The Fight For Florida ft. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell
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bit.ly slash book club IRL for tickets. Grab yours before they sell out. Rise and shine, Fever Dreamers. Look alive, my friends. I'm Bea Spear. I'm Sammy Sage. And this is American Fever Dream presented by Betches News, where we explore the absurdities and oddities of our uniquely American experience. And today we're going to speak to a representative from the oddest state in the nation. I think you all know what I'm talking about.

Florida! It's one hell of a drug. It is. Oh my gosh, Florida. Everyone knows Florida is a unique part of the nation. And the home of my parents. The home of my parents. It's where News by the Grotto takes place. We love to see it. My parents and everybody else's grandparents live in Florida. So we're taking you down there to visit Nanny. It was briefly the home of my mother for about three years before she moved back. It's a good place to heal.

because of the pandemic and because of the lack of masks and the open carry. And she just was like, these are not my people. I also hate the sun. So it's just really not her thing, but that's okay. Not for Eileen, not for us.

But that's okay. But what we do have that is wonderful from Florida today is Representative Debbie Mucarcel-Powell, who is currently running against Rick Scott for Senate seat. And this is such an important seat. It is so critical that Democrats take the Senate in order to

really get anything done. We don't want to get stuck in another situation like we have now. You really need the trifecta. And Rick Scott is, I would say this is one of those races where there's truly just such a huge contrast between Representative Moukassel Powell and her opponent, Rick Scott, in terms of the vision they have for Floridians. And I'm excited for you to hear the conversation with her.

I'm excited for it. I'm also like as a person who formerly lived in Florida, which we'll talk about with her, Rick Scott's been in office. He's been running Florida for decades now, both as governor, as a Senator, he's, he's been around the mix. And I think we can safely say that Floridians do not feel better about their current situation now than they did four years ago, then they did 10 years ago, then they did 20 years ago. And he's been, he's had a heavy hand in the direction of this state. And all we've seen is prices go up, housing become less affordable, developments fail and,

climate change disasters, destruction of the beaches, buildings collapsing, the people who don't want to go to college there anymore because the curriculum has changed. So that is a direct relationship to Rick Scott and the hand he's had on this state for all this time. And so I'm excited to hear from DMP.

and what her vision for Florida can be, and if we can get back to it being that fun time that we all want to go and spring break at. La Luchadora. Yeah, we're giving her nicknames. Let's jump right in.

Please, Representative McCarcel-Powell, please tell us your story. What motivated your initial 2018 run for Congress? And how are you hoping to bring that to the Senate if you do defeat Mr. Medicare fraud? Yeah, everything about this race, particularly.

it really has been centered around freedom and around my mother bringing my sisters and I for freedom, looking for opportunities. She wanted to give us opportunities that she knew she wasn't going to be able to provide in our home country of Ecuador. And so we came here, I watched her work 12-hour shifts

She didn't speak the language. She still went to school sometimes on the weekends to learn English. And I started working at a minimum wage job at the age of 15. And because of those incredible opportunities here in this country, I mean, what's possible in this country

is still an incredible, incredible potential to be able to reach the American dream. I am talking to you as the official nominee running for U.S. Senate in the state of Florida, the first Latina to ever be at the top of the ticket here in the state of Florida. In 2018, I had been working for many years at the university here at FIU. I had become the associate dean at the medical school.

I was working to expand access to good quality health care, particularly in underserved communities. We knew that a lot of people here were suffering because they didn't even have insurance coverage. They didn't have access to that. And at the same time, after the former president was elected, we saw the attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. And

At that time, no one knew who I was. My story is not one of a typical politician. I had been working in nonprofits at the university, but I knew that we needed change and the community really needed change. And I had a lot of, I was very connected to a lot of the community leaders here. And so they asked me and encouraged me to step up and run.

And because of this community in South Florida, because of our work together, even though everyone thought it was impossible. I mean, I kept hearing, no, you can't every single day in the race in 2018. I was able to beat a very popular Republican incumbent at the time and I beat him by two points. And so we made history and it's exactly the same story.

reasons and the same energy that I'm feeling all across the state. People here are tired. Floridians are tired of the extremism. We continue to face attacks by Rick Scott in trying to eliminate Medicare and Social Security. Actually, Rick Scott has been continuing to say that we have to repeal the Affordable Care Act. And like you said, this is a man who oversaw the largest Medicare fraud

In the history of this country, when he was the CEO of that health care company, they had to pay back $1.7 billion back to the government. You can't trust him. He's done nothing in 14 years. If anything, it's worse than nothing. He has been voting against the interests of Floridians for too long. I'm here to protect those opportunities for our children, to make sure that we work for the people here in the state of Florida, to make sure that we make it just a little easier for people to make it.

And I'm just overwhelmed by the amount of support that I've been receiving across the state. This election, up and down the ticket, really...

is such a story of will we be moving forward and continuing to prove out the American dream as imperfect as it is, or will we sort of stagnate in the way that, you know, that sort of mythology was set but never truly fulfill it. And Florida is an incredibly diverse state with so many community interests at play and

And what would, but what would you say are the, are collectively the top priorities for, for Floridians right now, kind of across the board and how will you work to address them? Look, the top issue for anyone I talk to everywhere I go, it's, it's the affordability crisis. Florida has, uh,

some of the highest insurance rates across higher than any other state across the nation. They have gone up by two to 300%. And what I've met people that right now are struggling to be able to pay for their insurance rates, for their mortgage, for their rent, because it was caused by this insurance crisis. And it's a direct result of a lot of the

policies that Rick Scott started when he became governor about 14 years ago. He took $53 million of the public option here, gave it to private insurance companies that had donated to his campaign over $100,000. And then they were able to choose the least risky properties and

a lot of those private insurance companies left the market, leaving a lot of Floridians uninsured. And it was the cause of a lot of the issues that we have been facing. I mean, we're also facing the impacts of climate change, right? I mean, the high insurance rates are also linked to the fact that we're continuing to see stronger and stronger storms here in our coastal communities. But again, Rick Scott has been denying the existence of a climate crisis that is devastating our coastal communities.

So the affordability issue is huge. I met a woman. This was a very shocking story. She had retired already. She had been working for a very large accounting firm. She had had a great career at an accounting firm. She was in her late 60s and I was in the panhandle.

And she picked me up in an Uber and she told me she had she was forced to go back to work to drive an Uber because she couldn't afford to pay for her property insurance rates. Those are the stories that I hear all across the state. Now, also the freedom for a woman to be able to make her own reproductive choices. I can't believe we are at a moment in time in the state where women are being denied access.

basic health care. We have a six week abortion ban with hardly any exceptions for rape and incest, a ban that Rick Scott has said he proudly supports. He has said it multiple times. He said that he will vote against Amendment 4. And we saw what he did in the Senate. He co-sponsored a national abortion ban and he has voted against IVF and contraception.

This is how extreme Rick Scott is. He's very, very dangerous and he wants to be Senate majority leader. And so I tell everyone, look, we have the opportunity to vote for Amendment 4, pass it and enshrine this law in our state constitution, protecting a woman's right to make that own choice with her doctor free of government interference. But it's not going to mean anything if Rick Scott gets back into the Senate and pushes for a national abortion ban.

Something that I think about a lot because my parents moved down to Florida. My parents were formerly Republican but are now so fed up with the MAGA stuff that my dad is like very close to considering voting for Harris to punish Trump in some ways because he's so aggravated with the way it's gone and

I think a lot of people out there who are Republicans feel like more welcome in the Harris-Walls campaign than they do in their own party because of these super extremist things. Like my dad has – he's a girl dad. He's like, this is crazy. I'm going to sign up for all this stuff. This stuff is nuts. These guys make us look like jerks.

And I know recently the villages hosted a Harris Walls event and have been leaning more Democratic. The villages, this iconic oasis for retirees that has been historically more Republican than Democrat, but again, is now turning towards this common sense, small government thing that Kamala is offering versus the authoritarianism of Trump and Rick Scott ism.

What's your feelings on the vibes at the villages doing a golf cart rally for Kamala? Look, it's, it's incredible. It's so fun. And, and let me just say that this energy, I was in the villages in April before Kamala Harris even announced, and we had a huge golf cart parade and that story of your dad. And it's funny because I think my husband, my daughters are always saying that my, my husband is also such a girl dad. Um, so I know exactly what you're talking about there, but, um,

They have been mobilizing for a while. We have a Republicans for Harris coalition here in the state of Florida. I would say that, and you can see it in the primary, about 20% of registered Republicans did not vote for Trump in the Republican primary here in the state of Florida. And so, Doug-

You know, Kamala Harris's husband was here last week and there were over 700 people that couldn't even fit in the room in that in that space that they had at the villages. There are Democrats, independents and moderate Republicans, like you're saying, that are

done. They're fed up. They will not vote for Donald Trump. You know, the question is, will they come out and vote for Harris? That remains to be seen. I think that we still have a lot of work to make sure that people come out and vote, vote solidly for, for the vice president. Also for me in this race, but the, the mobilization and the energy is,

I haven't seen anything like this since Obama. And I want to dig into that just a little bit more because I think a lot of us have parents who live in Florida or maybe like our sisters or something going to college down there. What is your message to

To the parents who moved to Florida, to the snowbirds, to say, hey, I know, you know, maybe back in the day you were voting Republican. Please consider coming out. What is that risk? What can these people gain in Florida by just coming into the ballot box this one time and clicking down ballot blue the whole way?

So here's a message that I have actually heard directly from a lot of young people living across the country. They used to come down here to visit their parents and their grandparents, and they have said, I will not come to Florida and visit you if you don't come out and vote to protect a woman's right to choose. Yeah. Voting for the candidates like Kamala Harris, like myself, women that are going to put our families, our reproductive choices first.

and making sure that we protect those opportunities above partisan politics. So I have heard from some grandparents saying, listen, I'm getting involved because I want my grandkids to be able to come and spend the summers here in Florida. Because the reality is that, you know, a lot of young people, they love this state.

And they are not able now to study in the state because they are attacking our public education system. They're taking away sociology courses. They're taking away diversity courses, gender studies, for example. It's really gone so far to the extreme that we're losing young talent. We're using professors. We are using young medical students that may want to study medicine.

OBGYN and having to study how to manage a miscarriage or an abortion is part of that healthcare education, that medical education. And so I think that is why that's something that older people need to realize. I mean, older people, you know, I mean, I don't know what you call old anymore, but...

I think anything over 25 is now considered old. But I do want to ask one more question on behalf of my parents, on behalf of the boomers in Florida who we are really trying, and I believe we can convert to vote down ballot blue the whole way. What is your plan for taking care of our older folks who do retire to Florida and are now facing things like inability to get home insurance, the potential of Medicare going away? What's your plan for the older generation? We talk so much about reproductive health and the young kids, but in Florida, what are we doing for Gen X and older?

So this is actually a central point in my campaign. My mom lives with me and we take care of her. And I've seen her struggling for the past year on in and out of the hospital. And if it weren't for Medicare, if it weren't for that fixed social security income that she has, I don't know where she would be. I mean, my sisters and I help her.

Her Social Security check is not enough. And so many seniors are struggling with that. And my commitment is to make sure not only that we protect these programs, that seniors have spent their entire life paying into these programs so that they can retire with dignity and to have that security, to have that access to good quality health care. But we need to look at ways that we can expand Medicare coverage. You know, a lot of seniors retire.

If you have that extra income, you may be able to participate to an added insurance benefit to Medicare to cover dental and optical. But most people can't do that. So we need to look at ways, how do we support seniors that need dental services, that need optical services? And part of the problem has also been that in the state of Florida, they haven't expanded Medicaid. And this does directly impact seniors. We need to invest in affordable housing for seniors. You know, like I said, they're living on a fixed income.

social security income. We need to reduce the cost of goods and services in the state of Florida, which is higher than the national average. There are ways that we can do that, but it requires courage and it requires everyone listening to vote, to be engaged and to vote for the candidate that's going to work on these issues.

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So it's such a clear distinction in the visions that you and Rick Scott are offering. How on earth is he leading the polling by even a little bit still?

Look, that's the typical political system that we have. And voters tend to vote for the name that sounds familiar. Now, this man has been in government for 14 years. He was governor here for two terms. He was in the Senate for six years. But here's the difference. I think that because he's been in government for so long, now people, a lot of people,

Not everyone, but a lot of people know who he is. They do not trust him. They know that he lies his way into trying to earn political votes, makes false promises, then never follows through and doesn't even meet with constituents. So I think that that's really hurt him. And his favorables are...

I think 37%. He's the least popular Republican right now running for reelection. So my job is to make sure people know who I am. That's where all the resources, we're putting it on areas that people are still getting to know me. They need to know who I am. My name needs to be a household name is the way that a lot of the groups that are supporting me say. So people know who I am. And we still have work to do on that. We still have

you know, less than 50 days, but we have a plan. And if everyone, if everyone is supporting this race, we are going to get it done and we will win in November. I can tell you, I see it. I see it, but we don't stop working.

Do you have a nickname? I feel like nicknames can be very popular. DMP. The Latina Hammer. Like, how can we sell this is what I'm thinking. You know what I mean? I'm like thinking about the TikTok I'm going to make after this. And I'm like, break up the bureaucracy. The Latina Hammer's coming to get rid of Rick Scott. Like, what can we say? You have a very memorable story. Before you came to America, you experienced...

I don't want to tell your story for you, but I actually think that when you kind of dig into the specifics of why you came here and how you are going to defend the American democracy you came for, I actually think it's quite salient. So maybe if you tell us more about your background.

Yeah. So, so, okay. So going back to the, what people call me here is DMP, which for a long time, it stands for don't mess with my people.

When I say people, don't mess with my people. I mean, every single Floridian. I don't care what politics you have. It's every single Floridian who has been struggling. Every single mom who now has to get a second job just to pay for her food for her kids and for her medicine and for every senior, for every fisherman.

by the way, fishermen along our coastal communities have been suffering because no one's doing anything to protect the quality of our water. And at the same time, the tariffs have hurt fishermen in our coastal communities here in the state of Florida. So when I say my people, I mean every Floridian. Now, you're right. You know, a lot of Americans are

still don't understand how quickly we can lose our democracy and our freedom living in America because it hasn't happened. We lived under a military dictatorship and I have now family and friends who live in Venezuela who have been fighting a brutal, brutal dictatorship

socialist regime, dictatorial regime from Maduro. And the only way to understand how quickly that can change is if you've lived through it. We need to make sure that we protect the independence of the judicial system. We need to protect the rule of law. No one in America is above the law. And that's what makes this country still a strong democracy, that no matter who you are, where you come from,

You can still make it. The law still protects you equally. And we have to continue to do that. And those are the threats that we have been facing. I mean, it's been extreme politicians like Scott and others who are demonizing the highest agency of law enforcement.

the Department of Justice, the FBI. They attack judges for prosecuting the former president on different civil cases. You can't do that in this country. And now they're attacking the most important institution to protect our election system, the electoral process. They're already laying down the ground saying that people that shouldn't be voting are voting. That's the same lie

that the former president used that caused that attack and that insurrection on January 6th. Now, here's the danger, and I don't know if you're aware of this, but Rick Scott has said in his campaign, has said that they haven't confirmed whether they will accept the result of the 2024 election. That is what happened just in July, July 28th in Venezuela. That's what a dictator does.

when they use the system, the democratic system to hold on to power and they completely destroy everything that American values and democracy stand for. And that's why I'm so passionate about this issue also, because we've lifted and they continue to spread propaganda and lies. Scott is a master in that. He is right now attacking me as a socialist, which is a complete and false lie.

And it's an insult to the legacy of my mother. I was going to say, that's a dog whistle right there. That's just trying to paint you as like a radical immigrant person, which is just what they do. They do the sickest, weirdest shit. Now, if you were to win, and let's say that you are going to win, let's manifest winning. I believe it. It can happen. We're doing it. We're doing it. You'd be serving alongside the other...

Here's the thing. You vote DMP in, you get one Democratic senator, you still got Marco Rubio. You know, you guys still got a Republican senator on the other side. Exactly. A nice balance. A nice profile and courage. Yeah. How do you feel like you would be able to work with Marco Rubio in the next year? Say you win.

When I was in Congress, actually, I had requested to meet with Marco Rubio. I wanted to lead some bills in the House and have him co-sponsored. You have to do that. Sure. I have absolutely no problem doing that. And actually, I wrote a bill with a very conservative Republican to protect our coral reefs here in Florida. And we became good friends, actually. Francis Rooney, he decided not to run again because his party has gone so extreme to the right. But

But Marco Rubio eventually co-sponsored that legislation. So even if Marco Rubio doesn't want to work with me on every single issue, we will find things that we agree on. And I've heard Marco Rubio speak very strongly on foreign affairs issues, which I share the same interests, the same commitment.

Hopefully he's ready to work with me. We really need to put partisan politics aside. A lot of these issues should never be political. And we have to, in order for us to protect our national security, when you look at what's going on with Russia's aggression against Ukraine, we have to have a strong democracy here and we need to work in a bipartisan fashion. There's so much at stake in terms of, like you said,

Republicans who are willing to say to basically laying the groundwork that they will not accept the results and in additional and and foreign interference as well. So what should Florida voters be aware of on Election Day in terms of voter suppression? Are there requirements for either in person or mail in voting that they should be aware of and getting in front of?

So let me start by saying this. OK, first of all, we we can still register people to vote. And if you haven't registered, if you haven't checked your registration, whether it's active or not, go to I will vote dot com. It's the easiest way to do that. But we have early voting in the state of Florida.

And as much as they try to suppress our vote, we need to take that power back, make a plan. It's really easy. You can go to any election site instead of just your precinct. And you have about two weeks in different counties across the state. It's not difficult to make a plan and go out. And it'll take 10 minutes in and out when you go to an early voting site. But make sure you bring your ID. Make sure that if you're mailing in a ballot, that your signature matches the one

you have on your license. Sometimes they can't match the signatures and it's a cost for some of those ballots to be thrown out. Make sure that if you are voting by mail, if that's how you choose to vote, that you send it way in advance. If you send it the Sunday before election day, it may not get there and it may not be counted. You can also drop off your vote by mail ballot in the different poll sites during election day. But

go and get information on your county, on your district, on where you can vote, the timing of early voting. Some counties have it 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., others have it 10 to 4, but just make sure that you have all that information. For civic participation to increase, I think we also have to take personal responsibility. We have to understand that we have a lot of power in our

vote. We have a lot of power in lifting up our voices and in bringing family and friends along with us. So it's not that difficult as much as they're trying to suppress our vote. We need to vote in mass. All you need to do is make sure that you make time to do that and bring your family and friends.

And doesn't it require 60% of voters to pass the abortion referendum that's on the ballot? So that also should hopefully drive turnout. Show up, show up. Show up, show up. What Florida House races should we be watching? We have some incredible, incredible candidates. Sammy, I've had the, it's been so great to meet them. They're working so hard. So I'll say a few. We have Whitney Foxx running against Anna Palin.

Paulina Luna. Whitney's running an incredible campaign and she can win. Her polling has her, I think the last poll, I think had her a little bit ahead of Luna. So watch that race. Lucia Baez Geller right here in Miami-Dade County running against Mariel Vida Salazar. She's running a good race. She's working very hard.

And that district is 50/50. If people come out, she can win that race. And of course, Barbie. Barbie, who has been a warrior in the villages, in that area, that she's been part of the reason why the villages has had so much energy. She's a mom.

And she decided to run because she had lost her little boy to a disease that's not very common. And the congressman, who is a Republican, had never shown up, didn't care, didn't even want to meet with her. And she decided to run. And she's incredible. Please follow Barbie for Congress in the Villages.

And we have some important school board races coming up in Miami-Dade County. Max Tuchman, she can actually give us the majority for the school board. And she is an educator. She is also running a great campaign. I mean, I can go on and on. I think I'm going to have to, uh,

link it to my website so that people that are looking at good candidates to support, I'll just list them all on the website. Perfect. Where should people follow you? Are you running, you know, a social media campaign? Yeah, I have some really great social media people here running, helping me with, with my digital. So of course I have Twitter, Instagram, Facebook threads, Tik TOK, all of it. Okay. And you can follow me at

- Debbie, F-O-R-F-L, Debbie4FL. Follow me because we're getting a lot of traction, especially with young voters on Instagram and on TikTok. And you'll find a lot of information events that are coming up. I continue to travel the state and we're getting, I mean, hundreds of people that are showing up to our rallies.

So if you are watching, please follow me. Please promote. I'm sure if you're not living in Florida, you have a lot of family and friends that live here. Make sure that they are aware of my campaign and that they come to my rallies as well. Just one more question before we go. You mentioned Obama earlier. We haven't seen this much excitement since then. And I understand you volunteered for his campaign and he successfully won Florida, the last Democrat to do so. How would you compare what you've seen of the Harris campaign on the ground with

from that experience? I think so the people are energized, that people are mobilizing. Everyone is doing the work here in Florida because so many people have written us off very unfairly, by the way. I mean, we are 20 million Americans living in the state of Florida and we've been under attack for a long time. We're part of the United States. We need backup, everyone. We need backup. If you care about Latino votes, if you care about Black votes, if you care about the environment,

You need to come and help us because we're fighting and we're organizing. Now, the one thing that I would like to see more is the ground game. Obama had an incredible ground game. They had a very structured program. The Harris campaign is starting to do that. They've already opened 13 field offices. And I know that they are also investing in more.

organizers. That's what I'd like to see in the next 40 plus days, people on the ground mobilizing, knocking on doors and reaching voters where they're at. That's what Obama did very well and we can do it. And I'm seeing that growth, but we need to ramp that up pretty quickly.

So if you're a Florida listener, they need, they are looking for ground game volunteers. This is your, this is your time to get involved. If you're extroverted and incredibly organized, this is for you. Or even if you're not. We did an introverts for Kamala canvassing in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. So I know if it could happen there, we could do it anywhere. It was incredible. People,

really got their confidence up. And we, you know, it's just about being invited and being told that you can do it. We made sure that there were big groups and they did a great job. So introverts for Democrats also out there canvassing. Yeah. And just this morning, just a quick story. So I had Cubans for Debbie event right here in Miami.

And I spoke to this woman who started to canvas and she said, you know, people were telling me, don't go to that area. It's really right wing. It's Cuban American Republicans. And she said, no, no, I'm going to talk to everyone. And people were so grateful that she was actually knocking on their doors, talking about the issues. People are ready to talk about the issues. I think people are ready to put aside all the hate and the division and the attacks. They just want someone that's going to be working for them. And we know that the vice president

has made that very clear. And, and I'm making the same case. I just want to work for every Floridian to make sure that we make this state a great place to live. I'm going to tell you what, when you beat Rick Scott, I'm going to personally come to Miami and take you out for drinks because I, as a former resident of Florida, part of the reason I left that state was him. He was the governor at the time. He was just a, a rotten, nasty person who has a Grinch filled heart. And yes, that is my opinion. You don't have to agree, but, uh,

And what's your favorite drink? What do you like to drink? It depends. I mean, I am like such a vacation girly, so I would be a pina colada and Miami kind of person. Oh, yeah. Mojito. Mojito. You two have a really good mojito. Listen, Casa Cuba right down the street has a really good mojito. We will. We'll do Casa Cuba. I'll take you out to mojitos, okay? Perfect. I'd come for that. Yeah, come on, Sammy. Come on.

I'll be honest with you. I too have shied away from going to Florida because of the vibe, the open carry. When you are elected. Yeah. When you're elected, we're going to come. We're going to throw a party. It'll be great. And that's the thing I think people are looking for. Safety, normal, safe adults. Have a good time. Visit your grandparents. Visit your parents. We need you guys to vote.

If it can happen at the villages, it could happen anywhere. It can happen anywhere. That's right. Grandparents want their grandkids. I know. The DMP. The Latina Hammer. She's coming for you. Luchadora. Luchadora. Luchadora. Luchadora. See, that has a little kick. We got it. We got it. We got it. All right. All right. I can see it on t-shirts written in like a script. You're going to see it in my TikTok in about an hour when I call her the Luchadora. Yeah. I love that.

Thanks, Debbie. Well, thank you so much. See you soon. See you for Mojitos.

I love her. I can't wait to get mojitos on the beach. I'm hopeful that every Floridian gets a mojito on the beach and a little bit of like breathing room and joy knowing that Rick Scott would no longer be in office if she takes that seat. It would be extremely meaningful considering we met in Miami. Yes, it would. Really, this is about us and it should happen for us. This is me and Sammy meet cute, get the Democratic representative elected to Senate moment.

I think it's time. Like we said, you guys still got Marco Rubio? He is, for all intents and purposes, a regular Republican pretty much. I mean, he wants to be. I think he goes with the flow a little bit too much, but he's not as annoying as Ted Cruz. The flow has taken regular Republicans just totally to a different place. The old regular Republicans are now...

I do think if we do elect Kamala Harris, that's what I'm saying. Including 200, including over 200 former staffers of Reagan and both Bushes. Yeah. That's what I'm saying. I think if we defeat MAGA this time, you'll see a return to what my dad is looking for and people like my dad are looking for, right? Which is this like normal, boring Mitt Romney, John McCain kind of Republican. And maybe you can get that. Maybe you can, maybe you can't, but we won't know unless you defeat MAGA. This is phase one. Yeah.

And I do hope that she gets in because you guys, you know, you'll have for folks who are worried about voting for Democrats, you'll still have Marco Rubio as your other senator. Cold comfort. Cold comfort. Yeah. Anyway, check out the morning announcements for daily reporting. Five minutes. It gives you a pretty clear rundown of everything you need to know and, you know, gives you a passable working amount of political and news knowledge. Yeah.

What I like about it is it gives me enough to sound smart throughout the day before I get into doing under the desk news in the night. You listen to Sammy in the morning. You feel smart through the day. You're caught up on all the topics. Not too much because it's only five minutes. Just enough to look cool in front of your friends and keep up conversation at work. Or just not look stupid if someone mentions something and you're like, what the fuck? Exactly.

You stay conversationally on it without getting bogged down by like a million details and like bummed out. It keeps you very high level. And if you're interested, there are links in the description and you can go to the sources that I use or you could just Google it. Or you could just trust us.

blindly trust us. I don't want to suggest that because it's a slippery slope, as they say. It is. I know. Watch. American Fever Dream turns into American Autocracy, the me and Sammy state radio. God forbid. Hold us to account. Hold us to account. All right, Fever Dreamers. We'll see you. I don't know. We'll see you next time. We'll see you in the morning for morning announcements. Bye.

American Fever Dream is produced and edited by Samantha Gatzik. Social media by Candice Monega and Bridget Schwartz. Be sure to follow us on Instagram and TikTok at Betches News and follow me, Sammy Sage at Sammy and V at Under the Desk News. And of course, send us your emails to AmericanFeverDream at Betches.com.