00:00:00
John we're back and we're talking about the presidential election and we have a special guest joining us and a John
00:00:06
favro Super Fan Lou Swisher Louie come on on hello he's at NYU and he's studying abroad and so he gets a upfront
00:00:13
uh and personal look at politics Argentinian style which there's a lot going on here but let's let's start with
00:00:19
some polling uh the latest numbers are out and it's not great news for Joe Biden former president Donald Trump is
00:00:25
leading the President Joe Biden in six out of seven swing States according to the Wall Street journal's New po
00:00:30
Trump has a multi-point overall lead in these states that increases to double digits when it comes to questions about
00:00:35
the economy inflation and immigration Biden does beat Trump on abortion rights an issue we'll discuss more in a bit
00:00:42
John let's start with you on these numbers because Louis has a perspective that I think is really interesting but
00:00:47
let's talk why don't you talk about what do you think about these numbers and uh
00:00:51
why Biden doesn't get credit for the economy so I think caveat right any single poll you can't freak out over too
00:01:00
much uh but if you throw it in the average I think the averages right now show Trump ahead by about a point and
00:01:07
then if you go to the swing States he's ahead of about four in Arizona 2 to three Michigan three Nevada it's about
00:01:14
tied in Wisconsin it's almost tied in Pennsylvania as well um so not great for Biden uh but it's early I guess that's
00:01:22
so if you want reasons for optimism it is early so the numbers can change um I do think that the reason to your
00:01:29
question about the economy I think when you go through inflation uh even though the rate of inflation has come down
00:01:36
prices are still high and I think for a lot of uh people who were you know struggling even before uh inflation
00:01:44
having higher prices uh you don't necessarily notice yet that your wages are also going up and so you're still
00:01:51
you know it's a $112 hamburger and it's not a $13 hamburger anymore but you're still pissed that it used to be cheaper
00:01:58
uh and I don't think I don't think that's gone away yet now the good news is I think consumer sentiment economic
00:02:04
sentiment continues to rise and so um and you're starting to see in the polls views of the economy get a little bit
00:02:11
better as well so it's slow going and obviously anything that happened between now and November but it is heading in
00:02:17
the right direction but I do think that people are still pretty upset over inflation so what what when you saw
00:02:22
these polls what did you think oh Jesus it's continuing it doesn't change it hasn't changed at all and how can this
00:02:29
guy have such a great lead yeah so I think there's a few reason there's people who are still up there's people
00:02:34
still upset about high prices um there is I think the fact that Trump is now the Challenger really helps him because
00:02:42
he is comfortable in that role and you know when Joe Biden ran in 2020 Joe Biden didn't have a record that everyone
00:02:49
knew and was pissed about as president and Biden now has a record and to the extent that people are upset about high
00:02:55
prices to the extent that they feel like you know they're upset about immigration
00:02:59
they're upset about uh they just this General Gaza there's a general feeling that the sort of the world is out of
00:03:05
control kind of thing and the president the incumbent always gets the The Lion Share of the blame for that and so I
00:03:12
think he's struggling with that I also think memories are short uh which is why you see Trump get all these like
00:03:19
retrospectively high higher approval ratings from his first term um than anyone would expect uh I do
00:03:28
think that the more we see Trump and the more we hear of trump um from Trump uh during this campaign his numbers will
00:03:35
sort of settle back to where they were when he was president uh at least that's the hope that's what the Biden campaign
00:03:40
is hoping as well um and so yeah and so I think that's part of the part of and then of course I think Biden's other big
00:03:46
challenge is third party threats because Trump has a a low ceiling but a high floor and so he
00:03:56
really has never been able to hit 50 in all the times he's run but he won't need
00:04:00
to if these third parties start taking away votes from Joe Biden Joe Biden Louis swisser what do you think about
00:04:07
this you and I have been arguing for days about this situation I am more in the John Camp but you have a different
00:04:12
perspective why don't you educate us I don't know if I can but um yeah I I um well I do really appreciate your convers
00:04:19
what you and John John were commenting on and I think uh that there's a strong sentiment for the Biden campaign going
00:04:25
into the 2024 election but the thing that really bothers me is that um voters have like they've watched this movie
00:04:30
before we saw in 2020 uh Trump versus Biden and now we see it again and I think the electorate is generally pretty
00:04:37
fatigued with these two options and uh because of that and the other things we were talking about and how the incumbent
00:04:42
is usually blamed for the state of the country regardless of what may have come before the incumbent that led to these
00:04:47
things um I think that's going to be a really big challenge for Biden but one thing I really appreciated recently was
00:04:53
uh an interview with Simon Rosenberg uh by Adam Nery in the New York Times that was a you know he's a Democratic
00:05:00
strategist and I thought his really confident attitude about Biden going forward was just something to um admire
00:05:06
and to try to replicate throughout the uh Biden campaign because what about it what about it in terms of because one of
00:05:12
the things you're saying a lot of your friends are sort of trump they're fine with Trump
00:05:16
correct well yeah something I've seen really recently is that um a lot of young people are so dissatisfied with
00:05:23
the Biden uh the status of the Biden Administration that they're willing to uh just let Trump come up into the uh
00:05:31
Forefront and uh just pass on for what he's going to his vision of the country in 2025 and um I I think that is just uh
00:05:40
pretty ignorant to try to just look past the accomplishments of the Biden Administration and to give Trump a
00:05:45
general pass up to the White House because I think the going forward with issues that are really important to
00:05:50
young voters like uh the war in Israel the economy the status of student loan debts I think these things will be
00:05:57
really really uh really much better in the hands of Biden than in Trump but why are they giving him a pass what is what
00:06:03
do they say to you when you're you know when you're arguing because you yourself
00:06:06
are a little bit like H Biden sometimes well it's kind of hard not to be a nihilist if you're gen of the Generation
00:06:13
Z I think um pretty H because I don't know I think we had a lot of moments of Hope in our uh you know the past 20 30
00:06:22
years of American politics um and but the problem is that time after time we've been handed uh defeats or setback
00:06:29
or laybacks and I think that just really is getting to gen Z but I doesn't I don't think that's going to I don't
00:06:35
think we're going to give up because of that I think we're going to fight harder
00:06:38
and I think um the thing that the Biden campaign really has to do going forward is to try to just make a pitch to the
00:06:43
country that if you reelect Joe Biden there are still options on the table uh with Donald Trump there's not as many
00:06:48
options on the table because Joe Biden you know he there are legitimate criticisms of his administration and his
00:06:54
campaign and his promises whether or not they've been kept but the thing about Joe Biden is that he is willing to
00:06:59
reflect and reform you seen this on his stances in on lgbtq rights uh crime to some extent and I think that um going
00:07:07
forward like it's really just important to remember that with Joe Biden you could have the potential for a
00:07:11
conversation but with Donald Trump it's his way or the highway and that is a that is really dangerous and you know
00:07:17
you don't want to you don't want to give that guy a good card I can sense your frustration both with your friends who
00:07:22
uh uh don't care if Trump wins and and you about the Biden Administration the way I think about it is like
00:07:30
we have to we have to avoid thinking about our vote as either a reward or punishment for Joe Biden or for Donald
00:07:37
Trump it's ultimately not about Joe Biden and Donald Trump it is about us it is about the future that we decide for
00:07:43
ourselves and there are two choices there's Joe Biden's going to be president or Donald Trump's going to be
00:07:47
president there are I mean you can vote for third party it's not going to happen
00:07:50
it's they're not going to win we don't even know if there's uh any of these third party candidates are on the ballot
00:07:54
in enough states to win if if they could right to actually get 270 electoral votes so then you have a choice between
00:08:01
Joe Biden and Donald Trump and I think it you know Nuance isn't uh isn't people's specialty in politics these
00:08:09
days but like I very much disagree with Joe Biden's Gaza policy I also think I love most of everything else he's done I
00:08:18
have personal affection and respect for him and I'll be doing I'm I spend every waking hour trying to make sure that he
00:08:24
and Democrats get elected so people like how could you do that with the Gaza policy it's like well because there are
00:08:29
whole bunch of other issues because elections are a choice because Donald Trump I absolutely believe would be much
00:08:35
worse than Joe Biden not just on Gaza but yes on Gaza but on everything on every single other issue and so what I'd
00:08:41
rather do is exactly what you said Louie which is Joe Biden has shown that even though he is an 81-year-old fairly
00:08:48
mainstream Democrat who's been in public service forever he has even from 2020 to
00:08:54
now he's been very open to progressives not only challenging him but persuading him him to change positions on multiple
00:09:02
issues and he's governed domestically as one of the most Progressive presidents of our lifetime and has accomplished
00:09:07
quite a bit that way and so I think that Progressive should see that as a win right that they have a president who
00:09:15
they never thought that the Joe Biden of all people would be this guy who you could push to um to pass Progressive
00:09:21
like really Progressive legislation and he's listened right and so I think he gives you a better chance than Donald
00:09:26
Trump does so let me ask you one more question you do talk a lot about about Gaza how important is it to younger
00:09:32
people more Progressive people say but not necessarily it's obviously sticks in your craw in a way that I hadn't seen
00:09:38
that before from you you're usually pretty evenhanded on a lot of stuff yeah I think this is a really really
00:09:44
important issue because um it is going to model how we engage with our allies and our enemies and how we engage with
00:09:49
foreign relations for the years to come because right now the United States is uh you know not not checking itself and
00:09:57
not questioning its own support of uh a really really I think unhinged and uh you know progressively dangerous regime
00:10:04
in Israel I really appreciated and um agreed with Ben roads the other day on uh pod save the world I thought he had
00:10:10
some really good comments on uh especially the recent uh world uh kitchen strike and you know the status
00:10:16
of why why are we still supporting this regardless of the fact that we've been shown time and time again that the
00:10:22
Israeli government does not listen to the United States and uh especially when we are sending them weapons and weapons
00:10:27
and weapons and signing more more deals to support Israel but we're not getting anything in return or we're not getting
00:10:34
any um response from net Yahoo's Administration on our legitimate requests for you know first formost we
00:10:41
send weapons without any um knowledge of well until after the fact of what these
00:10:45
weapons are being used for with no checks and boundaries and I think going forward if the United States doesn't put
00:10:51
a foot down it's going to set a very dangerous precedent um for not only our uh allies to you know stretch our limits
00:10:58
but also for the the consequences of this unquestioned support going forward um and what kind of retaliation that could
00:11:04
face in the future I think this is a really important and it has resonance with you yeah yeah I think it has
00:11:09
resonance with you I think because also it's such a it's such a visible crisis and that we're able to see time and time
00:11:15
again on Twitter on Instagram videos of on the ground of what is happening and especially with you know the algorithms
00:11:21
of Tik Tok and Instagram that are so uh engagement focused that these things are
00:11:26
put into our face time and time again and uh young voters can I ask you do you think you're being
00:11:31
manipulated by them that's what the obviously a lot of people say that you're getting obviously I've but I've
00:11:36
been raised in the I've been raised in the manipulation Our Generation has been scrolling for years and so I think to
00:11:41
some extent we figured that out and we know when we're being lied to and we know when to look for things like I can
00:11:46
spot I can spot an AI deep fake like nothing you know I I know I know what it is and um I I uh I think yeah it's it's
00:11:54
older people that lose their minds it is but I think because we are the information generation
00:11:59
um we have so much coming at us from so many Ang all the time that it is just really it it hurts our brains almost to
00:12:06
try to consider all these Global events that you know it that for years and years before you didn't really resonate
00:12:14
with it unless you were seeing it and now we are seeing it and so that is why it's so impactful for younger generation
00:12:19
and also it really goes against the morals that we've been told for years and years and years that our country
00:12:24
stands for not only on a domestic sense but also on an international sense and our like quest to spread democracy
00:12:29
around the world so big air quotes but I mean people talk about you know the end
00:12:36
of democracy is a shorthand and that can seem alarmist and I also think that you
00:12:42
really need to um make that tangible for people but uh even if Donald Trump wins
00:12:48
the presidency and uh doesn't have a republican Congress which I think is highly unlikely if he wins I think he
00:12:53
will have a republican Congress certainly a senate hopefully uh not a house but very possible um even if he
00:12:58
doesn't have Congress and he can't pass legislation what he can do through executive action alone is terrifying he
00:13:05
has said that he wants to and his advisers have said that they want to invoke the Insurrection act that's
00:13:09
that's using the US military against protesters they want to use the US military to uh also and National Guard
00:13:15
to go into cities across the country and conduct Mass deportation raids these are
00:13:20
not like new migrant arrivals at the border kind of thing this is going into workplaces and communities and dragging
00:13:26
people out and checking their papers um he wants to uh pardon people who violently assaulted police officers on
00:13:34
January 6th imagine the me message that sends to other people who want to commit
00:13:37
political violence that joh that Donald Trump just let all these violent uh people who tried to kill cops out of
00:13:43
prison and then he wants to uh send the FBI and the doj after pretty much anyone
00:13:50
who disagrees with him politically right it's not just like he wants the the Biden crime family stuff and put throw
00:13:54
Biden in jail imagine him investigating businesses the IRS is coming after you the I mean that he's he's promised to
00:14:01
investigate MSNBC right like it is things can go downhill really fast and if he wins people say oh maybe the
00:14:08
courts will stop him but uh you know Liz Cheney said this to me when I was interviewing her like she's like why
00:14:13
would he listen to The Courts at that point he has he has he he can you know they're going to say you and you know go
00:14:19
ahead and force your ruling with what army uh and so it is possible that he's too lazy to do some of this stuff right
00:14:25
it is possible that he doesn't get to all of it because he's too competent but I don't know even if he does half of
00:14:31
what he's already talked about as president it's pretty dangerous pretty dangerous would you care if Taylor Swift
00:14:37
backed by I just have to ask I mean she did it before right she did it before um
00:14:43
so I think she's probably going to do it again um her how do you decision my vote
00:14:48
it doesn't celebrities celebrities should stay away from this one I think I think I am someone who um believes in a
00:14:55
lot in like keeping the personal life personal and um I think politics can blend into that but I think political
00:15:02
activism doesn't have to so I think political subies could get political in their activism sense but you know the
00:15:07
whole vote Joe Biden because I'm going to vote for Joe Biden message it it could get a little fatigued by election
00:15:12
day I see interesting it's got to be real and authentic right I think I always think about Normie voters we are
00:15:17
not Normie voters uh on this this podcast right now but there are a lot of people again who will not tune in and
00:15:24
you know a someone that they really admire is a signifier and if person talks authentically about why they think
00:15:31
it's important to vote for Joe Biden or they think it's important that Donald Trump isn't president again I do think
00:15:35
that can have an effect on people who whose minds are not made up which I know it seems impossible to believe that
00:15:41
there's people whose minds are not made up but whether they're not made up between voting for Biden or Trump or
00:15:46
just whether they're going to vote at all um there's there's a lot of persuasion work to be done and and you
00:15:53
have to try everything to reach some of these voters who just aren't paying as much attention and sometimes that can be
00:15:59
a celebrity endorsement sometimes that can be a good friend having a tough conversation with them sometimes it can
00:16:04
be a podcast they listen to something they read there's just there's so many different ways and the other important
00:16:08
thing here is that like all of us if if you really want Joe Biden to win and you
00:16:13
don't want Donald Trump to be president like we have the ability to be Messengers like the the people who are
00:16:18
going to play the biggest role are the people who have already decided that they are going to support Joe Biden
00:16:22
trying to go out there and talk to other people that they know in their networks
00:16:26
to convince them to do the same thing and I don't think that works necessarily going to be easy but I think that's
00:16:30
going to be the critical work of the campaign anyway thank you Louie thank you so much I'll see you soon you're
00:16:35
going to come over and see your mama before I leave yeah we'll get a coffee