Trump and Harris Debate, Colin Alred and Ted Cruz, George Pataki September 11th, 9/11

okay Chris we're here post debate first presidential debate between kamla and Donald Trump um second debate for Trump and uh I'm not gonna ask you what he's batting but first did you watch the debate no and I I have never watched a debate in 40 years doing this unless it was my job to watch the debate and do work on rapid response or I was in in a focus group and watching the dials move and the reason I don't watch them are professional um as a political consultant my job is to win campaigns the way I win campaigns is that voters vote for my candidate so my transaction isn't what the candidates think and it is certainly isn't what the pundits think think it's what voters think and so if I'm watching the debate what I will see is that oh that makeup looks like [ __ ] I wouldn't have worned that tie why do they do that lighting that's clearly a prep danc he's stumbling um you know oop she caught caught there she needs to get I'll do like kind of it's like if you've ever had the the pleasure of watching a sporting event with a professional coach and they're explaining stuff to you like you never seen yeah and and that's I won't say but that's kind of what it's like for me I'm not I'm not watching like who's up Who's down and that [ __ ] um and so literally the decision I I kind of watch the the giant umbrella thing um a good way to think about a debate is what are voters looking for and what were they given and what's the Press saying um you could do a lot worse than thinking 180 degrees of conventional wisdom um a lot of times that's not the case you know like the first Biden Trump debate uh Biden was such a meltdown disaster um you know everybody said the same thing um but normally they're more evenhanded um you know it's very clear from though from the clips the coverage uh is that he did not have a good night and she had a pretty good night let me ask you a question before we get into that let me ask you a question it based on so you've actually been in a room of a focus group and seen realtime responses of Voters right yeah yeah so so do you know do PE do voters tend to respond to the visual body language and the visual experience or the audio the the spoken experience more or maybe the same I I or maybe not that's a really good question and I had to I had to think about it for a second and and here's kind of a a response that will make sense the actual candidates body language when they're speaking not so much the opponents reaction whether they're looking bored they're looking at their watchs They're laughing they're picking their nose whatever the [ __ ] they're doing that does matter okay pick up on that and in a bunch of debates I've done one of the things we've negotiated is no split screen uhhuh uh and you know simply because if you're a guy if your guy if your person your guy generic uh if your person always how dare you use gendered language Chris we're gonna get [ __ ] cancelled right right if this [ __ ] right it can be that could be cross cross thing but you know if your candidate always knows he might be on screen she will be paranoid and not be work at being on screen as opposed to like I'm writing a note I'm thinking this through I'm taking a sip of water and um so I would have negot I mean and some people doesn't bother them but I always think that it's like it's bringing bringing the um Stakes down for the candidate because let's face it sometimes you do have an itchy nose and if you go like that you're gonna have you know 100,000 memes about you know K his nose when we were talking about you know dead soldiers in Iraq you know or or if George or if George Bush is your candidate you can be like yeah that guy did a line before he came out right um you know and you kind of it's funny that it's funny that you talk about the split screen because I was thinking about this this morning actually I think the split screen compared to so last night I watched the entire thing because I I was we were looking at the contest that we were running real time figuring out what was happening and leading up to that I guess it was maybe it it was NBC that was showing like Donald Trump's previous and kamla's previous debates right and they played the debate between Hillary I think it was the first one between Hillary and and Donald Trump and they even referred to the fact that he was consistently lurking behind her in screen mhm and I felt like that actually hurt hurt Hillary so as I was thinking through it today just the idea just popped in my head I think it played to to it took that opportunity away from Trump to be a domineering presence out of the picture in the visual um but what you said about reaction I also did have uh instinctive reactions to some of the split screen responses between them so I can see where that would play into it as well yeah and the the the debate I guess was the second debate or the first debate with Hillary with Trump lurking behind her you know that is another of the incredibly [ __ ] stupid things that the Hillary campaign did you would never do that because a it's distracting and B it also creates a a possibility of an unknown event yeah and you don't want you want predictability um because you know again it's it's it's like you know it's like watching somebody you know shoot a a three-foot putt on TV that [ __ ] looks easy I can do that no you can't because if you've ever been there with the lights and the pressure and all the [ __ ] crammed in your brain and you you know it creates a problem I mean some people were very good at it um and even those people made mistakes I mean you know Obama was a terrific debater and he got his ass kicked by Romney in the first debate you know Reagan got his butt kicked by mandale in their first debate um and so even with guys that have Elite skill sets uh it's very difficult it's a very difficult thing um and so like you want less distractions you want like you know I mean also the visual of um when you saw the Comm and and and Trump together she was diminutive compared to him right so there's a stature differential and stuff and I I felt like that I was curious I guess we've always had tall presidents in this country at least in the modern era and probably going back longer than that um not exactly the case uh internationally but actually is a general rule that leaders tend to be quite tall the um Putin might be one of the smallest on the world stage actually yeah um uh but do you think that visual would matter to the electorate as they're watching to see a shorter Podium a shorter candidate you think it matters yeah it does matter simply because For Better or Worse uh and I think it's because it's you we're better or worse we like big leaders we like big people and so strong know if the I don't know if a a shorter president shorter candidate has ever won um but you know but there's a there's a famous story but but but this is kind of it's not just a TV age thing um you know famously Lincoln was challenged to a duel one time uh and Lincoln was what six six4 yeah yeah quite tall right and and his opponent that challenged him to a duel was 5'8 and Lincoln said okay and because he was challenged the person challenged gets to pick the weapons and Lincoln said broadswords and so you know uh right way I'll do a Shameless plug for a book that I read that if you like politics it's called the Lincoln miracle and it's about the Republican convention in 1865 and you know if you think politics is dirty now you should have seen it back then yeah for sure uh I think we have a we are overly pessimistic about this era in politics because we we don't have any really understanding of what it was like before yeah um yeah so that's interesting so so that's the visual then so I think it would be fair to say then that um you know what's the famous quote if you want to know who won a campaign watch it on mute or who want to debate watch it on mute kind of thing that's always a good thing yeah so in that way I didn't watch it on mute um but better it might be it might be fair to say that Advantage Trump in that in that sense um I don't yeah I don't know about the responses actually because the split screen uh you know in watching it I can tell you he never looked at her directly at least not that I saw gave her some side eyes um and he she certainly got under his skin and and his reactions um they bellied his his irritation right and I think it might have been you that said it's always dangerous to act as if the other person isn't worth you debating like the the the electr hates for someone to think this isn't worth doing like you're not worth my time right so maybe it's if at best it's a wash on the visual what have you heard on the actual substance of the audio version of it on the on the spoken part of it you know Advantage whom and why I I think she had an advantage on the visual U by the way Trump's hair looked better than I've seen it look forever that is actually true I actually saw it and I was like I don't think that is a r a rug like anyway but but I thought she she had a good visual her her color palette was great didn't take away from her face um her make she looked very good makeup yeah and she was and I think what she did especially compared to Trump or Biden she didn't look [ __ ] 9,000 years old and she looked she looks so youthful and vigorous oh my God right and she what 60 she what but yeah but but she I I thought she kind of won that um yeah you know and her when she's not doing that weird cackle thing her voice is quite Pleasant um you she's got a nice Cadence but but I think I thought visually she kind of came across really well um yeah you know he he didn't come across bad um but I thought that like it was a nice contrast it was like oh my God somebody that doesn't you know it's funny that you say that this would be a time for me to say something that she said that I think highlights exactly what you're talking about and I think it might be actually the key to what happened he tried to turn her into joke Biden and she said explicitly I am not Joe Biden nor am I Donald Trump and I think that's what most people want to vote for neither one of those two people and I thought oh [ __ ] that is the that specific statement is exactly what is appealing about you in this race is that you're neither of them in a normal in a normal version of our politics before I actually don't think KLA would ever become president but every election is a comparison and I think right now she's the best she portrayed herself as the best alternative to what nobody wants or she's the only alternative she is the alternative and being an accidental president doesn't mean anything I mean I mean you know uh Theodore Roosevelt was an accident yeah exactly on the other hand Andrew Johnson was also an accidental PR president he was a [ __ ] disaster um you know after Lincoln got shot and you know actually showed up apparently uh Johnson showed up so drunk at the second in noal he couldn't even speak he just kind of kept him there and he passed out um you know he got impeached and he was not a good person as they say um but no but but but I think that was good you know I think substantively and I did kind of quickly read through the transcripts prior to the call um he didn't I don't know if he ever said her name and there only one or two cases that I saw really quickly where he said Biden's name I mean I I would I would have been saying Harris Biden Biden Harris like it was saying LA Dodgers I mean it would have been that kind of thing I mean I would not have referred to her otherwise as anything but you know Biden Harris I would have made I would have made it a I would have made it a noun I would have made it a Biden Harris thing a two-headed beast but you know on on the substance stuff um and this is my super unprofessional thing but I I I have a couple Normie friends that um kind of watch the thing casually and and they're not real political um and I asked them what they thought and they said well he was horrible but we knew but we kind of knew that but I don't know any more about her she ducked a lot of questions and and I thought okay and again this was you know this is five people I texted so it's you know maybe they're tell was it true of all was it true of all five all five kind of had the same respon all of them thought he was terrible but they were all kind of like well we know he's terrible and he's getting worse that kind of thing uh but they were still kind of she didn't and complete the sale it wasn't like she killed him and it kind of goes back to what we talked about the last our last podcast go back and watch our last podcast um the the that you win or lose a debate based upon what you were trying to accomplish I think and I still think that her attacking Trump is [ __ ] stupid and you can tell it's stupid by all the cable and Twitter cheerleaders that you wouldn't have walk your dog or eat your cat as the case may be um you know cheerleading her oh she took Trump on this election isn't about Donald Trump this is about her do we have confidence in her do we think I've seen ads do we think she is a crazy 2019 2020 liberal is she this cackling idiot or is she a prosecutor who worked at McDonald's who seems to know what she's doing here like which like which like sooner or later undecided and are going to come down there and they're going to make that choice so if I had been advising her Trump was going to do his and again I think her baiting him and him taking the bait um was pretty funny um and and I think it was a good tactic obviously um and by the way he could have destroyed her by saying you know play that with somebody else who's hasn't been around the block I'm not Tak that bait it would have it would have been a really tough body blow for her but I would have just talked about myself as a prosecutor as vice president this is what I think um you know she kind of duck the question on abortion which was obvious to the two women I talked to um but they also had no [ __ ] idea what his answer on abortion was you know it was this convoluted weirdo thing are you talking about she ducked the question about H how long should a woman be like how far into a pregnancy yeah I I noticed that she didn't directly answer that but I feel like well I generally you know Donald Trump is full of [ __ ] when he says everybody wanted it like first of all no not everybody wanted it to go back to the states right every legal scholar every Democrat it's like what the hell are you talking about but to the people who care about it that remember roie w because I think they're actually going to be a cohort of gen Z voters who I don't even remember the first Trump presidency they don't even know what roie Wade is right right but to the voters who are maybe the most undecided in the camp that care about abortion they remember roie Wade had kind of very specific and had been adjudicated multiple times since it had been done that kind of laid out a groundwork for when is it viable when Beyond viability the life of the mother that kind of thing so I noticed that she ducked it but she did say I believe in roie weight so to me again sometimes you have to decode the language which is annoying but to me it was a political answer way of saying like I don't need to give a specific thing where this guy's gonna beat me up if I give him a sound bite I can just say I believe in roie Wade I want to codify it I want to bring it back and I think what is important again because everything is a comparison when you compare that to the other person who sounds unhinged and says they can abort a baby after it's born you're like the [ __ ] is this guy talking about and so I feel like she did Duck some things but I felt like she didn't duck it I felt like she gave a political answer which can annoy people you know I mean and that's kind of again my five person focus group but but you raise a really good accurate Point that's um you know if we want to let's take a little sidebar into the history of of abortion politics so um roie Wade and you know I think most legal Scholars thought it was an awful decision but they were all for it you know um and it also made the United States fairly unique in that you know abortion wasn't settled legislatively it was it was settled judiciously it was settled by 12 white dudes in robes um so Flash Forward to 1989 um there's the Webster decision which is a uh kind of put Row in question um and then comes Casey versus Planned Parenthood it's a Pennsylvania case it's worth looking up Bob Casey was the pro-life Democratic senator of Pennsylvania who uh restricted abortion his son is uh the current US senator who is pro-choice by the way um and Planned Parenthood sued Bob Casey and it went to the Supreme Court all the way to the Supreme Court at that point Republicans were getting this [ __ ] kicked out of them on abortion um and all of a sudden you all these Republicans were becoming pro-choice all of a sudden because it was something as a republican reflexive you didn't think about um you were just that's you were the pro-life party they were the pro-choice party but all of a sudden and because you had row you kind of got you know the you got a hall pass for that no matter what side of on so plan parent of Casey comes out and it was literally a legal case that was decided by Poland that the case was the Pennsylvania law Casey um was framed on a series of polls and basically they they pulled pennsylvanians and they said and again this is this is all kind of like this is this goes into the category I was there I watched it happen but I can't prove it but basically basically there was polling and said these are the reasonable restrictions that people think for abortion and these are the these are the the the rights that you have under this whether you agree with that or not I went to the court and the court went sure we'll do this because everybody knew every piece of the bill was like an 80 20 [ __ ] question that like nobody reasonable was going to be on the other side of it and that was the law but what we knew from that and all the research we did going into that if you are pro-life and you can always tell this is the kind of the secret handshake if you are pro-life you talk about specifics if you are pro-choice you talk about ideology General values you you you take the 30,000 so for her to say roie roie wade tells everybody where she is on it whether right whether she is there or not or whether you but if you're going to argue specifics voters instinctively know that you are coming from the pro-life end and and that's kind of hardwired into our politics because if you say it's between a woman and a doctor you know your pro-choice and and but if you say well it's between a you know a family and their doctor but on you know third trimester for like partial birth you know you're pro- lifee and and that's kind of been codified in on this thing um what happened after Casey um Casey versus Planned Parenthood it was like the old Cold War theory of mutually assured destruction both parties could destroy each other on the issue and so literally it was off the table um you know for you know almost 40 years um and so it's really interesting to see it come back into play and you know I think it was decisive in 2018 and the Republicans uh getting crushed um and their underperformance in 20 I was gonna so the one of our questions um in the contest last night was how many times would KLA mention abortion right to choose or IVF and she did it seven times granted that was actually under the line that we set I thought it would be more yeah me too um I I was I felt like they actually I one reason it may not have been more by the way is that section of the debate actually was pretty long and quite substantive and I whether or not she would have done more if it hadn't been I don't know but I do felt like by by the time they made it through that if you care at all about a woman's right to choose you already know who you're going to vote for and the person who says um and it's interesting because he he also is very wish-wash about this like the same argument that she doesn't have she's flip-flopped on on fracking okay I would say she's flip-flopped on fracking over the last four years I would say he's flip-flopped on abortion five times in the last week do you know what I mean it's like I'm gonna vote because I in Tech in Florida because I I think six weeks isn't long enough I'm personally for exceptions but I I would uh and the mod is well JD van you wouldn't sign a national ban I didn't speak to JD Vance it's like this guy it's the same thing right um so I feel like by the time you made it that and to voters that says Trump is pro life he's not pro-choice that politically at least yeah that's I mean you know I mean but that's kind of like that's the body language if you have to say well it's kind of this or kind of that and by the way what was really interesting too was that um the the north from the north so when Trump was talking the governor he was talking Virginia not West vir and northr who is this I think he was a pediatrician who when there essentially was a a legislative piece that was introduced that was like literally it was this 11mon 29 day uh abortion bill that didn't pass that but he got asked about it and Northam gives this really kind of convoluted answer which you can find online it's pretty easy that he pretty much says well yeah you know we can kind of you know you kind of and it's so convoluted I mean but but that's what he's talking about and and it's kind of to be in a big debate and reference by the way Northam is most famous for um his 1984 College yearbook um he was in blackface um and was he with what's his face from Canada were they were they schoolmates well it's you can also find you go Governor north of blackface because this is 1984 in 1983 Virginia elected the first black Governor so this is in [ __ ] 1884 or 194 this is kind of a contemporary thing and he's in a p picture he's in blackace and the person next to him is in the clan outfit oh my god um I'll send it to you after this and and it's like and his defense was I'm not sure if I was the guy in blackface or I was the guy in the clan Hood um you know and and you know the idea that he didn't get um impeached and thrown out or resigned he just kind of toughed it out um and and you know did a kind of a lot of graveling but it was but it's a really fascinating uh piece uh the other the other great piece I I I don't know I'm going to be obsessed by this guy again um he also used to dress up like Michael Jackson Northam did yeah and oh interesting and it his press blackface Michael Jackson blackface yeah yeah yeah yeah and some reporter said can you Moon dance and he said yeah and they said can you still do it he goes I think so and he starts to go to like do the moon dance and his wife jumps in she goes no no no I mean it it's it's like a it's like a Saturday Night Live bit um but that was the personally though I actually have no problem with him listen uh I think if you are part of a joke that is making light of the clan in Virginia that's a really bad look but uh I if if anybody remembers Ted danzen showed up in blackace at a I I want to say it was a Shriner roast of of whoopy Goldberg and it and it hurt his career for about a decade and a half yeah but what people don't know is that he had dated whoopy Goldberg they were very close friends and she thought it was [ __ ] funny and so this like idea that things are taboo uh just on their face I don't pun intended uh I don't know that that's actually true like if you're a fan of Michael Jackson and he must be because he was about to moonwalk to me that actually softens the idea that he dressed in black faces Michael because this guy is a fan of Michael Jackson you know what I mean it just to me it's yeah I mean it's not good for a politician to do that [ __ ] while in office but if you did that when you were in your 20s and you dressed up like Michael Jackson okay you know honestly I mean I did some stupid [ __ ] [ __ ] in in in my time but like blackface was never one of them and a clan Hood was never one of them and it's like right right right and again I mean the real question somebody has to ask is where did you get the clan outfit that's the question right that's the question picture the picture looks like a looks like like a real clan it wasn't like you know like a pillow it wasn't two people jerking off with a pillowcase on and [ __ ] around drunk yeah this was this was like a it was a costume party and they went to a costume party dressed as like the clan and somebody was going to Lynch I mean you kind of go like um that's insane but anyway that's we're getting off topic but anyway but that's what he's talking about but the idea that you would be in a major debate and you know you're talking about you know genen Z doesn't remember row that like like as he you know I was on Twitter and I saw that go past and I'm like wait a minute I know this I do this for a [ __ ] living and it and I had to search my brain and you know the idea that anybody would know the reference um you know it was like you know the other thing and the what struck out at me is in the beginning of the debate you know um both Harris and and and Trump talking about [ __ ] Wharton you know you know [ __ ] [ __ ] both of you you know like you know like yeah you know my you know my cost of housing my rent's G up 24% in the past year but Wharton says you know [ __ ] the UF [ __ ] Wharton um you know right right right but it was such a thing even worse than whart for KLA was talking about Goldman Sachs yeah you know what I mean like Goldman Sachs hasn't has said his plan and my plan my plan's better it's like I think that's the piece that has the highest potential of hurting her is not the unknown we don't know what she stands for listen everybody knows what a politician stands for they stand for themselves right like it doesn't go any deeper than that but the problem is she fits the stereotype of this elitist Democratic like Coastal Elite snob and to reiterate it or to lean into it as Goldman and Wharton I mean she could have used Wharton to hammer him maybe but why even go there right like if she had framed it differently as my opponent loves to talk about his experience at Wharton however you know what I mean like something like that but tie him to Wharton don't don't do yourself and I have to believe I I can't believe anybody was that [ __ ] stupid to do that because like if you are a normal person I want to hear that your economic experience is based on working at McDonald's not some [ __ ] corporate theve at [ __ ] Goldman who would oh that's so smart so true who would you know who would if they thought they could sell your liver and four toes they would do it you know but like the McDonald's thing I worked at McDonald I know how like I get that totally but like you know here let's talk about an Ivy League school that like you know you and your kids will never [ __ ] sniff you know and the guys that are gonna [ __ ] smart but that's really smart Chris I mean to be able to say I can only imagine how much easier it would have been for my mother to buy our first house with a a tax rebate or a whatever from the government it would we wouldn't have had to live in an apartment for X number of years like we had to if the government had helped us like I want to help you right and so it so going back to my original premise is that I I think by from what I'm reading from again a quick look at the transcripts she won the debate but did it help her and I think that's interesting I think that she needed to fill in the blanks filling in the blanks with McDonald's and prosec comp help her saying Wharton and Goldman Sachs [ __ ] you and and you're just like them um and you might be crazy liberal and and and and again I I I think it was a a it looks like a bad debate for Trump I think the more yeah but it may not have been it it was a bad debate for trump it may not have been a good debate for her I mean it wasn't it was better better than Trump but did it help yeah I mean let me ask a question do you think some of that depends on the uh the framing I mean I think I know you're answer this but my assumption is that a lot of this depends on the framing that people go into things already believing or wanting to believe right so if you if you are looking for a reason not to vote for Trump when he says uh they're murdering they're boarding babies after birth M and uh he says they're eating family pets in Springfield Ohio which by the way I heard there's so many great memes about RFK being in Springfield Ohio so good um and when he said and when he won't say I want Ukraine to win like when he sounds deranged you're just you're you're giving me an excuse to do what I'm already inclined to do right yeah and if you're already lined to believe that that two things are equal derangement and kind of like your typical elitist politician if you believe those two things are equal then I don't think she could really do much to sway you anyway do you know what I mean yeah and I think that there there was an interesting in the New York Times poll earlier this week I think it was might have been on Monday um 65% of voters said they want to change from Biden they want to change from the status quo it also said in that that they see Trump is the change her is not the change she literally doubled down on I'm not changed by the Goldman saxs and Wharton thing yeah but but I don't want it's like one line it's you know but I but I think that the way to look at a debate or the way to look at this election and the way to look at voters is again voters ask really simple questions um which is why everybody every Botox broadcaster is wrong about this stuff all the time because voters ask a really simple question what's in it for me right I know you're a politician you're not trustworthy what's in it for me I'm G to go to the guy that I think is the person I think is going to screw me less they they will base that choice on new information you change your vote you switch votes you become something else based on information you did not have so the question is what information did voters get last night that they did not have previously and was it what they care about and so so it's really two levels you know what's new what do I care about and what's new you know which is why by the way it's like we've got an entire economy built on people built on product advertising saying new and improved and sale [ __ ] right I mean that's that's kind of the big itch and so literally if you're a politician your version of new and improved and and or sale it's you know what do I care about what do and what's the new information and you know and I think both of them failed that but I think you know she she did well I don't think she did what she needed to do um but you know the question is going to become is that Trump's camp campaign now which I thought was really good then at her convention and the week after was pure [ __ ] chaos and I thought in the past week 10 days they pulled it back and I thought it was making sense again is this going to be another two three weeks of chaos with Cory lanow running around doing [ __ ] crazy [ __ ] and you know and people undermining you know lasita and wilds and and you know Fazio I mean that that's that's a real question and and if that that becomes fatal it's it's funny that you say you know people want change I thought of you last night after the debate I was reading on Twitter and somebody some Politico wrote she succeeded in making it seem like Trump was the incumbent and I thought about how many times you've said the race is going to kind of come down to who gets that label affixed to them last and lastingly right and and that was good I mean that that you know if she did that um and we shall see but if she did that that is a that's what she needed to do um which is why Trump the idea he wasn't saying Biden Harris Harris Biden um you know I would have said would said well you were in the Biden Harris Harris Biden it's the same thing I would have done that you know yeah yeah yeah I also felt like her to how we started this her saying I'm not Biden I'm not Trump her saying I represent a new generation of leadership her saying like we don't want to go back we want to move forward those are all ways of saying what you're saying which is change right yeah I think the I think the question is when people say they went change and this is something that I guess obsessively curious about human psyche because when people say change change be another depression it could be a World War it doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be positive change right yeah so when when you have an agent so what she did is she actually kind of helped his argument of being a change agent by saying he's an agent of chaos chaos will create change for sure may not be for the better are people nihilistic now do they just want anything do they want to burn everything yes and start over yes yes and in that case it's his race to lose then right yeah and I think that's what's driving him and you know because you know one of the questions that we ask do you think that um the United States would be better for your kids than it was for you and there's like a you know there's like an 80-year thing where people say yes and you know they haven't said that I think since 2008 I think since '08 since we had hope and change I could be wrong about that but but but that is a real indicator and um you know again I I mean taking my non-consultant hat on I think that's largely [ __ ] and and and you know people I think are driven by uh both partisanship that when you know your part's not in power everything is Doom and Gloom and we're all G to [ __ ] die um and you know if you look at sheer data about you know like energy production you know we produce more oil than Saudis right now um than Saudi Arabia right now and there's all kinds of you know health things and and I mean you know United States has tremendous amount of problems but could we go to our Haitians a little bit our cat eing Haans um but by the way there actually is apparently uh in um so personal information I actually have uh third cousins in Haiti yeah awesome I have no idea that yeah wow and simply because part of the family um you know kind of [ __ ] their way across the Atlantic and [ __ ] their way across the Eastern Seaboard and so I actually have you know when you you kind of do this kind of you know 23 and me and this DNA stuff I I come up so I'm yeah I'm speaking for my people um the um you're wandering into a blackface moment Chris warning warning warning right but you know apparently there there was a a a Haitian holiday called renovo or renovo or something okay and and in the in the sticks in like you know the kind of the hillbillies of Haiti um they will e cats because they will you know in China they will eat dog I mean you know but when you look at Haitians in the United States and I think there might have been a Frontline or a documentary about these immigrant communities and that they're great and and you know people I think there was Interview with a guy that's running a that runs a warehouse or a factory and he says no this is great he said they show up on time they're not [ __ ] drunk they're not you know um and you know people are complaining about the housing cost and was like when the cost of your house goes up that is a good thing you know um and for you maybe not the Next Generation yeah right this is this is the Trap the like the largest the perceived largest wealth creator for people is their home however that can become uh prohibitive to Future Generations right yeah no double edged sword right yeah I mean you know honestly the you know every once in a while I will go on Zillow and look at I have this kind of Death Wish to look at properties that I almost bought um you know and I I go back and look at properties that I could have bought in Hoboken and San Diego in 1981 and I want to [ __ ] kill myself um oh my God you know um buying a let me ask you a question the uh punch bow news had some really great coverage today I actually um I dropped it in our chat um on on this recording um and I'll include it in our newsletter they have some reporting on the uh Congressional leadership um pack and they also have a reporting on the national Republican Senate Campa committee um really detailed on the senate committee on their kind of like digital report card on their digital um fundraising but I wanted to run through sure there's some interesting races that the Congressional leadership pack for the house is spending on and even though Mike Johnson said recently he thinks they're going to run the table they're actually spending so one of them was uh uh Alaska so they are they're going they're dedicating a good amount of money to beat Mary pela in um in Alaska which should be a trump it is a trump District right it voted for Trump yeah um they're also going against several uh Challengers for um like uh David valo in the California's 22nd do you see where from your P your Vantage Point are there actually uh are things swinging at the house level that may disrupt the leadership may may change leadership no I I think that um literally all these races um it's more like a politics is local and I think more than any other cycle in my memory now all could change you know I mean we saw what happened with you know Biden dragging down the ticket and and that was something of a surprise um but all that could change but I I think more than any other cycle maybe since the 80s uh maybe the early 90s is that these campaigns are they're not nationalized they're really local and and how and so like tactics and strategy and advertising and all that [ __ ] really matters um and you see candidates like I will take what should have been a pickup in the senate committee or was it supposed to be a key pickup in Nevada uh Sam Brown against Jackie Rosen she's clocking him she's clocking him he's got a dysfunctional campaign apparently um and uh and her campaign has just been you know playing small ball hitting singles and doubles for the past nine months um you know Arizona is another thing it's that like Arizona could still be a repu should be a Republican state state but everybody knows that Carrie Lake's [ __ ] crazy and and you know so she's taken so but that's that's not a trump Harris thing that's Carri Lake thing and that's Jackie Rosen thing so you brought up uh Senate as well with Rosen in Nevada and I went to over the weekend I went to a Callin all red event um actually H had a long conversation we may be get uh we may be written up in the New Yorker I was talk I was having a conversation and somebody overheard my conversation come to find out she's a reporter and she started taking notes um so apparently Colin already read he was speaking they say they're within the margin of er I've looked at some polling maybe they are maybe they aren't um I in speaking to people they asked me what I thought I I feel very um I don't I think Texas is is Shifting purple I think it's be very hard to unseat Ted Cruz um but I'm curious what your perspective and also I read an article that many people are a little perturbed with Colin aled's uh strategy he's kind of been flying under the radar he hasn't been like over the top in his campaigning a is that a mistake to Campa the way he's campaigning is he making a strategic mistake and B do you actually think he has a chance of unseating Cruz yeah I think he's got a chance uh B I think think it's the I think he has the right strategy of running below the radar on it um because the what happens is that if he runs above the radar the danger is he nationalizes the race um and that's not a good thing so uh quick story in 20 2020 right no 2018 2018 2020 [ __ ] b or no um in in Florida Marco Rubio against um um the did was it the woman that was the sheriff yeah who by the way I thought should have been the VP candidate Val yeah you've talked glowing I'm big Val demings fan Val demings had Rubio I won't say on the ropes but late summer he kind of had him in a dead heat and what she was going after him on was Miss votes not showing up for work not being there for Florida and it was this really interesting hyper local campaign the national Democrats in all their [ __ ] Wisdom decided to go in and make the whole race about National stuff and so in a national environment it's a red [ __ ] State and and so I think Al's doing the smart thing being below the radar and making it about Texas stuff and local stuff I I did see a Cruise spot uh that was very good where award was saying we're going to tear down the wall and my generation is going to be the first generation we're going to tear down that wall and he said took me out of context and apparently the Cru people were waiting for him to say took me out of context because they said here's the context and the whole bite is [ __ ] worse than the spot bite um interesting you know but no I think he's running a good campaign could could he could he be yeah and by the way Cruz is way below the radar too yeah yeah yeah true I actually the funny thing is as you mentioned this I actually think there's a structural benefit for all red that did not exist for aor aor is a a Native Son of like El Paso yeah far the [ __ ] out right uh um all red is a Native Son of Texas but also a central Texas I think he has more poll and will draw more number from Dallas Austin San Antonio he is a central Texas where the population is so a he doesn't need to play a national campaign for name recognition he doesn't need to play up all of that because he's he has the Grassroots in in the very populous in the most populous part of the state so I think there's a structural benefit there all right um any other interesting things happening uh either that we didn't talk about in um the debate or with other races that are happening we're kind of in the the final Sprint I mean I know we still have the October surprise that will happen but uh yeah I I think that you know in terms of like the what happens with the debate look at the next series of polls and if she's moved or if she's not only moved I think it's really hard to move but if she's moved or or at the minimum stopped her downward Trend then she won the debate and she had a successful debate well she won the debate did she have a successful debate it's two different questions um right you'll know that if um she has moved or if she hasn't then she did not she did not fill in the blanks on her and people went back to the default settings um you know which is may seem strange but that's kind of the way it works yeah I have a this is this raises an important question do you think there will be a second debate between them I don't think so either no I mean I I don't think either one wants a second debate I I agree you know because you know by again by she won't have a better performance in the second debate right he may he may have a worse performance and right it's like like the risk reward level on both is too high um you know I mean if I were her I'd be already cutting spots from the debate I don't know if they've got and I don't know if they've got permission usually what happens in campaigns you say well you're not g to you can't use any of this in spots um and that doesn't I've heard that she already released a uh I have a concept of a plan spot I heard that she already okay then they didn't they didn't negotiate that um sometimes that is if not your super Pat can do it um but like I maybe that's what it was yeah maybe but if I were her or her side I would be pushing that [ __ ] out and you know and and what I would do is I would start with whatever her great clip from the debate is and anouncer says that's camea Harris worked at McDonald's prosecutor put you know people behind bahahah I mean that that's what I would frame the debate as part of her bio um you know and good that's me I you know so she mentioned um she mentioned abortion 7 times he mentioned the Border immigration or illegal immigrants 14 times now in all of the contest questions that we ran it had to be specific it couldn't just be look at what they're doing to our country these people are coming over whatever it had to be the specific wording so it was way more for for that it was also more for her she mentioned Women's Health Care she didn't say the word abortion whatever so they did they did mention it more but they just didn't use the wording but he hammered way more on some of the things that we had for him 14 times for Border nine times for inflation um where compared to her she just didn't have as many issues she didn't hit January 6 and Dem as much as we thought she would yeah um where what so I felt like there was a big missed opportunity for her she forgot to say that he invited the Taliban to Camp David on September 11th she left the September 11th part out missed opportunity um and she also I thought it was a big missed opportunity he was talking about the um the uh January 6 and uh they've weap oh and they've weaponized the doj they did bring up that he threatened to imprison people she didn't say that he also floated the idea of executing a former General Mark Millie for for being um unfaithful to him I thought that was a missed opportunity anything you could frame negatively for him I thought he missed an opportunity to when she was talking about border Integrity of Ukraine to say well what about our border yeah were there any have you seen anything that they last thing to wrap it up anything that they they missed their a huge specific moment other than framing her themselves differently no I I mean I I think that they missed opportunities they stumbled I think that the two biggest misses for both of them is that he did not hammer away at Biden Harris Harris Biden and she did not fill in biographical stuff and she was she was too TR she was trying to point him and Counterpoint him and get under his skin and frankly you know kind of high school [ __ ] when I think her job was to fill in the blanks about herself because that's the question everybody has who is she we know who he is we know he's an [ __ ] we know he's a l we know he's a liar we know he's you know what whatever the Litany of things they're going to say about him that's what they'll say but but fill in the blanks but so last thing if I can have so this is sept this is September 11th and I I trash politicians all the time um probably my favorite client and one of my favorite people was the governor of New York on 911 George [ __ ] um and uh you really you know you always have the thing like what would happen in a crisis do we have the leaders that would stand up um and and do the right thing and like literally I got to watch him in real time um you know be stoic and selfless and supportive um and you know Giuliani was the front guy but everything that was happening behind the scenes all the recovery all the state resources all the connections to the federal government that was all [ __ ] and that was all Pataki's people that were just had their heads down and were grinding the entire time the other thing that he did which isn't known and for good reason um I don't think he missed a funeral of anybody that died in there and he would just not just show up but somebody would reach out to the family and say the governor wants to pay his respects there was never any press there was never any I mean it was and he would just show up to the point when if you were walking down the street with Pak P's like 65 he's huge but when you were walking down the street with Pataki it was almost impossible for somebody not to come up even to this day to come up and say you know you were I was there at Louie Giordano's funeral when when you were there and it meant a lot to everybody that and it was like it happens all the time and it's really um so you know along with the tragedy of 911 I also think with paky you really got to see what you know political leadership should look like so yeah well said Chris well said Chris I mean as much as we make a game about it literally um and acknowledge that politicians piss us off and may not always feel like they have our interests at at heart I think it's it's far easier to make it through life to give them the benefit of the doubt because they will impress you often times in moments like that it was it was the most selfless thing I saw in politics and it wasn't like a moment it was you know it was like sustained I mean it was nonstop even trying to build the 9911 Memorial um and all that it's like people wanted [ __ ] crazy [ __ ] um right or but when you look at if you've if you never been to the 911 Memorial in New York um yeah it is very similar to the to the Vietnam Wall um yeah where there is this kind of Oppression that comes over you and the weight of it is there and it's really remarkable but anyway that's what I got the the way the the waterfalls are sunken in the in the footprint of the towers it's funny that you say it the weight of it because it it is almost like a force of gravity pulling you down you feel it because of the design of it as well I think yeah and and and the rush the water kind of creates this white noise for you yeah really but it's but like that and Vietnam Veterans Memorial are just two incredibly moving monuments all right I'm going to jump yeah it was great talking to you have a good one thanks all right everyone um that is another episode as we ended there it is September 11th um and I think Chris said it remarkably and really tied together what we're doing here and what we're not doing here um viously what we're doing here is is creating a game experience for um Civic engagement political engagement and hopefully we're doing it in a way that's fun um and kind of to steal a phrase from the British takes a piss out of uh politicians and um but hopefully we don't do it in a cynical way and I hope love any feedback from our audience I hope you don't feel any cynicism coming from from this podcast although I think what is Chris said is cynically professional professionally cynical maybe um but uh but I think underlying that as Chris just showed is a is a willingness to constantly be impressed um or have your faith you know reasserted when people step up and I think our country we've always stepped up um when we need to and I think if I was going to say anything the hope of this podcast and of fantasy elect is that we don't step up just when it's a moment of Crisis but we actually step up and talk to each other on a daily basis regardless of what side of some political madeup division there is so that we can you know continue to improve uh our country a little not not a rant not uh not lecture um but uh just something to remember on on this day and uh again please I I guess I have to say like subscribe uh share um and again give us your comments and uh we'll talk to you soon bye