This is a preview of the full Weekender Friday episode. To unlock the full 50+ minute show, and all future episodes, head over to patreon.com/muckrakepodcast and become a subscriber. You'll gain access to more content, as well as live tapings, and more.
C0-hosts Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman discuss how Rupert Murdoch is ready to abandon his once great hope of toppling Donald Trump, while dissecting exactly what is wrong with DeSantis's campaign. They then turn their sights on the undistinguished gentleman from Alabama, Senator Tommy Tuberville, and his callous remarks on White Nationalists. Turns out Clarence Thomas could also grift with Venmo, while the Writers are now joined by the Actors in striking against the Hollywood machine.
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- That is a cold beverage everybody, because it is hot outside.
Welcome to the Weekender Edition of the Muckrake Podcast.
I'm here with Nick Halsman.
How you doing, buddy?
I'm good.
I'm good.
Nothing like a good beverage, a good cold beverage on a hot day.
I'm exhausted.
I'll just be honest.
Like, I was joking about it when we had Daniel Moody on on Tuesday.
The dog days are already barking at me, man.
Like, yesterday, I went for a run, I barely made it through the run, and then I was just like... I got home, I had to do some stuff, I made myself do it, but I was worse for the wear.
Like, it's tough.
Well, you know, I stopped drinking caffeine for like three or four days, and I'm back on the sauce, man.
I can't do it because I'm literally just falling asleep by like two-thirds of the afternoon.
Like literally asleep, like on the couch behind me, just out.
Welcome, by the way, to everyone's favorite over-the-hill guy podcast where we talk about being tired in the summer.
We are so glad to have you.
Listen, everybody, we always say this is a jam-packed show.
This is a legitimately jam-packed show today.
We have so much to talk about.
We have the beginnings of a labor movement.
Solidarity to everybody.
We're going to talk about that.
We're going to talk about Clarence Thomas not just being corrupt, Nick, but taking Venmo corruption, which is an incredible new level of corruption.
Tommy Tuberville being an absolute racist moron.
And we have to start, Nick, and a reminder, if you don't listen to this whole show, and why wouldn't you, go to patreon.com slash mccraigpodcast.
More and more people are doing it, and guess what?
I know you've seen it.
I've seen it.
Do you know what people say, Nick, the moment that they go ahead and they make the jump?
They can't believe why they hadn't done it earlier.
Why didn't I do this before?
I keep hearing it, more and more people are saying it, and that's not a Donald Trump story.
Everybody says, I can't believe I didn't do this before, I don't know how I lived Fridays without this, so patreon.com slash mcgreggpodcast.
Truly amazing.
Thousands of people will do that.
Listen to just the preview, and I'm telling you, everyone who has heard that and then gone over has been really happy they did so.
The Discord discussion is awesome, privately amongst us, and all the live shows.
Everything is worth it.
Do you support the show?
Do you enjoy the show?
Do you appreciate?
We give you perspective that nobody else is giving you.
We basically tell everybody what's going to happen six months from now.
But that's neither here nor there.
It's patreon.com slash muckrake.
I can't even say it.
It's so upsetting.
Slash muckrake podcast.
Nick, we have to start, though, down in the land of the Gators, where Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, his campaign, we've been covering how surprisingly bad he is at running for President of the United States of America.
The numbers have been bad.
The performance has been bad.
But, Nick, we're entering into new territory, a month out from the first debate, and let's just say this ship, she is a leaking.
There are a ton of signals being sent out into the press right now.
We have people from Fox News who are speaking on Rupert Murdoch's behalf that the old man has lost confidence in DeSantis.
They quote-unquote smell a loser.
This is a quote from an insider at Fox News, quote, Rupert's understandable worry is that we may end up being stuck with Trump anyway, that DeSantis is underperforming and anyone can see it.
There are talks about him shopping for another candidate.
The donors are telling anyone who will listen that they're a little bit worried about the fact that they've given this guy tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions, of their dollars.
Nick, this is moving from beginning jitters and a little bit of uncomfortableness to maybe we're entering into the crisis stage of the Ron DeSantis campaign.
Well, I suppose it's nice to pretend that someone like Rupert Murdoch really cares who is in the White House other than a Republican.
Maybe he's got some scruples.
Maybe he's got some morals.
That's possible.
Maybe.
But we all, I think we know what the real issue here is.
And I don't think it's a hot take.
I think what they're worried about is that they're going to have a debate, which they have to spend a lot of money on in a remote location.
And they know that the ratings will be, what do you think the rates are going to be like if Trump doesn't show up to that debate?
I think people will watch it, but I also think that if Donald Trump and, you know, Danielle had said this, Danielle Moody had said this on Tuesday's episode, like, if he's not there and he's live truthing, social truthing, social gabbing, like, that's what people will pay attention to.
I agree with that.
OK, so that's the point being that and also coming as an incumbent or the guy who won the presidency before, like when he's up by 30 points, there is no incentive for him to show up at the debate, right?
There's no way for him to benefit from that.
So the key would have been the polling needed to be a lot closer.
In theory, that's what would have forced Trump into the debate.
But here we are, months into this thing, and DeSantis can't get within 30 points.
And I think that's the whole issue, is if DeSantis could have been a little bit closer or a lot closer, if it was 10 or 8 or whatever, probably Trump is then forced to have to get in there and try and widen that poll or whatever to maintain that lead.
And so that's probably what's most frustrating about the whole thing, is that it's not closer and there's no incentive for Trump to show up.
Rupert does not want Donald Trump to be president again.
What happened in 2016 is that Donald Trump pulled down Fox News' pants for the world to see.
That's how that entire thing went on.
Nobody wanted him around, only the MAGA people, and then they saw him as a useful idiot that they could use to propel themselves.
It didn't cost them that much, did it Jared?
It might have cost them a lot.
Actually, deep, deep down when you really take a look at this thing.
When you look at Ron DeSantis, though, and we'll get into why this is happening in just a second.
Nick, the the raw numbers are bad.
Like, Ron DeSantis is the twice elected governor of the state of Florida that he basically rules over like a malevolent warlord.
And he is down 20 points.
That's right everybody.
20.
2.
0.
20 points in the state of Florida behind Donald Trump.
That says that something's wrong here.
That something isn't going well.
There is nothing about this campaign that feels good.
There hasn't been a single, he hasn't landed a punch on Donald Trump.
The best that he's been able to do is say that Donald Trump is too gay friendly, and meanwhile created an ad that we broke down.
If people haven't listened to that episode, go back and listen to it.
A weird off-putting ad that was basically only for people who are terminally online.
That's what this campaign has become.
And as we talked about on our episode on Tuesday, it is attracting anti-Semitic, racist people.
But people who are, like, anti-Semitic and racist in a different MAGA way, where they're, like, way in the weeds and they're, like, talking about ancient Greece and Rome and, like, pure, unadulterated fascism.
Like, it is attracting people, like, that nobody wants to be around.
No one is enjoying this.
No one is having a good time with the DeSantis campaign.
It's not lighting the world on fire.
All it's doing at this point is lighting money on fire.
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