It's time now. For the analysis of Brooks and K part, That's New
York Times columnist David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart, associate
editor for The Washington Post. Hello to both of you. It's Friday
night again. The days are flashing by this summer. Let's start out
by talking about the deal, David that looks like the Democrats have
pulled off. They've got Kirsten Cinema.
On board. It looks like the hedge fund folks and the private equity
folks may be happy about this, but it appears they're going to have
a deal. We don't have a final vote yet, but what do you make of it?
Yeah, There's a sink carried interest that never dies. All economists
hate this thing. But it never dies in characters in cinema has kept
it alive and to explain what it is, we'll call Paul Solomon. I'm
not going to try to do that here, but you know, it's an achievement.
It's a big bill as we discussed last week, and it's sort of center
out government. It's sort of what Joe Biden promised us. He's going
to start in the center, and he's going to move more left. But if
we had a normal Republican party get a bunch of Republican votes
for this thing
And it's going to be a major achievement.
And it's an achievement in investing. It's investing in American
clean energy. It's not trying to tell people what energy they can
choose. It's just creating a lot of resources so there can be cheaper,
Clean energy. It's creating new technologies. It's it's an impressive
achievement. And as I think I mentioned before it comes on the heels
of a series of impressive achievements, so the gun legislation and
the chips bill and other things
Things are actually getting done in Washington. People may be cynical
about it, but things seem to be happening. So, Jonathan David says
It's an impressive achievement. What do you What's your What are
you thinking? Well, I mean, I I agree with David. It is an impressive
Vinci achievement. It's not as impressive as a build back better,
um, the $2 trillion bill that the president wanted to get done a
year ago. But in a Washington where nothing seems to be able to get
done on these quote unquote big picture
For items.
To have to have the inflation reduction act. Being this close to
passage in the Senate is a huge achievement. There will be amendments
that will be voted on on the voter Rama next week. One of them that's
being um, lobbied very strongly by Senator Warnock of Georgia and
other senators is a provision to close the Medicaid coverage gap.
Which would really help low income Americans, especially in those
states, where Obamacare hasn't been adopted to allow them to get
health care. That would be a huge boon to those to those citizens,
but also to the economy because you'd have folks who would actually
be able to have health care, Uh and and not be in a position where
they're putting their health at risk in order to, you know, maintain
a job or to protect their families. But you're right. There are there
are amendments that are going to be debated.
See what comes out.
At the other end, But David, as you pointed out, this is not just
the this is not the only good thing that's happened to the White
House to the Democrats. They had a vote last two number of votes
last Tuesday night, but the one they were watching so closely with
Kansas where the voters came out, and 59 almost 60% of them
did not want more restrictions on abortion. Um, big
Shocker. I think too many people who are watching this is a red state.
What does it say about abortion this fall? Well, it says, a couple
of things. One is that Americans are pretty moderate on abortion.
And if they if you can have a law, which will allow people to have
abortions to 22 weeks or somewhere around there, most Americans support
that.
And they don't like the idea of getting jerked around which they
feel the Supreme Court did with Dobbs. And so what was striking to
me about the results in Kansas? It wasn't only like blue parts that
came out and we're super active. If you go to the red parts of Kansas,
which are pretty red.
The pro are pro life community underperformed everywhere, absolutely
everywhere.
And so to me. It's a vindication of the voters that we could You
know, one of the problems with Roe v. Wade this we took their hands
out of the voters. But you look at what just happened in Kansas and
you think well,
Pretty sensible.
And if we can settle this to give people actual choices, as opposed
to extremes and state legislatures, most of the states the vast majority
of the states are going to come out at the place where the polls
suggest, most of them Americans are, which is this middle ground
where it's not banning abortion? Not till nine months, but somewhere
in the middle there
And so to me. It's a vindication of democracy. And, frankly, I wish
you'd been doing this for the last few decades.
Jonathan. What? What do you Where do you come down on on what the
voters said in Kansas.
Or it was really stunning with the voters said in Kansas. You know,
we've got so used to talking about abortion as it's a left issue
or right issue, a Democratic issue or a Republican issue. But when
a conservative state a state that voted for Donald Trump in 2020
by 15 points when that kind of state overwhelmingly rejects an effort
to to ban abortion
I'm now look at this issue or at least looking at the borders in
Kansas is looking at this issue as a social policy question. Folks
didn't go with their Republican hat on our Democratic hat on they
went in thinking, Wait a minute. Do I want government? This involved
in what should be an is a very personal decision. And so what happened
in Kansas should energize Democrats around the country. But what
I'm curious to see is whether that fire and
Energy we saw in Kansas will be replicated will abortion and they're
in the access to reproductive care.
Be something that is galvanizing for voters around the country Come
November, certainly raised questions about what we're going to see
in the months to come because we know it's going to be on the ballot
and in in the months to come and then beyond, But David on Tuesday
there were also results. We were watching in a number of other states
and the winners time after time in so many of these cases were candidates
who were either endorsed
By former President Trump or they are out and out Election deniers,
people who say 2020 was stolen.
Yeah, There's another good thing That happened for Joe Biden and
the Democrats, which is the Republicans are doing phenomenally excellent
job of self sabotaging
the Republican Senate candidate in Georgia is a guy named Herschel
Walker. A guy I used to love when he played football, But he's just
not a good candidate. And so that Georgia Senate see looks more likely
to go Democratic because they there's just not a good candidate.
And you look at the candidates that the Arizona Republican Party
threw up and the Michigan
These are not right wing states. Arizona is genuinely a purple state.
Michigan is genuinely a swing state, and there's a reason Arizona
has two Democratic senators, and it seems highly unlikely to me.
They're going to go for some of the people who were throwing up for
major offices. My other final thing I'd say is we should ban primaries
in August because most people have something better to do in August
and go to the primary. Do it in September, where people are at home
and they're paying attention when you have it in August.
You get you get the small core of people who can really throw things
out of whack. You get low turnout, although even even those of us
who love politics August primaries, Jonathan maybe may not be at
the top of the chart. But what do you make of of the outcome in these
states this week? Well, look, I hope David is right in that The Republicans
have done a really good job at self sabotage. I hope he's right.
But what I fear is what happens in the general election.
Will people come out and vote? Will people vote on the issues? Will
people vote to save democracy? Or will people be apathetic and stay
home and thereby allowing these friend you can't even call them fringe
anymore? These super far far right candidates to glide into office?
I think we are one or two elections away from, you know, having our
democracy not just on the precipice, but on the slide down and you
know there's something
Things that have been done by. You know Democrats trying to boost
up these fringe far right candidates in the hopes of helping the
Democratic nominee.
In in the general election. Um, but I think that that that's too
dangerous a game to play when our democracy is on the brink. So David,
you called it, I think something like self destruction on the part
of Republicans and another reminder this week of just how divided
the Republican Party is, is you have the Viktor Orban and we'll talk
about that in just a second. The report a moment ago from Laura
But Dick Cheney, former vice president came out this week with and
here's just a portion of an ad he has thrown out for his daughter,
Liz, running for re election to Congress in Wyoming.
In our nation is 246 year history. There has never been an individual
who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump. He tried
to steal the last election, using lies and violence to keep himself
in power after the voters had rejected him.
Use a coward. A real man wouldn't lie to his supporters.
They don't come much more conservative than Dick Cheney. And it's
a very effective ad and people who haven't seen it all. It's all
over the Internet. Um, endless, Cheney's zero
She did what so many of her colleagues failed to do, which was stand
up and tell the truth about what happened in the election. My concern
is, if the polls are anyway, remotely close to what reality is, she's
about to get clobbered
she in one of the polls, she was down by 22% incumbent House members
not down 22% to a Republican primary challenges, so she's probably
going to lose big time.
And so to me, the key for the and when you read the Casper papers,
One of the big beefs against her is not defensive. Donald Trump is
that she isn't paying attention to us and in Wyoming, and she's gone
Washington
And so one of the challenges for Republicans who want to take on
Donald Trump say in the primaries and 20 in a couple of years is
to be anti Trump.
But in a way that seems populist in a way that doesn't seem you've
gone native and you're a bunch of Washington Never Trumpers, and
that is out flying. Some, maybe on the left on economics is really
down home culturally, where conservative Americans are, and there
has to be a way to challenge Donald Trump. That is not politically
suicidal. And as much as I admire Liz Cheney, she hasn't yet found
that way.
So how? How much of a fine line are they walking, Jonathan?
Oh, I don't think there Liz Cheney is walking any kind of fine line.
She has made it clear that going after, um speaking truth to power,
not calories in the face of Donald Trump, even putting her political
career on the line, then that is what she's going to do, because
she's decided that saving American democracy standing up for the
rule of law and the constitution in the face of a grave threat.
Is much more important than holding elective office in Wyoming and,
you know, look, I keep thinking about the scene in Star Wars.
Episode four when Darth Vader and Obi Wan Kenobi are battling it
out on the death star and Obi Wan says to Darth Vader. If you strike
me down, I will come back more powerful than you can imagine.
And to me was Cheney is is is open one canopy If she loses, which
she very well might lose her primary on August 16th. She could very
well come back more powerful than Donald Trump has imagined. And
if her goal is to ensure that he comes, never comes with in any manner
of feed of the Oval Office that she can succeed in doing that. She
will have done a major service to the American to the American experiment.
We're going to have
Where's on Star Wars? No. Next time we're together comics.
Alright. That was a great note to end on Jonathan Capehart. David