The Civil Union
2 Midwest husbands breaking down politics with humor, receipts, and real-life context you won’t hear on the coasts.
The Civil Union
Bourbon, Bondi Praises Biden, Bessent spits in his food.
In this episode of 'The Civil Union,' the hosts discuss various political and social topics moving into 2026. Kamala Harris opens the episode with a call to unity and the importance of voting. The host reflect on what life could have been like with different leadership, contrasting the current political climate. They share a humorous yet critical commentary on Pam Bondi’s accidental praise of the Biden administration, critique Trump’s immigration and tariff policies, and highlight the absurdity of Trump's updates to the Presidential Walk of Fame. A significant segment discusses the economic impact of tariffs on bourbon production, critiques the anti-manufacturing stance, and emphasizes the need for advancements in AI and scientific research. The episode also covers a public confrontation of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent by anti-war protestors. In lighter news, they introduce the new laundromat-coffee shop by Emily Strayer and read off hilarious rejected license plate requests from Illinois.
00:00 Introduction and Call to Action
03:22 Pam Bondi's Twitter Blunder
04:13 Trump's Racist Remarks and Scandinavian Welfare
06:10 Trump's Presidential Walk of Fame
07:16 Scott Bessent's Restaurant Confrontation
09:34 Jim Beam and Trump's Tariffs
11:58 The Future of American Manufacturing
14:36 Emily Strayer's New Venture
15:14 Rejected License Plate Requests
16:41 Closing Remarks and Motivation
Hi everyone, it's Kamala Harris. Each day we are seeing our rights and freedoms under attack, including the right of everyone to be who they are, love who they love openly and with pride. So as we fight back against these attacks, let's all remember. No one is alone. We are all in this together, and your vote is your power. So please make sure your voice is heard this November and register to vote@vote.gov.
You are listening to the Civil Union where life and politics make sense and sometimes it doesn't, but we talk about it anyway, left-handers, left thinkers, left wingers welcome and if you're part of that Red Hat Brigade, fuck off. Oh, lots of bees. Today we talk about bourbon, Bondi praises, Biden Bessant spits in his food, and should we really boost for more manufacturing in the us? Hmm. Oh yeah. First recording in 2026. We said goodbye to 25 and guaranteed shit is still burning in 26, which is why I wanted to lead off with a positive message from Kamala Harris. That message aired in July of 2024 on an episode of RuPaul's Drag Race. Right after she became the nominee, a motivational jumpstart to the new year. Hearing a message from a leader we would've could have, should have had. Now we have a Grinch. Imagine if we had a different president right now. What would these years look like for us in our thirties and forties? Instead of having to worry about the collapse of American society, give us MIT Romney. Give us Kamala Harris or Gavin Newsom. Give us someone we wholeheartedly disagree with. But damn, we'd still have our institutions in place. With the proper people in charge. Ugh, the holiday season is officially over and I couldn't be more happy. I'm a very routine oriented person, so all the popup events, gifting, planning, planning for dinners, it just, it has my brain running in five different directions all throughout the month of, well, really from November to December. I mean, it really, it's just crazy. And I like to go into the new year, clean, fresh, and organized, and that's exactly what I did. Like the tree was put down on December 26th. Force fed to the basement, and that's how the new year was. We went into it fresh, clean, and had some crab legs for dinner that night. It was so good. We even briefly ventured out to this little bar called The Famous Bar, so I could have a Carrie Bradshaw Cosmopolitan, or at least it made me feel like Carrie Bradshaw. I, I recently saw a video of the replica of the Statue of Liberty in this violent windstorm, I believe it was in Brazil, and it like toppled over and crashed into a parking lot. And I was like, yeah, girl, I feel you. That's how I feel. 2025 was, and I kind of feel like 26 is gonna be like that, but we're calm, we're collected, and we, we know what we're doing here, so let's kick it off.
Speaker 4:So here's hilarious blunder for you, attorney General. Pam Bondy freaked out and deleted a tweet because she accidentally praised the Biden administration. She shared a graph on annual drug overdose deaths, proudly captioning it with since day one, the Trump and his Department of Justice have been fighting to end the drug epidemic. Here's the kicker. The graph she posted was from 2015 to October of 2024. Yep. Biden was still in charge. Then the graph shows a, a spike during COVI and how it leveled off and even dropped dramatically before Biden even left office. Once the internet caught on, she quickly pulled down the tweet. Talk about a face palm moment. It just goes to show you when it comes to these folks, everything really is a wild ride of fraud and fibs.
Speaker 5:I say, why is it we only take people from shithole countries, right? Why can't we have some people from Norway, Sweden, just a few? Let us have a few from from Denmark. Do you mind sending us a few people? Send us some nice people. Do you mind? But we always take people from. Somalia places that are a disaster, right? Filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime.
Speaker 6:Hey, Trump, not only are you a racist, but people from Denmark, Norway, or Sweden don't want to come here. Norway has a national insurance that covers residents with benefits like paid sick leave, unemployment, pensions. Norway also has a universal healthcare. No university fees for residents, paid parental leave, childcare support. Sweden has a universal healthcare and dental care, subsidized childcare, paid parental leave, pensions for seniors, paid sick leave, and support for those with disabilities. Denmark has a comprehensive welfare system funded through high taxes. This provides universal, largely free services like healthcare. Sounds like a theme. Paid parental leave sounds like another theme. And childcare subsidies. Hey, that sounds like another theme too. Mandatory pension contributions and subsidized public transportation is all a part of being a Demarion residence. Do you call them demarions? I have no idea. Denmark's benefits are seen as social rights paid through high taxes and social security benefits, ensuring a high level of security and quality of life for residents and no. Katie Miller. I saw the Greenland tweet. Greenland does not want to become a 51st state. They actually benefit from the Kingdom of Denmark, largely as it is an autonomous territory of Denmark. So thanks, but no thanks. Says Denmark.
Speaker 7:Did you know the White House has a Presidential Walk of Fame? Well, it looks like they've just allowed Trump to update the messaging under each plaque. Here's Kaitlyn Collins.
Speaker 8:Plaques have just been added to the so-called Presidential Walk of Fame. They almost read some of them like truth social posts, including the ones under President Obama's that says he was one of the most divisive political figures in American history under President Biden's. It describes him as sleepy Joe Biden, and also says that he was the worst US president in history. There are some that are nicer, including under Ronald Reagans, for example, where President Trump says at the end that he was a fan of Trump's long before he ran for president. The White House press Secretary Caroline Levitt says The president actually hand wrote some of these plaques himself,
Speaker 7:and are they proud that it sounds like a truth? Social post, I mean, my God. Biden's plaque is another Trump filled rant going off about his loss in the 2020 election. Obama's plaque cleans the former President spied on the 2016 election when independent investigations found no such evidence.
Speaker 9:Ooh, this is great guys. Okay, so Treasure Secretary Scott Bessant, who just expels creepy vibes was having dinner in Washington DC when anti-war group code Pink confronted him and accused him of economic war crimes. In the clip, he starts to boo and confronts restaurant staff several times, but eventually he literally like spits in his food, gets up and leaves. Here it is.
Speaker 10:Make an announcement. We have a special guest here and we wanna make a toast for the Secretary of Treasury, Scott Sen. Oh yeah. So let's give it up for the man who is eating in peace as people starve across the world based on his sanctions, which are economic warfare.
Speaker 11:Of course you're gonna boo this. It's the truth
Speaker 10:he. The death of 600,000 people due to sanctions annually. And this president, let's cheer to the Monroe Doctrine. Trump today said the Venezuelan oil, and you have no idea how you are ignorant. You are responsible for the death of 600,000 people annually because of sanctions. How many people are going to die because of the blood is on your hands?
Speaker 11:The blood is on your hands. You should be ashamed. So she
Speaker 10:should not be able to eat in peace. So we are here at a restaurant in Washington, DC right before Trump is about to announce, um, the accomplishments of this administration and what's to come. Um, the Secretary of Treasury, Scott Vasant was here in this fancy restaurant as. He oversees the very policies that allow for children across the world to starve to death, and over 600,000 people a year die because of economic sanctions.
Speaker 11:I was sitting right here next to Scott, said over there when he found out that you guys would not get kicked out, he spit in his food, stood up, looked the waiter, and sauntered off like a real housewife that queen, drama queen over him and they spit in his food. That's our trench secretary. Are you kidding me? It's so embarrassing, guys.
Speaker 12:Maker Jim Bean is pausing production at its main distillery in Kentucky for all of next year. Production will continue at its other sites. The alcohol industry has been feeling the impact of President Trump's tariffs. Kentucky is sitting on. 16 million aging barrels. The annual tax bill,$75 million
Speaker 13:Bourbon Maker Jim Bean, is pausing production at its main Kentucky Distillery for the entire 2026 year to address a shifting market with oversupply citing tariffs as a main source. The bourbon industry faces high record inventories and slowing demand trade disputes with Canada and the EU have impacted exports so. Just another wonderful day of Trump's tariffs.
Speaker 14:You know, I actually found myself in a conversation the other day, and the topic of Trump's tariffs came up. I asked, who pays Trump's tariffs? And they responded, well, the other countries should pay them. And I again asked, yeah, but. Who actually pays the tariffs. They proceeded to respond in the same exact way saying that other countries need to pay them. A tariff is a tax on import, you can only charge a tariff to your own people. We can't charge Canada for us to import goods. We cannot tax the citizens of another country. You pay the tariffs, they, they then responded with how it's not fair because all these countries have been charging America tariffs. And then it hit me. People are starting to realize we pay our own tariffs. So even with the global inflation crisis, Americans elected a president who purposely made our prices continue to skyrocket. My grocery bill is. Absolutely ridiculous right now. Trump has never had to worry about a grocery bill. When other countries place tariffs on the United States, that means their citizens are paying those tariffs. When they import USA goods, their citizens. Pay those tariffs. Other countries cannot tax us. They can only tax themselves. When Trump places a tariff on a country, America pays for it. Trump's idea for tariffs was to boost the American manufacturing and reduce the US trade deficits, but. Why do we want to bring back manufacturing? I'm sorry. It's, it's so 1970s, that ship has sailed. There are countries making pairs of jeans for$11 right now. We're never going to be that country again. China is now moving into the AI age and Trump just wants to bring back manufacturing. If you create those manufacturing jobs, they will most certainly be replaced by robots. Republicans think progress as woke progress itself, I'm sorry, it's not woke. We have moved into a different era. There needs to be. Huge investments in AI and we need to get ahead of China on this. On numerous fronts. America is not making any advancements right now. We are reverting. The funding for scientific research is the king of all progress, and Republicans are just. Ripping apart universities, we're ripping apart the NIH. We are not investing in biomedical research. We're capping funds sent to universities for biomedical research and that is an area that America has led for. Decades and Trump Republicans are just letting China jump ahead of us on this. China has the rare earth medals. China makes the phones, China has the antibiotics. Trump Republicans have been a massive gift for China. China can now go all around the world and make alliances. Make their own arrangements. This is perfect timing for them. The next president will need to work with any allies. We have left the next president and hoping that's a Democratic president will need to open up the communications just like we did when we were competing with the Soviet Union. We should also embrace India with the same thought. India is the largest democracy now in terms of population. Then we should create a trade agreement with Japan. The UK and so forth and make mins with Canada and Mexico. A great deal of foreign policy work will need to happen once we're out of this administration. The Democrats have a lot of work to do. We're always the ones who have to just clean up Republicans messes. Just take a look at history. 10 of the last 11 recessions since the 1940s have occurred under Republican presidencies.
So Emily Strayer, the third of the chicks, formerly known as the Dixie Chicks, is opening a laundromat slash coffee shop in San Antonio, where, where she lives, I had no idea. She lived in San Antonio. It's actually called SOAP and All Caps, SOAP, soap Laundry Lounge. She, she says she noticed them popping all over New York City and wanted to have one in San Antonio where she lives. And so customers can actually. Do their own laundry or drop it off for it to be washed and folded. Baristas are on hand on the other side of it, creating espressos, teas and pastries. Sounds delicious to me. Here is a clip of the Illinois Secretary of State. Read off the list of rejected personal lies license plate re requests. It's hilarious.
Speaker 15:Well, it's that time of year. Again, we're revealing some of the license plate requests that were rejected and ended up on this year's naughty list. Some of the rejected plates included BBL, which apparently stands for Brazilian butt lift, which had to be explained to me. Blue Ballin. I don't think they're referring to DePaul's basketball program bricked. This apparently has nothing to do with construction. I would recommend just Googling that one. Type SHT. I'm on that Secretary of State type. You know what? Apparently also a Gen Z thing. I be pooping. Okay, that one's pretty funny. ICUP. This one, I guess you just say the letters. Apparently a 10-year-old requested this one. Pri, if this is how you refer to your Prius. There's a show on TLC for you, S-N-D-U-D-Z. This apparently stands for Send Nudes. No thanks. B-D-A-S-M-O-M. This is short for Badass mom. I keep telling my wife to stop requesting this plate.
Well, not even one week into the new year, and Alex has already brought a cake into this house. I'm going to go grab a slice, but before that, I wanna say thank you for making it through this episode. We couldn't do it without you. Here's a Mel Robbins quote for you. Two. Drive into 26 with. Here we go. Stop telling yourself it won't happen. Start doing the work to make it happen. You can create the life you dream about. Go do it. Thanks everyone.