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TRANSCRIPT

Jane Coaston: It’s Friday, September 19th, I’m Jane Coaston, and this is What a Day, the show that says good luck to Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who announced Thursday that he will be retiring at the end of this year. Problematically, Clayton Kershaw is younger than I am. [music break] On today’s show, President Donald Trump discusses plans to designate Antifa as a major terrorist organization. And the Senate confirms 48 of Trump’s nominees all at once. But let’s start with the Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, a government entity which I never really thought I’d need to discuss at length on the show or ever unless we’re referencing the rapper Eminem. But that was then. This is now. After FCC chairman Brendan Carr told right wing podcaster Benny Johnson on Wednesday that Jimmy Kimmel, host of the late-night ABC talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live, should face consequences from Disney for his comments regarding conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s murder. After Carr made his comments, Nextstar, the largest owner of television stations in the country, which just so happens to have a merger pending that would require FCC approval, preempted Kimmel’s show. Sinclair, the second-largest owner of television stations, followed. Cut to Disney announcing Wednesday night that Kimmel’s show had been pulled indefinitely. This is a practice known as jawboning, when the government uses informal pressure to sway the decisions of private entities. Nextstar says the FCC chair’s comments had nothing to do with its decision. I say, sure. And leave it to Trump to say the somewhat quiet part really, really loudly. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] When you have a network, and you have evening shows, and all they do is hit Trump. That’s all they do. If you go back, I guess they haven’t had a conservative on in years or something, somebody said. But when you go back and take a look, all they do is hit Trump, they’re licensed. They’re not allowed to do that. 

Jane Coaston: They can. They absolutely are allowed to. Now Democrats on the Hill are speaking out. They’ve introduced the No Political Enemies, or NOPE Act, in both the House and Senate, a bill that would protect people targeted for political speech. Plus, on Thursday, top Democrats called for Carr to resign. All of this is going on while Congress is also trying to figure out what to do about that potential government shutdown looming. So to find out more about how Democrats are thinking about the new threat to speech and the government possibly going dark. I spoke to Michigan Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin. Senator Elissa Slotkin, welcome to What a Day. 

Elissa Slotkin: Thanks for having me. 

Jane Coaston: ABC’s suspension of Jimmy Kimmel is making massive waves from Hollywood to Capitol Hill, and it’s prompted your Democratic colleagues in the Senate and the House to action, including the introduction of the NOPE Act that I mentioned earlier in the show. For a while now, the Trump administration has been going after media companies for things the president doesn’t like, but this whole thing with Kimmel seems to be a tipping point. What do you think? 

Elissa Slotkin: Well, I certainly think, I mean, if you want to understand the through line from Project 2025, right, Brendan Carr literally was one of the authors of that. He told us what he was going to do, and now he’s doing it. Um. I think the the the reason why it is resonating is because it’s not just a one-off. You know, it wasn’t good when it was Colbert, but it’s now a second late night host um who has been critical of the president, and the president has been clear that now he wants to go after, you know, the rest of them. So I think it’s sort of a proof point for a lot of people that um this wasn’t just a one-and-done situation. That the president has a goal of curbing speech when it’s someone who doesn’t agree with him and who calls him out and who makes fun of him. Um. And particularly coming on the heels of the terrible week of political violence that we had, right? Where um there’s a lot of people talking about the importance of free speech um and being safe when you say things, even when people don’t agree with you. I think it just was um a lot to be pushed together in a 10-day period, um to be sort of lionizing um the importance of freedom of speech when people agree with you, but then going after literally the jobs of people who disagree with you, it’s just the juxtaposition, I think no one is missing it. 

Jane Coaston: At the same time, both Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have called on FCC chair Carr to resign after he jawboned. He, you know, basically said like, hey, nice late night show you’ve got. Wouldn’t it be crazy if the FCC got involved? Do you agree that Carr should resign? 

Elissa Slotkin: I mean, I think this is so well and beyond what an independent FCC is supposed to be doing. I think that, to me, I have no problem calling for his resignation. I think, this is this is supposed to an independent body made up of people from both sides of the aisle so that we don’t have censorship and we don’t have pressure on organizations to take people off the air because we don’t like what they say. And so, to me um at a minimum, he should come in front of Congress and explain himself but at maximum um to me this is beyond the pale and he’s open about the fact that he’s going to continue. 

Jane Coaston: It seems like there’s little chance the NOPE bill makes it to the floor in either chamber and it’s unclear whether Jeffries or Schumer will get any traction on removing Carr. Do Democrats have any real recourse here? 

Elissa Slotkin: You know, I think we were talking about this with my team, one of the things that kind of boils the blood, right, is that um there’s 10 things happening a day. And because Republicans have the White House, the House, and the Senate, there are just not great tools beyond the courts, which take a long time. And I certainly um hope and expect that there’d be some sort of legal action filed on this particular case. I think when you’re faced with limited options, you can do a couple of things. Number one. Go outside those institutions and organize the grassroots, right, and people who feel that their democracy is at risk, um try to mobilize people in a really concrete way, a way that frankly we haven’t done that well. Um. That’s number one, and public pressure against a populist is important. Um. But number two is also think of the long game. Just as the other side of the aisle thinks of the long game, I think it’s extremely important that they had their project 2025, what is our project 2029? What would we do differently? And in particular, where would we plug the holes that are now being exposed um uh under this administration? What kind of legislation would we propose to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again? How do we get ahead of it a little bit and start thinking the way frankly they did? Um. About what we would do um if and when we take back the House, if and we take back the Senate, and certainly through 2028. So it’s not satisfying. It’s like eating fat-free ice cream. It’s just like, there’s not enough there to satisfy. Um. But um in a world of diminished tools, I think um strategic planning and popular mobilization are really important. Now, some people are gonna be very motivated by democracy issues, right? Like the freedom of speech. A lot of people that I represent, they’re thinking about their pocketbooks and their kids in the next six months, and that’s it. So figuring out what it is that gets people truly to push back, um I think is an important conversation and Democrats have different views on that. And then we gotta settle that. We gotta have that conversation, that argument in some cases, so we know what plan to take. 

Jane Coaston: I’m one of the three people who actually kind of likes fat-free ice cream, but I will take that. 

Elissa Slotkin: Oh sorry. I’m so sorry. 

Jane Coaston: That’s actually a me problem. 

Elissa Slotkin: Yeah. 

Jane Coaston: That I should address with, perhaps, a professional. 

Elissa Slotkin: Yeah, you should and especially you’re from Ohio. 

Jane Coaston: I know. 

Elissa Slotkin: So you know what real ice cream I mean, it’s still Ohio. 

Jane Coaston: I have a–

Elissa Slotkin: But you know what real ice cream is and so–

Jane Coaston: I know. I know.

Elissa Slotkin: I can’t account for that. 

Jane Coaston: I know, I know. You really can’t account for taste, but to your point about your constituents, there’s a potential government shutdown looming and you are one of several Democrats holding firm on your demand to restore health care subsidies and nearly one trillion dollars in Medicaid spending that were cut by Trump’s big beautiful bill. You sounded the alarm about this in a speech on the Senate floor this week. Why is this important? 

Elissa Slotkin: Well look, I mean, I think bottom line where we are, we’ve been in the Trump administration for eight months, um he has systematically made America poorer and sicker, period. And the healthcare decisions he made in July in the big, beautiful bill, um yes, they cut Medicaid, yes they cut subsidies to Obamacare, um but in response to that, every single American, including I’m sure you and I on private employer-provided health insurance is either getting or is about to get a letter that says your health insurance, your private employer insurance is going to go up by 10 to 20% as of January one. On the house floor uh senate floor yesterday, I held up one of those letters. I mean these are very real, and everyone should understand that whether you’re on Medicaid or you have an Obamacare marketplace plan. That’s one thing. That’s a real problem, right? At risk of losing your insurance. But everybody else who thinks that’s not about me is gonna be the bill payer for the loss of that healthcare for others. 

Jane Coaston: This clearly isn’t March of earlier this year. Democrats seem more afraid of backing down on this issue than of a shutdown itself. Where do you stand on that? 

Elissa Slotkin: Look I don’t think there’s a single person who wants a shutdown. I was a federal government employee for 16 years. Shutdowns are not good. 

Jane Coaston: Nope. 

Elissa Slotkin: Um. But I think there comes a point where like you have to have a little self-respect and say, if you want my vote, right? Because they need seven Democratic votes. If you want my vote, you have to come and talk to me like an adult, right. Like every other person I know, every Michigander I know at work doesn’t get everything they want. They have to sit in a room and hammer out compromises. And I know that I’m not going to get everything, right? I want to restore a ton of the health care. I want a lower the price of health care for all of our constituents. But Republicans have the White House, the House, and the Senate. So I’m a realist. I’m not going to get everything back. But you cannot count on my vote if you’re not going to have a real conversation about health care in America, and especially the way you’ve already started to devastate it. I’m willing to have that conversation. And I’m a more pragmatic member on the democratic side. So come and talk to me. But let’s, you should know that I’m going to start by saying, what can we do to lower the price of healthcare for people? Like, you got to be hearing that same thing from your own constituents. 

Jane Coaston: And there had been some talk of compromise on getting the government funded through September 30th. But do you think there’s any hope of reaching some sort of deal to keep the government running? Because it seems like right now, Democrats are standing firm because they know the one big, beautiful bill isn’t popular. And they know what you were just saying about what they’re hearing from their constituents. And Republicans are standing firm because they hate compromising. So where are we on this? 

Elissa Slotkin: Well I think we’re a couple weeks out. Um. And I know the um House is already moving and voting soon on their version of the bill. And as we know, deadlines are one of the only things that actually moves members of Congress to action. So I think, you know, a lot is going to happen in the next two weeks, 10 days. Um. And that pressurizing of the situation, I think is is important to get people into a room, shut the door. Get rid of your phone, get rid of Twitter, and actually have a real conversation. That has not happened yet, and but I’m I’m hopeful um that it happens in the next 10 days. 

Jane Coaston: Senator Elissa Slotkin, thank you so much for joining me. 

Elissa Slotkin: Of course, thanks for having me. 

Jane Coaston: That was my conversation with Michigan Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin. 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 Senate Majority Leader John Thune] Republicans have fixed the broken process and restored the Senate precedent that applied to previous precedent, presidents and that is allowing and that is I should say the precedent is allowing a majority of a president’s nominees to be confirmed expeditiously. 

Jane Coaston: Senate Majority Leader John Thune spoke ahead of a vote Thursday that confirmed 48 of Trump’s nominees all at once. The Senate voted to begin clearing a backlog of executive branch positions that had been delayed by Democrats. Frustrated by the stalling tactics, Senate Republicans moved last week to expedite confirmations of lower-level, non-judicial nominations. That’s under new rules that allow Senate Republicans to move multiple nominees with a simple majority vote, a process that would have previously been blocked with just one objection. The rules don’t apply to judicial nominations or cabinet posts. Thune said those confirmed had all received bipartisan votes in committee, including deputy secretaries for the Departments of Defense, Interior, Energy, and others. Among the confirmed, former Fox News host and ex-fiance of Donald Trump Jr., Kimberly Guilfoyle, as U.S. Ambassador to Greece. Because apparently, if a Trump calls off your engagement, you get to be the ambassador to a country with very nice islands. After what can only be described as a very confusing meeting, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vaccine Advisory Panel voted on Thursday to advise giving children under the age of four two separate shots, one for chickenpox and a second combo shot for measles, mumps, and rubella instead of one shot that protects against all of the above. This meeting for the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, full of new members hand-picked by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. had been highly anticipated in some circles following testimony this week by former CDC director Susan Monarez. She said she was pressured by Secretary Kennedy to rubber stamp vaccine approvals. Toward the end of the meeting, the group did vote to keep the four-in-one combo shot covered for kids as young as 12 months under the Vaccines for Children program, which pays for about half the shots given to kids in the U.S. Several committee members expressed confusion during that follow-up vote. 

[clip of Dr. Meissner] If it’s not covered by, uh uh VFC, then they will continue to use the current recommendation. 

[clip of unnamed person on vaccine panel] So, Dr. Meissner, if I would like you to vote and if it’s confusing at this point, I think we have to continue the voting, so you’re welcome to abstain if you want, or you can vote yes or no. 

[clip of Dr. Meissner] Thank you. Sorry to prolong it. I’m going to abstain because I’m not quite sure what I’m voting for here. 

Jane Coaston: Same! The committee was supposed to vote on its recommendation for the hepatitis B shot for infants but decided to delay it. The panel is set to meet again today to discuss its recommendations for COVID-19 vaccines. I am scared. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] So I have a disagreement with the Prime Minister on that score. One of our few disagreements, actually. 

Jane Coaston: That’s President Trump speaking to reporters in the United Kingdom, at a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer Thursday. He’s referring to the two leaders’ differing views on the war in Gaza. Both leaders said they support a ceasefire in the region, and both agree that Israel needs to get the hostages back. But Starmer has said that the UK will formally recognize a Palestinian state this month, potentially within days. 

[clip of Keir Starmer] So it’s part of that overall package, which um hopefully takes us from the appalling situation we’re in now to the outcome of a safe and secure Israel, which we do not have, and a viable Palestinian state. 

Jane Coaston: That might not be exactly what Trump has in mind for the future, hence the few disagreements he mentioned. The two leaders were also at odds over the best way to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine. Starmer said he wanted to increase the economic pressure on Moscow. Trump told reporters that Putin, quote, “really let me down,” but did not answer any questions about what he plans to do next. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] That’s a sick group. They love burning the American flag. I think it’s terrible that they burn the American flag. 

Jane Coaston: That’s Trump on Fox News Thursday talking about plans he announced earlier this week to designate Antifa as a major terrorist organization. However, the White House still has not offered more details on what that label might actually mean. The designation is puzzling, first because Trump did the same thing in 2020, but according to The New York Times, nothing really came of it. And second, because as Wired reporter David Gilbert told us earlier this week, Antifa is not a centralized organization. 

[clip of David Gilbert] There is no CEO of Antifa. It’s kind of something that has been around for years that the people on the right have have kind of grown or seen this idea of Antifa grow as their kind of enemy. 

Jane Coaston: Trump also said he’ll recommend investigating, quote, “those funding Antifa.” But again, this is not a group you can just donate money to. Like there’s no gofund me for Antifa? Another reason this raises so many questions is that the United States actually has no legal mechanism for labeling domestic organizations as terrorist groups because domestic groups are protected under the First Amendment. But Gilbert explained that Trump’s use of the word Antifa could be more of a call to action to the right that he is using to justify a crackdown on the political left more generally. 

[clip of David Gilbert] Instantly, if you go on social media, you’ll see people on the extreme right who are celebrating because they basically think that’s giving them a free pass to do whatever they want. And so if you do have protests in the coming days and weeks, which you know you could have, and there are counter protests, they will be labeled as Antifa and they will seen as a perfectly valid target because Trump has effectively, in their eyes at least, given them the green light to to attack them. 

Jane Coaston: Fantastic. And that’s the news. [music break] One more thing. To put it very mildly, it’s a weird time to work at a progressive media company. The Trump administration has made it crystal clear. Liberals aren’t just political opponents, they’re basically terrorists. And I mean that literally. Here’s White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller speaking about Democrats in his very normal, easygoing manner back in August. 

[clip of Stephen Miller] It is an entity devoted exclusively to the defense of hardened criminals, gang bangers, and illegal alien killers and terrorists. The Democrat Party is not a political party. It is a domestic extremist organization. 

Jane Coaston: So it would make sense if folks like me and others writing and talking from a liberal perspective are feeling anxious. So I chatted with Jon Favreau, co-founder of Crooked Media and co-host of Pod Save America, about how he’s feeling about all of this and how he thinks the liberal media needs to react. Jon Favreau, welcome to What a Day. 

Jon Favreau: Thanks for having me. 

Jane Coaston: As someone who um obviously co-founded a media company, specifically this media company. How are you feeling right now with what’s happening with the Trump administration, the FCC, Disney, ABC, and Jimmy Kimmel. Are you concerned about the potential this could lead to a bigger, more troubling, I mean, even more troubling assault on free speech? 

Jon Favreau: Yes. Uh, it’s clear there, I mean, there was already a government crackdown happening before Charlie Kirk’s assassination. I think the assassination accelerated it, um and that’s what we’re dealing with right now. I think, the pretext is barely pretext, since there’s also no subtext. 

Jane Coaston: Right. 

Jon Favreau: To anything they do. 

Jane Coaston: It’s just text. 

Jon Favreau: Its just text. Its like very flimsy. Um. So they’re going to throw everything at the wall that they can, um and maybe some companies will stand up to them, but that’s not really the goal. The goal is intimidate everyone, scare everyone, and we will target people that we can, and just by targeting different companies and individuals, it will chill the speech of everyone else. 

Jane Coaston: Trump has also spoken about investigating organizations that he defines as antifa or the radical left, and he’s threatened liberal foundations and nonprofits. What is the role of liberal media right now? What do we need to be doing that isn’t being scared or anxious or running away and hiding and taking down all of our posts? 

Jon Favreau: Exactly what we would be doing if he was not in office, is what I genuinely think. Um. I think they they want us to be afraid. Authoritarian regimes sort of thrive on fear. And we’ve said this here at Crooked, for all of our shows, it is important to be factual. We should always want to be factual, not just because Trump’s annoyed us. 

Jane Coaston: Yeah. 

Jon Favreau: But it is important be factual, and if we are making sure we do all our research wisely and get all the facts straight, then if they come after us, they come after us, but um it’s not going to stop us from doing our jobs. And I think that it’s very important for us to do that right now, because another another fear that I have is so many people in this country, um understandably, after 10 years of this, are exhausted and cynical. Uh. The cynicism is now turning into nihilism I worry, uh and then people are afraid. And so it is an understandable reaction to watch this unfold and say I’m out. I don’t want to pay attention to this anymore and I want to go live my life and I get that but um I would say to all those people who don’t wanna check into the news all the time like we need you now because I do think there are strength in numbers and I do think there’s power in solidarity and I think our job right now is to make sure we are giving people good information about what’s going on in the government. We’re giving people to the extent that we can, um ideas and tools to actually act uh in a nonviolent way. And um I think that for people listening, part of this is awareness, right? Like I think the stories we tell, the stories you’re reading, like talk to your friends about them, talk to your family who you know um would be alarmed by this, but is maybe not paying as close attention. And so I think sort of like building awareness, which by the way, I do think this, the Jimmy Kimmel move is going to build quite a lot of awareness among people in the country who otherwise might not have been paying attention. Um, but I think by, by building awareness it is a good first step. 

Jane Coaston: Jon Favreau, as always, thank you for joining me. 

Jon Favreau: Thanks Jane. 

Jane Coaston: That was my conversation with Jon Favreau, co-founder of Crooked Media and co-host of Pod Save America. [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, take a break from all of this, and vote for the chubbiest baby bear, and tell your friends to listen. And if you’re into reading, not just about how the National Park Service’s annual Fat Bear Week starts on Monday, but you can vote for the chubbiest bear cubs through today at FatBearWeek.org, like me. What a Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at Crooked.com/subscribe. I’m Jane Coaston. And because of a big salmon population this year, naturalist Mike Fitz, who started the competition back in 2014, said, quote, “we are kind of expecting really to have some of the fattest bears we’ve ever seen in the event.” I can’t wait. [music break] What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It’s recorded and mixed by Desmond Taylor. Our associate producer is Emily Fohr. Our video editor is Joseph Dutra. Our video producer is Johanna Case. We had production help today from Greg Walters, Matt Berg, Megan Larsen, Gina Pollack, and Jonah Eatman. Our senior producer is Erica Morrison, and our senior vice president of news and politics is Adriene Hill. We had help today, from 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. 

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