Republican Senator Thom Tillis, announcing that he will not be seeking reelection next year in the battleground state of North Carolina. I'll be resigning from office, with my last day being January 5th, 2026. That is why I want you, my fellow San Franciscans, to be the first to know. [00:00:19] I will not be seeking reelection to Congress. In my heart, I know it's time to pass the torch. So I'm announcing today that I will not be seeking reelection at the end of my term. Dozens of congressional lawmakers do not plan to run for reelection. Some of them are even resigning before their term is up. [00:00:38] And this could really have an impact on the makeup of both the House and the Senate, but mostly the House. Now, according to USA today, more than 50 other lawmakers are not planning to run for reelection for their current seats. 40 of them are [00:00:54] in the House of Representatives alone. And before we get to all the various reasons that they're citing for not wanting to run for reelection, Genk. What are your $0.02? Oh my God. Dozens of Congress people are retiring. Don't threaten me with a good time. For real. [00:01:12] The only one that, in a deep tone of irony here that I regret, like the one that I wish wasn't retiring, is Marjorie Taylor Greene. But the rest of them, as I saw that video, I was like, yes, yes. Terrific. Before we get to the people who are retiring or not running for reelection, [00:01:31] and there are various reasons why I have to say, Marjorie Taylor Greene had an interview with 60 minutes, which we're not covering because 60 minutes will copyright strike you in a second. And it's the most frustrating thing in the world. But to be fair, most of what she had talked about during the interview [00:01:47] we've covered in the context of her other interviews. So it's nothing that you haven't heard before. But what is interesting is Trump's response to it. So 60 minutes, of course, is part of CBS, which was purchased by David Ellison and Paramount. [00:02:03] Trump is mad at CBS, and now claims that CBS's news coverage is even worse than before. Which I just think it's. So I think it's hilarious. It's like, you know exactly what happened with the purchase of CBS. [00:02:22] Like, you know about it, right? You know about the David Ellison takeover. You know about the Barry Weiss, getting hired basically to drown out any criticism of Israel. But it doesn't matter. He just wants favorable coverage for himself day in and day out. [00:02:38] And anyone who says anything negative about him, he'll freak out. And that's exactly what happened following the interview with Marjorie Taylor Greene. Yeah, just two quick thoughts there. So it's funny because he's criticizing, Paramount, Skydance because they allowed, let's be honest, [00:02:55] probably the most pro America first pro MAGA, most right wing congressperson to come on there and state their opinions. I mean, if that's like, okay, so even that's not allowed. The only thing that's allowed is you must be 100% pro trump [00:03:12] and you must be 100% pro-Israel. Otherwise not good enough and you should all be banned, etc., right? Yeah, that is the take. That is the take. And by the way, I have to be honest, I was even a little bit surprised that 60 minutes was allowed to air that interview, [00:03:30] because there were definitely moments where Marjorie Taylor Greene accused Trump of turning his back on the America First agenda, and instead spending way too much time and our resources in, you know, doing Israel's bidding. And she even called out AIPAC. [00:03:45] I don't know if Barry Weiss's head exploded behind the scenes, but that did happen. And they did air it. All right. Yeah. And then I want to tell you a secret reason why they're leaving, too. But let's give you all the stated reasons first. Okay, so as I mentioned earlier, as many as 50 congressional lawmakers are [00:04:02] leaving Congress after the midterms. 40 of these seats are from the House alone, which does bolster claims that Democrats are poised to take over the House after the midterms. Now we're going to get into what this all means in just a second. But look, throughout the year, we have kind of touched on various [00:04:20] individuals in Congress who had announced they're not running for reelection. Once their term is over, they're not coming back and looking at the big picture. Members of the House are leaving at a record rate, especially when it comes to members of the Republican Party. [00:04:36] So again, that further bolsters predictions that Democrats are going to take over the House. So let's take a look at this graph. This is from Axios. And it shows that Republican retirements and resignations are outpacing Dems at a 2 to 1 ratio. [00:04:51] And typically the party with more departures, you know, tends to not win the majority. So more Republicans leaving doesn't mean that they're necessarily going to be replaced with other Republican candidates, especially as the pendulum is [00:05:08] swinging against Trump and his policies. A year into his second term. So why are the members leaving? Well, some say, look, what's the point? The political gridlock makes it impossible to get anything done. I want to be naive and believe that's the main reason. [00:05:26] But that would mean I'd have to believe that they actually wanted to get things done. Redistricting efforts, leading to tougher reelection races. I definitely believe that's impacted the decisions for a lot of these lawmakers. But mainly lawmakers don't see a point in even trying anymore, [00:05:43] especially when you're dealing with an administration that undermines their role in Congress and basically undermines who they're supposed to be representing, which is the people of their districts or the people of their states. Simply put, says Representative Jared Golden, who's a Democrat from Maine. [00:06:00] What I could accomplish in this increasingly unproductive Congress pales in comparison to what I could do in that time as a husband, a father and a son. I don't know if I believe that argument, But what do you think, Jake? [00:06:15] Yeah, I don't believe it at all. So, I believe he's going to get nothing done in Congress. But that's not the bug. That's the feature. The donors don't want them getting anything done. That's why they sit around like jackasses and have done nothing for, like, the last 50 years. Oh, we passed one Obamacare and 12 tax cuts for the rich [00:06:35] and started many wars and helped Israel. I got it, I got it. So, look, the ostensible reasons are real. So, yeah, the Republicans are very likely to lose the midterm elections and lose power. And and whenever a party is about to lose more of their members. [00:06:51] Absolutely right. The redistricting makes a lot of those tough, those fights harder. And they just like, being able to take bribes and then cruise through reelection. And so that's going to be a little bit harder for some of them. So those are real issues, right? But the there's two kind of secret issues here. [00:07:09] One of them won't surprise you. One is that, there I have a sense this is more my theory that they some of them are beginning to realize, even if they don't verbalize it this way, that they're all about to get caught, [00:07:25] that we're in a different time. So and I'm it's not too grand a theory. Let me just explain it this way. So in the old days that we had the Uniparty, corporate Democrats, corporate Republicans, and and corporate media was the third leg of that stool, [00:07:41] and it was the most important part. So they would pass these tax cuts for corporations and deregulation and everything that hurts America and corporate media would cheer enthusiastically. Oh, bipartisanship, you guys are amazing and everybody would kiss their ass, etc. [00:07:57] Now their own voters, both on the left and on the right are catching them going. Wait a minute, wait a minute. You actually didn't help us at all. Wait a minute. I see your donors from AIPAC, I see your donors from the drug companies, etc. I'm beginning to think you're the bad guy. [00:08:14] And for those that are savvy enough, they're like, oh, pack your bags. We gotta run. They're onto us, right? So. But that leads into the. The last reason. That is probably the biggest and one that won't surprise you. But, of course, if you said this in genteel circles in DC, they're like, [00:08:33] oh, I do declare, how dare you. They were going to spend time with their children. No, the reality is they're going to become lobbyists or lawyers or consultants. And they're going to cash in on their time in Congress. And they're beginning to think, with the Republicans losing power, [00:08:52] with everybody in politics getting caught. Wait a minute. I got to go make my money now before it's too late. I the whole point was to rob the American people. Yeah. I got money, status and fame through the campaign contributions. But now it's time to take those bribes and make them personal. [00:09:10] So I'll go work for the companies that I assisted in robbing the American people, and they'll give me millions of dollars. That's what almost all of them are going to do right now. The other thing that I'll just note is you're not really allowed to be your own person and have, you know, [00:09:26] operate based on your own principles, morals, values, if you're a Republican, because Trump will attack you if you go against his agenda. And in fact, on top of low morale in Congress, it's coupled with threats [00:09:42] that lawmakers are getting pretty much on a daily basis. Some of them claim. So the US Capitol Police said that it is on track to work through 14,000 threat assessment cases involving members of Congress by the end of this calendar year. And that's a lot, obviously. [00:09:57] And if you want to do a comparative analysis, it's up from just 9000 last year. And we know that Trump will make you a target if you go against his agenda and you happen to be a member of the Republican Party, and he's just as vicious to Democrats. But the problem becomes even worse. [00:10:12] If you are a Republican who, you know, shares voters with Trump. So I look, Congress has been pretty useless. I useless. I agree with a lot of your criticism, Jake. I wish we had a co-equal branch of government [00:10:27] that was effective in serving its role. Right now, Congress isn't. And now you have a growing list of bipartisan lawmakers who are trying to investigate and push back on Trump's, you know, allegation that he's fighting narco terrorists in the Caribbean. [00:10:44] These members of Congress are like, there's no authorization from Congress, but this body that we're talking about, okay, both the lower chamber and the upper chamber have ceded their power to the executive branch, especially as it pertains to war powers. And all of a sudden, they're realizing what the impact of that is. [00:11:01] Now, of course, we're talking about other lawmakers who were in Congress at the time, after nine over 11, when they ceded the bulk of their power to the executive branch. But I didn't see very many people try to claw back. And so now we have an incredibly powerful executive branch that's using any [00:11:17] and all excuses to carry out what very likely are war crimes in the Caribbean. Yeah. Last two things here on that, both related to Marjorie Taylor Greene. And you're right. And what Marjorie Taylor Greene is saying is, she said, look, I got tons of death threats before, and they were mainly from the left threats and and worse. [00:11:36] Right. But, she's like, I was not prepared for what happens from Trump's followers, that it's a whole different level. So to which I would say, welcome to the party. You're a little late. Yes. [00:11:52] When, right wing, not voters overall, not 77 million people, but right wing zealots come for you. They say the most outrageous things. And remember, she also crossed Israel. And what a lot of in the media definitely doesn't report. [00:12:07] And you would have no reason to know unless you were on the receiving end of it. She's also criticized Israel and the pro-Israel radicals are some of the most, you know, extreme people in the country. Their threats are outrageous and totally on a different level. [00:12:24] And so she's getting it from, both the pro-Trump radicals and the pro-Israel radicals. And she gave some specific examples. And she's like, what am I doing here? Like, we have almost no power. Nobody ever listens to us. Nobody ever serves the voters. [00:12:40] And all we get is these massive threats against our lives, against everything we do. So yeah, I of course, I have some sympathy for that. And finally, the reason I said the only reason, the only one that I'm sad to see go is Marjorie Taylor Greene, even though I'm totally on the left and she voted with Trump, [00:12:57] what, like 98% of the time? So I don't agree with her. Probably about 98%, maybe 88% of the time. I don't know, but but at least she was honest. That to me is way more important than some corporate stooge pretending to be on your side and shoving you in the back the minute you turn around [00:13:16] because his donor told him to. So we lost one of the few honest people in Congress. The rest of them were generally useless. Every time you ring the bell below, an angel gets its wings. Totally not true, but it does keep you updated on our live shows.