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TRANSCRIPT

Jane Coaston: It’s Friday, December 19th, I’m Jane Coaston, and this is What a Day, the show that is going to spend the holiday season getting some remedial MAGA math tutoring, after listening to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick speak to host John Roberts on Fox News Thursday. 

[clip of John Roberts] Well, if you cut something by 100%, the cost goes down to zero. If you cut it by four or five, or 600%, the drug companies are actually paying you to take their product. So it raises the question, how much of last night’s speech was hyperbole and how much was fact? 

[clip of Howard Lutnick] Now, what he’s saying is bringing it, if a drug was $100 and you bring the drug down to $13, right? If you’re looking at it from $13 it’s it’s down–

[clip of John Roberts] Not a not a–

[clip of Howard Lutnick] –seven times. 

[clip of John Roberts] It’s not a six–

[clip of Howard Lutnick] It’s down.

[clip of John Roberts] –hundred percent. 

[clip of Howard Lutnick] Well, but it’s 700% higher price before, it’s down 700% now, right? So $13 would have to go up 700% to get back to the old one. So it all depends on when you look at it. 

Jane Coaston: No, I don’t think it does. [music break] On today’s show, is inflation up? Is it down? Is it sideways? It’s hard to know after the Labor Department releases a report based on incomplete data. And today is the day the long-awaited Epstein files are slated to drop. But let’s start with marijuana. On Thursday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order in the Oval Office directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to reclassify marijuana. And he sounded kind of bored by the whole thing. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] Today I’m pleased to announce that I will be signing an executive order to reschedule marijuana from a schedule one to a schedule three control substance with legitimate medical uses. We have people begging for me to do this, people that are in great pain. 

Jane Coaston: What Trump has done is continue an effort begun by former President Joe Biden to change how the federal government views marijuana. Previously, under the U.S. Controlled Substances Act, marijuana had the same classification as LSD and peyote, drugs that the federal government argues have no accepted medical use and have a high potential for abuse. And because of its classification, scientists who wanted to investigate therapeutic uses for marijuana had to jump through significant hoops and couldn’t get federal research dollars. Once marijuana is reclassified, that will change. However:

[clip of President Donald Trump] I want to emphasize that the order I am about to sign is not the legalization or it doesn’t legalize marijuana in any way, shape, or form, and in no way sanctions its use as a recreational drug. 

Jane Coaston: Yes, if you’re a recreational marijuana user, Trump did not, in fact, just legalize weed. Marijuana is still illegal under federal law, but rescheduling could change the financial hurdles around marijuana, so businesses that sell it could deduct standard expenses on their federal tax returns, for example. So to learn more about what Thursday’s executive order actually means, I spoke with Jeremy Berke, editor-in-chief of Cultivated Media, an outlet covering the business, policy, and culture of cannabis. Jeremy, welcome to What a Day. 

Jeremy Berke: Thank you, I’m a fan of the show, so I’m really excited to be here. 

Jane Coaston: Awesome. So what are the main issues Trump is addressing in this executive order? 

Jeremy Berke: So Trump is addressing through his executive order uh cannabis reform. And I want to be very clear that this is not full federal legalization, but reclassification. And reclassifications means moving cannabis from schedule one, the most restrictive classification on the Controlled Substances Act, to schedule three, which are drugs that pharmacists are able to prescribe to people. This is a long time coming. This was a campaign promise of Trump’s, but the Biden administration back in 2022 initially directed federal agencies to do this. So we have a Democratic president and a Republican president pushing the same thing, so that’s a big signal that change is coming for cannabis. 

Jane Coaston: Now, I think many people might already know this, but currently cannabis is a schedule one drug, which argues that it has no medical benefit from the perspective of everyday people, if cannabis became a schedule three drug, what changes? 

Jeremy Berke: So what this really does is harmonize federal law with where science and research shows that cannabis does have medical uses and can be effective. And so while it does seem like a very incremental nuanced reform, it does bring it into line with what scientists are saying. There’s plenty of research out there that shows specific compounds in cannabis have therapeutic effects, whether that’s for sleep, uh you know whether that’s for relaxation, anxiety, or pain relief, et cetera, there are a multitude of uses. And schedule three will basically be the federal government saying, hey, look, we recognize this. Right? It’s okay. And now we can study it further. For the everyday person, right, again, I want to clarify that this is not federal legalization. So it is not like when Trump signs this order, cannabis is going to be everywhere in all 50 states. However, for those who consume cannabis, those who buy cannabis in legal states, it will open up the broader financial system to cannabis companies and so consumers may very well be able to use their credit cards for cannabis purchases, uh you know medical cannabis, consumers or patients will be able to be more easily prescribed cannabis without jumping through multiple hoops and so there are certain effects that the everyday person will see, but the broadest effect from this move is really on the industry, the cannabis cultivators and sellers, brands and dispensaries that sell this to people. For them, it is a transformative policy change. 

Jane Coaston: Oregon Democratic Senator Ron Wyden tweeted this month that Trump is trying to quote, “gaslight everyone into believing he just made pot legal.” Are there measures Trump isn’t taking that advocates of legalization and decriminalization, which are two different things, but work with me here, are pushing for? 

Jeremy Berke: Yeah. There absolutely are, and a lot of the advocates I speak to and those in that world are actually against this move for very specific reasons. They say that this is too incremental and that it gives cover for both the Republican Party and the broader federal government to say, look, enough is enough. We moved it to schedule three. We’re not gonna go for full legalization. And so that is one particular issue that a lot advocates are wary of. And my view is the right to be wary of that. It’s very much possible that Trump signs this executive order and then thus washes his hands of the issue. Um. The second piece is that rescheduling does very little to nothing, I would say, for social equity concerns, social justice concerns, for getting people out of state and federal prison who have cannabis convictions. There is nothing in the executive order that I’ve heard that will deal with things like record expungements. Um. There is Nothing in the Executive Order that um you know, will support creating a diverse and equitable cannabis industry itself, which is a goal that many Democrats had for a long time. And so, look, while I think on balance, this is a good move. I think Trump should do this. There’s a lot further that he could go and ultimately those in the cannabis world both in the industry and the advocacy world and consumers should continue advocating for full federal legalization. That ultimately is the right thing to do. Canada has done it and it’s created jobs, tax revenue, new opportunities for people and the sky really hasn’t fallen in a way that many prohibitionists say it would have. 

Jane Coaston: Over 60% of Americans say that recreational marijuana should be legal, and I think the number of people who have used recreational and medical marijuana is at an all-time high. How much, high, yes. 

Jeremy Berke: Yeah. 

Jane Coaston: How much do you think the popularity of legalizing cannabis factors into Trump’s decision here? 

Jeremy Berke: It absolutely factors into Trump’s decision in profound ways. I think, look, Trump, for all his warts and all the warts in the White House, they’re very well aware of his day-to-day approval rating, and it’s very much underwater in on in significant ways, on immigration, on the economy, on the very things he ran on. Cannabis reform is very popular. It’s a popular bipartisan issue. We have seen a notable drop in Republican support, but still, it is 64%, according to the latest polls, 64% of Americans that want to see cannabis legalized. You know, it’s hard to find 64% percent of Americans agree on anything else. And so look, I think Trump knows, his team knows that there’s a bad midterms coming for them. The elections in November showed that and this is a popular thing he can do. That being said, this isn’t gonna magically rescue his underwater approval ratings at the moment. 

Jane Coaston: You mentioned that there was a drop in polling from Republicans in how they view uh–

Jeremy Berke: Yeah. 

Jane Coaston: –recreational marijuana legalization. How much pushback do you think Trump would get from social conservatives over this executive order? Because I’m sure you’ve seen that there’s been a lot more like, oh, you know, marijuana is way stronger and people are developing psychosis and it’s–

Jeremy Berke: Yeah. 

Jane Coaston: It just, it smells bad. It’s all gone too far. 

Jeremy Berke: Yeah, I’m laughing because it’s the absolute bane of my existence. It feels like–

Jane Coaston: Oh yeah. 

Jeremy Berke: -every single day I could write media criticism. And uh, you know, a lot of the prohibitionist arguments, and I want to be you know a little bit careful here and choose my words carefully, but they’re statistically illiterate, right? And so, look, I, you know, the sky will absolutely not fall um with rescheduling. But I do think that the right wing media sphere and the right-wing ecosystem has been pushing this, and it’s it’s landing on a lot of ears. And so it really is undermining support in profound ways among Republicans. And and to answer that question specifically, um Mike Johnson, the reporting has shown in the Washington Post and other outlets, Mike Johnson and his wing of the party is vehemently against this. The Washington Post reported that there was an Oval Office meeting where Mike Johnson was arguing his case that this would be bad, right? And so I think the overall picture here is that the Republican Party is really split into two. It’s MAGA on one side and it’s you know, the socially conservative evangelical wing on the other side. And I think Trump looks at this issue and he wants to split the difference between the two wings and say, look, I’m not going as far as legalization. This will make the Mike Johnson wing happy, right? But I will do something that 64% of Americans support and that is pursue cannabis reform. I imagine that there will be a lot of consternation among congressional Republicans about this. I’m already hearing it from sources. And so uh it’ll be interesting to see whether they actually have to fight or uh they do fall in line with the president. 

Jane Coaston: Jeremy, thank you so much for joining me. 

Jeremy Berke: Thanks for having me. That was fun. 

Jane Coaston: That was my conversation with Jeremy Berke, editor-in-chief of Cultivated Media, an outlet covering the business, policy, and culture of cannabis. We’ll get to more of the news in a moment, but if you like the show, make sure to subscribe, leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, watch us on YouTube, and share with your friends. More to come after some ads. [music break]

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Jane Coaston: Here’s what else we’re following today. 

[sung] Headlines.

[clip of Hakeem Jeffries] So we’re working to deal with the health care crisis that’s in front of us because we still have unfinished business since Mike Johnson decided to adjourn the house of representatives today and cancel votes tomorrow because republican leaders want no part of actually keeping health care affordable for working-class Americans middle-class Americans and hardworking American taxpayers. 

Jane Coaston: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries criticized Speaker Mike Johnson for sending representatives home early on Thursday, despite the push to expedite yet another vote to extend the enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies expiring at the end of the year. If you’ve been following the shit show in Congress as both Democrats and Republicans struggle to make health care more affordable, you probably know that House Speaker Mike Johnson rushed to cover his ass last week with a last-minute proposal that would not extend the expiring subsidies. This is, of course, after months and months of doing absolutely nothing to solve the problem. The bill is called the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act, but like everything in politics, it’s not exactly that simple. And when a group of moderate Republicans weren’t happy with what the bill was offering, four of them broke ranks to support Democrats and force a vote to extend the enhanced ACA subsidies. Regardless, the bill passed in the House Wednesday night. The vote on extending the ACA’s subsidies will still happen next year, but not before millions of Americans get charged with higher health insurance premiums on January 1st. The Labor Department released data on Thursday showing that inflation was down slightly in November, but economists say these numbers don’t tell the whole story. In reality, the government shutdown made it so that inflation numbers from October couldn’t be compiled. And because the latest figures were only collected following the government reopening on November 12th, lower prices from Black Friday sales at the end of the month could have also skewed the data. No matter which way you look at it, prices were up last month compared to a year ago. But of course, you won’t hear President Trump admit any of that. In fact, on Wednesday night, you might have witnessed him yelling into the void during a televised address filled with misinformation about the state of the economy. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] Much of this success has been accomplished by tariffs, my favorite word, tariffs, which for many decades have been used successfully by other countries against us, but not anymore. 

Jane Coaston: Actually, economists say that Trump’s favorite word is partially responsible for current inflation. And in 2026, prices are expected to keep rising because of these tariffs. Although Fed chair and Trump punching bag Jerome Powell predicts that inflation from tariffs will start to fall after the first quarter of the new year. For the sake of all of our wallets, let’s hope he’s right. The war between Russia and Ukraine is nearing its fourth year. Despite Trump’s efforts to end the conflict, a peace deal remains elusive. Here’s the latest. U.S. and Russian officials are reportedly expected to hold talks in Miami this weekend. A Trump delegation sat down with Ukrainian and European counterparts in Berlin earlier this week, where the U. S. offered NATO-like protections if Ukraine accepts a deal quickly. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that the results of the Berlin meeting would be discussed in Miami. Trump insists Russia might settle for the security guarantees and Ukraine joining the EU. But on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin again made clear he isn’t backing off his goal of erasing Ukraine’s sovereignty. Meanwhile, European Union leaders met in Brussels Thursday to vote on whether to tap nearly $200 billion in frozen Russian assets to fund support for Ukraine over the next two years. Seizing the frozen Russian assets would almost certainly end up in court. And Trump is totally against it. Insisting the cache should be unlocked as part of his pro-Russia peace blueprint. Today is the deadline for the Department of Justice to release all of the unclassified documents and investigative materials related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. One month ago, President Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act into law, starting the 30-day countdown for the DOJ to make the files not just publicly available, but searchable and downloadable. And since then, we really haven’t heard much about how or when the government planned to do it. But while we’ve all been waiting for the DOJ to turn in its homework, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have been keeping up the pressure by releasing batches of photographs from Epstein’s estate. The most recent collection came out Thursday, including more photos of the powerful men Epstein crossed paths with, redacted passports of women primarily from Eastern Europe, and a photo of one woman’s foot with a handwritten line from Lolita that begins at her ankle. Of course it is. Of course, it’s Lolita. In the middle of all of this, Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend and collaborator has been trying to get out of her 20-year prison sentence for luring his victims into their abuse. She asked a federal judge to release her on Wednesday, claiming that constitutional violations during her trial led to a, quote, “complete miscarriage of justice.” I guess it depends on what your idea of justice is. And that’s the news. [music break] One more thing, it’s been a very long year for everyone. Trump was inaugurated in January, and corporate America immediately bent the knee, as did the nation’s largest law firms and a bunch of major universities. The Trump administration then launched a campaign of terror against immigrants and political opponents, putting pro-Palestinian campus protesters in detention facilities and letting immigration and customs enforcement run rampant nationwide. And it hasn’t really stopped. The Trump administration seems set to light everything we love about this country on fire and dance in the ashes, believing firmly that a roughly 1.5% win in the popular vote meant that everyone was down for full-on fascism. His loudest supporters were the cool kids who said, baste, and wanted to go work for Elon Musk and Doge and destroy USAID because someone on the internet told them it was evil. It has all fucking sucked. My mom died in April. Let me be clear. 2025 was not a great time for anyone at all. But there were, and still are, signs of hope. Elections in Miami and New York City, Virginia, and New Jersey, tell me that actually the polls are right. Most people are not into this. Because stunning news, most Americans aren’t excited about a president who spends more time on ballrooms and Truth Social posts than affordable healthcare. And I have gotten so much hope from you, our listeners and viewers. You tune in every day and listen to our show. You comment on YouTube and you send emails and many of you said hello at Crooked Con. I’ve heard from you that I offer you some solace and a sense of normalcy at a time when everything feels insane. But I could say the same thing about you, the folks who are still in this, who still care, who are still in the fight, even if it’s exhausting and frustrating and you’re really, really, really tired of these people. Which people? Take your pick. So on behalf of everyone here at What a Day, thank you for watching, listening, commenting, posting and sharing. We will be back in 2026. Have a safe and happy holiday season. And remember, sure is a full sentence. [music break]

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Jane Coaston: That’s all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review. It’s still the Kennedy Center. And tell your friends to listen. And if you’re into reading, and not just about how, yes, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Thursday that the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts had been renamed the Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the performing arts. But that’s actually up to Congress to decide, so like no? Like me, What a Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at Crooked.com/subscribe. I’m Jane Coaston and the Gulf of Mexico, the Secretary of Defense and the Kennedy Center, still their names. What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It’s recorded and mixed by Desmond Taylor. Our associate producers are Emily Fohr and Chris Allport. Our video editor is Joseph Dutra. Our video producer is Johanna Case. We had production help today from Greg Walters, Matt Berg, Caitlin Plummer, Tyler Hill, and Ethan Overman. Our senior producer is Erica Morrison, and our senior vice president of news and politics is Adriene Hill. We had help today form the Associated Press. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka. Our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East. [music break]

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