WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.480 Welcome to the Deep Dive. Our mission today is, 00:00:03.480 --> 00:00:06.459 well, pretty straightforward. We have a stack 00:00:06.459 --> 00:00:10.080 of sources here detailing a week of, frankly, 00:00:10.699 --> 00:00:12.699 staggering political instability. It's a lot 00:00:12.699 --> 00:00:14.960 to get through. It is. So we need to distill 00:00:14.960 --> 00:00:16.899 what really matters. We're going to start with 00:00:16.899 --> 00:00:19.199 this unprecedented clash between the executive 00:00:19.199 --> 00:00:22.399 branch and Congress, a clash that openly brought 00:00:22.399 --> 00:00:24.960 up capital punishment. Unbelievable. And then 00:00:24.960 --> 00:00:26.899 we'll move through some surprising resignations 00:00:26.899 --> 00:00:30.579 and land on these legal and electoral time bombs 00:00:30.579 --> 00:00:32.979 that look like they're set to go off by 2026. 00:00:33.179 --> 00:00:35.520 Yeah, we're seeing this high velocity political 00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:38.399 conflict. But what makes this deep dive so critical, 00:00:38.399 --> 00:00:41.500 I think, is tracing how these minute by minute 00:00:41.500 --> 00:00:45.020 headlines connect back to deeper long term issues. 00:00:45.060 --> 00:00:47.240 Like gerrymandering, policy failure. Exactly. 00:00:47.340 --> 00:00:50.000 From gerrymandering to the looming crisis in 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:51.969 health care and the national debt, we're here 00:00:51.969 --> 00:00:54.109 to give you the context that hopefully ties all 00:00:54.109 --> 00:00:56.670 of this chaos together. OK, let's dive right 00:00:56.670 --> 00:00:58.509 into the first incident because the seriousness 00:00:58.509 --> 00:01:00.750 here, it just can't be overstated. It all started 00:01:00.750 --> 00:01:03.590 with a video titled Don't Give Up the Ship. Right. 00:01:03.689 --> 00:01:06.650 And this video was put out by six Democratic 00:01:06.650 --> 00:01:09.329 members of Congress, people like Senators Mark 00:01:09.329 --> 00:01:11.969 Kelly and Alyssa Slotkin and some House members, 00:01:12.269 --> 00:01:15.189 too. Representatives Crowe, DeLizio, Goodlander 00:01:15.189 --> 00:01:18.010 and Houlihan. And the key thing about this group, 00:01:18.150 --> 00:01:22.250 the crucial point, is their identity. Every single 00:01:22.250 --> 00:01:24.590 one of them is a veteran of the armed forces 00:01:24.590 --> 00:01:27.349 or has served in the intelligence services. So 00:01:27.349 --> 00:01:29.390 their message wasn't for the general public? 00:01:29.709 --> 00:01:32.670 Not at all. It was a targeted appeal aimed directly 00:01:32.670 --> 00:01:35.010 at people currently serving in uniform and in 00:01:35.010 --> 00:01:37.069 the intelligence community. So what was the core 00:01:37.069 --> 00:01:39.569 message? It seemed like it was two things. First, 00:01:39.870 --> 00:01:42.109 just acknowledging the intense stress these communities 00:01:42.109 --> 00:01:44.609 are under. Right. But second, and this is the 00:01:44.609 --> 00:01:47.409 explosive part, they explicitly said that the 00:01:47.409 --> 00:01:50.409 threats to the Constitution are now seen as domestic, 00:01:50.810 --> 00:01:53.269 not just foreign. And they reminded service members 00:01:53.269 --> 00:01:56.409 of their oath. Precisely. Their oath is to the 00:01:56.409 --> 00:01:59.129 Constitution, not to any one leader or political 00:01:59.129 --> 00:02:02.090 party. And they really emphasize the legal right 00:02:02.090 --> 00:02:05.010 and duty to refuse illegal orders. That closing 00:02:05.010 --> 00:02:07.109 line from Senator Slotkin, we've got your back. 00:02:07.250 --> 00:02:08.949 That was basically a public guarantee of protection. 00:02:09.189 --> 00:02:11.530 Right. It was a guarantee of political and legal 00:02:11.530 --> 00:02:13.889 protection. It was saying, if you feel you're 00:02:13.889 --> 00:02:15.770 being ordered to do something against the law, 00:02:16.169 --> 00:02:18.439 we will stand with you. I mean, that's such an 00:02:18.439 --> 00:02:20.919 unusual message. It just assumes this level of 00:02:20.919 --> 00:02:23.419 tension where people in uniform might actually 00:02:23.419 --> 00:02:26.180 fear getting an illegal order. Well, the sources 00:02:26.180 --> 00:02:28.599 noted a really stark example, even if it was 00:02:28.599 --> 00:02:32.099 hypothetical. In order to open fire on civilian 00:02:32.099 --> 00:02:35.199 fishing boats without provocation, the Democrats 00:02:35.199 --> 00:02:37.919 were putting out a direct preemptive warning. 00:02:38.199 --> 00:02:41.699 And that warning triggered a Just an incredible 00:02:41.699 --> 00:02:43.979 reaction from the former president. Yeah, Donald 00:02:43.979 --> 00:02:46.680 Trump went on social media Furious calling the 00:02:46.680 --> 00:02:49.259 video seditious behavior at the highest level 00:02:49.259 --> 00:02:51.599 He called for them to be arrested put on trial 00:02:51.599 --> 00:02:55.180 as traitors to our country, but it went way beyond 00:02:55.180 --> 00:02:57.669 just arrest He followed up with the explicit 00:02:57.669 --> 00:03:00.449 phrase, seditious behavior punishable by death. 00:03:00.689 --> 00:03:02.990 I mean, an open threat aimed at sitting members 00:03:02.990 --> 00:03:05.150 of Congress. Who are also decorated military 00:03:05.150 --> 00:03:08.009 veterans. The fallout in Washington was deeply 00:03:08.009 --> 00:03:10.569 alarming. Speaker Mike Johnson, instead of backing 00:03:10.569 --> 00:03:13.550 away from that, called the video wildly inappropriate. 00:03:13.689 --> 00:03:15.810 But then he agreed with the punishment. He concurred 00:03:15.810 --> 00:03:18.110 that death is the proper punishment for sedition. 00:03:18.449 --> 00:03:21.250 And then you had Senator Lindsey Graham demanding 00:03:21.250 --> 00:03:25.479 a single example of an illegal order, just totally 00:03:25.479 --> 00:03:27.180 missing the point that the warning was about 00:03:27.180 --> 00:03:29.000 the future. The White House tried to walk it 00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:31.439 back a bit. Press Secretary Caroline Levitt claimed 00:03:31.439 --> 00:03:34.199 the Democrats brought the president to responding 00:03:34.199 --> 00:03:36.979 in this way. But the damage was done. The danger 00:03:36.979 --> 00:03:40.000 was real. Representative Slotkin later revealed 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:42.259 she was assigned a two hundred and forty seven 00:03:42.259 --> 00:03:45.439 Capitol Police security detail. Because the threats 00:03:45.439 --> 00:03:47.860 were deemed that serious. Exactly. You have a 00:03:47.860 --> 00:03:50.419 public call for execution leading to a real world 00:03:50.419 --> 00:03:53.199 security detail. But here's the major insight 00:03:53.199 --> 00:03:55.599 from our sources. The real failure we have to 00:03:55.599 --> 00:03:57.939 talk about. The story just vanished. It disappeared 00:03:57.939 --> 00:04:00.319 almost instantly. You scan the front pages. CNN, 00:04:00.580 --> 00:04:03.219 Fox, New York Times gone within 24 hours. And 00:04:03.219 --> 00:04:05.460 you have to ask this. more than just us being 00:04:05.460 --> 00:04:08.400 desensitized, isn't it? What does it mean politically 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:11.479 when the system treats calls for executing rivals 00:04:11.479 --> 00:04:15.479 as just another Thursday? It represents a fundamental 00:04:15.479 --> 00:04:19.279 failure of political accountability. When extreme 00:04:19.279 --> 00:04:21.800 threats that in any other time would dominate 00:04:21.800 --> 00:04:24.879 the news for weeks are just normalized, it means 00:04:24.879 --> 00:04:27.899 the system's defenses, the media institutional 00:04:27.899 --> 00:04:30.579 condemnation, they're failing. It just raises 00:04:30.579 --> 00:04:33.290 the baseline of what's acceptable. Well, that 00:04:33.290 --> 00:04:35.689 kind of high velocity conflict, that fragility, 00:04:36.209 --> 00:04:38.870 it has to take a personal toll. And that seems 00:04:38.870 --> 00:04:40.449 to be the thread that connects us to our next 00:04:40.449 --> 00:04:43.790 segment. The surprising number of people leaving 00:04:43.790 --> 00:04:46.629 Congress this week, most notably the resignation 00:04:46.629 --> 00:04:49.370 of Representative Marjorie Taylor Green. The 00:04:49.370 --> 00:04:52.430 MTG exit was just stunning, mostly because of 00:04:52.430 --> 00:04:55.060 her prominence and well. the reason she gave. 00:04:55.379 --> 00:04:57.800 Her letter was long, citing disillusionment with 00:04:57.800 --> 00:05:00.000 Congress. But it also mentioned being really 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:01.980 concerned about the Epstein files release and 00:05:01.980 --> 00:05:03.699 crucially worrying that the former president 00:05:03.699 --> 00:05:06.339 was turning against her. The timing kills a really 00:05:06.339 --> 00:05:08.439 sharp story, doesn't it? The price of loyalty. 00:05:08.699 --> 00:05:11.860 It absolutely does. I mean, think about it. Green 00:05:11.860 --> 00:05:14.600 was aided by the political left for five years, 00:05:14.740 --> 00:05:16.980 and she never seemed to fear for her safety. 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:19.660 But she was hated by the Medjugorje base for 00:05:19.660 --> 00:05:22.500 about two weeks, and suddenly she needs protection 00:05:22.500 --> 00:05:24.959 and has to end her career. It really shows you 00:05:24.959 --> 00:05:27.480 where the immediate danger is in today's politics. 00:05:27.759 --> 00:05:30.379 It does. Crossing the opposition party means, 00:05:30.379 --> 00:05:33.860 you know... institutional attacks. But crossing 00:05:33.860 --> 00:05:36.560 your own populist base means immediate personal 00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:38.860 threats and you don't have the party to protect 00:05:38.860 --> 00:05:41.100 you. If you're seen as a traitor to the base, 00:05:41.180 --> 00:05:44.279 you've got nowhere to go. Some sources were speculating 00:05:44.279 --> 00:05:47.100 this could be some kind of strategic chess move, 00:05:47.480 --> 00:05:50.040 you know, stepping back to return later. But 00:05:50.040 --> 00:05:51.899 the analysis seems pretty skeptical of that. 00:05:52.019 --> 00:05:54.139 That's right. The source material suggests she 00:05:54.139 --> 00:05:56.279 just doesn't have that kind of long term strategic 00:05:56.279 --> 00:05:58.970 mind. The calculus is pretty simple. She's now 00:05:58.970 --> 00:06:00.829 been labeled a traitor by the very base that 00:06:00.829 --> 00:06:03.269 created her. She has no path back. The political 00:06:03.269 --> 00:06:05.490 structure just consumed another one of its own. 00:06:05.850 --> 00:06:07.589 And we should also mention, you know, the more 00:06:07.589 --> 00:06:10.509 graceful exit of Representative Nidia Velazquez 00:06:10.509 --> 00:06:13.800 stepping down after 16 terms. Yeah. And she was 00:06:13.800 --> 00:06:16.199 explicit, saying she wanted to make way for a 00:06:16.199 --> 00:06:19.300 new generation of leaders. So this backdrop of 00:06:19.300 --> 00:06:21.860 people leaving, it leads us right into the huge 00:06:21.860 --> 00:06:24.079 policy struggles the Republican Party is facing, 00:06:24.579 --> 00:06:27.399 especially on economics. Let's start with the 00:06:27.399 --> 00:06:29.860 president's plan for those $2 ,000 relief checks. 00:06:30.060 --> 00:06:32.220 OK, the plan is to fund them with tariff money. 00:06:32.459 --> 00:06:34.420 But let's just break down the arithmetic here. 00:06:34.500 --> 00:06:37.540 Let's do it. The total cost is estimated at $660 00:06:37.540 --> 00:06:41.519 billion. Annual tariff revenue is What about 00:06:41.519 --> 00:06:43.639 a third of that? Roughly. Around 200 billion. 00:06:43.699 --> 00:06:46.680 So right from the start, the math is just fundamentally 00:06:46.680 --> 00:06:48.459 broken. Yeah, that's not even the only obstacle. 00:06:48.579 --> 00:06:51.199 And not even close. First, that tariff money 00:06:51.199 --> 00:06:53.800 isn't just a slush fund for the executive. Congress 00:06:53.800 --> 00:06:56.720 has to authorize the spending. Second, and this 00:06:56.720 --> 00:06:59.800 is critical, powerful Republican senators, Ron 00:06:59.800 --> 00:07:03.120 Johnson, Rick Scott, Bernie Moreno, they're already 00:07:03.120 --> 00:07:06.319 firmly against it. They want to pay down the 00:07:06.319 --> 00:07:09.639 38 trillion dollar national debt. Not create 00:07:09.639 --> 00:07:12.279 a new entitlement. And third, from an economic 00:07:12.279 --> 00:07:16.240 view, just dumping $300 billion or more onto 00:07:16.240 --> 00:07:19.800 consumers, that's almost guaranteed to be inflationary. 00:07:19.939 --> 00:07:23.240 It would completely undercut the efforts to stabilize 00:07:23.240 --> 00:07:25.120 the very prices people are complaining about. 00:07:25.699 --> 00:07:28.319 The other huge policy crisis is health care. 00:07:28.810 --> 00:07:32.430 Premiums for both ACA and non ACA plans are apparently 00:07:32.430 --> 00:07:35.170 set to skyrocket, which is creating a frantic 00:07:35.170 --> 00:07:38.769 scramble inside the GOP. And the policy ideas 00:07:38.769 --> 00:07:41.449 are all over the map. You've got retiring Senator 00:07:41.449 --> 00:07:44.589 Tom Tillis pushing to eliminate all ACA subsidies, 00:07:44.730 --> 00:07:47.689 which is wildly unpopular and would crush rural 00:07:47.689 --> 00:07:49.930 hospitals. Exactly. Then you have Senator Rick 00:07:49.930 --> 00:07:52.370 Scott proposing these Trump freedom accounts. 00:07:52.449 --> 00:07:54.810 But he's also pushing to eliminate the subsidies 00:07:54.810 --> 00:07:56.889 that keep the market from collapsing. So what's 00:07:56.889 --> 00:07:59.040 the ultimate risk here if they can't agree or 00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:01.120 if they do get rid of the subsidies. The core 00:08:01.120 --> 00:08:04.040 risk is what they call the death spiral. Imagine 00:08:04.040 --> 00:08:06.600 your insurance premium suddenly jumps by 20 or 00:08:06.600 --> 00:08:09.699 30 percent. Young, healthy people who don't use 00:08:09.699 --> 00:08:12.000 their insurance much, they'll just drop their 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:14.399 plans to save money. Which leaves the insurance 00:08:14.399 --> 00:08:17.339 pool full of older, sicker people who need expensive 00:08:17.339 --> 00:08:20.720 care. So insurers have to raise premiums even 00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:23.620 higher to cover the costs, which drives even 00:08:23.620 --> 00:08:26.420 more healthy people out. It's a vicious cycle 00:08:26.420 --> 00:08:28.519 that makes insurance unaffordable for everyone 00:08:28.519 --> 00:08:30.560 who actually needs it. And the numbers back that 00:08:30.560 --> 00:08:33.809 up. They do. The nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation 00:08:33.809 --> 00:08:37.190 study showed a recent increase of 114 percent 00:08:37.190 --> 00:08:40.450 in out -of -pocket premiums. It's just not sustainable. 00:08:40.830 --> 00:08:43.809 OK, so let's move from economic policy to legal 00:08:43.809 --> 00:08:48.710 chaos, specifically the just astonishing collapse 00:08:48.710 --> 00:08:51.409 of the prosecution against former FBI Director 00:08:51.409 --> 00:08:53.870 James Comey. And this all centered on the misconduct 00:08:53.870 --> 00:08:56.210 of the prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan. What's so 00:08:56.210 --> 00:08:58.870 wild here is the audacity of the mistakes. Yeah. 00:08:58.990 --> 00:09:01.509 In court, Halligan admitted she never presented 00:09:01.509 --> 00:09:03.769 the final two -count indictment to the entire 00:09:03.769 --> 00:09:05.889 grand jury that indicted Comey. I mean, can you 00:09:05.889 --> 00:09:08.830 imagine? There were audible gasps in the courtroom. 00:09:09.070 --> 00:09:11.549 The DOJ later tried to file this puzzling correction, 00:09:11.789 --> 00:09:13.830 but the damage was already done. Wait, just so 00:09:13.830 --> 00:09:16.090 I have this straight. A prosecutor admitted she 00:09:16.090 --> 00:09:18.210 got an indictment without the grand jury even 00:09:18.210 --> 00:09:21.279 seeing the final charges. That's... That's profound. 00:09:21.580 --> 00:09:23.980 It is. And magistrate Judge Fitzpatrick followed 00:09:23.980 --> 00:09:27.740 up with this blistering 25 -page order. He called 00:09:27.740 --> 00:09:31.279 it stunning improprieties. Let's break down what 00:09:31.279 --> 00:09:32.899 went wrong. It started with a Fourth Amendment 00:09:32.899 --> 00:09:34.700 violation. Right. The Fourth Amendment protects 00:09:34.700 --> 00:09:37.500 you from unreasonable searches. The violation 00:09:37.500 --> 00:09:40.340 was complex, but basically, officials seized 00:09:40.340 --> 00:09:43.620 materials under a warrant way back in 2019, but 00:09:43.620 --> 00:09:45.940 then they illegally rummaged through them again 00:09:45.940 --> 00:09:49.399 in 2025, accessing private files way beyond what 00:09:49.399 --> 00:09:51.669 the original warrant allowed. So a fishing expedition 00:09:51.669 --> 00:09:53.970 years later. Essentially. And then there was 00:09:53.970 --> 00:09:57.190 the use of privilege information, which is catastrophic 00:09:57.190 --> 00:09:59.549 for a case. This is attorney -client privilege. 00:09:59.909 --> 00:10:02.129 Mostly, yes. Communications that are legally 00:10:02.129 --> 00:10:05.470 protected. The prosecution used this unlawfully 00:10:05.470 --> 00:10:08.250 seized privilege material to secure the indictment. 00:10:08.570 --> 00:10:10.590 They even had an agent who'd been exposed to 00:10:10.590 --> 00:10:13.289 it testify before the grand jury. That just taints 00:10:13.289 --> 00:10:15.649 the entire process. And then this conduct went 00:10:15.649 --> 00:10:18.389 right into the grand jury room itself. Oh, it 00:10:18.389 --> 00:10:21.700 did. Halligan made severe misrepresentations. 00:10:22.059 --> 00:10:24.740 She implied Comey had no Fifth Amendment right 00:10:24.740 --> 00:10:27.960 not to testify, which is just flatly wrong. And 00:10:27.960 --> 00:10:30.100 even worse, she told the grand jury they could 00:10:30.100 --> 00:10:32.840 rely on better evidence that would be presented 00:10:32.840 --> 00:10:35.059 at the actual trial. But that's not their job. 00:10:35.259 --> 00:10:38.059 Exactly. Their job is to assess the evidence 00:10:38.059 --> 00:10:40.679 in front of them. The judge basically said her 00:10:40.679 --> 00:10:43.639 law license is now in serious jeopardy. The whole 00:10:43.639 --> 00:10:45.820 case could be dismissed. Let's pivot from there 00:10:45.820 --> 00:10:48.889 to the electoral map, where The courts are also 00:10:48.889 --> 00:10:51.529 playing this decisive role through gerrymandering. 00:10:51.730 --> 00:10:54.169 Right, the Texas case. A district court ruled 00:10:54.169 --> 00:10:56.730 the Texas map was an illegal racial gerrymander, 00:10:57.190 --> 00:11:00.110 but Justice Alito temporarily saved it. He granted 00:11:00.110 --> 00:11:02.799 an administrative stay. Which sounds minor. But 00:11:02.799 --> 00:11:05.299 the consequence was massive. It pushed the final 00:11:05.299 --> 00:11:07.740 decision past the state's December 8th filing 00:11:07.740 --> 00:11:10.820 deadline. So by delaying the ruling, he effectively 00:11:10.820 --> 00:11:13.240 locked in that map for this election cycle, no 00:11:13.240 --> 00:11:15.360 matter what the final legal decision is. And 00:11:15.360 --> 00:11:17.200 the stakes for control of Congress are huge. 00:11:17.840 --> 00:11:20.460 If that Texas map survives, it nets Republicans 00:11:20.460 --> 00:11:22.639 about three seats. Yeah. If it had been voided, 00:11:22.740 --> 00:11:26.029 it was a D plus two game. But. And this is a 00:11:26.029 --> 00:11:28.649 big but. You have to consider the blue state 00:11:28.649 --> 00:11:30.990 counterpunch. States where Democrats control 00:11:30.990 --> 00:11:33.250 the process, like Virginia and Illinois, they 00:11:33.250 --> 00:11:35.690 have new maps ready to go. And the numbers there. 00:11:36.070 --> 00:11:38.490 The data shows Virginia could net three Democratic 00:11:38.490 --> 00:11:41.129 seats, Illinois two. That's a potential D plus 00:11:41.129 --> 00:11:44.850 five game. So even with Texas, the whole national 00:11:44.850 --> 00:11:47.649 gerrymandering fight could end up as a wash or 00:11:47.649 --> 00:11:50.250 even a small net win for Democrats. Which sets 00:11:50.250 --> 00:11:53.490 a really interesting stage for 2026 and brings 00:11:53.490 --> 00:11:55.909 us to this historical warning. The six -year 00:11:55.909 --> 00:11:58.429 itch. Yeah, history shows the president's party 00:11:58.429 --> 00:12:00.909 almost always gets hit with severe losses in 00:12:00.909 --> 00:12:02.590 the Senate during their sixth year in office. 00:12:02.789 --> 00:12:05.289 We saw it with Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, Obama. 00:12:05.929 --> 00:12:08.269 It's a very consistent pattern. And given the 00:12:08.269 --> 00:12:11.009 2026 map, history suggests Democrats are in a 00:12:11.009 --> 00:12:13.350 good position to pick up seats. A very good position. 00:12:13.570 --> 00:12:16.269 The most vulnerable GOP seats are in North Carolina 00:12:16.269 --> 00:12:19.090 and Maine. And if Democrats can get to a 50 -50 00:12:19.090 --> 00:12:21.750 Senate, which is a high leverage scenario, it 00:12:21.750 --> 00:12:24.230 gives enormous power to moderates like Senator 00:12:24.230 --> 00:12:26.230 Lisa Murkowski. She could threaten to vote with 00:12:26.230 --> 00:12:29.269 the Democrats. And effectively hand the majority 00:12:29.269 --> 00:12:31.830 leader role back to Chuck Schumer, completely 00:12:31.830 --> 00:12:35.309 derailing the incumbent's agenda. That 29 point 00:12:35.309 --> 00:12:37.610 swing among independents in the recent Virginia 00:12:37.610 --> 00:12:40.769 election, it shows that movement is already happening. 00:12:41.509 --> 00:12:44.470 That shifting ground makes the 20 -28 horizon 00:12:44.470 --> 00:12:47.409 feel a lot closer. Many in the media are acting 00:12:47.409 --> 00:12:50.230 like JD Vance is the inevitable nominee for Republicans. 00:12:50.710 --> 00:12:53.370 But historically, sitting vice presidents really 00:12:53.370 --> 00:12:55.409 struggle to get the top job. It's only happened 00:12:55.409 --> 00:12:58.379 twice since 1800. Why is that? It's structural. 00:12:58.779 --> 00:13:00.980 VPs are always seen as an extension of the sitting 00:13:00.980 --> 00:13:03.600 president who almost always loses popularity 00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:05.379 over time. They don't have their own identity 00:13:05.379 --> 00:13:08.360 and they can't run as the change candidate because 00:13:08.360 --> 00:13:10.440 they're part of the system the public wants to 00:13:10.440 --> 00:13:14.190 change. Running as Trump the third doesn't seem 00:13:14.190 --> 00:13:16.250 like a winning formula for a general election. 00:13:16.370 --> 00:13:18.570 So are we seeing competitors trying to carve 00:13:18.570 --> 00:13:20.789 out their own space already? Absolutely. You're 00:13:20.789 --> 00:13:23.309 seeing these proxy fights develop. Ted Cruz is 00:13:23.309 --> 00:13:25.490 strategically picking fights over things like 00:13:25.490 --> 00:13:27.990 NASA and FCC nominees, even attacking people 00:13:27.990 --> 00:13:30.389 close to Vance. He's working to build an independent 00:13:30.389 --> 00:13:33.090 brand right now. And Vance could have competition 00:13:33.090 --> 00:13:36.649 from a familiar name in 2028. Robert Kennedy 00:13:36.649 --> 00:13:39.809 Jr. He's relaunching his We the People party. 00:13:40.110 --> 00:13:42.509 And that's smart because getting ballot access 00:13:42.509 --> 00:13:45.049 is often easier for an actual party than an independent 00:13:45.049 --> 00:13:48.230 candidate. The party's theme is explicitly non 00:13:48.230 --> 00:13:50.909 -ideological anti -establishment, which makes 00:13:50.909 --> 00:13:53.470 it a perfect spoiler. Because it pulls from both 00:13:53.470 --> 00:13:56.730 sides. Exactly. It captures niche voters, anti 00:13:56.730 --> 00:13:59.169 -vaxxers, people who distrust the deep state 00:13:59.169 --> 00:14:01.549 from both the far left and the far right. It 00:14:01.549 --> 00:14:04.570 could be corrosive to both major parties. But 00:14:04.570 --> 00:14:06.789 regardless of who's running, it all seems to 00:14:06.789 --> 00:14:10.519 hinge on one thing. The economy. The latest polls 00:14:10.519 --> 00:14:13.220 confirmed James Carville was right. It's the 00:14:13.220 --> 00:14:15.720 economy, stupid. Still true. It's the top issue 00:14:15.720 --> 00:14:18.080 for a third of Americans. And here's the number 00:14:18.080 --> 00:14:19.840 that should have the incumbent party very worried. 00:14:20.340 --> 00:14:22.620 65 % of Americans believe current policies are 00:14:22.620 --> 00:14:26.039 making their grocery prices go up. And 77 % think 00:14:26.039 --> 00:14:27.779 the administration isn't spending enough time 00:14:27.779 --> 00:14:30.659 on it. It's not a theoretical complaint. It's 00:14:30.659 --> 00:14:34.179 a visceral kitchen table dissatisfaction, the 00:14:34.179 --> 00:14:37.120 kind that predicts severe midterm losses. And 00:14:37.120 --> 00:14:40.179 that unhappiness with the economy, it directly 00:14:40.179 --> 00:14:42.580 fuels how people feel about wealth disparity. 00:14:43.559 --> 00:14:47.039 Polls show Democrats, 75 % of them, think billionaires 00:14:47.039 --> 00:14:50.039 spending money on elections is bad for democracy. 00:14:50.200 --> 00:14:52.799 Which creates a clear political opening for Democrats 00:14:52.799 --> 00:14:55.259 if they ever get a governing trifecta. They could 00:14:55.259 --> 00:14:57.759 leverage that anger for some significant tax 00:14:57.759 --> 00:15:00.519 reform. What are the main proposals? The sources 00:15:00.519 --> 00:15:05.620 detail a few. First, removing the $176 ,000 FICA 00:15:05.620 --> 00:15:08.570 tax cap. So, right now, a billionaire pays the 00:15:08.570 --> 00:15:10.509 same amount in Social Security tax as someone 00:15:10.509 --> 00:15:13.370 making just over that threshold. Removing the 00:15:13.370 --> 00:15:15.570 cap would make high earners contribute a lot 00:15:15.570 --> 00:15:17.639 more. And the others target the highest levels 00:15:17.639 --> 00:15:20.740 of wealth. Exactly. Second, raising the top income 00:15:20.740 --> 00:15:23.419 tax rate back towards Eisenhower -era levels, 00:15:23.639 --> 00:15:26.799 which were as high as 91%. Third, raising the 00:15:26.799 --> 00:15:31.059 estate tax on estates over $100 million to 95%. 00:15:31.059 --> 00:15:34.139 And finally, closing loopholes for people who 00:15:34.139 --> 00:15:37.360 renounced their citizenship to avoid taxes. These 00:15:37.360 --> 00:15:39.740 are specific fixes based on that public anger. 00:15:39.950 --> 00:15:42.730 Wow. So we've covered everything from calls for 00:15:42.730 --> 00:15:45.549 executing members of Congress to a prosecutor 00:15:45.549 --> 00:15:48.269 potentially losing their law license, all while 00:15:48.269 --> 00:15:50.570 the electoral and economic ground just keeps 00:15:50.570 --> 00:15:52.529 shifting under everyone's feet in Washington. 00:15:52.850 --> 00:15:55.929 It's a moment defined by high stakes risk and 00:15:56.620 --> 00:15:59.759 real systemic instability. And if we combine 00:15:59.759 --> 00:16:02.480 the historical pattern of that six -year itch 00:16:02.480 --> 00:16:05.200 with the public's current very real economic 00:16:05.200 --> 00:16:08.120 pain, where two -thirds of Americans blame current 00:16:08.120 --> 00:16:10.820 policies for their grocery bills, it raises a 00:16:10.820 --> 00:16:12.519 big question, a question that goes beyond the 00:16:12.519 --> 00:16:15.480 scandals we know about, beyond the obvious which 00:16:15.480 --> 00:16:17.940 economic unknown unknown, you know, maybe a sudden 00:16:17.940 --> 00:16:20.360 trade war, an unexpected debt crisis, which one 00:16:20.360 --> 00:16:23.019 is most likely to deliver that decisive unforeseen 00:16:23.019 --> 00:16:26.340 blow to the incumbent party in 2026? That is 00:16:26.340 --> 00:16:27.700 what you need to be watching for next year.