WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.200 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. So this week, 00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:05.519 we've pulled together a stack of sources that 00:00:05.519 --> 00:00:08.359 they really map out a whole governing philosophy. 00:00:08.660 --> 00:00:10.619 It's all about aggressive action, isn't it? Both 00:00:10.619 --> 00:00:13.179 here at home and, well, across our borders. Exactly. 00:00:13.199 --> 00:00:16.800 We've got analysis on a frankly shocking domestic 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:19.539 controversy, some major foreign policy pivots, 00:00:19.539 --> 00:00:22.780 and even some forecasts for the 2026 midterms. 00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:25.179 And we've also got a quieter piece, a look at 00:00:25.179 --> 00:00:27.539 the macroeconomic signals that are kind of humming 00:00:27.539 --> 00:00:30.559 along beneath all this chaos. So our mission 00:00:30.559 --> 00:00:33.240 today is really to unpack this shift, to understand 00:00:33.240 --> 00:00:36.399 how this aggressive stance is shaping our political 00:00:36.399 --> 00:00:39.439 reality. And critically, what it means for accountability. 00:00:39.619 --> 00:00:43.020 I mean, these sources show a world where the 00:00:43.020 --> 00:00:45.600 established guardrails, legal, political, you 00:00:45.600 --> 00:00:48.039 name it, they're being actively dismantled. It 00:00:48.039 --> 00:00:50.840 forces you, the listener, to try and reconcile 00:00:50.840 --> 00:00:53.439 these completely conflicting versions of reality. 00:00:53.549 --> 00:00:56.090 This isn't just a deep dive into politics. It's 00:00:56.090 --> 00:00:59.509 really a deep dive into power without limits. 00:00:59.810 --> 00:01:01.329 OK, let's jump right in then. Let's start with 00:01:01.329 --> 00:01:03.289 that core domestic crisis that's all over the 00:01:03.289 --> 00:01:05.670 headlines. The shooting death of Renee Nicole 00:01:05.670 --> 00:01:08.569 Good in Minneapolis. A U .S. citizen, a mother 00:01:08.569 --> 00:01:12.090 of three, shot by an ICE officer. And you have 00:01:12.090 --> 00:01:14.310 to remember the context here. According to the 00:01:14.310 --> 00:01:17.230 reporting, she's at least the fourth person killed 00:01:17.230 --> 00:01:20.620 in a shooting by immigration enforcement. just 00:01:20.620 --> 00:01:22.659 during this administration's second term. That 00:01:22.659 --> 00:01:27.019 number alone is staggering. But what's really 00:01:27.019 --> 00:01:30.959 fascinating in a pretty disturbing way is the 00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:33.079 response. Analysts are calling it a textbook 00:01:33.079 --> 00:01:36.909 alleged coverup. How so? The sources say a physician 00:01:36.909 --> 00:01:39.469 was right there on the scene. He tried to give 00:01:39.469 --> 00:01:42.170 aid to good. And he was stopped. Rebuffed by 00:01:42.170 --> 00:01:45.109 ICE officers. They told him, we have our own 00:01:45.109 --> 00:01:48.810 medics. Did they? That's the thing. No bystanders 00:01:48.810 --> 00:01:51.590 could confirm any ICE medics were actually present. 00:01:51.650 --> 00:01:53.290 There's no record of them being there at all. 00:01:53.329 --> 00:01:56.390 And this caused a delay. A crucial one. Ambulances 00:01:56.390 --> 00:01:58.810 showed up, but ICE personnel blocked them for 00:01:58.810 --> 00:02:02.329 about 15 minutes. 15. It wasn't until local firefighters 00:02:02.329 --> 00:02:04.209 stepped in that she could be removed. And then 00:02:04.209 --> 00:02:06.329 came the investigation. or the control of the 00:02:06.329 --> 00:02:09.129 investigation. Right. The FBI just immediately 00:02:09.129 --> 00:02:11.789 declared they would handle it alone. They completely 00:02:11.789 --> 00:02:14.750 froze out the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. 00:02:14.990 --> 00:02:18.569 The BCA. Exactly, the BCA. And this was all spearheaded 00:02:18.569 --> 00:02:21.590 by U .S. Attorney Daniel Rosen and FBI Director 00:02:21.590 --> 00:02:24.250 Cash Patel. And for you, the listener, the detail 00:02:24.250 --> 00:02:26.830 on Rosen is what really matters here. It is. 00:02:27.169 --> 00:02:30.189 His specialty is eminent domain. He doesn't prosecute 00:02:30.189 --> 00:02:32.990 law enforcement. He seizes property for the government. 00:02:33.050 --> 00:02:36.539 So why him? Well, analysts say the only plausible 00:02:36.539 --> 00:02:38.699 reason to bite in someone like that and to freeze 00:02:38.699 --> 00:02:41.060 out the local police isn't about competence. 00:02:41.439 --> 00:02:43.819 It's about gaining total political control over 00:02:43.819 --> 00:02:46.199 the story. Accountability is the first casualty. 00:02:46.419 --> 00:02:48.139 Right out of the gate. And the public strategy 00:02:48.139 --> 00:02:51.060 was just as aggressive. Vice President Vanspot 00:02:51.060 --> 00:02:53.780 2028 weighed in almost immediately. Declaring 00:02:53.780 --> 00:02:56.199 Good's death was, and I'm quoting, of her own 00:02:56.199 --> 00:02:59.659 making. He accused critics of gaslighting. No 00:02:59.659 --> 00:03:02.689 sympathy offered. And that reframing just escalated. 00:03:02.930 --> 00:03:05.550 DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and later President 00:03:05.550 --> 00:03:08.129 Trump, they designated her a domestic terrorist. 00:03:08.289 --> 00:03:10.370 Which isn't even a real legal designation, is 00:03:10.370 --> 00:03:12.889 it? Not at all. The sources call it meaningless 00:03:12.889 --> 00:03:15.870 branding. It's just a rhetorical weapon to shut 00:03:15.870 --> 00:03:18.430 down any criticism of what happened. This is 00:03:18.430 --> 00:03:21.229 where it gets, I think, really concerning for 00:03:21.229 --> 00:03:24.669 our shared sense of reality. The video evidence. 00:03:24.729 --> 00:03:26.909 Two completely different stories from two videos. 00:03:26.990 --> 00:03:29.289 The first one, the bystander video, was analyzed 00:03:29.289 --> 00:03:33.370 by everyone. The Times, Slate, The Post, and 00:03:33.370 --> 00:03:36.430 they all concluded it unambiguously did not justify 00:03:36.430 --> 00:03:39.030 deadly force. But then a second video surfaces. 00:03:39.289 --> 00:03:41.069 This one was recorded by the shooter himself 00:03:41.069 --> 00:03:43.669 on his cell phone and it gets leaked to a right 00:03:43.669 --> 00:03:45.909 -wing site. And the administration immediately 00:03:45.909 --> 00:03:49.560 pushes it as as exculpatory. as proof. And it 00:03:49.560 --> 00:03:52.120 introduces just enough ambiguity. You can see 00:03:52.120 --> 00:03:55.419 Good's wife, Becca, was jawing, right? There's 00:03:55.419 --> 00:03:58.360 tension, and there's this incomprehensible sound. 00:03:58.520 --> 00:04:00.379 A sound that could be anything. Exactly. Was 00:04:00.379 --> 00:04:02.460 it the car hitting something? Was it the gun? 00:04:02.879 --> 00:04:04.620 Or was it just the officer's finger brushing 00:04:04.620 --> 00:04:06.319 the microphone as he grabbed for his weapon? 00:04:06.659 --> 00:04:09.460 But that video, it raises huge questions that 00:04:09.460 --> 00:04:11.759 challenge the whole self -defense idea. The biggest 00:04:11.759 --> 00:04:14.659 one being... If you truly feared for your life, 00:04:15.240 --> 00:04:18.009 if you were under imminent threat, Why are you 00:04:18.009 --> 00:04:20.050 holding a cell phone steady enough to record? 00:04:20.329 --> 00:04:22.490 Why isn't your gun already out? And the audio, 00:04:22.670 --> 00:04:24.529 too. Her last words were, that's fine, dude, 00:04:24.529 --> 00:04:27.230 I'm not mad at you. How do you get from that 00:04:27.230 --> 00:04:30.290 to a deadly threat in 10 seconds? It seems like 00:04:30.290 --> 00:04:32.069 we've hit a point where two people can watch 00:04:32.069 --> 00:04:34.430 the exact same footage and see the complete opposite. 00:04:34.550 --> 00:04:38.269 That's it. We didn't need AI deepfakes to shatter 00:04:38.269 --> 00:04:41.730 our shared reality. Just hyperpartisan loyalty. 00:04:42.009 --> 00:04:43.870 And this connects to a wider pattern, doesn't 00:04:43.870 --> 00:04:46.500 it? It does. Pulitzer -winning reporting found 00:04:46.500 --> 00:04:48.480 that this administration has been encouraging 00:04:48.480 --> 00:04:51.779 a merciless military -style pursuit from its 00:04:51.779 --> 00:04:54.860 enforcement agencies. And the oversight is just 00:04:54.860 --> 00:04:58.699 gone. Completely. The three key oversight offices 00:04:58.699 --> 00:05:02.100 in DHS civil rights, the CIS ombudsman and the 00:05:02.100 --> 00:05:04.779 immigration detention ombudsman, They've all 00:05:04.779 --> 00:05:07.259 been effectively neutralized. You don't eliminate 00:05:07.259 --> 00:05:09.759 three oversight offices by accident. No, that's 00:05:09.759 --> 00:05:11.980 a structural message. It tells officers the only 00:05:11.980 --> 00:05:13.819 thing they can get in trouble for is, you know, 00:05:14.040 --> 00:05:16.420 not being aggressive enough. The retired officer 00:05:16.420 --> 00:05:19.180 in one piece noted that Law Enforcement 101 says 00:05:19.180 --> 00:05:21.959 you do not shoot into a moving vehicle. Right. 00:05:22.139 --> 00:05:24.319 You follow until you can control the environment. 00:05:24.839 --> 00:05:27.879 The shift here is away from control and toward 00:05:27.879 --> 00:05:30.689 just pure force. So let's connect that theme 00:05:30.689 --> 00:05:33.089 of domestic force to the international stage, 00:05:33.569 --> 00:05:36.829 because this idea of removing limits, it doesn't 00:05:36.829 --> 00:05:39.610 stop at the border. Precisely. The America First 00:05:39.610 --> 00:05:42.269 posture, it pivoted almost overnight to what 00:05:42.269 --> 00:05:45.009 sources are calling bald -faced imperialism. 00:05:45.110 --> 00:05:47.410 And the most dramatic example was the seizure 00:05:47.410 --> 00:05:49.910 of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. Which 00:05:49.910 --> 00:05:52.050 led to the immediate announcement of the Donro 00:05:52.050 --> 00:05:54.550 doctrine. OK, for our listener, break that down. 00:05:54.689 --> 00:05:57.800 What is the Donro doctrine? It's basically a 00:05:57.800 --> 00:06:00.019 new justification for intervention. It says the 00:06:00.019 --> 00:06:02.600 U .S. has the unilateral right to seize any foreign 00:06:02.600 --> 00:06:06.439 leader it calls a global narcoterrorist, especially 00:06:06.439 --> 00:06:08.920 if their actions harm U .S. economic interests. 00:06:09.199 --> 00:06:11.500 That's a massive expansion of executive power. 00:06:11.660 --> 00:06:13.899 It just bypasses international law. Completely. 00:06:14.240 --> 00:06:16.769 And the result was immediate. The looting of 00:06:16.769 --> 00:06:19.829 Venezuela, as one source put it, Secretary Rubio 00:06:19.829 --> 00:06:22.689 announced a deal for U .S. oil companies to take 00:06:22.689 --> 00:06:25.389 all the oil. For reimbursement, right? Right, 00:06:25.529 --> 00:06:27.189 reimbursement for fixing the infrastructure. 00:06:27.550 --> 00:06:29.310 But they're essentially just taking the country's 00:06:29.310 --> 00:06:32.290 main asset. And the international reaction was 00:06:32.290 --> 00:06:36.649 not positive. Predictably sharp. French President 00:06:36.649 --> 00:06:39.350 Macron accused the U .S. of abandoning the very 00:06:39.350 --> 00:06:42.019 rules it helped create. And maybe more importantly, 00:06:42.500 --> 00:06:45.579 Mexican President Scheinbaum warned that intervention 00:06:45.579 --> 00:06:49.100 never ever brings democracy to Latin America. 00:06:49.680 --> 00:06:53.800 So removing accountability at home, asserting 00:06:53.800 --> 00:06:57.279 limitless power abroad, how does that circle 00:06:57.279 --> 00:06:59.379 back to how the government is run here? It leads 00:06:59.379 --> 00:07:01.980 you straight to this new fraud initiative. They're 00:07:01.980 --> 00:07:04.639 proposing a new assistant attorney general. A 00:07:04.639 --> 00:07:07.300 position that legal analysts say is probably 00:07:07.300 --> 00:07:09.740 illegal. Likely illegal, yes. And this person 00:07:09.740 --> 00:07:11.480 would work directly out of the White House with 00:07:11.480 --> 00:07:14.860 this huge, broad mandate to investigate fraud. 00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:17.259 An assistant AG reporting to the White House. 00:07:17.420 --> 00:07:19.079 That's not just a new focus. That sounds like 00:07:19.079 --> 00:07:20.800 the politicization of the Justice Department. 00:07:21.160 --> 00:07:23.360 That is the core concern. And their definition 00:07:23.360 --> 00:07:27.240 of fraud is incredibly loose. The vice president 00:07:27.240 --> 00:07:29.910 defined it as The people who are defrauding the 00:07:29.910 --> 00:07:32.290 United States by inciting violence against our 00:07:32.290 --> 00:07:34.370 law enforcement officers. That's not a legal 00:07:34.370 --> 00:07:36.310 definition of fraud. That's a political weapon. 00:07:36.610 --> 00:07:38.970 Exactly. And you can see it in the targets. First, 00:07:39.269 --> 00:07:41.170 Minnesota, tying back to the shooting narrative. 00:07:41.750 --> 00:07:44.389 Second, California, which the president called 00:07:44.389 --> 00:07:47.889 more corrupt, with no evidence. And third, the 00:07:47.889 --> 00:07:50.709 most surprising one, Fed Chair Jerome Powell. 00:07:50.839 --> 00:07:53.500 Targeting Powell is fascinating. The official 00:07:53.500 --> 00:07:55.800 accusation is that he stole millions during a 00:07:55.800 --> 00:07:58.600 headquarters renovation. The real reason. Analysts 00:07:58.600 --> 00:08:00.660 see it as punishment because he's refused to 00:08:00.660 --> 00:08:03.220 take marching orders on monetary policy. So they 00:08:03.220 --> 00:08:06.540 use this broad fraud brush to try and gain control 00:08:06.540 --> 00:08:08.480 over the Fed. So if you pull it all together, 00:08:08.680 --> 00:08:11.259 the governing philosophy seems to be strength. 00:08:11.279 --> 00:08:13.939 It really is. The president said it himself when 00:08:13.939 --> 00:08:16.579 asked about limits on his power. He said, my 00:08:16.579 --> 00:08:20.069 own morality, my own mind. It's the only thing 00:08:20.069 --> 00:08:22.370 that can stop me. That's a system governed by 00:08:22.370 --> 00:08:25.129 will, not by law. Force and personal will. Checks 00:08:25.129 --> 00:08:27.829 and balances are out the window. OK, let's shift 00:08:27.829 --> 00:08:30.949 gears and look at the 2026 midterms. All of this 00:08:30.949 --> 00:08:33.929 will surely be a factor. David Wasserman's analysis 00:08:33.929 --> 00:08:38.169 compares 2026 to the 2018 blue wave, and it really 00:08:38.169 --> 00:08:40.269 cuts both ways. It does. First, you have to look 00:08:40.269 --> 00:08:43.009 at the Republican advantages. This is not 2018. 00:08:43.529 --> 00:08:45.649 Gerrymandering has gotten so much worse since 00:08:45.649 --> 00:08:48.110 2020. And that's not theoretical, is it? Not 00:08:48.110 --> 00:08:50.850 at all. Analyst figure, it's already netted Republicans 00:08:50.850 --> 00:08:53.950 maybe half a dozen seats. That makes flipping 00:08:53.950 --> 00:08:57.409 41 seats again incredibly difficult for Democrats. 00:08:57.549 --> 00:08:59.870 And then there's the money. A huge money gap. 00:09:00.090 --> 00:09:02.710 The GOP has a big advantage with something like 00:09:02.710 --> 00:09:05.230 300 million dollars already sitting in the Magier 00:09:05.230 --> 00:09:08.309 Inc. Pock alone. There's also this perception 00:09:08.309 --> 00:09:11.029 issue for the Democrats. A big one. Polls suggest 00:09:11.029 --> 00:09:12.990 that even Republicans who can't stand the president 00:09:12.990 --> 00:09:15.509 will still vote GOP because they think the Democratic 00:09:15.509 --> 00:09:19.279 brand is only about gay people and trans people. 00:09:19.480 --> 00:09:21.500 It's a brand identity problem. But on the other 00:09:21.500 --> 00:09:25.259 hand, 2026 does look like 2018 in some ways that 00:09:25.259 --> 00:09:27.269 could help the Democrats. Definitely. Health 00:09:27.269 --> 00:09:30.090 care is still a top issue right after affordability, 00:09:30.429 --> 00:09:32.929 and Democrats have a clear plan on that. Lower 00:09:32.929 --> 00:09:35.309 costs with subsidies. And there's an intensity 00:09:35.309 --> 00:09:39.110 gap. A clear one. Democrats are way more enthusiastic 00:09:39.110 --> 00:09:42.570 about voting in 2026. Marginal Trump voters, 00:09:43.070 --> 00:09:45.450 historically, they just don't turn out for midterms. 00:09:45.629 --> 00:09:48.070 The candidate type is also interesting. Democrats 00:09:48.070 --> 00:09:50.230 have recruited a lot of candidates with national 00:09:50.230 --> 00:09:53.610 security backgrounds. People like Mendoza, Mazdam. 00:09:54.269 --> 00:09:58.389 Yes. Yes. And if foreign policy of Venezuela, 00:09:58.610 --> 00:10:00.889 the Greenland threats, becomes a major issue, 00:10:01.210 --> 00:10:03.370 those candidates could be very strong. You'd 00:10:03.370 --> 00:10:05.529 also have to talk about a pretty critical change 00:10:05.529 --> 00:10:08.149 to the mechanics of voting in one state. Ohio's 00:10:08.149 --> 00:10:11.110 SB 293. This is a big deal for mail -in voters. 00:10:11.529 --> 00:10:13.830 The law now eliminates counting any ballots that 00:10:13.830 --> 00:10:15.610 arrive after Election Day. Even if they were 00:10:15.610 --> 00:10:17.429 postmarked correctly? Even if they were postmarked 00:10:17.429 --> 00:10:20.269 on time. Before, they had four extra days. Now, 00:10:20.509 --> 00:10:23.029 with the Postal Service being what it is... It 00:10:23.029 --> 00:10:25.610 creates huge uncertainty. It effectively constrains 00:10:25.610 --> 00:10:28.070 voting, especially for rural or older voters. 00:10:28.190 --> 00:10:29.950 It will likely suppress turnout on the margins. 00:10:30.409 --> 00:10:33.009 Yeah. OK, looking even further ahead, past the 00:10:33.009 --> 00:10:36.929 midterms to 2028, Steve Bannon has announced 00:10:36.929 --> 00:10:39.220 he's thinking about a run. And the consensus 00:10:39.220 --> 00:10:41.840 is his goal isn't really to win. What is it then? 00:10:42.039 --> 00:10:44.919 To force the other candidates to adopt his views. 00:10:45.340 --> 00:10:48.440 You know, no more forever wars, economic populism, 00:10:48.600 --> 00:10:50.840 going after Big Tech. He's trying to define the 00:10:50.840 --> 00:10:53.220 future of the party. And that immediately creates 00:10:53.220 --> 00:10:55.879 problems for his potential rivals like Vance. 00:10:56.399 --> 00:10:58.720 Huge problems for Vance. He's got deep ties to 00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:01.399 Big Tech through Peter Thiel. How does he square 00:11:01.399 --> 00:11:03.679 that with Bannon's populism? Sound for Rubio. 00:11:03.789 --> 00:11:06.909 Chaos. Rubio needs evangelical support, which 00:11:06.909 --> 00:11:10.210 conflicts with Bannon's very strong anti -Israel 00:11:10.210 --> 00:11:12.570 stance. Bannon is a spoiler. He doesn't need 00:11:12.570 --> 00:11:15.490 millions for ads. He just has to say truly explosive 00:11:15.490 --> 00:11:17.309 things. And he gets all the free media coverage 00:11:17.309 --> 00:11:19.629 he wants. On the Democratic side, we're also 00:11:19.629 --> 00:11:21.889 seeing signals about the party's direction from 00:11:21.889 --> 00:11:25.279 some key retirements. Steny Hoyer, for one. 86 00:11:25.279 --> 00:11:28.120 years old in a safe Maryland seat, he's seen 00:11:28.120 --> 00:11:30.720 as a moderate relic who always wanted to work 00:11:30.720 --> 00:11:33.220 with Republicans. A concept that younger Democrats 00:11:33.220 --> 00:11:36.419 now seem to reject. They do. Representative Jamie 00:11:36.419 --> 00:11:38.940 Raskin said Hoyer's replacement will almost certainly 00:11:38.940 --> 00:11:41.179 be more progressive. We're seeing the same thing 00:11:41.179 --> 00:11:43.360 with Julia Brownlee's retirement in California. 00:11:43.799 --> 00:11:46.769 It's a steady shift. The old guard of consensus 00:11:46.769 --> 00:11:49.710 builders is leaving. And a more aggressive, progressive 00:11:49.710 --> 00:11:52.330 caucus is taking its place. OK, finally, let's 00:11:52.330 --> 00:11:54.769 take a quick look at the macro environment. Because 00:11:54.769 --> 00:11:57.230 with all this political chaos, the financial 00:11:57.230 --> 00:12:01.269 signals are strangely calm. It's a total paradox. 00:12:01.549 --> 00:12:03.830 It is a profound paradox. The data is telling 00:12:03.830 --> 00:12:06.409 a completely different story. The Hedgeye GIP 00:12:06.409 --> 00:12:09.129 model, for instance, is forecasting a hashtag 00:12:09.129 --> 00:12:12.350 Quad 1 for January 2026. All right. For the listener, 00:12:12.429 --> 00:12:15.009 what does hashtag Quad 1 mean in plain English? 00:12:15.590 --> 00:12:18.049 It's basically the economic Goldilocks scenario. 00:12:18.350 --> 00:12:20.870 It means growth is expected to go up and inflation 00:12:20.870 --> 00:12:23.190 is expected to go down. Historically, that's 00:12:23.190 --> 00:12:25.149 the best possible environment for stock. And 00:12:25.149 --> 00:12:27.850 volatility is also low. Very low. The VIX is 00:12:27.850 --> 00:12:31.149 at 14 .49, which is firmly in what traders call 00:12:31.149 --> 00:12:34.370 the investable bucket. The sweet spot. Right. 00:12:34.470 --> 00:12:37.610 It signals financial boredom. And that boredom 00:12:37.610 --> 00:12:40.809 translates into market flows. Volatility control 00:12:40.809 --> 00:12:42.929 funds are set to mechanically increase their 00:12:42.929 --> 00:12:45.370 risk, which could lead to something like $20 00:12:45.370 --> 00:12:49.149 billion in systematic equity buying. So the algorithms 00:12:49.149 --> 00:12:52.789 see quiet and just. buy stocks, no matter what 00:12:52.789 --> 00:12:54.750 the headlines say. Exactly. And the commodity 00:12:54.750 --> 00:12:57.590 markets confirm it. Gold, silver, palladium are 00:12:57.590 --> 00:13:00.450 all ripping higher. It's a picture of financial 00:13:00.450 --> 00:13:03.429 sanity in the middle of political madness. So 00:13:03.429 --> 00:13:06.190 to synthesize this whole deep dive, the central 00:13:06.190 --> 00:13:08.950 conflict we found is really between brute force 00:13:09.210 --> 00:13:11.529 and objective reality. That's right. The sources 00:13:11.529 --> 00:13:14.049 show an administration that's prioritizing control 00:13:14.049 --> 00:13:16.690 in Minneapolis and Venezuela with this new AG 00:13:16.690 --> 00:13:19.129 position. And at the same time, the traditional 00:13:19.129 --> 00:13:21.629 guardrails are just eroding. Which leaves a central 00:13:21.629 --> 00:13:24.029 tension for you, the listener. In a world where 00:13:24.029 --> 00:13:26.289 a citizen's death can be called of her own making, 00:13:26.789 --> 00:13:29.870 where fraud can mean inciting violence, Political 00:13:29.870 --> 00:13:32.330 success isn't about governing anymore. It's about 00:13:32.330 --> 00:13:34.470 controlling the definition of reality itself. 00:13:34.629 --> 00:13:36.769 Which brings us to a final provocative thought. 00:13:37.049 --> 00:13:39.210 If partisan loyalty is now so strong that people 00:13:39.210 --> 00:13:41.990 see opposite things in the same video, we don't 00:13:41.990 --> 00:13:44.750 even need deepfakes anymore. What happens when 00:13:44.750 --> 00:13:47.350 the economic calm of this Quad One model finally 00:13:47.350 --> 00:13:49.870 breaks? What happens when all this political 00:13:49.870 --> 00:13:53.309 polarization slams into real widespread financial 00:13:53.309 --> 00:13:56.269 pain? What shared truth or even shared pain will 00:13:56.269 --> 00:13:58.750 be left for voters to react to? when they can't 00:13:58.750 --> 00:14:00.509 even agree on what they just saw with their own 00:14:00.509 --> 00:14:00.730 eyes.