BRIAN: 0:00

Welcome to Vibes Only. Today, the current state of the Graham Platner campaign.

GLENNIS: 0:03

The latest headlines surrounding Mitch McConnell, is he alive? And Donald Trump.

BRIAN: 0:08

Local updates, including this Manhattan building hanging over our heads, and my apartment hunt. Help me.

GLENNIS: 0:17

A round of clickbait or double-click, analyzing recent news on oil prices, election laws, and court rulings.

BRIAN: 0:24

And we're gonna finish you off with our Oath candidate of the week, Manny Rutinel, and send you off with a good vibe.

GLENNIS: 0:31

Let's get into it.

BRIAN: 0:33

Let's get into it. Good morning, Glennis.

GLENNIS: 0:38

Good morning, Brian. How are you?

BRIAN: 0:40

You know, I feel like we're on watch for McConnell potentially dying. We're on watch for a building in Midtown potentially collapsing. Mm-hmm. And we're on Platner watch.

GLENNIS: 0:54

And World Cup watch. Have you been watching?

BRIAN: 0:56

And we are literally watching the-

GLENNIS: 0:59

Yeah… BRIAN: World Cup. Yeah. It's a, it's a busy week. We have a lot to talk about. Where do you wanna start? Looking at my note here from, from earlier this morning,"Platner campaign dead, dot, dot, dot. Mitch McConnell, dot, dot, dot, actually dead, question mark?" Let's start with Platner. Let's just start there.

BRIAN: 1:17

He's trying to have some influence on the remaining process. The Maine Democratic Party came out and said, "Platner's been trying to bully us or, or have- Yeah … some sway in the process and who gets selected to replace him. Let's be clear, they have absolutely no influence and no role here. His only job is to drop out and move aside."

GLENNIS: 1:42

Period. Period. Yeah. Period.

BRIAN: 1:44

I mean, the good news is, just looking at the data, this could increase the odds of winning the Maine Senate seat. I've been saying for months Platner had little to no path against Collins. He was not moving in a good direction with the electorate- Mm … in order to be that guy when she is- Yeah … truly unbeatable in the state of Maine. We've tried many- Yeah … many times and many different things. And so replacing him actually seems like it will likely increase Democrats' prospects, which is a net positive, and it further reminds people that the parties are not the same, that when Republicans found out- Yeah that they had an abuser, criminal, fraudster at the head of their party, they got down and kissed his feet. And when- Mm-hmm … Democrats found out that we had one, we chucked him out faster than moldy leftovers.

GLENNIS: 2:43

Yeah, yeah.

BRIAN: 2:44

We need a replacement by the 27th. And so- Yeah … that gives a very narrow window for- Mm what that process can look like. A lot of leaders in Maine that I follow have been coming out and saying, "We want the voters to have a voice. We want the voters to have a voice."

GLENNIS: 2:59

Right.

BRIAN: 2:59

I'm really not sure how or what that looks like. You can't pull off a statewide election in three weeks, also w- Yeah without money. There's no money to run- Right … an election like that. It seems like it's probably gonna be some combination of the Maine Democratic Party, county chairs- Mm … and, and people that make up the state committee, which is separate but related. What do you think? How do you think they should pick?

GLENNIS: 3:21

I think that we need to listen to the Maine voters, but I, I hear you that we don't have, we don't have time to do what we would do, like a pop-up primary. Is that even a thing? And we don't have time. We don't have time to do the, the education on the candidates. I think that we have to trust people who have been working in Maine government and politics for the last 20 years, and newbies as well who understand new media, et cetera, to just… There's, there's a lot of discourse right now about certain, certain people's names who are in the ring already, and it's not great. So I- They're talking

BRIAN: 3:52

about the water bottle. Water bottle gate.

GLENNIS: 3:55

Water bottle gate. So yeah.

BRIAN: 3:56

Fi- Fiji. Fiji gate.

GLENNIS: 3:58

Fiji gate. And there's some more, some more alleged, uh, issues there.

BRIAN: 4:02

Are there? I've only heard the water bottle.

GLENNIS: 4:03

Yeah.

BRIAN: 4:04

It's alleged that one of the leading contenders, what was said online is that- Mm he threw a water bottle at a staffer

GLENNIS: 4:12

or something. Or another, another elected official.

BRIAN: 4:16

But then I got a private recounting from a different source that was like, he actually just threw something at the ground and someone else was in the room. Like, at the ground next to himself. It is kind of a backroom decision, right? That, that- Right … voters aren't gonna weigh in directly. The knives come out immediately- Yeah … because it all comes down to perception and relationships, and you win that fight by telling the best story. So if you tell a story about someone that hurts them, that sticks, then- Mm-hmm … that helps you, and if you tell a good story about yourself or your person and it sticks, that helps you. So I do feel like having some healthy skepticism of the politicking is good, but we also don't wanna put ourselves in the same situation that we were just in. Exactly. And

GLENNIS: 4:56

to that point, I think that we should also have more healthy skepticism towards our candidates, and we should be, yes, excited by their message, their narrative, and their goals for the American people and policy initiatives, but I just think that a, a lot of people are looking in the mirror thinking, "Ooh, what did I say was okay when it's really not? Did I put trust in someone that I didn't really look at hard enough?" Uh, and I think there's gonna be a whole postmortem, which I do think will be very helpful for '28, of how did he get chosen as the candidate. Well,

BRIAN: 5:35

let's talk about it. Let's talk about it. Okay. Whose fault is it? Whose fault is it?

GLENNIS: 5:41

Should I name them?

BRIAN: 5:42

Yeah, name, name them. Name them.

GLENNIS: 5:44

Yeah. The consultants. There is a part of our, our world, the machine, of consultants who go and find candidates, and say, "This person is going to do well in this state. We should run them." And there is a vetting process. And do I think that the agency that did this holds all of the blame here? No, because Graham Platner's also an individual who was fully aware of his history and his past, and the harm that he has caused to people over the last insert amount of years. And if you have a lot of people around you saying, "Yes, yes, yes, you're the guy," you're gonna think you're the guy regardless of if your vetting was really bad and was full of not just red flags, like nuclear bombs. So-

BRIAN: 6:32

Okay, so, so Dan Moraff, right? Is who you would, like primarily, he's, he's like mostly responsible for-- He's, he's the one who recruited him.

GLENNIS: 6:41

Okay.

BRIAN: 6:42

So little bit of backstory here. Dan Moraff is the person who is credited with recruiting Dan Osborne to run in Nebraska- Mm … in 2024. Dan Osborne being the highest over-performer of the entire cycle. This working-class guy who ran as an independent in Nebraska, over-performed Harris by 13 points, came within six of flipping a deep red state. Sorry, Nebraska, but statewide, that's correct. And so then they tried to nationalize the strategy, where they were like,"Well, let's repeat this model in more places that Democrats are gonna have a really hard time winning." And they wanted to go recruit populist candidates that had, I'm gonna use an annoying consultant term and say like working-class appeal, came from outside of the establishment, could run anti-system campaigns, which we've been talking about for over a year-

GLENNIS: 7:35

Yeah… BRIAN: as the, where the And Platner was one of those candidates. Yeah. And so the agency that you're talking about, the Fight Agency, came in as part of that slash later- Later … including the, the Katz, Morris Katz and- Mm-hmm… the Mamdani people who, um, formed their own agency post-win, and then have been serving as consultants for a handful of candidates, Platner included. But like the recruitment process was there. Some of the, the oppo that they did when recruiting turned up some of it, but not this. They did not have this level of information. But there's always some risk when you're recruiting from outside of the establishment or outside conventional candidates that people are going to have shit. I wouldn't even say risk. It's almost a guarantee that they're going to have stuff. Sure. It's about measuring how much stuff is going to be there, and whether it falls on this side or that side of the line. Think about- Yeah … George Santos. George Santos got- Well … like past… What? Yeah. But that was a different party.

BRIAN: 8:45

Well, no, totally. Totally. I'm just saying, like, he made it through an entire election without- Oh,

GLENNIS: 8:52

yeah… BRIAN: most of the stuff And so, a, an oppo book can cost, what, $100,000? Mm-hmm. Yes, yeah. You can't run a full oppo book on every person that you consider for recruiting. Should that have been done earlier? Yeah. Yes. Should there, s- something have happened before the primary? Yes. Like, there are definitely things that went awry, but I, I sort of push back on the Internet's narrative right now that this was, like, entirely preventable when at the same time the Internet is demanding normal people run. Yeah. I don't think it was entirely preventable. My blame is pointed at people who knew a lot more than the voter or the electorate or the, or the, the public about who Platner was as a person, whether it be the Reddit posts or the tattoo. Right. I, I find it very hard to believe that they didn't- Right … they did not know about the tattoo. Uh, things that I think- They say they didn't. You know-

BRIAN: 9:54

They

GLENNIS: 9:54

say they did not. They

BRIAN: 9:55

say they

GLENNIS: 9:55

didn't. Right. And like, we talked about the tattoo on the pod, and I am willing to admit, I think I was wrong. I know I was wrong to be like, "Oh, it's, it's, you know, the explanation is good enough. People make mistakes," whatever. But it's not just one mistake. Who are we as a party? What are we doing that we're saying,"Okay, release the files, respect women, believe women," and then we have a candidate like this who we know that his posts on Reddit baseline were wildly misogynistic- Right … and at times violent towards women and men. Right. So it's just, my, my blame is on, like, the judgment of the people who are recruiting these candidates. You took someone who you think had, to your point, working class appeal, who was not actually working class, but because he spoke like he was working class and could talk about his experience in the military. They're like, "Okay, you're gonna…" You're… It, it felt to me almost- Yeah, yeah … as though they assume the ignorance of the electorate or the Maine voter. And that's what chaps my ass. Like, I think if you are in the industry of trying to make this country better by choosing people who are going to reflect working class values and people, and be elected to positions to actually advocate for that in policies, then you have a responsibility to the American people to not fuck it up.

BRIAN: 11:18

Yeah. First and foremost, blame Platner himself. Yeah. You know you're a piece of shit. So like- Mm-hmm … don't leave it up to- The ego … everyone else to slowly figure it out that you're a piece of shit. Yeah. You should've known from the beginning that they would figure it out. It just speaks, yeah, to your point, to ego, to some insane moral failing. So what you've been saying all along, like horrible decision-making. There, boom. I think that the people who recruited him and failed to do the extent of oppo required also deserve blame. And then I also think that Mills and the DSCC and Schumer af- after that, if you're so opposed to, to someone that you're gonna weigh into a competitive primary, if you're so opposed to someone that you're gonna recruit a candidate to explicitly run against them and sort of blow up the, the current direction of the primary voter base in the state. You kinda gotta go all the way. Mm-hmm. And so it's a little surprising or disappointing that there wasn't more done there, because they did have the resources, right? Like Mills did have- Yeah … the resources to go do that level of oppo, to go interview exes and, and whatnot, and you can't necessarily control when people choose to tell their truth, but ma- th- there does seem like there could have been more done there. And the complicating thing, the thing that makes this all not quite as cut and dry of take out the garbage, move on- Mm-hmm … is Democrats are desperate. Mm-hmm … to expand their appeal and to stop nominating white shoe law firm-

GLENNIS: 13:06

Mm-hmm… BRIAN: partners, which is, like, like, squeaky clean, consulted to death, every statement- Mm-hmm by a committee, Harvard-educated, rich people. And that is what this whole effort and the fact that people were clinging to him even after it was so toxic reflects, is that the party is really desperate to find people who represent our values that don't share a resume with- Mm-hmm … Josh Shapiro. Yeah. Or like- He's like- in the same socioeconomic status as the voters. I'm glad that we, uh, figured it out now, and this isn't, like, a presidential candidate that was a dark horse that came out of nowhere. Um- Oh, oh my God, imagine … and that we're like having this conversation and that the party has an opportunity over the next year to learn some real lessons. But again, resign. What are you doing, bro?

BRIAN: 14:11

Resign.

GLENNIS: 14:12

Okay, I wanna talk to you about some of the math here. You correctly were saying that the path to victory for Platner was not looking good regardless for the Senate. Now let's get to Mitch McConnell.

BRIAN: 14:25

Yeah, man. The margin in the Senate right now is narrow, and they need every vote they can on everything that they can. The idea that someone would be a thorn in their side from the state of Kentucky is unbearable to them, and therefore, we are currently experiencing a potential Weekend at Bernie's moment, where Mitch McConnell has been hospitalized for going on three weeks, has not been heard from or seen. They're issuing the same-

GLENNIS: 14:52

statement

BRIAN: 14:52

bullshit statement again and again, saying, "He's good, he's recovering. He'll be back at work soon." Sources privately, which we have no ability to verify or deny the, the veracity of, are saying that he's on l- like life support- brain dead … essentially. Yeah. That he's never coming back. Mm-hmm. And that they're dragging his ass to Aug- August 3rd, which is the deadline for there to be a special election to, to replace him.

GLENNIS: 15:20

It's really crazy. I was reading that bullshit statement from his spokesperson being like, "He's, he's on the mend, and he's, like, tending to Kentucky matters," and blah, blah, blah. And it's like, prove it. Show me a, send me a photo. Yeah. Send me a live photo of Mitch McConnell.

BRIAN: 15:36

Yeah. Get him on. Get him on the phone.

GLENNIS: 15:38

They had, they had Barney Frank on CNN, like, a week before he died. You know what I mean? Like-

BRIAN: 15:44

Literally one foot out.

GLENNIS: 15:46

Proof of life. It is, it is so deeply offensive to me that we are having this conversation even about someone who, again, works for the American people.

BRIAN: 15:57

This is the Tom Kean Jr. effect. The idea that a member of Congress can fully go missing without any explanation for over three months and have no accountability, no one in any real position of authority say, "Hey, you gotta kinda come back to work eventually, dude." Like, nothing, is what is giving Republicans cover right now to be like, "Oh yeah, we're just gonna hide him for eight weeks." Like-

GLENNIS: 16:26

Keep him on life support. I don't even think it's hiding. I, I honestly think it's keep him on life support. I, I- Yeah … I truly believe that. So anyway, I was looking at, like, what the process is to potentially replace him if he were to

BRIAN: 16:40

move on. Kick the

GLENNIS: 16:41

bucket. Yeah. And, uh-

BRIAN: 16:43

Cross through the fiery gates.

GLENNIS: 16:45

Yeah. Lest we forget, Kentucky has a Democratic governor, Andy Beshear.

BRIAN: 16:51

Whoop, whoop, Beshear.

GLENNIS: 16:52

Okay, so in 20-

BRIAN: 16:54

High five punt, baby. Beshear in

GLENNIS: 16:55

five. Wait, do you… Is he your guy?

BRIAN: 16:59

I mean, not for president.

GLENNIS: 17:01

Okay. Just-

BRIAN: 17:01

But he's great. Okay. I'm from just north of the border.

GLENNIS: 17:04

That's right. Ohio is that, like that state. You don't really know where it's from, but then when you look at it on a map, you're like, "Oh." Yeah.

BRIAN: 17:11

I fly into Kentucky to go home.

GLENNIS: 17:13

That's crazy. So Republicans in 2024, typically the governor would have the opportunity to appoint someone for the rest of the term, correct?

BRIAN: 17:23

Hmm. It's state- But rep- It's state dependent.

GLENNIS: 17:25

It's state dependent, and it used to be that the governor in Kentucky could appoint someone to the Senate if the sitting senator died or left or resigned or whatever. But because the Republicans are so evil, they took that away, so now they would have to have a special election.

BRIAN: 17:44

They did multiple things. First, they passed a law that said the governor can only appoint someone from the party that the person is from. So they wanted to make- Okay … it so that the Democratic governor couldn't appoint a Democrat to the seat.

GLENNIS: 17:58

Couldn't you just, say Beshear wanted to appoint a Democrat, couldn't you just, like say, "Oh, I'm leaving the Democratic Party, I'm a Republican now. I'm registered as a Republican"?

BRIAN: 18:06

My guess is that they put in stipulations around how long the person needed to be a Republican. Separately, they passed a bill limiting the governor's ability to appoint at all in favor of a special election. It's the same thing that they do in North Carolina, same thing that they do in Utah. When anything goes against their way, they stack the deck in their favor and try and take power away from where Democrats are winning and move it towards anywhere that they feel that they're gonna be able to- Yeah … to hold power, in this case, the legislature. The rumor mill is that Beshear is not going to follow the law, and he's gonna challenge it in court and appoint someone the second that McConnell has a death certificate. Also, there is a rumor that he would nominate Thomas Massie, who famously is a Republican who hates Republicans, uh, just got ousted by Trump in his primary for his congressional seat, and loves to fuck with party leadership.

GLENNIS: 19:05

Wait,

BRIAN: 19:06

did you see his- And so he would go from the, the House and being a pain in the ass in the House to being a bigger pain in the ass in the Senate.

GLENNIS: 19:13

Wait, did you see the tweet he had that was like, "Spoke to McConnell. He wants to do," and he listed all of these things that, like McConnell hates. He's like such a troll. I love it.

BRIAN: 19:24

It's so funny."I spoke to McConnell for about 20 minutes this morning. He said we should end the war with Iran, quit giving aid to Israel, stop spying on Americans without a warrant, and he's really sorry about how my primary turned out." That's hilarious. He is a piece of shit, I always have to say. Like, we don't, we don't fuck with Massie around here.

GLENNIS: 19:44

I do a little bit because he is adamant about the Epstein files and-

BRIAN: 19:50

Epstein. Dog with a

GLENNIS: 19:51

bone … prosecuting the Epstein class. One thing I have to say related to the Epstein class, which is Howard Lutnick sitting next to the president of FIFA during the game in which Balogun got the red card, I felt like the World Cup was not soiled with Donald Trump's hands, and now he- he's put a shit stain on the United States of America because of the red card and calling the, the president of FIFA. He also said, he's like, "I don't- I didn't even know what a red card was. I watched. It was clearly a foul," blah, blah, blah.

TRUMP: 20:26

You'll see that a hand is touching a neck or you'll see something. Whereas when you see it in fast motion, it, it, it will look like two guys collided, which is really what happened. They got, uh, sort of entangled. He didn't do anything wrong, and he's our best player or one of our best players, a very vital player, and he gave him a red card. I didn't know what that meant. I didn't think it meant much.

GLENNIS: 20:47

And then that game was atrocious. Trump ruins everything.

BRIAN: 20:52

If you wanna go there, then let's fucking go there, bro.

GLENNIS: 20:54

Okay.

BRIAN: 20:55

Number one, the president of FIFA looks like a Mii, and by that I mean those little fucking characters from Nintendo Wii with the floating eyebrows. A- and I can't stand his face.

GLENNIS: 21:06

Yeah.

BRIAN: 21:06

I hate it. So get him off of my screen at all times. Mm-hmm. Any screen time is too much. But he's at every game. Hate it. He's

GLENNIS: 21:11

literally at

BRIAN: 21:12

every game. Get him away. Don't make me look at it. Number two, the US loss to Belgium was so painful to watch. It was so painful because it was our guy. You know that I'm an NYC FC fan. Mm-hmm. That's our MLS team in New York. Mm-hmm. Our goalie is incredible. He's an incredible keeper.

GLENNIS: 21:34

What happened?

BRIAN: 21:35

Matt Freese, and he froze at the worst possible moment imaginable in the World Cup. He literally just froze.

GLENNIS: 21:47

Yeah, his, his mind went blank- And it was- … and there

BRIAN: 21:49

was like

GLENNIS: 21:50

a two seconds-

BRIAN: 21:50

His mind went fully blank. He didn't know where anyone was around him. All he had to do was clear the ball. Kick it out. All he had to do was clear the ball. Kick it out. Kick it to the side. And that ended, that ended the campaign.

GLENNIS: 21:59

Yeah, because of the interjection of Donald Trump in getting Balogun?

BRIAN: 22:05

Balogun.

GLENNIS: 22:07

Balogun back on the field, it felt like there was just an added pressure, and they did not seem like themselves. They seemed really nervous. I've really loved watching the games, obviously, and then watching my algorithm and my feed because it's reminding me, I feel, that it's okay to love America and the outrageous things about America, like unlimited refills and- like all of the- Ice … I don't know. Yeah. Ice. Well, fuck that. We'll bring Nelini Stamp on soon, and she's a big activist and organizer working with Working Families Party, and she's done a whole big organizing movement around the World Cup. Last question, who are you rooting for now?

BRIAN: 22:47

England as one. Yeah, I know people hate it, but like those are my-- I watch EPL, so like those are all my favorite players. I watch them year-round. Like, I'm not gonna not cheer for them. I'm excited about Argentina. Their comeback against Egypt was one of the most exciting games of football I've seen in years. Who are you rooting for?

GLENNIS: 23:08

Norway.

BRIAN: 23:08

Don't say France. I

GLENNIS: 23:09

kinda like have to from a Scandinavian perspective. And I love Mbappe, so then France. Anyway, so World Cup, still more World Cup to come. This is not a sports podcast, but it could be if you wanted it to be. We're footy heads. Okay. One thing I wanna ask you about, Brian, which you brought up the other week, that Donald Trump is holding this objectively good housing act ransom- Yeah … for the SAVE Act, which is just a part of his voter suppression mandate. It's really insane.

BRIAN: 23:40

Housing costs are arguably the most urgent economic crisis in the country because it impacts everyone. It's mortgages and rents. It is the thing that is most closely associated with the American dream, that you would own a home that you can pass on to future generations and make your kids better off than you, and it's more and more out of reach. Uh, we already talked about it a couple weeks ago, housing costs increasing like 40% since- Mm-hmm … before the pandemic. This bill is the first piece of legislation to actually fix some of the core issues that are restraining the supply of homes, which is what is jacking up the, the cost so much. Trump's just blocking it willy-nilly because he wants to rig the midterms using the SAVE Act. And that should infuriate people. That should- Mm-hmm … further erode people's trust in him on the economy if you know that he's gonna pick his own political prospects and his own political career ahead of the most basic, fundamental economic wellbeing of you and your family, the ability for you to have a roof over your head.

GLENNIS: 24:45

Yeah.

BRIAN: 24:45

like, that's dark.

GLENNIS: 24:48

It's really dark. That's

BRIAN: 24:49

dark-sided

GLENNIS: 24:50

And he's doing it to try and suppress the vote, your duty and right as an American citizen. It's, it's really dark-sided, and we now know for sure that he's at least $3 billion richer since winning the second time. And I don't get it. I don't get what his end goal is here. He's not gonna run again. At least I don't believe he's actually gonna run again. I think he's happy with his bounty and he's going to go off into the distance. But what's your end goal here, Trump, to try and restrict voting rights? Like, what are you actually trying to do? You made your money. Oh,

BRIAN: 25:24

he's terrified. Oh, he is fucking terrified. He is a criminal that is openly committing crimes while in office, relying on the Supreme Court to protect him, and Democrats are about to get a look behind the curtain at all of the illegal shit that's been going on, not just with him, but with his kids as well. Mm. They're about to have subpoena power when we win back the House, and he's literally throwing everything he can at the midterms to try to prevent Democrats from having the power to hold him accountable. He sees no downside because he's not running for another term. Yeah. Because he's on his way out. Because he already got his bag. He sees no issue with tearing down voting rights, with tearing down trust in our election system. Yeah. He'll literally destroy anything and use every single one of us as a human shield if he has to- Mm-hmm to avoid any accountability for his wrongdoing, and he won't think- twice about any of it. He doesn't give a shit. Yeah. He really, really doesn't, and never has. To me, it's like further proof of the crime itself, because it's not the crime, it's the coverup. And this is all part of the coverup. This is all part of the coverup. Yeah. This is him trying to prevent anyone from getting access to the bank records and the comms records. Mm-hmm. This is why they're using Signal. This is why they're destroying records. This is, like, they've literally for a year and a half spent every minute they can robbing the country- Yeah … and stopping our ability to s- hold them accountable.

GLENNIS: 27:02

One more thing I wanna bring up, especially for New Yorkers, watch out for 42nd Street.

BRIAN: 27:07

Yeah, dude. I was gonna say, I want a roof over my head, but not on top of it.

GLENNIS: 27:11

Not on top of it. Emily Amick talks about this a lot on her socials, and it's kinda like the advent of Trump 2.0 only has intensified the shitification of everything. Like, everything just feels like it's, like, cheaper and poorly produced and put together. And for those who live in New York and live under a rock, you may have missed that a massive building that I'm sure you have passed many times,'cause it's right off that FDR onto 42nd Street, cut through right next to Grand Central Station, the former Pfizer HQ was turned into residential. They started building on top of the building. Some workers were at their job yesterday and were s- like, "Hmm. Hmm. Those beams look like they're collapsing."

BRIAN: 27:52

It looks like a melted ice cream cone. It's bananas. And I'm like, what the fuck? They've had to evacuate nine buildings around it. Mm. Hotels, schools, apartment buildings, office buildings.

GLENNIS: 28:03

A kids camp. All

BRIAN: 28:05

evacuated.

GLENNIS: 28:05

There's a camp, a daily camp, that holds 400- What in the fuck?… school-aged children every day

BRIAN: 28:10

What in the fuck? In midtown Manhattan. That's, like, so crazy to me. They're saying now, just within the last hour, that it's not currently moving. It hasn't moved in hours.'Cause you could actually, like, measure- Yeah the movement going on yesterday. It hasn't moved, which is good news. I don't know how much of the building's gonna have to come down, but pretty much guaranteed that it's gonna destroy this project, and probably bankrupt the company that's behind it, is my guess. No,

GLENNIS: 28:35

they have, they have insurance.

BRIAN: 28:36

For malpractice. Apparently, they did not follow their own permits, and they were doing more excavation than they were permitted to do. And so my guess- That's not good … is the insurance company's gonna be like, "You're chopped. What you did was illegal. This is on you." It sucks because it was an exciting wave of office-to-home renos- Mm going on in Midtown, that we, like, had too much office space post-pandemic, and it was an opportunity to boost the housing supply without needing, like, new super talls. We could just use the buildings that we have. There were gonna be 1,600 units of apartments built. Any of them

GLENNIS: 29:11

affordable housing units? I

BRIAN: 29:13

don't know.

GLENNIS: 29:13

I assume-

BRIAN: 29:13

I'm not sure.

GLENNIS: 29:14

I, I assume yes, because there are rules now. If you're building new, you have to have X amount be affordable housing.

BRIAN: 29:18

So a building like that, more is more. Adding 1,600 units to the market wherever we can is ultimately going to bring down market rate.

GLENNIS: 29:26

Yeah.

BRIAN: 29:26

Building luxury condos doesn't. Building on Billionaires Row doesn't. Even if they were market rate apartments, like, we need more market rate apartments in New York. Like, we need- Mm-hmm … we need all of it. It's an all of the above strategy to me, and this is probably gonna put a big poop in the punch bowl of office-to-home conversions.

GLENNIS: 29:49

Let's just say I wouldn't live there. Unless, like, they're, they're renting, like, two bedrooms- … for$1,000 a month, I'm not gonna go, like, willingly move into the former cursed Pfizer building, big pharma, that has a collapsing… Like, it's just… I, I'm okay.

BRIAN: 30:09

Okay. Speaking of, we're turning this podcast into House Hunters,'cause I need a new apartment. Why? I'm getting kicked out of my apartment.

GLENNIS: 30:17

You just

BRIAN: 30:17

moved. And I need… I j- It feels like I just moved, but my lease is almost up, and they're selling my apartment, so I can't stay, and I need our listeners to find me a new place to live, 'cause I don't have time to apartment hunt. So if you are renting or know of a place, preferably on the Upper West Side, hit a gay up.

GLENNIS: 30:38

Yeah.

BRIAN: 30:38

Let it, let me

GLENNIS: 30:39

know. Or DM the Vibes Only Instagram account. Brian, let's do some clickbait or double-click. So reminder, these are headlines we haven't seen, and we kind of talk about if they're worth actually caring about, or it's just mainstream media's way of rage-baiting us.

BRIAN: 30:55

Our first one here, G, New rules from the Trump administration require election changes for states to get terrorism grants. This is the administration conditioning anti-terrorism funds on whether states comply with their new rules on how elections should be run.

GLENNIS: 31:13

Double click. Something that I think all Americans should think about, which is election integrity. Donald Trump is trying to chip away at the integrity of our democratic institutions, and this is an example of that by withholding important counter-terrorism funding that keeps you and your neighbors safe from violence.

BRIAN: 31:34

It is another reminder that Republicans', like pro-police, pro-law enforcement rhetoric is entirely performative, and they only feel that way when it benefits them, when they use it to advance the other parts of their agenda. But when police are being attacked or killed at the Capitol, they don't care about police anymore. They don't care about preventing terrorism or national security. But they do when it helps them make the case to deport brown people. Right? Like it's all- Yes … very performative, so I would agree.

GLENNIS: 32:06

Or bombing fishing ships off the coast of Venezuela because they're now considering drug cartels- Right terrorists- Right … and committing war crimes. Oil prices jump after Trump says deal with Iran is over.

BRIAN: 32:20

Double MF click. Double click for sure because for many people in MAGA, Iran is Trump's greatest betrayal, that him initiating a new forever war and lying about it throughout, having no reason to go to war, to then proceeding to spend over$100 billion, which is more than every country on earth spends on their entire military, except for three, in just a couple of months, is ultimately one of his greatest electoral Achilles' heels. So it's a, it's a double click for sure. The peace deal was always fake. All of his deals are always fake. They're like three paragraphs scribbled on the back of a napkin that he wants people to sign so that he can issue- Mm-hmm … a press release, and the mainstream media literally bows politely and says, "There is a peace deal," which is preposterous. It's bullshit. There was never a peace deal. There has been- Yeah … no peace deal. There has been- Yeah … no ceasefire. They've been bombing each other throughout the whole time.

GLENNIS: 33:17

Yeah.

BRIAN: 33:17

So, like, what the fuck?

GLENNIS: 33:19

Lest we forget that, like, the Pentagon doesn't even allow respected reporters into their briefing rooms- Right number one. And number two, I don't know if you saw what Trump said about the Iranian people. It's crazy. He said, "They're scum. They're sick people. They've, they're led by sick people, and they're vicious, violent people. As far as I'm concerned, it's just a waste of time dealing with them. They're liars. There's something wrong with them. They're cuckoo. As far as I'm concerned, it's over."

TRUMP: 33:43

I don't wanna deal with them anymore. They're scum. You know what scum is? They're scum. They're sick people. They're led by sick people, and they're, they're vicious, violent people

BRIAN: 33:56

Just operating from a Republican perspective, looking down on people from other countries because they're from other countries, and looking through this lens of the rest of the world being uncivilized really damages your ability to see scenarios clearly, to behave in a strategic manner on the international stage, and it undercuts your own agenda. It's not just that it's wrong. It's not, it's not just that it's immoral and racist and all of these things. Mm-hmm. It's that it also makes us worse off- Mm-hmm … when you have people in charge who think that everyone from the Middle East is, what did you just say? That they're all sick.

GLENNIS: 34:37

Yeah, it's, it's, it's dehu- it's completely dehumanizing language.

BRIAN: 34:40

Right. Fuck that guy.

GLENNIS: 34:42

Fuck that guy.

BRIAN: 34:43

Um- Fuck them kids. I didn't… I haven't seen any of this. A judge has overruled the Justice Department subpoena in their 2020, not 2024, 2020 election inquiry.

GLENNIS: 34:55

So, like the Cambridge Analytica of it all?

BRIAN: 34:58

No, that was 2016.

GLENNIS: 34:59

Oh my God, I'm, I'm-

BRIAN: 35:01

We're old. We're old… GLENNIS: dating myself. Yeah. 2020-

GLENNIS: 35:05

Um,

BRIAN: 35:05

no, this is Trump's obsession- Oh with the 2020 election, saying that the whole thing was, was rigged, and him now using all the powers of the presidency to try and dig up this old shit because he's obsessed with the fact that he lost.

GLENNIS: 35:16

Yeah, I'm just like,"Good, and thank you, next."

BRIAN: 35:19

Yeah, I think it's clickbait. Nobody cares anymore. It's not a motivating issue that Trump's obsessed with it. We've tried that. We tried it in 2024, and people were just, like, not really hearing it. Could have cared. And he's not gonna stop. So I think it's kinda clickbait generally.

GLENNIS: 35:34

He's definitely not gonna stop. When he was talking about the red card, he said, "I'm really glad I got taken away," and he can play. If we win, they're gonna say it was rigged like the 2020 election. And it's like, wait, are you saying that it… You're agreeing then.

BRIAN: 35:52

Yeah, he's crazy.

GLENNIS: 35:54

Okay, last one. Part of Florida's Stop Woke law ruled illegal by appeals court. So the law limits teaching on race, gender, and other topics, if you don't recall, and part of the law related to colleges was struck down, but it remains in effect K through 12.

BRIAN: 36:12

Oh, only the college portion was struck down.

GLENNIS: 36:14

Yeah.

BRIAN: 36:15

I think that this is kind of a double click. You know what? No, I'm gonna say clickbait. With, with the level of shit going on in the world at the moment. Because the whole stop wokeism thing is clickbait. That whole culture war- Yeah … that Republicans stirred up in 2022 and since, and before, is clickbait, is them trying to make something out of something that isn't a problem, isn't real, doesn't exist. And so clickbait.

GLENNIS: 36:45

Could you imagine living in Florida, though, at this point? It's like-

BRIAN: 36:48

Sorry, Floridians. I'm sorry.

GLENNIS: 36:50

It-- Sorry, Floridians. Brian, given all the hoopla around Maine and Kentucky, do you have a candidate that is vetted and good to run? Do you have one that you're excited about?

BRIAN: 37:05

I do, and we're sticking with our theme of run more hot people. Oh. Manny Rutinel is a progressive candidate who just won the primary in Colorado's 8th Congressional District. He is 31. He's a state representative, so has served in elected office before, is an attorney, and he is progressive. He ran against a more establishment candidate in the primary and won, so this is a good opportunity for progressives who are feeling really burned by the whole Platner thing to find a different candidate in a really competitive race that is a flippable seat, where they can get behind somebody who happens to be hot. Have you seen him? Google him right now.

GLENNIS: 37:48

No, but you know- We wanna hear the reaction live. Google his

BRIAN: 37:52

ass. Google it. What's his name? Manny Rutinel.

GLENNIS: 37:53

Okay. Manny Rutinel. I don't wanna, you know, I don't think that we should judge people on their looks or- Oh

BRIAN: 38:05

my God. He's hot. Just say he's hot.

GLENNIS: 38:09

He's an objectively handsome man. You know, my, my toxic trait is that whenever I go to Wikipedia, I go straight down to personal life. It's like a tic. I can't help it. What are his chances?

BRIAN: 38:23

Solid. Very strong. Great. Flippable seat. We l- we held it in, up until '24, lost it then, and have a really good chance of flipping it back this year with a good candidate like Manny.

GLENNIS: 38:34

Great. 31, we love to see it.

BRIAN: 38:36

31. Wait, one

GLENNIS: 38:37

more thing, Brian. The New York Times just put out, like, their list of who could be in the running to replace Platner. I didn't know McSteamy was in the running. Patrick Dempsey. From the

BRIAN: 38:46

Grey's Anatomy show?

GLENNIS: 38:48

Yes. Patrick Dempsey, yeah.

BRIAN: 38:50

I, he lives in Maine. Um,

GLENNIS: 38:51

mm-hmm.

BRIAN: 38:53

I, I don't think that they're gonna pick someone random. They're gonna pick someone who's been on a ballot before, is my guess.

GLENNIS: 38:58

Yeah.

BRIAN: 38:58

Yeah. Similar to the Kamala Harris situation, where when you can't have voters vote directly, I think the next most fair thing is to select someone who they have voted for at some other point or for some other office or-

GLENNIS: 39:11

Yeah.

BRIAN: 39:12

Should we send them off with a good vibe?

GLENNIS: 39:13

Yeah. Do you have one for me?

BRIAN: 39:15

Our good vibe of the week is brought to us by the federal court system- Ooh … which ruled that the guy who planted pipe bombs outside of the DNC- Mm-hmm … trying to kill Nancy Pelosi and, and Democrats, is not immune from prosecution because of Donald Trump's blanket pardon of all January 6th-ers.

GLENNIS: 39:37

January 6th, yeah.

BRIAN: 39:38

And there was very much so concern that this person who tried to bomb the DNC- Hmm … was going to walk away scot-free because Trump had just written it such that everyone was pardoned for everything that happened in the proximity of the Capitol January 6th, and this was in the proximity of the Capitol on that day. So the immediate- Good … good news is he's not immune and he's gonna face prosecution.

GLENNIS: 40:01

Good. I'm glad that there's some sort of legal system in the United States of America. That is a good vibe.

BRIAN: 40:08

The longer term good news-

GLENNIS: 40:10

Oh… BRIAN: is that restricting the way that the grounds that we need for preventing Trump from pardoning his kids- Hmm when he leaves office. Because what the judge said was, because this guy has not been charged or prosecuted for a crime, you cannot pardon him. This pardon does not apply. Trump has been saying privately to dozens of people that he's going to write a blanket pardon at the end of his term that says everyone who came within 100 feet of the Oval Office between this date and this date is pardoned for everything that they might have done. Yeah. And this is the first case that I've seen in modern judicial precedent jurisprudence that could be pointed to, to say, "Actually, that's not how pardons work, and your kids are going to jail." Great. But not Hunter. His pardon stays, right?

BRIAN: 41:07

Hunter's pardon was for a blanket period of time-

GLENNIS: 41:12

Oh… BRIAN: and is, is very broad. But I'm completely fine with Hunter getting prosecuted if it means that we get to prosecute the Trump kids. Yeah, I don't really think- That's a trade that I am absolutely willing to make. I don't think Hunter did anything wrong.

BRIAN: 41:26

With that, we'll be back here same time next week to check the vibes.

GLENNIS: 41:32

See ya.

BRIAN: 41:37

If you wanna stay ahead of the news cycle every week, be sure to hit follow or subscribe wherever you're listening.