In this episode, Alex Blumberg and Wennd joins us to discuss the impact of the government shutdown and why Democrats should join in on the effort to reopen the government. They also discuss the possibility of a "General Strike" among Democrats to protest Trump's abuse of power.
00:04:34.760Ed, what do you make of the calling off of the proposed meeting in Hungary?
00:04:39.400I just, if you look at the state that Russia is in right now, you would think that Trump has a pretty good, strong upper hand to push Putin into a corner,
00:04:50.920much like he did in the Middle East, where he was able to really pull things together and get a deal on the table.
00:04:58.060Why is it so hard for him with Vladimir Putin?
00:05:24.700So there is acute manpower pressure in Russia.
00:05:29.400There is also acute pressure on paying recruitment bonuses to get new soldiers because Ukrainians are getting the ability with drones and with their artillery and with their guided missiles to strike hundreds of miles deep inside Russia to strike Russia's oil refineries.
00:05:50.100And they could soon extend that to their pipelines, too.
00:05:53.180So the sort of spigot that is funding the ability to recruit Russian soldiers into this into this army with amazingly high casualties, that's that's being threatened, too.
00:06:06.920So a perfect time for the president of the United States to use real leverage on Putin to get him to the negotiating table.
00:06:15.180But it's leverage that for one reason or another, and we can speculate probably fruitlessly about what that reason is.
00:06:22.580But it's leverage that Trump has still, nine, ten months into his administration, not been prepared to use and shows no signs of being prepared to use it.
00:06:32.160We had you on last in 2017 to discuss your book, Antifa, the Anti-Fascist Handbook, when it first came out.
00:06:40.740In the introduction you wrote, you hoped your work would promote organizing against fascism and white supremacy.
00:06:50.840Right. So anti-fascism has a broad history in the U.S.
00:06:55.980Certainly there's the European inspired Antifa tradition.
00:06:59.520There's also a really good book called The Black Anti-Fascist Tradition that talks about the role of anti-fascism in black liberation struggles, black panthers and so forth, which I suggest people check out.
00:07:11.400What it has in common is actually this impulse towards unity and putting aside the differences that often divide the left in the interest of promoting the common struggle against fascism, against white supremacy.
00:07:24.480And what we're seeing today in the U.S. is increasingly fascist.
00:07:28.220MAGA, I believe, and I study fascism, I don't say this likely, is a fascist movement.
00:07:32.660And if we don't organize, if we don't take action in the streets, we're going to end up somewhere really bad.
00:07:38.840And for me personally, I felt like my situation was such that I had to get my family out of harm's way.
00:07:44.520But this story about me is about me, but it's not really about me.
00:07:48.080It's about attacks on academic freedom, free speech, the right to protest.
00:07:52.780We're in a really dangerous situation.
00:07:54.680And so everyone in their own way needs to take action to try and organize against this.
00:07:59.060So we did the presidential walk of fame from the great George Washington all the way to, well, I think we have to rate him above me.
00:08:09.380So it's less than great, less than George.
00:10:09.900Joe Allen coming back from his 100-day journey through America and quite shocking some of the data that he has about artificial intelligence and about transhumanism and about the singularity.
00:10:21.860So the specter over all of us is this drive by these oligarchs and the Chinese Communist Party and others to drive towards the point of the singularity.
00:10:34.860From that point, there is no return, ladies and gentlemen.
00:10:38.120The president of the United States and everything he's doing and balancing, one is this war against the radical element.
00:10:49.300Because remember, the Democrats cannot win anymore at the ballot box.
00:10:55.060The structural changes in the country's demographics and geographics make it so that this big surge to the south and to the southwest and to the intermountain west makes it that they're going to be very difficult for them to win the House of Representatives again to take back the Senate.
00:11:14.980And with a real census that we need to do mid-decade, no longer will the Electoral College be within grasp.
00:11:22.400And as they get more and more radical, this No Kings thing is obviously a flop.
00:11:27.680But they're going to spiral into more and more violence.
00:11:32.800North Carolina last night, the Senate voted for the new map.
00:11:36.880So we're too jammed this morning to get DeGrasse, but we got DeGrasse on deck either for this afternoon or tomorrow to talk to you about the structural changes that are happening that make the Democrats less and less likely.
00:11:49.220If we do our job, we have to do our job.
00:12:15.200And the reason they don't talk about it at No King is because there's a bunch of hapless old people with their walkers, all these liberals, progressives that have a frictionless life as it is.
00:12:26.880And all they do is bitch and moan about everything.
00:12:44.280So, Cliff, I've got you here from New Jersey, also talking about some redistricting, and you're our ground game guy, one of the leaders of the ground game movement.
00:12:55.100But I got to ask you, that Antifa interview was just yesterday.
00:12:59.020Talk to me about that guy because you and our own beloved Jack Posobiec are on his target list, are you not?
00:13:06.500Yeah, you know, it's fascinating to me.
00:13:08.280I wonder why I kept getting some random death threats back when this book came out.
00:13:19.160Time Magazine actually published an op-ed that I wrote about campus free speech.
00:13:25.480And the Antifa handbook names me and says, you know, this is horrific because Cliff Maloney stands for free speech on campus,
00:13:32.300which means he must support homophobic, transphobic, misogynistic language, which now, you know, thinking back to obviously what happened to Charlie,
00:13:42.920I wrote the op-ed talking about campus free speech.
00:13:46.260And because of that, they put me in the Antifa handbook.
00:13:50.780You know, these are not serious people.
00:13:52.460And for them to do things like that, it just puts a target on a lot of our backs for just speaking for what I would call basic American freedoms.
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00:17:33.7202023, it's a great, it is the question to ask.
00:17:36.360But to be very clear, this is the direct result of the gutting of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
00:17:41.100When the Voting Rights Act was passed for nearly 50 years after that, it was Section 5, the preclearance section, that made sure that states with a history of discrimination, like North Carolina, okay, had to have their maps cleared, precleared by the federal government before any changes to their maps would take place.
00:17:59.860Well, in 2013, Shelby Beholder gutted that portion.
00:18:07.820And the anchor of all of this is the Voting Rights Act because the Voting Rights Act required the states to stay in, to color within the lines.
00:18:18.800In other words, this is power politics.
00:19:43.580Part of this America First movement, and so many patriots that watch this show, the whole War Room Posse get this.
00:19:49.400When these people come after you, there is only one response.
00:19:52.740Any member of the political establishment, whether it's right or left, when they try to attack you, you can only respond by doubling down.
00:20:01.520And Steve, let me announce this here to the War Room Posse because I'm looking at the data.
00:20:04.900I want to report some numbers to you guys from New Jersey.
00:20:08.060We've got this New Jersey Chase program.
00:20:10.480And by the way, anybody who wants to help us out, njchase.com, njchase.com.
00:20:17.060Here's the result, and here's the big update I want to give to the entire War Room.
00:20:20.940As of this day, if you look just last year in the 2024 election, if you look this far out from the election in 2024, in New Jersey, we are performing at 5.5% better than we were one year ago.
00:24:05.280Jack Cittarelli will be the next governor of New Jersey.
00:24:08.420If every member of the War Room Posse reaches out to anyone who lives in New Jersey and tells them,
00:24:13.580hey, you have to go vote, you have to show up for this.
00:24:16.960This is about a referendum, not just on Donald Trump, but is the America First movement going to continue as a stronghold in the political arena?
00:25:01.860And listen, it's an interesting conversation at the door.
00:25:04.300Let me tell you what the experience is like when we go door to door.
00:25:07.920Our whole universe, Steve, once again, we have two phases in the New Jersey Chase program, just like we did in Pennsylvania.
00:25:13.440The first phase, which is now over, is going to low propensity voters.
00:25:17.640These are folks that have voted in zero, one, or two of the last four general elections.
00:25:23.780And we say, hey, Bob, I know you don't vote that consistently, but we'd love to get you a request form to fill out so that you can get a mail-in ballot.
00:25:33.560And Bob always says what you just said, Steve.
00:28:02.780A former CIA, Pentagon, and White House advisor with an unmatched grasp of geopolitics and capital markets.
00:28:09.400Jim predicted Trump's Electoral College victory exactly 312 to 226, down to the actual number itself.
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00:28:38.040Right now, war room members get a free copy of Money GPT when they sign up for Strategic Intelligence.
00:28:44.200This is Jim's flagship financial newsletter, Strategic Intelligence.
00:31:49.260So, Pack, when you left PBS the first time under Bush's, under President Bush's presidency, they basically said, well, finance a film you want to do.
00:32:00.560And you were going to do a high-tech, you were going to talk about the Iraq War, modern warfare, kind of extrapolated from what had happened in the Gulf War as a super high-tech war.
00:32:12.000And after doing your research, you came back and said, hey, this is really going to be a war about 17 and 18-year-old privates, non-commissioned officers.
00:32:23.760They're in their early 20s and second lieutenants and first lieutenants going door to door in some of the most brutal fighting in the history of the United States Marine Corps.
00:32:33.660In over 250 years, folks, that's saying something.
00:32:36.540And this film is just brutal in its reality, and you come away just awestruck by the courage and compassion of the Marines, unlike any film I think I've ever seen.
00:32:49.940It's just – you're just sitting there just – it's just absolutely stunning, the valor, particularly when you think about the confusion about what the cause was and what the purpose.
00:32:59.640In World War II, there was no confusion at all about what the purpose was, what the task and the purpose.
00:33:05.900Here, obviously, it was very contentious.
00:33:09.860But for the actual moment itself, first Battle of Fallujah, the Battle of Najaf, and the second Battle of Fallujah, the Mac Daddy, it's stunning.
00:33:24.780I mean, whatever you think of the Iraq War, we need to celebrate the young men and women that we asked to be on the front lines for us and risk their lives.
00:33:34.260I think their honor has been clouded by mixed feelings about the war.
00:33:39.720But now, as you know, we finished this film 17 years ago, but now maybe it's its right time.
00:33:44.680I think people can look back and not be clouded by ideology.
00:33:48.540And at the same time, we see that our allies, and we ourselves likely, will be enmeshed in the same kind of warfare in Gaza, in Ukraine, wherever.
00:33:58.400I mean, not all war is like World War I and World War II.
00:34:01.620Its most common warfare is this kind of counterinsurgency.
00:34:05.380And as you say, Fallujah and Najaf are the biggest battles America has fought since Vietnam.
00:34:11.080We owe it to the people who fought there to understand what happened and to tell their story.
00:34:16.560And I'm really happy that it's going to be airing Veterans Day Eve on PBS at 10 p.m., 10 p.m., November 10th.
00:34:25.820Well, the 250th, I think what's the 250th birthday, the official birthday of the United States Marine Corps.
00:34:31.720We're going to be doing stuff all day in that weekend to tee up for it.
00:34:34.740But PBS has finally cried uncle and said they will give its first national airing at the 10 p.m. slot, which last night we told you about Bobby Kennedy's.
00:34:43.820I think we're going to try to have the filmmaker from Bobby Kennedy's film from PBS Hicks on tonight to discuss that.
00:34:50.24010 p.m. is kind of their primetime slot.
00:34:52.440So they've given you quite a compliment.
00:34:53.920They've given you the primetime slot on PBS for the 250th commemoration of the birthday of the United States Marine Corps.
00:35:02.000However, we've actually you're doing something else that we're the war room is one of the parties to this.
00:35:08.000I got Mo on and I want to make sure the people in the war room posse know this and know where they can go.
00:35:13.580And so Mo can work with you on the 30th.
00:35:16.480We're actually going to do a public screening.
00:35:18.220And folks, if you have the opportunity to see this on a big screen, because it's a totally different experience than watching it on your device or watching on your TV.
00:35:28.160It's over almost overwhelming, which is the point of the film of what these men went through.
00:35:34.920Talk to me about what's going to happen on the 30th.
00:37:21.400And and then you'll make personal contact with us because we want to make sure it's a crowd that will appreciate this.
00:37:27.040Like I said, this is to honor and it's really to honor the spirit of the Marine Corps.
00:37:32.240And I think the men in this film would say that, that this is not about them.
00:37:38.200In fact, the power of the film is that kind of unbroken chain of courage and valor and what they hold themselves up to.
00:37:46.580They realize they're holding themselves up to the finest traditions of the Corps.
00:37:50.700And you see some of these efforts they make, superhuman efforts from ordinary people.
00:37:56.320The superhuman efforts are because of their their respect and reverence that the United States Marine Corps imbues into the actual devil dogs themselves.
00:38:18.940But as people tell me, we're finally doing something about the men's department of the Navy, the United States Marine Corps, and we're going to put an army logistics officer in charge.
00:38:56.620I was able to see the last 600 meters back actually before I went to West Point.
00:39:02.540So, while it was still in the process of being made and totally finalized, and it was a very transformative movie to me.
00:39:14.760So, I highly encourage everyone if you're in the D.C. area to try and get tickets and get to that screening because it is an amazing movie.
00:39:23.900And it truly honors those men that fought back in Iraq with the United States Marine Corps.
00:39:31.340And no matter what branch of service you are, the Marines are amazing men and women now.
00:39:43.560Everybody in this film that you will see, and this is what inspired Mo and other people, and I was so proud of people like Mo and others that went to these academies during the war.
00:40:14.600You will see the most intense, large-scale battles that the Marine Corps really has had since, I think, Way City back during the Tet Offensive in Vietnam.
00:40:24.980Michael Pack, where do people go to get all your information about everything you're working on?
00:40:29.820Well, I should also say that we prefer to people go to Eventbrite, but if they actually can't find it, if they go to info at manifoldproductions.com, we'll be able to send them the Eventbrite link.
00:40:49.440They need to go to manifoldproductions.com.
00:40:52.000And our more recent films are at palladiumpictures.com.
00:40:55.480My Twitter is MichaelPack underscore, but I think there's more information on the website.
00:41:01.380There's the Palladium website, and they can find out about work or even recommend someone to be in our incubator.
00:41:07.960And, you know, so I think there's a lot there, including another film Steve and I worked on about Admiral Rickover and a bunch of other films, too.
00:41:16.560One of my favorites, one of the greatest men of the 20th century, and a film with Tim Blake Nelson, Tim Blake Nelson, Tim Blake Nelson from Oh Brother, Where Art Thou, the comedy.
00:41:34.200He absolutely plays a stunning Hyman Rickover.
00:41:37.900It's really, it's a magnificent film, Michael.
00:41:40.180Thank you so much, brother, for joining us.
00:41:41.880Look forward to seeing you on the 30th.
00:42:12.020By the way, Mo, you keep talking smack about the Army and your logistics.
00:42:16.180You know, you might get recalled back to active duty under President Trump and, you know, go over to CENCOM and help because the entire 200 people associated with the United States military and CENCOM organizing this are all logistics folks, right?