WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.700 Welcome to the Deep Dives, where we plunge into 00:00:02.700 --> 00:00:05.059 the heart of the stories shaping our world. Today, 00:00:05.419 --> 00:00:08.400 we're navigating a, well, a pretty complex web 00:00:08.400 --> 00:00:10.580 of political pressures, unfolding dramas. We're 00:00:10.580 --> 00:00:12.400 seeing surprising connections, revelations from 00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:14.199 sources that just keep dripping out information. 00:00:14.699 --> 00:00:16.620 It feels a lot like those historical standals, 00:00:16.679 --> 00:00:20.839 doesn't it? That familiar drip, drip, drip of 00:00:20.839 --> 00:00:23.480 daily new details. Our mission today is really 00:00:23.480 --> 00:00:25.339 to unpack the most important nuggets from all 00:00:25.339 --> 00:00:27.500 this. We're looking at high -profile investigations, 00:00:28.059 --> 00:00:30.640 shifts in power, and the fundamental battles 00:00:30.640 --> 00:00:33.140 already shaping future elections. We'll dig into 00:00:33.140 --> 00:00:35.560 how leaders respond to scrutiny, how influence 00:00:35.560 --> 00:00:38.140 works in sometimes surprising ways. So let's 00:00:38.140 --> 00:00:41.100 get into it. We'll kick things off with the enduring 00:00:41.100 --> 00:00:43.500 ripple effect of the Epstein story, specifically 00:00:43.500 --> 00:00:45.939 how it intersects with Donald Trump and this 00:00:45.939 --> 00:00:48.340 new very interesting Ghislaine Maxwell interview 00:00:48.340 --> 00:00:50.340 situation. Like we said, it really echoes that 00:00:50.340 --> 00:00:52.560 kind of relentless accumulating information flow 00:00:52.560 --> 00:00:55.439 like Watergate. And speaking of ongoing revelations, 00:00:55.619 --> 00:00:58.100 there was significant news just yesterday. Deputy 00:00:58.100 --> 00:00:59.920 Attorney General Todd Blanch announced publicly 00:00:59.920 --> 00:01:03.000 on X that he's contacted Ghislaine Maxwell's 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:04.739 lawyers. He intends to meet her soon. He said, 00:01:04.780 --> 00:01:07.400 and I'm quoting here, justice demands courage. 00:01:07.579 --> 00:01:10.439 No one is above the law and no lead is off limits. 00:01:11.140 --> 00:01:12.920 Apparently, this is the administration's new 00:01:12.920 --> 00:01:15.379 plan for, quote, transparency, especially after 00:01:15.379 --> 00:01:17.780 that heavily edited grand jury testimony didn't 00:01:17.780 --> 00:01:20.359 really didn't move the needle for them. Right. 00:01:20.459 --> 00:01:23.819 And what's immediately clear is, well, why there's 00:01:23.819 --> 00:01:25.819 so much skepticism around this interview. I mean, 00:01:26.019 --> 00:01:28.920 Maxwell herself, her credibility is, shall we 00:01:28.920 --> 00:01:31.719 say, significantly compromised given her history. 00:01:32.019 --> 00:01:34.829 And Blanche, well. He has a very clear vested 00:01:34.829 --> 00:01:37.329 interest in protecting Trump. Observers are pointing 00:01:37.329 --> 00:01:39.829 that out as a direct conflict with any kind of 00:01:39.829 --> 00:01:41.810 impartial pursuit of justice. Yeah, that's the 00:01:41.810 --> 00:01:43.950 rub, isn't it? The public perception gets really 00:01:43.950 --> 00:01:46.590 tricky here. If Maxwell testifies about Democrats, 00:01:46.769 --> 00:01:48.890 many people are just going to see it as a corrupt 00:01:48.890 --> 00:01:51.209 bargain. Right. Especially since a lot of people, 00:01:51.430 --> 00:01:53.189 particularly those you might call conspiracists, 00:01:53.650 --> 00:01:56.650 they want documents, photos, not just words from 00:01:56.650 --> 00:01:59.560 someone with such an obvious agenda. Precisely. 00:01:59.939 --> 00:02:02.700 And the alternative scenario, it's just as problematic. 00:02:02.939 --> 00:02:04.620 If Blanche comes out afterwards and says, well, 00:02:04.760 --> 00:02:07.540 Maxwell has no insights, nobody's going to believe 00:02:07.540 --> 00:02:10.020 that either. It'll instantly be seen as, oh, 00:02:10.120 --> 00:02:12.000 she must have pointed the finger at Trump and 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:14.819 they're suppressing it. For her testimony to 00:02:14.819 --> 00:02:17.259 be even remotely trustworthy, she'd need to be 00:02:17.259 --> 00:02:20.289 interviewed by someone truly neutral. You know, 00:02:20.389 --> 00:02:22.469 like a state or federal prosecutor not appointed 00:02:22.469 --> 00:02:24.509 by Trump, maybe a referee from a federal judge, 00:02:24.550 --> 00:02:27.310 or even a really reliable independent journalist. 00:02:27.689 --> 00:02:30.229 If Blanche is the one doing the interview, it 00:02:30.229 --> 00:02:32.030 just feels like it's probably wasting everyone's 00:02:32.030 --> 00:02:33.930 time. It won't do much to build public trust. 00:02:34.590 --> 00:02:36.870 That's a critical point to perceive legitimacy. 00:02:37.629 --> 00:02:39.930 And meanwhile, these drips just keep coming, 00:02:40.090 --> 00:02:42.150 keeping the story right in the headlines. Just 00:02:42.150 --> 00:02:44.990 this week, CNN published those photos of Epstein 00:02:44.990 --> 00:02:48.460 at Trump's 1993 wedding. And that 2020 video 00:02:48.460 --> 00:02:50.400 from The Guardian resurfaced, the one showing 00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:52.599 Trump judging and, well, looking at 14 -year 00:02:52.599 --> 00:02:55.340 -old girls in swimsuits at a modeling competition. 00:02:55.530 --> 00:02:57.729 Yeah, and it's important to be clear about what 00:02:57.729 --> 00:02:59.889 these visuals don't reveal. They don't give us 00:02:59.889 --> 00:03:02.629 fundamentally new information about Trump's known 00:03:02.629 --> 00:03:05.370 associations or his past behavior. We knew about 00:03:05.370 --> 00:03:08.289 these things. But what they do achieve very effectively 00:03:08.289 --> 00:03:11.169 is keeping the Epstein story alive, splashed 00:03:11.169 --> 00:03:13.430 across social media constantly in the news cycle. 00:03:13.689 --> 00:03:16.050 And they reinforce those existing impressions 00:03:16.050 --> 00:03:18.330 that, yes, Trump was very chummy with Epstein 00:03:18.330 --> 00:03:21.169 and, well, that he finds underage girls attractive. 00:03:21.680 --> 00:03:24.419 It's that continuous visual reinforcement that 00:03:24.419 --> 00:03:26.800 stops the story fading. And Trump's response? 00:03:27.599 --> 00:03:30.000 Predictably, deflection. Asked about the Maxwell 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:32.240 interview plans. He called it a witch hunt. Claimed 00:03:32.240 --> 00:03:34.639 he doesn't follow that too much. Then, almost 00:03:34.639 --> 00:03:37.379 in the same breath, he tried to shift blame to 00:03:37.379 --> 00:03:40.300 Barack Obama. Said they caught President Obama 00:03:40.300 --> 00:03:42.419 absolutely cold, that it was criminal at the 00:03:42.419 --> 00:03:44.580 highest level. He even threw Hillary Clinton 00:03:44.580 --> 00:03:46.789 in there, claiming he let her off the hook. It's 00:03:46.789 --> 00:03:49.150 classic Trump word salad, isn't it? It's not 00:03:49.150 --> 00:03:52.830 really designed to inform or persuade logically. 00:03:52.930 --> 00:03:55.870 It's more about overwhelming you with these disparate, 00:03:56.050 --> 00:03:58.669 unrelated accusations. Makes it hard for anyone 00:03:58.669 --> 00:04:01.090 to pin down a response. I mean, is it really 00:04:01.090 --> 00:04:03.009 likely he's not following this story, given the 00:04:03.009 --> 00:04:06.370 political stakes? Highly doubtful. And his supposed 00:04:06.370 --> 00:04:09.129 mercy on Clinton, given their history, that's 00:04:09.129 --> 00:04:11.430 just unbelievable. Plus, Obama's been out of 00:04:11.430 --> 00:04:14.050 office for nearly 10 years. He's not the inflammatory 00:04:14.050 --> 00:04:17.100 figure for Trump's base. he once was. It suggests 00:04:17.100 --> 00:04:19.759 a kind of desperation maybe to cast blame anywhere 00:04:19.759 --> 00:04:21.899 else. It was interesting though that Obama actually 00:04:21.899 --> 00:04:23.939 broke his usual silence on this kind of thing. 00:04:24.220 --> 00:04:26.060 His spokesman put out a statement calling Trump's 00:04:26.060 --> 00:04:28.579 allegations outrageous enough to merit one and 00:04:28.579 --> 00:04:30.920 just ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction. 00:04:31.399 --> 00:04:33.759 Pretty direct. Yeah quite direct for Obama's 00:04:33.759 --> 00:04:36.259 team. And another angle to think about here is 00:04:36.259 --> 00:04:40.319 the The actual impact of all this entanglement, 00:04:40.500 --> 00:04:42.819 we're sort of seeing what you could call a government 00:04:42.819 --> 00:04:45.180 shutdown, but not the usual budget kind. It's 00:04:45.180 --> 00:04:47.519 more like the executive branch is just completely 00:04:47.519 --> 00:04:51.420 tied in knots by this ongoing Epstein mess. Resources, 00:04:51.839 --> 00:04:54.439 attention. It's all consumed. And that impact 00:04:54.439 --> 00:04:57.800 definitely extends to Congress. The House recessed 00:04:57.800 --> 00:04:59.800 recently and sources say it was specifically 00:04:59.800 --> 00:05:02.420 time to prevent a vote on releasing Epstein files. 00:05:03.220 --> 00:05:04.600 Representative Thomas Massey has already said 00:05:04.600 --> 00:05:06.199 he's going to bring a resolution to the floor 00:05:06.199 --> 00:05:08.639 anyway, even if he has to wait until September. 00:05:08.959 --> 00:05:11.980 Delaying that vote, it might be a serious miscalculation 00:05:11.980 --> 00:05:13.879 for anyone hoping this issue just disappears. 00:05:14.350 --> 00:05:16.750 By late September, the House demographics shift 00:05:16.750 --> 00:05:20.490 slightly. 219 Republicans, 214 Democrats. Now, 00:05:20.490 --> 00:05:22.649 if Massey votes with the Democrats, it effectively 00:05:22.649 --> 00:05:27.250 becomes 218R to 215D on that issue. If just two 00:05:27.250 --> 00:05:29.670 more Republicans defect, they could force a discharge 00:05:29.670 --> 00:05:32.129 petition. That's the procedural move to bypass 00:05:32.129 --> 00:05:34.550 leadership and force a four vote. By September, 00:05:34.889 --> 00:05:36.829 maybe enough members will have heard from constituents 00:05:36.829 --> 00:05:39.269 back home to feel pressure to force that vote. 00:05:39.529 --> 00:05:41.290 So Speaker Mike Johnson and Trump are clearly 00:05:41.290 --> 00:05:43.230 hoping this story just fades away over the summer. 00:05:43.689 --> 00:05:46.490 But as our sources expect, everyone involved 00:05:46.490 --> 00:05:49.310 might end up disappointed. They point to Watergate, 00:05:49.529 --> 00:05:51.410 how it would always seem to roar right back after 00:05:51.410 --> 00:05:53.870 any brief lull. Right. And Bill Kristol has a 00:05:53.870 --> 00:05:56.189 really potent take on why this story shouldn't 00:05:56.189 --> 00:05:58.910 go away. He argues it's a kind of barometer. 00:05:59.540 --> 00:06:01.839 indicator of how far we are down the road to 00:06:01.839 --> 00:06:04.579 authoritarianism. Because in healthy democracies, 00:06:04.980 --> 00:06:06.540 powerful leaders shouldn't be able to just make 00:06:06.540 --> 00:06:09.220 their bad behavior vanish. If a cover up like 00:06:09.220 --> 00:06:12.079 that succeeds, Crystal says, it takes us much 00:06:12.079 --> 00:06:14.879 further down that authoritarian path. It signals 00:06:14.879 --> 00:06:16.899 accountability is basically optional for the 00:06:16.899 --> 00:06:19.899 powerful. OK, so moving on from those immediate 00:06:19.899 --> 00:06:22.060 political battles, let's explore something broader. 00:06:22.269 --> 00:06:27.110 how Trump seems to maintain this iron grip on 00:06:27.110 --> 00:06:29.850 various parts of American society, how he gets 00:06:29.850 --> 00:06:33.189 people or institutions to, well, bend to his 00:06:33.189 --> 00:06:35.410 will. We're calling this segment the many faces 00:06:35.410 --> 00:06:38.050 of bending the knee. A really notable recent 00:06:38.050 --> 00:06:40.189 example involves the U .S. Olympic and Paralympic 00:06:40.189 --> 00:06:43.610 Committee, the USOPC. They just decided to ban 00:06:43.610 --> 00:06:46.189 trans women from being members of the U .S. Olympic 00:06:46.189 --> 00:06:49.129 or Paralympic teams, and it's widely seen as 00:06:49.129 --> 00:06:51.610 them directly yielding to Trump's guidance on 00:06:51.610 --> 00:06:53.689 the issue. What's fascinating there, scientifically 00:06:53.689 --> 00:06:56.129 speaking, is that numerous studies on this exact 00:06:56.129 --> 00:06:58.250 question conclude that trans women who have undergone 00:06:58.250 --> 00:07:00.569 hormone treatment don't actually have an advantage 00:07:00.569 --> 00:07:03.269 over cisgender women athletes. In fact, some 00:07:03.269 --> 00:07:05.009 research even suggests they might be at a slight 00:07:05.009 --> 00:07:07.610 disadvantage. So the USOPC decision looks much 00:07:07.610 --> 00:07:09.430 more political than based on current science. 00:07:09.910 --> 00:07:11.350 Interesting. OK, another instance we saw was 00:07:11.350 --> 00:07:13.550 in the Senate Appropriations Committee, a party 00:07:13.550 --> 00:07:15.850 line vote to name the opera venue at the Kennedy 00:07:15.850 --> 00:07:18.509 Center the First Lady Melania Trump Opera House. 00:07:18.720 --> 00:07:21.879 Yeah, that one feels transparently like not genuine 00:07:21.879 --> 00:07:23.740 flattery, right? It seems more like a strategic 00:07:23.740 --> 00:07:26.600 play, an effort to sort of normalize Trump's 00:07:26.600 --> 00:07:29.019 presence within cultural institutions, make sure 00:07:29.019 --> 00:07:31.279 his legacy extends beyond just politics, even 00:07:31.279 --> 00:07:34.540 into these seemingly non -political spaces. And 00:07:34.540 --> 00:07:37.459 while it still needs full Senate and House approval, 00:07:37.720 --> 00:07:39.379 realistically, there probably isn't a single 00:07:39.379 --> 00:07:41.980 Republican member willing to, you know, die on 00:07:41.980 --> 00:07:44.620 that hill to stop it. It's an easy way to show 00:07:44.620 --> 00:07:46.980 alignment without taking a tough policy road. 00:07:47.360 --> 00:07:50.089 So approval seems highly likely. Beyond that, 00:07:50.209 --> 00:07:52.649 we also saw Trump initiating the process again 00:07:52.649 --> 00:07:55.629 to pull the US out of UNESCO for the fourth time, 00:07:55.629 --> 00:07:57.550 I think. That's right. His stated reasons are 00:07:57.550 --> 00:08:00.949 familiar. UNESCO is too woke, too pro -DEI. That's 00:08:00.949 --> 00:08:03.389 diversity, equity, and inclusion, too pro -Palestine, 00:08:03.470 --> 00:08:05.850 too pro -China. But if you zoom out, it fits 00:08:05.850 --> 00:08:08.509 this historical pattern perfectly. Republican 00:08:08.509 --> 00:08:11.550 president takes over, U .S. leaves UNESCO, Democrat 00:08:11.550 --> 00:08:14.370 takes over, U .S. rejoins. It's this recurring 00:08:14.370 --> 00:08:16.970 cycle of asserting ideological priorities on 00:08:16.970 --> 00:08:20.370 the world stage. And then probably the most unexpected 00:08:20.370 --> 00:08:24.389 example recently involves Coca -Cola. Trump started 00:08:24.389 --> 00:08:26.649 complaining that U .S. Coke uses high fructose 00:08:26.649 --> 00:08:29.689 corn syrup instead of cane sugar. Apparently, 00:08:29.949 --> 00:08:31.889 HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy influenced him 00:08:31.889 --> 00:08:34.210 on this. Well, Trump's only about half right 00:08:34.210 --> 00:08:36.289 on the science there. Yes, corn syrup isn't healthy. 00:08:36.620 --> 00:08:39.159 But cane sugar isn't dramatically healthier either. 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:41.440 It's unhealthy in pretty much the same ways, 00:08:41.759 --> 00:08:44.480 for the same reasons. And he probably doesn't 00:08:44.480 --> 00:08:47.279 fully grasp, or maybe doesn't care, that the 00:08:47.279 --> 00:08:49.740 glut of corn syrup happened partly because corn 00:08:49.740 --> 00:08:52.440 farmers, a key Trump demographic, needed something 00:08:52.440 --> 00:08:55.019 to do with all their surplus corn. And the irony, 00:08:55.019 --> 00:08:57.220 of course, is that Coke, made with cane sugar, 00:08:57.600 --> 00:08:59.820 that's how they make it down in Mexico. So it 00:08:59.820 --> 00:09:02.179 highlights this selective focus on health issues 00:09:02.179 --> 00:09:04.860 when it aligns with political convenience. So 00:09:04.860 --> 00:09:07.070 what's the upshot for Coke? They announced yesterday 00:09:07.070 --> 00:09:09.269 they will start selling sugarcane -based Coca 00:09:09.269 --> 00:09:11.210 -Cola in the U .S. again, but in addition to 00:09:11.210 --> 00:09:13.830 the corn syrup version. And it'll have special 00:09:13.830 --> 00:09:15.690 labeling. Some people are already calling it 00:09:15.690 --> 00:09:17.730 Coca -maga. Which really makes you wonder about 00:09:17.730 --> 00:09:19.809 the motivation, doesn't it? Is Coke just trying 00:09:19.809 --> 00:09:22.250 to curry favor with a potentially future president? 00:09:22.730 --> 00:09:25.470 Or did they spot a clever marketing opportunity? 00:09:25.990 --> 00:09:29.639 Maybe both. What it definitely shows is how even 00:09:29.639 --> 00:09:31.799 huge corporations might tweak their products 00:09:31.799 --> 00:09:34.519 just to align with an influential figure's personal 00:09:34.519 --> 00:09:36.899 whims. Leveraging that perceived alignment for 00:09:36.899 --> 00:09:38.860 marketing, it's a new kind of corporate political 00:09:38.860 --> 00:09:41.259 synergy, and you have to assume Donald Trump 00:09:41.259 --> 00:09:43.860 Jr. is pretty happy about it. Yeah, there's definitely 00:09:43.860 --> 00:09:45.779 a fair bit of strategic pandering going on right 00:09:45.779 --> 00:09:47.980 now across the board. But okay, there's a counter 00:09:47.980 --> 00:09:50.740 example to this bending the knee trend. and it 00:09:50.740 --> 00:09:53.360 involved Stephen Colbert over at CBS. Apparently 00:09:53.360 --> 00:09:55.500 CBS fired Colbert, but they're still paying out 00:09:55.500 --> 00:09:58.000 his contract for another 10 months. And our sources 00:09:58.000 --> 00:09:59.960 are wondering if this was maybe a kind of subtle 00:09:59.960 --> 00:10:02.919 defiance, like basically giving Colbert 10 months 00:10:02.919 --> 00:10:06.259 of paid time to just go for it on air without 00:10:06.259 --> 00:10:08.720 restraint. Of course, Trump immediately jumped 00:10:08.720 --> 00:10:11.840 on social media with some pretty low class messages 00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:14.460 celebrating Colbert's firing, trashing other 00:10:14.460 --> 00:10:17.120 late night hosts too. But then Colbert's response 00:10:17.120 --> 00:10:19.320 on his show just went viral. He read Trump's 00:10:19.320 --> 00:10:21.440 message out loud, doing his Trump voice. Then 00:10:21.440 --> 00:10:24.159 he turned to this eloquence cam, dropped a bleeped 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:26.419 expletive and basically signaled, OK, the gloves 00:10:26.419 --> 00:10:28.620 are off now. Yeah. My prediction, Colbert is 00:10:28.620 --> 00:10:30.980 probably going to have the best ratings run he's 00:10:30.980 --> 00:10:33.279 ever had for these final months. Viewers will 00:10:33.279 --> 00:10:36.100 tune in specifically for that potentially uncensored, 00:10:36.320 --> 00:10:38.899 no holds barred commentary. It'll be must watch 00:10:38.899 --> 00:10:41.039 TV for his audience. All right. Let's shift gears 00:10:41.039 --> 00:10:43.200 now to a different kind of political battleground. 00:10:43.639 --> 00:10:45.700 This is the ongoing fight over the Democratic 00:10:45.700 --> 00:10:48.950 primary calendar, specifically. Iowa's push to 00:10:48.950 --> 00:10:52.250 get back that coveted leadoff spot. You probably 00:10:52.250 --> 00:10:55.210 remember the mess that was the 2020 Iowa caucuses. 00:10:55.309 --> 00:10:57.509 Technical glitches galore, right? iPads and Zoom 00:10:57.509 --> 00:11:00.450 sessions. Trying to interface with this very 00:11:00.450 --> 00:11:03.370 19th century style of participation. Plus all 00:11:03.370 --> 00:11:05.330 that confusion over the state delegate equivalents, 00:11:05.470 --> 00:11:08.029 the STEs. That's what led to Bernie Sanders getting 00:11:08.029 --> 00:11:10.110 more raw votes, but fewer delegates than Pete 00:11:10.110 --> 00:11:13.110 Buttigieg. Because STEs reward intense localized 00:11:13.110 --> 00:11:15.870 support across multiple rounds, not just broad 00:11:15.870 --> 00:11:18.429 initial preference. Yeah. Beyond just the tech 00:11:18.429 --> 00:11:21.370 failures, there are two sort of deeper structural 00:11:21.370 --> 00:11:23.649 problems with the Iowa caucuses that really affect 00:11:23.649 --> 00:11:26.490 who emerges as a front runner. First, they heavily 00:11:26.490 --> 00:11:29.210 favor the really devoted partisans, the activists 00:11:29.210 --> 00:11:32.629 over more casual voters. And this can push forward 00:11:32.629 --> 00:11:34.830 candidates who might not have broad national 00:11:34.830 --> 00:11:36.889 appeal later on. Think Mike Huckabee or Rick 00:11:36.889 --> 00:11:38.909 Santorum on the Republican side. They did well 00:11:38.909 --> 00:11:41.529 in Iowa, but weren't really viable national candidates. 00:11:41.789 --> 00:11:45.330 And second, there's that Clear demographic mismatch. 00:11:45.629 --> 00:11:48.090 Iowa is, well, very white and has a relatively 00:11:48.090 --> 00:11:50.029 high median age, about thirty nine and a half. 00:11:50.409 --> 00:11:52.289 And Iowa voters tend to care a lot about issues 00:11:52.289 --> 00:11:54.649 like, say, corn subsidies, which don't resonate 00:11:54.649 --> 00:11:57.070 nationally in the same way. So the kind of candidate 00:11:57.070 --> 00:11:59.850 who gets the Iowa blessing might not be the best 00:11:59.850 --> 00:12:02.309 fit for more diverse, more populous or younger 00:12:02.309 --> 00:12:04.710 states that are absolutely critical in a general 00:12:04.710 --> 00:12:06.990 election. Right. So knowing all these challenges. 00:12:07.480 --> 00:12:09.759 President Biden tried to shake things up. He 00:12:09.759 --> 00:12:11.740 wanted to move South Carolina earlier and push 00:12:11.740 --> 00:12:14.120 Iowa later in the schedule, but it didn't really 00:12:14.120 --> 00:12:16.750 stick. No, the obstacles were pretty significant. 00:12:17.110 --> 00:12:20.590 For one, South Carolina's Republican state government 00:12:20.590 --> 00:12:24.330 wasn't exactly keen on taking orders from a Democratic 00:12:24.330 --> 00:12:26.269 president about their primary. And then there's 00:12:26.269 --> 00:12:29.129 New Hampshire, their first primary in the nation's 00:12:29.129 --> 00:12:30.850 status. It's literally written into their state 00:12:30.850 --> 00:12:32.809 constitution. They weren't giving that up. So 00:12:32.809 --> 00:12:34.990 those legal and political realities made it really 00:12:34.990 --> 00:12:37.570 hard for Biden to just unilaterally redraw the 00:12:37.570 --> 00:12:40.549 primary map. But the Iowa Democratic Party is 00:12:40.549 --> 00:12:43.259 definitely not giving up. They're making basically 00:12:43.259 --> 00:12:46.419 four core arguments now to try and get back that 00:12:46.419 --> 00:12:49.259 leadoff spot. First, they're saying, look, Joe 00:12:49.259 --> 00:12:51.659 Biden isn't really in charge of the party machinery 00:12:51.659 --> 00:12:54.279 anymore. He's not that popular right now. So 00:12:54.279 --> 00:12:56.340 his previous attempt to reshape the calendar 00:12:56.340 --> 00:12:59.299 doesn't matter. Second, they argue Iowa's small 00:12:59.299 --> 00:13:01.879 size is actually a good thing. It lets candidates 00:13:01.879 --> 00:13:04.899 without big money or name recognition build support 00:13:04.899 --> 00:13:07.580 through old fashioned retail campaigning. They 00:13:07.580 --> 00:13:09.139 always point to Jimmy Carter as the textbook 00:13:09.139 --> 00:13:11.659 example there. Third, they note, hey, the Republicans 00:13:11.659 --> 00:13:13.460 are going to hold their caucus in Iowa in January 00:13:13.460 --> 00:13:15.899 2028 anyway. If Democrats don't have an event 00:13:15.899 --> 00:13:18.500 then too, the GOP will just gobble up all the 00:13:18.500 --> 00:13:20.820 headlines. And fourth, they're making this argument 00:13:20.820 --> 00:13:23.039 that, OK, maybe Democrats are doing fine with 00:13:23.039 --> 00:13:26.000 the Starbucks drinking liberal, urban, educated, 00:13:26.179 --> 00:13:28.299 elite vote. But they need candidates who can 00:13:28.299 --> 00:13:30.399 also appeal to the salt of the earth, corn fed, 00:13:30.539 --> 00:13:33.179 heartland, hot dish eating vote. Trying to broaden 00:13:33.179 --> 00:13:35.259 the appeal. It really raises the question, though. 00:13:35.559 --> 00:13:38.120 Can they actually satisfy everyone involved here? 00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:41.490 It seems impossible. You can't meet South Carolina's 00:13:41.490 --> 00:13:44.570 desire for an early primary and satisfy New Hampshire's 00:13:44.570 --> 00:13:46.750 constitutional mandate to be absolutely first. 00:13:47.210 --> 00:13:49.389 Also, it's worth noting, New Hampshire's constitution 00:13:49.389 --> 00:13:53.090 only mandates a primary, not specifically caucuses 00:13:53.090 --> 00:13:56.289 and Iowa's caucuses. Those are run by the parties 00:13:56.289 --> 00:13:58.129 themselves, so the Republican state government 00:13:58.129 --> 00:13:59.909 doesn't actually control whether the Democrats 00:13:59.909 --> 00:14:02.309 hold a caucus there. It's just, it's complex. 00:14:02.409 --> 00:14:05.549 A perfectly neutral or universally loved solution 00:14:05.549 --> 00:14:07.250 seems pretty much out of reach. Yeah, at the 00:14:07.250 --> 00:14:08.830 end of the day, there really is no such thing. 00:14:08.779 --> 00:14:11.519 is a perfectly level playing field in this. Whichever 00:14:11.519 --> 00:14:14.120 state goes first, it's going to inherently favor 00:14:14.120 --> 00:14:16.220 a certain type of candidate, a certain kind of 00:14:16.220 --> 00:14:18.179 message. Which is why the single most important 00:14:18.179 --> 00:14:20.299 thing for the Democrats looking ahead to 2028 00:14:20.299 --> 00:14:23.399 is just to make a decision, a firm and fast decision 00:14:23.399 --> 00:14:25.659 as quickly as possible. So potential candidates 00:14:25.659 --> 00:14:27.940 can actually plan their strategies, their resources 00:14:27.940 --> 00:14:30.419 and avoid the kind of chaos we saw last time. 00:14:30.580 --> 00:14:33.049 However, Let's be honest, the Democratic Party 00:14:33.049 --> 00:14:35.470 isn't exactly famous for its ability to make 00:14:35.470 --> 00:14:38.149 firm and fast decisions on these complex internal 00:14:38.149 --> 00:14:41.309 fights. That might be the biggest hurdle. And 00:14:41.309 --> 00:14:44.090 that wraps up our deep dive for today. We've 00:14:44.090 --> 00:14:46.529 covered quite a range, from the high stakes maneuvering 00:14:46.529 --> 00:14:48.750 around the Epstein story, its echoes of past 00:14:48.750 --> 00:14:51.610 scandals, to the really surprising ways influence 00:14:51.610 --> 00:14:54.710 gets wielded in modern politics and these fundamental 00:14:54.710 --> 00:14:57.309 debates about the primary process that are shaping 00:14:57.309 --> 00:15:00.529 the future of, well, our democracy. So, maybe 00:15:00.529 --> 00:15:02.629 a final thought for you to consider. In this 00:15:02.629 --> 00:15:04.970 age where information is always dripping, where 00:15:04.970 --> 00:15:07.309 leaders seem constantly engaged in this dance 00:15:07.309 --> 00:15:10.269 of deflection and influence, what responsibility 00:15:10.269 --> 00:15:12.529 do you have as a citizen in trying to tell the 00:15:12.529 --> 00:15:14.470 difference between political performance and 00:15:14.470 --> 00:15:16.850 genuine accountability? And maybe more importantly, 00:15:17.330 --> 00:15:19.529 how can you continue to demand that accountability?