Inside Golden State Politics

"These Are The Days Of Our Lives"

• Nancy Boyarsky

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Los Angeles Times political columnist Mark Barabak, our guest, guides us through America's increasingly bitter political debate.  He asks if "we've lost our humanity."  We all agree that the country's best hope is to vote.

host-4ha0_3_10-08-2025_151028:

welcome to another episode of Inside Golden State Politics. I'm Bill Bosky, former city editor and columnist for the Los Angeles Times, and with me is our executive producer director, Nancy Buki.

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

And I am Sherry Bebe Jeffy, executive political analyst, and self-styled, a medium maven coming to you from, well, the. Of anxiety. Never in my life did I expect that I'd be hurdling down the vile, appalling, frightening road. This country is now traveling. I had relatives lost in the Holocaust it makes me terrified and angry to watch what is happening on our streets, in our cities, in our country today. No, never again. How Over to you, bill.

host-4ha0_3_10-08-2025_151028:

Well, we'll provide our audience with the answer to that question today, I'm sure.

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

Let's let our guests do

host-4ha0_3_10-08-2025_151028:

My guest is, mark Bebek, the political columnist for the Los Angeles Times. Mark covers the whole west from the Pacific, to far inland. He has covered elections in 49 states, United. He's covered the White House and Capitol Hill. He really knows his way around. This track. Welcome to the show. Mark. Yeah,

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

Thanks for having me.

host-4ha0_3_10-08-2025_151028:

Yeah, mark. I'm thinking of the, troops on the streets. Not too hard to miss'em in our neighborhood'cause we had 700 Marines, just a few blocks away, for a good amount of time that they've left. What is the impact of these troops on the streets, especially now in in Chicago and other cities, on the political process such as the, 2026 midterm elections?

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

Well, I think it's like everything. I mean, we, we are living in an era where, where everything including and, and the. Is political and is politicized, and people are very divided. So I think the impact is if you are a Republican, you think that it's, I should say most Republicans, you, you think it's a, it's a good thing that the president is acting forcefully and he is gonna bring those, in particular, democratic run cesspools to heal and, and clean up the streets. if you're a Democrat, you're appalled. You, you, you see it as a, to use of Sheri's words. A a vile, certainly an unprecedented, assault on, cities on our democracy. And if you're in the middle, you probably don't pay very close attention to politics, and you're a long ways from deciding what you're gonna do if you do show up in 2026.

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

middle though, don't you think Mark?

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

It's a small middle, but you know, given how closely the parties are divided, it's a very small middle. But I think it's the one that you know, you know, both parties sought out with a pretty locked in, base, short of 50% and it's that middle, which is gonna decide, the midterm elections in, which has decided the presidential election, which has decided. elections in the past, and you know, as you both know, these are people who tend to be, they don't tend to politics. You know, with all due respect to both of you, they're probably not, probably not listening to this podcast. and they're also very economically sensitive. They're very, very attuned to gas prices, to grocery prices, those sorts of things, neither of which auger well for Trump and the Republicans in the midterms, and I'm sure we're gonna eventually get around to redistricting, all that sort of stuff. But on the natural, you would think it's not going to be a good year and republicans stand a very, very good chance of losing the house

host-4ha0_3_10-08-2025_151028:

What about the though? I mean,

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

follow up? I need to ask him a question. Okay. And I started first. Dammit, boy.

host-4ha0_3_10-08-2025_151028:

you.

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

Okay, listen. Yeah, but that's okay. I'll forgive you this time. I'll forgive you this time, William. Anyway, it's, it's interesting that you pointed to, I think, and an analysis that I've read by Amy Walter of, the Cook Political Report, and she indicated no matter what happens with regard to this in the end. The two most important dynamics in the midterm election will be one, the state of the economy, as you said, two, as you indicated how independent voters perceive how the party in power that is doing. I think that makes some sense, don't you?

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

Yeah, no, I, I, I, I read that piece. I actually quoted Amy in, in a column I did along these lines. I mean, you know, as, as Bill mentioned at the top, I'm now my 13th presidential campaign. So I, I like to think I've learned a few things along the way, you know, and what the last election showed me is, you know, you can talk about all sorts of. high-minded and important, and I don't mean to denigrate and suggest that they're, highfalutin as, as opposed to high-minded or that they're unimportant, but things like democracy and preserving and protecting our country and its democracy and all of its institutions and such are less important, or were in 2024 less important to people than things like the price of gas and the price of groceries. so yeah, and, and again, I mean, I'm not, I'm not this stuff up. There have been empirical studies that have been done that again, show these sorts of voters who turn elections in this very, very divided country are people who are very, very attuned to, in particular, their

host-4ha0_3_10-08-2025_151028:

What about President Trump? Won't he have any impact? Won't his. His daily tirades.

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

Yeah, I mean, look, Donald Trump, he's the sun, he's the moon. He's, he's, well let, let's go back to the sun. He's the sun around, which all the planets, everything for the last 10 years in politics, pretty much even when Biden is in office, has revolved around Donald Trump. So, yes, he's gonna have an impact. That said, I mean, I am, I, I, you know, we, we have what I call, you know, the, the Fifth Avenue Republicans who are Republicans, who Donald Trump could not just shoot someone. He could, he could, he could shoot, have a stage, a mass shooting on fifth Avenue, and people would still vote for him. You know, and there are people who, if Donald Trump were tomorrow to end poverty, walk on water cure cancer, and, you know, I, I don't know, put a chicken and a half at every single pot in America would vote against the guy. So, yes, Donald Trump is going to have an impact, but I don't think anything he's gonna do is going to determine, you know, the outcome as much as, again. These economic factors, which, you know, we all know, and who listens to the show probably knows. You know, presidents tend to get more blame than they deserve when the economy's bad and more credit than they deserve when it's good. But again, it's gonna come down to the economy. I hate sounding like that, proverbial. I know we're all old enough to know what I mean when I say a broken record, a skip cd or a stream that is like hiccuping or something, whatever. Whatever the modern analogy is.

host-4ha0_3_10-08-2025_151028:

I don't know if I agree with you about the impact of Trump. I mean, we haven't had a president like him for

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

ever.

host-4ha0_3_10-08-2025_151028:

it's true. He dominates the, television screens. He dominates, the internet. He's, he's an online presence, but we've never had anyone. With a message as, divisive as him, somebody who kind of throws out the race card without any thought of the consequences. There's never been anybody like him and there's never been anybody so present and I. Gotta think that that has to have more impact, than anything.

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

Well here. I mean, I guess here's what I disagree. I think a lot of it's baked in. I think. I just think attitudes are so firmly fixed. I think there are very, very few people at this point who are going to be persuaded one way or the other on Donald Trump based on anything more that he says. do think, and I would agree, I think where Trump could have an impact is not in his rhetoric. Or filling up the TV screen or the iPad screen or the phone screen. It's, you know, does he do something like send troops, to occupy cities outside polling places in 2016? You know, trying to scare people away from voting. I think that's where he can have, have an impact. I mean, a, a direct impact in a way, certainly more than any rhetoric or, or anything he says.

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

a good point, which is it is. True that the president gets either the, yay, yay or no no on how the, the economy is doing. the midterms will be to some extent a referendum on how he and the Republicans doing. So the, the president does have an impact. It may not be, blatant. And blatantly visible, but it's there. And right now, I,

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

No, I agree.

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

a lot of what we're seeing now, mark, is enable him to distract us from what's going on with regard to the economy, which is going on with regard to the blowback of, some is more. his more recent, tweets as it were, some of his more recent statements on executive orders. And in that sense, I think Trump is gonna have an impact that as was indicated, no president has ever had for various

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

Yeah, no. Look, I, I, I wanna be clear, I'm not saying Trump is not gonna have an impact. I mean, the single best marker of how a party in the White House does is the approval or disapproval of the president. I mean, you can go back through time and look at President's approval rating and make a direct correlation to how many seats. almost without exception, the party in power loses. So Trump's approval and disapproval and, and his behavior. I don't wanna suggest that, that he's not going to have any impact whatsoever. To the contrary, I think his approve or disapprove, will have a huge consequence. But I think a big part of that approved disapprove again, is gonna be how people feel about, about their economic situation and whether they're doing okay. I mean, it's interesting and, and you know, Trump. Is very obviously throwing out all sorts of, of distractions from, from the Epstein files, from the state of the economy. But you know, we just had an election where, we had a president who, well not a president, but a president whose party lost the White House because he kept telling people, Hey, things are great. Things are really, really good people. Were not feeling that. So Trump can throw out all the distractions he wants. Right? But when someone is listening to the radio or a podcast or whatever. gets to the grocery store and they're paying$6 a pound for ground beef on the way home. They're paying a lot more for gas than they thought they were gonna pay, and they're paying more because of tariffs for clothes and furniture or whatever. I mean, like I said, it's fine to throw out these distractions, but it really comes down to, I believe, the lived experience of people. How are they affected in their day-to-day lives? How's it hitting them in their wallet and their pocketbooks?

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

I'm saying is government has a role to play on whether or not it rolls out as good or rolls out as bad.

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

Well, sure. And the tariffs. Look at the tariffs. I mean, that is a very conscious policy that the president has set out that has very directly impacted people in terms of inflation, in terms of costs. you gotta believe that that's not gonna run down to the president's benefit, or I should say that he's not on the ballot, but to the benefit of, of those Republicans who are on the ballot next year.

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

that, aren't they?

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

Oh yeah, no, a a hundred percent. I think they're very nervous. I mean, you know, it is kind of like the, the motto of, I guess it used to be Cubs fans, you know, wait until next year. That's kind of the new motto. You know, wait, wait until next year, you know, you're really not gonna see the full benefits of the, of the Trump economy. We're still, they will say in the overhang of, of the Biden years, you know, just, just wait till next year when the Trump policies kick in. You know, and then the, you know, the, the

host-4ha0_3_10-08-2025_151028:

What about the,

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

a

host-4ha0_3_10-08-2025_151028:

what about the tariffs? I mean, that's.

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

well, yeah, that's, that's the thing. Those are very meaningful.

host-4ha0_3_10-08-2025_151028:

People are seeing increased prices all of the time. You, watch television and every day there's a farmer, a soybean farmer or wheat farmer, who's getting, especially soybeans, getting really hit by these tariffs.

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

Yep.

host-4ha0_3_10-08-2025_151028:

is, and we haven't had

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

Republican

host-4ha0_3_10-08-2025_151028:

in this country to that extent for many, many years. So that's new.

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

Yeah. Well, and, and my newspaper, which I urge everyone to buy many copies of, subscribe to, had a very good article talking to people who are talking about people who are buying odds and ends on the internet. There was like this one guy who bought a chair from Bulgaria or something. It was like a 400, you know, UPS shows up at his door and says, well, before we give you this chair, we need a check for$450 to cover the tariff. And there were other people, a guy who ordered, I think it was the Football jersey for his kid who, you know, here's the jersey, but first we need$140 or something. So, I mean, people are feeling these. And the, the thing is, I have sort of likened this in conversation to folks with. Taking food away from someone, right? It's like you, you, you take away all their food and you come back a day later. Well, they haven't started death yet, right? And you come back two or three days later, they, right. So it's these tariffs, you know, they don't kick in right away. Like I said, you can take the food away from someone for a day or two and you know they're gonna be alive a month, six months, a year later, they're not gonna be alive. So, just to say, oh, the tariffs are, aren't having any kind of impact, well, it just takes a while to feel them. And I think people are starting to feel them.

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

Soybean farmers are not a single soybean was, sold I guess in the last week. Everybody is turning out, China is turning to other countries to get their soybeans, and that's, that's not inconsequential. And

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

No, no, I you know, we live, we live in like this instant society where everything happens, but this is sort of a slow burn. It takes a while for these things to work their way through the system. And so again, just because we don't see an impact overnight doesn't mean there's not gonna an impact. And as both of you suggest, we're starting

host-4ha0_3_10-08-2025_151028:

I, kind of switch, subjects to,

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

Sure.

host-4ha0_3_10-08-2025_151028:

To something that, the

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

We can't.

host-4ha0_3_10-08-2025_151028:

three of us have occupied our lives with, for, too many years. Politics. Mark, who were the winners and losers in, this great national struggle?

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

Well, are the winners? super wealthy people are going to see their taxes cut even further.

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

1%.

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

Yeah. People who feel that I'm using their words, not mine, who feel that woke and DEI and these sort of things have gone too far. they're all quite happy. Obviously, people who have voted for Donald Trump. People who wanna quote own the libs, they're quite happy. people who aren't doing so well, brown people. people who speak, foreign language, particularly Spanish, and work at a car wash or at a Home Depot, not at a Home Depot or in the parking lot of a Home Depot trying to get work. people who are on Medicaid who very soon are gonna find, their benefits gone. People who counted on subsidies to help pay for healthcare, were very soon gonna find those. things gone. Those subsidies gone and their prices going up. losers or other people who, like sherry, like me, care about things like democracy, freedom of speech, basically the principles that have guided this country and served it. Not, you know, I mean, not perfect. We've had horrible things. We've had slavery, we've had eugenics, but served the country pretty well for the most part. And those are now in, in, in peril, if not

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

of

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

being outright slumped on,

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

academics?

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

I'm saying.

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

about what's happening to our

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

Well, yeah, yeah, yeah. All that, all that sort of stuff. All that sort of stuff.

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

the faculty just had a meeting with the, president of USC, and not a single person even tried to say, oh, well, maybe we should take a look at this, except for the president actually. But he didn't come down one side or another. But, freedom I, I believe, is already a loser.

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

Yeah. I mean, I look, I'm not, I'm not, I, I'm kind of a glass half full. I'm not, you know, I mean, I mean, it's scary, but, you know, I, I don't walk around, dog face and unhappy all day. The sun is shining at the moment. The birds are singing things are good. But other than that, things are pretty scary and, fraught in our country right now.

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

So that's one of the losers is the US

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

Yeah. Look, I, I, I, I mean, I, I, yes. I think we've lost our standing as that proverbial to quote Ronald Reagan quoting, you guys would know John. Who was the guy? John Winthrop, whoever the, the city on the hill, I think. Yeah. Was it John Winthrop? Yeah. Shining City Hill, Reagan channeling, whoever it was. I think John Winthrop, but someone will correct me. yes, I think, I think we've lost, our standing internationally. I think there's a lot of damage being done reputationally. I think there's a lot of damage being done to institutions like, universities, media organizations that have capitulated. To Trump. I mean, I think it's, it's a very, I, I, I think, well, to quote myself in a column this morning, we're living in a, in, in, in a very, very

host-4ha0_3_10-08-2025_151028:

the person you wrote about, who, this awful person who heads the justice department's, civil Rights Division, that used to be a position of great honor, in, in our country, civil rights and all of that. And, now look what's happened to it. Just reading your column, I say, my God.

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

Yeah, I mean, you know, I'm speaking about harm di and, and she may be familiar, she's a former Republican party chair in California, Republican committee member from California. And, and, and, and I, I, I thought, I mean, ju just to back up, what happened was a, a, judge's house in, a circuit court judge in, in, in South Carolina. Her house burned down over the weekend. people immediately, and I think people wrongly jumped at the conclusion that because she had ruled against, president Trump in some cases, that this was arson, this was a horrible attack. I mean, facts are, you know, it was horrible. Her husband and son are in the hospital, was a horrible attack. It turns out that it may not have been arson. It may have yeah, it might not have even have been attacked. We, we don't know. There's no evidence, there's no signs at this point that, that it was arson or there's purposes. there was that period where it was up in the air. And, and rather than, as I suggested, maybe a a, a compassionate person would do, a professional would do, say, our hearts go out to her. There's no place for violence, even if it's not violence never hurts to remind people. No place for violence. Instead, she snarks, you know, went online and snared against, a political opponent and it's just kinda like. You know, where's the decency, where's the compassion? Where's the humanity? I think it kind of symbolizes, we've reached a point in this country where so many people, too many people, and, and, and, and people are gonna, you know, I hate to use the both sides formulation, but a lot of people of all political stripe can't look past someone's humanity. All they see is he's a d, he's an R, she's a maga, he's anti right? It's kinda like we, we've lost our humanity and it's, it's just. That's part of what makes this such a, a fraught and, and, and

host-4ha0_3_10-08-2025_151028:

Do you think that, uh, president Trump has anything to do with that?

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

Oh, I think there's a huge amount to do with that. I, I mean, people will say that, you know, I'm attacking Trump, but look. We, you know, it is a permission structure sort of thing, and I'm, you know, I'm not someone who looks to my president necessarily. I mean, look, I, I, I want my president's like, like a plumber. I want him or her to fix things, right? I don't look to a president for personal inspiration, but I do think they set a, an example. I think they do serve as a role model. I do think they should comport themself with a certain. Dignity and class, if you will. because they are a role model and they do set an example and they're the leader of the country. A leader I should say, of all the country. Not just the people who voted for you, not just the states that voted for you. You are the president of the United States of America. And yes, I think Trump has very much, I mean, yes, there have been studies. I even wrote a column, I can't remember when I did it, but I did a column, you know, about rudeness in America, increasing people feeling rudeness. And yeah, I think it all goes back to, to, to President Trump, to his style and to the sort of permission he gives people who, who see him as an example and who emulate him and who frankly thrive on it.

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

have said from day one of the first Trump administration that. It's, which is where I sort of sensed that this all began, this lack of empathy Donald Trump has given us all permission to be bullies. And I just think it has grown and grown and grown and really, There is another, there's no really strong voice Getting back to civility. There isn't. I see no indication of it.

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

And I wanna be clear. Look, we're all, we're all adults. Presumably, all the people listening to this podcast are, are adults. And we know that politics is not kumbaya and it shouldn't be. Well, people have very, very deeply held, and I take them as to be sincere viewpoints. And they're different. People can, can differ and they should differ and they should be able to hash things out. And it's not kumbaya. and it's not hugging it all out. You know, there is a place for very, very loud and vocal and vigorous competition and discussion and debate. It's when you start demonizing people, it's when you start calling them or treating them like Furman, quote unquote. It's when you again, lose sight of the humanity of people and, and, and people become, not adversaries, but, but enemies. That's a very, very dangerous line.

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

up to that is? What's the role of social

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

What's that?

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

of this?

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

Oh God. Social media. It's like, it is like, you know, it is like an accelerant. It's like, it is like gasoline, right? There's like a match. You know? A politician strikes a match. Social media is, is is gasoline.

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

frightens me.

host-4ha0_3_10-08-2025_151028:

What this is, this is make a lousy column mark, so don't write it. But what can, what can we, or the, the American people, what can we do to improve or change things?

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

Vote, make your voice heard. Vote if enough people are not happy. I mean, look, I have said, and I'll quote myself, there is no species, no organism on earth that is more sensitive to heat and light than a politician. if politicians are not rewarded. For being nasty, for being vile. Or to put it a different way, if you reward people who are not nasty, who are civil, who can disagree, and you know, if you don't like what people are doing, then vote'em out. And guess what? If enough of'em are voted out, other people are gonna see that that is not a successful path to power and success and they will stop. I believe, and this is the glass half full optimist in me, I believe there is nothing that cannot be cured by the people if they turn out insufficient number and if they care enough to vote. you don't go, you know there was a great button I saw, on a stand at Elm Street is the main drag through downtown Manchester and heaven. This great, it was this great button that I bought years ago. I know what ever happened to it. It said, you know, didn't vote, question mark, don't bitch. Right? People have it in their power. If you're not happy with stuff, then get involved, get organized. out and knock on your neighbor's doors, mail do, do whatever. But you know, get involved. And at the end of the day, if you don't like it, then vote'em out.

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

between now and that's it's well over a year away? And look what this guy has accomplished in

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

it's what do you do? Well, it's, you know, and, and, and that's the way our system is. As, as you know, we don't have a parliamentary system. We can't call a SNAP election. We have elections every two years. So what do you do? You stay involved. You stay involved, and you don't give up and you know, you stay informed. You stay involved. You find a cause, you. You know, I am, know, you know, do something to stay involved u up until the next election, I mean, I don't know, work at a food pantry, you know, walk a dog, help an old lady cross the street, do something. But, you know, don't, don't, don't lose faith, don't despair. Don't give up. Don't think it's hopeless.'cause you know, I did a calm and, and did a calm, I dunno, I was sitting here on the 4th of July or just before it and, and I did a calm kind looking back at the last year, and frankly, what a rough and difficult year it has been. you know, I, I kind of made the point, and again, it's, it's kind of small consolation, but. we've been through worse in this country, right? We've been through worse. We've had a civil war, we had a Supreme Court and the Dred Scott decision that said, basically black people aren't entitled to full citizenship rights. We have a Supreme Court that, you know, legalized eugenics, right? We have this long, and, and I don't wanna, you know, dump all over this country, but we have a, a long, very, very, sad, misshapen history of all sorts of terrible things. But guess what? We've overcome it. overcome it and I gotta believe that this is a difficult period. And the other thing too is, you know, we have. the benefit of hindsight, right? It was not always clear that the North was gonna win the Civil War. It was not at all clear for the first couple years of World War II that we can defeat fascism, right? It wasn't clear the civil rights movement was gonna prevail. All these things now seem inevitable in retrospect. At the time, people weren't sure, just like we're not sure. So I guess my advice is what do you do in the meantime? You don't give up faith. You don't give up hope. You believe that this country has been through some really, really bad times and has come through it, and we will come through these very difficult

host-4ha0_3_10-08-2025_151028:

Well Mark with those words. Thank you very much for being our guest.

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

talk about Prop 50, and I wanted to talk about Prop 50. We've got time.

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

Well, okay. Throw it out there. Let's have at it. I'm against it. Okay.

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

Gavin Newsom's redistricting plan that will go before the voters in

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

Yeah.

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

you know,

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

Yes. Well.

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

you against.

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

I, I am against it and I am against it through kind of gritted teeth. I think, I understand the impulse behind it. I, I think anyone who's read what I've written about Donald Trump will know how I feel about him, which is not good. I, I understand the impulse to wanna reign him in. I think it's, I think it's ill conceived. I think it is, it is bad for a lot of reasons. one of which is under, you know, disenfranchising a, a significant amount of people. And, and I believe, as I wrote one column, I mean, I understand the short term well, well, two things. I understand the short term impetus, but I think you need to be careful what you do. You know, Democrats we're all. Jacked up and unhappy. And so they took away, they, they, they invoked the so-called nuclear option where they took away the filibuster on, on judges. What happened? Well, Republicans came to power and you got the Supreme Court. You have now. So my advice and my, my concern is watch what you do in the short term. It could end up backfiring later. And along those lines, I really do worry about disenfranchising many, many, many millions of Californians who voted for Donald Trump, who are Republicans. Who are conservative, who would not be happy with the representation they would have, and what's the problem with that? The problem with that is people like that say, you know what? The system's rigged, we're all screwed. It's all a big game. It's lousy. What do you do then? Then you vote for someone like Donald Trump. Right. If you believe that it's all a sham and it doesn't matter. It doesn't, this, it leads to this nihilism and, and, and it just, like I said, it leads to a Trump. So I say to Democrats, I understand the short term impulse. I understand how gratifying it can be, but I think it long-term can, can be more dangerous. And lastly, not leastly. I'm not even sure it's necessary because Democrats need to pick up three seats. I think they could pick up the three seats. I think they could pick up the three plus five in Texas without resorting to this kind of gerrymandering.

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

Okay. I guess I, you are a no vote, that's for sure. I don't think I am and I think it's just because I'm mean and nasty afraid

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

I understand. Like I said,

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

go.

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

I,

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

But I'll also say

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

no,

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

it's

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

get it.

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

a done deal that it's gonna work for Gavin, nor is it a done deal that it's gonna work for Abbott, the governor of Texas.

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

Correct. Thank you. That's a very good

host-4ha0_3_10-08-2025_151028:

You know, the, the history of these things is, the complicated side always, loses. So, a vote no on 50 or a vote yes. On a vote yes on 50, which should be a, you'd think would be a vote for the Gavin Newsom. Democratic establishment side may have the opposite. In other words, it's, it's so complicated that people will say, oh, the hell with it. I think I, I'm not apathetic, but this is too complicated. I don't think it should be on the ballot. And I've done that on the ballot. I've done that in some elections. I say, why is this complicated thing about, ambulance regulation on the ballot? I don't wanna vote for it. So I just don't vote for it, and I think that's fairly typical.

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

Yeah. I don't know. I'm not gonna make any predictions, but I do think, like I said, I understand the impulse. I mean, sure. You said what can you do between now and the midterms? This feels like doing something. This feels like a way of kick and trick, you know? Trump in the shorts. but again, I, I, I just think, you know, sometimes you need to be a little, take a, take a deep breath, step back, think strategic and not, and not tactical.

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

pamphlet from the Charles Munger No on Prop Crowd, which leads me to believe since I've only gotten now, that they are aggressively targeting no party preference voters.

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

Yeah, I would think so. Yeah. I, I, I would think so. I mean, look, Californians took away, the line drawing authority from politicians for this very reason. and I get it. And I get the whole, you know, I'm so sick of the fight. Fire with fire and all, even sit in a column, please. Let's, let's just, it's such a cliche. Fight fire with fire. But to use that analogy, my concern is when you fight fire with fire, you end up burning the whole thing down.

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

awa, our former president, last senator. And a very fine linguist who wrote a book called Language and in Thought and Action, and I, I will always remember this analysis when fighting fire with fire, the fire department usually uses water,

host-4ha0_3_10-08-2025_151028:

Well, that's,

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

is what we're

host-4ha0_3_10-08-2025_151028:

that's like a lot of, that's like a lot of things said, in his prime. I never understood it. He was, he was always, he was always too smart for me too.

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

But that Tam, but that Tam

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

I'll

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

Shanter.

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

I use it in classes because it, it's, it talks about cliches like that. And that

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

funny.

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

I'm seeing in what he said and what is being done now and what you're saying Mark, that, there's no such thing as any kind of agreement, any kind of cooperation left in politics.

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

No, no, it's very hard to find the middle gun, although, you know, we did find one. It's interesting. I, I did a piece, over the summer I went to, the single most competitive congressional district in the country, which happens to be in California, central Valley, and of Jeff Epstein, and went and talked to people and there was, there was near unanimity, Democrat, republican, independent, libertarian, vegetarian. Release the Epstein files. So there is, there is a, a, a modicum of, consensus at least so far as, as the Epstein files are concerned.

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

how much of that just trickles on down to impact Donald Trump and Democrats who are also in the files. I don't think we're ever gonna see them if the three things are going, but anyway, now is pretty much where we have to say or why for just this

host-4ha0_3_10-08-2025_151028:

Hey, thanks for, thanks for this, mark.

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

Sure. It was a pleasure.

host-4ha0_3_10-08-2025_151028:

We're gonna invite you back for certainly.

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

Well, no, I did. I did. I did it. Always

host-4ha0_3_10-08-2025_151028:

Okay. Thank.

squadcaster-j7a6_1_10-08-2025_151556:

having me.

squadcaster-79bh_3_10-08-2025_151027:

cheers