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00:00We still have this partial DHS government shutdown. This is a bit of momentum for the
00:04president, but it's going to circle back around at some point. This momentum is going to be
00:08back to reality, and we're going to have to address the fact that there doesn't seem to
00:12be a lot of progress there. Who do you think is going to take the blame for this shutdown,
00:17Republicans or Democrats? It's absolutely Democrats' fault. Look, Republicans have tried
00:22repeatedly to try to reopen the government to fund DHS. Democrats have refused, and it's
00:28frustrating. Look, I'm a Republican. I remember times when Republicans would do this, too,
00:33right? Shutdowns do not work. They have a 100% failure.
00:36Well, Leslie, there was a deal last week that Republicans put together in the Senate that
00:41was refused by the House by other Republicans. Isn't this something that needs to be worked
00:46out inside the family?
00:47I have to say, bluntly, I thought that was a mistake. I respect Speaker Johnson. I think
00:52that he is doing the best that he can. I think that he looked around and thought, I don't
00:57know that I have the votes for this, and what am I going to do? So what you're really seeing
01:01is a vocal minority on both sides, right? Vocal minority Republicans and Democrats that
01:07are essentially holding the U.S. government hostage and refusing to fund the government.
01:12This has got to stop. I've said this before. I'll say it again. It is a plague on both of
01:17our houses. We've got to figure this out. At the end of the day, though, Democrats, they
01:21need to cave on this. We've got to move forward. We need to fund DHS. We have to stop having
01:27these policy fights when it comes to funding the government. It's a failure. It never works.
01:33Nobody ever gets what they want when they shut the government down.
01:37John, what's your take on that? Shakespearean tragedy or potential opportunity for the Democrats?
01:41I mean, the Republicans do control all branches of government at this point, both houses in
01:46the Congress and the White House. So when the American people are thinking of the government
01:49writ large right now, they are thinking of Republicans. Democrats have said, if you want
01:54our votes, here's what we need to do. Democrats have said that they're open to funding and reopening
01:59the government if there were guardrails put on ice, which there is political support for
02:03amongst the American people. So if the Republicans and the majority don't have the votes and they
02:07need to get votes from the minority, Democrats have made their terms clear on this.
02:12This all points to reconciliation, Leslie, and I want to just get a sense of what this Christmas
02:18tree is going to look like by the time we're done, because it does appear that Republicans
02:21are going for it. Reconciliation 2.0. It will include funding potentially for ice. That's not
02:28included in the bill that's being managed right now that will basically pay for the rest of the
02:33department. But we could see a lot of other things in there. The president wants to see the Save
02:37America Act. Some folks want to see an approval for the president's ballroom. Is that what this is
02:42going to look like with a full Christmas tree covered in decorations by the time this is done?
02:47Because Congress is just completely unable to function in a normal way, right? They can't
02:53follow the normal procedure. What ends up happening is you get a handful of these must-pass bills,
02:59the bills that you know are going to pass, and then everybody just starts hanging every single
03:03thing that they possibly can on them. So what the final bill will look like, I think that's going to
03:08be, you know, who knows what it will end up look like. But I imagine that there will be a
03:13lot of
03:14different things on there. The bigger question is, will it get through, right? Like, can it get
03:19passed? And with this incredibly thin minority, or excuse me, thin majority in the House, it's just
03:26going to be tough. It's tough on Speaker Johnson and on the whip team. I really hope they can get
03:30something done, but we'll see. John, I want to ask you, because every time I talk to people who
03:36self-identify as Democrats, they say they are frustrated that Democrats aren't doing anything.
03:41And there's another question I always ask, and we had someone on earlier yesterday that we asked a
03:47very pertinent question to. I wanted you to listen to this.
03:49Ken, almost every time I have a Democrat on or talk to a Democrat, I ask them two questions.
03:54Who is the leader of the Democratic Party? And if you actually take back the House and or the Senate,
03:59is there anything you can actually do to stop the legislature of a president who seems not to care
04:05whether he has congressional approval for most of the things he does?
04:08Well, let me answer the first thing. You know, look, there's many leaders of the Democratic Party.
04:13I happen to be one of them. I'm the chair of the Institute.
04:15But isn't that part of the problem?
04:17No, look, this is always the problem for either party when they're out of power, right? The reality
04:21is that the president and the party in power has a much bigger megaphone. That's just always the
04:27case. And so we've got great governors out there. We've got great mayors out there. We've got
04:32wonderful members of Congress. So there are many leaders.
04:36So, of course, that was Ken Martin, chair of the DNC. But, John, I'm wondering what your answer
04:40that who is leader of the party and can they get in line enough to counter what we just heard
04:45from
04:45Leslie? Well, I would say that I agree with the chairman and I would add a layer to it.
04:51Part of the problem that the Democratic Party has right now is that our brand remains underwater.
04:56People don't like Trump, but they also don't like Democrats. And part of that is because I think
05:00when you rattle off the names that you think of, when you think of the Democratic Party,
05:04lauded figures from our past, but not necessarily forward looking.
05:07So I do agree with the chairman that I think as the party process for a nominee unfolds and you
05:12start thinking of new names and new faces that are younger and energetic when you think of the
05:16Democratic Party, the party will be enhanced by that. When you look to the Congress in this
05:20upcoming November, if Democrats were to take back, if you look at, you know, Chairman Jeffries,
05:24Whip Clark, if you look at the chairman kind of across the individual committees, I mean,
05:28these are incredible leaders who I think will really impress the American people in terms of
05:32what they're able to do once they get gavels in their hands. Obviously, the most kind of marquee
05:36issue is going to be what they do with oversight authority. And I think that a lot of Americans
05:40who have been very alarmed with the corruption allegations against the Trump administration
05:44are very curious to see what Democrats are going to be able to kind of pull out of this and
05:48give
05:48more truth to the American people on this. John, I want to ask you about another matter on Capitol Hill
05:53that we know is coming now that it's budget season. And that's going to be a supplemental
05:57budget request to pay for not only operations in Iran, but the replenishment of munitions that
06:02have been spent in this war and in the war in Ukraine. And you've heard, like everyone else,
06:07the worst kept secret in Washington is that could be in the area of $200 billion. And Pete Hegseth has
06:13allowed openly for that number to be higher. To what extent will Democrats be pressured to vote yes
06:20for this, knowing that the president's asking for $1.5 trillion in next year's defense budget,
06:26because it will be a vote that's in the name of supporting the troops?
06:30I think the Democrats are going to want to ask the broader question of what else is being funded
06:34and how is it being funded, right? You saw the president the other day talk about how we can't
06:39have many of these social service programs because we need to support the war. I think that most Americans
06:44are not going to be supportive of that posture. You can almost hear the ad makers kind of grinning as
06:49they plan to prep those ads for November. And I also think that frontline Republican members kind
06:54of, you know, instantly pulled back at that thought because, you know, in a lot of these
06:58tough swing districts where you need to bring over independents and Democrats, that posture out of
07:02the president is not going to be helpful for the very slim chances of keeping the majority in the
07:06House and even in the Senate. So I think that that is not a winning message heading into November
07:11at all for the president or the Republican Party.
07:14Leslie, I also want to ask you, you know, the rage underneath that president's tweet this morning
07:19is something we've been hearing from him for a while and that's frustration with European
07:22allies, frustration with NATO. He has this interview that he did with a Telegraph newspaper
07:27out of the UK where he called the alliance a paper tiger and said he's reconsidering pulling
07:32out of the alliance. First of all, he can't technically do it without congressional approval,
07:37but he can functionally make the alliance much weaker than it was. And secondly, do you think
07:42he will try to do that? Is that something that you think the president will do and other
07:45Republicans would support? I think the president is very frustrated right now, but you're starting
07:51to see some actions, right? On Twitter, I've seen the president of Finland, of Austria, you know,
07:56saying that they've called, they've reached out and spoken with the Iranians. There's been a lot
08:01of meetings taking place between European leaders to try to figure out what they can do with regards
08:05to the Strait of Hormuz. So I think you are starting to see more of that. I think that countries
08:11like
08:11Spain and Italy, you know, refusing the U.S. to access their airspace, to use basing, that's just
08:18bad. It's not a good look. It only hurts the NATO alliance. Yes, I understand that they're frustrated
08:24with him over Greenland and other things, certainly, but two wrongs here don't make a right.
08:30I really do think that we all need to sit back down and realize that NATO is one of the
08:35most powerful
08:36and important alliances in the history of the world, and it makes the United States stronger. I think we
08:42spend a lot of time thinking about how strong the U.S. military is and what an important asset it
08:48is to
08:48NATO and to European countries, but having all of Europe, having all of their skills, their know-how, and
08:54now especially as they are rebuilding their defense industrial base, having all of that together, that makes us the
09:00most powerful fighting force on the planet. It is incredibly important, and we've got to make sure
09:05that we are preserving NATO, and I think that there are strong bipartisan majorities in Congress that
09:09will support that, too. John, we got about 15 seconds. I don't know if you have time to respond to
09:14that,
09:15but I want to give you the chance. Bipartisan agreement on that one. I would just say that I think,
09:19you know, many Americans, because of the president and his statements, have kind of called some of this
09:23into question, but they do so at our own peril.
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