'm boots on the ground. I can tell our listener and everybody nationwide, and we have a lot of international listeners, that
There is no gay agenda in Oklahoma. This is the buckle of the Bible belt. And if people are gay, they do, they come out out of sheer bravery in places like this. And so I just see, I'm really, really critical of red state governments because I see them weaponize government against anybody who's different and not a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant. And I see that the dangers of it. Can I ask you a personal question? Yeah.
How old are your kids? So we have an 18-year-old senior in high school and then a senior at Syracuse at the Newhouse School of Journalism. They're both graduating this May. Okay. Ever since they were in that high chair at the kitchen table, you built in expectations. This is my one point. Every child is homeschooled. Every child. Some better than others. At your home, like at our home, kids learn the value of an education, whether it's valued or not valued.
And what happens at school is not the only place to get an education. They get an education at home, get an education in the community, in the neighborhood, etc., and you invest in it. Ones at Syracuse, and I don't know, but I assume a high schooler is off to college. But nobody from day one at that high chair, at that kitchen table, was high school considered the end of their education. They were inculcated with expectations. Now, I'm a mayor—I was a mayor, rather—in the city of Chicago.
where 83% of our kids are from poverty or below. That's not reinforced. Your kids are like, "Where am I going to be in four years?" There were kids in Chicago, they wouldn't know if they were going to be alive in four weeks. And you have to stretch out their imagination and have them posit themselves where they have a tomorrow. And your visa and your passport to the future
It's not going to be the high school diploma. It's going to be every one of the other pieces of that educational piece. And to me, that is the most important thing we have to give every child. And some of them will get it at home and some of them will get it at the school that makes up where not that the parents don't want to get it or the mother doesn't want to do it, but they don't have the agency of the capacity. And.
We're, you know, I could get here, be philosophical. We're short plumbers and pipe fitters and steel workers and carpenters. We're short people in our armed forces. And we're also short people that have the technical skills that community colleges give. We don't have a person to waste and we've got to invest in them. And I don't think that's a blue state, red state or anything. It's just an understanding what the future will bear. And I do think, and I will say this as, you know, somebody...
in my own life who fought for marriage equality. There are others that give you an example of this, of all the challenges we have in the world. We have a war in Europe, a war in the Middle East. We have challenges with China. We have climate change. We have AI. We have a dictator in charge of the United States. Two people want to love each other and build a home of love? We want to get in the way of that? You love each other? You want to build a home? You want to raise children? I'm for it.
We got broken families everywhere. You want to marry each other? You want to build a home of love? God bless you. Let's go. And it seems like these families that do need assistance, that do need help, the Republican Party is doing everything they can to dismantle any form of governmental assistance for kids like the families that you speak of that come from poverty areas.
The Republicans are specifically against those types of policies. It seems like that's exactly what they're trying to dismantle as far as governmental assistance in lifting kids like you speak of up instead of keeping them down. It seems like that's a systematic approach of their governing. Here's what's going to happen. You're going to see coming up.
whether, you know, especially like a state like Oklahoma, you said you're from. You tell me a rural hospital, a rural community that can survive with Medicaid cuts. There's no rural hospital, forget Tulsa and Oklahoma City, et cetera, no rural hospital that's going to survive with these Medicaid cuts. And you're going to put kids and families back into poverty behind the eighth ball when you cut that health care. We know what we did to eliminate poverty with the child tax credit. We know it.
And it has an immediate impact on life expectancy, all sorts of other ancillary benefits come from it. And people talk about family, but every family needs support. Some can get it from other family, but some are going to need other type of assistance that's related to that. And the earned income tax credit, child tax credit, all these support parents trying to raise their children right from wrong and out of poverty.
And you know, it's ironic also, not to get too philosophical here, outside of senior citizens in the last 40 years, welfare reform, minimum wage, children's health insurance, private sector, etc. We've actually done a pretty good job lifting kids out of poverty. We're on the 10 yard line. We could finish the job here. And nothing would be better for that child's life than having an adolescence not enmeshed in poverty.
It changes their trajectory in so many ways that are beneficial to them and then to the rest of the community of Harnett.
Yeah, I just I feel like right now there is a segment of the population that has an empathy problem. And you have people that are in close proximity to the president of the United States. I'm talking about Elon Musk that speaks out about empathy being a problem and for their agenda. And and this is like a cancer and it's like a virus and we live around it.
And we see it. And I see the myopic focus that these MAGA people have regarding the worship of this movement, which is consolidated in the identity of Donald Trump that wears
makeup every single day, which I don't give a shit if somebody wears makeup, but their side allegedly does, you know. But it's just it's I really feel like right now, in order for us to have the conversations about helping children and about helping poverty, I feel like Democrats need to kind of be dicks. And I know my husband's from a town of 5000 people, Hugo, Oklahoma, rural as fuck as you could possibly get. And
And I think if we don't as a party come out because we're down here, boots on the ground in MAGA America and start fighting and calling people out, we're going to lose and we're going to lose again and we're going to lose again. Because what America likes about Trump is that he's a fighter. He's deranged. No question. But he always comes out every day and he's fighting somebody, even if it's his opinion from the day before he's fighting it.
Well, it's interesting you say that. So two things I would say to you. One is I think people – we're only in – I don't know where you are, but we're a month – let's say it's April. So it's basically three and a half months. And I think people are pretty goddamn exhausted by all this. And I think if you fast forward in another 20 weeks, they're going to be – the last thing they want is more fighting. And I'm not – I'm a middle child, and I'm known as a fighter. I'm not one for unilateral disarmament.
But I think to read the room, I think the American people, A, want to go south on him pretty quickly. He's at 41, 42 percent. They think they got betrayed and stabbed in the back by this president. And it's only getting worse. And I do think Democrats should stand up not only to fight for their own principles.
but to also fight for the people we represent and for too often on a whole host of cultural issues we're off on tangential things that didn't matter to them their kids education the price of groceries security their children's education the security of their parents people were missing medications and doctor visits because they couldn't afford them things that we broke faith with them on
And so I'm not against fighting, but I want to make sure we're not just fighting for the sake of fighting, but fighting for the sake that people know and know what we care about, what's in our soul and what our North Star is. And we ended up fighting for the wrong things. I got to be honest with you. I mean, I was sitting over in Japan for the last three years as an ambassador. And I learned a lot about Japan. I learned a lot about the Pacific, but I'll tell you.
Eating sushi, having a good time. And then, you know, all this shit's going on over here. But you want to know something? Being away from America, you learn a lot about America. Yeah. And I will just tell you, we look mighty strange. Yeah. Having some of the arguments. We had the luxury of being a superpower. We're having superfluous arguments about things that didn't matter to people.
We became not a party that was built on the culture of acceptance, but a party that became an advocate for certain things that in my view were just nuts, nuts. And they weren't core. Now, look, I think you pick. So you say to me, fight. Tell me what we're going to fight about, because I'm not interested in fighting about. I'll tell you what I'll tell you this. I just I said this just a minute ago to somebody else.
We were really south on kitchen table issues. We weren't really good about the family room issues. I disagree with you. I disagree with you 100 million percent. The only room we were doing really well was the bathroom. And that's the smallest room in the house. That is such bullshit. That is total bullshit. That is buying into the right-wing media narrative. And I'm so sick of Democrats like you.
selling out and saying this, you know who talks about trans people more than anybody? MAGA. MAGA is the most genital obsessed political party I have ever seen. Kamala Harris talked about home ownership. She talked about kitchen table issues.
Trump's over there droning on about Hannibal Lecter. Are you kidding me? This is where the Democrats lose because we're playing the game with the rule book. They've ripped the rule book up and are cramming it down everybody's throat. And Democrats are upset because Joe Biden pardoned his son. We got to fucking fight. They're the gender obsessed weirdos, not us. We're the ones who fight for Social Security. We fight for Medicare. And yet...
we're not going to bully trans people. We're not going to fucking do it. Fine. Hey, let me say this is mayor.
I dealt with the bathroom issue. It's just not my it's not my most important issue. It was dealt with and I appropriately dealt with marriage equality, as I said. Well, it's certainly important to the Republicans. For me, it's just important not to bully them. And I think this is I agree. I'm not a Democrat. It really it upsets me. It upsets me so much because we live here in this in this world.
red state and you see the damage of it, when I see politicians that are supposed to be leaders in the Democratic Party buy into the narrative that Republicans have defined us by instead of fighting and saying, you're the weirdos that are obsessed with it. Yeah, we're not going to bully some trans kid. And we buy into their narrative. It's why I think we lose. And we have...
to live I have to live in a state where women rape victims can't get an abortion because of this bullshit. And so I'm going to fight till the bitter end. And I'm not going to let some MAGA moron define what progressive values are. And I think it's a really dangerous precedent. Mr. Emmanuel, I'm sorry, but I just I have pushed back. Listen, I'm happy. You choose to live. But I just gotta be honest with you. You keep talking about living in this red state craziness.
You know, there is U-Haul if you want to move out. But I would just tell you this. My view is there's a whole set of issues, and these are side tangential issues. They're not core, and they're not core to what we believe in. And if you go through presidential history, you go through working for President Biden, President Obama, President Clinton, or President Kennedy, we
We never got sidetracked on a set of issues. Our main focus was education, economic vitality, and the American dream. And that's where we're going to make our bread and butter. Well, the only thing I want to offer to this is that I think my biggest complaint— Are you the peacemaker here? Well, sort of. Sort of for both of you. And I'm not super informed. I wasn't bullying anybody. I just like the record to show I was just giving and expressing my view on this show.
No, no, I think it's important to disagree. I think that's what our side does, that we can disagree about stuff and it's okay. And we sort of embrace that. I feel bullied. No. Well, I've had a long run of being a Democrat for all my life. And I'm very progressive. And I think some of us, I'm a trial lawyer. I'm a criminal defense lawyer.
Some of us sit on the sidelines and watch what happens, the dynamics between Republicans and Democrats. And it becomes apparent to us that the Democrats just don't play by the same set of rules that Republicans do to their detriment. And in the days of swining about integrity and all of these establishment things are gone. They're playing by a different playbook.
If we don't adapt and if we want to adhere to these go-to phrases of honoring this or honoring that or not doing this, then we're going to continue to get sliced apart. And that's what's happening. Yeah.
is that we're playing nice, they're not. They're clearly playing by a different level of rules. You can see that with President Trump, how he treats the judicial branch, judges, how his AUSAs treat judges, the Department of Justice, how it's become weaponized. It is a different time that's going to call for a somewhat different response. Otherwise, it's going to be more of the same. And my biggest complaint is that Democrats don't, and it doesn't have to be fight per se, take that word out of it,
but stand up, push back, and develop a different messaging. As somebody here, as one person on this podcast that actually won a house, worked on a presidential campaign, ran and said, okay, look, I'm going to get back and I'm going to just say this.
I get the spirit of fighting given when you see all the assaults by Donald Trump and his people on things and values and ideas that we care about. I get that. But I want to know what we're fighting for and who we're fighting on behalf because not every fight is equal. Okay? And when it comes to quote-unquote progressives, I don't think there's anything more progressive than an education of a child. I agree. And I don't see anybody standing up for that. And we have the worst reading scores, worst math scores in 30 years.
We're not fighting for that. We're over there and we're fighting on a whole host of what I would not call secondary, but periphery issues that are core if you want to go win elections. That's President Obama, President Clinton, myself. I add to that Nancy Pelosi. Elections have consequences. If you don't win elections, all the other stuff is just secondary. I agree 100% with what you say and certainly recognize and respect your experience and your
And the roles and expertise that you bring. It does seem to me, though, that we have a messaging issue as far as these core issues. You talk about education and other things. How do we get that to resonate in areas where you also have guns? You also have abortion rights. You also have these other issues that and they're and they're valuable. So, look, they're valuable issues. But I got you got to deal with an electorate where they are.
And I would just like a series of subjects. I would just tell you Democratic brand now is down to 27%. They think we care about a cult set of cultural issues that are tangential and that those are our main focus. So you can sit here and say, I don't want to bully. I get you don't want to. I don't know. I'm not interested in bullying either. I never had bullied on that. But the fact is.
We're down to the lowest level we've been in 50 years because we're seen as caring about a set of issues, a set of priority issues that aren't core to them. And I got to deal with the electorate where they are, when you put your name on the ballot or you try to win an election. And, you know, I could tell you this, that two other presidents I work for, I know firsthand that their assessment is of politics and what happened differently, is we were seen as not caring.
hearing, listening, and seeing what was priority A for the American people. And it was a set of issues. And connecting on what is core to the American people is crucial if you're going to win those elections. And if you're seen as fighting—and I'm using this both metaphorically and literally—
on bathroom access and who plays in what sports, but not on who's reading and writing and what the math capability of those kids are or access to a post high school education or ability of a first time home buyer to buy a home, then you're going to be seen as fighting for something that's not-- - But let me ask you this and tell me-- - Wait a second, wait a second. - Okay. - And I'll get back to this. Your son's about to graduate Syracuse, right? - Yeah. - Okay.
I don't know you very well. We just met. You've seen all the good sides of her. Okay, well, your child may be coming home to Oklahoma, may go on somewhere else, but they're not going to live in the basement. They're not going to have $40,000 worth of debt. They're going to go on in their life in a way that they're going to be on the road. You've launched them, and they're going to have a shot at the American dream. That dream is not accessible to the lion's share of his classmates.
That dream of not only owning a home, a job, saving for your retirement and your children's children, your grandchildren's one day education and not having a health care, that is missing. Now, you want to talk about bathrooms? Great. I dealt with that in 2016. It's just not core and central when you have people graduating with $30,000 worth of debt, are living in the basement of their parents' home. Their grandparents have moved into the house. They're missing medications.
And you're using your 401k like it's basically an ATM machine to make sure that you pay bills on the monthly time. This is – that to me is where we're not only going to succeed electorally. It's actually where we're going to get America right with America. And that to me is core. I agree with you. Everything you just said – I know you do. I agree passionately about –
equality and opportunity. And I believe it in everything inside of me, where I fundamentally think the Democratic messaging should be on this. In the last election, the people who talked about bathrooms the most were MAGA.
That was their big commercial that turned everybody. It wasn't us. I think our messaging is that our economic opportunity and educational opportunities, as far as it being equal for everyone, is for everyone. And we're not going to throw anybody under the bus. I'm not. You know, we're talking about less than 10 athletes in the NCAA. I know. That's what's crazy about this. It's nuts. And MAGA is the one that talks about it all the time. The last election.
was a bit schizophrenic. Here's why. Here's my analysis. President Biden and Kamala Harris are eight to nine points down from Joe Biden after the debate, etc. President Biden steps down. Kamala Harris takes the mantle, runs a campaign focused on the economy, and moves from eight down to plus three. That's an 11-point swing. That's not a statistical error. You can say it was seven down, plus two, whatever, but it's a big swing movement. After that debate,
She drops her economic argument that is resonating and scoring and picks up this argument around democracy. Now, if you care about democracy, which based on this interview, I'm assuming all three of us do, that you had us on Hello. It was the economic story that swung 11 points, and as democracy, when we started making that as a central to our argument, we went down three. That was a six-point swing. Now, I study politics too much. It's an obsession of mine. But if you move 11 points...
I wouldn't get off of it. I agree with you. And we were exactly what I was talking about on the American Green monthly bills, being able to pay them and understanding the pressure. They wanted a president that appreciated the pressure that was on that family. And every policy you have fills in that picture of that pressure. And somewhere after the debate, it was...
almost like somebody flipped a switch and we veered off into this discussion. And I care. You can see daily the assault on the legal system and the institutions that back up and define what America is. And it's valuable. But if you wanted to win the election, it wasn't that. It was what got you from down eight to plus three, which is the core economic pressure on a family.
And that's how you win elections. And if you want to make a difference in policy, across the waterfront of issues, elections have consequences.
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So here's where I think we can agree. I agree with everything you just said. I wish, my wish, is that the Democrats would say,
flip the script and say, why are you guys so obsessed with the restroom? It's all you talk about. It's all your ads are about. Why are Republicans so genital obsessed? We care about kitchen table issues. I wish we would just fight a little bit more on that because these people are too easy to get and we let them define us. And when we see that and
And say we're when they say, oh, Democrats are too into this. And then we see that. I don't. It upsets me. This may be the last time you let me on the show. So let me just say this. You're always welcome. No, let me just be clear. You're not wrong, but you're not totally right. OK. We give them a lot of material to work with.
And you're missing that. And they give us a lot of material too. I'm just saying. I'm not disagreeing with you. Okay. We're going to play a quick game and it's called Had It or Hit It. Oh my God. Welcome to Had It or Hit It. I would hit it. Had it. I hit it every day, sometimes twice a day. Okay. Had It or Hit It. Secret service. Secret service. Had It or what is the other one? Hit It.
Hit it. So every day as chief of staff, I have secret service. You know, they drive me home. I'm getting up to the front stoop and the suburbans drive off and I open the door and I go in. So after about six months, I said to my secret service, I said, how come every time I get to the front stoop and start to open the door, you guys drive off? They go, well, you're safe. I said, I don't know if you know this. The only people want to kill me in that house. And I said, so that was our joke. OK, had it or hit it. Marco Rubio.
Yeah, me too. I mean, you know, I'll tell you, I'll bet you, I'll tell you why. He used to stand up for NATO. He stood up for Ukraine. He stood up against Putin and he's taken all his principles and put them in a lockbox and
How is it? What do you think that is? The emasculation of MAGA men once they enter Donald Trump's orbit is something that I think psychologists will study forever. I mean, I have no emasculation. I have no idea why you would lose your dignity to that. A in any case or B to that man. It's wild. And they lose their money. They lose their businesses. They lose their nobody ever works for him.
as an improvement in their career. It's crazy. And they keep doing it. It's, I know it's, I think it's going to be studied for a long time. Okay. Had it or hit it, the United States of America. Hit it. Me too. If we do the right thing, best days ahead of us.
Do we get a virtual hug between you two before the show? I love, listen, I think this is. Are you a middle child? I'm the youngest. No, you. I am actually a middle child. Yeah, I can tell. I can tell that was a total middle child war or peace kind of statement. I'm trying to make nice between you two. I'm about to get you in trouble. No, here's the thing. I feel like fighting for what you believe in and disagreement when you're basically on the same side as healthy people
I don't have a problem arguing. I think it's selfish. I do, too. I like it. So I want to get him in trouble for playing middle child. I'm a middle child, too. See, I'm trying to be a peacemaker here, and I'm being vilified for it as being a dad. Kids, what did y'all do today? I substituted on Mom's podcast. So here's what I do. You know what I do every morning? What? So Leia, our youngest, goes off to college. And my first days were empty dancers. I was like,
make coffee in the morning. I get up at 5.30. And I bring it to Amy in bed. And I said, it's Mother's Day. The kids are all grown up. Everybody's up. I bring coffee in bed. She loved it. So next day, six years later, I'm bringing her coffee in bed. So until you start doing that, you just be that peacemaker over there. Every morning,
I was going to get your advice on being an empty nester. We've kind of decided that we almost have to kind of like each other. I'll tell you even a funnier story. Is that right? Oh, yeah. We're six months into empty Nesterville and we're sitting on the couch and neither one of us can figure out how to get an apple tea. We're totally technologically back to the Stone Age.
and i look over to amy's knitting we're trying to figure out something i'd lean over i said amy i think this marriage needs a project we had 21 years filled with free projects yeah and we went off and we started a reading group on shakespeare together we did that for a while we thought we did a couple other things then we
I decided to build a house together and stuff like that. But all right, what's my other hat it or hit it? That's your final one. But I've heard rumors. I don't know if it's true or not. You don't have to confirm it on this podcast, but I'm going to offer you this, that you might be considering running for office again. And considering our feisty exchange, I will volunteer to be your debate sparring partner. I did win a state in debate my high school year, Westmore High School, home of the Jaguars. So I'll volunteer to be your sparring partner.
Should you run for public office, you can always come back here and announce it here. I may just need it for marriage. Why think about public office? I may just want to square off beforehand with you before I get to the kitchen house. Hey, you keep getting that 530 coffee and you're going to be good. I am the Neville Chamberlain of our marriage. Peace in our time. That's all I seek. Robin Manuel, thank you so much for coming on. I really enjoyed it. Thanks for having me. Okay, bye.
All right, Rahm Emanuel. I guess you can tell Rahm when we get home and call Dylan and tell him, so mom got in a fight with Rahm Emanuel today. I was very, I mean, I don't know that I've seen you that. I'll tell you why, Josh. It makes me angry that we are the party principle. We are the party that has a more educated, forward-facing front and that we allow MAGA to define us by buying into their narrative. And that's what I felt that he did.
And it upsets me. And I think because we have so many listeners of this podcast that I've met when we were on tour that are gay or trans or a person of color who have found a home with us.
and have found a home in our defense of equality for all. When I hear a Democratic leader like Rahm Emanuel, who I like and who it's okay to disagree with, allow MAGA to define our party, I think that's a weakness, and I will always stand up, whether it's Rahm Emanuel, the President of the United States,
I had to fight for that. I agree. And I think he did provide some context for what he was saying. Who do you think won the fight? Well, I think you did. I think you did. And I hope it... And I have to give a lot of deference to him. He's been in the trenches and doing this with the very top people for years. But...
I do take a little bit of exception to the messaging aspect of this. I think you can be in that arena for so long and sort of lose sight of what people in Hugo or rural parts of the country think about certain things because, you know, he's in Chicago. I also think if you start off your sentence after Trump has won twice, a man who should not be elected.
who is a dictator. He's won twice. If you start off with your messaging with, I know some things about winning, well, maybe you knew some things about winning in a pre-Trump era. But in a post-Trump era, things are different. And that's where I think people inside the Beltway need to talk to people like you and me.
and need to do more podcasts and have feisty conversations because I think it's going to make for a healthier opposition party to this authoritarian party that's currently in power. Yeah, it's different. It's different. The rules are different that they're playing by, and the messaging is going to have to be different. Right.
Josh, I want to thank you so much for substituting for the head beaver in charge today. You're welcome. I am your tree hugger who wants to fist fight a MAGA. I love it. I love that. Thank you all for having me pumps. I hope that, uh, you're safe and sound and bad that you get better. The podcast missed you today. Thank you all for having me. Just ask. I would just want to ask one more time before we leave. What was on the shoes? Um,
sequin. Is it sequin? Sequin. Why do you have such a mental block to that? Sequins. Okay, everybody, we will see you next Tuesday and Thursday. Make sure you subscribe, like, order our merch. See you all then. Bye-bye. I'll tell you what I've had it with.
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