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[00:00:10]

Welcome to love it or leave it homestretch. It's our last. Left outside voices from a whisper to a shout. Together, we can win this race if we make it clear. It's the home stretch we had. That amazing song was sent in by Matthew Burris, if you want to make a homestretch song, you can send it my way at leave it at Gay.com and we might use yours.

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This is one of our last four shows before the voting is done on November 3rd. We are in the home stretch. That means each week will be hyperfocus and doing whatever we need to do to win and keeping ourselves upbeat and motivated in the process. So now it's time for home stretch home room, a phrase I am already so tired of, say, and I give you your weekly syllabus, an idea I won't make fun of, where we tell you what you need to do to help defeat Donald Trump and win up and down the ballot.

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Here's what you need to do this week. Democrats have multiple paths to winning back a Senate majority right now and win enough that the majority doesn't have to rely on future VP Kamala Harris is the deciding vote. And maybe we're not always knocking on Joe Mansion's door. You know, wouldn't that be nice? Thanks in part to corporate media's get McPhun. We are competitive in places like Alaska and South Carolina. If you want to do something right now, head over to vote.

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Save America dot com slash Senate to pick a Senate race to volunteer this weekend. We have opportunities to call and text voters in 13 states that could make the difference in November. Also, have you made your plan for Election Day? Not the voting part, but after you're done voting, especially if your early voting, there are ways to get involved to protect the vote by being an in-person poll observer, making calls to recruit other volunteers or volunteering to work on the voter assistance hotline, especially if you're a lawyer.

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This is a great way to help in the final stretch. Go to vote, save America, dot com protect to sign up to get more information. But first, she's a comedian, award winning writer and host of everyone's favorite segment. OK, Emily's Guardian Show, please welcome back.

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Emily Heller, thank you so much and thank you for saying OK to that being everyone's favorite segment. I'll take that as a face value endorsement of that statement.

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You bet. Please do. Let's get into it. What a week.

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So, Emily, we recorded last week's episode just like a Gold Star family at a reception in the East Room of the White House, unaware that Trump had covid-19.

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We do. We still don't know when Trump had his last negative test. It seems it was not before the presidential debate. Otherwise, they truly tell us. And Dr. Feelgood at Walter Reed seems to be upholding a strange version of hip hop called Only Good News allowed what we know the announcement of Amy CONI Barretts nomination to the Supreme Court, which included a crowded gathering in the Rose Garden and a bunch of droplet exchanges inside the White House was a super spreader event.

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Since then, dozens of Republicans have come back positive, including Donald Trump, Hope Hicks, Senator Mike Lee of Utah, Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Kayleigh McEnany, Chris Christie, RNC Chair Ronna Romney McDaniel. A pangolin McConnell wants to stick on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. Kellyanne Conway, current Trump campaign manager and future Brad Purcell murder victim. Bill Stepien C plus Santa Monica fascist Steven Miller. And because they wanted to make it look like she had interacted with the president recently, First Lady Melania Trump.

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It's really a lot of people when you're listed out, it's a lot of people, like I would say those pictures that they've been showing, where they highlight the people who have it, have made it seem like not as many people, because there are a bunch of people who I guess didn't test positive. But there's a lot of people.

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Yeah, it's a lot of people. They really didn't protect anybody. It's giving me, like, upsetting images of just them hanging out with each other, like mental images that I don't want.

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It's also just like obviously it's serious what they've done in terms of just being so reckless with their own health, but just the fact that these are the people that are meant to be leaders and responsible. And we've all been doing our part. And, you know, they you know, Mark Meadows, someone stumbled upon a cache of photos from the wedding of Mark Meadows daughter. Mark Meadows is the White House chief of staff.

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And they just had a big old wedding in Atlanta, just a big old west, a big normal. This isn't happening wedding.

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And I think of all my friends and all the people in my life who have canceled weddings, who have like eaten costs and deposits, who have rescheduled twice, who have like, you know, because like, you know, you pick a wedding day, apparently, I don't know.

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Ron and I are waiting for a reception slot to open up on the moon.

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But but, you know, you pick your date and then you find your whoever, your caterers and all the rest is a complicated process. But you find people who are available on your date when you have to move to a different date and you've already paid all these people, it gets a huge headache and a lot of people's lives and these people who are meant to be in charge, who are meant to be demonstrating the best kind of behavior, completely disregarded the rules.

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They just completely disregarded the rules. And it reminds me of, like that authoritarian quote, you know, for my friends, everything, for my enemies, the law is just out.

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Yes, it's outrageous. What's also interesting to me about it, just from a wedding perspective, is like there are so many safeguards that people take at weddings to ensure that when they look back at the pictures, they will like what they see. So like people who are in maybe like not the most stable of relationships, like, guess what? That person is not going to be in the official photos because they don't want to look back and find out that you guys broke up.

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There's so many rules about like who gets to bring a plus one and all of that. And like all of these safeguards against the weather, like everyone has manicure. It's like the amount of thought that goes into making sure that you can look back on your wedding pictures and like what you see is so intense that the fact that they didn't factor in like, hey, I might not want to look back on this picture and know that multiple people died of covid-19 that they caught at my wedding.

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I know. It's just bad planning. Unbelievable. It's unbelievable.

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I would never. Jaylo and Magilla, I mean, the wedding planner. I got it. Yeah, she's she would. Yeah, yeah. Like she would not have tolerated this.

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She would be running around with her little headset telling people to get their masks on and also being like, we shouldn't have done this.

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Is that with Matthew McConaughey? It is with Matthew McConaughey. It's like, hey, put on your map.

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And he's like, all right, all right, all right.

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Yeah, it's something like that. I'm sure that's what would happen.

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Anyway, since he's been home in the White House, Trump has been hopped up on a steroid called dexamethasone, which is 25 times more potent than a cortisone shot. I've never felt better, Trump shouted while hanging from a chandelier and demanding dance. Gavino, tweet a meme of Chris Wallace having sex with Bill de Blasio.

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I've never felt better, Trump shouted while hitting golf balls at cowering White House butlers in full PPE.

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I've never felt better, Trump shouted while waving to KFC drumsticks in the air like he was conducting an imaginary orchestra playing Deutschland uber alles.

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Oh gosh, I do. One more. Yeah, more I'd like.

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I've never felt better, Trump shouted while pardoning himself in Sharpie on the back of a portrait of Millard Fillmore. I said, I'll stop there.

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Meanwhile, over the course of the past few days, Trump has tweeted even more than usual and taken every position imaginable on whether or not to pursue an economic relief package. Nancy Pelosi responded by proposing a means by which the 25th Amendment might be invoked by Congress in the future not to be used against Trump, but just to make Trump mad. Right now, which I have to say is I think is sort of I get a really interesting move.

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Yeah.

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To be like, well, he's borderline hulk right now. Anyway, let's see if we can get him to go fully green. Yeah.

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Oh, no, he's going to bust through his clothes. Well, here's the thing, what Nancy Pelosi knows about the Hulk is that we won't like him when he's angry and she's like, this is not helping him in the polls. We won't like him when he's angry. Let's get him to go for hug.

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We don't like him and he's not angry. That's true. Well, I don't I don't know about you, but I don't like him any time. This is beside the point for basically over the course of The Avengers movies, they just decided it would be better if ReFlow was in charge of when he helped out.

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You know, like because in the in the air, like I haven't seen, I go on. Well, and more to the point, that's debatable. But more to the point, like at the beginning, Hulk is just sort of kind of like uncontained. But in the later films, he gets more and more control over the Hulk powers, that's all. Yeah, but then I think it's in Ragnarok. He doesn't ever Hulk. He's just always just stays Hulk for a while.

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I just I'm a little bit confused by the Hulk mechanics. Yeah, not important.

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It's I wonder what it says about us as a society that we went from being like, yeah, I'm totally OK with the idea of this man who can't be held accountable for when he becomes violent to then being like, well, maybe we should have some kind of safeguard against it happening for no reason, or he might be a little bit less likeable. And then they're like, no, let's just have him be the angry guy all the time. What does it say about the direction we're going in?

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Also, what a big difference between, like 80s TV Hulk and 2000s Marvel film Hulk.

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Because when I was a kid, the Hulk was just kind of like a strong or green guy with a kind of pronounced brow. That was the gist of the TV Hulk.

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But then the Hulk in the movies is enormous and indefatigable. Yeah. And I just prefer I'd prefer a more vulnerable Hulk.

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You want to hulk that needs to, like, go to a human bathroom. That's another thing that's never addressed.

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That's another thing that's never addressed. How big are those Hulk shits? Why would they be bigger? Because we'd be bigger. But what's the stuff? He never eats his hulk.

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Like, what I love is I think there were predictions like 15 years ago that our generation, when we got older, all of our back in my days would be about comic books. And we are proving them right.

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I just fundamentally, this is a problem in the Marvel universe. This is a problem in the DC Universe with Superman. This is a problem in the boys, a show that Ron and I are currently watching. And I'm constantly saying to Ronin, can we please watch other boys? And he says, no, I don't want to watch the boys right now.

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But you watch the boys.

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I want to watch the boys. Let's watch it. Let's watch the boys. I don't know why how you're saying it. I'm just saying let's watch the boys.

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OK, we're hearing something that I'm not putting out there, but OK, Rob Schneider, superheroes, the Hulk, Thor, these supercharged Superman Homeland, or they're constantly doing all kinds of stuff. They should just be turning a fucking crank. They are perpetual motion machines. Oh, it would be so much more valuable if they just got up every day and just went like this to power a turbine.

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Yeah. And for those listening at home, I'm running a crank.

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He's doing. Yeah. The crank like in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Yeah.

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The Unboring. But but think about, think about the good Superman could do for the environment if he just got up every day and generated some carbon neutral electricity. Incredible. Right increase.

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We don't need him running around the city stopping impoverished people from snatching purses in order to survive.

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Yeah, like I'm not saying we shouldn't have systems in place to stop purse snatching. I'm not pro purse snatching. No, but but of all the uses of an alien from a distant planet with superhuman powers and the ability to lift airplanes, it seems like petty crime should not be the focus.

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Lay the tracks for a light rail system across the United States. What are you doing? Fighting crime?

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Yeah, light rail infrastructure repair some of our roads and bridges.

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Also this week, Facebook announced a new, more aggressive ban on Kuhnen posts. This is a proposal from Facebook's global vice president for putting the toothpaste back in the tube.

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And this week, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas wrote an opinion calling to overturn the court's recent ruling and Obstfeld v. Hodges, which established a constitutional right to same sex marriage. If a six three right wing court overturns marriage right when it's safe to have big gay weddings again, we will add justices to that court. Emily, gay people know a thing or two about fitting in eleven when there was previously only room for nine.

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I'm proud of that one. Oh, yeah.

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And I. I think if you're someone who's listening to this and you don't understand that joke, I say don't bother looking it up. If you've gotten to this point in your life, not knowing things like that, you probably don't want to know. Well, I would also say tough things. To suss out by looking it up, you're going to have to ask a friend. I don't know what you're going to.

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Someone who would know to explain it to you either. You know what? Disregard Emily's advice. Get to the bottom of it. Yeah.

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Be curious about the world.

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And finally, let's talk about the other big news this week, the vice presidential debate between Senator Kamala Harris and an early 1990s Republican who was told he could come out of his cage if he memorized 20 sentences. Mike Pence, the best moment of the debate came early when they talked about coronavirus and Comilla said this.

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Whatever the vice president is claiming the administration has done, clearly it hasn't worked when you're looking at over two hundred and ten thousand dead bodies in our country.

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Pence responded, I prefer to see it as two hundred and ten thousand angels looking down from heaven and thinking, I didn't want to see Tenet anyway.

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It was a very uncomfortable debate. Yeah, I didn't like watching it at all.

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It is, of course, obviously true that in some sense it was more civil than the debate between Trump and Joe Biden. Like the word civil means anything. Of course, Donald Trump was interrupting to base the entire proceeding, didn't follow the rules.

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It was more mature. It was more mature.

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But I have to say, I think it is worth pointing out that it wasn't less vulgar because otherwise that is accepting the idea that lying with more tact is in some sense, in any sense more appropriate than lying while shouting, lying or being aggressive, lying while being macho.

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You know, like like. Right. Mike Pence being a more effective in some sense, lying or being a more live and smooth liar doesn't make it a more disgraceful or debased debate. Ultimately, yes, it was less slimy, loud. He doesn't have the spikes on him, but he's still slimy and it's still a slime that can poison and kill you.

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Yeah, like there's this type of caterpiller that's been seen in, like the D.C. metro area that traditionally had come from further south. And it looks like an adorable little hairy caterpillar, like it's almost cute, like a little cousin it. But if you touch it, it's toxic and it feels like your hand is burning. Yes.

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I don't really know how to make the analogy connect, but you see what I'm getting at, it's a little bit too flattering of a comparison for pets, but I get it. Yeah.

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No, he was like so unresponsive and it was so frustrating to watch as someone who, like, understands when someone's answering the question that's being asked. And then he tried to accuse her of not answering questions when it was like you literally spent the time you were supposed to spend on answering a question, on asking her a different question, like, you don't get to act like she's the one not answering. And it was also like you could sense how hard it was for her to contain her frustration when it's like you're literally debating someone who's wearing like a blood covered apron with, like blood on their hands, trying to decide who's a deadly, ah, person.

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And it's like, why do I even have to explain it? Right. Well, that's that's that's such a good way to put it. Right. Well, like, you know, the idea of a presidential debate or a vice presidential debate is predicated on the idea that we are in a marketplace of ideas in which two competing visions for the country compete in a level playing field to discern for the American people who has the best vision for the future.

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That's of course, not what's going on here. There is no cogent argument. There is no real case for Mike Pence and Donald Trump there. It doesn't exist. There's a propaganda case. There is enough rot in the system that they hope they can use that propaganda and mistrust and deception to overwhelm ordinary politics, overwhelm democracy. But it really does come into stark relief during the actual debate itself, because this is pretend Mike Pence is not going to actually be able to articulate a legitimate argument for the candidacy of Donald Trump.

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One doesn't exist. He spent the week being a contagious, steroid addled person, spreading conspiracy theories and misinformation about the ongoing pandemic they failed to contain. There's no debate here. It's pretend no.

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After Comilla insisted you would trust science on the vaccine over Donald Trump, Mike Pence said this.

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So the fact that you continue to undermine public confidence in a vaccine is unconscionable. And, Senator, I just ask you. Stop playing politics with people's lives.

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Yeah, that's our job, the idea of Mike Pence putting on that fucking self-righteous, smug, defeated tone, he's just so sad to see politics interfering with public health when he got Trump on the White House lawn being like, I got the cure, it's Regeneron.

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And finally, on climate change, Mike Pence said this.

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You know what's remarkable is the United States has reduced CO2 more than the countries that are still in the Paris climate accord. But we've done it through innovation.

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In fact, thanks to the Trump administration, over 210000 Americans are now completely carbon neutral. And finally, Penns repeatedly tried to interrupt Kamala Harris, but she shut him down real quick when she said this.

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And I want to ask Mr. Vice President.

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I'm speaking. I'm speaking. Emily, I guess we have to add two more names to the list of women that Mike Pence will not let finish.

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That's the last year. That's the last debate we're not going to talk about before.

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I mean, I didn't really have anything left to say. I felt like it was. Well, mind you. Have any thoughts about the fly?

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I well, it puts me in mind of something that's been on my mind a lot recently, which is just pest control, which is an issue in the garden as on the debate stage.

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That role, the theme song Baby for Emily's Garden Show, it's Emily's Garden Show for the garden things you need to know if you want it happening. Yeah. Yeah. All right. I went out with it.

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Emily's Garden Show. So excited, I guess. Happening. Yeah. Make it quick. Make it snappy, I.

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OK, well, first of all, that's not the attitude I want from you going into this, OK? And I've been thinking about how to improve this segment because unlike you, I'm a professional. And I realized, OK, we've got a big election coming up.

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That's right. We do. And you care about that, right? I really do. You want Biden to win?

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I do. Really desperately. OK, well, I have in my hands take a screenshot right now, guys. Hundreds of letters to swing state voters. And these letters could go in the mail or they could go straight into the trash. Well, don't do that. And it's up to you, John Lovett. Where do they go? If you want them to go into the trash, go ahead. Keep talking shit about Emily's garden show. This is ransom, but if you want these to go in the mail, you are going to have an engaged, interesting conversation with me about my garden.

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OK, and this is my this is what I'm doing to save the country right now. This is Emily's garden vote is happening right now.

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So you're telling me that if I don't play along with this godforsaken segment, you're going to throw those letters to the trash? Could cost us the election?

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Yeah, it could be the tipping point. All right. And it's like you've won. You've won. You've won this round. You've won this round. Here we go. I'm going to do my absolute best, OK? And I want you to know. All right, this is not willing. This is forced. There is a loaded box of now being held to my head, but I'm going to do it. Are you ready? I'm OK.

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Yeah, and we can just edit out that part. Right.

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OK, I'm so excited. Tell me more about your garden.

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Well, we are falling into fall over here. We may have another heat snap headed our way into Zone Ten be next week, but that hasn't stopped me from getting a head start on my lettuces, my arugula. And I've even got some brussel sprouts in the ground. I've got some broccoli going. My garden must be having an identity crisis because it's like winter vegetables. I'm still making zucchini and cucumber over here.

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Oh, so what do you think about that? I think that's zucchini. Great. Am I doing.

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What do you think about pest control? What do you know about knee moyal? Are you interested in hearing more about knee moyal?

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I'm a big fan of Roundup. That seems bad.

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I'm a huge fan of the products from the company Monsanto, known as Roundup, I think. Just hit it with that. Just get it with some roundup.

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John, I got to say, I don't recommend that, especially for edible gardeners. This is not a good move. You want to use something that's slightly more organic. Some people actually bring in ladybugs to eat their offense. What do you think about that?

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I think it was a kind of one of the sweeter and less vulgar films that Rodney Dangerfield ever made.

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OK, it's clear to me that this is not going how I hoped it would. Mm. I feel like I'm going to throw these in the trash. Don't throw them in the trash.

[00:23:20]

OK, what do I need to listen. Emily, please don't throw those letters in the trash. I don't think that that's right. I think that you should put them in the mail to those swing state voters, it could make all the difference. This thing could be close to be close. All right. Can't trust the polls. All right. These are swing state voters. We need those votes. Tell me what I got to do. Tell me what I got to do to save those letters.

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I want you to sing the song. I sent you some revised lyrics and I sing the song. You'll send it. These letters are going straight into the mailbox.

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OK, ok. OK. Do you have the new lyrics? Yeah. All right, let's hear it. But here we go. I was counting you in. I don't want that. OK, here we go.

[00:23:58]

It's Emily's Guardian vote from asparagus to artichokes and I want to talk soil.

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She's my goyle.

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It's Emily's Guardian vote. What's next?

[00:24:12]

What's the next has gone on and on and on. Yeah, that's that. All right. I'm John. Love it. And you gotta know I love Analise Garden show. Nothing has ever been so good as Amelie's garden vote.

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Yes. Can we put some. That's my new radio.

[00:24:35]

Some put some just that up. Put some echo on that bad boy. Yeah. But under their Emily's garden vote dotcom you can go garden show dot com for you how to get out the vote via torturing John.

[00:24:51]

You can go right now to Emily's garden vote dotcom or Emily's Garden show, dotcom type, whatever you want into the bar and good things will happen.

[00:25:02]

And and I'll send these letters, which I feel guilty about this. But I should admit, these are not letters to swing state, but I fucking believe just all Sandhamn.

[00:25:11]

California Pizza Kitchen. Emily Haler finds that I write them letters. Abdelillah delight. As always, if you want to help this weekend, you can go to Emily's Garden, show Dotcom to find out how yet. It is a delight, as always, to see you, despite my distaste for this segment. And yet somehow it seems to happen every time you're on. I can't seem to stop it. When we come back, Senator Brian Shots.

[00:25:39]

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[00:27:01]

Yes, I used to work at this little gallery. I don't know if you guys knew this about me. It was this little place in Paris. Wow. Called the Louvre and we only used Cambridge.

[00:27:13]

I didn't know that for all of our pieces.

[00:27:15]

That's amazing. Yeah, that's amazing. It's weird.

[00:27:17]

It that's not in here. Is that also include the one with the woman with the eyes that she's half smile.

[00:27:23]

No, John, that's that's that's Starry Night. I think. I'm pretty sure that Starry Night, that's somewhere else. Louvre Teria. I don't think they ever should have put that pyramid in.

[00:27:33]

Give you. I think it's got lots to do in their head of their pyramid.

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It's terrible.

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[00:28:13]

And we're back. He is the U.S. senator from Hawaii. Please welcome back. Returning champion Senator Brian. Senator Brian Shot's good to see you. Thanks for being here. Thanks for having me, I'm always happy to be here. So we had the VP debate last night into a day of ranting and raving from Trump. What was your response to the debate last night? And why do you think Trump immediately decided he would rather be the story? I guess that's an easy one.

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Well, I'll start with the second one.

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I think it's I don't think he decides anything. I think it's a hole in his soul that causes him to try to get attention. Any attention is better than no attention, even if it's negative attention for him. But Kamala did really well and I wasn't as overconfident as others were because I saw that I remember the pense Cain debates and I served both with Tim and Komla. And Tim's really impressive and a good debater and a very likable person, super knowledgeable.

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But Mike Pence has this kind of way about him that allows him to kind of slither through these moments seeming slightly less crazy than his actual policy and record. And Comilla just wasn't standing for it. Now, what Comilla had in her favor that Tim Kaine didn't is the facts are so bad for the Trump administration that just laying them bare in a systematic fashion puts you way ahead in any debate. And I think she very skillfully navigated the difficulty of a person like Mike Pence trying to throw her off her game, trying to get her irritated.

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And she was extraordinary. She really kicked his ass.

[00:29:57]

It was a pleasure to see with Pence specifically, there's this challenge. You know, the word gaslighted, I think, has been run into the ground. But with him specifically, there really is a kind of a coolness and calmness that is predicated on the idea that Donald Trump just doesn't exist. You know, he's there. He's going to represent his views. You know, we need civility. Trump's got broad shoulders. It just sort of a kind of an alternate reality.

[00:30:22]

And I, I do think even now it is still a challenge. I think she did a masterful job throughout that debate. But it is very hard to make a case against somebody who is constantly lying, not lying, of course, but not just lying. Right. It's not just lying. It's lying and shaking his head and saying that's ridiculous. Yeah. That it's not just that you're not telling the truth is that you're being ridiculous by even suggesting something so obscene.

[00:30:44]

Yeah. And I remember he did it to Tim. Yeah. Out of a smirk. And that's not true. And kind of a. There you go again. Kind of thing. And in the battle of facial expressions, Kamala Harris won.

[00:30:56]

And those of us who served with her, I think know that face. Right.

[00:31:01]

Sometimes will be at a caucus lunch. And some of one of my colleagues may say something and we'll just sort of shoot a knowing glance at each other.

[00:31:09]

I mean, sure, her eyes really speak volumes.

[00:31:13]

And there were a couple of moments where I mean, I know Anderson Cooper was saying last night that he sometimes turns to television to sound off and watches a debate. And if you did it that way, you would say Kamala won. I think Kamala won on points. I think she won on style. I think she won on substance and she won on the fact it was an actual blowout. I think the only reason it doesn't feel like a bigger blowout is last week was like the bottom dropping out and the most catastrophic performance of any presidential candidate in recent memory so that just a 60 40 blowout doesn't feel as significant.

[00:31:47]

And it might even feel like a sort of minor moral victory for the other side. But Kamala did what she came to do and she did it very well.

[00:31:55]

I actually want to move beyond the debate, but because this is something that they've been doing for a long time on the issue of choice and on the issue of health care. Pence dodged the question right. The question and apparently Susan Page wasn't allowed to ask follow ups, preexisting conditions. What would you do if Roe v. Wade was repealed? In both cases, he didn't want to say the answer. And it seems to me that they are counting on the idea that their actual position is so anathema to most Americans that most Americans don't actually believe that could be their position, that it can't really be their position to throw the entire health care system into chaos by overturning the Affordable Care Act in courts and having no replacement can't really be their position that they not only want Roe v.

[00:32:37]

Wade overturned, but they want to criminalize abortion across the country. How do you make that case? How do you really drive home that they really have taken these incredibly unpopular and politically dangerous and policy grounds, dangerous positions?

[00:32:53]

Yeah, I think it's a super important question, at least for all of us who are trying to persuade people in the next three weeks to vote for the Democrats, because sometimes the truth makes us sound like we're sort of lunatics, right.

[00:33:05]

Like American democracy at stake. They're going to take away your rights. They are. However, it is very important if you're going to engage in a dialogue with someone who may lean conservative but have his or her reservations about Trump or people I know who just don't want to admit what's at stake because it would. Hire them to do more. You got to stay in there and stay patient with these folks because starting with the kind of level of sort of frenzied, panicked anxiety that a lot of us actually feel and we think it is absolutely justified is just not a good persuasive technique.

[00:33:42]

Right. So. Right. I always say, you know, how do you describe what's happening accurately and not sound like you're standing outside a revolution bookstore? Huxley in Honolulu talking about how we need to overthrow the government. I mean, but it's really happening. And I think especially with health care, we have an opportunity to make the case that this really is happening.

[00:34:04]

The number of times they voted to overturn the Affordable Care Act and the fact that they're in federal court to do just that on November 10th and that they admit to it, I think is where we should all land because it motivates our base to turn out. But it's also a deeply unpopular thing for the Republicans to do, even within Republican circles. Nobody really wants to admit that they're doing that. Now, John Cornyn in Texas is running an ad talking about how he's going to protect pre-existing conditions.

[00:34:33]

And I will tell you, I'm not an ad guy, but it sounded so tinny. I watched the ad and I was like, I don't know. I feel like it's a little too late for that. And I don't believe that you're going to fool very many people with a sort of last minute. Oh, yeah, me too. I'm with the Democrats on this.

[00:34:51]

I appreciate that. On the Affordable Care Act. But there is this challenge on issues related to just preserving our democracy, on issues related to the unfitness of Trump as a person. You pointed this out on Twitter. I thought it was a really good point that basically what made Trump returning to the White House, waving from the balcony, putting these people at risk was that it was such a purified, worse version of Trump that he was directly putting people in harm's way directly to make himself look and feel better.

[00:35:17]

How do we talk about it's a little bit like the pandemic to me in that the precautions you take to prevent a pandemic look like overkill if they work. Stopping Trump, saving our democracy looks like overkill if it works. How are you finding the best way to talk about these issues, about the authoritarian impulse that we see, the fact that Mike Pence refuses to say that they will support a peaceful transfer of power. How do you make that politically valuable when it's so important?

[00:35:45]

Look, I don't spend a lot of time on this in the next three weeks for the following reason. I think if you're not persuadable by all of these authoritarian actions and it's probably not the issue that was going to move you, I think it's very important to look at recent history in terms of Italian fascist elected dictators. And the way that they were finally beaten was with the populist economic issues. And so the reasons that it may be foundationally important to oust Donald Trump may not be exactly the same reasons that are going to boost our likelihood of winning.

[00:36:18]

And as long as what we're saying is true, I'm going to be focusing on the Affordable Care Act. I am going to be focusing on Roe. I'm going to be focusing on climate, and I'm going to be focusing on the fact especially that Mitch McConnell has found the time to rush through any CONI Barett in order to overturn the Affordable Care Act, but hasn't taken up covid relief legislation since, I think late April, early May. All of the reasons that motivate me to be in this fight are important.

[00:36:48]

But you also have to meet people where they are and where they are is usually trying to survive this moment for their family, for their business and for themselves. And so you need to meet them at that point and not get into. Have you read Madeleine Albright's book about fascism?

[00:37:04]

Right. That's for this podcast. That's honestly that was in my my Pennsylvania phone banking to to swing voters. That was my first question is do you have a plan to vote? And have you read Fascism by Madeleine Albright? Well, actually, no, I take that point. I think that's right. I actually do think, though, after this election, looking back, I do think we need to have a conversation about why the actual democracy itself, the values of democracy itself, aren't important in terms of persuading people that how do we elevate those in people's minds.

[00:37:35]

But I agree. We have twenty five days. You brought up the Supreme Court battle. There's been two parts of the debate. One is just what are the tactics we use to slow it down? What are the bare knuckle tactics we use to stop it? The other is how do we engage? Right. Do we legitimize the process but ask tough questions or do we refuse to be part of the process and refuse to recognize that I won't take each one?

[00:37:57]

So first, what is your view as the best way to engage in this confirmation fight in these hearings? Like what do you want to see members of the Senate in the Democratic caucus do?

[00:38:06]

Well, I sort of briefly contemplated saying, look, Democrats should not give legitimacy to this process. We should walk out and all the rest of it. And the truth is, members of the Judiciary Committee said, I will not do that. There's a Supreme Court confirmation here. I'm going to hold these people to account. I'm not. Abdicate my role and fair enough, right? But in any case, that's the kind of thing you can only do with unanimity, right?

[00:38:29]

You can't be like seven of you walking out and be 40 or there. It just doesn't work. So we're in. And whether you meet with Amy Barrett is like a sort of signal to certain people paying close attention. But mostly it's not the issue. I want us to focus on health care. I want us to focus on the fact that Ted Cruz and others have specifically said it is important to install a justice in order to settle any election disputes.

[00:38:55]

I mean, that is deeply, deeply alarming. And I think we absolutely have to focus on a woman's right to choose, because to your original question, people don't think choice is really going to be taken away. And yet that's exactly what's going to happen. These people are absolutely committed to taking away women's reproductive choice. They're going to do it as a matter of constitutional law. Now, we have recourse at the state level and maybe even in the in the federal government at the statutory level.

[00:39:24]

But that's actually what's going to happen. One area I think we should steer clear of for both moral and political reasons is I don't want to interrogate anybody's faith in any way. Yeah, I think it's morally bankrupt and I think it's politically stupid. So we need to stay away from that and be a little bit more disciplined as members of the Senate about sort of what are our lines of attack and not just following our own views and our own curiosity and our own sort of need to make a name for ourselves.

[00:39:52]

Oh, well, good luck with that when you say when you crack that one. Yeah, but yeah. I mean, it's also, I think worth pointing out, too, that on choice, this isn't theoretical. And a lot of states where they've put in place draconian restrictions where there are already millions of people who have been denied access to family planning and reproductive health care. Yes. So the other piece of this is about the ability to use Senate procedure.

[00:40:14]

And so, yeah, you know, there was this moment where Chuck Schumer called for a cloture vote and everyone said, I didn't realize he was allowed to do that. Why isn't he doing that all the time? And I sometimes find when I'm paying, I'm a reasonably attentive watcher of Congress. And sometimes I discover that there are rules and powers that Senate Democrats have that I didn't realize they have. And I wonder why they weren't being used all along.

[00:40:37]

What are the tools at Democrats disposal and how effective do you think they can be in giving us a chance of pushing the nomination fight past the election?

[00:40:46]

So this is so boring that you might not cut it out of this podcast, but challenge accept it.

[00:40:53]

The problem here is that, listen, everybody knows we're going to do everything we can or should know that we're going to do everything we can to delay this process. But it actually is unwise for us to announce the specific tactics because they have counter tactics, like they have things they can do. They have procedures they can avail themselves of. But suffice it to say, we will leave no stone unturned in terms of delaying the process, whether or not we will be successful in delaying it beyond the election, I don't know.

[00:41:24]

That remains to be seen in the sort of scuffle of those moments. I will add, though, that one of the the most likely scenarios in terms of it being delayed is simply that Republicans can't muster a quorum because of their exposure to coronavirus. So it's very important. One of the most important things that the forty seven Democrats plus Democratic leaning independents can do in the United States Senate is not get coronavirus. I mean, I know that sounds kind of a silly thing, but we have to be forty seven strong so that we can either withhold a quorum or beat them on the on the floor vote.

[00:41:59]

Huh.

[00:42:00]

Wow. Let's see if you put that in the pot.

[00:42:01]

I'm very keen staying in it is staying in. I'm interested now. Everybody at home is interested. Do you have some supervisor who gets to make the call.

[00:42:09]

No, I'm my own boss. OK, all right then. The last question for you and thank you so much for your time. People are listening. They've donated to our Get Mitsch fund. They've adopted a state. What is the most helpful thing you think people should be directing their energy to right now in the home stretch? We've got twenty four days left. What Senate races you want them focused on that they may not be focused on? Where do you want them to spend their time?

[00:42:34]

Mike, S.P. in Mississippi. This thing is close. Cindy Hyde Smith, who is an incumbent but an appointed incumbent and not a very energetic campaigner, I think raised two hundred thousand dollars last quarter. My guess is surging. That's a race that is still underfunded on our side. Hegar in Texas for the same reason she's surging. Biden just dropped seven dollars million into Texas. And I think it's a serious play for Texas and Beto and Julian and Joaquin Castro and sort of Texas Democrats are really taking this quite seriously.

[00:43:06]

And the thing about Texas is there's no point at which we have enough money for Texas. Right. There are the races where Amy Magrath has enough money, right? Mark Kelly probably has enough money. MJ Hagar really doesn't have enough money. Those are the two races that I find most intriguing, I would add. Barbara Bollea is very important and I'm forgetting the website, but the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has a place to sign up to do voter protection.

[00:43:33]

And this is something you can do in person if you feel comfortable with it and as long as the protocols are observed. But there's also a bottomless need for volunteers who can work the phones and just read from a script and walk people through their voter protection rights. It might be as simple as, say, twenty four hours after most of the ballots are counted, we find that there are three thousand ballots that need to be cured and other there's some technical problem with a ballot, but they only have 24 hours to go into the precinct and fix it.

[00:44:04]

So we need an army of volunteers to call those people and to walk them through the process so that their vote is counted and valid. There are a lot of people who are going to want to have something to do over that two or three day period rather than just refresh Twitter and and watch television. So I very much encourage everybody, if you're tapped out money wise, to sign up to be a voter protection volunteer, you don't need any specific skill other than being able to talk to folks on the phone.

[00:44:29]

And if you want to sign up to do that, voter protection work, one way you can do it is by going to vote save America, dot com slash, protect. And you can sign up right now to volunteer. We need the help. Senator Brian Schatz, thank you so much for your time. So good to talk to you. And stay healthy and keep those 46 of your pals healthy. All right. No bobbing for apples, trick or treating.

[00:44:50]

All right. Thanks, John. When we come back, a segment on phone banking, the highs, the lows and what happens when a listener calls Josh. Got it. Was it a life?

[00:45:01]

Don't go anywhere. Love it or leave it. And there's more on the way.

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Love it or leave it is brought to you by Brooklyn and talk about mainstays in your morning routine. Washing face, drinking coffee, listening to podcasts, walking dog. I do all those things every morning. I get up ponded and I go outside. She does her business. I read the tweets. Do you make your bed? Do you make your bed? No, no. Usually because there's a Pulitzer Prize winner still in it, you know.

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We've said it before. We'll say it again. You download the cash app, you put it in the code crooked, then you get ten dollars. Do you not want ten dollars? What's your favorite part about not having ten dollars plus ten dollars goes to teachers. Wow.

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Teachers. Don't you love teacher. Remember teacher teachers. You know, jump. The Republicans just screwed them in. Yeah. By deciding not to pursue a stimulus package.

[00:47:56]

Yeah. Just hit two erasers in their face, create a bunch of dust of chalk because they kill the stimulus as John said. Sorry teachers. Sorry. Yep. Continue to try and figure out how to get the attention of a seven year old over.

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Zoom, good luck. We will not help you financially. But if you download the cash app and you put in the code crooked, you'll get ten dollars and ten dollars will go towards helping teachers get the supplies they need because we now crowdfund the basic necessities of life because of politics.

[00:48:35]

And we're back. Look here. I'd vote Save America. We ask a lot of you. We've asked you to adopt a state. We've asked you to donate. We've asked you to volunteer. We've asked you to follow Travis Helwig on Instagram. No, no, we didn't. Don't do that. And so many of you have signed up, 300000 of you have adopted a state. We've raised almost thirty million to win the Senate and millions more to fight vote suppression, flip state legislatures and keep the House.

[00:48:56]

But some of you, let's face it, are stragglers. For example, some of you could be phone banking, but you're nervous to take that first step. You're afraid to get yelled at. You're afraid you'll screw it up. You're afraid you'll fall in love with a baritone outside Pittsburgh who can't talk long because he's busy doing push ups and baking pies for neighborhood seniors before heading back to the firehouse. The truth is, you'll get a bunch of hang ups.

[00:49:16]

You get a few genuinely inspiring and helpful conversations. And yes, it's true, one or two bad interactions. But once it happens, you'll realize it's no big deal. It's fine. Some good calls, a few humdingers, and you did your part and you'll be glad you did. So now it's time for a segment we call Talk to Strangers to Save Democracy or explain to friends why you didn't.

[00:49:36]

And we have a very special guest here to show us various ways these calls can go. Please welcome the star of the hit series, Six Hundred Penn and absolutely nothing else. Josh Gad.

[00:49:48]

Thanks, John. It's been a dry spell since we did that show about a decade ago. Thanks for bringing me back into the limelight.

[00:49:56]

I appreciate it, but I just like to help my friends. You know, I'll get you some exposure. I'm grateful.

[00:50:03]

I'm hoping for a reboot, you know, all over again that we can we can get the whole crew back.

[00:50:15]

You know, I've said this before, but if if Trump didn't become president, I'd be just a writer on some uncontroversial Roseanne reboot I'd be doing right now. We'd be on season two. Maybe John Goodman would start a business.

[00:50:26]

Yeah, just think America. That could all be years. Two months from now, if things go the way we want them to go, John can still have that faith. We can deliver that. It's it is so surreal to be here together after all of these years of begging you to be on. Love her every day. I mean, literally, like tracking you down at parties and being like, do not like me. You don't want me on the show.

[00:50:54]

Did I upset you by not getting us the season to pick up, even though that was outside of my control? Like, what's your problem? Why are you a dick?

[00:51:02]

I want you to know that I knew that this was coming and I said, I'm so excited to have Josh on. This is going to be the perfect thing. But we just all need to understand I'm going to have to eat some shit.

[00:51:14]

Yeah, that's the price I pay. So here's how it's going to work. Josh is going to play our undecided voter receiving a call from a phone bank. Can we let Isabelle in to the into the Zoome?

[00:51:29]

I love that you are too lazy to call her by her full name, Isabella, and just decided to drop the Isabella.

[00:51:36]

Hi, welcome. You're on your own with Jon. You're also here with Josh Gad.

[00:51:43]

Hi, Isabella. Josh Gad. You don't know this. We have a picture together from when I saw you in Book of Mormon High School after me and Josh Gad, my group. I just need to get that. I'm so sorry. Look. Oh, I'm so grateful.

[00:51:57]

I'm so grateful. Great to be reunited again, Isabella. I like it when the excitement is directed at me. I love it. I love it. You're the first man I've put on makeup for and probably like longer than the pandemic and just lost on me.

[00:52:11]

Isabella, thank you so much for doing this. So you've graciously agreed to be our phone banker. All right. Here's how it's going to work. We're trying to show people that phone banking is kind of fun. And yeah, sometimes the calls are great. Sometimes there are kind of just OK. Sometimes people can be a little rude sometimes, but it's OK because that's the goal. You're going to make as many calls as you can and get to some good voters.

[00:52:33]

And sometimes you got to deal with some bad calls and it's going to be fine. So today, Josh Gad has graciously agreed to play the person you're going to call. We have a script. You have a script in front of you. All right. You're going to make three calls, one about health care, one about the economy, one about criminal justice reform. We've given you a script, but your job is really just to kind of have a conversation to let this person know some of the great policies that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have to make sure they know why it's so important that they turn out to vote.

[00:53:01]

Sometimes when your phone bank, it's about getting out the vote. Sometimes it's about local issues. This is just a demonstration. So we thought we'd use the Biden Harris platform. You have the script, you have the prompts. Josh will be the person you're calling. We're not sure how it's going to go. Izabel that's the thing. You've got to just convince him. Just convince me. That's all you got to do. OK? Are you ready, Isobella?

[00:53:20]

OK, all right. Call number one is about health care. And Isobella, if you have any questions, if you want to phone a friend, I'm here. OK, ok, call number one.

[00:53:29]

Hi, my name is Isabella and I'm calling on behalf of the Democrats. And I was just wondering if you currently have a plan to vote, do you want me to vote.

[00:53:38]

Yeah. Like you even know what that word means. Yeah. No one will explain it to me.

[00:53:43]

Well, as you may or may not be aware, we have an election coming. I'm not I'm not aware we have an election coming up for president in November. And this you might this November. Yeah, November 3rd. OK, and voting has already started. There is already in-person early voting. I don't know what state you're in. What state are you in, Josh?

[00:54:02]

I'm in a state of boredom right now because you're all really boring me with this talk about elections and stuff. Here's the deal is I'm watching a rerun of last night's basketball game, OK?

[00:54:17]

And so I sort of I guess why don't you tell me a little bit about like, who are the guys who are on the ballot?

[00:54:24]

OK, well, I know an issue a lot of people are voting on and feeling really passionately about his health care.

[00:54:30]

And so, to be honest, stop there. So I don't I don't believe in the concept of being sick. When you say health care, are you talking Tylenol? Preparation is what are what are we talking about exactly?

[00:54:42]

Really all of the above. So I'm sorry I'm so busy right now filling out forms from a medical, but I do not have time for this.

[00:54:51]

Oh, that's really great, because Joe Biden has a health care plan.

[00:54:55]

Here's the deal, Cheryl. Is it OK? Tell me what what is it? All right. Oh, so all these politicians are the same. You know, one wants to give me covid. The other probably does, too.

[00:55:07]

Well, that's I know a lot of people feel that way. Hey, stop, stop. Stop talking for a second. Let me ask you some questions. First of all, what is voting?

[00:55:17]

So voting is a way for us to have a say in our government and we get to choose the president we get to vote for.

[00:55:24]

OK, you don't have to tell me about politics. Yeah. Barack Obama follows my. My wife on Twitter. Wow, well, did you know Joe Biden, who's running for president? Listen, listen, I'm going to be honest with you. I just got out of the shower. I'm going to walk wet ass phone call.

[00:55:41]

But I know earlier you talked about medical debt. And I wanted to you know, that Joe Biden in his plan wants to end surprise medical, right?

[00:55:49]

I'm calling it. I'm calling it. That was a huge success. Huge success.

[00:55:54]

I felt like she really convinced that you push through. You push through is a hostile call. You push through. You got out some health care information. You made a connection because Barack Obama both follows this person's wife on Twitter and which is.

[00:56:12]

Was the president when Joe Biden was the vice president. And you got him to think about making a plan to vote despite a hostile call. We're calling it a win, by the way.

[00:56:20]

I think it is a win. And I just want to say I'm very curious who his wife is now. Like, I want to know more about these characters and what his wife did to earn the respect of Barack Obama.

[00:56:31]

What about his friends and about talking about the guys? They like his dad.

[00:56:36]

Yeah, retreat. Time for call number two. Izabella, this call is about economic issues. Hi, my name is Isabella, and I'm calling from the Biden Kerry's campaign. Hello. Hello. Hi. How are you doing? Good, good, good.

[00:56:56]

I want to also talk to you because I keep researching is possible for me to vote for both of these guys and just they both seem like they work so hard.

[00:57:08]

Wow. Well, great question.

[00:57:10]

I'm happy you've been engaged in the democratic process that engaged married for 15 years now. Oh, my gosh. And gradually. Thank you. My second wife twice. Wow.

[00:57:23]

Wow. Well, congratulations. But I'm so unfortunately, it's not possible to vote for two people, but so I'm here to talk to you a little bit about Joe Biden.

[00:57:32]

I'm calling from the Biden Harris campaign, the one the one the the 90 year old Biden Harris campaign. Joe Biden. Biden, yes. Yes, yeah.

[00:57:42]

He was Barack Obama's vice president. You might have heard of him and you might have seen some stuff on the news. Do you have a plan to vote right now?

[00:57:50]

Yeah, well, I want to do it. You want to do it? You know how you're going to do it? I'm going to do it by voting. That's really awesome. Are you planning to go in person or you know anything?

[00:58:00]

Do you know my wife and I don't want to die?

[00:58:03]

That's you know, that's totally understandable. I know a lot of us have concerns about covid right now. So are you planning to have you requested a mail in ballot?

[00:58:11]

No, no, no. Well, I am. I said to my wife, we should get one.

[00:58:15]

Yeah, no, I think that's really that's really smart. Well, I don't know if you've heard a vote Save America dot com.

[00:58:21]

I don't know. I don't know of any dot com, but I know all about taxes. What you can tell me about tax reform, you know, can you check to see what my refund is coming?

[00:58:34]

Well, I don't know if I can help you with that, but I can't tell you a little bit about Joe Biden. He wants to raise taxes, higher taxes on the one percent and big corporations.

[00:58:42]

Which Bush is that? Am I in this I've never been given?

[00:58:47]

Well, I don't know. I don't have access to your income. But he also has a plan to expand rent subsidies for low income families.

[00:58:55]

Oh, my gosh. I don't know. I don't know what those are. But listen, I ask you this. What's stopping me from getting rich? Maybe one day maybe my music can take off. Oh, I do. I'm proposing that.

[00:59:09]

That is really and that sounds really cool. I love ABBA. I'm a big fan of Mamma Mia. But, you know, maybe it's one thing Joe Biden really wants is he is pushing for a fifteen dollars federal minimum wage. And I'm not sure about the Joe Biden. I love them in Goodfellas.

[00:59:25]

I'm alone, the guy with the Italian accent. But does he really have what it takes to be president?

[00:59:31]

You know, I think that when you look at Joe Biden's policies, you see a lot of really great things. He supports equal pay for women.

[00:59:37]

Oh, I like that one. Joe Biden, socialist agenda damage the economy. I read on Facebook that Joe Biden is, in fact, the famous Marxist revolutionary and could to be the master shake. And I also read He Eats Baby.

[00:59:53]

Well, I know there's a lot of information on Facebook and I know some of it's reliable and some of it's not. What I do know is that Joe Biden has plans to expand the child tax credit as proposed.

[01:00:08]

Oh, OK. I'm calling it. I'm calling it. I'm calling it. Here's the thing. What I loved about what I just heard is about 15 seconds in, Josh decided he was a very old Jew. Then thirty seconds in, he realized he'd been married for fifteen years, which was not enough time I can so sick of. That's what came next second life twice removed, which I also love. And I and I. And Isabella pivoted.

[01:00:38]

She did. She steered you away from Facebook misinformation. She related to you. She didn't laugh. You said that you an doing an ABBA coming. She said she said to me, you know the things that you've heard about him being Shaid were there and eating babies. Those are just not true. And I appreciated that because I needed to hear that in order not to believe it. Yeah. There as a voter, I don't know how to fact check that information unless you call me.

[01:01:03]

So that was helpful. Tarde.

[01:01:05]

All right, Izabella, you are crushing it. All right. You're bringing in a bunch of outside. This is, I have to say, the hardest task we've ever given to anybody. We are you have to know policy. You have to deal with this maniac. All right, final. And you're crushing it.

[01:01:25]

His music career. All right. Is your final call.

[01:01:29]

You get old. Are you worried about what to do? Doesn't know if he's in the one percent on a second marriage is today.

[01:01:38]

And the one I would you know, by the way, I'm not going to lie, Isabella. I actually did phone bank and got a guy. Inspired the impression I just did for you, that is a true story. Cool. Wow, final call.

[01:01:53]

All right. Let's see what version of of a phone bank recipient Isabella gets this time. I'm very excited. This call is about criminal justice. All right, Isabel. It's your last call. Let's close the deal. You know, let's get this done.

[01:02:05]

Right. Here we go. Hi, my name is Isabella, and I'm calling from the Biden Kerry's campaign. Oh, my God.

[01:02:13]

Oh, my God. Actually, how can I convince you to vote? Oh, my gosh. You know, so I'm already planning on voting. I'm planning on voting early in-person.

[01:02:24]

How are you planning on voting and voting with both fingers on the trigger, a mask on the face, one of those face shields covering my eyes and the most badass plastic cover I can fit my body into. What was that? You want to talk about criminal justice reform? Yes, I only want justice and I love criminals and I need to know more. Yes, absolutely.

[01:02:48]

OK, so what do you do know anything about the Biden Harris criminal justice reform plan?

[01:02:53]

Is there anything I don't know about the Biden parish criminal justice plan?

[01:02:57]

My gosh, really exciting to get to talk with someone so excited to vote.

[01:03:01]

It's so exciting to be listened to and to hear someone else who also wants to vote as badly as I do.

[01:03:06]

Absolutely. Did you know that Biden and Harris are planning to decriminalize marijuana?

[01:03:11]

I'm just going to make this simple for you. There's nothing that can come out of your mouth with the words Biden and errors that I don't already know. But listen, here's the deal. I want to vote for Biden. I've always wanted to vote for Biden even before this year. But I just needed someone to call me on the phone and ask me to to say, vote for Biden while I'm here.

[01:03:32]

I'm here. And I'm happy to be. I'm just messing. I didn't need that. I was teasing. I mean, I'm as just as you are. I just ran up a wall in American Ninja Warrior, rang the bell and received this call. And I'm all in.

[01:03:46]

That's so incredible. Did you know that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have a plan to eliminate private prisons and the death penalty? And cash bail, isn't that can I tell you what I do, I just take calls from unknown callers all day hoping that they team support by an and this is like the start of a friendship that I think can go on beyond November 3rd. I'm hoping and I'm just putting together a list of people. So if you could give me your Social Security name and address, I would like to see where this friendship goes.

[01:04:20]

Really awesome. I'm calling it. I'm calling it. I'm calling it. That's it. That's a vote. We're going to call that a vote. Yeah, that's a vote. Izabella Convince. What an incredible job showing people that phone banking. Sometimes people are a little bit hostile. Sometimes they don't know what's going on. Sometimes they're super fun and enthusiastic. And you make a friend who asks for too personal of an information type of information.

[01:04:45]

That'll happen. That'll happen, you know, but it was a nice person who was talking to you about how exciting it was to vote. Isobella, thank you so much for being on the show. You did such a great job of showing people how to phone bank. John, love it.

[01:04:58]

I need to tell you something I don't know. So I am I'm a student getting rich in chemistry. And I just think that you have crooked media. Don't know how much of science you power, because like everyone I know who works in a lab, all we do all day is listen to a podcast. That's all we do. We power science, you power science. And I feel like you don't give yourself enough credit like I'm studying hepatitis B and like basically I just like I'm waiting every day on Monday when I'm like pipetting my ass is like, OK, like, when's the new pod safe going to drop?

[01:05:29]

I'm so bored.

[01:05:31]

Like, can I ask you a question? Is anyone in the medical community inspired by sixteen hundred pennies well. Or frozen or anything. I did or didn't.

[01:05:39]

You know I have listened to Frozen before. Not going to lie and like some singing frozen. Absolutely. So I would say yeah I don't know if I've ever watched TV or movies and I was hoping for a more direct connection like the one you gave John.

[01:05:54]

But it's cool. It's cool.

[01:05:57]

Yeah. I'm sorry, Josh, but we have a connection. Yes.

[01:06:01]

If you do you Izabella don't indulge him. All right. Don't indulge in. Thank you so much. Yes.

[01:06:09]

And by the way, I don't know how you can listen to the show and think I don't give myself enough credit, but I understand I understand the point you're making. And Josh Gad, it was so wonderful to have you on the show. We've been trying to get you on here for such a long time that is scheduling the scandal that that is so difficult.

[01:06:31]

You're constantly making frozen. You hear the mike. I try to book you and then it's like, I can't. I got to go be OK. I lost time shooting Avenue five. I'm so busy, so busy, busy, busy. I would love to be on maybe next maybe next fall. Oh well.

[01:06:50]

And everyone and everybody listening to everybody listening.

[01:06:56]

You can sign up for a virtual phone bank right now. You can do it from your couch. You do a bunch of other volunteering to just go to vote. Save America dotcom slash volunteer Isobella. Wonderful. Josh much.

[01:07:09]

We'd love to have you back on next couple of years. Try to find out in a couple of years.

[01:07:13]

Yeah, totally. Totally. I got to either do this all together or from another country. It'll be great. Just like all you guys. Bye everybody. When we come back.

[01:07:27]

But then on a high note, don't go anywhere. There's more of love it or leave it coming up. Love it or leave it is brought to you by better help. Is something preventing you from achieving your goals. Oh boy. Personal experience. Pull up a chair, get comfortable. A lot of things preventing me from achieving my goals.

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Knee pain covid climate change is hard for me.

[01:07:52]

Love it. I tried a different service once. There wasn't better help or I just went on this message board. Sure.

[01:07:58]

And I took guidance from this therapist named Q OK, it's just it, it went badly. It didn't go well for you. I mean is Q A cognitive behavioral list is Q A union. I don't know.

[01:08:08]

But all of a sudden I found myself at the Hoover Dam and it was just as bad news. Oh so sounds Freudian.

[01:08:15]

Yeah. Better help is committed to facilitating great therapeutic matches so they make it easy and for you to change counselors if needed, the service is available for clients worldwide and it's more affordable than traditional offline counseling. They even offer financial aid. There is a broad range of expertise available which may not be locally available in many areas. They offer licensed professional counselors who are specialized in depression, anger, stress, anxiety, relationship sleeping and trauma. In fact, so many people have been using better help.

[01:08:40]

They are recruiting additional counselors in all 50 states.

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Get help, give help, both available to you.

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You can schedule a weekly video or phone sessions, all without ever having to sit in an uncomfortable waiting room. The service is both convenient and affordable and. Anything you share is confidential. We want you to start living a happier life today. As a listener, you'll get 10 percent off your first month by visiting better health outcomes. Love it. Join over one million people taking charge of their mental health. Again, that's better help. Better HIV l.p dotcoms.

[01:09:11]

Love it.

[01:09:12]

Turn on Fox News. Every person there needs therapy. They just stop pretending that everybody doesn't need therapy. You all need therapy, get some therapy, love it or leave.

[01:09:21]

It is brought to you by Kalpen approves this message. Kalpen has issues that he wants to talk about on his new Freeform original series. Kal Penn approves this message. He digs deep into the major issues of the election that young people are passionate about education, judges, health care, climate change and the power of the youth vote hosted by Kal Penn, our friend.

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It's an unscripted comedic look at the election that gives you all the knowledge you need to kick twenty 20-20 in the ballots free forms. Kal Penn approves this message now streaming new episodes Wednesday on Hulu. Check it out.

[01:09:54]

And we're back because we all need it this week. Here it is, the high notes submitted by our listeners.

[01:09:59]

Hey, love it. This is Ashley calling from Ohio. And my note from this week was watching the lines for Franklin County and Hamilton County in all the Ohio counties just lined up with what looks like a billion people. And I think Ohio might be a swing state, but it was really encouraging to see. So have a good week.

[01:10:20]

I on my high note of the week is that my sisters and I finally got my dad to register to vote and through social pressure, got his sisters to register. So my dad and my two ends all the voting for the first time ever for Biden. I am very excited and very hopeful for the election and November 3rd. Thanks. Hi, John.

[01:10:48]

This is Holly from Glendale. My high note this week is I recently finished my tour of duty as a census enumerator, which I found surprisingly rewarding. And now I'm using my free time to make calls for the Pennsylvania Democrats to help Pennsylvania go back to being blue. By the way, banking is way easier than system. We're knocking. Take care. Bye.

[01:11:08]

Thanks to everybody who sent in those high notes. If you want to leave us a message about something that gave you hope, you can call us at four two four three four one four one nine three. There are twenty four days left in this election. Sign up and vote Save America Dotcom right now to elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to keep the House to win back the Senate and to elect Democrats up and down the ballot. Thank you so much to Senator Brian Shots, Josh Gad and Emily Heller and everyone who called in.

[01:11:34]

Thank you to everyone out there volunteering, calling, texting and donating, spending every waking moment, trying to win this election. Twenty four days left. Let's win this fucking thing and have a great weekend.

[01:11:46]

Love it or leave it is a crooked media production, it is written and produced by me, Jon Lovett, Elisa Gutierrez, Lee Eisenberg are head writer and the person whose gender reveal party started the fire, Travis Helwig, Jocelyn Kaufman Pahlevi, Gwendoline and Peter Miller are the writers are assistant producer is Sidney Rapp. Bill Lance is our editor and Kyle Segment is our sound engineer. Our theme song is written and performed by Shirker, thanks to our designers Jesse McClain and Jamie Skil for creating and running all of our visuals, which you can't see because this is a podcast.

[01:12:13]

And to our digital producers Nahm Melkonian and Milo Kim for filming and editing video each week so you can.