No [__] given in the most kind way possible.
Yes, I love that. But lots of [__] given, too.
Hi everyone, this is Pivot from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network. I'm Kara Swisher and we're back for yet another fine episode of Got Re August.
Oh, I love that so much. Today I'm joined by chief White House correspondent and anchor of The Source with Kaitlan Collins, the very same Kaitlan Collins. Good to see you. How does Scott feel about that intro?
What do you think? You saw him more recently than I did. I saw a photograph of the two of you.
I did run into him. It's so funny to see Scott out in the wild. It's like seeing a teacher when you're in the sixth grade outside of school and you're like, 'What are you doing here on vacation?'
Yeah. Did you see that? What was he doing there?
He was just hanging out. He was having dinner with someone, like a political, you know, foreign policy thinker. He was good. He seemed rested and ready to get back to podcasting. Yeah. He's suddenly texting me a lot. So I know that it's the end of August because he's like, 'Hey girl.' And I'm like, 'Oh, hi. Good to talk to you.' And he's also threading a lot. You know, he does threads and so he has an opinion about things. I'll tell you. We'll discuss this later, but he's very upset that he's not here for the Natalie Harp situation. He missed that. And now Dolly Parton, which Scott and I are huge fans of. So you dedicated your entire show to Dolly Parton on Tuesday night.
Talk a little bit about it. What's your favorite Dolly song to start with? I mean, I was actually thinking about this last night because I was listening to... I had a very long car ride last night. I was listening to Dolly Parton the whole time. You know, I really think... I mean, there's so many good ones. And Islands in the Stream is incredible, but I really think it's Hard Candy Christmas because it is like... I know it's kind of like a random one.
No, it's not. You're real if you know that one. Yeah.
Yeah. It's not always the first one I think people think of, right?
But it's what I think of when I think of Dolly Parton. And for us to dedicate a whole show to something that is not politically related is pretty rare for us, but it really speaks to how everyone felt about Dolly Parton. Certainly how I think about her.
Oh, but I think she was politically related in a way that was very different. I think she did a lot of political things without saying them out loud. Some call it quiet politics, like in terms of her actions, whether it was supporting the Moderna vaccine or whether it was doing all manner of feminist things without having to say so, or supporting trans people, or supporting Black Lives Matter. She was quite explicit about that. So she was political in a very different way than what we're used to, I would assume.
I still haven't figured out how she did that. I mean, how she built this massive career, stayed true to her roots, was always herself. I mean, that's what I think is the most infectious part about her is you watch her get all these questions, you know, 20, 30 years ago from a lot of men about her appearance and her look and how that affects her. I mean, Dan Rather's face when they're in this sit-down and she's saying that she never slept with anyone to get anywhere. She only slept with people that she wanted to sleep with, if she happened to have slept with them.
Right. It's this iconic moment and you could tell he doesn't even know what to really say back to her. People ask me who do you want to interview of all people and I said Dolly Parton but only about her entrepreneurship. I was like, I don't want to talk about the songs. I don't want to talk about anything but her entrepreneurship and that's what really got through her ability to shift and change and move along, whether she went from, you know, country to leaving that show, the Porter Wagoner show, to moving on to pop. She is the quintessential American entrepreneur. And I'd heard the reason I wanted to interview her was she was doing a lot of stuff with AI and song stems because she owns thousands of songs that haven't been released too, and so she wanted them released after she died.
And this is what I know exactly. And I wanted to talk to her about it. And just she is the absolutely quintessential American entrepreneur in a way that is so beautiful and also just a kind soul in a way that's very profound.
Everyone's talked about her Imagination Library and I'm a huge reader, still reading. Reading is amazing and reading as a kid was so instrumental for me. But what I loved when she talked about why she started it is because her dad couldn't read or write. But she didn't say, oh, he couldn't read, couldn't write. She said he never had the chance to learn and he didn't have that opportunity afforded to him. I loved how she phrased that because I do think, I mean, all over but especially in the South, so many of us have grandparents or great-grandparents that are like that and it wasn't that they couldn't or that they wouldn't have been able to. It was that they didn't have the opportunity and that is what she wanted to give to people.
Right. Absolutely. All the time. And one of the moments, and you probably covered this when she did the... she used the Jolene song, which is one amazing song in lots of ways, including technically how she put it together. But she did 'vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine.' That was also a moment when there's all this anti... it was incredible for her to... that is a big political statement to me, like, and a risky one for someone like her.
Yeah. Think of the lives she saved.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's what Melissa Etheridge was saying last night about her being outspoken about be who you are and don't worry about who someone else is. And the permission structure that she basically gave to people who were sitting in their room thinking, well, Dolly Parton's not judging me. I think in the South, especially during the pandemic and people, a lot of vaccine hesitancy, I saw it among people I love. And to come out and say that, you know, she could have said nothing and she chose not to. Not only did she put her money where her mouth is, she also spoke up like she always has, which is amazing.
Just for people to know, this Imagination Library is amazing. My kids use it. They're wonderful books. And Republican lawmakers in Missouri and Indiana cut or reduced funding for her child reading program. I hope they will reinstate it. I hope some billionaire will get with it and back that as they go forward. I'm sure she is giving away most of her money to things like that in her will. Although one of the other things that I loved was her dedication to her own family, like they were all working for her and that video from her nephew who was her security person and her dad was before it just... you just are like, what, you know, it's a real shift.
Now let me just say, Donald Trump ordered flags to fly at half-staff and said in a post, 'There's never been anyone like her and never will. Rest in peace, Dolly. The world loves you.' Surprisingly did not try to suck up the energy. Would you be surprised?
For Donald Trump and the Democratic Socialists of America to both put out a pretty similar statement about the passing of someone is a moment that probably will never happen again. I mean, for them to both agree on something, I think also speaks to the moment we're in. But it was a moment where, I mean, this morning he was saying in an interview that, you know, Dolly Parton always liked him and was, you know, so nice to him and a fan of his.
And then, but in terms of this overall, you know, and I'm curious about your thoughts on this because we've talked about billionaires so much between the two of us and these tech giants and what people do with their money. One thing I keep seeing in the aftermath of her death is how she spent her money and that she was obviously extremely successful, but how she used that success to reinvest, not in a [__] kind of way in terms of, you know, let me make myself look good. She genuinely wanted to invest in children and in her community and where she came from. She gave money to the people to finish high school. She gave money to do that when people were devastated by, I think, the floods. She gave money to people for that to recover or whatever had been happening there. She also, when she made all that money on 'I Will Always Love You' when Whitney Houston redid it, and she made a fortune on that song and didn't sell it to Elvis. Again, great entrepreneur. She could have sold it to Elvis and she didn't at that point.
Which, imagine how tough that decision is.
Oh, I totally feel for her. I know.
No, you can't have it because she knew what a great... that's a perfect song. But what was really interesting is she continued to do that.
I agree with you. She didn't do like, I guess the equivalent would be MacKenzie Scott, who is Jeff Bezos's ex-wife, who just gives money and goes away. Like just hands it out, moves along, and you never hear from her. She just hands it over to people, which I think is unusual. And you're right, most people do it in this incredibly selfish, performative way.
Now, interestingly, Jeff Bezos did give Dolly Parton $100 million for that money that he gave out to a number of people, including I think Van Jones and others. I think José Andrés got some. And I think she's given it all away. She's given it, you know, given, which is great. But honestly, Jeff Bezos should just give it away. Like to me, I was like, let's not do this performative 'let me famous people' thing. Just give it away and keep giving it away. That would be my taste in that. I don't know. Anyway.
I love your shirt, by the way. I don't think we even talked about it.
No, I know. What do you think? I got it at Dollywood.
Well, I didn't realize they didn't have this when I was a kid, but I was talking to someone last night about going there. They have a display of her wigs there now.
I love that the Coat of Many Colors is there.
You know what she did that I also think is important for women is she did not associate aesthetics with character. And she could separate those two in a way that a lot of people, to this day, still struggle with, which is why I think she got so many questions about it. And she would, every time she got a question, it seemed like about her appearance, she would turn it back to what she's like on the inside. And she wasn't bashful about, you know, what she had done. I loved that also. But she was saying, you know, well, maybe it's fake on the outside, but it's real on the inside.
That's right. Deep. That's one of her songs. That's one of the great songs she sang. And one of my other... it's fake eyel... what's it called? The oh, um...
Backwoods Barbie. That's a great song that talks about false eyelashes.
'Dreams and Faded Jeans' is a great song. And then I kept putting up songs that people don't know about and my favorite is... and they redid it with a bunch of amazing women artists recently with her, which is 'Light of a Clear Blue Morning.' But I would recommend listening just to her sing it for some reason.
Her death, which I kind of... I think everyone was sort of expecting a little bit this weekend. I had spent a lot of time watching her for some reason. I just... I love Dolly Parton. I can't believe... I know. I was like, 'Oh, I think she's going to die soon. I need to be with her. Like, I've got to spend time with her.' And because she was always up and out and she wasn't, right? So you had to imagine something was going on. And one of the things that I thought about was it gives people courage, her death. I know it sounds crazy, but the internet was saturated with her yesterday. All kinds of stories from regular people, the kind things she did and all manner of things. And I thought, I have just about [__] had it not getting along with people. She is right. Like, you know what I mean? I do. You imagine it'll have some political impact because I tell you, everyone I know woke up today and like, okay, that's enough. That's enough with the hate. That's enough with like this woman lived the most perfect, you know, if you want to talk a religious life, a Christian life in the way that was just right. Do you think it will have a political effect on people? Because I felt like that's enough of this hate.
I think that's a good point. I mean, because you couldn't open any of the apps without just seeing everything about Dolly, which never happens, where we all come together or something. I'm not sure if it'll have an impact, but I think it shows how much people are grasping for something that does unite people and that does give people hope and enthusiasm and an optimism and just something that everyone can love and no one has to complain or criticize or argue or, you know, avoid the subject with people they love because they don't want to get in an argument. It really showed that we are grasping for something like that that is hopeful and bright and nice. And, you know, I mean, we do so much politics on my show. For my team, who is amazing, last night to just go through all these archives of Larry King interviews and old clips of her. I think like the way we described it after the show was we were like, that was soul-cleansing. Like it was so nice to have this moment of no arguments, no nothing. It was just everyone talking about Dolly. And they don't go after her. I have to say one of the things she did a lot of very liberal stances on a lot of these issues that are now such hot-button issues. You don't see criticism of her. You never see it. Like they never touch her. It's really an interesting... and they will not now obviously because she's saint-like.
Although I love Jack White said instant sainthood for Dolly.
It's instant. Instant. Why not? Anyway, we love Dolly. What would Dolly do? This is what I'm going to do the rest... and I recommend the PBS documentary. Here I Am. It's just really wonderful and she really was an amazing and many songwriter. She was innovative and she was an entrepreneur. That is something you have to think about when you think about her, not just because she came from modest means.
Anyway, let's move on. Meta has agreed to pay... this has just happened, Kaitlan, nearly $17 billion to settle a major federal case brought by 29 states over allegations that Facebook and Instagram harm children's mental health. The deal also requires major changes to Meta's apps, including daily time limits, nighttime blocks for teens, and stronger age verification measures. The settlement comes in the second week of a high-stakes trial in California where states accuse Meta of misleading the public about risks to young users. Any thoughts on this? You and I talk about this a lot. I thought it was... I think you don't pay a lot... several people like, 'Oh, it's peanuts.' It's not peanuts, guys. This is a big deal. I know it's not enough and everyone had pretended it was $1.4 trillion. That was never going to be a settlement. Maybe $100 million, $200 million might have happened in a jury trial, but this is real money and hopefully real changes. So this is, of course, led by Rob Bonta, who's also doing the Paramount deal. I know you talked to him recently, or the case leading the cases for the attorney generals. But talk a little bit about this because this is a point where, first of all, states' attorney generals are the ones doing legislation here, finally getting these changes when the federal government, both Democrats and Republicans, have done nothing at the federal level.
So I think sometimes when you see those lawsuits you kind of wonder if it's going to go anywhere and I mean this settlement today speaks to that. And you know, my questions were, one, it seems like the changes obviously they're directed at children and that has been the focus of this. Is that it will affect all users potentially in terms of what they're changing? It should. Yeah. And you know what that... you know, the nighttime activity, you know how long you're on there during the day. And I think the second question that I had looking at this was, you know, obviously they chose to settle. Maybe they saw the writing on the wall and they didn't think it was going to go well for them. And is it the first of many? Are we going to see more of this just because this has happened here? Because I mean, there's so many other cases that are happening.
Mhm. Yeah. I think what it says is if you push back hard enough these... Let me just say I'm glad they settled. I'm glad they're doing these things. And someone from Facebook sent this to me: a two-hour daily time limit, turning off access to our apps at night as a default, no notifications during school hours, clear prompts and notifications for teens every 15 minutes of continuous screen time, new parental supervision controls so parents can decide how their teens use the app. So these are all things that are great. These are also things that should have been there a long time ago. Let me just be clear. You know, it's great for kids and I think that we should have it. I mean, I think about my nephews who are not yet into this era yet and it's terrifying because they're so pure and perfect and happy and you don't want that to be corrupted. I also think it should happen maybe for people who are 65 plus because I think a lot of people's parents are online way too much and sometimes I talk to my own parents and I'm like, wait, what? Like what did you see or what did you like? That's AI, that's not even real or that's not, you know, there's me being used. And so I don't actually think it should only apply to children. I think that adults need this too.
Yeah, there's going to be more cases like that. I think it's just easier for people to... speaking of agree, like Marsha Blackburn agrees with, you know, someone on the left on this topic, right? Unless she wants to be governor and then she changes a little bit. But you know, it's a really... it's a big issue for everyone. And I think it's a... you know, actually I'm working on a new book and it's about a digital bill of rights, like what should we all have going forward. And one of the... this is the beginning, not the end of this. And as much as people don't want a settlement going to trial, Facebook has unlimited options of suing and appealing and appealing and appealing. And this would have taken years to get these things that need to happen on the ground, like initially for kids and others will follow. That's also... the other companies will follow. I mean, they're the biggest one obviously, but it will require... it will start to set limits of what we want. Again, the government should have done this. So should Facebook many years ago, but they didn't. And so that's one of the things and it will not end. It will not end what's happening here, which is an absolute trend, which you're seeing again politically, Kaitlan. I mean, you're seeing... you've written... we've talked a lot about on the show about these data centers, which to me is a proxy. How important is it the people you interview? Because look, Mike Rogers changed, Abbott changed, Vivek Ramaswamy changed. What do you think the impact is going to have? I mean, not only did they change, it was a full 180. And so, you know, we are... we call that a lie, but go ahead.
Go ahead. Well, and I think, you know, some of the Democratic candidates who are running, you know, we had Gina Hinojosa who's running against Abbott on the other night and she was saying, 'Well, let's see if this is real because I think if he wins re-election...' and obviously this is his opponent speaking, but she said that she thought maybe he'd change back his stance given where he was just a year ago. And I think it's incredible because speaking of crossover again, which obviously is like the dominant theme here, this is something that people on the far right and the very progressive left seem to agree on, which is this hesitancy at best and a full-out opposition at worst for these companies against these data centers being built in their communities with no say-so, no transparency they feel on their behalf of what's happening. And we had seen these, you know, Republicans in most cases ushering in these giants to their states to, you know, take over this. And, you know, without regard, it seems like whether or not these small communities where they're being built can keep up with, you know, what that would require and entail for resources. But I mean, with, you know, Kathy Hochul imposing her moratorium, the response to that, but seeing how it is now starting to take shape and everyone is kind of shifting to this with the exception of people like President Trump. He says it's a mistake.
Yeah. So tell me that... I was going to say that. Why... how come he's sticking to his guns? I mean, oddly enough, you kind of have to respect him for that. He's going to go... he's all in on AI and his whole administration is based on the bear hug that he gave to these AI people. But he's not backing down and it probably will hurt other candidates, presumably.
Well, there's a lot of Republican districts where this has become a huge issue or even... I mean, obviously we were talking about the Republican Senate seat in Ohio the other night in terms of where this stands. And so Trump is someone who has often been praised over the last decade for being so in touch with his political instincts, his base. This is an area where it doesn't seem to be the case because there is so much concern and skepticism about this. And so I mean, I think the question is, do we get on the other side of the midterm elections this November? And this is actually a way bigger issue than people anticipated in terms of, you know, as you and I were talking about the other night, real grassroots opposition to this. It's not, you know, Michael Whatley in North Carolina was saying that it's all basically ginned up and being driven by outside forces, but as you were saying, that's not the case.
It's not. Well, that was Kevin O'Leary in Utah. It's just moronic. It's ironic to call these people Chinese communist spies. I mean, honestly, it was so weird. And when Whatley did that, I'm like, you sir, first of all, it's untrue. And second of all, you're obviously not talking to your constituents because you need to talk to these people because all kinds of people are concerned. I just... it'll be interesting to see what Trump does after if this show proves to be a big deal because it's about economics, really. The data centers are about economics, not about... well, it is about AI. It is. And speaking of which, Bill Gates is sounding the alarm on AI. Just when tech leaders have wanted to pull back on the doom-scrolling and the doom-saying that we're going to kill all your jobs. In a nearly 6,000-word essay on his website, Gates warns the transition to this new AI era will be one of the most turbulent times in human history, and we're not prepared for it. Gates is proposing solutions, including taxes on AI tokens and bots and reserving certain jobs for humans. He's also urging countries to collaborate on regulations, specifically calling for the US and China to work together. He's absolutely right. Bill Gates did acknowledge to the Washington Post that people might dismiss his views given his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. He again called his interactions with Epstein a very bad mistake. It was indeed a very bad mistake, Bill. I also told him that. Talk about this because it's really... it's an interesting thing because the tech leaders have been trying to pull back and again Trump is not pulling back on this, right? Not pulling back on this issue and has been best friends to AI essentially throughout this administration, including at the very beginning putting them in the front row. And I'll just also note MIT just put out a report recommending a fundamental rethink of higher education in the age of AI, calling for redesigned assessments, more hands-on learning, and course-specific rules for AI use because AI can now do all the undergraduate courses in like four seconds, which is really amazing. So talk about this as a political issue because one of the things that's important is there hasn't been much. Is there any plus in doing stuff around what Gates is talking about?
But I mean, talk about a holy [__] moment. As you're reading that, it's like the call is coming from inside the house because he's saying, 'Hi, I'm one of these industry leaders and I'm saying that not only are my colleagues completely downplaying the concerns over this because they want to make more money,' he's saying this idea that we're going to self-regulate is just not even close to having a grasp on reality. I mean, to hear that from him should be alarming to everyone. And you know, it made me think back to every time we have Bernie Sanders on the show, which is maybe once every couple of weeks, we always talk about AI with him, and he always says he's beating the drum on it, and he's saying, you know, no one's paying attention to this. It is going to wipe out the job force, that people do not understand the impact it's going to have, and by the time we do, it's going to be too late. And so he's basically arguing in a different way than what Bill Gates is saying here, but arguing the same message. And so for Bill Gates to say, you know, my colleagues are not going to be the ones who are going to step up and handle this. And going back to the Meta lawsuit that we're just talking about, I mean, we've seen what's happened before when they are the ones who are expected to be in charge of the guidelines and the guardrails.
Yeah, it's a fox guarding the henhouse. They have no interest in regulation whatsoever unless it's to their advantage or a big fat pretty contract with the Department of Defense on AI or something like that. Okay. But then the other question is, okay, so is it up to Congress or Washington? Because we interview those people every day. And yes, Bernie Sanders is the one leading the charge on this from, you know, the people that we have on the show, but this idea that they're going to understand what they're doing and be able to do it... Like, I don't have a lot of confidence in that.
All right. But do they understand how planes fly? Do they need to? We were able to manage to have many car regulations. This... see, to me that's always the excuse, but it was slower. I think that's what Bill Gates is saying is he's talking about the farming transition, you know, with agricultural... agricultural revolution and industrialization. It happened over generations and people had time to adjust. And he's saying... I mean, what I found one of the most alarming things in here was he was saying we don't have time for that basically here. That's not going to happen in the same way.
Yeah. Well, I don't know. I feel like they can do it. They haven't tried in any way whatsoever and they've been captive. And again, I wonder if Trump's embrace of them is going to have a real effect on the elections. I mean, of all the things, where would you rank tech being in that list?
Of like voters' concerns? Yeah. I mean, I think in rural areas, the data centers backlash, the Flock cameras backlash is becoming more and more of a thing. The FL... this is police who are taking pictures of people, surveillance.
The AI readers of like the license plates. I mean, and you know, I've seen obviously people responding to the data centers, people saying that's not well-founded or maybe we just aren't being transparent enough about this or as Greg Abbott was saying, you know, they dug their own grave by not being more forthright and honest about what was happening and what people should expect. I think that could end up being a big thing. I think obviously the economy and inflation, but they're all kind of tied together, you know, because it's making people think about what they have money for, what they can afford, where they're stretched thin, and then, you know, these tech giants are building these data centers in their backyards and affecting resources and water is their main concern. And I think that's, you know, is all kind of intertwined.
How do you very... I'm going to finish this up, but how do you think about AI? What do you do? How do you use it? Because there was this controversy over this guy who was insulting Scott Bessent, very famous investor. He used AI for this Wall Street Journal.
His mentor. Right. Exactly. Well, I think Scott Bessent has been soiling himself for months now, but that's just my opinion. How do you look at it yourself when you think about its use in your life or in your reporting or how you cover things? You know, in the part of Bill Gates's thing that I thought resonated was he was talking about all these ways that it could be helpful to people and not just to, you know, elites or fancy people or people who have these like, you know, cozy cushy jobs. He was talking about how it could really affect people who, you know, are working, you know, two jobs and don't have time to deal with the paperwork for health care or for getting government benefits or applying for financial aid for college or it's this convoluted kind of difficult thing. You know, when I went to college, my sister had gone to college, but we were kind of navigating this process on our own. You know, it wasn't really something... we didn't have a legacy of people who are alumni that we knew how to consult. And so applying for financial aid was really difficult and we didn't totally understand it even what we were signing up for then. And talking about how that could be helpful to people now, I love and I think that could be really, really helpful to a lot of the people I grew up with. But I think on the other side of it, it's if this happens so fast and it wipes out all these jobs before we even have time to understand the implications of it, right?
It's scary. But I think everyone can see how it's helpful to them on a daily basis. I use it for research and for looking things up.
My dad uses it. My dad sells mobile homes. He uses it every day for random things.
Wow. Your dad sells... I didn't know your dad sold mobile... I love a mobile home.
The big ones, the really fancy ones.
Yeah. Yeah. Well, there's a range, but...
There's a range. Yeah, there's a range. Have you ever lived in Alabama? Call me and I'll help you out.
I, you know, I had a lot of family members lived in mobile homes. So I have a familiarity of mobile homes.
Yeah. But I just think that that speaks to the spectrum of it, you know, that I use it every day. My dad uses it. My mom is a teacher, she uses it. It really is something that you can see how it can be helpful, but that doesn't mean that they should just run amok and or not have worries about it for your job.
Yeah. We'll just wait and see what happens.
You know what I used it for this morning?
Looking up... I couldn't find... my son has an obsession with monster trucks. I'm taking him to a monster truck rally, of course, and we couldn't figure out what this one monster truck was. So I tried to find it on Google and I just couldn't, like, through the imagery and I described it. I just took a picture of it, put it into Claude and it was like, 'Oh, that's Tiger Reek.' And I was like, 'That's amazing. Thank you.' And my son was like, 'Thank you.' And I was like, 'Fantastic.' And then he's in this weird toddler monster truck trading ring with a bunch of boys and they trade them like insane. Like I can see him years from now being a Scott, you know, on Wall Street trading stocks, but now he's trading monster trucks. All right, let's go on a quick break. When we come back, Trump breaks his endorsement losing streak.
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Kaitlan, we're back with more. Donald Trump just snapped his recent losing streak with endorsed candidates coming out on top in the latest round of Republican primaries in South Carolina. Lindsey Graham's sister Darlene won her primary despite having virtually no political experience and a debate snafu over foreign policy. But Trump went all-in on her, visiting South Carolina to stump for her and also tapping into his MAGA Inc. super PAC, which he doesn't often do. Trump also had success in Oklahoma where his candidate won in the Republican runoff for governor. Talk a little bit about this because he also, speaking of the midterms, got a major boost from the Supreme Court this week in his push to redistrict mail-in voting. Now, it was reported not quite correctly. The majority of justices said Trump could move forward with his executive order, which means plans to do it, not actually implementing, which directs the postal service to help determine which voters should receive mail-in ballots. It's unclear whether it's actually going to impact the midterms. A separate injunction is in place and more legal wrangling is expected, but as Justice Brown Jackson wrote in her dissent, the ruling needlessly injects chaos and uncertainty into the upcoming midterm elections. About 30% of all ballots in the 2024 election were cast by mail. Well, Trump has long attacked mail-in voting. He's used it himself a lot, most recently this month in Florida's GOP primary.
But it's what they said is if he breaks it, it's like they didn't want to do pre-ruling. If it's illegal, we'll call it illegal, but right now he can plan for it essentially, which I... that seemed fair honestly, but icky, but fair. Talk about these two things of where his power is right now.
Well, on the executive order, yeah, they were basically saying for now this can move forward. But the lawsuit, it wasn't about the merits. The ruling wasn't about the merits of the case. It was more about the timing and when they were sued over it. So we'll see what happens there because I mean, obviously, you know, we're 10 weeks out from the midterms. The closer you get, the harder it is to implement those changes, agree with them or disagree.
On Darlene Graham though. I mean, we went into Tuesday night not knowing what really was going to happen in that Senate runoff because obviously Republicans in South Carolina, you know, are kind of divided on this. Not kind of divided, they are divided on it because so many people wanted to run for this seat, but the president had self... or had anointed Darlene Graham after her brother's death so suddenly this summer. And so going into last night, the one takeaway as we've been following Trump's endorsement power, you know, whether or not he can bring these candidates over the line if he's not on the ballot, it showed that he still does have that power because he basically elevated someone who until a couple of weeks ago was not well-known, who did have some debate mishaps, whose policy decisions and stances are not really well-defined. And he basically elevated her in a way to where she was successful last night against Ralph Norman. And so, and it's not like Ralph Norman is someone who is not this massive ally of the president's. He's the person who, last time we had him on the show, we asked him about the text message he sent after January 6th, where he said he wanted the president to declare martial law.
And I asked him about that and he told me his only regret was that he spelled
It's M-A-R-S-H-A-L-L, not M-A-R-T-I-A-L. So this person is a very close ally of the president's, to put it lightly.
Yeah, but obviously Darlene Graham was pulled across the line. Likely is going to be a senator till 2032 at least. Why did he — why her versus Stormman Norman?
As we were reporting on this, when he came out and endorsed her to have the seat just for a little bit in that temporary period until the runoff, I talked to White House officials who said it's just a tribute to Lindsay. It's his dear friend that he lost suddenly, and she's going to be there kind of, you know, in just a placeholder role. They did not think it was going to be for the long haul. These are White House officials who speak to the president. And so we kind of said, 'Okay.' And then we got closer to the runoff, and it was clear that the president thought that Darlene Graham should run for the seat really, and now obviously is the nominee. And so I think there are questions of what that's going to look like once she's in the Senate. She said she disagreed with her brother only on immigration, that she would have gone further, but wasn't able to articulate, you know, policy on Taiwan, for example, which could be a real issue soon. And so, I think it did speak though to the president's political power. But the other part of this is, and that's what the White House will tell, they had to spend a lot of money from his super PAC that has been pretty stingy actually with Republicans. They spent $800,000. He did a virtual rally. He did an in-person rally. I mean, the president put a lot of effort into a very safe Republican seat in ensuring that his candidate got across the line. And I think that's because his endorsement power has been tested in other places, and he didn't want it to be tested here.
