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0:02:07 Welcome to Raging Moderates.
0:02:08 I’m Scott Galloway.
0:02:09 And I’m Jessica Tarlov.
0:02:11 Oh, Jess.
0:02:13 Jess, Jess, Jess, Jess, Jess, Jess.
0:02:13 Oh, Scott.
0:02:19 I just made a bunch of, like, incredibly racist and homophobic jokes off mic.
0:02:20 I was here.
0:02:22 Yeah, yeah.
0:02:23 It wasn’t that bad.
0:02:25 I don’t want people to, like, try to find it.
0:02:25 How bad was it, David?
0:02:26 We have to bring the producer.
0:02:27 How bad, David?
0:02:31 Exhibit 24 in the lawsuit.
0:02:34 I think that’s going to hurt your chances if you’re going to run for president.
0:02:36 Yeah, I think you’re right.
0:02:37 I think you’re right.
0:02:38 Sorry to the tribe.
0:02:39 I think you’re right.
0:02:40 Everyone will be devastated.
0:02:40 Yeah.
0:02:41 There you go.
0:02:42 I’m off.
0:02:44 Even on the Cialis ticket.
0:02:46 I don’t know.
0:02:50 The Cialis ticket is a totally different world that I am thankfully not yet familiar with.
0:02:52 Give us 10 years, I guess.
0:02:56 Your husband’s familiar with it before you know you’re familiar with it.
0:02:58 Oh, is that going to be, like, the discovery?
0:03:01 Because the girls go through all of our drawers and they’ll just be like, what’s this?
0:03:05 Let me just give you a little 4-1-1 that we start taking it.
0:03:07 It’s not a group decision that we start.
0:03:12 Do you just let us know once you think you’re having a heart attack and you’re like, by the
0:03:15 way, I’ve been taking tons of dick drugs?
0:03:18 We let you know in other ways that are more implicit.
0:03:21 But, yeah, no, trust me on this.
0:03:22 It’s usually not a group family.
0:03:24 It’s not like a family meeting.
0:03:29 Dad, sex with dad is like a taffy pole right now.
0:03:30 So we had a family meeting.
0:03:32 And what do you think a dad would take?
0:03:35 Why does that make me happy?
0:03:39 Well, we have to get to talking about affordability.
0:03:44 But I will say I remember my parents telling me this is not about their sex life, but they
0:03:49 were driving, you know, they were at Oregon to California a lot and they were driving and
0:03:54 listening to a local Oregon radio host who was talking, taking callers.
0:03:59 And a guy called in and he said, like, our sex life is terrible.
0:04:01 He was like in his late 60s.
0:04:04 I think at this point he said, I just I roll it in.
0:04:06 And my parents laughed.
0:04:08 Roll it in.
0:04:10 Well, you said it’s like a taffy pole.
0:04:12 Isn’t that like eventually what you have to do?
0:04:13 Yeah.
0:04:13 Gross.
0:04:14 Those things are.
0:04:16 Those things?
0:04:17 Older penises?
0:04:18 It’s coming.
0:04:19 It’s coming for all of us.
0:04:20 OK.
0:04:21 David’s back.
0:04:21 Go.
0:04:22 Let’s get into it.
0:04:22 Affordability.
0:04:28 Today we’re discussing Trump’s continued spin on the affordability crisis, how women are
0:04:31 treated in the GOP, and we’ll check in on the Texas Senate race.
0:04:33 All right, let’s get into it.
0:04:36 President Trump is launching a nationwide affordability blitz with a major speech in
0:04:40 Pennsylvania touting falling gas prices and arguing his tariffs will ultimately help the
0:04:40 middle class.
0:04:43 But he’s doing this as key indicators move the other way.
0:04:45 Consumer sentiment is down sharply.
0:04:50 Retailers won prices will rise in January once inventories run out and layoffs have already
0:04:53 topped 1.1 million this year with small businesses hit hardest.
0:04:57 Despite calling affordability concerns a hoax, the White House is scrambling to show
0:05:04 action, opening a price-fixing probe into imported food and rolling out a $12 billion bailout
0:05:05 for farmers hurt by Trump’s own tariffs.
0:05:09 All of this lands just as the Fed weighs another rate cut.
0:05:11 Health care adds even more pressure.
0:05:15 Senate Republicans remain split on how to counter Democrats three-year extension of ACA subsidies,
0:05:20 floating options from HSA-based aid to a trim two-year extension.
0:05:23 But none are expected to reach the floor before Thursday’s vote.
0:05:29 Democrats say their clean extension is the only way to prevent premium hikes.
0:05:34 Trump promised lower prices, but tariffs, Medicaid cuts, and rising health care costs have
0:05:40 left him playing defense and scrambling to sell an economy many Americans say still feels really
0:05:41 unaffordable.
0:05:44 Jess, is affordability a hoax?
0:05:50 How does the White House square that circle with the decline in sentiment, rising layoffs, and looming price
0:05:50 hikes?
0:05:57 Promises made, promises beyond broken.
0:06:03 I am always shocked by the level of spin that people like Kevin Hassett have to bring out.
0:06:08 I mean, to their credit, they still do these interviews and show up on like CNBC and really
0:06:09 get pushed.
0:06:11 But it’s getting embarrassing at this point.
0:06:19 And I think I’ve mentioned to you this before, but watching Republicans very much do the same
0:06:25 things that Democrats did when they were defending an economy that average Americans were screaming
0:06:30 from the rooftops as not working for them is the height of stupidity.
0:06:36 And there’s no, you know, like when you’re teaching your kids math and the teachers are
0:06:38 always saying, like, show your work, show your work.
0:06:40 I feel like nobody is showing their work.
0:06:44 They’re just telling us, well, the tariffs are going to be a huge boon to the American economy.
0:06:46 When?
0:06:47 How?
0:06:47 Why?
0:06:52 If so, why are you rolling back all of them and then saying that that’s the relief?
0:06:58 Like this $12 billion bailout for the farmers that’s coming from the quote unquote tariff pot,
0:07:02 which the amount that’s in that changes on a daily basis by like trillions of dollars.
0:07:04 But everybody knows what that is.
0:07:12 And the farmers themselves being interviewed on every channel saying, we don’t want a bailout.
0:07:14 We want work, right?
0:07:19 We want to have markets for our products, which the administration is sapping.
0:07:25 You know, I’m curious as to whether you’re seeing bright spots that I’m missing.
0:07:29 And I’m conscious of the fact that it’s very hard for me to remove my partisan hat.
0:07:33 And I’m always looking for things that I can use on the five, which are usually negative
0:07:34 about Donald Trump.
0:07:39 But I’m looking at this like 70 percent of Americans say they’re spending more money on groceries
0:07:40 compared to last year.
0:07:42 Sixty percent more on utilities.
0:07:45 Forty percent more on health care, housing, gasoline.
0:07:46 Cost of living issue.
0:07:47 Number one is housing.
0:07:53 Satisfaction with housing dropped from 69 percent to 36 percent over the course of the year.
0:07:54 U.S.
0:07:56 Manufacturing contracted for nine straight months.
0:07:59 China now trillion dollar trade surplus.
0:08:05 And Trump gives the green light to sell the NVIDIA chips to them, which will put them at huge
0:08:06 computing advantage.
0:08:08 And of course, the government is getting a kickback from that.
0:08:12 Like the farmers, I want trade, not aid.
0:08:16 What am I missing besides a stock market that’s obviously been propped up by is a magnificent
0:08:17 seven or 10?
0:08:20 I feel like you go between between the two.
0:08:24 But is there something that I am not getting about what’s going on here in the economy?
0:08:30 I don’t think so, other than people would argue that the economy churns on despite how just
0:08:33 bass-ackward our economic policies have been at a macro level.
0:08:34 How is that possible?
0:08:35 Like, why?
0:08:36 How?
0:08:37 Because the American economy is just incredible.
0:08:40 And people get up every day and innovate and do incredible things.
0:08:47 And the S&P is up 12 percent because of the AI boom, 13 or 14 percent, which I think is
0:08:48 going to unwind.
0:08:51 And it’s become dangerously concentrated around 10 companies.
0:08:56 And I think China is going to engage in AI dumping to take the entire economy down.
0:08:59 But moving back to affordability, look, you always have to ask yourself with this stuff,
0:09:04 the tendency for experts in the media is to catastrophize because you sound smarter.
0:09:05 And I’m falling into the same thing.
0:09:07 And you always need to ask yourself what could go right.
0:09:11 Having said that, I don’t think you’re missing much here.
0:09:16 I’m shocked the economy isn’t worse, given how just stupid these policies have been and
0:09:19 the fact that every nation in the world is trying to reroute their supply chain around
0:09:26 ours, raising our costs, a sclerotic economic policy that no one knows how to even respond,
0:09:30 ridiculous tariffs that then bail out farmers.
0:09:35 Well, maybe we just shouldn’t have the tariffs to begin with, trade wars that alienate our partners
0:09:41 and massively decrease prosperity because we gain more shareholder value from shipping or
0:09:44 exporting NVIDIA chips and importing low-margin products.
0:09:46 That accretes to us, benefit to us.
0:09:49 So it doesn’t make any sense.
0:09:54 The thing that’s so surprising is how the American economy just grinds on, that so many people
0:10:01 get up every morning and innovate and apply new technologies and new ways of doing business
0:10:05 and work hard, and the economy just continues to grind on.
0:10:10 But if he was serious about affordability, there’s just absolutely no case for tariffs making shit
0:10:15 more affordable. It can protect nascent industries. You can protect employment in certain industries,
0:10:20 I would say, only over the short run. Eventually, everyone has to hold their feet to the flames of
0:10:25 global innovation. And when we have free trade, it naturally accretes to us because Americans are
0:10:30 just very good at what we do. And you should let low-margin businesses go away in exchange for
0:10:34 services and innovation businesses. But if they were really serious about affordability, and this is
0:10:39 what I can’t stand about the Democratic Party, is we’ll spend a lot of time talking about how fucked up the
0:10:42 economy is going to offer no solutions around affordability. If you want to get serious about
0:10:48 affordability, one, you have to go after the biggest increase in CPI, which is housing,
0:10:54 8 to 10 million houses in 10 years, tax credits that unleash private development, get rid of NIMBY laws
0:10:58 and replace them with the NIMBY laws, manufacturing homes, take the tariffs off China, get some incredible
0:11:04 innovation around new construction that lowers the cost by 50 or 60 percent, government-backed loans for
0:11:07 people under the age of 40 and give people psychological and material well-being, being
0:11:13 vis-a-vis much greater supply and housing, which will bring down costs. Rent freezes and price
0:11:18 controls don’t work. Sorry, Mom Donnie, that’s just fucking stupid. It decreases supply and increases
0:11:24 housing costs. Two, it’s time to nationalize medicine. That’s the other CPI that’s accelerated.
0:11:32 twice the cost of the other G6, lower outcomes, worse outcomes, lower Medicare eligibility by two to three
0:11:38 years every year for 10 years, takedown costs 25 percent, even though they could come down 50 percent.
0:11:44 That massively increases affordability. And then the third thing that has accelerated faster than
0:11:50 inflation has been education. You should tie tuition to income. Specifically, a kid coming from an upper
0:11:56 income home pays full freight. A kid coming from a lower income home pays massively less in tuition.
0:12:00 And if you have an endowment over a billion dollars, you’re not growing a freshman class size
0:12:05 faster than population growth. You’ve decided you’re no longer a public servant, but a fucking Chanel bag,
0:12:11 and you should lose your tax-free status. And we could dramatically lower education costs. And then
0:12:19 finally, we need massive, massive antitrust. Big chicken, big ag, big streaming now. Netflix should not be
0:12:26 allowed to buy HBO. The streamers have increased their prices 13 percent over the last 12 months as that
0:12:33 industry is consolidating. It’s pretty simple. If you have more competition, you have a reverse of the
0:12:39 rivers of the last 40 years, which have leaked power leverage and economic value from consumers and workers
0:12:46 and labor to shareholders. The rivers need to reverse for a little bit. So if we’re really going to have an
0:12:50 adult conversation around affordability, let’s have an adult conversation. The problem is it’s boring
0:12:55 shit that will take years, if not decades. And the Democrats don’t seem to have the firepower or the
0:13:01 intellectual honesty to talk about this shit. And Republicans want to propose programs that are
0:13:04 totally inflationary. Anyways, that’s my TED Talk.
0:13:13 I’m glad that I came to your TED Talk. No, it’s a point of frustration because, and we were just
0:13:19 talking about this with Senator Gallego’s interview is up on our YouTube channel, which you should go and
0:13:24 check it out and subscribe, obviously. But that, you know, we’re just band-aiding everything all the
0:13:33 time versus really latching on to a pro-growth innovative agenda where we say we’re not just
0:13:39 going to clean up the mess because cleaning up the mess is actually still messy. Like the baseline level,
0:13:44 like with Obamacare, which I think is the most obvious answer to all of this, like Obamacare needs
0:13:49 help. You need an extension of the ACA subsidy so people’s premiums don’t go up 400 percent or whatever
0:13:56 starting January 1st. But like the program itself is a problem. I wanted to ask you, though, about,
0:14:04 you know, I’m sure you saw that we are got no jobs report, no GDP report, and now no inflation report.
0:14:10 So we’re never going to see a number out of this government again. The ADP numbers came out negative
0:14:17 32,000 jobs lost. Small businesses shed 120,000 jobs. Joe Kernan was going crazy about that on CNBC.
0:14:26 But what is the impact of not having the official numbers on the economy and also investment from
0:14:31 abroad or how the global economy works? Because I understand, like, from a political level, like,
0:14:36 you know, what that means. And it clearly shows that they’re hiding something and it’s something to
0:14:43 harp on. But what are the real world implications of not having good data around what’s going on in our
0:14:47 economy? When you’re trying to land a 747, you’re trying to land a,
0:14:55 you know, several hundred ton piece of equipment on a hard surface while flying, you know, 170 miles an
0:15:02 hour. And when you don’t have data, as we don’t, we’re trying to land a $25 trillion economy on a
0:15:08 hard surface without instruments. We don’t know what’s going on. And we’ve become China, except China’s
0:15:11 smarter than us. They actually have the data internally. They just don’t want to release it
0:15:16 publicly because they’re worried it’ll make the CCP look bad. This is what Russia does. Russia
0:15:22 totally bastardizes and perverts its data and they can’t plan their economy as well. So an absence of
0:15:27 data is just, again, this very dangerous sort of let’s not trust the experts movement. Let’s go to
0:15:32 our Ouija boards and our horoscopes and our instincts and what makes us feel good and what gets the most likes
0:15:39 on Instagram as opposed to actual fucking truth as evidenced by data. So this is incredibly damning.
0:15:43 We’re flying blind. We don’t know what the actual numbers are. The difference between America and
0:15:48 China, though, is that there will be a bunch of private sector companies that use different means
0:15:52 of taking the temperature of the economy to come out with their own data streams. If I was starting a
0:15:55 business right now, I would probably get into the business of economic forecasting
0:16:01 and fill this vacuum that used to be filled by these incredible economists at the Fed.
0:16:08 But this is just stupid. This is just like Trotsky being erased from photos because we don’t like what
0:16:14 he represented. This makes it much more difficult to plan for the Fed to decide, for companies to decide
0:16:19 what to do, what the right interest rate policy is, what the right economic policy is, for voters to hold
0:16:26 elected officials accountable. So this is just, oh, I don’t I don’t like that I have high blood
0:16:30 pressure and I don’t want anyone to not think that I’m healthy. So I’m going to stop taking my blood
0:16:35 pressure and just see what happens. This this leads to an economy that’s much more prone to stroke.
0:16:40 Yeah. Well, that’s kind of what happened with COVID. Right. Everyone just stopped testing and it was
0:16:45 like, oh, there’s no more COVID. But you had it. It wasn’t actually a common cold.
0:16:51 I want to before we move on to the next section, I want to get your take on the health care vote.
0:16:57 There’s going to be a vote on the ACA extensions. John Thun promised it. The Democrats are putting up
0:17:04 a clean three year extension bill that is going to fail. There are some outspoken Republicans like Josh
0:17:09 Hawley saying, you know, Republicans better offer something. You have a couple of proposals. Bernie
0:17:14 Moreno and Susan Collins have a bill that has an income cap at 200K, but also includes a two year
0:17:20 extension of the Obamacare subsidies. Democratic Durbin has said that he’s interested in it, that he
0:17:25 might want to change one or two provisions, but he’s encouraged. Mike Crepo and Bill Cassidy have a bill.
0:17:30 Senator Roger Marshall, also a Republican, has a bill. Those two don’t seem to have the Obamacare
0:17:36 subsidy extension. We have heard nothing from the House at this point of what they would offer.
0:17:42 What do you think happens? It feels like we’re just moving towards the Obamacare subsidies going away
0:17:45 and people are going to be hit by those premium hikes.
0:17:49 I’m going to ask you for real insight into an on the ground domain expertise here because I don’t
0:17:55 have it, but I do have a Senator Thune story. I was in Nantucket and I met Senator Thune. I think
0:17:59 that’s the whitest thing I’ve ever said. I was in Nantucket and I met Senator Thune. He was walking
0:18:04 out with his wife and I recognized him and I said, Senator Thune, thank you for your service. And he and his
0:18:09 wife came over and introduced themselves to my family. He’s very handsome.
0:18:11 Oh my God. Right. It’s overwhelming.
0:18:12 He’s very handsome.
0:18:12 Yeah.
0:18:18 Very tall. Very handsome. His wife is very attractive. They look like they should be in the White
0:18:22 House. So I like him just for those broad shoulders.
0:18:23 He’s aesthetically pleasing.
0:18:23 Yeah.
0:18:25 Politically displeasing.
0:18:25 Yeah.
0:18:26 Effective though.
0:18:27 Very, very handsome.
0:18:28 I don’t…
0:18:28 Yeah.
0:18:28 But I kind of…
0:18:29 I have a similar story.
0:18:34 I’m a little bit encouraged that he’s keeping to his word and bringing the vote up. But anyways,
0:18:35 that’s the extent of my knowledge on the film.
0:18:41 So that he can vote against it. But yes, I don’t think that he is a liar like a Mike
0:18:47 Johnson. I don’t think that. And usually, I think more or less… I don’t know if I’m
0:18:53 going to regret this because Mitch McConnell, it’s a difficult way to gauge the quality of the
0:18:57 character because he has let us down so many times. But I expect more from senators than
0:19:04 I do of Congress people. And more often than not, I get that. But I also have a Senator
0:19:11 Thune story. I was at the RNC. It was my first day back from maternity leave, summer 2024.
0:19:16 And he came right up to me. He was like waiting to do a Fox hit. And, you know, we had a big…
0:19:22 I think we did a remote segment for Prof G… for the Prof G pod before waging moderates was
0:19:26 a thing from there. So you saw, like, you know, we had desk space and everybody who’s in the Fox
0:19:32 orbit is walking around. It’s hair and makeup. It’s on air contributors, producers, tech directors,
0:19:36 et cetera. He came right up to me and he said, you know, I wanted to say hello. You do such a great job.
0:19:43 And I thought that that was so nice. And not everybody behaves that way. There are Republicans
0:19:52 who avoid me like the plague when they see me in a social situation. And Thune beelined and was
0:19:57 delightful and also very, very handsome. I think that the premium hikes are going to go through.
0:20:03 I think that it’s just… It’s like too little too late to be bringing up your bill that’s going to
0:20:10 require some degree of negotiation, at least, at the proverbial 11th hour. And that’s really
0:20:15 frustrating to me. I’m glad that Dick Durbin is saying that he has, you know, interest in working,
0:20:23 negotiating about one of these bills. But ultimately, Republicans have been trying to get to their goal
0:20:29 of repealing and replacing Obamacare as long as Obamacare has existed and still have never brought
0:20:36 anything decent that speaks to the way that Americans want their health care delivered since
0:20:42 they’ve been playing this game. And it’s going to really suck. Putting my partisan political hat on
0:20:47 could be a net advantage for Democrats because we’ll get to own this issue that Republicans
0:20:52 literally don’t care about your health care. They’re taking Medicaid away from millions of people with the
0:20:57 big, beautiful bill. Your premium spiked because of Republicans. And we were the ones that were,
0:21:03 you know, trying to get the subsidies extended. But like always, I wish Washington just functioned
0:21:07 better. But I’m going to have to get over that. Okay, let’s take a quick break. Stay with us.
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0:23:36 Welcome back. South Carolina Republican Nancy Mace is taking direct aim at her own party’s leadership,
0:23:40 accusing Speaker Mike Johnson and top GOP brass of sign-lining rank-and-file members,
0:23:45 especially women. In a sharply worded New York Times op-ed, May says Republicans are
0:23:50 petrified of losing power, too timid to deliver for their base, and far less effective than Democrats
0:23:56 under Nancy Pelosi. She warns that unless the GOP starts governing boldly on the border, affordability,
0:24:01 health care, and public safety, they’ll lose their majority, and deservedly so. Jess,
0:24:05 it’s just so fucking ridiculous. If anything, they’ve been too bold. They’ve been reckless. Jess,
0:24:12 what does the situation say about women in the GOP? I mean, too little, too late, right? I mean,
0:24:17 there’s no surprises in this. It’s just that she’s saying it out loud and in the pages of the New York
0:24:23 Times, which is a very intentional place to put this op-ed. It’s not in the journal, right? It’s in
0:24:29 like the Gray Lady, right? Which we wake up, you know, and immediately go over to check what’s going on,
0:24:35 pop on the daily, whatever it is. So obviously, she meant to do it in this way. But, you know,
0:24:41 she’s bucking leadership because she got pushed too far that Epstein and Marjorie Taylor Greene is in this
0:24:47 bucket as well. But also, you know, she’s running for governor in South Carolina. And, you know,
0:24:53 I think that she needs to show some sort of maverickism to her and that also she is interested
0:24:58 in the business of governing because the crux of her piece and the argument that she’s making
0:25:03 is that it’s this full-bodied criticism of the way that Congress functions, that it’s all about power
0:25:08 and closed-door jockeying. If you’re not in a position of power, so if you’re just a rank-and-file
0:25:14 congressperson, you know, you’re a complete afterthought, if a thought at all. And she’s
0:25:20 been getting a front-row seat to that. She doesn’t really matter to leadership to Mike Johnson. There
0:25:25 was a stat in there that only 5% of the bills introduced this year have seen a floor vote.
0:25:30 They took months off, right? Mike Johnson ran away from being at work because he didn’t want to deal
0:25:37 with the Epstein files and the discharge petition. And, you know, they don’t accomplish anything. It’s
0:25:42 going to be the biggest do-nothing Congress in American history. I like that she shouted out Nancy
0:25:48 Pelosi, though, and how effective she is because I feel like around Pelosi’s retirement that some
0:25:53 Republicans obviously, you know, spoke to how good she was at doing the job, but not nearly enough
0:26:01 because you do know that they all respect what an amazing power broker she was and continues to be,
0:26:07 even not in leadership. And Marjorie Taylor Greene, did you watch her on 60 Minutes or see clips of it?
0:26:15 Yeah, I did. I felt like I was watching an arsonist lecture us on fire safety. I just think it’s so
0:26:21 ridiculous that she has the gumption to pretend to be a moderate. She’s not doing it for any other reason
0:26:29 than to try and stage a political comeback. I just can’t wait for her to exit stage right, stage left, stage
0:26:31 get the fuck off the stage. Good riddance.
0:26:40 So you liked it. I think that this, I don’t, the numbers are always inflated when people get into
0:26:46 these fantasy lands being like 20 Republicans are going to retire, you know, before the midterms. And
0:26:52 I don’t think it would get as high as that, but it does feel like there is a vibe shift going on where
0:26:58 Donald Trump is already a lame duck. I mean, he still feels like he’s wreaking incredible
0:27:06 amounts of havoc, but still a lame duck. And if they’re not bringing any legislation to the floor,
0:27:11 if they essentially won’t let people even work with Democrats, that it makes sense that Republicans are
0:27:16 saying, like, what’s the point in even sitting here? I should get a head start on my big consulting
0:27:22 career or my K-street career or spend some time with my grandkids rather than sit around. And,
0:27:26 you know, I don’t think Hakeem Jeffries is going to become Speaker of the House before the midterms,
0:27:31 but it does feel like the right is in a bit of disarray.
0:27:36 There you go. All right. And also just the one thing I’m obsessed with these prediction markets,
0:27:42 Kalshi says that there’s a 65% chance that Johnson is out as Speaker of the House before the midterms.
0:27:43 Oh, really? That high?
0:27:48 Well, and these things are fascinating because they do leverage the wisdom of crowds and they
0:27:53 have a tendency to be right or go where the odds are. But yeah, two-thirds chance that,
0:27:56 according to Kalshi, that Johnson is out as Speaker of the House before the midterms.
0:27:59 Okay, let’s take a quick break. Stay with us.
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0:30:17 All right. Welcome back. Before we go, the political spotlight in Texas has swung hard towards
0:30:23 2026, where an unexpected Democratic showdown is reshaping the state’s marquee Senate race.
0:30:27 Friend of the podcast, James Tallarico, the former school teacher turned to Austin State Legislature,
0:30:33 known for his cross-party appeal, is now facing off against Dallas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett,
0:30:37 whose national profile and progressive firepower have vaulted her to the front of the field.
0:30:43 The matchup emerged after a chaotic filing day that saw Colin Allred, last cycle Senate nominee,
0:30:46 abruptly exit the race and jump into a newly drawn House district,
0:30:50 clearing the lane and effectively setting up a Tallarico-Crockett duel.
0:30:54 Early polling gives Crockett a plurality among likely Democratic voters,
0:30:58 but some analysts argue Tallarico may be the stronger general election contender
0:31:02 in a state where Democrats haven’t won statewide since 1994.
0:31:06 Jess, your thoughts on this race and Crockett entering the race?
0:31:09 I wasn’t thrilled about it.
0:31:09 Really?
0:31:12 You know, it’s different.
0:31:17 A Senate race is always going to be nationalized versus a congressional race,
0:31:20 but we just saw in that special election in Tennessee’s 7th District
0:31:26 that the Democrat, who got within single digits in a Trump-plus-22 district,
0:31:28 it was still a massive overperformance.
0:31:35 But once that race became nationalized, I think the Democrat did worse.
0:31:39 And Jasmine Crockett, who we would love to have on the podcast,
0:31:42 I should know that we have tried, we will continue to try,
0:31:47 has an enormous national profile, and she’s one of those people,
0:31:53 because she’s so outspoken and she’s so in the crosshairs with Trump and the administration
0:31:56 and, you know, right-wing cable news pundits, etc.,
0:32:05 that I think there is a way to make the party seem more like a left-wing caricature
0:32:09 than kind of like moderate get-shit-done caucus.
0:32:13 And that’s, that causes more of an uphill battle.
0:32:15 It takes more money to fight those races,
0:32:20 and it makes my life harder on the five, which is a problem.
0:32:22 Now, I’m not saying this about necessarily her politics.
0:32:25 I know people who know her very well.
0:32:27 Apparently she’s quite a moderate person.
0:32:30 But, you know, watching her launch video,
0:32:33 which was just her standing there for about 30 seconds
0:32:35 listening to Donald Trump talk shit about her,
0:32:37 and then she turns to face this camera,
0:32:39 and, you know, she’s a beautiful woman.
0:32:42 It’s a stark image.
0:32:44 And then she has this great grin at the end
0:32:47 before it announces, you know, Crockett for Senate.
0:32:51 I found myself thinking, like, where is Texas mentioned in this?
0:32:52 What about Texas issues?
0:32:53 What about your story?
0:32:55 You know, your civil rights attorney.
0:32:57 Like, tell us who you are
0:33:00 and why you’re fighting for this community.
0:33:02 Like, this is the affordability election.
0:33:07 Like, let’s talk about what’s happened to everyday Texans, right?
0:33:09 Like, let’s talk about what’s going on the border, whatever it is.
0:33:12 And that, to me, just sent up this flair
0:33:17 that we are about to have, like, an ugly Donald Trump-centric race.
0:33:21 And it feels like the opportunity is to put your head down
0:33:25 and fight for the people that have been let down by that guy
0:33:28 and are open to the idea of somebody else swooping in
0:33:30 to help make their lives better.
0:33:32 So, what are your thoughts?
0:33:36 I’ve often said that the war between Iraq and Iran
0:33:38 or the war between Musk and Trump,
0:33:40 that I hope the bullets win.
0:33:44 And this is the exact opposite of that.
0:33:47 I love both these people.
0:33:52 I think Tallarico’s ability to incorporate faith into public policy
0:33:55 is just really elegant and powerful.
0:33:56 when I say that as an atheist.
0:33:59 Representative Crockett is a hero of mine.
0:34:00 I think she’s fantastic.
0:34:06 I just think she’s courageous, compelling, unafraid, smart.
0:34:09 I just think she’s outstanding.
0:34:12 And I gave Tallarico some money.
0:34:14 I’m going to give Crockett some money.
0:34:16 By the way, one of the things I love about this podcast
0:34:18 is it makes, it’s a chance for me to both virtue signal
0:34:19 and be very efficient.
0:34:21 Well, you don’t have other platforms to do that either, so.
0:34:22 Just this one.
0:34:25 Trust me, the virtue signaling knows no end, Jess.
0:34:28 But anyone from the Crockett campaign,
0:34:29 I’ve already given money to Tallarico.
0:34:31 Anyone from the Crockett campaign, reach out to me.
0:34:32 I’m going to give you some money.
0:34:35 And I just love both these candidates.
0:34:37 And it’s sort of, I guess it makes no sense
0:34:37 I’m giving money to both.
0:34:40 It’s like that Larry David show where he finds-
0:34:42 You’re encouraging both your Democratic children.
0:34:45 There you go, but young people.
0:34:47 I want to bring more attention to young rising stars
0:34:48 in the Democratic Party.
0:34:51 I absolutely love both of them.
0:34:54 I would personally, you might argue that Tallarico
0:34:56 would do better in general.
0:34:58 I think she’s just a force.
0:34:59 And I would love to see,
0:35:03 I would just love to see her as a senator from Texas.
0:35:05 I think that would send such a wonderful signal.
0:35:08 I also don’t think Texas is as conservative as people think.
0:35:11 But having said that, I only go to South by Southwest.
0:35:12 That’s the bigger question here.
0:35:15 Like, we have spent hundreds of millions of dollars
0:35:19 trying to turn Texas blue and failed miserably.
0:35:20 It hasn’t worked, yeah.
0:35:21 And I don’t know if Colin Allred,
0:35:24 who’s now going to run for a congressional seat,
0:35:26 and that’s going to be an ugly primary,
0:35:29 because he is, you know, Texas’s map,
0:35:31 the newly re-jawed, the cheater map,
0:35:33 was upheld by the Supreme Court.
0:35:35 So everything has gotten scrambled.
0:35:40 So Jasmine Crockett, who’s usually in a very blue, safe Dallas seat,
0:35:44 I think she won by a 69.8% margin or something like that.
0:35:45 Yeah.
0:35:48 You know, I was going to have her seat messed with.
0:35:51 Colin Allred is now jumping into the 33rd.
0:35:53 Someone named Julie Johnson is in there.
0:35:55 I mean, she had a pretty fierce statement
0:35:57 when Allred announced this.
0:35:58 She said,
0:36:00 women should never be treated as placeholders
0:36:02 for men who fail to advance.
0:36:06 You know, it is going to be ugly in Texas
0:36:09 as people are jockeying to find a seat for themselves.
0:36:14 And, you know, I think that Crockett is going to show off,
0:36:19 like, fight and grit that I think is really important for the party.
0:36:25 I just want to be very careful about the territory that you’re running in.
0:36:29 You know, Texas is not a blue place.
0:36:32 It’s like, on an amazing day, it’s purplish, right?
0:36:33 And it’s usually red.
0:36:34 And on the right…
0:36:35 Fair comment.
0:36:38 On the right, they’re having a bruising primary, too.
0:36:41 So John Cornyn, who’s, like, the normie senator,
0:36:46 is being challenged by the A.G. Ken Paxton,
0:36:48 who, you know, he was impeached.
0:36:50 The Senate didn’t, you know, voted to acquit him.
0:36:55 Bribery, an affair, like, his wife put in that all out there,
0:36:56 that he’s a cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater.
0:37:01 And then Wes Hunt is also in that primary.
0:37:04 And looking at the reactions from the Republican side
0:37:06 about how excited they were that Crockett was getting in
0:37:08 always sends up a bit of a flare.
0:37:10 Now, they were going to say that no matter what.
0:37:13 And who knows what it looks like in 26.
0:37:18 Maybe, you know, the bold, loud, progressive is the way forward.
0:37:19 But I’m a little scared.
0:37:21 I feel like we need a tiebreaker here.
0:37:26 I think you’re slightly more towards Tallarico as the pollster in you comes out
0:37:28 and the pragmatist, which is usually my role.
0:37:29 And I’m a little bit more like…
0:37:31 You fall in love.
0:37:32 The world is what we make of it.
0:37:37 And we need courageous young, more courageous young women in the Senate.
0:37:39 Let’s bring in our producer, David.
0:37:40 David, you’re the tiebreaker.
0:37:41 What do you think?
0:37:42 I love Crockett.
0:37:47 I think she’s one of the best voices the Democratic Party has.
0:37:52 But that announcement video was not affordability focused, which is the whole game.
0:37:55 But it’s going to be good.
0:37:56 I mean, competition is good.
0:38:00 Tallarico said that, you know, like that he welcomes her into the race.
0:38:01 We’ll treat her with the utmost respect.
0:38:03 The primary, I think, is March 3rd.
0:38:08 So this isn’t going to go on forever by any means.
0:38:13 But you always have to keep in mind, and yes, pragmatist, pollster, all of it, the primary
0:38:17 electorate is different than the general electorate.
0:38:23 And I hope that AOC was asked about Crockett getting in.
0:38:26 And she said something like, we’ve got to run the right people in the right races, which
0:38:30 A, you go, girl, AOC, that you’re looking towards higher office, right?
0:38:32 And the way to talk about these things.
0:38:37 But it is the most important lesson that we’re even learning in 2025.
0:38:43 Mom Donnie for New York City, Abigail Spanberger for Virginia, Mikey Sherrill for New Jersey,
0:38:49 like all of the Virginia House of Delegates folks that Don Scott, the Speaker, got in order.
0:38:51 It’s all the right person for the right race.
0:38:53 We want to win the big one.
0:38:54 You don’t want to just win a primary.
0:38:55 Like you want to win a general.
0:39:00 Well, I would offer that if and when you and I disagree that the good money is to defer
0:39:03 it to you because you you kind of do this for a living, right?
0:39:04 Polling.
0:39:05 I mean, kind of.
0:39:06 Yeah.
0:39:08 I just I hate that.
0:39:13 I just it would be like watching your parents fight to see these two in a primary against
0:39:13 each other.
0:39:14 I think they’re both so good.
0:39:19 But but it’ll be interesting to see them up against each other.
0:39:21 I mean, you might feel differently.
0:39:23 Someone might steal your heart in a bigger way.
0:39:27 But either way, I feel like all of the things that we talk about and all the people that
0:39:33 we have on gives us a very positive outlook for the future of the party, you know, where
0:39:37 it felt super bleak, like we got nobody, like we got a lot of people.
0:39:38 These two are outstanding.
0:39:39 Outstanding.
0:39:41 I just hear that.
0:39:41 Jasmine.
0:39:43 Outstanding.
0:39:44 Come on the show.
0:39:44 Yeah.
0:39:45 Come on the show.
0:39:49 But first, have someone from your campaign call me because for money, take my money,
0:39:49 please.
0:39:50 All right.
0:39:53 Before we go, if you’re watching us on YouTube, make sure you hit subscribe.
0:39:55 That’s all for this episode.
0:39:56 Thank you for listening to Raging Moderates.
0:39:57 Have a good week, Jess.
0:39:58 Yeah, you too.
0:39:59 See you later.
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0:02:07 Welcome to Raging Moderates.
0:02:08 I’m Scott Galloway.
0:02:09 And I’m Jessica Tarlov.
0:02:11 Oh, Jess.
0:02:13 Jess, Jess, Jess, Jess, Jess, Jess.
0:02:13 Oh, Scott.
0:02:19 I just made a bunch of, like, incredibly racist and homophobic jokes off mic.
0:02:20 I was here.
0:02:22 Yeah, yeah.
0:02:23 It wasn’t that bad.
0:02:25 I don’t want people to, like, try to find it.
0:02:25 How bad was it, David?
0:02:26 We have to bring the producer.
0:02:27 How bad, David?
0:02:31 Exhibit 24 in the lawsuit.
0:02:34 I think that’s going to hurt your chances if you’re going to run for president.
0:02:36 Yeah, I think you’re right.
0:02:37 I think you’re right.
0:02:38 Sorry to the tribe.
0:02:39 I think you’re right.
0:02:40 Everyone will be devastated.
0:02:40 Yeah.
0:02:41 There you go.
0:02:42 I’m off.
0:02:44 Even on the Cialis ticket.
0:02:46 I don’t know.
0:02:50 The Cialis ticket is a totally different world that I am thankfully not yet familiar with.
0:02:52 Give us 10 years, I guess.
0:02:56 Your husband’s familiar with it before you know you’re familiar with it.
0:02:58 Oh, is that going to be, like, the discovery?
0:03:01 Because the girls go through all of our drawers and they’ll just be like, what’s this?
0:03:05 Let me just give you a little 4-1-1 that we start taking it.
0:03:07 It’s not a group decision that we start.
0:03:12 Do you just let us know once you think you’re having a heart attack and you’re like, by the
0:03:15 way, I’ve been taking tons of dick drugs?
0:03:18 We let you know in other ways that are more implicit.
0:03:21 But, yeah, no, trust me on this.
0:03:22 It’s usually not a group family.
0:03:24 It’s not like a family meeting.
0:03:29 Dad, sex with dad is like a taffy pole right now.
0:03:30 So we had a family meeting.
0:03:32 And what do you think a dad would take?
0:03:35 Why does that make me happy?
0:03:39 Well, we have to get to talking about affordability.
0:03:44 But I will say I remember my parents telling me this is not about their sex life, but they
0:03:49 were driving, you know, they were at Oregon to California a lot and they were driving and
0:03:54 listening to a local Oregon radio host who was talking, taking callers.
0:03:59 And a guy called in and he said, like, our sex life is terrible.
0:04:01 He was like in his late 60s.
0:04:04 I think at this point he said, I just I roll it in.
0:04:06 And my parents laughed.
0:04:08 Roll it in.
0:04:10 Well, you said it’s like a taffy pole.
0:04:12 Isn’t that like eventually what you have to do?
0:04:13 Yeah.
0:04:13 Gross.
0:04:14 Those things are.
0:04:16 Those things?
0:04:17 Older penises?
0:04:18 It’s coming.
0:04:19 It’s coming for all of us.
0:04:20 OK.
0:04:21 David’s back.
0:04:21 Go.
0:04:22 Let’s get into it.
0:04:22 Affordability.
0:04:28 Today we’re discussing Trump’s continued spin on the affordability crisis, how women are
0:04:31 treated in the GOP, and we’ll check in on the Texas Senate race.
0:04:33 All right, let’s get into it.
0:04:36 President Trump is launching a nationwide affordability blitz with a major speech in
0:04:40 Pennsylvania touting falling gas prices and arguing his tariffs will ultimately help the
0:04:40 middle class.
0:04:43 But he’s doing this as key indicators move the other way.
0:04:45 Consumer sentiment is down sharply.
0:04:50 Retailers won prices will rise in January once inventories run out and layoffs have already
0:04:53 topped 1.1 million this year with small businesses hit hardest.
0:04:57 Despite calling affordability concerns a hoax, the White House is scrambling to show
0:05:04 action, opening a price-fixing probe into imported food and rolling out a $12 billion bailout
0:05:05 for farmers hurt by Trump’s own tariffs.
0:05:09 All of this lands just as the Fed weighs another rate cut.
0:05:11 Health care adds even more pressure.
0:05:15 Senate Republicans remain split on how to counter Democrats three-year extension of ACA subsidies,
0:05:20 floating options from HSA-based aid to a trim two-year extension.
0:05:23 But none are expected to reach the floor before Thursday’s vote.
0:05:29 Democrats say their clean extension is the only way to prevent premium hikes.
0:05:34 Trump promised lower prices, but tariffs, Medicaid cuts, and rising health care costs have
0:05:40 left him playing defense and scrambling to sell an economy many Americans say still feels really
0:05:41 unaffordable.
0:05:44 Jess, is affordability a hoax?
0:05:50 How does the White House square that circle with the decline in sentiment, rising layoffs, and looming price
0:05:50 hikes?
0:05:57 Promises made, promises beyond broken.
0:06:03 I am always shocked by the level of spin that people like Kevin Hassett have to bring out.
0:06:08 I mean, to their credit, they still do these interviews and show up on like CNBC and really
0:06:09 get pushed.
0:06:11 But it’s getting embarrassing at this point.
0:06:19 And I think I’ve mentioned to you this before, but watching Republicans very much do the same
0:06:25 things that Democrats did when they were defending an economy that average Americans were screaming
0:06:30 from the rooftops as not working for them is the height of stupidity.
0:06:36 And there’s no, you know, like when you’re teaching your kids math and the teachers are
0:06:38 always saying, like, show your work, show your work.
0:06:40 I feel like nobody is showing their work.
0:06:44 They’re just telling us, well, the tariffs are going to be a huge boon to the American economy.
0:06:46 When?
0:06:47 How?
0:06:47 Why?
0:06:52 If so, why are you rolling back all of them and then saying that that’s the relief?
0:06:58 Like this $12 billion bailout for the farmers that’s coming from the quote unquote tariff pot,
0:07:02 which the amount that’s in that changes on a daily basis by like trillions of dollars.
0:07:04 But everybody knows what that is.
0:07:12 And the farmers themselves being interviewed on every channel saying, we don’t want a bailout.
0:07:14 We want work, right?
0:07:19 We want to have markets for our products, which the administration is sapping.
0:07:25 You know, I’m curious as to whether you’re seeing bright spots that I’m missing.
0:07:29 And I’m conscious of the fact that it’s very hard for me to remove my partisan hat.
0:07:33 And I’m always looking for things that I can use on the five, which are usually negative
0:07:34 about Donald Trump.
0:07:39 But I’m looking at this like 70 percent of Americans say they’re spending more money on groceries
0:07:40 compared to last year.
0:07:42 Sixty percent more on utilities.
0:07:45 Forty percent more on health care, housing, gasoline.
0:07:46 Cost of living issue.
0:07:47 Number one is housing.
0:07:53 Satisfaction with housing dropped from 69 percent to 36 percent over the course of the year.
0:07:54 U.S.
0:07:56 Manufacturing contracted for nine straight months.
0:07:59 China now trillion dollar trade surplus.
0:08:05 And Trump gives the green light to sell the NVIDIA chips to them, which will put them at huge
0:08:06 computing advantage.
0:08:08 And of course, the government is getting a kickback from that.
0:08:12 Like the farmers, I want trade, not aid.
0:08:16 What am I missing besides a stock market that’s obviously been propped up by is a magnificent
0:08:17 seven or 10?
0:08:20 I feel like you go between between the two.
0:08:24 But is there something that I am not getting about what’s going on here in the economy?
0:08:30 I don’t think so, other than people would argue that the economy churns on despite how just
0:08:33 bass-ackward our economic policies have been at a macro level.
0:08:34 How is that possible?
0:08:35 Like, why?
0:08:36 How?
0:08:37 Because the American economy is just incredible.
0:08:40 And people get up every day and innovate and do incredible things.
0:08:47 And the S&P is up 12 percent because of the AI boom, 13 or 14 percent, which I think is
0:08:48 going to unwind.
0:08:51 And it’s become dangerously concentrated around 10 companies.
0:08:56 And I think China is going to engage in AI dumping to take the entire economy down.
0:08:59 But moving back to affordability, look, you always have to ask yourself with this stuff,
0:09:04 the tendency for experts in the media is to catastrophize because you sound smarter.
0:09:05 And I’m falling into the same thing.
0:09:07 And you always need to ask yourself what could go right.
0:09:11 Having said that, I don’t think you’re missing much here.
0:09:16 I’m shocked the economy isn’t worse, given how just stupid these policies have been and
0:09:19 the fact that every nation in the world is trying to reroute their supply chain around
0:09:26 ours, raising our costs, a sclerotic economic policy that no one knows how to even respond,
0:09:30 ridiculous tariffs that then bail out farmers.
0:09:35 Well, maybe we just shouldn’t have the tariffs to begin with, trade wars that alienate our partners
0:09:41 and massively decrease prosperity because we gain more shareholder value from shipping or
0:09:44 exporting NVIDIA chips and importing low-margin products.
0:09:46 That accretes to us, benefit to us.
0:09:49 So it doesn’t make any sense.
0:09:54 The thing that’s so surprising is how the American economy just grinds on, that so many people
0:10:01 get up every morning and innovate and apply new technologies and new ways of doing business
0:10:05 and work hard, and the economy just continues to grind on.
0:10:10 But if he was serious about affordability, there’s just absolutely no case for tariffs making shit
0:10:15 more affordable. It can protect nascent industries. You can protect employment in certain industries,
0:10:20 I would say, only over the short run. Eventually, everyone has to hold their feet to the flames of
0:10:25 global innovation. And when we have free trade, it naturally accretes to us because Americans are
0:10:30 just very good at what we do. And you should let low-margin businesses go away in exchange for
0:10:34 services and innovation businesses. But if they were really serious about affordability, and this is
0:10:39 what I can’t stand about the Democratic Party, is we’ll spend a lot of time talking about how fucked up the
0:10:42 economy is going to offer no solutions around affordability. If you want to get serious about
0:10:48 affordability, one, you have to go after the biggest increase in CPI, which is housing,
0:10:54 8 to 10 million houses in 10 years, tax credits that unleash private development, get rid of NIMBY laws
0:10:58 and replace them with the NIMBY laws, manufacturing homes, take the tariffs off China, get some incredible
0:11:04 innovation around new construction that lowers the cost by 50 or 60 percent, government-backed loans for
0:11:07 people under the age of 40 and give people psychological and material well-being, being
0:11:13 vis-a-vis much greater supply and housing, which will bring down costs. Rent freezes and price
0:11:18 controls don’t work. Sorry, Mom Donnie, that’s just fucking stupid. It decreases supply and increases
0:11:24 housing costs. Two, it’s time to nationalize medicine. That’s the other CPI that’s accelerated.
0:11:32 twice the cost of the other G6, lower outcomes, worse outcomes, lower Medicare eligibility by two to three
0:11:38 years every year for 10 years, takedown costs 25 percent, even though they could come down 50 percent.
0:11:44 That massively increases affordability. And then the third thing that has accelerated faster than
0:11:50 inflation has been education. You should tie tuition to income. Specifically, a kid coming from an upper
0:11:56 income home pays full freight. A kid coming from a lower income home pays massively less in tuition.
0:12:00 And if you have an endowment over a billion dollars, you’re not growing a freshman class size
0:12:05 faster than population growth. You’ve decided you’re no longer a public servant, but a fucking Chanel bag,
0:12:11 and you should lose your tax-free status. And we could dramatically lower education costs. And then
0:12:19 finally, we need massive, massive antitrust. Big chicken, big ag, big streaming now. Netflix should not be
0:12:26 allowed to buy HBO. The streamers have increased their prices 13 percent over the last 12 months as that
0:12:33 industry is consolidating. It’s pretty simple. If you have more competition, you have a reverse of the
0:12:39 rivers of the last 40 years, which have leaked power leverage and economic value from consumers and workers
0:12:46 and labor to shareholders. The rivers need to reverse for a little bit. So if we’re really going to have an
0:12:50 adult conversation around affordability, let’s have an adult conversation. The problem is it’s boring
0:12:55 shit that will take years, if not decades. And the Democrats don’t seem to have the firepower or the
0:13:01 intellectual honesty to talk about this shit. And Republicans want to propose programs that are
0:13:04 totally inflationary. Anyways, that’s my TED Talk.
0:13:13 I’m glad that I came to your TED Talk. No, it’s a point of frustration because, and we were just
0:13:19 talking about this with Senator Gallego’s interview is up on our YouTube channel, which you should go and
0:13:24 check it out and subscribe, obviously. But that, you know, we’re just band-aiding everything all the
0:13:33 time versus really latching on to a pro-growth innovative agenda where we say we’re not just
0:13:39 going to clean up the mess because cleaning up the mess is actually still messy. Like the baseline level,
0:13:44 like with Obamacare, which I think is the most obvious answer to all of this, like Obamacare needs
0:13:49 help. You need an extension of the ACA subsidy so people’s premiums don’t go up 400 percent or whatever
0:13:56 starting January 1st. But like the program itself is a problem. I wanted to ask you, though, about,
0:14:04 you know, I’m sure you saw that we are got no jobs report, no GDP report, and now no inflation report.
0:14:10 So we’re never going to see a number out of this government again. The ADP numbers came out negative
0:14:17 32,000 jobs lost. Small businesses shed 120,000 jobs. Joe Kernan was going crazy about that on CNBC.
0:14:26 But what is the impact of not having the official numbers on the economy and also investment from
0:14:31 abroad or how the global economy works? Because I understand, like, from a political level, like,
0:14:36 you know, what that means. And it clearly shows that they’re hiding something and it’s something to
0:14:43 harp on. But what are the real world implications of not having good data around what’s going on in our
0:14:47 economy? When you’re trying to land a 747, you’re trying to land a,
0:14:55 you know, several hundred ton piece of equipment on a hard surface while flying, you know, 170 miles an
0:15:02 hour. And when you don’t have data, as we don’t, we’re trying to land a $25 trillion economy on a
0:15:08 hard surface without instruments. We don’t know what’s going on. And we’ve become China, except China’s
0:15:11 smarter than us. They actually have the data internally. They just don’t want to release it
0:15:16 publicly because they’re worried it’ll make the CCP look bad. This is what Russia does. Russia
0:15:22 totally bastardizes and perverts its data and they can’t plan their economy as well. So an absence of
0:15:27 data is just, again, this very dangerous sort of let’s not trust the experts movement. Let’s go to
0:15:32 our Ouija boards and our horoscopes and our instincts and what makes us feel good and what gets the most likes
0:15:39 on Instagram as opposed to actual fucking truth as evidenced by data. So this is incredibly damning.
0:15:43 We’re flying blind. We don’t know what the actual numbers are. The difference between America and
0:15:48 China, though, is that there will be a bunch of private sector companies that use different means
0:15:52 of taking the temperature of the economy to come out with their own data streams. If I was starting a
0:15:55 business right now, I would probably get into the business of economic forecasting
0:16:01 and fill this vacuum that used to be filled by these incredible economists at the Fed.
0:16:08 But this is just stupid. This is just like Trotsky being erased from photos because we don’t like what
0:16:14 he represented. This makes it much more difficult to plan for the Fed to decide, for companies to decide
0:16:19 what to do, what the right interest rate policy is, what the right economic policy is, for voters to hold
0:16:26 elected officials accountable. So this is just, oh, I don’t I don’t like that I have high blood
0:16:30 pressure and I don’t want anyone to not think that I’m healthy. So I’m going to stop taking my blood
0:16:35 pressure and just see what happens. This this leads to an economy that’s much more prone to stroke.
0:16:40 Yeah. Well, that’s kind of what happened with COVID. Right. Everyone just stopped testing and it was
0:16:45 like, oh, there’s no more COVID. But you had it. It wasn’t actually a common cold.
0:16:51 I want to before we move on to the next section, I want to get your take on the health care vote.
0:16:57 There’s going to be a vote on the ACA extensions. John Thun promised it. The Democrats are putting up
0:17:04 a clean three year extension bill that is going to fail. There are some outspoken Republicans like Josh
0:17:09 Hawley saying, you know, Republicans better offer something. You have a couple of proposals. Bernie
0:17:14 Moreno and Susan Collins have a bill that has an income cap at 200K, but also includes a two year
0:17:20 extension of the Obamacare subsidies. Democratic Durbin has said that he’s interested in it, that he
0:17:25 might want to change one or two provisions, but he’s encouraged. Mike Crepo and Bill Cassidy have a bill.
0:17:30 Senator Roger Marshall, also a Republican, has a bill. Those two don’t seem to have the Obamacare
0:17:36 subsidy extension. We have heard nothing from the House at this point of what they would offer.
0:17:42 What do you think happens? It feels like we’re just moving towards the Obamacare subsidies going away
0:17:45 and people are going to be hit by those premium hikes.
0:17:49 I’m going to ask you for real insight into an on the ground domain expertise here because I don’t
0:17:55 have it, but I do have a Senator Thune story. I was in Nantucket and I met Senator Thune. I think
0:17:59 that’s the whitest thing I’ve ever said. I was in Nantucket and I met Senator Thune. He was walking
0:18:04 out with his wife and I recognized him and I said, Senator Thune, thank you for your service. And he and his
0:18:09 wife came over and introduced themselves to my family. He’s very handsome.
0:18:11 Oh my God. Right. It’s overwhelming.
0:18:12 He’s very handsome.
0:18:12 Yeah.
0:18:18 Very tall. Very handsome. His wife is very attractive. They look like they should be in the White
0:18:22 House. So I like him just for those broad shoulders.
0:18:23 He’s aesthetically pleasing.
0:18:23 Yeah.
0:18:25 Politically displeasing.
0:18:25 Yeah.
0:18:26 Effective though.
0:18:27 Very, very handsome.
0:18:28 I don’t…
0:18:28 Yeah.
0:18:28 But I kind of…
0:18:29 I have a similar story.
0:18:34 I’m a little bit encouraged that he’s keeping to his word and bringing the vote up. But anyways,
0:18:35 that’s the extent of my knowledge on the film.
0:18:41 So that he can vote against it. But yes, I don’t think that he is a liar like a Mike
0:18:47 Johnson. I don’t think that. And usually, I think more or less… I don’t know if I’m
0:18:53 going to regret this because Mitch McConnell, it’s a difficult way to gauge the quality of the
0:18:57 character because he has let us down so many times. But I expect more from senators than
0:19:04 I do of Congress people. And more often than not, I get that. But I also have a Senator
0:19:11 Thune story. I was at the RNC. It was my first day back from maternity leave, summer 2024.
0:19:16 And he came right up to me. He was like waiting to do a Fox hit. And, you know, we had a big…
0:19:22 I think we did a remote segment for Prof G… for the Prof G pod before waging moderates was
0:19:26 a thing from there. So you saw, like, you know, we had desk space and everybody who’s in the Fox
0:19:32 orbit is walking around. It’s hair and makeup. It’s on air contributors, producers, tech directors,
0:19:36 et cetera. He came right up to me and he said, you know, I wanted to say hello. You do such a great job.
0:19:43 And I thought that that was so nice. And not everybody behaves that way. There are Republicans
0:19:52 who avoid me like the plague when they see me in a social situation. And Thune beelined and was
0:19:57 delightful and also very, very handsome. I think that the premium hikes are going to go through.
0:20:03 I think that it’s just… It’s like too little too late to be bringing up your bill that’s going to
0:20:10 require some degree of negotiation, at least, at the proverbial 11th hour. And that’s really
0:20:15 frustrating to me. I’m glad that Dick Durbin is saying that he has, you know, interest in working,
0:20:23 negotiating about one of these bills. But ultimately, Republicans have been trying to get to their goal
0:20:29 of repealing and replacing Obamacare as long as Obamacare has existed and still have never brought
0:20:36 anything decent that speaks to the way that Americans want their health care delivered since
0:20:42 they’ve been playing this game. And it’s going to really suck. Putting my partisan political hat on
0:20:47 could be a net advantage for Democrats because we’ll get to own this issue that Republicans
0:20:52 literally don’t care about your health care. They’re taking Medicaid away from millions of people with the
0:20:57 big, beautiful bill. Your premium spiked because of Republicans. And we were the ones that were,
0:21:03 you know, trying to get the subsidies extended. But like always, I wish Washington just functioned
0:21:07 better. But I’m going to have to get over that. Okay, let’s take a quick break. Stay with us.
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0:23:36 Welcome back. South Carolina Republican Nancy Mace is taking direct aim at her own party’s leadership,
0:23:40 accusing Speaker Mike Johnson and top GOP brass of sign-lining rank-and-file members,
0:23:45 especially women. In a sharply worded New York Times op-ed, May says Republicans are
0:23:50 petrified of losing power, too timid to deliver for their base, and far less effective than Democrats
0:23:56 under Nancy Pelosi. She warns that unless the GOP starts governing boldly on the border, affordability,
0:24:01 health care, and public safety, they’ll lose their majority, and deservedly so. Jess,
0:24:05 it’s just so fucking ridiculous. If anything, they’ve been too bold. They’ve been reckless. Jess,
0:24:12 what does the situation say about women in the GOP? I mean, too little, too late, right? I mean,
0:24:17 there’s no surprises in this. It’s just that she’s saying it out loud and in the pages of the New York
0:24:23 Times, which is a very intentional place to put this op-ed. It’s not in the journal, right? It’s in
0:24:29 like the Gray Lady, right? Which we wake up, you know, and immediately go over to check what’s going on,
0:24:35 pop on the daily, whatever it is. So obviously, she meant to do it in this way. But, you know,
0:24:41 she’s bucking leadership because she got pushed too far that Epstein and Marjorie Taylor Greene is in this
0:24:47 bucket as well. But also, you know, she’s running for governor in South Carolina. And, you know,
0:24:53 I think that she needs to show some sort of maverickism to her and that also she is interested
0:24:58 in the business of governing because the crux of her piece and the argument that she’s making
0:25:03 is that it’s this full-bodied criticism of the way that Congress functions, that it’s all about power
0:25:08 and closed-door jockeying. If you’re not in a position of power, so if you’re just a rank-and-file
0:25:14 congressperson, you know, you’re a complete afterthought, if a thought at all. And she’s
0:25:20 been getting a front-row seat to that. She doesn’t really matter to leadership to Mike Johnson. There
0:25:25 was a stat in there that only 5% of the bills introduced this year have seen a floor vote.
0:25:30 They took months off, right? Mike Johnson ran away from being at work because he didn’t want to deal
0:25:37 with the Epstein files and the discharge petition. And, you know, they don’t accomplish anything. It’s
0:25:42 going to be the biggest do-nothing Congress in American history. I like that she shouted out Nancy
0:25:48 Pelosi, though, and how effective she is because I feel like around Pelosi’s retirement that some
0:25:53 Republicans obviously, you know, spoke to how good she was at doing the job, but not nearly enough
0:26:01 because you do know that they all respect what an amazing power broker she was and continues to be,
0:26:07 even not in leadership. And Marjorie Taylor Greene, did you watch her on 60 Minutes or see clips of it?
0:26:15 Yeah, I did. I felt like I was watching an arsonist lecture us on fire safety. I just think it’s so
0:26:21 ridiculous that she has the gumption to pretend to be a moderate. She’s not doing it for any other reason
0:26:29 than to try and stage a political comeback. I just can’t wait for her to exit stage right, stage left, stage
0:26:31 get the fuck off the stage. Good riddance.
0:26:40 So you liked it. I think that this, I don’t, the numbers are always inflated when people get into
0:26:46 these fantasy lands being like 20 Republicans are going to retire, you know, before the midterms. And
0:26:52 I don’t think it would get as high as that, but it does feel like there is a vibe shift going on where
0:26:58 Donald Trump is already a lame duck. I mean, he still feels like he’s wreaking incredible
0:27:06 amounts of havoc, but still a lame duck. And if they’re not bringing any legislation to the floor,
0:27:11 if they essentially won’t let people even work with Democrats, that it makes sense that Republicans are
0:27:16 saying, like, what’s the point in even sitting here? I should get a head start on my big consulting
0:27:22 career or my K-street career or spend some time with my grandkids rather than sit around. And,
0:27:26 you know, I don’t think Hakeem Jeffries is going to become Speaker of the House before the midterms,
0:27:31 but it does feel like the right is in a bit of disarray.
0:27:36 There you go. All right. And also just the one thing I’m obsessed with these prediction markets,
0:27:42 Kalshi says that there’s a 65% chance that Johnson is out as Speaker of the House before the midterms.
0:27:43 Oh, really? That high?
0:27:48 Well, and these things are fascinating because they do leverage the wisdom of crowds and they
0:27:53 have a tendency to be right or go where the odds are. But yeah, two-thirds chance that,
0:27:56 according to Kalshi, that Johnson is out as Speaker of the House before the midterms.
0:27:59 Okay, let’s take a quick break. Stay with us.
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0:30:17 All right. Welcome back. Before we go, the political spotlight in Texas has swung hard towards
0:30:23 2026, where an unexpected Democratic showdown is reshaping the state’s marquee Senate race.
0:30:27 Friend of the podcast, James Tallarico, the former school teacher turned to Austin State Legislature,
0:30:33 known for his cross-party appeal, is now facing off against Dallas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett,
0:30:37 whose national profile and progressive firepower have vaulted her to the front of the field.
0:30:43 The matchup emerged after a chaotic filing day that saw Colin Allred, last cycle Senate nominee,
0:30:46 abruptly exit the race and jump into a newly drawn House district,
0:30:50 clearing the lane and effectively setting up a Tallarico-Crockett duel.
0:30:54 Early polling gives Crockett a plurality among likely Democratic voters,
0:30:58 but some analysts argue Tallarico may be the stronger general election contender
0:31:02 in a state where Democrats haven’t won statewide since 1994.
0:31:06 Jess, your thoughts on this race and Crockett entering the race?
0:31:09 I wasn’t thrilled about it.
0:31:09 Really?
0:31:12 You know, it’s different.
0:31:17 A Senate race is always going to be nationalized versus a congressional race,
0:31:20 but we just saw in that special election in Tennessee’s 7th District
0:31:26 that the Democrat, who got within single digits in a Trump-plus-22 district,
0:31:28 it was still a massive overperformance.
0:31:35 But once that race became nationalized, I think the Democrat did worse.
0:31:39 And Jasmine Crockett, who we would love to have on the podcast,
0:31:42 I should know that we have tried, we will continue to try,
0:31:47 has an enormous national profile, and she’s one of those people,
0:31:53 because she’s so outspoken and she’s so in the crosshairs with Trump and the administration
0:31:56 and, you know, right-wing cable news pundits, etc.,
0:32:05 that I think there is a way to make the party seem more like a left-wing caricature
0:32:09 than kind of like moderate get-shit-done caucus.
0:32:13 And that’s, that causes more of an uphill battle.
0:32:15 It takes more money to fight those races,
0:32:20 and it makes my life harder on the five, which is a problem.
0:32:22 Now, I’m not saying this about necessarily her politics.
0:32:25 I know people who know her very well.
0:32:27 Apparently she’s quite a moderate person.
0:32:30 But, you know, watching her launch video,
0:32:33 which was just her standing there for about 30 seconds
0:32:35 listening to Donald Trump talk shit about her,
0:32:37 and then she turns to face this camera,
0:32:39 and, you know, she’s a beautiful woman.
0:32:42 It’s a stark image.
0:32:44 And then she has this great grin at the end
0:32:47 before it announces, you know, Crockett for Senate.
0:32:51 I found myself thinking, like, where is Texas mentioned in this?
0:32:52 What about Texas issues?
0:32:53 What about your story?
0:32:55 You know, your civil rights attorney.
0:32:57 Like, tell us who you are
0:33:00 and why you’re fighting for this community.
0:33:02 Like, this is the affordability election.
0:33:07 Like, let’s talk about what’s happened to everyday Texans, right?
0:33:09 Like, let’s talk about what’s going on the border, whatever it is.
0:33:12 And that, to me, just sent up this flair
0:33:17 that we are about to have, like, an ugly Donald Trump-centric race.
0:33:21 And it feels like the opportunity is to put your head down
0:33:25 and fight for the people that have been let down by that guy
0:33:28 and are open to the idea of somebody else swooping in
0:33:30 to help make their lives better.
0:33:32 So, what are your thoughts?
0:33:36 I’ve often said that the war between Iraq and Iran
0:33:38 or the war between Musk and Trump,
0:33:40 that I hope the bullets win.
0:33:44 And this is the exact opposite of that.
0:33:47 I love both these people.
0:33:52 I think Tallarico’s ability to incorporate faith into public policy
0:33:55 is just really elegant and powerful.
0:33:56 when I say that as an atheist.
0:33:59 Representative Crockett is a hero of mine.
0:34:00 I think she’s fantastic.
0:34:06 I just think she’s courageous, compelling, unafraid, smart.
0:34:09 I just think she’s outstanding.
0:34:12 And I gave Tallarico some money.
0:34:14 I’m going to give Crockett some money.
0:34:16 By the way, one of the things I love about this podcast
0:34:18 is it makes, it’s a chance for me to both virtue signal
0:34:19 and be very efficient.
0:34:21 Well, you don’t have other platforms to do that either, so.
0:34:22 Just this one.
0:34:25 Trust me, the virtue signaling knows no end, Jess.
0:34:28 But anyone from the Crockett campaign,
0:34:29 I’ve already given money to Tallarico.
0:34:31 Anyone from the Crockett campaign, reach out to me.
0:34:32 I’m going to give you some money.
0:34:35 And I just love both these candidates.
0:34:37 And it’s sort of, I guess it makes no sense
0:34:37 I’m giving money to both.
0:34:40 It’s like that Larry David show where he finds-
0:34:42 You’re encouraging both your Democratic children.
0:34:45 There you go, but young people.
0:34:47 I want to bring more attention to young rising stars
0:34:48 in the Democratic Party.
0:34:51 I absolutely love both of them.
0:34:54 I would personally, you might argue that Tallarico
0:34:56 would do better in general.
0:34:58 I think she’s just a force.
0:34:59 And I would love to see,
0:35:03 I would just love to see her as a senator from Texas.
0:35:05 I think that would send such a wonderful signal.
0:35:08 I also don’t think Texas is as conservative as people think.
0:35:11 But having said that, I only go to South by Southwest.
0:35:12 That’s the bigger question here.
0:35:15 Like, we have spent hundreds of millions of dollars
0:35:19 trying to turn Texas blue and failed miserably.
0:35:20 It hasn’t worked, yeah.
0:35:21 And I don’t know if Colin Allred,
0:35:24 who’s now going to run for a congressional seat,
0:35:26 and that’s going to be an ugly primary,
0:35:29 because he is, you know, Texas’s map,
0:35:31 the newly re-jawed, the cheater map,
0:35:33 was upheld by the Supreme Court.
0:35:35 So everything has gotten scrambled.
0:35:40 So Jasmine Crockett, who’s usually in a very blue, safe Dallas seat,
0:35:44 I think she won by a 69.8% margin or something like that.
0:35:45 Yeah.
0:35:48 You know, I was going to have her seat messed with.
0:35:51 Colin Allred is now jumping into the 33rd.
0:35:53 Someone named Julie Johnson is in there.
0:35:55 I mean, she had a pretty fierce statement
0:35:57 when Allred announced this.
0:35:58 She said,
0:36:00 women should never be treated as placeholders
0:36:02 for men who fail to advance.
0:36:06 You know, it is going to be ugly in Texas
0:36:09 as people are jockeying to find a seat for themselves.
0:36:14 And, you know, I think that Crockett is going to show off,
0:36:19 like, fight and grit that I think is really important for the party.
0:36:25 I just want to be very careful about the territory that you’re running in.
0:36:29 You know, Texas is not a blue place.
0:36:32 It’s like, on an amazing day, it’s purplish, right?
0:36:33 And it’s usually red.
0:36:34 And on the right…
0:36:35 Fair comment.
0:36:38 On the right, they’re having a bruising primary, too.
0:36:41 So John Cornyn, who’s, like, the normie senator,
0:36:46 is being challenged by the A.G. Ken Paxton,
0:36:48 who, you know, he was impeached.
0:36:50 The Senate didn’t, you know, voted to acquit him.
0:36:55 Bribery, an affair, like, his wife put in that all out there,
0:36:56 that he’s a cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater.
0:37:01 And then Wes Hunt is also in that primary.
0:37:04 And looking at the reactions from the Republican side
0:37:06 about how excited they were that Crockett was getting in
0:37:08 always sends up a bit of a flare.
0:37:10 Now, they were going to say that no matter what.
0:37:13 And who knows what it looks like in 26.
0:37:18 Maybe, you know, the bold, loud, progressive is the way forward.
0:37:19 But I’m a little scared.
0:37:21 I feel like we need a tiebreaker here.
0:37:26 I think you’re slightly more towards Tallarico as the pollster in you comes out
0:37:28 and the pragmatist, which is usually my role.
0:37:29 And I’m a little bit more like…
0:37:31 You fall in love.
0:37:32 The world is what we make of it.
0:37:37 And we need courageous young, more courageous young women in the Senate.
0:37:39 Let’s bring in our producer, David.
0:37:40 David, you’re the tiebreaker.
0:37:41 What do you think?
0:37:42 I love Crockett.
0:37:47 I think she’s one of the best voices the Democratic Party has.
0:37:52 But that announcement video was not affordability focused, which is the whole game.
0:37:55 But it’s going to be good.
0:37:56 I mean, competition is good.
0:38:00 Tallarico said that, you know, like that he welcomes her into the race.
0:38:01 We’ll treat her with the utmost respect.
0:38:03 The primary, I think, is March 3rd.
0:38:08 So this isn’t going to go on forever by any means.
0:38:13 But you always have to keep in mind, and yes, pragmatist, pollster, all of it, the primary
0:38:17 electorate is different than the general electorate.
0:38:23 And I hope that AOC was asked about Crockett getting in.
0:38:26 And she said something like, we’ve got to run the right people in the right races, which
0:38:30 A, you go, girl, AOC, that you’re looking towards higher office, right?
0:38:32 And the way to talk about these things.
0:38:37 But it is the most important lesson that we’re even learning in 2025.
0:38:43 Mom Donnie for New York City, Abigail Spanberger for Virginia, Mikey Sherrill for New Jersey,
0:38:49 like all of the Virginia House of Delegates folks that Don Scott, the Speaker, got in order.
0:38:51 It’s all the right person for the right race.
0:38:53 We want to win the big one.
0:38:54 You don’t want to just win a primary.
0:38:55 Like you want to win a general.
0:39:00 Well, I would offer that if and when you and I disagree that the good money is to defer
0:39:03 it to you because you you kind of do this for a living, right?
0:39:04 Polling.
0:39:05 I mean, kind of.
0:39:06 Yeah.
0:39:08 I just I hate that.
0:39:13 I just it would be like watching your parents fight to see these two in a primary against
0:39:13 each other.
0:39:14 I think they’re both so good.
0:39:19 But but it’ll be interesting to see them up against each other.
0:39:21 I mean, you might feel differently.
0:39:23 Someone might steal your heart in a bigger way.
0:39:27 But either way, I feel like all of the things that we talk about and all the people that
0:39:33 we have on gives us a very positive outlook for the future of the party, you know, where
0:39:37 it felt super bleak, like we got nobody, like we got a lot of people.
0:39:38 These two are outstanding.
0:39:39 Outstanding.
0:39:41 I just hear that.
0:39:41 Jasmine.
0:39:43 Outstanding.
0:39:44 Come on the show.
0:39:44 Yeah.
0:39:45 Come on the show.
0:39:49 But first, have someone from your campaign call me because for money, take my money,
0:39:49 please.
0:39:50 All right.
0:39:53 Before we go, if you’re watching us on YouTube, make sure you hit subscribe.
0:39:55 That’s all for this episode.
0:39:56 Thank you for listening to Raging Moderates.
0:39:57 Have a good week, Jess.
0:39:58 Yeah, you too.
0:39:59 See you later.
Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov break down Trump’s nationwide “affordability blitz,” where he’s touting falling gas prices and insisting his tariffs will help the middle class — even as consumer sentiment sinks, layoffs top a million, and businesses warn prices will jump in January. The White House is scrambling in response, launching a food price-fixing probe and rolling out a $12B farm bailout, all while Republicans splinter over how to handle Democrats’ ACA subsidy extension. From there, they turn to South Carolina Republican Nancy Mace, who’s taking aim at her own party’s leadership for sidelining rank-and-file members — especially women. Her blistering op-ed argues the GOP is too timid, too male-dominated, and at real risk of losing its majority. Finally, they head to Texas, where an unexpected Democratic matchup — James Talarico vs. Jasmine Crockett — is reshaping the 2026 Senate race.
Follow Jessica Tarlov, @JessicaTarlov.
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