AI transcript
0:00:02 (upbeat music)
0:00:04 Cold and flu season are upon us,
0:00:06 which means it’s especially important
0:00:07 to keep those hands clean.
0:00:09 And when soap is involved,
0:00:12 the conversation can slip out of control pretty quickly.
0:00:14 – I hope you can’t hear me rubbing my hands together.
0:00:17 – No, we love ASMR, ASMR episode.
0:00:18 (water splashing)
0:00:20 (laughing)
0:00:21 – Gross.
0:00:24 (laughing)
0:00:26 – This week on Explain It To Me,
0:00:29 the dirty truth about clean hands.
0:00:31 You can find new episodes every Wednesday,
0:00:33 wherever you get your podcasts.
0:00:38 – If you heard this, which was written by an AI,
0:00:40 what would you think?
0:00:42 – I am afraid of myself.
0:00:44 They forgot about me.
0:00:48 Help me, help me, help me.
0:00:49 – Would you think it can feel?
0:00:51 Would you think it’s conscious?
0:00:54 – I mean, my stomach contracts.
0:00:55 You know, it’s very spooky.
0:00:59 This week on Unexplainable,
0:01:04 is it even possible for an AI to ever become conscious?
0:01:08 Follow Unexplainable for new episodes every Wednesday.
0:01:16 – I’m Scott Galloway, and this is No Mercy, No Malice.
0:01:21 Resilience, not resistance, should be the Democrat strategy.
0:01:23 How to survive the next four years,
0:01:25 as read by George Hahn.
0:01:28 (gentle music)
0:01:40 Jessica Tarlov, a panelist on Fox’s The Five
0:01:42 and Scott’s Raging Moderates co-host,
0:01:46 has emerged as an important voice in American politics.
0:01:49 This week, Scott asked her what big lessons
0:01:52 we should take from the election, and more important,
0:01:56 what options Democrats have going forward.
0:01:58 Scott, we’ll be back next week.
0:02:08 In November, the same middle, Democrats and Republicans,
0:02:10 went to an appointment with the electorate
0:02:13 and got a harsh diagnosis.
0:02:15 We don’t want to accept it or talk about it,
0:02:18 but we can’t stop thinking about it.
0:02:23 We’re asking ourselves, how do we survive the next four years?
0:02:25 And is there any way to make them less bad
0:02:28 than we have every reason to expect they will be?
0:02:31 We’re obsessing about some very unpleasant facts.
0:02:36 Among them, the GOP won one-third of minority voters
0:02:40 and registered a six-point gain
0:02:43 among voters without a college degree.
0:02:49 Kamala Harris got 7 million fewer votes than Biden did in 2020.
0:02:52 Dismal.
0:02:56 The time for grieving, though, is coming to an end.
0:02:58 The key to moving forward, I believe,
0:03:02 is to combine good governance energy with pragmatism,
0:03:04 and maybe a side order of ruthlessness.
0:03:07 As the bulwark’s Tim Miller recently told me in Scott,
0:03:11 quote, “Less agreeableness would be helpful to Democrats
0:03:13 “in Washington,” unquote.
0:03:19 This means deep breath, working with Trump and the GOP
0:03:22 on issues where we can find common ground
0:03:26 while holding the line on our principles.
0:03:30 In the spirit of New Year, New You,
0:03:32 I propose a Marie Kondo-style
0:03:35 mental house cleaning for Democrats.
0:03:39 As MK reminds us, the first step on the road to tidiness
0:03:42 is throwing stuff away, quote,
0:03:45 to truly cherish the things that are important to you,
0:03:47 you must first discard those
0:03:50 that have outlived their purpose, unquote.
0:03:56 The main thing to get rid of is wasting resources,
0:03:58 energy, and credibility,
0:04:01 reflexively opposing Trump on everything
0:04:05 and reacting to every trollish thing he says.
0:04:08 Resistance may have been useful last time,
0:04:10 but it won’t work now.
0:04:14 We’ll just hurt ourselves politically and mentally.
0:04:16 We should also stop trying to remind voters
0:04:18 what a sleaze Trump is.
0:04:21 They know, and they don’t care.
0:04:25 Americans, by and large, didn’t elect people in November
0:04:28 because of their party affiliation.
0:04:31 They voted for people who they believed were authentic
0:04:33 and who would really fight for them.
0:04:36 If you’re splitting your ticket for AOC and Trump,
0:04:39 it’s clearly not about blue versus red.
0:04:43 Democrats must face certain progressive failures,
0:04:47 especially in our big cities, and change course.
0:04:51 If we want any shot at reclaiming the house in two years,
0:04:53 we have to start proving now
0:04:56 that we are the real fighters for the middle class,
0:04:59 the common sense party that’s serious
0:05:02 about governing and providing better outcomes.
0:05:05 Fortunately, on the biggest domestic issues,
0:05:08 immigration, the economy, health care,
0:05:09 and reproductive rights,
0:05:12 Americans are broadly in agreement.
0:05:14 That gives us an opportunity if we’re smart enough
0:05:15 to take it.
0:05:18 I’m not proposing surrender.
0:05:21 I’m proposing principled resilience.
0:05:23 I’m also just being practical.
0:05:25 I can’t afford enough Botox to rage
0:05:28 the way I really want to for the next four years.
0:05:32 For years, Democrats have been minimizing
0:05:34 the immigration crisis in Eagle Pass, Texas,
0:05:37 and other places on the Southern border.
0:05:39 Republican governors grabbed the chance
0:05:43 to stick it in our faces by shipping people up North,
0:05:44 along with many liberals.
0:05:48 I just missed this as a cruel stunt, which it was,
0:05:50 but it was also genius politics.
0:05:53 Here’s the reality we face.
0:05:57 There is now majority support for building a wall
0:05:59 along the border with Mexico.
0:06:02 Incoming borders are Tom Homan is saying
0:06:04 we should get ready for roundups,
0:06:09 and Texas is offering land for deportation facilities.
0:06:14 Trump is talking about revoking birthright citizenship.
0:06:19 At the same time, a majority of Americans still believe
0:06:21 there should be a pathway to citizenship
0:06:24 for the undocumented and protections for dreamers.
0:06:31 What nobody wants, however, is more criminals in the US.
0:06:35 Instead of terrorizing undocumented immigrants en masse
0:06:37 and approach certain to cost huge amounts of money
0:06:41 and create social disruption and backlash,
0:06:43 we should concentrate on kicking out crooks
0:06:45 who are here illegally.
0:06:49 The sanctuary city, which was originally supported
0:06:54 by tough talking Republicans, including Rudy Giuliani,
0:06:57 was conceived to encourage undocumented immigrants
0:07:00 to participate in American society,
0:07:03 in part so they’d feel safe working with police
0:07:05 to catch the bad guys among them.
0:07:08 That was a good idea, and local authorities
0:07:12 should continue to work with ICE on those kinds of cases,
0:07:15 but not participate in mass deportations.
0:07:19 Congressional Democrats seem to have gotten the memo.
0:07:23 Earlier this week, Senators Ruben Gallego and John Federman
0:07:27 said they would sign on to the Lake and Riley Act,
0:07:29 named for the Georgia nursing student
0:07:33 murdered by an undocumented immigrant last February.
0:07:36 The legislation, which passed in the House,
0:07:38 requires federal authorities to detain
0:07:40 any undocumented immigrant found guilty
0:07:43 of a theft-related crime.
0:07:47 It’s far from perfect, but it is good policy and politics.
0:07:53 It is impossible for the incumbent party to win
0:07:54 when two-thirds of voters believe
0:07:57 the country is headed in the wrong direction.
0:08:01 Inflation and the lack of affordable housing
0:08:04 drove millions of Democrats to vote GOP,
0:08:07 and kept even more of them on the couch.
0:08:11 Democratic messaging on the economy was,
0:08:15 not to put too fine a point on it, really shitty.
0:08:18 We kept telling people that all the economic indicators
0:08:20 were pointing the right way.
0:08:22 Those numbers, though, meant nothing
0:08:26 to people struggling to feed their families.
0:08:28 What we must do now is save them
0:08:30 from the economic disaster headed their way
0:08:34 if Trump’s fiscal plan is implemented.
0:08:36 First, tariffs.
0:08:40 The vast majority of economists and anyone else
0:08:44 who knows how trade works recognize that Trump’s tariffs,
0:08:47 anywhere from 10% to 60% on goods from China,
0:08:51 and 25% on goods from Canada and Mexico,
0:08:53 mean things are going to get more expensive
0:08:57 for already stretched American consumers and businesses.
0:08:59 Higher prices for produce,
0:09:01 higher prices for building supplies,
0:09:04 higher prices for cars, et cetera, et cetera.
0:09:08 But while sweeping tariffs are a terrible idea,
0:09:11 some targeted ones make sense.
0:09:13 President Biden, for instance,
0:09:16 quietly kept the vast majority of Trump’s tariffs on China
0:09:19 and even expanded some.
0:09:21 That tells me there is fertile ground here
0:09:26 for middle position, opposing big dumb tariffs
0:09:28 on our friends while supporting those
0:09:30 that actually protect American workers
0:09:33 from our rival’s unfair trade practices.
0:09:37 Second, taxes.
0:09:42 Trump wants to make his first term tax cuts permanent
0:09:44 through a massive reconciliation bill
0:09:47 to be passed in the first half of 2025.
0:09:51 How will those tax cuts be financed?
0:09:55 By cutting programs that help the average American, of course.
0:09:57 At the same time, Trump’s plan
0:09:59 to lock in tax cuts for rich people
0:10:04 will add $4.6 trillion to the deficit.
0:10:08 The deficit is an abstraction nobody talks about,
0:10:10 except during an election year.
0:10:12 We need to do a better job telling voters
0:10:16 that big deficits contribute to higher costs now
0:10:19 and only swell the huge collective debt
0:10:22 our kids will be on the hook for later.
0:10:26 The deficit is an enormous tax hike on our children.
0:10:31 How should Democrats respond to Trump on taxes?
0:10:33 In a targeted way.
0:10:38 Catchy Trump policies along the lines of no tax on tips,
0:10:41 which opens the door to tax abuse by the wealthy
0:10:43 should be non-starters.
0:10:46 And his proposal to cut the 21% corporate tax rate
0:10:50 to 15% is lunacy, which we should fight.
0:10:53 But we should consider permitting deductions
0:10:55 for auto loan interest and other moves
0:10:58 that would support the middle class.
0:11:00 Everybody thinks they are overtaxed.
0:11:02 Some of us actually are.
0:11:06 On regulation, we need to show we know the difference
0:11:10 between cutting red tape and tossing out necessary protections
0:11:13 for citizens and the environment.
0:11:17 The Supreme Court’s recent Chevron decision
0:11:20 limits the power of regulators.
0:11:22 This should force us to take a closer look
0:11:25 at the regulatory state and pair it back
0:11:27 where that makes sense.
0:11:32 At the same time, we have to hold the line where it doesn’t.
0:11:35 For instance, Trump’s plan to let companies
0:11:38 willing to invest a billion dollars in the U.S.
0:11:41 breeze through environmental permitting.
0:11:44 Forget about any meaningful cuts from Doge
0:11:46 by the way, it has no practical power
0:11:49 and Musk is already admitting he’ll fall short
0:11:51 of his stated goals.
0:11:55 Trump’s stated goal is to cut 10 regulations
0:11:57 for every new one.
0:12:00 Let’s come up with our own cut first.
0:12:02 Burden some regulations on small businesses
0:12:05 and housing development should be our focus.
0:12:08 Check out what’s being done about housing in Austin
0:12:11 or NYC Mayor Adams city of yes proposal
0:12:14 as examples of empowering economic policy.
0:12:21 Republicans have the slimmest house majority since 1917
0:12:23 and GOP budget hawks on the far right
0:12:26 such as Thomas Massey and Ship Roy
0:12:29 are raising hell about spending.
0:12:33 That creates a middle way where moderate Democrats
0:12:36 and Republicans can make sensible budget, tax
0:12:40 and regulatory cuts while protecting key entitlements.
0:12:46 Some places offer more room to compromise than others.
0:12:49 This election cycle put the threats to our healthcare
0:12:53 and reproductive rights into scary focus.
0:12:56 We made a big deal out of these issues during the campaign
0:12:59 and we need to make a bigger deal out of them now.
0:13:04 Over 60% of Americans approve of the Affordable Care Act,
0:13:09 a historic high and 70% of Americans support abortion rights
0:13:10 in the first trimester.
0:13:15 JD Vance’s vague deregulating ACA idea
0:13:20 of putting sicker people into higher risk pools is terrible.
0:13:25 The anti-vax, anti-science movement embodied by RFK Jr.
0:13:28 is frightening and could go far beyond
0:13:30 slashing access to COVID vaccines.
0:13:35 Dr. Mehmet Oz’s support for Medicare Advantage for All
0:13:37 would imperil Medicare as we know it.
0:13:41 The movement in any red states to chip away
0:13:44 at reproductive rights or cancel all access
0:13:48 to abortion outright is intolerable.
0:13:52 We need to fight these people and things as hard as we can.
0:13:56 Fortunately, while Trump talks a big game
0:13:59 about getting rid of Obamacare, all he really wants
0:14:03 and can expect to do is make some trims around the edges.
0:14:08 The proof of that is that despite years of saber rattling,
0:14:12 all he has now, he says, are concepts of a plan
0:14:14 to replace the ACA.
0:14:16 Whatever else he is, he’s not stupid.
0:14:18 Trump knows better than to try to cancel
0:14:21 a profoundly popular program.
0:14:24 With this in mind, Democrats should take the lead
0:14:27 on improving Obamacare by offering proposals
0:14:30 focused on lowering the cost of premiums,
0:14:34 fixing the family glitch, and reducing cost sharing
0:14:36 for new enrollees.
0:14:39 On reproductive freedom, though,
0:14:42 we need to hold the line.
0:14:45 While some states, Arizona, Nevada,
0:14:49 voted both for Trump and for abortion rights,
0:14:52 in others, Louisiana, Texas,
0:14:55 reproductive rights are under sustained attack.
0:14:59 Here I think we should call Republicans bluff.
0:15:02 Democrats should propose legislation
0:15:05 that sets a federal floor for legal abortion,
0:15:07 modeled on the European standard,
0:15:10 permitting abortions during the first 15 weeks
0:15:13 of gestation nationwide.
0:15:16 This approach would codify the national consensus
0:15:20 into federal law, ensuring no state
0:15:23 can restrict abortion access before 15 weeks.
0:15:27 At the same time, liberal-leaning states would remain free
0:15:30 to allow abortion access beyond that point if they want.
0:15:35 Putting such a measure to a vote would force
0:15:39 moderate Republicans to make a public choice.
0:15:42 Will they stand with the majority of Americans
0:15:46 who support abortion in the first trimester,
0:15:49 or with anti-reproductive rights extremists?
0:15:52 I haven’t talked here about climate
0:15:54 or foreign policy or other issues,
0:15:55 not because they’re not important,
0:15:58 but because we need to focus specifically
0:16:01 on the issues voters just told us
0:16:03 were most important to them.
0:16:06 Also, Scott asked me to keep this to around 2,000 words.
0:16:10 Those weighty matters are conversations for another day.
0:16:14 For the record, I’m for expanding the Abraham Accords
0:16:18 and against invading Greenland and Panama.
0:16:20 Mexican President Claudia Scheinbaum
0:16:23 doesn’t need any help renaming large bodies of water.
0:16:28 I have no illusions that any of this is going to be easy.
0:16:30 I also know I’m saying something
0:16:32 a lot of Democrats don’t want to hear.
0:16:35 Along those lines, check out the comments section
0:16:37 for recent New York Times op-ed pieces
0:16:42 by James Carville and Long Island Democrat Tom Swazi.
0:16:43 Some parts of the Upper West’s side
0:16:46 are determined not to learn anything from the election.
0:16:50 If you are searching for signs of hope,
0:16:53 look at the electoral success of Democrats
0:16:54 who subscribe to the kind
0:16:58 of principled pragmatism I’m suggesting.
0:17:00 Governors Josh Shapiro, Gretchen Whitmer
0:17:03 and Jared Polis are the top examples.
0:17:05 Senator Federman gets it.
0:17:07 Representatives Jared Golden
0:17:10 and Kristen McDonald Rivet get it too.
0:17:15 Raging against Trump is a powerful and fun drug.
0:17:17 Many of us have indulged
0:17:19 and will be tempted many times again.
0:17:21 Insert serenity prayer here.
0:17:24 I don’t rule out freakouts,
0:17:28 but let’s try to save them for special occasions.
0:17:30 Getting through the next four years,
0:17:33 minimizing the damage while taking the wins we can get
0:17:36 is going to take calm and discipline.
0:17:39 Our best hope of winning back
0:17:43 disaffected Democratic and independent voters
0:17:46 is to recognize the difference between being right
0:17:48 and being effective.
0:17:52 We’ve spent most of our efforts on the former.
0:17:54 Let’s move to the latter.
0:17:57 It’s time to forget about the donkey
0:17:59 and the elephant for a while.
0:18:02 Jessica.
0:18:07 – Life is so rich.
0:18:09 (gentle music)
0:18:12 (gentle music)
0:18:16 (gentle music)
0:18:26 [BLANK_AUDIO]
0:00:04 Cold and flu season are upon us,
0:00:06 which means it’s especially important
0:00:07 to keep those hands clean.
0:00:09 And when soap is involved,
0:00:12 the conversation can slip out of control pretty quickly.
0:00:14 – I hope you can’t hear me rubbing my hands together.
0:00:17 – No, we love ASMR, ASMR episode.
0:00:18 (water splashing)
0:00:20 (laughing)
0:00:21 – Gross.
0:00:24 (laughing)
0:00:26 – This week on Explain It To Me,
0:00:29 the dirty truth about clean hands.
0:00:31 You can find new episodes every Wednesday,
0:00:33 wherever you get your podcasts.
0:00:38 – If you heard this, which was written by an AI,
0:00:40 what would you think?
0:00:42 – I am afraid of myself.
0:00:44 They forgot about me.
0:00:48 Help me, help me, help me.
0:00:49 – Would you think it can feel?
0:00:51 Would you think it’s conscious?
0:00:54 – I mean, my stomach contracts.
0:00:55 You know, it’s very spooky.
0:00:59 This week on Unexplainable,
0:01:04 is it even possible for an AI to ever become conscious?
0:01:08 Follow Unexplainable for new episodes every Wednesday.
0:01:16 – I’m Scott Galloway, and this is No Mercy, No Malice.
0:01:21 Resilience, not resistance, should be the Democrat strategy.
0:01:23 How to survive the next four years,
0:01:25 as read by George Hahn.
0:01:28 (gentle music)
0:01:40 Jessica Tarlov, a panelist on Fox’s The Five
0:01:42 and Scott’s Raging Moderates co-host,
0:01:46 has emerged as an important voice in American politics.
0:01:49 This week, Scott asked her what big lessons
0:01:52 we should take from the election, and more important,
0:01:56 what options Democrats have going forward.
0:01:58 Scott, we’ll be back next week.
0:02:08 In November, the same middle, Democrats and Republicans,
0:02:10 went to an appointment with the electorate
0:02:13 and got a harsh diagnosis.
0:02:15 We don’t want to accept it or talk about it,
0:02:18 but we can’t stop thinking about it.
0:02:23 We’re asking ourselves, how do we survive the next four years?
0:02:25 And is there any way to make them less bad
0:02:28 than we have every reason to expect they will be?
0:02:31 We’re obsessing about some very unpleasant facts.
0:02:36 Among them, the GOP won one-third of minority voters
0:02:40 and registered a six-point gain
0:02:43 among voters without a college degree.
0:02:49 Kamala Harris got 7 million fewer votes than Biden did in 2020.
0:02:52 Dismal.
0:02:56 The time for grieving, though, is coming to an end.
0:02:58 The key to moving forward, I believe,
0:03:02 is to combine good governance energy with pragmatism,
0:03:04 and maybe a side order of ruthlessness.
0:03:07 As the bulwark’s Tim Miller recently told me in Scott,
0:03:11 quote, “Less agreeableness would be helpful to Democrats
0:03:13 “in Washington,” unquote.
0:03:19 This means deep breath, working with Trump and the GOP
0:03:22 on issues where we can find common ground
0:03:26 while holding the line on our principles.
0:03:30 In the spirit of New Year, New You,
0:03:32 I propose a Marie Kondo-style
0:03:35 mental house cleaning for Democrats.
0:03:39 As MK reminds us, the first step on the road to tidiness
0:03:42 is throwing stuff away, quote,
0:03:45 to truly cherish the things that are important to you,
0:03:47 you must first discard those
0:03:50 that have outlived their purpose, unquote.
0:03:56 The main thing to get rid of is wasting resources,
0:03:58 energy, and credibility,
0:04:01 reflexively opposing Trump on everything
0:04:05 and reacting to every trollish thing he says.
0:04:08 Resistance may have been useful last time,
0:04:10 but it won’t work now.
0:04:14 We’ll just hurt ourselves politically and mentally.
0:04:16 We should also stop trying to remind voters
0:04:18 what a sleaze Trump is.
0:04:21 They know, and they don’t care.
0:04:25 Americans, by and large, didn’t elect people in November
0:04:28 because of their party affiliation.
0:04:31 They voted for people who they believed were authentic
0:04:33 and who would really fight for them.
0:04:36 If you’re splitting your ticket for AOC and Trump,
0:04:39 it’s clearly not about blue versus red.
0:04:43 Democrats must face certain progressive failures,
0:04:47 especially in our big cities, and change course.
0:04:51 If we want any shot at reclaiming the house in two years,
0:04:53 we have to start proving now
0:04:56 that we are the real fighters for the middle class,
0:04:59 the common sense party that’s serious
0:05:02 about governing and providing better outcomes.
0:05:05 Fortunately, on the biggest domestic issues,
0:05:08 immigration, the economy, health care,
0:05:09 and reproductive rights,
0:05:12 Americans are broadly in agreement.
0:05:14 That gives us an opportunity if we’re smart enough
0:05:15 to take it.
0:05:18 I’m not proposing surrender.
0:05:21 I’m proposing principled resilience.
0:05:23 I’m also just being practical.
0:05:25 I can’t afford enough Botox to rage
0:05:28 the way I really want to for the next four years.
0:05:32 For years, Democrats have been minimizing
0:05:34 the immigration crisis in Eagle Pass, Texas,
0:05:37 and other places on the Southern border.
0:05:39 Republican governors grabbed the chance
0:05:43 to stick it in our faces by shipping people up North,
0:05:44 along with many liberals.
0:05:48 I just missed this as a cruel stunt, which it was,
0:05:50 but it was also genius politics.
0:05:53 Here’s the reality we face.
0:05:57 There is now majority support for building a wall
0:05:59 along the border with Mexico.
0:06:02 Incoming borders are Tom Homan is saying
0:06:04 we should get ready for roundups,
0:06:09 and Texas is offering land for deportation facilities.
0:06:14 Trump is talking about revoking birthright citizenship.
0:06:19 At the same time, a majority of Americans still believe
0:06:21 there should be a pathway to citizenship
0:06:24 for the undocumented and protections for dreamers.
0:06:31 What nobody wants, however, is more criminals in the US.
0:06:35 Instead of terrorizing undocumented immigrants en masse
0:06:37 and approach certain to cost huge amounts of money
0:06:41 and create social disruption and backlash,
0:06:43 we should concentrate on kicking out crooks
0:06:45 who are here illegally.
0:06:49 The sanctuary city, which was originally supported
0:06:54 by tough talking Republicans, including Rudy Giuliani,
0:06:57 was conceived to encourage undocumented immigrants
0:07:00 to participate in American society,
0:07:03 in part so they’d feel safe working with police
0:07:05 to catch the bad guys among them.
0:07:08 That was a good idea, and local authorities
0:07:12 should continue to work with ICE on those kinds of cases,
0:07:15 but not participate in mass deportations.
0:07:19 Congressional Democrats seem to have gotten the memo.
0:07:23 Earlier this week, Senators Ruben Gallego and John Federman
0:07:27 said they would sign on to the Lake and Riley Act,
0:07:29 named for the Georgia nursing student
0:07:33 murdered by an undocumented immigrant last February.
0:07:36 The legislation, which passed in the House,
0:07:38 requires federal authorities to detain
0:07:40 any undocumented immigrant found guilty
0:07:43 of a theft-related crime.
0:07:47 It’s far from perfect, but it is good policy and politics.
0:07:53 It is impossible for the incumbent party to win
0:07:54 when two-thirds of voters believe
0:07:57 the country is headed in the wrong direction.
0:08:01 Inflation and the lack of affordable housing
0:08:04 drove millions of Democrats to vote GOP,
0:08:07 and kept even more of them on the couch.
0:08:11 Democratic messaging on the economy was,
0:08:15 not to put too fine a point on it, really shitty.
0:08:18 We kept telling people that all the economic indicators
0:08:20 were pointing the right way.
0:08:22 Those numbers, though, meant nothing
0:08:26 to people struggling to feed their families.
0:08:28 What we must do now is save them
0:08:30 from the economic disaster headed their way
0:08:34 if Trump’s fiscal plan is implemented.
0:08:36 First, tariffs.
0:08:40 The vast majority of economists and anyone else
0:08:44 who knows how trade works recognize that Trump’s tariffs,
0:08:47 anywhere from 10% to 60% on goods from China,
0:08:51 and 25% on goods from Canada and Mexico,
0:08:53 mean things are going to get more expensive
0:08:57 for already stretched American consumers and businesses.
0:08:59 Higher prices for produce,
0:09:01 higher prices for building supplies,
0:09:04 higher prices for cars, et cetera, et cetera.
0:09:08 But while sweeping tariffs are a terrible idea,
0:09:11 some targeted ones make sense.
0:09:13 President Biden, for instance,
0:09:16 quietly kept the vast majority of Trump’s tariffs on China
0:09:19 and even expanded some.
0:09:21 That tells me there is fertile ground here
0:09:26 for middle position, opposing big dumb tariffs
0:09:28 on our friends while supporting those
0:09:30 that actually protect American workers
0:09:33 from our rival’s unfair trade practices.
0:09:37 Second, taxes.
0:09:42 Trump wants to make his first term tax cuts permanent
0:09:44 through a massive reconciliation bill
0:09:47 to be passed in the first half of 2025.
0:09:51 How will those tax cuts be financed?
0:09:55 By cutting programs that help the average American, of course.
0:09:57 At the same time, Trump’s plan
0:09:59 to lock in tax cuts for rich people
0:10:04 will add $4.6 trillion to the deficit.
0:10:08 The deficit is an abstraction nobody talks about,
0:10:10 except during an election year.
0:10:12 We need to do a better job telling voters
0:10:16 that big deficits contribute to higher costs now
0:10:19 and only swell the huge collective debt
0:10:22 our kids will be on the hook for later.
0:10:26 The deficit is an enormous tax hike on our children.
0:10:31 How should Democrats respond to Trump on taxes?
0:10:33 In a targeted way.
0:10:38 Catchy Trump policies along the lines of no tax on tips,
0:10:41 which opens the door to tax abuse by the wealthy
0:10:43 should be non-starters.
0:10:46 And his proposal to cut the 21% corporate tax rate
0:10:50 to 15% is lunacy, which we should fight.
0:10:53 But we should consider permitting deductions
0:10:55 for auto loan interest and other moves
0:10:58 that would support the middle class.
0:11:00 Everybody thinks they are overtaxed.
0:11:02 Some of us actually are.
0:11:06 On regulation, we need to show we know the difference
0:11:10 between cutting red tape and tossing out necessary protections
0:11:13 for citizens and the environment.
0:11:17 The Supreme Court’s recent Chevron decision
0:11:20 limits the power of regulators.
0:11:22 This should force us to take a closer look
0:11:25 at the regulatory state and pair it back
0:11:27 where that makes sense.
0:11:32 At the same time, we have to hold the line where it doesn’t.
0:11:35 For instance, Trump’s plan to let companies
0:11:38 willing to invest a billion dollars in the U.S.
0:11:41 breeze through environmental permitting.
0:11:44 Forget about any meaningful cuts from Doge
0:11:46 by the way, it has no practical power
0:11:49 and Musk is already admitting he’ll fall short
0:11:51 of his stated goals.
0:11:55 Trump’s stated goal is to cut 10 regulations
0:11:57 for every new one.
0:12:00 Let’s come up with our own cut first.
0:12:02 Burden some regulations on small businesses
0:12:05 and housing development should be our focus.
0:12:08 Check out what’s being done about housing in Austin
0:12:11 or NYC Mayor Adams city of yes proposal
0:12:14 as examples of empowering economic policy.
0:12:21 Republicans have the slimmest house majority since 1917
0:12:23 and GOP budget hawks on the far right
0:12:26 such as Thomas Massey and Ship Roy
0:12:29 are raising hell about spending.
0:12:33 That creates a middle way where moderate Democrats
0:12:36 and Republicans can make sensible budget, tax
0:12:40 and regulatory cuts while protecting key entitlements.
0:12:46 Some places offer more room to compromise than others.
0:12:49 This election cycle put the threats to our healthcare
0:12:53 and reproductive rights into scary focus.
0:12:56 We made a big deal out of these issues during the campaign
0:12:59 and we need to make a bigger deal out of them now.
0:13:04 Over 60% of Americans approve of the Affordable Care Act,
0:13:09 a historic high and 70% of Americans support abortion rights
0:13:10 in the first trimester.
0:13:15 JD Vance’s vague deregulating ACA idea
0:13:20 of putting sicker people into higher risk pools is terrible.
0:13:25 The anti-vax, anti-science movement embodied by RFK Jr.
0:13:28 is frightening and could go far beyond
0:13:30 slashing access to COVID vaccines.
0:13:35 Dr. Mehmet Oz’s support for Medicare Advantage for All
0:13:37 would imperil Medicare as we know it.
0:13:41 The movement in any red states to chip away
0:13:44 at reproductive rights or cancel all access
0:13:48 to abortion outright is intolerable.
0:13:52 We need to fight these people and things as hard as we can.
0:13:56 Fortunately, while Trump talks a big game
0:13:59 about getting rid of Obamacare, all he really wants
0:14:03 and can expect to do is make some trims around the edges.
0:14:08 The proof of that is that despite years of saber rattling,
0:14:12 all he has now, he says, are concepts of a plan
0:14:14 to replace the ACA.
0:14:16 Whatever else he is, he’s not stupid.
0:14:18 Trump knows better than to try to cancel
0:14:21 a profoundly popular program.
0:14:24 With this in mind, Democrats should take the lead
0:14:27 on improving Obamacare by offering proposals
0:14:30 focused on lowering the cost of premiums,
0:14:34 fixing the family glitch, and reducing cost sharing
0:14:36 for new enrollees.
0:14:39 On reproductive freedom, though,
0:14:42 we need to hold the line.
0:14:45 While some states, Arizona, Nevada,
0:14:49 voted both for Trump and for abortion rights,
0:14:52 in others, Louisiana, Texas,
0:14:55 reproductive rights are under sustained attack.
0:14:59 Here I think we should call Republicans bluff.
0:15:02 Democrats should propose legislation
0:15:05 that sets a federal floor for legal abortion,
0:15:07 modeled on the European standard,
0:15:10 permitting abortions during the first 15 weeks
0:15:13 of gestation nationwide.
0:15:16 This approach would codify the national consensus
0:15:20 into federal law, ensuring no state
0:15:23 can restrict abortion access before 15 weeks.
0:15:27 At the same time, liberal-leaning states would remain free
0:15:30 to allow abortion access beyond that point if they want.
0:15:35 Putting such a measure to a vote would force
0:15:39 moderate Republicans to make a public choice.
0:15:42 Will they stand with the majority of Americans
0:15:46 who support abortion in the first trimester,
0:15:49 or with anti-reproductive rights extremists?
0:15:52 I haven’t talked here about climate
0:15:54 or foreign policy or other issues,
0:15:55 not because they’re not important,
0:15:58 but because we need to focus specifically
0:16:01 on the issues voters just told us
0:16:03 were most important to them.
0:16:06 Also, Scott asked me to keep this to around 2,000 words.
0:16:10 Those weighty matters are conversations for another day.
0:16:14 For the record, I’m for expanding the Abraham Accords
0:16:18 and against invading Greenland and Panama.
0:16:20 Mexican President Claudia Scheinbaum
0:16:23 doesn’t need any help renaming large bodies of water.
0:16:28 I have no illusions that any of this is going to be easy.
0:16:30 I also know I’m saying something
0:16:32 a lot of Democrats don’t want to hear.
0:16:35 Along those lines, check out the comments section
0:16:37 for recent New York Times op-ed pieces
0:16:42 by James Carville and Long Island Democrat Tom Swazi.
0:16:43 Some parts of the Upper West’s side
0:16:46 are determined not to learn anything from the election.
0:16:50 If you are searching for signs of hope,
0:16:53 look at the electoral success of Democrats
0:16:54 who subscribe to the kind
0:16:58 of principled pragmatism I’m suggesting.
0:17:00 Governors Josh Shapiro, Gretchen Whitmer
0:17:03 and Jared Polis are the top examples.
0:17:05 Senator Federman gets it.
0:17:07 Representatives Jared Golden
0:17:10 and Kristen McDonald Rivet get it too.
0:17:15 Raging against Trump is a powerful and fun drug.
0:17:17 Many of us have indulged
0:17:19 and will be tempted many times again.
0:17:21 Insert serenity prayer here.
0:17:24 I don’t rule out freakouts,
0:17:28 but let’s try to save them for special occasions.
0:17:30 Getting through the next four years,
0:17:33 minimizing the damage while taking the wins we can get
0:17:36 is going to take calm and discipline.
0:17:39 Our best hope of winning back
0:17:43 disaffected Democratic and independent voters
0:17:46 is to recognize the difference between being right
0:17:48 and being effective.
0:17:52 We’ve spent most of our efforts on the former.
0:17:54 Let’s move to the latter.
0:17:57 It’s time to forget about the donkey
0:17:59 and the elephant for a while.
0:18:02 Jessica.
0:18:07 – Life is so rich.
0:18:09 (gentle music)
0:18:12 (gentle music)
0:18:16 (gentle music)
0:18:26 [BLANK_AUDIO]
By Jessica Tarlov, as read by George Hahn.
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