WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.040 Welcome to the deep dive. We're here to take 00:00:03.040 --> 00:00:05.679 that whole stack of sources. You've got, you 00:00:05.679 --> 00:00:07.940 know, everything from deep dives on DC gridlock 00:00:07.940 --> 00:00:11.539 to these big shifts in global power and really 00:00:11.539 --> 00:00:14.189 pull out what matters. Our mission today. Cut 00:00:14.189 --> 00:00:16.390 through all that noise and try to figure out 00:00:16.390 --> 00:00:19.370 why the federal government seems so, well, paralyzed 00:00:19.370 --> 00:00:21.789 while everywhere else politics and spending are 00:00:21.789 --> 00:00:23.850 just exploding. That's a perfect way to put it. 00:00:23.870 --> 00:00:25.829 Yeah, the material paints this really jarring 00:00:25.829 --> 00:00:28.269 picture. You've got this institutional failure 00:00:28.269 --> 00:00:31.109 happening in D .C. I mean, basic functions just 00:00:31.109 --> 00:00:33.630 grinding to a halt. And then, boom, you see these 00:00:33.630 --> 00:00:35.670 incredibly high stakes moves happening internationally 00:00:35.670 --> 00:00:38.729 and down at the state level, too. So for you, 00:00:38.869 --> 00:00:41.409 the listener, this really explains why so many 00:00:41.409 --> 00:00:43.539 things that affect your life are being decided 00:00:43.539 --> 00:00:45.500 outside of Washington these days. OK, let's unpack 00:00:45.500 --> 00:00:47.640 this immediately then, starting with maybe the 00:00:47.640 --> 00:00:50.880 most obvious symptom of this paralysis, the government 00:00:50.880 --> 00:00:53.079 shutdown threat. Again, it feels like we're stuck 00:00:53.079 --> 00:00:55.939 in a loop with this. But what makes this particular 00:00:55.939 --> 00:00:59.820 crisis stand out? Well, historically, going back 00:00:59.820 --> 00:01:01.939 to Carter, these shutdowns have run anywhere 00:01:01.939 --> 00:01:05.280 from just one day to that really grueling 34 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:08.719 -day one. Remember that. Oh, yeah. Rough. But 00:01:08.719 --> 00:01:11.379 the thing is, the length almost always gets driven 00:01:11.379 --> 00:01:13.400 by this kind of ugly factor. Public opinion. 00:01:13.579 --> 00:01:16.359 Polls. Yeah. The key insight here, I think, is 00:01:16.359 --> 00:01:18.939 that the old ways of compromising, they're just 00:01:18.939 --> 00:01:21.099 gone. We used to have these mechanisms, right? 00:01:21.120 --> 00:01:24.780 The gang of four, the gang of six moderates who 00:01:24.780 --> 00:01:26.920 could actually broker a deal. I remember reading 00:01:26.920 --> 00:01:30.099 about that 2018 shutdown. Senator Collins office 00:01:30.099 --> 00:01:32.299 was apparently called Switzerland, like the neutral 00:01:32.299 --> 00:01:34.939 ground. And didn't someone give her an African 00:01:34.939 --> 00:01:37.079 talking stick? where only the person holding 00:01:37.079 --> 00:01:39.200 it could speak. Sounds almost mythical now. It 00:01:39.200 --> 00:01:41.340 really does, because the sources pretty bluntly 00:01:41.340 --> 00:01:43.519 suggest that if you gave that same stick to, 00:01:43.519 --> 00:01:46.099 say, Senator Hawley or Representative Schiff 00:01:46.099 --> 00:01:49.280 today, they might be more likely to, well, hit 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:51.799 someone with it than use it for dialogue. The 00:01:51.799 --> 00:01:53.920 disappearance of the Mayors means these negotiations 00:01:53.920 --> 00:01:56.760 become totally zero -sum. It's all about who 00:01:56.760 --> 00:01:59.099 the polls say is bleeding support the fastest. 00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:02.040 That's who caves. And that kind of partisanship, 00:02:02.040 --> 00:02:04.299 it leads straight to these huge financial lines 00:02:04.299 --> 00:02:06.480 in the sand. Like, let's talk about the health 00:02:06.480 --> 00:02:08.319 care subsidies. Democrats are digging in their 00:02:08.319 --> 00:02:10.240 heels on those. Absolutely critical. We're talking, 00:02:10.539 --> 00:02:13.960 what, $350 billion over 10 years? If those just 00:02:13.960 --> 00:02:18.360 expire, the fallout is immediate and brutal. 00:02:18.620 --> 00:02:20.360 You're looking at 4 million people potentially 00:02:20.360 --> 00:02:23.300 losing health coverage just like that and millions 00:02:23.300 --> 00:02:25.560 more. Their premiums could skyrocket, making 00:02:25.560 --> 00:02:28.020 insurance totally unaffordable. Now, Republicans 00:02:28.020 --> 00:02:30.460 frame it as a deficit thing, right? But cutting 00:02:30.460 --> 00:02:33.300 that cost means denying basic health care to 00:02:33.300 --> 00:02:35.800 a huge chunk of people. There's almost no way 00:02:35.800 --> 00:02:37.919 around that. And then there's this other fight, 00:02:38.219 --> 00:02:40.120 the really constitutional one that sounds super 00:02:40.120 --> 00:02:42.520 technical, impoundment and rescission. Why should 00:02:42.520 --> 00:02:44.659 someone outside the beltway care about this arcane 00:02:44.659 --> 00:02:47.139 stuff? Because fundamentally, it's about who 00:02:47.139 --> 00:02:50.319 controls the money. It attacks the Constitution's 00:02:50.319 --> 00:02:53.219 separation of powers. Impoundment and rescission, 00:02:53.360 --> 00:02:55.300 basically, is when the president just decides 00:02:55.300 --> 00:02:57.539 not to spend money that Congress already legally 00:02:57.539 --> 00:03:00.560 set aside using its constitutional power of the 00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:03.699 purse. The sources argue this effectively just 00:03:03.699 --> 00:03:05.919 neuters Congress. It makes the president the 00:03:05.919 --> 00:03:08.139 ultimate decider on spending, which isn't how 00:03:08.139 --> 00:03:10.300 it's supposed to work. And what's really striking 00:03:10.300 --> 00:03:12.419 is the partisan loyalty angle here. The sources 00:03:12.419 --> 00:03:14.379 mention that Republican leaders, people like 00:03:14.379 --> 00:03:16.819 Speaker Johnson, Senator Thune, they get the 00:03:16.819 --> 00:03:18.979 constitutional point. They understand it. They 00:03:18.979 --> 00:03:21.340 know that fighting impoundment actually increases 00:03:21.340 --> 00:03:23.599 Congress's own power against the White House. 00:03:24.500 --> 00:03:26.870 But... They're hesitant because of loyalty to 00:03:26.870 --> 00:03:28.789 figures like the former president who've used 00:03:28.789 --> 00:03:31.870 this practice. It really shows that party alignment 00:03:31.870 --> 00:03:34.870 right now often trumps even the constitutional 00:03:34.870 --> 00:03:37.189 interests of their own branch of government. 00:03:37.189 --> 00:03:40.409 It's quite something. And if you look back historically, 00:03:41.050 --> 00:03:43.870 Congress hasn't done too well in these big showdowns. 00:03:43.870 --> 00:03:47.270 Think about the 2013 Obamacare fight or the 2018 00:03:47.270 --> 00:03:49.830 wall fight. The White House often tended to win 00:03:49.830 --> 00:03:52.189 those politically. Blue team three, red team 00:03:52.189 --> 00:03:54.340 zero on that wall fight, wasn't it? Yeah, the 00:03:54.340 --> 00:03:57.120 track record isn't great, but the consequences 00:03:57.120 --> 00:04:01.080 now feel different. More immediate. Beyond just 00:04:01.080 --> 00:04:03.659 furloughs, the threats seem unprecedented. One 00:04:03.659 --> 00:04:05.259 source mentioned Trump threatening to actually 00:04:05.259 --> 00:04:07.280 fire federal workers. Not just send them home 00:04:07.280 --> 00:04:09.219 without pay, but fire them. Which is a legal 00:04:09.219 --> 00:04:11.840 right under the Pendleton Act. Exactly. Illegal. 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:13.840 And a massive political risk, too. Think about 00:04:13.840 --> 00:04:15.599 all those federal workers in Northern Virginia, 00:04:15.639 --> 00:04:17.779 for example. That's a key voting block. And the 00:04:17.779 --> 00:04:20.610 service impacts hit so fast. Oh, incredibly fast. 00:04:21.009 --> 00:04:23.509 November SNAP benefits could be delayed. That 00:04:23.509 --> 00:04:25.910 affects millions. National parks might technically 00:04:25.910 --> 00:04:29.250 be open, but with no staff, no services, and 00:04:29.250 --> 00:04:32.000 the really scary one. We're in hurricane season 00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:34.759 right and national flood insurance program stops 00:04:34.759 --> 00:04:36.839 taking new customers and stops renewals because 00:04:36.839 --> 00:04:38.959 the funding lapsed Yeah, that's a real -time 00:04:38.959 --> 00:04:41.680 crisis meeting potential natural disaster good 00:04:41.680 --> 00:04:44.920 plus the airport chaos scenario air traffic controllers 00:04:44.920 --> 00:04:47.939 TSA agents if they stage sick outs because they 00:04:47.939 --> 00:04:50.879 aren't getting old yes Nationwide yeah, and this 00:04:50.879 --> 00:04:53.079 breakdown this functional collapse it goes beyond 00:04:53.079 --> 00:04:55.420 just funding bills Let's maybe pivot from the 00:04:55.420 --> 00:04:57.279 shutdown drama for a second because there's this 00:04:57.279 --> 00:05:00.189 other security crisis unfolding almost silently 00:05:00.189 --> 00:05:03.449 and sees it expiring. The Cybersecurity and Information 00:05:03.449 --> 00:05:06.129 Sharing Act. Right. That passed back in 2015. 00:05:06.389 --> 00:05:09.430 It had a 10 year lifespan and it just lapsed, 00:05:09.430 --> 00:05:11.370 even though everyone seems to agree it's necessary. 00:05:11.709 --> 00:05:14.509 Pretty much. Yeah. It got held up reportedly 00:05:14.509 --> 00:05:18.069 by Senator Rand Paul and the consequence of CISA 00:05:18.069 --> 00:05:21.790 just disappearing. It's huge. CISA was basically 00:05:21.790 --> 00:05:24.810 the legal shield. It let big tech companies, 00:05:24.870 --> 00:05:27.490 Google, Microsoft, banks, you name it, share 00:05:27.490 --> 00:05:30.529 real time threat info with the government about 00:05:30.529 --> 00:05:34.009 hackers, state actors, and crucially, they could 00:05:34.009 --> 00:05:36.050 coordinate defenses without worrying about antitrust 00:05:36.050 --> 00:05:38.470 lawsuits or getting sued. Now that shield is 00:05:38.470 --> 00:05:42.069 just gone. So companies will likely stop that 00:05:42.069 --> 00:05:44.810 coordination abruptly, wrecking systems that 00:05:44.810 --> 00:05:47.569 worked for a decade. And that potentially leaves 00:05:47.569 --> 00:05:50.509 the US wide open to cyber attacks from Russia, 00:05:50.610 --> 00:05:53.670 China, whoever. It's incredibly risky. Wow. And 00:05:53.670 --> 00:05:55.850 speaking of partisanship breaking things, let's 00:05:55.850 --> 00:05:57.750 look at the judiciary. The sources get into these 00:05:57.750 --> 00:05:59.870 really wild attempts at political trickery around 00:05:59.870 --> 00:06:02.069 appointing US attorneys. Yeah, the goals seem 00:06:02.069 --> 00:06:04.790 to be pure loyalty, not competence. Trump tried 00:06:04.790 --> 00:06:06.730 to appoint personal lawyers, people like Alina 00:06:06.730 --> 00:06:09.449 Haba in New Jersey, Segal Chadha in Nevada, without 00:06:09.449 --> 00:06:11.730 Senate confirmation, using these loopholes around 00:06:11.730 --> 00:06:13.730 time limits. For instance, trying to make Chadha 00:06:13.730 --> 00:06:15.569 the first assistant US attorney, because first 00:06:15.569 --> 00:06:17.310 assistants automatically step up if there's a 00:06:17.310 --> 00:06:19.410 vacancy. Liver, butt. But the courts weren't 00:06:19.410 --> 00:06:22.329 having it. No. U .S. District Judge David Campbell, 00:06:22.589 --> 00:06:24.769 who, by the way, was a George W. Bush appointee, 00:06:25.089 --> 00:06:27.689 confirmed 92 to nothing he ruled against it. 00:06:27.790 --> 00:06:30.329 He said very clearly the law is meant to keep 00:06:30.329 --> 00:06:33.290 career prosecutors in place for continuity, for 00:06:33.290 --> 00:06:36.029 institutional independence, not for installing 00:06:36.029 --> 00:06:38.470 political allies through sneaky tricks. And the 00:06:38.470 --> 00:06:41.029 details on that Nevada nominee, Chad, are pretty 00:06:41.029 --> 00:06:44.490 shocking. Oh, absolutely. Over 100 judges, federal 00:06:44.490 --> 00:06:47.399 and state opposed her. citing things like comparing 00:06:47.399 --> 00:06:50.300 Jewish members of Congress to Nazi collaborators, 00:06:50.439 --> 00:06:53.720 calling Fannie Willis ghetto, using this incredibly 00:06:53.720 --> 00:06:56.379 violent rhetoric about her opponent needing to 00:06:56.379 --> 00:06:59.420 be hanging from a fooking crane. Yeah, it really 00:06:59.420 --> 00:07:01.439 underscores that the priorities seem to be loyalty 00:07:01.439 --> 00:07:04.139 to Trump way above any concern for the Constitution 00:07:04.139 --> 00:07:07.759 or even basic decency. This willingness to just 00:07:07.759 --> 00:07:11.079 bend or break institutional norms seems so widespread 00:07:11.079 --> 00:07:13.379 now, and you see it reflected in the national 00:07:13.379 --> 00:07:16.019 mood. which brings us to our next segment. Yeah, 00:07:16.019 --> 00:07:18.720 the polling data is, well, it's grim. It really 00:07:18.720 --> 00:07:20.800 is. The time Sienna poll finding just jumps out. 00:07:20.959 --> 00:07:22.560 Almost two thirds of the country thinks our national 00:07:22.560 --> 00:07:25.660 problems are unsolvable. Unsolvable. That's just 00:07:25.660 --> 00:07:28.060 profound alienation, isn't it? And it ties directly 00:07:28.060 --> 00:07:29.860 back to this polarization we were talking about. 00:07:30.279 --> 00:07:33.680 Politics becomes all or nothing. So the big, 00:07:33.800 --> 00:07:36.279 complex, long term problems, climate, infrastructure, 00:07:36.639 --> 00:07:39.959 debt, they just get punted forever. The figure 00:07:39.959 --> 00:07:43.370 that really stopped me. 41 % of likely voters 00:07:43.370 --> 00:07:46.410 disagree with the statement, the US is a democratic 00:07:46.410 --> 00:07:49.730 country. 41%. What does that even mean? Is it 00:07:49.730 --> 00:07:52.899 just cynicism or is it something deeper? I think 00:07:52.899 --> 00:07:55.199 it reflects this fundamental loss of faith. Not 00:07:55.199 --> 00:07:57.699 just dislike for whoever's in charge, but a belief 00:07:57.699 --> 00:08:00.459 that the system itself is rigged or broken or 00:08:00.459 --> 00:08:02.600 just not working as a democracy anymore. It's 00:08:02.600 --> 00:08:04.720 deeply worrying. Although there is this interesting 00:08:04.720 --> 00:08:06.759 counter -trend mentioned, a demographic one. 00:08:06.839 --> 00:08:08.100 Okay, tell me about the counter -trend. We can 00:08:08.100 --> 00:08:09.680 use some hope. Well, analysts are looking at 00:08:09.680 --> 00:08:12.160 the really young cohort. Kids currently age, 00:08:12.160 --> 00:08:15.569 say, 8 to 17. There'll be voters soon. And while 00:08:15.569 --> 00:08:17.250 Trump has made some recent inroads with young 00:08:17.250 --> 00:08:20.269 voters, this next generation overall seems to 00:08:20.269 --> 00:08:22.829 skew more optimistic and more democratic than 00:08:22.829 --> 00:08:25.069 the ones just ahead of them. Demographic shifts 00:08:25.069 --> 00:08:27.730 are slow, but this could potentially move the 00:08:27.730 --> 00:08:29.850 national balance away from this 50 -50 knife 00:08:29.850 --> 00:08:33.669 edge, maybe towards like a 55 -45 split in a 00:08:33.669 --> 00:08:35.879 decade or so. It's a long game. But it's there. 00:08:36.299 --> 00:08:38.279 Interesting. So while D .C. is kind of stuck, 00:08:38.399 --> 00:08:40.700 the action and definitely the money is shifting 00:08:40.700 --> 00:08:42.860 elsewhere, like these state Supreme Court races. 00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:45.139 Wisconsin. Wow. Yeah, they become these national 00:08:45.139 --> 00:08:47.860 battlegrounds. The spending is just astronomical. 00:08:48.340 --> 00:08:50.240 The twenty twenty three race cost fifty one million 00:08:50.240 --> 00:08:52.320 dollars. Then the twenty twenty five race hit 00:08:52.320 --> 00:08:54.720 a record. Ninety million dollars and apparently 00:08:54.720 --> 00:08:56.320 twenty five million dollars of that was just 00:08:56.320 --> 00:08:58.580 from Elon Musk. His candidate lost, by the way. 00:08:58.860 --> 00:09:01.120 Right. And now, Justice Rebecca Bradley is retiring. 00:09:01.279 --> 00:09:04.240 So the open seat in 2026, they're projecting 00:09:04.240 --> 00:09:07.080 it could top $100 million. That tells you everything 00:09:07.080 --> 00:09:08.840 about where the real power fights are happening, 00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:12.460 doesn't it? Absolutely. And the stakes are enormous. 00:09:13.000 --> 00:09:15.220 Bradley herself has said some incredibly controversial 00:09:15.220 --> 00:09:17.940 things in the past, like equating homosexual 00:09:17.940 --> 00:09:20.820 sex with death, comparing pandemic orders of 00:09:20.820 --> 00:09:23.460 Japanese internment, linking abortion to killing 00:09:23.460 --> 00:09:26.659 Jews, really inflammatory stuff. So if a If a 00:09:26.659 --> 00:09:29.919 liberal wins that open seat, it solidifies a 00:09:29.919 --> 00:09:31.639 liberal majority on the court for potentially 00:09:31.639 --> 00:09:34.620 a long time. That changes everything in Wisconsin 00:09:34.620 --> 00:09:37.360 maps, laws, the works. And you see that same 00:09:37.360 --> 00:09:39.700 high stakes energy in what one source calls the 00:09:39.700 --> 00:09:42.559 most vulnerable house seat in the country, AZ01 00:09:42.559 --> 00:09:44.779 in Arizona. Right. Representative Schweikert 00:09:44.779 --> 00:09:46.860 is running for governor, so his R plus one seat 00:09:46.860 --> 00:09:50.000 is open. The source calls it a true toss up and 00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:52.220 maybe the Democrats' single best pick up opportunity. 00:09:52.299 --> 00:09:55.200 Why? Because Arizona uses an independent commission 00:09:55.200 --> 00:09:57.799 to draw its maps. Republicans can't just gerrymander 00:09:57.799 --> 00:09:59.820 their way out of a competitive race there. It 00:09:59.820 --> 00:10:02.509 forces a real expensive fight. OK, let's shift 00:10:02.509 --> 00:10:04.610 focus globally for a moment. The EU came up with 00:10:04.610 --> 00:10:06.710 this really creative financial plan involving 00:10:06.710 --> 00:10:08.850 Ukraine. Yeah, it's pretty ingenious, actually, 00:10:08.909 --> 00:10:11.250 led by Commission President von der Leyen. The 00:10:11.250 --> 00:10:14.590 basic idea, take the 140 billion in Russian assets 00:10:14.590 --> 00:10:17.330 that are frozen in European banks and use the 00:10:17.330 --> 00:10:20.669 profits generated by those assets to buy European 00:10:20.669 --> 00:10:23.269 -made weapons for Ukraine. Think German Leopard 00:10:23.269 --> 00:10:26.759 tanks. Eurofighter jets. So it arms Ukraine without 00:10:26.759 --> 00:10:29.139 dipping into EU member state budgets directly, 00:10:29.179 --> 00:10:31.340 and it boosts Europe's own defense industry. 00:10:31.879 --> 00:10:34.600 Clever. Very clever. Now, there are complications. 00:10:34.639 --> 00:10:36.799 Of course, you've got Hungary and Slovakia, who 00:10:36.799 --> 00:10:39.759 are more pro -Russia, and Ukraine has to agree 00:10:39.759 --> 00:10:41.919 to spend the money strictly on weapons, not, 00:10:41.919 --> 00:10:45.480 say, rebuilding infrastructure. So hurdles remain. 00:10:45.559 --> 00:10:48.330 OK, closer to home again. Miami. There's this 00:10:48.330 --> 00:10:51.090 symbolic fight brewing over land for the potential 00:10:51.090 --> 00:10:53.850 Trump presidential library. Right. Governor DeSantis 00:10:53.850 --> 00:10:56.549 apparently arranged for Miami Dade College to 00:10:56.549 --> 00:10:58.929 donate this valuable downtown parking lot worth 00:10:58.929 --> 00:11:01.789 maybe $24 million back in 2004, probably much 00:11:01.789 --> 00:11:04.570 more now. And the symbolism is just, oh, wow. 00:11:04.870 --> 00:11:07.110 The land is right next door to the Freedom Tower. 00:11:07.809 --> 00:11:10.350 Exactly. The Ellis Island of the South, where 00:11:10.350 --> 00:11:12.450 hundreds of thousands of Cuban refugees were 00:11:12.450 --> 00:11:15.679 processed starting way back in 62. So building 00:11:15.679 --> 00:11:18.419 a library for a president known for, let's say, 00:11:18.720 --> 00:11:21.440 very strong anti -refugee rhetoric right next 00:11:21.440 --> 00:11:23.320 to that building. A lot of Cuban Americans see 00:11:23.320 --> 00:11:25.559 that as deeply disrespectful, sacrilegious even. 00:11:25.940 --> 00:11:28.039 That captures the political heat perfectly, and 00:11:28.039 --> 00:11:30.639 it loops back to that contrast. Federal government 00:11:30.639 --> 00:11:33.360 gridlocked, but states are actually doing things. 00:11:33.539 --> 00:11:36.230 Yeah, it's stark. While D .C. struggles to keep 00:11:36.230 --> 00:11:38.110 the lights on, you look at states like Texas, 00:11:38.429 --> 00:11:41.409 New York, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia. They 00:11:41.409 --> 00:11:43.250 passed thousands of bills last year. And some 00:11:43.250 --> 00:11:45.330 have really high enactment rates, right? Like 00:11:45.330 --> 00:11:49.210 Colorado at 74%, Virginia 61%. But here's a weird 00:11:49.210 --> 00:11:52.110 wrinkle. Why are some states with total one -party 00:11:52.110 --> 00:11:54.470 control, these deep trifectas, actually less 00:11:54.470 --> 00:11:57.570 productive? Like Missouri at only 0 .9 % enactment, 00:11:57.710 --> 00:12:01.029 or Massachusetts at a tiny 0 .1%. That's a fascinating 00:12:01.029 --> 00:12:03.899 point in the material. The theory is that in 00:12:03.899 --> 00:12:06.840 those states, the internal party fights, the 00:12:06.840 --> 00:12:09.399 ideological purity test, the pressure from extreme 00:12:09.399 --> 00:12:13.019 factions, it gets so intense that even uncontroversial 00:12:13.019 --> 00:12:15.340 bills can get killed. With one party controls 00:12:15.340 --> 00:12:17.820 absolutely everything, sometimes they just turn 00:12:17.820 --> 00:12:20.580 inward and fight amongst themselves, prioritizing 00:12:20.580 --> 00:12:23.860 philosophical points over actual governing. Okay, 00:12:23.960 --> 00:12:25.980 one last point, and it's a concerning one about 00:12:25.980 --> 00:12:28.179 voting rights. There's an effort to disenfranchise 00:12:28.179 --> 00:12:30.919 some U .S. citizens living abroad. Yes, specifically 00:12:30.919 --> 00:12:32.600 those who've never actually lived in the U .S. 00:12:32.679 --> 00:12:35.559 Maybe they were born abroad to citizen parents. 00:12:36.220 --> 00:12:38.220 Republicans seem to be pushing this, apparently 00:12:38.220 --> 00:12:40.039 based on the calculation that this group tends 00:12:40.039 --> 00:12:42.960 to vote Democratic. So you see R &C challenges 00:12:42.960 --> 00:12:45.480 in places like Michigan, North Carolina. And 00:12:45.480 --> 00:12:48.419 Representative Abe Hamade introduced a bill requiring 00:12:48.419 --> 00:12:50.759 these overseas voters to prove they have a U 00:12:50.759 --> 00:12:53.259 .S. residence. If this kind of effort succeeds, 00:12:53.679 --> 00:12:55.740 you'd literally create a class of U .S. citizens 00:12:55.740 --> 00:12:58.500 who cannot vote. And the source makes this really 00:12:58.500 --> 00:13:01.000 stark point that's something that has never happened 00:13:01.000 --> 00:13:03.279 to white males in American history. It highlights 00:13:03.279 --> 00:13:05.399 how fundamental this attack on voting rules really 00:13:05.399 --> 00:13:07.940 is. So wrapping it all up, we've gone from the 00:13:07.940 --> 00:13:10.600 micro, right, these specific maybe illegal threats 00:13:10.600 --> 00:13:13.120 to bypass the judiciary, all the way to the macro, 00:13:13.340 --> 00:13:15.779 this pervasive polarization, this feeling of 00:13:15.779 --> 00:13:17.440 hopelessness across the country. But I think 00:13:17.440 --> 00:13:19.779 the clearest takeaway here is just how much high 00:13:19.779 --> 00:13:22.379 stakes political action, actual governance and 00:13:22.379 --> 00:13:24.899 big money. have completely shifted outside of 00:13:24.899 --> 00:13:27.320 that paralyzed federal process in D .C. So what 00:13:27.320 --> 00:13:29.639 does this all mean? I guess the core institutions, 00:13:29.799 --> 00:13:32.440 cybersecurity, Congress's power of the purse, 00:13:32.700 --> 00:13:34.460 judicial integrity, they're all being stressed 00:13:34.460 --> 00:13:36.960 or bypassed or just ignored because of this hyper 00:13:36.960 --> 00:13:39.620 -partisanship. Meanwhile, the real cost of political 00:13:39.620 --> 00:13:42.200 power, whether it's fighting over land in Miami 00:13:42.200 --> 00:13:44.679 or pouring 100 million dollars into a Wisconsin 00:13:44.679 --> 00:13:47.580 court raise, it's just exploding. And if you 00:13:47.580 --> 00:13:50.100 take that figure seriously, that 41 percent of 00:13:50.100 --> 00:13:52.179 likely voters feeling the U .S. isn't really 00:13:52.179 --> 00:13:54.450 a Democrat. country anymore. And you see these 00:13:54.450 --> 00:13:56.529 essential things like cybersecurity laws just 00:13:56.529 --> 00:13:58.690 lapsing over squabbles. Well, where's the breaking 00:13:58.690 --> 00:14:01.269 point? What happens if that growing disillusionment 00:14:01.269 --> 00:14:04.470 starts to feel truly objectively justified? Something 00:14:04.470 --> 00:14:06.169 for you to think about as you process today's 00:14:06.169 --> 00:14:06.549 deep dive.