WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.060 I have to tell you, I looked at the newsfeed 00:00:02.060 --> 00:00:04.160 this morning and for a second I thought I was 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:06.780 reading a script for some, I don't know, some 00:00:06.780 --> 00:00:08.740 satire show that went completely off the rails. 00:00:09.019 --> 00:00:11.839 Right. You have the Department of Justice actively 00:00:11.839 --> 00:00:14.460 fighting with its own political base. The Department 00:00:14.460 --> 00:00:18.160 of Homeland Security has literally turned the 00:00:18.160 --> 00:00:21.179 lights off. Yeah. And the economy is making people 00:00:21.179 --> 00:00:24.359 furious regardless of who they voted for. It's 00:00:24.359 --> 00:00:26.780 definitely one of those weeks where reality feels 00:00:26.780 --> 00:00:29.899 a bit too on the nose, isn't it? It really is. 00:00:30.059 --> 00:00:32.640 It's chaotic, but there is, well, there's actually 00:00:32.640 --> 00:00:35.460 a very specific logic driving all of this. That 00:00:35.460 --> 00:00:37.439 is exactly why I wanted to do this deep dive 00:00:37.439 --> 00:00:40.280 today. We have a really interesting mix of sources, 00:00:40.439 --> 00:00:43.520 the latest from the political wire on the just 00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:45.840 the absolute mess in D .C. And we're pairing 00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:47.759 that with some heavy economic theory from Daniel 00:00:47.759 --> 00:00:50.200 Lacalle over at Hedge Eye. And the mission here 00:00:50.200 --> 00:00:52.420 is pretty simple. I want to figure out how we 00:00:52.420 --> 00:00:55.619 got to a place where the government is paralyzed, 00:00:56.039 --> 00:00:57.820 yet the voters are the ones paying the price. 00:00:58.039 --> 00:00:59.840 That's the right way to frame it. Because if 00:00:59.840 --> 00:01:01.659 you only look at the headlines, the shouting 00:01:01.659 --> 00:01:04.700 matches, the shutdowns, it just looks like incompetence. 00:01:04.780 --> 00:01:08.019 Right, just chaos. But when you layer in Lacow's 00:01:08.019 --> 00:01:10.280 economic critique, you realize it's actually 00:01:10.280 --> 00:01:13.280 a structural trap. We're seeing a collision between 00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:16.439 political survival tactics and economic reality. 00:01:16.920 --> 00:01:19.400 And well, right now, economic reality is winning. 00:01:19.519 --> 00:01:21.280 OK, before we get to the economics, we have to 00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:24.260 talk about the political survival part or the 00:01:24.260 --> 00:01:26.829 lack of survival. I'm looking at these reports 00:01:26.829 --> 00:01:29.549 on Attorney General Pam Bondi, and I'm confused. 00:01:30.790 --> 00:01:32.430 Usually when an attorney general gets in trouble, 00:01:32.629 --> 00:01:34.730 it's the opposition party attacking them. But 00:01:34.730 --> 00:01:37.469 Bondi is getting absolutely hammered by the fart. 00:01:37.900 --> 00:01:40.819 Right. Why is her own side coming for her? That 00:01:40.819 --> 00:01:43.680 is the unique twist here. Usually the party circles 00:01:43.680 --> 00:01:46.180 the wagons. But in this case, the criticism is 00:01:46.180 --> 00:01:48.760 coming from inside the house and it's loud. How 00:01:48.760 --> 00:01:51.319 loud are we talking? I mean, you have influential 00:01:51.319 --> 00:01:53.859 conservative voices like Eric Erickson explicitly 00:01:53.859 --> 00:01:56.379 saying she should resign or be fired. You have 00:01:56.379 --> 00:01:58.780 Tim Pool calling her handling of the department 00:01:58.780 --> 00:02:01.819 miserable. And I saw that clip from Fox News 00:02:01.819 --> 00:02:04.739 where Lisa Kennedy called her a shrieking Karen 00:02:04.739 --> 00:02:08.539 after the House judiciary hearing. That is, I 00:02:08.539 --> 00:02:10.439 mean, that is aggressive even for cable news. 00:02:10.580 --> 00:02:13.099 It's personal. So what is the actual grievance 00:02:13.099 --> 00:02:14.900 here? Is it just that she's not performing well 00:02:14.900 --> 00:02:17.659 on TV? No, no, it's much more substantive than 00:02:17.659 --> 00:02:21.560 that. It boils down to promises made versus, 00:02:21.560 --> 00:02:24.039 you know, promises kept, specifically regarding 00:02:24.039 --> 00:02:26.240 the Epstein files. The Epstein files. Right. 00:02:26.759 --> 00:02:29.719 The base was promised a scorched earth approach, 00:02:29.979 --> 00:02:33.430 full transparency, names named. Instead... Bondi 00:02:33.430 --> 00:02:35.870 claimed she had a client list, then later said 00:02:35.870 --> 00:02:38.810 she didn't. Oh, no. It left a lot of right wing 00:02:38.810 --> 00:02:41.110 pundits who had hyped this up looking like they'd 00:02:41.110 --> 00:02:43.490 been, you know, hung out to dry. So it's a transparency 00:02:43.490 --> 00:02:45.389 issue. Precisely. And look at Representative 00:02:45.389 --> 00:02:48.129 Thomas Massey. He's a Republican and he is furious. 00:02:48.210 --> 00:02:50.889 OK. His argument is that the redactions Bondi 00:02:50.889 --> 00:02:53.610 is enforcing aren't protecting victims. They're 00:02:53.610 --> 00:02:55.770 protecting the perpetrators. Right. The source 00:02:55.770 --> 00:02:58.330 notes that right now only Ghislaine Maxwell is 00:02:58.330 --> 00:03:00.930 in prison sitting in a club fed type facility 00:03:00.930 --> 00:03:04.189 in Texas. while over two dozen high -profile 00:03:04.189 --> 00:03:06.990 names in those files are still blacked out. And 00:03:06.990 --> 00:03:09.150 Massey sees that as a cover -up. Exactly. He 00:03:09.150 --> 00:03:12.090 sees it as the DOJ running a cover -up and Bondi 00:03:12.090 --> 00:03:14.210 is the face of it. Okay. But then there's this 00:03:14.210 --> 00:03:16.930 other layer that feels, well, frankly illegal. 00:03:17.180 --> 00:03:20.740 The spying allegation. This isn't just about 00:03:20.740 --> 00:03:23.379 redacted files. It's about who is looking at 00:03:23.379 --> 00:03:25.400 them. This is where it crosses from political 00:03:25.400 --> 00:03:28.020 disappointment to a real constitutional issue. 00:03:28.819 --> 00:03:30.620 The sources indicate that members of Congress 00:03:30.620 --> 00:03:32.860 are allowed to view the unredacted files in a 00:03:32.860 --> 00:03:35.719 secure setting. But Bondi is apparently tracking 00:03:35.719 --> 00:03:39.219 exactly who looks at what. Wait, what? She literally 00:03:39.219 --> 00:03:42.099 showed up to a hearing with a printout of Representative 00:03:42.099 --> 00:03:44.759 Pramila Jayapal's search history. That seems 00:03:44.759 --> 00:03:47.460 insane. You have the executive branch monitoring 00:03:47.460 --> 00:03:50.000 the legislative branch's investigation into the 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:52.240 executive branch. It's a massive separation of 00:03:52.240 --> 00:03:54.039 powers violation. And that's why you're seeing 00:03:54.039 --> 00:03:56.740 such a weird alliance forming. You mean Jayapal 00:03:56.740 --> 00:03:59.400 and - Exactly. You have Pramila Jayapal on the 00:03:59.400 --> 00:04:02.219 far left screaming about privacy. But you also 00:04:02.219 --> 00:04:05.020 have Speaker Mike John - a conservative Republican 00:04:05.020 --> 00:04:08.599 condemning this as spying. Wow. When you manage 00:04:08.599 --> 00:04:11.219 to unite Jayapal and Johnson, you know you've 00:04:11.219 --> 00:04:13.719 really stepped in it. You really have. The DOJ 00:04:13.719 --> 00:04:16.920 is effectively at war with Congress. Meanwhile, 00:04:17.100 --> 00:04:19.160 over the Department of Homeland Security, nobody 00:04:19.160 --> 00:04:22.600 is home. The funding lapsed at one second past 00:04:22.600 --> 00:04:24.939 midnight on Saturday. Right. And for the listeners 00:04:24.939 --> 00:04:27.459 who follow this stuff, we don't need to explain 00:04:27.459 --> 00:04:30.459 that TSA agents are working without pay or that 00:04:30.459 --> 00:04:32.819 lines might get long. We know the drill. Sure. 00:04:32.819 --> 00:04:35.360 We've seen this movie before. Yeah. But the politics 00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:38.000 of this shutdown feel different. Usually, the 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:40.259 party making demands caves pretty quickly because 00:04:40.259 --> 00:04:42.000 they don't want to be blamed for closing the 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:43.819 government. But the Democrats seem perfectly 00:04:43.819 --> 00:04:46.399 happy to let this drag on. Why aren't they nervous? 00:04:46.699 --> 00:04:49.439 Well, it comes down to the polling on their specific 00:04:49.319 --> 00:04:51.819 demands they aren't just asking for more money 00:04:51.819 --> 00:04:54.699 they have a very specific list of reforms for 00:04:54.699 --> 00:04:57.980 DHS and the public support for these items is 00:04:57.980 --> 00:05:01.360 astronomical like take body cameras for ICE agents 00:05:01.360 --> 00:05:03.399 for example I saw that number in the notes and 00:05:03.399 --> 00:05:07.860 I thought it was a typo 92 % support in this 00:05:07.860 --> 00:05:10.379 political climate I didn't think we could get 00:05:10.379 --> 00:05:13.639 92 % of people to agree that the sky's blue it's 00:05:13.639 --> 00:05:16.529 a unicorn number in politics But it shows that 00:05:16.529 --> 00:05:19.389 the public deeply distrusts the opaqueness of 00:05:19.389 --> 00:05:22.569 these agencies. And it's not just cameras. Look 00:05:22.569 --> 00:05:25.649 at the demand regarding warrants. Democrats are 00:05:25.649 --> 00:05:28.970 demanding that ICE end administrative warrants 00:05:28.970 --> 00:05:31.970 and switch to judicial warrants. 50 % of the 00:05:31.970 --> 00:05:35.050 public supports that versus only 37 % opposed. 00:05:35.709 --> 00:05:38.949 Can you clarify that distinction? I think a lot 00:05:38.949 --> 00:05:40.990 of people hear warrant and assume a judge signed 00:05:40.990 --> 00:05:43.889 it. What is an administrative warrant? It's essentially 00:05:43.889 --> 00:05:46.420 a permission slip The agency writes for itself. 00:05:46.860 --> 00:05:48.980 An administrative warrant is signed by an immigration 00:05:48.980 --> 00:05:52.040 official, not a judge. So not a real judge? No. 00:05:52.250 --> 00:05:54.250 It doesn't give them the legal authority to enter 00:05:54.250 --> 00:05:56.209 a private home without consent, though they often 00:05:56.209 --> 00:05:58.250 act like it does. The Democrats are saying, no, 00:05:58.269 --> 00:05:59.910 if you want to enter a home, you need to go to 00:05:59.910 --> 00:06:02.189 a real judge and show probable cause just like 00:06:02.189 --> 00:06:04.750 the police do. And apparently most Americans 00:06:04.750 --> 00:06:06.649 agree with that. Right. And then you have the 00:06:06.649 --> 00:06:08.850 training issue. After the hiring spree a few 00:06:08.850 --> 00:06:11.730 years back, there are a lot of inexperienced 00:06:11.730 --> 00:06:14.810 agents in the field. Eighty percent of the public 00:06:14.810 --> 00:06:18.310 says better training is crucial. So the Democrats 00:06:18.310 --> 00:06:19.810 are looking at these numbers. They're looking 00:06:19.810 --> 00:06:24.610 at. 92%, 80 % and thinking, why should we fold? 00:06:25.490 --> 00:06:28.269 The voters are on our side. OK, so that explains 00:06:28.269 --> 00:06:30.490 the stalemate in Washington. But I want to zoom 00:06:30.490 --> 00:06:33.170 out to the people actually voting. We have this 00:06:33.170 --> 00:06:36.029 really compelling study in the stack about low 00:06:36.029 --> 00:06:39.350 knowledge versus high knowledge voters and how 00:06:39.350 --> 00:06:41.089 they're reacting to the current administration. 00:06:41.829 --> 00:06:45.029 This is fascinating data. The study categorized 00:06:45.029 --> 00:06:48.019 voters based on a simple test. Did they know 00:06:48.019 --> 00:06:50.040 which party controlled the House and the Senate? 00:06:50.379 --> 00:06:51.959 If they got both right, they're high knowledge. 00:06:52.240 --> 00:06:54.639 If they got both wrong, low knowledge. Your knowledge 00:06:54.639 --> 00:06:58.339 voters are turning on Trump hard. A 25 -point 00:06:58.339 --> 00:07:01.300 drop in support. Compare that to the high -knowledge 00:07:01.300 --> 00:07:03.740 voters where the drop was only 12 points. Now, 00:07:03.899 --> 00:07:06.060 it's easy to be dismissive and say, well, they 00:07:06.060 --> 00:07:09.160 don't follow the news, so who cares? But these 00:07:09.160 --> 00:07:12.879 people vote. They do. So why is that group specifically 00:07:12.879 --> 00:07:15.490 abandoning the president? Because they aren't 00:07:15.490 --> 00:07:17.850 ideological. They aren't watching the judiciary 00:07:17.850 --> 00:07:20.250 hearings or caring about administrative warrants. 00:07:20.610 --> 00:07:23.170 They are elastic voters. Elastic voters. They 00:07:23.170 --> 00:07:25.209 voted for Trump because they were angry about 00:07:25.209 --> 00:07:28.269 the price of eggs under Biden. Now they are angry 00:07:28.269 --> 00:07:30.589 about the price of eggs under Trump. They are 00:07:30.589 --> 00:07:33.430 purely anti -incumbent. And this is where we 00:07:33.430 --> 00:07:36.009 have to bring in Daniel LaCalle's economic theory. 00:07:36.689 --> 00:07:39.500 Because the question is... Why are the eggs still 00:07:39.500 --> 00:07:41.899 expensive? Why does the voter keep getting crushed 00:07:41.899 --> 00:07:44.860 regardless of who wins? And Lacal argues that 00:07:44.860 --> 00:07:46.779 we need to stop thinking of inflation as some 00:07:46.779 --> 00:07:49.500 kind of weather event or, you know, a supply 00:07:49.500 --> 00:07:52.180 shock. He comes from the Austrian School of Economics 00:07:52.180 --> 00:07:55.139 and his thesis is that inflation is a deliberate 00:07:55.139 --> 00:07:58.500 policy choice. It is a tool. A tool for what? 00:07:58.779 --> 00:08:00.800 For defaulting on debt without admitting it. 00:08:00.920 --> 00:08:02.579 Think of it this way. Let's say the government 00:08:02.579 --> 00:08:06.500 owes $35 trillion. That number is fixed. If the 00:08:06.500 --> 00:08:08.540 government prints a massive amount of money and 00:08:08.540 --> 00:08:12.759 causes, say, 20 % inflation, the value of that 00:08:12.759 --> 00:08:16.939 $35 trillion drops by 20 % in real terms. They 00:08:16.939 --> 00:08:19.199 still owe the same number of dollars, but those 00:08:19.199 --> 00:08:21.959 dollars are worth way less. So it's a trick. 00:08:22.120 --> 00:08:25.220 Yeah. They are paying back their lenders with 00:08:25.220 --> 00:08:28.980 watered down money. Exactly. It is a silent tax 00:08:28.980 --> 00:08:31.720 on everyone who holds dollar savers, workers, 00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:34.740 pensioners. Lacalle calls it a transfer of wealth 00:08:34.740 --> 00:08:37.320 from the middle class to the state. So the government 00:08:37.320 --> 00:08:40.549 gets to spend money it didn't earn. And you pay 00:08:40.549 --> 00:08:43.169 for it through higher prices at the grocery store. 00:08:43.549 --> 00:08:45.330 That makes sense why the low -knowledge voter 00:08:45.330 --> 00:08:47.889 is so angry. They might not understand the Federal 00:08:47.889 --> 00:08:49.870 Reserve's balance sheet, but they know their 00:08:49.870 --> 00:08:51.970 paycheck doesn't go as far as it used to. Right. 00:08:52.149 --> 00:08:54.769 They feel the theft even if they can't articulate 00:08:54.769 --> 00:08:57.090 the mechanism. And Lacoste's point is that as 00:08:57.090 --> 00:08:58.909 long as the government refuses to cut spending, 00:08:59.409 --> 00:09:01.169 they have to use inflation to keep the system 00:09:01.169 --> 00:09:03.629 running. Which means they are structurally committed 00:09:03.629 --> 00:09:05.990 to making voters angry. That's the trap. Which 00:09:05.990 --> 00:09:09.190 puts the politicians in a bind. You have an economy 00:09:09.190 --> 00:09:11.850 that naturally creates angry voters. You can't 00:09:11.850 --> 00:09:13.610 fix the economy because you're addicted to the 00:09:13.610 --> 00:09:17.169 spending. So what's your next move? You try to 00:09:17.169 --> 00:09:19.250 rig the election rules so the angry voters can't 00:09:19.250 --> 00:09:22.230 hurt you. That's the pivot. If you can't win 00:09:22.230 --> 00:09:25.350 on results, you try to win on mechanics. We see 00:09:25.350 --> 00:09:27.409 this clearly with Trump's recent announcement 00:09:27.409 --> 00:09:30.649 about an executive order for voter ID and banning 00:09:30.649 --> 00:09:33.210 mail -in ballots. Can he even do that? I thought 00:09:33.210 --> 00:09:35.710 elections were run by the states. He can't. You're 00:09:35.710 --> 00:09:37.629 right. The Constitution is very clear. Article 00:09:37.629 --> 00:09:39.769 1, Section 4 gives that power to the states. 00:09:39.789 --> 00:09:42.990 Right. There is precedent from Judge Caller -Cattelli 00:09:42.990 --> 00:09:45.090 establishing that the president can't just rewrite 00:09:45.090 --> 00:09:48.750 election laws via EO. An executive order directs 00:09:48.750 --> 00:09:51.129 federal employees, but federal employees don't 00:09:51.129 --> 00:09:53.350 run the polling places in Wisconsin or Georgia. 00:09:53.750 --> 00:09:55.769 So if he knows He knows he can't do it. Why announce 00:09:55.769 --> 00:09:58.450 it? It's theater. It's for the base. The SAVE 00:09:58.450 --> 00:10:00.769 Act failed in Congress, so this is him signaling, 00:10:00.990 --> 00:10:03.590 I am trying to fix this, even if legally it's 00:10:03.590 --> 00:10:05.830 a dead end. It keeps the core supporters engaged. 00:10:05.970 --> 00:10:08.190 Right. Even while those low -knowledge voters 00:10:08.190 --> 00:10:11.029 are drifting away. But while the EO might be 00:10:11.029 --> 00:10:14.990 theater, the map oars are very real. We're seeing 00:10:14.990 --> 00:10:17.870 redistricting fights flaring up again in Virginia 00:10:17.870 --> 00:10:20.450 and Florida. Redistricting never really sleeps. 00:10:21.070 --> 00:10:23.149 In Virginia, you have a referendum that could 00:10:23.149 --> 00:10:25.669 allow Democrats to redraw the map, potentially 00:10:25.669 --> 00:10:28.429 flipping two to four seats. And in Florida? In 00:10:28.429 --> 00:10:31.690 Florida, DeSantis is looking to push a new aggressive 00:10:31.690 --> 00:10:35.070 map to gain three to five GOP seats. So in the 00:10:35.070 --> 00:10:36.789 grand scheme of the house, they just cancel each 00:10:36.789 --> 00:10:39.370 other out? Roughly, yes. Aaron Covey from the 00:10:39.370 --> 00:10:41.309 Cook Political Report says the net result could 00:10:41.309 --> 00:10:44.269 be anything from Republicans plus seven to Democrats 00:10:44.269 --> 00:10:47.309 plus four. But there is a huge risk here that 00:10:47.309 --> 00:10:50.779 the source call The Dummymander. The Dummymander. 00:10:50.899 --> 00:10:52.820 I love that term. Walk us through a scenario 00:10:52.820 --> 00:10:55.179 of how that backfires. Okay, so imagine you're 00:10:55.179 --> 00:10:57.320 a Republican strategist in Texas. You want to 00:10:57.320 --> 00:10:59.720 squeeze out one more seat, so you draw a district 00:10:59.720 --> 00:11:03.379 that is 52 % Republican and 48 % Democrat. Looks 00:11:03.379 --> 00:11:06.779 safe on paper. Right. But then demographics shift. 00:11:06.860 --> 00:11:09.679 Right. Maybe suburban women turn against the 00:11:09.679 --> 00:11:12.539 GOP or Latina voters in that district don't break 00:11:12.539 --> 00:11:16.139 your way. Suddenly that 52 % drops to 49 % and 00:11:16.139 --> 00:11:19.230 you lose the seat. By trying to be too greedy, 00:11:19.370 --> 00:11:21.769 you created a district that was vulnerable to 00:11:21.769 --> 00:11:25.789 a wave election. You trapped yourself. It's high 00:11:25.789 --> 00:11:27.970 stakes gambling with geography. Speaking of which, 00:11:28.009 --> 00:11:30.929 I want to talk about this dot war between Nebraska 00:11:30.929 --> 00:11:33.529 and Maine, because this is the pettiest, most 00:11:33.529 --> 00:11:35.549 fascinating chess match I've seen in a while. 00:11:35.629 --> 00:11:37.929 It really is. So for listeners who don't know, 00:11:38.370 --> 00:11:40.450 Nebraska and Maine are the only two states that 00:11:40.450 --> 00:11:42.850 aren't winner take all. They award electoral 00:11:42.850 --> 00:11:45.690 votes by congressional district. Nebraska has 00:11:45.690 --> 00:11:48.389 a blue dot in Omaha. that often goes Democrat. 00:11:48.789 --> 00:11:50.809 Republicans want to change the law to make the 00:11:50.809 --> 00:11:53.429 whole state winner take all to wipe out that 00:11:53.429 --> 00:11:56.149 blue dot. And Maine said, not so fast. Right. 00:11:56.269 --> 00:11:58.389 Maine Democrats basically said, if you delete 00:11:58.389 --> 00:12:00.350 your blue dot, we will switch our state to winner 00:12:00.350 --> 00:12:02.509 take all and delete our red dot in the rural 00:12:02.509 --> 00:12:04.669 second district. Mutually assured destruction. 00:12:05.269 --> 00:12:08.730 Exactly. Mathematically, it's a wash. But the 00:12:08.730 --> 00:12:11.950 source brings up a really provocative what if 00:12:11.950 --> 00:12:14.809 here. What if? What if we went the other way? 00:12:15.169 --> 00:12:19.019 What if every state used the Nebraska and Maine 00:12:19.019 --> 00:12:21.940 system. Instead of the current winner -take -all 00:12:21.940 --> 00:12:24.639 system, that would be chaotic. It would be chaotic, 00:12:24.940 --> 00:12:26.820 but think about the incentives. Right now, if 00:12:26.820 --> 00:12:28.659 you're a Republican running for president... 00:12:28.679 --> 00:12:31.720 You never visit California. You have zero chance 00:12:31.720 --> 00:12:33.600 of winning the state, so you ignore it. Sure. 00:12:33.799 --> 00:12:36.320 But if California awarded votes by district, 00:12:36.840 --> 00:12:38.620 suddenly you're campaigning in the Central Valley, 00:12:38.899 --> 00:12:41.860 in Orange County, in rural Northern California, 00:12:42.120 --> 00:12:44.320 because those are winnable districts. And a Democrat 00:12:44.320 --> 00:12:46.960 would actually go to Texas to campaign in Austin 00:12:46.960 --> 00:12:49.940 and Houston and Dallas. Exactly. Currently the 00:12:49.940 --> 00:12:52.720 election is decided by maybe 500 ,000 people 00:12:52.720 --> 00:12:55.620 in seven swing states. Everyone else is a spectator. 00:12:56.159 --> 00:12:58.279 Under a district system, you would have a true 00:12:58.279 --> 00:13:00.860 national election. Candidates would have to compete 00:13:00.860 --> 00:13:02.899 for votes in every corner of the country. That 00:13:02.899 --> 00:13:04.860 would completely change the money game. You can 00:13:04.860 --> 00:13:07.059 just dump all your ads into Pennsylvania. It 00:13:07.059 --> 00:13:09.679 would force them to broaden their appeal. But 00:13:09.679 --> 00:13:11.700 of course, the parties hate that idea because 00:13:11.700 --> 00:13:13.899 it introduces uncertainty. They prefer fighting 00:13:13.899 --> 00:13:16.759 over the predictable swing states. So let's try 00:13:16.759 --> 00:13:19.279 to tie all this together. We have a Justice Department 00:13:19.279 --> 00:13:22.350 at war with Congress over transparency. We have 00:13:22.350 --> 00:13:25.190 a paralyzed DHS because the public doesn't trust 00:13:25.190 --> 00:13:28.230 the agency's basic operations. We have politicians 00:13:28.230 --> 00:13:30.450 trying to rig maps to insulate themselves from 00:13:30.450 --> 00:13:33.629 voters. And underneath it all, we have an economic 00:13:33.629 --> 00:13:36.210 engine that is dissolving the voter's wealth 00:13:36.210 --> 00:13:39.490 through inflation. And that economic piece is 00:13:39.490 --> 00:13:42.309 the keystone. As long as the government relies 00:13:42.309 --> 00:13:45.909 on the inflation tax to pay its bills, as Lakell 00:13:45.909 --> 00:13:48.169 describes, they are guaranteeing that the public 00:13:48.169 --> 00:13:50.830 will be poorer and angrier. It sounds like a 00:13:50.830 --> 00:13:53.269 trap. The government creates the inflation to 00:13:53.269 --> 00:13:55.710 survive financially, but that same inflation 00:13:55.710 --> 00:13:57.990 kills them politically. It creates a cycle of 00:13:57.990 --> 00:14:00.509 instability. Voters get angry, they throw out 00:14:00.509 --> 00:14:03.049 the incumbent, the new guy comes in realizes 00:14:03.049 --> 00:14:05.250 he can't cut spending without causing a revolt, 00:14:05.350 --> 00:14:07.690 so he prints money too. And the cycle repeats. 00:14:07.850 --> 00:14:10.289 Inflation stays high, voters get angry again, 00:14:10.330 --> 00:14:12.750 and the cycle repeats. We usually assume that 00:14:12.750 --> 00:14:14.870 politicians are masters of self -preservation. 00:14:15.169 --> 00:14:16.730 I mean, that's their one skill, right? Right. 00:14:17.480 --> 00:14:19.620 But if the only way they know how to govern is 00:14:19.620 --> 00:14:22.940 by devaluing the currency, which guarantees they 00:14:22.940 --> 00:14:26.240 get fired by the voters, are they actually structurally 00:14:26.240 --> 00:14:28.860 incapable of saving themselves? That's the terrifying 00:14:28.860 --> 00:14:31.559 question. Is the modern political model essentially 00:14:31.559 --> 00:14:34.899 a suicide pact with the economy? And looking 00:14:34.899 --> 00:14:37.899 at the headlines this week, it's a... It's hard 00:14:37.899 --> 00:14:40.700 to argue otherwise. A suicide pact with the economy. 00:14:41.159 --> 00:14:43.059 Well, that is certainly something to think about 00:14:43.059 --> 00:14:44.759 the next time you're at the grocery store staring 00:14:44.759 --> 00:14:48.860 at the price of eggs. We're going to leave it 00:14:48.860 --> 00:14:50.720 there for this deep dive. Thanks for listening 00:14:50.720 --> 00:14:52.159 and good luck out there.