Brian Derrick: [00:00:00] The stage is set

Glennis Meagher: and the stakes are still unprecedented. 

Brian Derrick: This is Vibes Only, a podcast that checks the vibes of American politics each and every week. And the vibes this week. 

CNN Breaking News: The breaking news is big. Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee now for President of the United States, has selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

to be her running mate. MJ just saying, maybe Walz. A vibes pick. 

Brian Derrick: We'll discuss Harris choice for a running mate, what might have gone into the decision, and what we know about Governor Walz. And 

Donald Trump: I didn't know she was black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn 

Glennis Meagher: Black. We'll talk about those unhinged vibes along with some news out of the Trump Musk alliance.

Brian Derrick: Finally, we'll discuss some more undisclosed private jet trips gifted to Clarence and Ginny before pulling up our group chat, playing an It's Giving, and leaving you with a good vibe. Let's get into it. 

Glennis Meagher: Brian, can I just tell you, I just keyed [00:01:00] in to my apartment, ran into my neighbor. He looks at me, he goes, is it going to be walls?

Is it going to be walls? I need it to be walls. I sit down, ass in chair. What is it? Drumroll please! 

Brian Derrick: It's Tim Walls! Wow. Literally hot off the presses, moments ago, the announcement has come in. Harris Walls 2024. How do you feel? I feel excited. I'm pumped. I mean, we can get into the intricacies, but I think that this is definitely the 

Glennis Meagher: vibes 

Brian Derrick: choice, the vibes and the internet are very team walls.

And so we're just going to keep the good times rolling. 

Glennis Meagher: Totally. My neighbor said to me, I feel it would just be too good. And the Democrats won't give that to us. And I said, you know what? Only time will tell. Let's see. Luckily for my neighbor, who's gonna have a great, great day. Because less than ten minutes later, he found out that his dream was coming true.

Brian Derrick: For sure. My news feed is already instantly overtaken with celebratory posts, which is exciting to see. 

Glennis Meagher: [00:02:00] Let's get into it. Why are people celebrating? Who is Tim Walz? 

Brian Derrick: Great question. Tim Walz is the governor of Minnesota, a military veteran, a former public school teacher. We 

Glennis Meagher: love it. 

Brian Derrick: And a cable news warrior.

Truly. We've recently come to learn perhaps a comms pro who has actually a really long list of accomplishments in the state of Minnesota. Um, Oh, he was also in Congress. He's done a lot of stuff. I didn't realize 

Glennis Meagher: he was in Congress. 

Brian Derrick: He was in Congress as well. He represented like a pretty purple red tinted area, and so he knows how to run in like tough battleground states and districts.

He knows how to message to voters that are in the middle, and he also has this long list of accomplishments that have like really gotten him a lot of street cred with progressives and people who identify for further to the left, which we like have to get into because that's what caught my attention immediately.

Yeah. 

Glennis Meagher: Let's start with [00:03:00] that. So as governor of Minnesota, he has done a lot of things. I'm going to kind of list some of them really quickly for everyone. He has ensured tuition free meals at participating state universities, which is huge. He's enshrined abortion rights in state law. He's banned conversion therapy.

He has provided protections for gender affirming healthcare. And last May, he signed a bill that expanded. for an estimated 55, 000 formally incarcerated residents. 

Brian Derrick: Period. There's more, there's more. 

Glennis Meagher: He has strong labor protections. He has legalized. The marijuana, cannabis. And he has expanded paid leave and sick leave, which is huge for working families.

Brian Derrick: Yeah, and let's be clear, like all of that was in just his last term as governor in a very short amount of time, got a tremendous amount of things done. And Minnesota doesn't like catch the headlines all that often. So people might think of it as being a really blue state, but it's actually quite purple.

We just Flipped the [00:04:00] state Senate from a Republican controlled to Democratic controlled in 2022 for the first time in a long time. And so you actually have to be able to work with people across party lines in order to get stuff done and also to be able to message to those same voters in order to win.

And those are all things that he's bringing now to the ticket. In, like, such a critical moment. Can you talk 

Glennis Meagher: about that a little bit more? Like, what is the appeal from an electoral standpoint for Tim Malz? Obviously, progressives, I'm super excited to see, you know, what he brings to the table, but why would the vice president choose him looking at, like, the electoral stakes?

Brian Derrick: Yeah, I think that it's sort of an a, it's her decision to lean into what has been working for her campaign so far, which is a ton of energy and momentum, because she has like a shorter runway than most presidential candidates have had in recent history. [00:05:00] She knows that she needs to capitalize on this massive wave of enthusiasm that has arisen around her candidacy, and Walls does seem like the one who's better positioned electorally to deliver that.

Very clearly, the alternative pick that was in close consideration was Governor Shapiro of Pennsylvania, whom I am a big fan of. But there was already definite liabilities there, because some of the things that he had like his most controversial takes on were the things that are dividing the democratic party the most like Israel and Gaza and so by picking him she would have been injecting that further into the conversation as like every time at every event That was going to be a question that he was asked right up like he there was this article back from when he was 20.

There's like controversial things that he said while he was governor. And so again, walls does not have the same [00:06:00] baggage, so to speak, and we can keep the. Conversation laser focused on the issues that are going to be most advantageous for Vice President Harris, including reproductive rights, including public education.

He's a former school teacher, as we said, and gun legislation as well. They passed extreme risk protection orders in Minnesota under his tenure. So again, we're refocusing all of these things back onto the topics that are That vice president Harris wants to make this election about 

Glennis Meagher: amazing. He also has a backing of a progressive warrior, Bernie Sanders and UAW president, Sean Fane.

He said that he either wanted Bashir, sorry, Bashir, you're out or walls. So that's a huge, you know, having labor on your side is huge. 

Brian Derrick: I guess I would, I would just add, I think that for people who are cynical are tired of the political games. This is a break from that. Because if you just looked at this like a [00:07:00] math equation, or this was the West Wing or House of Cards, you would have picked Josh Shapiro.

You would have picked Governor Shapiro because he's the governor of Pennsylvania, he's very popular, and like, that had the, that had the right math, pulls in the right electorate in this theoretical way. If you look at people, again, like, robots, or like, like, like an equation, 

Glennis Meagher: right? 

Brian Derrick: This is like a, this feels more like a heart pick of like, this is what we believe in.

And we're going to lean into it because it's a better fit between her and him. And people I really hope will see that and let it break through the cynicism that they're not trying to like, hack you like a computer program. They're trying to like, build this ticket of what are the values and changes that we want to see in the country?

And how can we build the strongest team to accomplish those? Yeah, 

Glennis Meagher: something we talked about the other week was with President Biden stepping aside from this campaign. Sammy said the semi sage. The bench [00:08:00] of Democrats, it just felt like it fully opened up. And I would wager that the majority of Democrats did not know much about Tim Walls six weeks ago.

Cut to, to your point, he's now the vice presidential candidate and that is It's an amazing thing to see, an amazing thing to see and something else that I don't know if it's going to happen, but it will be an amazing thing to see if anyone has watched, you know, to your point, him being a cable news warrior, Tim Walz does not come to play.

He brings the receipts. He has a POV. He's a straight shooter. He speaks like you and I do. He's not using like legalese or all of these big political phrases and yada, yada, yada. He is getting you and you know who he's going to get J. D. Vance. 

Brian Derrick: 100%. He's also the originator of the weird branding for Vance and Trump.

He is the first one that went on TV to be like, these dudes are fucking weird. They're just weird. 

Jake Tapper: So you've gotten some attention this week for calling Trump [00:09:00] and Vance and Republicans in general weird. Why do you think weird is a more effective attack line against Trump than what Democrats have been done previously, which is argue that he's, he's an existential threat to democracy?

Tim Walz: Yeah, and it's an observation on this and I, you know, being a school teacher, I see a lot of things, but my, my point on this was, is people kept talking about, look, Donald Trump is going to put women's lives at risk. That's 100 percent true. Donald Trump is potentially going to end constitutional liberties that we have, end voting.

I, I do believe all those things are a real possibility, but it gives him way too much power. Listen to the guy. He's talking about Hannibal Lecter. And, you know, shocking sharks and just whatever crazy thing pops into his mind. And I thought we'd just give him way too much credit. And I think one of the things is, is when you just ratchet down some of the, uh, you know, the scariness or whatever, and just name it what it is, 

Glennis Meagher: and it's stuck because it's true.

Brian Derrick: So let that be an indicator of his comms. Mastermind. And I hope that we get to see more of that as he like [00:10:00] evolves the messaging over time. We know that the internet can't sit on one thing any too long or for very long at all. But if that's any indication of what we have coming, like we're in for a treat, pop the popcorn and buckle up, buckle 

Glennis Meagher: up.

Brian Derrick: Well, if there's one person who's having the comms week from hell, It is Donald Trump. Absolutely mind boggling, the decision that he had. I think out of hubris, I think that he's been drinking his own Kool Aid, that he's performing better with the Black community and Black voters than he did in 2020. And he decided to show up in front of the National Association of Black Journalists.

It was a very controversial decision for them to host him, and there's like a whole drama there that we can get into. But let me tell you, it did not. Go well for him. Oh, my Lord. I think he regrets that decision now. 

Glennis Meagher: Bad, bad. It was deeply uncomfortable. Where do we even 

Brian Derrick: start? Which, which, which thing do you want to start with?

Glennis Meagher: The thing that stuck with me was like his [00:11:00] initial defense to the very legitimate question and then just calling the reporter 

Rachel Scott: mean. A lot of people did not think it was appropriate for you to be here today. You have pushed false claims about some of your rivals. From Nikki Haley to former President Barack Obama saying that they were not born in the United States, which is not true.

You have told four Congresswoman women of color who were American citizens to go back to where they came from. You have used words like animal and rabbit to describe black district attorneys. You've attacked black journalists, calling them a loser, saying the questions that they ask are quote stupid and racist.

You've had dinner with a white supremacist at your Mar a Lago resort. So my question, sir. Now that you are asking black supporters to vote for you, why should black voters trust you after you have used language like that? 

Donald Trump: Well, first of all, I don't think I've ever been asked a question so, in such a horrible manner, a [00:12:00] first question.

You don't even say, hello, how are you? Are you with ABC? Because I think they're a fake news network, a terrible network. It 

Glennis Meagher: was so deeply uncomfortable for everyone and just showed his true character so clearly. 

Brian Derrick: Yeah. I think that it kind of was a masterclass in how to hold a candidate's feet to the fire where they really had receipts and they were like, you're not just going to rant misinformation here.

Like that, that's not how this is going to go. And so they really like listed all of the various things that he has said and done that are openly either racist or damaging to other like black leaders, people of color. Yeah. And he really doubled down. 

Glennis Meagher: It was so far. It was like, just pull out the cloak, Donald, pull out literally, 

Brian Derrick: he basically said, hold my beer.

Glennis Meagher: Yeah. 

Brian Derrick: And then I think the sort of crowning jewel [00:13:00] for this shit show interview was him claiming that Kamala Harris turned black, I'm using air quotes, when it was politically convenient for her, questioning her mixed race identity as both someone who is Indian and who is black. 

Donald Trump: She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage.

I didn't know she was black. Until a number of years ago when she happened to turn black and now she wants to be known as black So, I don't know. Is she Indian or is she black? She is always identified as a black I respect either one. I respect either one, but she obviously doesn't Because she was Indian all the way, and then all of a sudden she made a turn.

Brian Derrick: That's not going to go over well with voters, as we saw on the internet immediately. 

Glennis Meagher: Immediately. Immediately. It definitely gave me, like, Obama birtherism. Like, let's see your birth certificate energy, and it was just like, we're here again? We're literally here again? 

Brian Derrick: Okay, so yes, this is definitely giving birther.

And [00:14:00] also, apparently, I just found this out, apparently Trump literally tried to start a birther conspiracy about Vice President Harris as well in 2020. Did you know this? 

Glennis Meagher: No, I didn't know this. 

Brian Derrick: In 2020, Trump said he'd, quote, heard Harris wasn't born in the United States and thus doesn't meet the requirements to be Vice President.

She was born in Oakland. 

Glennis Meagher: Right. 

Brian Derrick: So, He also tried to pull the same shit on her, which, Hmm, what do Kamala Harris and Barack Obama have in 

Glennis Meagher: common? 

Brian Derrick: Yeah. From start to finish it, the whole thing was just extremely horrific, deeply offensive and disrespectful. And ultimately Trump had to be pulled off stage early because he could not handle the heat and continued to dig himself into a deeper and deeper hole.

With a deeper racist hole. Right. Exactly. Exactly. With a key constituency that could decide the election in a lot of these swing states. 

Glennis Meagher: Yeah. I was almost grateful for the internet moving so quickly in that moment because it's so deeply [00:15:00] disturbing to know that that man was the president of the United States of America and he is so deeply racist.

And then the internet just took over. Um, and then I just went for it and just dragged him and, you know, made humor out of it. And there was some good memes that came out of it, but it was definitely worth highlighting because that is who Donald Trump is, who he is. You have to believe him. He is a racist man.

Brian Derrick: For me, it did raise this interesting question that I don't think there's any like right answer to necessarily, but a lot of people were boycotting the NABJ for hosting him. Obviously, as you're saying, it did create this moment where he really showed us who he is in maybe the most visceral way since 2016, I would totally suggest.

And in some ways, that's it. Yeah. A good thing, right? Like giving someone the platform to out themselves as a racist is like a helpful thing for voters and when they're going to the ballot box to [00:16:00] make a decision. And so where do you fall on this on this like question of do you not host him because he's a known racist and he's already said so many offensive things and he's likely to again, which he did.

Or do you host him to give him the platform to like say the quiet part out loud? 

Glennis Meagher: I think for this instance, it took a lot of, like, courage and bravery for the NABJ to hold his feet to the fire. That couldn't have been easy to hear that. And I think the point was proven. They don't need to do it again, that's for sure.

And now we do have this receipt that You can't deny. 

Brian Derrick: Add it to the stack. 

Glennis Meagher: Literally, the stack of papers in his Mar a Lago bathroom that he stole from the government. 

Brian Derrick: We're ready to do our taxes because we have boxes of receipts. 

Glennis Meagher: Brian, I want to talk about two people that are on my arch nemesis. Mood board.

Let's call it. We're going to start with Elon Musk. I think you told me this like three or four weeks ago that Elon Musk had made the announcement that he was going to through a [00:17:00] pack that he is a co founder of American contribute 45 million per month to Donald Trump through the election. 

Brian Derrick: Right? That's correct.

And then he walked that statement back. He 

Glennis Meagher: walked it back. Because I did a TikTok video on it and I was just like, Elon, like, this is all, it's all connected. It's all connected. Which we saw because then at a rally in Atlanta over the weekend, what did Donald Trump say about electric cars? 

Donald Trump: And I'm for electric cars.

I have to be, you know, because Elon endorsed me very strongly, Elon. So I have no choice. 

Brian Derrick: So let's be clear, Donald Trump's entire policy platform is for sale for the low, low price of a hundred million dollars, you can get Trump to support any policy you want, 

Glennis Meagher: right? 

Brian Derrick: He will. flip flop, he will have contradicting policy positions, he will say and do literally whatever you require as long as you pump nine figures or [00:18:00] more into his candidacy.

Glennis Meagher: Lest us we forget, with the oil people and that closed door meeting, which was like three months ago we talked about, he had a closed door meeting with big oil execs and said, for the small dollar, truly small dollar price to oil execs, one billion dollars, I'll give you what you want. It's truly mind blowing, truly mind blowing.

Brian Derrick: And let's be clear just to like really put a point on it in case you think that like maybe coincidentally he just has the same policy positions as these people. He promised the oil execs that he would work against electric vehicle adoption in the United States. And now he is promising Elon Musk that he will support electric vehicle adoption in the United States so that he can sell more Teslas.

And so. Literally, directly opposing views. There's zero substance, zero interest in what is best for the American people. Just willing to do or say whatever it takes to get the cash from the [00:19:00] ultra rich that he needs. So, not only is Elon, uh, Like, playing a role in this election with his money, but he's also doing it illegally, apparently.

Glennis Meagher: So, so now he's being, this PAC that Elon said he was going to give 45 million to Trump through and then backtracked it and said, I never said that, even though there's plenty of receipts saying he said it, don't gaslight me, Elon, now is being investigated by the Michigan Secretary of State. 

Brian Derrick: Correct. So, what the PAC is reportedly doing is encouraging people to register to vote.

Yup. And then on their website, as you fill out the information, they collect your zip code, your name, stuff like contact information. And then what is apparently happening is that based on that information, they're filtering people as to who should continue on to the voter registration process and who just sort of gets dumped off of the thing.

Glennis Meagher: It's sus. It's not by the book. Apparently. Again, I'm not a lawyer. I don't want to get sued. I don't have the time for that. It's just not right. 

Brian Derrick: Yeah. [00:20:00] So thank God we won the race for Michigan secretary of state back in 2022. Jocelyn Benson, what's up? And this pack is now being investigated and their shady ass tactics are hopefully going to get shut down if that's what's going on.

Well, tell us about what your other least favorite human has been up to. 

Glennis Meagher: Clarence Thomas. Did you see this news alert? over the weekend. 

Brian Derrick: Oh, you bet I didn't. 

Glennis Meagher: So Clarence Thomas and Ginny Ginny was involved. Ginny firefingers January 6. Ginny 

Brian Derrick: where there's where there's smoke. There's fire. 

Glennis Meagher: There's smoke.

There's Ginny Thomas. She is I think she's the brains of the operation. Truly. So he has yet again failed to publicly disclose A major, major gift. Uh, 

Brian Derrick: another, 

Glennis Meagher: another, not, not, it's not the RV. It's not like the time at the lodge. This [00:21:00] was private travel provided by Harlan Crow, who's a conservative mastermind superpower flew him and Jenny to like New Zealand, like very long haul flight.

This was not, this is an expensive flight. If you're flying row 54 F on Qantas. You know, it's a lot of fuel. It's a lot of crew. He flew private. 

Brian Derrick: This comes after he's already had to issue multiple addendums and amendments and apologies for all of the other things he has failed to disclose. And this time, I think it's coming from Democratic U.

S. Senators who discovered that this, this trip happened. 

Glennis Meagher: Yeah, Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, he found the receipts, the receipt from 2010, mind you. So a long time ago that they had a round trip, private flight to Hawaii and New Zealand on this guy's jet. And you just like, as a reminder, [00:22:00] by law, Law, law, law, which a Supreme Court justice should understand 101 justices are required to fill out a financial disclosure form every year, including there's like a bunch of things I have to include any sources of income and gifts.

2010 financial disclosure for Clarence Thomas, what is it missing? This extremely expensive flight provided by a conservative superpower. Man. Of course. 

Brian Derrick: What I would really like to see, I had this thought after I got the push notification over the weekend, I think that we should do a game show. the price is right, do it with like just democratic voters, volunteers, donors, something.

And all of the prizes are things that justice Clarence Thomas has received from billionaires over the last two decades. I love it. And so. Somebody wins the flights. Somebody wins an RV. Somebody wins a golf trip. Somebody wins tuition for their kids to go to private school. Somebody wins their parents mortgage getting paid off.

[00:23:00] I think that would be so fun and educate. 

Glennis Meagher: Brian, you didn't just make those things up. All of those things happen. Clarence Thomas has accepted all of those things. 

Brian Derrick: And more. And more. 

Glennis Meagher: It's giving, it's 

Brian Derrick: giving, it's giving the boss. 

Glennis Meagher: Yeah. Donald Trump had like a moment, kind of fumbled his words around the boss.

Let's see. 

Donald Trump: Well, Hillary used to do that too. I remember she got Bruce Springsteen. I'm not a fan. You know, I'm not a huge fan. I only like, I have a bad trait. I only like people that like me. Does that make sense? 

Brian Derrick: It's giving Veep more than ever before. The signs in the background for our audio listeners, Trump is at a rally and behind him, they're all holding up signs that in very light lettering that is not readable, it says Kamala, but in huge bold letters, it says you're fired.

Glennis Meagher: Yeah, it's giving low budget. It's giving one, he desperately wants [00:24:00] Bruce Springsteen to like him. Like no one doesn't want Bruce Springsteen to like them. Like that's like, he's an American treasure. He is like Americana, at least for me. 

Brian Derrick: Definitely for the state of New Jersey. For sure. 

Glennis Meagher: For sure. But this is actually a double it's giving because that went viral, the background from that rally of the one guy holding up the you're fired sign.

Because what happens at these rallies, they often I don't know for sure, but they like self select or hire the people to find you. 

Brian Derrick: 100%. They're, they're handpicked. They're handpicked. Yeah. 

Glennis Meagher: Handpicked. And there were some rogue Democrats in that frame. It's so funny. 

Brian Derrick: They have you're fired signs and they kept holding it up to say like, at Trump and at Dan, you're fired.

And it was so good. It was just such a self owned 

Glennis Meagher: self owned 

Brian Derrick: on the flip side. We actually had Chris [00:25:00] Murphy on Fox News, speaking truth to power, so to speak, on, on Harris. 

Fox News: You told the Washington Examiner this week, Kamala Harris was given a job to reduce migration from Central America and she did it incredibly well, stunningly well, but the numbers do show a different picture there.

4. 31 million migrants from these countries specifically crossed into the US since 2021. It is up 140 percent from Trump's term, 34 percent from the Obama years. How is that stunningly well? 

Chris Murphy: So I'm squinting to read your figures, but the figures I have seen show that from the four, the three Northern triangle countries that Kamala Harris was put in charge of stemming migration from migration has dropped.

By 50 to 60 percent from those countries. What has increased 

Fox News: Over the course of the term because it started so high. 

Chris Murphy: Well, it started so high in part because of a series of crises that unfolded during the Trump administration. What drove the increase in migration was in part huge [00:26:00] increased travel from a country like Venezuela, which was plunged into economic crisis because of Donald Trump's policies.

Kamala Harris was given a important but discreet task. She was able to dramatically reduce migration from those countries. And again, apples to apples. Crossings at the southwest border are lower today than they were at the end of the Trump administration. Receipts. 

Glennis Meagher: Details. Like, the devil's in the details.

And I love a good apples to apples comparison. 

Brian Derrick: I really do. It's a fun game too. Yeah. It's a fun game. Um, yeah. I think that the vibes around immigration have strayed so far from the numbers and the data that you can sort of claim anything you want and people will just like buy it. There's like 40 million flying purple people eaters entering the country from the southern border weekly according to Fox News and people are just like, mmm, spoon feed me more, more, more, more, more.

Glennis Meagher: Crime, crime, blame, blame the other. [00:27:00] That's like the repeat track. 

Brian Derrick: Yeah, I think that getting the real information out about what VP Harris's role is and was on immigration, aka not the borders are, is really important over the coming months for some segment of voters.

Glennis Meagher: Group chat. My friends and I, this show come as a shock to absolutely no one. We are Olympics. Olympic heads. My friend every night before sends a spreadsheet of all the must watch or like have on events. There's just been some amazing, amazing Olympic moments. Simone Biles. I don't want to like give any spoilers.

Uh, 

Brian Derrick: okay. It's not spoilers. There's push notifications and everyone is watching the Olympics in real time. So give us, give us a top three. 

Glennis Meagher: Yesterday. This was an amazing moment. There's three, uh, Olympic gymnasts. That were competing in the floor and the beam that were in contention. I mean, Simone was supposed to, whatever, you know, that means the pressure of when both, [00:28:00] but 

Brian Derrick: she had never meddled in beam, 

Glennis Meagher: right?

Because in 2020 or 2021 because of the COVID delay, mental health matters. Okay. And she had to step out because she got the twisties, which is a very, very dangerous symptom in gymnastics where you could literally die. You lose sense of your, your body. Anyway, 

Brian Derrick: I have that. I have that all the time when doing cartwheels.

Yeah. When you're doing a 

Glennis Meagher: round off in Chelsea, basically we got silver and bronze and we, it was a really a beautiful moment in sport where they, the two Americans, Simone and Jordan elevated the Brazilian gymnast. And it was just like, there's, you know, you watch the Olympics and you're like, this is, can we solve world peace?

Can we just do it? There was a really amazing pole vaulting yesterday. There was, he's a Swedish American. He was born in America. And, uh, 

Brian Derrick: Okay, I did watch this. I did see it. 

Glennis Meagher: You saw the pole vaulting where he got the world record? 

Brian Derrick: Yes, that traitor. 

Glennis Meagher: Yeah, literally, he's American [00:29:00] born and raised. He grew up in Louisiana.

And I looked it up because I was really pissed because I wanted that gold. I wanted that world record. And Sweden got it. But it's 

Brian Derrick: outrageous. 

Glennis Meagher: It's because at 15 when he had to like choose. Like, was he going to run us track and field or like go to Sweden? His mom is from Sweden. His dad is from America. I almost think he like, didn't, he chose to go to Sweden, but I also think maybe he didn't, he wasn't good enough at the time.

Um, you know, the American system is so competitive. You know, we have all these dates, all these people, but the Olympics, that's really it. Like I don't have anything else to tell you except for the Olympics and watching the Olympics. The one thing I will say, and I will ask vibes only listeners. To watch because I really hope it happens.

You know, Tom Cruise does all of his own stunts, like famously 

Brian Derrick: Queen. Yeah. 

Glennis Meagher: Apparently he's good because LA is hosting the next summer Olympics in four years. Tom Cruise is going to close these Olympics by doing a live stunt. Like, come on. That is so camp. Like what? Paris. And it's going to be like, he's going to [00:30:00] do a live stunt to be like, see you in LA in four years.

And that is that I'm going to be like on Olympic steroids, like American culture, Olympics. Anyway, if anyone, Is into the Olympics. You can always DM me. Like I say, I'm happy to chat. 

Brian Derrick: Yeah. My group chat also was popping off about how much each of the countries pay their athletes for winning gold. Oh, I don't even look at that.

Glennis Meagher: Give me some information. 

Brian Derrick: It's a pretty interesting Hong Kong. You can win 800, 000 for winning a gold. Well, they're 

Glennis Meagher: rich, rich. They're a rich, rich country. 

Brian Derrick: Versus, well, versus Australia also considered a rich country. You win 13, 000 for a gold medal. 

Glennis Meagher: Well, actually I was watching the, I guess it was pole vaulting or maybe it was high, high jump for men.

There's a fella, a guy from the Philippines who apparently they bought, they've bought him houses and he has a massive allowance. Just because he's like a very good athlete. 

Brian Derrick: Flex on him. What about America? What do we 

Glennis Meagher: do [00:31:00] here in capitalist society? According 

Brian Derrick: to this chart that is from Axios, a gold, guess, what do you think a gold will get you?

Glennis Meagher: 25, 000? 

Brian Derrick: 38, 000. 38! 

Glennis Meagher: But that's pre tax. That's pre tax. 

Brian Derrick: Silver is 23, 000 and bronze is 15, 000. 

Glennis Meagher: I was listening on NPR to hear how much the medals themselves are actually worth. And it's like the gold medal is worth like 1, 200, the silver is worth like 800, and the bronze is worth like 20. 

Brian Derrick: T. I will say RFK Jr.

made the group chat and it's because his entire campaign is like a kindergartner typing prompts into chat GPT and then you just never know what you're gonna get. It's the mad libs of politics. It's absolutely absurd. Can't script it. And most recently involves a bear cub, a bicycle, Central Park and the NYPD.

So go scope it out. 

Glennis Meagher: Yeah, you can look that one [00:32:00] up. I'm not willing to talk about that, but you're absolutely right, Brian. It's like someone is plugging in. What are the most bizarre unhinged things that we can have a presidential candidate do? So we have a new call to action for vibes only listeners because I want to expand the voice memo.

voice note community because anyone who knows me knows you especially because you don't listen that i am a voice memo monster i'm not texting you i am voice memoing you because i have things to say and i don't my my fingers are tired so 

Brian Derrick: i love your voice memos i just am often at the office When we're texting, I'm like on zoom or something and I like can't play it at the time and then I forget and then it's buried and then you have like a 

Glennis Meagher: podcast for me and only me, but vibes only listeners, please send us your voice messages, your voicemails, whatever you want to call them to vibes at career newsroom.

com. Let us know what you think about the Wahls choice. I really want to know. One little soundbite, one little [00:33:00] soundbite is all we need. Your favorite Wahls moment or like whatever else, whatever's on your mind, email us. 

Brian Derrick: Let's hear it. I'll listen to all of them. 

Glennis Meagher: So will I. Well, I definitely will. Brian will eventually.

Time for a good vibe. Goodbye, Brian. And this is an exciting one. So we talked about the zoom calls last week, which was like catalyzed by black women coming together for Kamala Harris and dovetailed into white women, white dudes, some other people. And now we have. Republicans for Harris. 

Brian Derrick: Boom. 

Glennis Meagher: Republicans for Harris includes a bunch of endorsements.

25 Republicans have endorsed Kamala Harris. 

Brian Derrick: Like people who were in Congress, former elected officials, governors, all kinds of, like, really high profile Republicans. 

Glennis Meagher: Kinzinger! Someone who I think I had beef with. He didn't know it, but I had beef with him. Personally endorsed her. He said, as a proud conservative, I never [00:34:00] thought I'd be endorsing a Democrat for president, but I know Vice President Harris will defend our democracy and ensure Donald Trump never returns to the White House.

Donald Trump poses a direct threat to fundamental American values. He only cares about himself and his pursuit of power. Period. 

Brian Derrick: period. Add these to about half of Trump's former cabinet who are either actively opposing him or refusing to endorse his candidacy. And those are the people who worked most closely with him during his time in the White House, who were responsible and saw the ins and outs of his agenda and how he operated as president and Clearly don't want him anywhere near the Oval Office again.

Glennis Meagher: I mean, the bottom line is that now Kamala Harris's campaign is going to benefit from cross party support. It's going to increase leads in swing states. It's going to garner more support for swing voters or undecided voters. And we just know that's not going to be happening for Donald Trump. 

Brian Derrick: The last bipartisan act of Biden Harris administration.

Truly. Collecting Kamala Harris. 

Glennis Meagher: I love it. It's a good vibe. [00:35:00] 

Brian Derrick: Those are all the vibes this week. Thanks for listening. Do you have a friend who would like this podcast? Please send it to them. Do you have a friend who's not so tuned into politics, but could benefit from a weekly download on the need to know of the week in a way that doesn't make them want to pull all their hair out?

Send it to them too. Help us spread the word and build our vibes only community. We've been getting bigger and bigger every week. Let's do this. 

Glennis Meagher: Vibes Only is a production of Courier, a civic media company that protects and strengthens our democracy through credible, fact based journalism and seeks to create a more informed, engaged, and representative America.

Vibes Only is produced by Devin Maroney, with support from Courier's Kyle Tharp, R. C. Demezo, and Daniel Strasburger. Tara McGowan is founder and publisher of Courier.