Day 90: Molly Jong-Fast

and I got to tell you I can't wait to debate the guy that is if if he's willing to get off the couch and show up so you see what I did there hi I'm honorary Cox welcome to 90 days with honorary Cox it is 90 days until the 2024 election and who knows what centuries uh worth of History will happen in the next 90 days we are going to be counting it down here with an array of wonderful guests the first of which is Molly Jang fast from Fast politics Molly welcome to the show thanks for having me it is really good to have you here as the first guest I am excited to hear what you've been thinking about off the top of my head this is what I have been thinking about I watched the rally with Harrison walls last night as a former Minnesotan a decade in that state I was very pleased to see the national debut of America's favorite dad I thought it went really really well my my excitement about Wells is not just sort of adopted hom State pride I don't think I think it has to do with the fact that he was chosen in part for policy positions which is wild in America to have someone represent a policy platform on a presidential ticket but I'm really curious what has stood out to you for the past few days and what you woke up thinking about politics wise I've been on the I've been walls pilled for a while because I actually interviewed him months ago when he was the head of the Democratic governor Association which as you know these job these that job is a sort of job you get if you're good at fundraising and also if other Governors like you which are two things you could clearly see about walls and when I interviewed him I one of the reasons he had come to my attention was because not just that his legislation was Progressive because it again there's like this talking point that I think is really a republican talking point that somehow walls is 10 times more Progressive than Shapiro and so walls was the Lefty Choice which I think is really a republican framing of this the truth is walls was very effective at certain things now is it wild Lefty stuff to give poor kids and any kids right the whole idea free breakfast is that a wild leftist Trope is that something that antifa is grateful for I don't think so right and there are other things free breakfast free lunches I mean paid sick leave these are things that are being held up as wild Lefty things yeah I think what's remarkable about him is actually not so much the positions that he holds today which are main stream positions in most of the world and popular and popular yeah uh it is that he was not always this way you know he was a pretty mainstream like I shouldn't say mainstream he was a moderate Democrat he had an a rating from the NRA which is now an F rating uh he was he was kind of a regular guy Democrat I would say he represented a purple District um what happened is he was responsive to public pressure he was responsive to things that were happening on the ground he realized old policies didn't work and changed them yeah and I mean I also think he was effective at getting things done when he represent he was in Congress for like 12 years and he represented you're right a very purple District he uh he was though you know his experience I mean the thing that I think is really important to remember here and I think this really is part of his origin story is he was an enlisted man he wasn't a you know he wasn't one of those people who went many of the people we know in American politics go into the military at a sort of C you know at a higher level they go in as an officer and they have a different experience whereas he was like Ruben gyo they went in to really be to sort of use the use the Army as it was intended with the GI bill to pay for college and so I think that's really important and Ruben gyo who's running for Senate in Arizona has a lot of experiences of like he you know he was in this Battalion where many of his fellows died and and it was like one of the worst head and so I do think that he he was you know he really is a military man and he really has come to it from a sort of working glass background and then also there's this rural piece which as you know I I I got to know uh the last sort of democratic rural Congressman this guy Jared golden golden from Maine and he was and you know he was saying Democrats are not even trying with rural people and here's a candidate who grew up on a farm and who really has sort of been able to talk about the rural farming experience right and also to point out that you know this idea that it's only East Coast Elites who care about children who care about trans kids who care about reproductive access like that's not true in fact rural Americans care a lot about reproductive asess because they're the people who don't haveit right right and they have the hospital I mean again one of the big issues that we never talk about for some reason but is really important is these Governors these red State Governors rejecting Medicare expansion so they you know we have this rural Hospital problem in this country yeah oh Texas has it real bad yeah so you have places where you can't you know your kid is sick and there's no place to bring them and that and this Medicare expansion would actually keep these hospitals open open new hospitals you know fix a lot of the system and we and these red State Governors these Republican Governors that you know I just saw Laura Cali from Kansas talking about wanting uh going to try to take it or have it um but a lot of the red State Governors don't you know they're rejecting it the recognition by uh Democrats by like top of the ticket Democrats National Democrats that issues like healthcare like medic care for all like uh school lunches um like smart uh gun safety legislation those aren't things that mainstream America that flyover America doesn't care about in fact those are the issues that are really important to them things like having like great school libraries I am and these are the things that put Tim Waltz at the top of the ticket although we can talk a little bit about the other things that put him at the top of the ticket which is that he's America's favorite dad I mean I think he's very one of I love that video of him with the daughter where they go on the ride and he says you know we'll get hot corn dogs and she's like no I'm a vegetarian he's like we'll get turkey dogs and she's like turkeys don't meet and notesa Minnesota turkey special you know like he's just a sort of folksy guy and I think folksiness and he reads as a folksy guy right he doesn't read as a you know and that's something the Democrat have just not been able to connect to their folksy base and that was originally a lot of the democratic base well Minnesota's the Heartland for it right like Minnesota Progressive um politics doesn't come from again it doesn't come from the East Coast it doesn't come from like um ivy league Minnesota Progressive politics comes from the Democratic Farm labor party right and that's what the parties's called there right yeah that's what the party's called there I mean I I think it's also just the he's he's good you know he's good I mean the reason why I thought they' pick him was because he's pretty good and like I thought when she met him she'd think oh this guy's pretty good and when people were hand ringing about Josh bu and Josh buo is also really good I mean you know but there was so much sort to you know it's going to be down to both of them and if she doesn't pict Shiro she's not going to win Pennsylvania which again there's no evidence to support that having a having a vice president from the state makes you win the state I mean the last time that happened was LBJ so um but uh I think it is it's certainly you know I thought she's going to really like him he's a really likable guy and she's going to pick him when she meets him because she's going to like him so much and that was what happened and and I think like he came in you know when when she was thinking about people he was sort of the second tier he told me that when I talked to him he said you know I'm In Contention but I'm very much in the sort of second tier and not in the sort of first tier and I thought you know they're going to get to know him and they're going to really like him and think he's great and then also you know he's just very low drama and I think that that you don't want a vice president who again and we you know this is you want someone who will do no harm and there is no you know no one is a more Do no harm than a Minnesota dad you know let's talk about how that interesting dad energy also kind of goes along with being a really smart guy with some really interesting and complicated um I shouldn't say they're not complicated but sophisticated ideas about the world so like he speaks Mandarin yeah yeah well he's very involved in in in try I mean he's he's come out against this CCP he has this EXP experience of uh being for Freedom which by the way a lot of these ideas are things that like Ronald Reagan was big on I mean I keep thinking about no fault divor so a lot of the the sort of Republicans in the in the the highbrow whatever the highbrow intellectuals I don't call them highbrow like one thing that's like a weird like Eugenics term right so they you know really have this they really would like to end no fall divorce which is this incredi important sort of thing which cut down on domestic violence and was really sort of ahead of its time signed into law by famous le as Ronald Reagan yeah I was going to the the swe madin thing because he also is not just like the guy that can help you fix your car or like change your furnace filter but he's lived in China um he has a fairly um uh like deep knowledge of C graphy and like political maps in the US you know he's like done stuff that both your aular like football fan Uncle would do and he is a huge football fan there is an adorable picture of him like in his 20s like rushing the University of Nebraska football field there's a picture from like a paper him doing like every picture you turn up of Tim Walls is adorable like him with the piglet him with the smiling kids him on Halloween handing out fullsize candy bars which by the way is there a better metaphor for the Democratic party's approach to politics than handing out fullsize candy bars on Halloween I think I I would love to geek out on him but I wonder are you thinking about anything else I mean I I I'm I think he was a good choice I think the framing on it is is weird and a republican fantasy so I really want you know and I and I mean the thing that again I keep bringing this back to Shapiro oh yeah they were not that's their attack that is the one attack that they had right and they weren't so radically different you know both had these school lunches Shapiro was Pro fracking but remember again the fact that we were talking about fracking like Pennsylvania had fracking Minnesota doesn't really have fracking fracking is wildly expensive it's like being pro coal you know and we are this huge uh we we produce a ton of of of Na of liquefied natural gas so there really is a sense in which fracking is completely unnecessary because we have so much drilling again and also because we have Renewables which are you know which will ultimately get us off all of this climate killing uh so I would say he's they're just not so different policy-wise and they're and they are and I think they read differently uh personality wise and that that is why he was a good choice that said I do like Shapiro too um and uh I think that again this roll out you know she's been in the race what 15 days now six I mean it's you know maybe it's 3 weeks maybe it's two weeks but it's very short amount of time and and she's just become really a great speaker and and and everything so far has really fallen into place I think you're right and also yeah let's talk a little bit about the Republican attacks on Walts and how they're framing that which is kind of weirdly all through Josh Shapiro and this line that they didn't pick him because they're afraid of the anti-jewish base right I keep waiting for someone to ask JD Vance how come Trump didn't pick a Jewish vice president yeah and I also think I also think that look Republicans want this is the LA they they want to say that that uh Democrats are anti-semitic and the leader the Senate leader is a guy called Chuck Schumer right you know and the husband of Harris is a guy called Doug mhof and there's quite a lot of you know nine of the nine Jewish senators or 10 Jewish senators are all Democrats and in the house it's you know there are sort of two Republican Jews Jewish house members and the rest are Democrats so I I just don't I just think this is b bs as we say and um bull crap bull hu yes and and and as a Jew myself who's Rel I mean not super religious but we go to Temple um I just think it's like very Craven because the reality is Trump had dinner with you know with Nick fentz like these are not people who care about us at all it's a weird attack cuz I feel like if they keep doing it they're going to bleed off their own voots well that's the other thing is that you know these are not people who are particularly concerned with anti-st well and also let's let's do a little bit of like analysis with actually getting inside their heads I think number one it's a sign of desperation right number two it's all Shadow play it's actually the real message is they are in th to their base like they're you I think they don't don't think that their voters care about anti-Semitism they care about that message that someone is controlling the Democrats and it's not who you see on stage it all goes back to conspiracy theories right that's it I also think they did you know Trump really thought he was going to run against Biden and he really I think that it's it's been really hard for him to adjust to this new landsc I mean he just can't he seems like he can't get his head around it and uh and it and and I think he I think he's had a lot of success um playing to these kind of basist aspects of the Bas yeah but I'm not again th this is like this fundamental problem if you don't ever grow the electorate how do you the electorate and and and that's going to I think what Trump is coming up against well you know how he won 2016 was he did grow the electorate right like he brought in low pensity voters and no one saw that coming mhm and that's how Hillary lost right I I think there's diminishing you you don't keep getting low preny voters right like that's the thing is like you can't just keep growing that particular part of your base like if you got them then what you have to do is worry about losing them and that's I think why they picked JD Vance and that this is a common analysis and but but JD Vance was a base pick and they thought they were going to be running they kind of thought they had it in the bag and could do a pick that would make Trump happy that would make him feel like he had somebody who had was a convert to him and who he could kind of anoint as the Next Generation right so many if you look at the down ballot races like all these Senate candidates most of them are wealthy self funders and so much of this has been about Trump raising money cuz remember he has these legal problems everybody in the family is in on the grift you've got those the uh the wife of the son running the RNC so I I wonder how much of this was JD Vance is the favorite of a lot of wealthy Silicon Valley people and I just wonder how much of it was that was this kind of this is the guy the rich people want me to take I need to raise money he can raise Silicon Valley money Etc oh I think it's all part of that too because I think that for Trump you know money means that you're smart and also money means that you are worth paying attention to right and so for him like I'm sure that's how they sold it to him I'll tell you one thing though I bet Trump believes the couch story oh it's certainly possible I don't you know that I I never he believes the worst things about most people right right and he he loves gossip right and so I think it actually probably bothers him that that story is out there like I don't know if it really believes it the thing for me with the story is more just there's so many instances of Vance saying things that are that where he said them that seem in you know like he call he called Trump the opioid of the masses right he said all these things that were so uh that should have been come up quickly in the vetting process had he been vetted that those stories um haunt me more than the couch story but what I think the kind of serious political analysis here is is that it was a thing of the online left and then it crossed the brain blood barrier to I think the larger crowd and I think that that response that Tim Waltz gave or the this the response that the audience gave him when he made that joke that Roar of of laughter and ofing that is if if he's willing to get off the couch and show up so I mean I I think there's enough stuff that like actually happened the C you know you're not going to go me on the couch Story I mean I I don't know I think like there's there's so much stuff that's like not true that I I think it's better just to and especially in this case he said stuff that's just so beyond the pale so but I know but I appreciate that the it it hearkens back to a simpler time when the internet was fun and not horrifying so I think that is good but I do think I I mean I think look this is still ultimately could be our last election right I mean Trump has said and the supr suprem court has set it up in such a way that he will have immunity if he does something it you know he he sort of set up in this way to have immunity and then you have project 2025 waiting in the wings that's going to dismantle the Department of Education and so many of the things we hold dear and the doj by the way I mean I was talking to someone on the phone today about like some of the some of the choices that Republicans are talking about if Trump wins for the doj and it is like you know Matt Whitaker I mean the people that are really going to dismantle the government and work as an arm of the Trump campaign so I think it's just so deadly serious that even though it's nice that that Democrats have a really strong team now it's still just you know I'm not going to feel good until January no and I think that it's funny because I think that I was talking and feeling a lot of the same things that you're putting forth here a month ago um I found this election to be a question you know it's an existential question and now I'm pumped and there's a difference and part of that is the couch joke and the only thing about the couch joke that really resonates with me is that you have a lot of these conservative pundits who are horrified by it and and feel that it was you know that he shouldn't have made the couch joke and these are people who have gone along with some of Trump's really disturbing rhetoric and but a couch joke was too far for them so I think that is to expose that hypocrisy is very valuable and meaningful yeah so what's the next thing on your radar Molly uh I um I I you know I'm just going to watch this whole presidential thing and you know I mean I think I mean I think this continues to be the no one knows anything election we have been talking to Molly Jong fast from Fast politics one of the best politics podcasts out there available wherever you get your podcast and this show also one of the best politics podcasts out there will be coming out on Tuesday Wednesday and Friday uh it is called 90 days with honorary Cox although it won't always be 90 days the election in fact on Friday it'll be 88 days and we'll be talking to Olivia newsy from New York Magazine you probably know her she's written a ton of cover stories about this election cycle she has amazing connections to the Trump campaign so many good connections and some connections she probably wishes she didn't uh we are going to be back again like I said on Friday 10 Tim Walls America's favorite dad I would love to have you on the show I have some car issues I want to talk about this right here is the headlight harness on a 2014 Ford Edge Ford this is unacceptable it burned out hot on the uh the connector so for uh $799 at Napa Auto Parts here in the city you can replace this just clip off the back use some shrink wrap connectors on there tape it back together and put it back in it's about a 5 minute fix and you're back on the road safe and sound [Music] L Tre