2023 Holiday Mail Bag!
2023-12-19 00:44:32
Pod Save America is a no-bullshit conversation about politics hosted by former Obama aides Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, Dan Pfeiffer, and Tommy Vietor. It cuts through the noise to break down the week’s news and helps people figure out what matters and how they can help. They’re regularly joined by journalists, activists, politicians, entertainers, and world leaders. You can watch on YouTube or listen to new episodes every Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Ad-Free Pod Save America episodes available NOW through Friends of the Pod subscription. Head to crooked.com/friends to join today! For a transcript of an episode of Pod Save America, please email [email protected] (edited)
Welcome to pod Save America. I'm Jon Favreau, I'm Jon Lovett, I'm Tommy Vitor, I'm Dan Pfeiffer.
Welcome to our annual Holiday Mailbag episode. It's here, guys, I can't believe it, it's here. And thanks to everyone who sent in questions via Twitter, Instagram and, of course, our friends of the pod Discord.
And threads bud threads, well, threads of the pod. Is that a thing now?
We got.
Some threads, I just read what's on my script? I'm just saying, I'm not no criticism, just also.
Reminding people about threads, it is an Instagram thing. But yeah, that's right anyway. Enough of this, let's get right into it. We got a lot of questions like this one from At Means 23 on Twitter.
Are you concerned about Biden's position on the war in Gaza and how this will affect voter turnout, in particular with younger voters? Tommy I am concerned, I think the polling is a little.
Weird and all over the place in this, right? As of recently, there was a CBS poll from early December that showed 38 of Democrats think Biden has shown too much support for Israel. And that's up from 20. I think that's sort of a weird phrasing, though I don't know what support means.
Kind of got to define that. Yeah, right, I don't like vague polling. There's also, in that same survey, 26 of Democrats want Biden to support a pro-Palestinian protests in the U.S.
There was another previous poll, though, that showed Democrats approval of Biden's handling of the situation in Gaza went up from 50 to 59 right around the ceasefire. I think so again, polling is a little all over the place. My concern is more anecdotal. I've had a bunch of conversations with Arab American friends or Muslim American friends who say they're hearing from people that they feel demoralized. They don't know if they can vote.
They feel like they were let down based on their support for 2020.
So there's pockets of this happening in Michigan that's been highly reported, or swing states like Pennsylvania. So I think it's something that, you know, Biden has time to fix, but he should keep an eye on and be aware of. Yeah, and I mean, I will say this, like, if you.
Are upset or disappointed or outraged with Joe Biden over Gaza? Like, you have every right to feel that way. And I don't think it's very effective because I've seen this here and there. To tell Muslim Americans, or Arab Americans, or any Americans who are on the fence about voting for Biden in 24 because of Gaza. Like, well, if you, uh, if you don't vote for him, you know, good luck with the Muslim ban. But I also do think it's possible and even reasonable to vote for someone that you are angry with or disappointed with. And I think that because at the end of the day, your vote is not about rewarding or punishing Joe Biden or Donald Trump, or really any politician. It's about choosing between two different outcomes that will each have tangible, real life consequences for you and millions of other people.
And in a closed country, that's 50, 50,.
Your vote can be decisive in those outcomes. Also, don't wait until 2024, you can be active now, call your congressman, yes.
Say, hey, I'm disappointed in the lack of effort to push for ceasefire or to limit civilian casualties in Gaza. I want you to do more, I want you to urge.
Administration to do more. And there is a $14 billion request for aid to Israel that you will ostensibly vote on in the New year. Tell your Democratic senators don't vote for that bill. If there's no conditions, don't give B.B. Netanyahu a blank check. That's that is one way to get involved, for sure.
Dan Sea Otter friend asks. That's my favorite part of the mailbag. I do love the names, me too, so Sea Otter friend asks. What should one say to swing voters who don't believe democracy is on the line? Don't tell them democracy is on the line.
No, look, democracy is 100 on the line in this election. Donald Trump is being very explicit about what his, what his specific plans are if he gets it into power. Whether he says he's going to be a dictator on day one, or all the stories we read about how he's going to weaponize the federal government to reward his friends, protect himself and punish his enemies. But if we simply make the case, say democracy is on the line, or this could be the end of democracy.
That's something that means very little to a lot of people, right? It simply is just saying, here's this political system that most of you think doesn't work very well. And here's this guy who's going to shake it up or destroy it, or whatever version they say. So, I think, say a few things. One. You should be very specific about the things that Donald Trump is going to do and how it's going to affect your lives.
And if you want to make a broader argument, I would spend less time talking about how the threat Donald Trump poses to democracy, and more about the threat he poses to people's personal freedoms. Right? Whether that is your, your, you know what books you can read, what healthcare decisions you can make, whether you can access an abortion, whether you know what, access to contraception, who you can love. All of those things are going to be at risks. Because we have an authoritarian who will not abide by not just norms, but laws.
When in office, unless people don't want to vote in any other elections, maybe they want they want this to be the last election they vote. Yeah, in which case....
Given the tempo of emails.
From Democrats, that could be appealing. You got a lot of time back, yeah, if you skip this way.
It's like it's like when Homer Simpson's boss said, If you don't come, if you don't come in Friday, don't bother coming in Monday. And he's like, Cool, four day weekend. Uh, yeah, I do think that, like, I think like Republicans, like their strength, they they go to people and they say, Uh, you're not wrong to care about this, right? Like, give into that feeling, that bad feeling that you have given to that worst instinct.
And I think Democrats are our mirror image of. That is less successful, which is, you're wrong not to care about that, which is like hectoring people into caring about something the same way that we do. And I do think that, like, people are telling us what they care about. Abortion is something they really care about, access to healthcare is something they really care about. And I don't think we need to, um, uh, send mail out copies of, uh, How democracies End by those two professors.
I don't, I don't think, I don't think, I don't think we can get people to read that how democracies die. I'm sorry, yeah, I don't know that.
I don't know that mailing copies of that work, I can.
Correct that, but I cannot tell you the names, Levitan, Steven, something I don't know, a couple.
Of fucking nerds from one of those anti-semitic institutions up north, I'm not sure which one. Oh boy, wow, coming out hot.
It's a great book, uh, it's a great book, long on problems, short on solutions, but still pretty good. I liked that that came on, they came on, love it or leave it.
They were good. Let's keep it loose, let's keep it loose.
All right, I honestly I really do appreciate you changing the tone from the yeah, that's better.
There we go, great, all right. This one came from Chelsea, Amory. I'm all for backing Biden since this is most likely, but I am genuinely curious, if it weren't the case, who would be a good alternative for the Democratic Party?
I'm not talking about who was already in the race. Yeah, we know you're not, but potential people you would like to see as an option. Okay, that's a fun hypothetical, right? So if Joe Biden wakes up tomorrow and tells us he changed his mind and he isn't running for reelection, which every piece of available evidence says, will not happen.
But if he does, a bunch of candidates would jump in the race Kamala Harris most certainly, probably Gavin Newsom, probably J.B. Pritzker. I do think that the strongest general election candidate would be someone from outside Washington, one in a swing state, younger, not too lefty, not too centrist. What if they fixed the highway pretty quick?
Not a lot of Pennsylvania, I think. Gretchen Whitmer Gretchen Whitmer is so popular in Michigan, has now won twice, has a great story to tell. State we need. Gretchen Whitmer and Josh Shapiro are two of my two top right now.
And I think, even though he's a senator, I would also throw Raphael Warnock in there. Because he's still relatively new to D.C. And he has won twice in a really tough state.
Hey, you pick, you pick any of those you put? I'm not, I'm not mad yet.
Those are great, I'll take any, just give a thumbs up on this one.
Now he's frozen, too. Zoom has started giving you a fucking thumbs up emoji when you do a thumbs up.
It's the one thing you don't need. Because the thumbs up is the thumbs up. Why does doing a thumbs up give you an emoji? thumbs up? It's a double thumbs up? It's so fucking stupid.
Stop haunting us with new features like It's still the fucking pandemic, It's over, Stop, it's over. We hated you then.
Yeah, we hated you then. No Zoom drinks.
Who are you doing Zoom drinks with? Absolutely no one? But apparently someone thought that we need a whole bunch of emoji reactions now.
Dan is still frozen. Can you hear me? He looks like he's hammered in this picture. He's got like, one eye open, we can hear you.
Fine, dan.
This is, uh, this will definitely be the thumbnail the social team will pick of me for this podcast.
Yeah, it definitely will. You look like it's like a Mr. Beast kind of goofy video thumbnail.
Anyway, anyone else got some candidates I want to talk about in this fantasy scenario?
You know, who never gets mentioned, Uh, Tim Walls over in Minnesota, but they've done a lot of good stuff. Jared Polis.
Jared Polis I think I think it's time for a gay president.
PRITZker Wes Moore is going to be great someday. He just was elected governor of Maryland, but Wes Moore is someone to keep an eye on. Although I'm still pissed at Jared Polis for.
Backing out of Lover or Leave it last minute? So Jared Polis, you're on my short list.
One issue voter right here, All politics is personal. Yeah, damn right, it is all right back to a serious question for Tommy. I'm sorry, guys.
Tyne, another friend of the pod subscriber, asks. With right-wing, populist slash, far-right and outright fascist politicians on the rise in the U.
S And many countries in Europe, but also in South America, do you think there are connected global?
Reasons for their rise? I think the right-wing populism story is a mixed bag. In Poland, in October, a right-wing populist lost to a coalition of pro-EU parties. So now you got this guy named Donald Tusk, remember him?
Yeah, he's from our days, he was a former president of the European Council, so like a certified.
Globalist It's a rocket ship.
Running Poland.
Argentina voted for this crazy, like right-wing libertarian dude, the Netherlands.
Demagogue Muslims. I don't know, they're connected necessarily, I think they're common threads. It's like people are mad about the economy, they hate elites.
They hate the corrupt ruling class. They want to break things or burn it down. They're mad at immigration, they're mad at changing demographics, and usually they find a scapegoat to blame.
So I think those are the common elements, the kind of right-wing populist playbook that you have to watch out for.
Sounds familiar to one we've seen here. I also think that because technology has connected us so intimately. Unfortunately, on social media and everywhere else. That, like some of these movements you can see, are copying each other from country to country. And so I think that connects as well. As, like you said, mass migration that is caused by a whole bunch of different things is definitely challenging a lot of governments. All right, a man and his cat? asks. When I hear Democratic politicians talk, they seem quick to pivot to voter.
Hip pocket issues Hip pocket, I guess that's like kitchen table.
I think it's combining pocket book issues and hip pocketing.
Sure, whatever is concentrating on that message still a winning strategy in today's identity politics world? It feels like more food on the table for you and your hardworking family is a folksy and quaint approach nowadays, not meeting the moment.
So the reason you hear so many Democratic politicians talk about economic issues is because that is what the majority of Americans care about the most. Because the vast majority of Americans, something like two thirds, do not have a college degree and do not make six figure incomes. And when you talk to these voters about politics, to the extent that they're paying attention, and many of them are not. They care about what politicians are doing to solve their biggest and most immediate concerns, which is their ability to afford the cost of living for themselves and their families. That is not to say that these Americans don't have other concerns. Many of them desperately want access to abortion. They want their kids to feel safe when they go to school.
They want to be treated equally under the law. But what they think about all the time, every day, is getting by, and that is true, independent of identity, race, gender, sexual orientation, all of it. The sentiment that talking about economic issues is folksy or quaint, or soft or not the right strategy is also a common one among, uh, certain pundits. A lot of posters, people who are posting on the internet all the time, and it's people who are, disproportionately, I think, highly educated, relatively well off and consume a lot of political news.
And political news is also consumed with debates around identity and culture. So there I do think there is a bubble effect there. But if you go talk to less engaged, less educated, less well-off people, um, who are most people? And which pollsters do and politicians do, and grassroots organizers do? You will absolutely hear a different set of concerns, and that's why Democratic politicians talk about those issues all the time. Can I give some numbers on that, Sean?
Because the New York Times actually asked voters to whether their vote was going to be more based on a politician's position. On social issues, which includes guns, abortion and democracy. And you could go the way they worded it, it could be because you're a conservative or liberal on those issues, or economic issues like jobs, cost of living and taxes, and economic issues. Won 57 to 29, a number that is up 12 points in four battleground states since 2022..
And again, it doesn't mean that these voters don't care. Like, because you hear a lot of people being like, don't they care that? It's the democracies at risk here? It's like, yeah, they probably would care if they knew about it. But they were working three jobs to try to pay the bills and didn't really have time to follow. All the ins and outs of Donald Trump's. Like latest crazy moves on whatever you know, like his latest speech or his latest trial or anything.
Like that, there's a reason that abortion, I think, is broken through in a way that some other concerns around democracy haven't. And look like you go outside, the birds are chirping. It's not like convincing people that we're on the verge of a dictatorship is very difficult.
It just is. But what they do see is the cost of living. What they do experience is like rising housing costs. The fact that, yes, inflation is down, but costs are still higher than they were a year ago, two years ago. Like, those are things people see and feel and experience every single day.
And I think our job is to have a case that makes people feel heard on those issues, that respects that experience. While at the same time making real for people. The threat around abortion, the threat around democracy. We have to, just we have to do both well. To your point, people also.
Can viscerally see when they can't get an abortion right because there's no abortion access in the state. They read the news when they see, like, there's a school shooting in a nearby school, right? So they care about gun violence. But it is issues that actually affect people's lives, and not like esoteric debates that happen on Twitter. Trump's going to change schedule f.
Right, which is bad for a lot of people who lose jobs and who are civil servants. I don't think it's good before we head to break. It's almost 2024, which means it's time to join the Vote Save America community. For all the tools you need to take action in this presidential election cycle, from volunteer opportunities to making sure you're registered to vote at Vote Save America, being an engaged citizen starts right now.
Head to VoteSaveAmerica.
Com to find out how you can get involved today.
All right.
Jsat23onthreads asks What are your news sources? Curious where you get your information? and why? Dan? Crooked media and only crooked media? There you go.
That's it.
It is actually really interesting the world we have come to live in. Like in the last year since. Twitter has been broken and other social platforms like Facebook have devalued political news. We're like back to the place where we were like a decade ago, where if you want to go find out what's happening. You have to go to a website or sign up for a newsletter to be delivered into your inbox, right? The idea that someone is going to deliver the news to your phone just doesn't exist anymore, right? You cannot just randomly bump into political news anymore, you have to actively seek it out.
It has become much harder than it has been since any time I can remember in trying to follow politics. Where do you get your news from? Where do you get your fucking news, Dan, while you're ducking the question?
Steve Bannon's War Room Steve Bannon's War Room, Anything Ben Shapiro does.
The big newsletters like Politico, Playbook, Punchbowl, the NBC First Read newsletter, I think can be very useful. Some of the New York Times newsletters are very helpful. If you really follow polling, then the Nate Cohn, the Tilt newsletter is very good. A bunch of different sub stacks that I follow that help you. They're a little more like issue specific, like there's a bunch of ones around polling, some around, like the legal stuff around Trump.
It's a whole bunch of different places, but I will also just in the middle of.
Website and even sometimes, and I hate to admit it, but Politico's website to find out what has happened during the day. Because I can't rely on Twitter to tell me anymore, those are my big three.
Too, I've noticed in just even the last six months, I was like, Oh, that's right, it used to be the osmosis of Twitter. You could feel like you were getting a good range of things. But I think I continued to feel as though that was true, even though it wasn't true for a long time. Fully giving up on Twitter has made me go back to literally just going to the websites like we used to, and I actually think it's better.
I think this is certainly a better way to stay. I feel more informed today than I did a couple months ago when you go to the landing page of a website.
You're not trapped by an algorithm, you're forced to see the international section, the business section. A bunch of things you just never would seek out or would never feed you.
Yeah, it is a better way of getting news, all right? Pete Borkowski at PETEB93 asks Is Ron DESantis's presidential campaign the worst slash, most disappointing in relation to expectations in American history? Oh so, I got, I got some, I got some nominees here and I want to hear from you guys who you aside from DeSantis.
I have some in my mind. Yeah, you go Scott Walker. Remember Scott Walker? Yep.
Former governor of Wisconsin, ran in the 2016 primary, was mentioned as a top tier candidate early on in that race. Dropped out by Flamed out in September 2015.
Fred Thompson, former senator from Tennessee, also movie star, hunt for Red October. Anybody, everyone's like, Oh boy, Fred Thompson's going to jump in the 2008 race. This is going to be a big thing.
Great voice, too, great voice in a lot of ads for catheters or something. Reverse mortgages, reverse mortgages, yeah, something like that.
Ended up not winning, not doing well at all in the early states and dropped out in early 2008.
WeS ClARK That was mine, that was mine. Former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO.
Great title, best title in the biz. I think, yeah, Supreme Allied Commander, that's.
That's pretty good. He was going to shake up the 2004 Democratic primary by jumping in.
Wore a sweater, fucked up a question on Iraq. He was out, he forgot.
That was it, he was on his plane. A reporter started asking him questions about Iraq. He forgot his position and then screamed his press secretary's name and called for help.
Help Mary, Mary, help, help Mary, Help Mary. So that was it for Wes Clark.
Jeb bush, I mean jeb bush, 2016,.
The front runner the whole time and just hundred million dollars, hundred million dollars. Yeah, it just didn't, didn't go anywhere. Please clap.
This is me lighting it on fire. Please clap. What about Margot? Rubio? Same year, also got a cover of Time Magazine.
Is he, is he.
The great savior of the Republican Party. He didn't flame out as hard. Look I. He did not, I mean, he was. He didn't do as well as Ted Cruz, but he ended his campaign by losing a insult.
Contest with Donald Trump about penis size. And then cried because he was so concerned about Donald Trump having access to our nuclear arsenal, and then endorsed Donald Trump. Like three months.
Later Okay, you're right. He also still hasn't to this day. He still refuses to say that Donald Trump can be trusted with nuclear weapons, so his his position to this day means Donald Trump cannot be trusted with the nuclear codes.
I would like him to have them anyway, that is his position.
I got one more and this is going to be. This might seem strange to you, Youngins, but Rudy Giuliani in 2008 was the front runner most of the race in the Republican primary. He decided he had an interesting strategy of not focusing at all on the early states he was going to. He was going to go right to Florida because they had more delegates. He skipped all the early states, did not do well on them and then came in third in Florida and dropped out after like a.
Whole year of leading the national polls, that flame out makes a lot more sense now that we know.
Him in these later years. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that flame out came a hard earned at the bottom of a.
Traveler booze. But it's hard to think about this now because of who Rudy is now as he's in a trial today for defamation. But like, after Nine 11, America's mayor, one of the most popular politicians in the country, you know, obviously Bush wins in 2004. But then they're like, Oh, the next Republican, next Republican president, that's going to be Rudy Giuliani. Yeah, it was.
Interesting to the flame out. And then it also just sort of because if you go back like, other primaries were like, more consistent. But Rudy kind of like, like John McCain coming up the rear.
You know, anyway, anyway, does anyone have a favorite? who do you think's the? who do you think's the biggest flame out? You guys have a winner from that list? Oh man, that's a really.
Good list, I think it has to be Jeb Bush from your list. Cause a lot of these other people were, you know, came in like the Fred Thompson West Clark. We're just kind of like these larks. That happened late in the race, where people got kind of desperate.
We are leaving out Ed Muskie, who was the overwhelming favorite and maybe possibly shed a tear in New Hampshire. And then his campaign ended.
Gary Gary Gary Hart is Gary Hart. It sounds ridiculous saying it out loud.
But Rick Perry was pretty highly regarded going into 2012.
I don't want to, you know, John.
We both were speaking. I don't want to gloss over the fact that you said. Hillary Clinton shed a tear and then vroom.
I heard it, I heard it. She just didn't want to see us fall backwards, John.
That fucking, that was good stuff. Obama for not getting the public option.
Yeah, sorry, I was just channeling my inner, your inner who who's in there, buddy?
I think you're lookable enough.
Good question, Okay, Tommy? Yeah, we have one from Ryan Whitledge on Twitter.
Tommy and Dan, they both want you to do some, they want to hear some sports commentary.
First, for Tommy, let's have an honest chat about the future of Bill Belichick. Is he still the?
Coach of the Pats after this season New England Patriots. I know who it is, I know it is the guy.
That cheats, and then everyone's like, Eh, it's fine. 113 million people watch the Superbowl. And this guy treats these conversations like, we're some some niche hobby. We got over here, tell me.
More about your fucking eldon ring? I love, I love, I love when Tommy goes on this, all right.
All right, yeah, you love football. What a. what a, what a guy's guy. Let's hear it.
I'm not like the other girls. Let's go all right. Something about Bill Belichick, What? What do you got to say about it?
Here's a way to bring you in. I don't want to be brought in, just answer the fucking.
QUESTION Look, I'm going to build bridges here. Politico You love Politico? They reported the Patriots are so bad that Republican candidates are finally allowed to campaign in New Hampshire during Patriots Games. This news cycle.
Oh wow, that's interesting. It's a sad because the Patriots are three and 10, or worse than the Jets. I think Bill Belichick should get another year.
He made some bad choices in the drafts, shouldn't have hired a defensive coordinator to be your offensive coordinator. That was probably a mistake. It's weird that he hired his son to be a coach. Nepo baby.
Yeah, he's got a Nepo baby on staff. Yeah, as you know, I do not follow.
The Patriots as closely as you do. But I just saw before we started recording that. Tom Curran, who is an excellent sports reporter for a local NBC affiliate in Boston. He says that the decision has been made that Belichick's going to be out for this. Is it for the last? This is the last?
Season. So the flip side is, he's the best coach of all time. He's 71 years old. Don't cry because.
It's over. Laugh because it happened. Yeah, nine Superbowl appearances, six Superbowls, that's a lot.
That makes me sad, I didn't know that's a ton of them, most, ever, most ever.
Wow for an NFL coach, anyway, we'll see. It's still an early report sports talk.
By the time people hear this podcast, we'll know whether it's true or not. Yeah, well, that's right, you'll. yeah, you'll all know by now.
And in the pursuit of fairness, what are Dan's thoughts on the eventual banning of the tush push? And then it says in parentheses Love its commentary, welcome.
As well, Okay, Dan, Dan, what do you think about the tush push? This is part of the freedom agenda I was discussing earlier.
Oh boy, what do you wish I could? But what is the tush push? yeah.
What is the tush push? The tush push, otherwise known as the Brotherly Shove, is a play the Philadelphia Eagles do. Hey, not better. Yeah, I'm just telling you what it is that the Philadelphia Eagles do. Where the offensive line and the running backs all just push the quarterback into the end zone.
Or, uh, to get the first down and the short yardage situation, oh.
So it's like, Okay, I see, and it's not allowed, it is, it is allowed, the NFL thought of banning.
It, no one's ever done it before successfully, the Eagles did last season. They thought they would ban it, they didn't.
I'm being asked this question because people assume fairly that I am an Eagles fan because I grew up near Philly, and I'm a Philly fan of everything else. But that's not actually the case. I'm actually a Washington Commanders fan because that's how I was raised.
People throw batteries at you when we're in Philly.
That's what my 2016 election takes.
So basically, basically, like, um, it's, uh, kind of like, uh, like, uh, the football equivalent of putting a Sumo wrestler in the hockey goal. They like, they, just they. Just. Even though they're kind of being tackled, they're being pushed from behind and just sort of forcing through. That's cool. How can you ban that? Why do they want to ban the tush push?
Because it's seen as an unfair advantage. I think they should not ban it, and the reason that people are paying even more attention to it is the key. The reason why Philadelphia can do it, and no one else can, is because the center for the Philadelphia Eagles is Jason Kelsey, Travis Kelsey's brother and now a huge podcast star.
Huge podcaster. We got to take that fucker down. And their quarterback, Jalen Hurts, is super athletic and strong, and just a badass can like squat 600 pounds or something.
So every so, the tush push is available to everyone. This is America, but the Eagles, the Eagles, because they're, because, um, these are people that know how to climb a greasy pole. Like, they figure, you know, they're just they're, they're the square, they're people from Philadelphia, they're animals.
They're fucking monsters you could come up with the.
Name for it, for every city you could, and I will keep thinking while we're doing the rest of the.
Questions, push, push. It's fun to say, buy me dinner for a Philadelphia, you know what I'm?
Saying.
Okay, uh, another question for Dan from Marcus Lang Dan, what have been some of your favorite music releases of 2023? This question is for everyone, but I think my music tastes are more aligned with Dan than the rest of the guys. Okay, Marcus Marcus sent from Margaritaville.
I'm assuming this is a hip hop related question because I generally listen probably to more hip hop than you guys do. And I would say that this is the year I've been trying mightily to outpace my age and stay very current on hip hop. But that became impossible this year. But there are two albums that came out this year, they very much like one is by a rapper called No Name.
Who's a became famous many years ago by being On Chance, the rapper's mixtape. And she has an incredible album that came out this year, and then Black Thought from the Roots has a solo album this year that's excellent. I want to be able to. I wish I could say that I was really into Andre 3000's flute album, but I can't, I can't make myself do that.
Not doing the flute thing, all right has.
The Young Thug Trial gotten you into any of his songs I have listened to? I have listened to a.
Fair amount of young thug in my life, but I have not re his, his involvement in a rico has not.
Made it more appealing to me, Dan, what did you think of the latest Drake album? Not a fan? Yeah, I tried to, and I was like, it's not, it's just a little like, a little too slow for me.
Yeah, I feel.
Like that, anyway, he's missed his moment, or his moments over, yeah, anyone else, anyone else have.
Any music releases they'd like to, they'd like to tout, um, I would say you, I'm going to do a lot.
Of Ethel Cain Our music tastes very different. Uh, you know, basically, sort of somebody who's upset and non-binary. Like, that's what Spotify is going to show me, a fair amount of cool, um, that's, that's a lot of it.
Um, so yeah, I haven't listened to Ethel Cain really rising, really.
Rising well, uh, next question is, we're really moving into recommendations territory here? Uh, some gold can stay on. Instagram asks, Uh, what are you reading or watching? Or in Lovett's case?
Playing so I have been. I just watched, Um, Leave the World Behind the Julia Roberts Mahershala Ali movie, and it's I think it's excellent. I've really liked it. Uh, I'm not playing anything yet, but over the break I plan to play. Tears of the Kingdom, The Lies of P and, Uh, Baldur's Gate, The new Baldur's Gate.
I, I don't know which order I'm going to play them. And I'm very excited to finally have some time because I've just been on the road the last couple of months. And like, gaming is like, it is the reading of looking at a screen. You know what I mean? In the sense that, like, you need a lot of time, you got to get into it. You can't just do it here and there.
You got to really commit, okay. Did the Obama's leave the world behind? Is that a higher ground? They did?
They did, they did, why, I don't know, but they certainly did there, it says. Higher ground on it.
Yeah, and they were both posted about it. I guess it is sort of, I guess there is a, I guess there is a logic to the kind of spirit of of the film, I suppose. In the end, Dan, what about you? I don't know whether people.
Hear this before they hear our nearest resolution episode. But one of my nearest resolution, my nearest resolution, was to improve my attention span. And one ways Michelle do that is get back to reading as much as I used to do, which cause this was not a good reading year. But one, uh, set of books that I think are excellent I'd recommend everyone. Are the Uh, the Crime novels by Essay Cosby, who writes about Uh, crime in the in the south, usually in the Virginia area. He's a Black guy. It's a very different than your typical crime noir.
He has three. All the Sinners Bleed is the one that came out this year. They're excellent. Oh yeah.
Watch anything good, what you're, you're always our, uh, any good reality shows that you're.
I spent a lot of my 20 23 catching up to Scandal Ball on Vanderpump rules. It's a decision. I definitely do not regret it in any way, shape or form. It was very made this this year, this otherwise tough year, great.
Um, that's sort of reality TV stuff I've been trying to think of, like, what was really good that I watched this year? I mean, obviously we all watched Succession, that was amazing. The diplomat I found very enjoyable as a Netflix show.
Yeah, there were a couple of, I bet I could see just being very angry at how absurd it is. The lack of realism, lack of realism in the uh Brit, the uh British ambassador also being a spy.
Or, yeah, or being in charge of anything. Um, uh, well. The U. S. Ambassador of the UK is generally not running all foreign policy or prepared to be the vice president. Spoiler or a former CIA? But, uh, I've been reading the Nineties, but Chuck Klosterman's recent book, That's out very good. Um, I was listening to some.
Noah Khan had a great new album out this year.
Oh, so, I'm watching, though. The latest season of Dave was good. Was that this year or last year?
Oh, that's a good one, that was great, it's great to watch. So I'm watching The Curse with Nathan Fielder and Emma Stone. And the first couple of episodes, I was like, What is going on here?
And now I'm like, like, six episodes in and I love it, I think it's really good.
I'm going through, I think the curse is excellent. I'm going slowly, in part because it's such an intense watch. And also, like, I just. I just feel like there's so much prestige content that I like, want to respect it enough to not binge it. Like the fact that, like a Julia Roberts movie directed by Sam S. Mail, who I love, just like pops up one day. Where, like, there's a David Fincher movie with Michael Fassbender in it, and I like, can't get myself to hit Planet, a new Fincher movie.
There needs to be better curation of, like, the real good stuff that's out there, cause it is now impossible to find you on like a home box office. Because they've all, yeah, because they've all decided to be like, fucking Netflix now. And so you, if you go to the Max app, you're just like swimming through shit, you know, yeah.
Same thing with Netflix, same thing with Paramount Plus, which is now Showtime's going away, now it's all going to be Paramount Plus. This sucks. This new world, like someone needs to, needs to tell us, like, what is the what's the great new stuff?
That's out there now. What if someone started a publication called The TV Guide and you could go there to find out what was airing? And when you're back to the TV guy? I used to like my.
Entertainment weekly, you know? And then it was like, it's still calling it that, but it's monthly, and they're like, it's nothing now, now, it's nothing. I love Nathan for you, but the curse.
It feels like it's going to make me feel so awkward that I'm not going to get through it.
It gets, weirdly enough, it gets less awkward and funnier as it goes, I think, and it's like, it's like a real satire on a lot of things. One book I read this year was Termination Shock.
Which I really recommend by Neil Stevenson. I love Neil Stevenson and it's everything I wanted Ministry of the Future to be. You know, I just finished. Yellow Face by R..F. Kuang.
Fantastic book, you can read it in one sitting, it's great, it's fun.
A follow up question here from a similar question from Veroska Korea, who says at Jon. Favs always says he does not read any books, even making it his new year resolution to read at least one book per month. However, when he interviews guests that have written a book, which happens quite often, he always seems to have read them, has he?
Interesting question.
Have you?
Well, Vera, Yes, I have. ah, it's knowing. Yes, I have.
Oh, you read them all, that's amazing, mouths covered on the couch over there.
This is especially an offline thing, and I remember before offline. When my friend Tommy would interview people who've written books and he reads, he's always like, Oh, I'm reading the whole book.
Don't drag me into your lie.
How are you reading this whole book? And he does. But when you do it, like for Pod Save America, maybe you can get away with it. Cause it's like a 15 20 minute interview on offline, on offline, it's like I'm talking to them for 45 minutes.
Of course, I have to read the book, so I haven't I read all the offline guest books.
You never, you never. Kind of. I'm a few pages ahead.
You never do like a chapter.
Tick tock, tick tock.
Doppelganger from Naomi by Naomi Klein just read a comedy book. Jesse David Fox was great. Democracy awakening Heather Cox Richardson.
I was just naming books.
Stolen Focus Yohan Harry.
Yeah, we know, you know about books. Love you dick.
You can listen to the episodes, you can listen to the episodes anyway. I do that, love it. Here's a question for you from Twitter user baltinerdist a question for John Lovett. My primary care physician, with no prompting, suggested I, too, go on experimental pancreas medicine.
Now that your pancreas is well-treated, would you recommend it to others?
So I listen, I've said, if I've said one thing on this show, I think you all know I'm not a doctor, it's true. All I will tell you is, I look, why did I decide to go on? Manjaro? Because I felt bad about how often I was failing to eat well, and in a way where I didn't feel guilty all the time. So I decided to try this thing. Because they give you a coupon, you know, like a drug dealer outside of school, they give you a deal on the first one.
And I didn't know that.
You didn't know drug dealers give you a deal on the first one.
The coupon for the pancreas?
Yeah, there's a coupon.
A one-free pancreas Buy one, get one free.
There's a coupon promo code LOLI.
There's coupons out there and I like, so, like, look, I have my yo-yo for a long time. And I've lost 20, 30 pounds before. But I've never done it without having to, like, fight tooth and nail for every inch. Like, it came really easily and the thing that's amazing about it is, uh, it's not obviously I've lost weight great.
But the way it stops, like the food noise in your brain, and the way it has changed, like my relationship to food. Like the first time after I took Manjaro and I went out for sushi, and I had like one sushi roll with my friend and I felt really full. I realized I felt guilty and I was like, Wait, you feel guilty every time you're full, you don't need to do that. Because you know, being worried that you're eating too much or not taking care of yourself, or that you're not achieving your goals. Whatever doesn't need to be connected to the feeling of being full anymore. And once those things separated, that changed my whole fucking life. I'm driving slower out there.
I am, I'm like, there's like extra discipline for other things, maybe for both of you.
Yeah, I was going to say, where, where?
You see it.
Where have you seen that discipline?
Are you driving slower or you're not going to the restaurant?
No, because I think, because, like, my mind is not, what are you saying? I'm spending less energy on the discipline of not eating and worrying about exercise and diet, and so on the whole, I'm a less impulsive and less sort of undisciplined and procrastinating person.
Yeah, definitely.
You, you could say, Listen, I'm not looking at you, I don't need you to see it, I need Dan to see it.
Two of us, two of us did write a book with you. Yeah, yeah.
And you know what is it done? Do you know what it was, you know what world we'd be living in? Remember when I would like work and get it to you over those weekends?
Remember what it would be like before that? There's no fucking book. If I'm not on this medicine anyway, do whatever your doctor says, don't take advice, don't take advice from me.
I'm an insecure and in vain Hollywood person.
I love the way you phased the rollout of this whole thing, though, because you would sort of allude to it early on.
In like the middle of Like the fourth ad in a pod Save America, you just like, drop it in.
I soft launched it, I soft launched it, it went well.
You traveled it.
Anyway, all I'll say is you can pry it from my cold, dead fucking hands.
I don't care how many diabetics can't access it, I'm getting it first. Oh my God.
Get behind me, get in line behind me diabetics, I need my tummy medicine.
All right, we do have another question about your relationship with food. Oh good, akulfen2 on Instagram asks, Love it. Are you an applesauce, sour cream or a combo person for your latkes?
Combo, combo, combo. I like both. A little bit of both, a little bit of sour cream, a little bit of sweet, it's great.
Also, although sometimes what I'll do is take a latke, put some sour cream on top, put some smoked salmon on that bad boy, throw some latkes on top, get yourself a sandwich.
Okay, okay.
There's like a little Latke song that we sing to Lisette that has like certain hand motions. You like, peel them, roll it, pat it. She gets super into it.
That's cute, I like the Jewish energy. Yeah, I like that, I like that.
We got another one.
Put her in the book.
Future College president?
All right, last question is from Kyle Manchester.
Yep, yeah, it is.
On Instagram, Who asks best holiday food Thanksgiving or Christmas? All right, everyone, Dan, you wanted to answer this question. so what do you think?
Well, I am in charge of cooking Christmas dinner this year, and so I googled options. And here's the trick of this question. Literally anything can be Christmas dinner you want to do a roast.
You want to do a ham, you want to do lasagna, meatballs, lamb, you can do anything. So I love Thanksgiving. it is one of my favorite meals of the year.
So much so that we have it friendsgiving, Thanksgiving, a lot of turkey and stuffing in November. But how can you go against a holiday where you can have anything you want?
Get yourself a spiral cut ham.
You know, I want to talk about ham.
It's a big hock of ham, it's pre-cooked for you, and then someone dumps sugar all over the outside.
That's what we do growing up for Christmas, and I loved it. That was their Christmas day. Was the spiral ham?
I didn't try. I like, as a Jewish American, I remember the first time ham to me existed as like a lunch meat, like an Oscar Mayer thing, it would be a sandwich, and I remember seeing.
Like deli cut ham.
Deli cut ham. And I remember seeing in film, and like cartoons, that there was such a thing as like, a baked honey ham, but I didn't try it. I remember it was a Hillary Clinton holiday party, so I was a full blown adult.
I'd literally never had it, and for the first time, I had honey baked ham, a spiral cut ham, I believe. And I was like, I cannot, I tasted it. I could not believe that. You Goyesha maniacs are calling this incredibly salty, sweet thing an entree.
An entree.
The idea of taking more than an appetizer or dessert.
No, I knew that you were describing as an entree, I just assumed it would. I just couldn't believe how much salty, sweet that this thing was bringing to the table. Like, you have a couple of bites, I feel you got to take a nap.
It's a big Easter Day food, too, you're going to have some ham on Easter.
The saltiness, it's wild.
It's very salty.
But you don't do any other. It's not like you take a bite of turkey and you're like, you got to drink a glass of water, it's just a special entree.
Sometimes it's just a little too dry.
Right, but the honey baked ham, the spiral cut ham.
So good.
Wild.
I will say, though, despite the fact that you can have anything you want. That's partly why I think I like Thanksgiving better is because with Thanksgiving, you know what you're getting and you can look forward to the meal.
You're forced to suffer and eat turkey.
Like a haiku, it provides a creative bound.
But for Christmas, it's depending on where you go and what they decide to cook, so you don't know what you're getting. So you could get something great, or you could get something shitty. If you go to your random aunt's house and they decide to make something terrible. Oh, you got to get better answers.
You go to Benihana and you have a great fucking time.
Benihana.
You can go to Benihana on Christmas, that's the beauty of it, you can go and that's a great night, that's a great night. Do you look around the room?
You know, what if Emily hasn't had the baby yet? Maybe we will go to Benihana.
There's um.
I'd like to see the college president say that there.
There's a great TikTok.
Come to Benihana on Christmas, say it there, you won't, because it's filled with juice.
There's a great TikTok I saw recently of a dude at a Benihana dinner. And he brought a bunch of tortillas and he threw them onto the fire. And I was like, That is fucking genius.
He brought his own tortillas.
Benihana in a tortilla must be so good.
Well, I hope everyone enjoys their Benihana Christmas, thank you or Hanukkah, or just going to Benihana just for fun Benihana.
Bring your tortillas.
I'm going with Elise Stefanik.
Benihanaka.
Nice.
I had to say it twice, that's great. Happy holidays everyone, and we'll talk to you in the new year.
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Pod Save America is a crooked media production. Our producers are Olivia Martinez and David Toledo. Our associate producer is Farrah Safari, writing support from Hallie Kiefer. Reed Cherlin is our executive producer. The show is mixed and edited by Andrew Chadwick.
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