Drowsy Don on Trial

Brian Derrick: [00:00:00] No hush money. No drunk history

Glennis Meagher: Gettysburg monologues.

Brian Derrick: Just vibes. Welcome to Vibes Only, a podcast that checks the vibes of American politics every week. And the vibes this week.

Ari Melber: Today is the first time Donald Trump sat as a defendant for the actual start of any criminal trial.

Chris Hayes: I do feel like if you, if you call your opponent sleepy Joe, you have one job.

Glennis Meagher: After Brian and I talked about the sleepy start to the Trump trial, we’ll bring on Cameron Stevenson. Founding editor and chief political correspondent for the Copper Courier, we’ll take a deeper look into the Arizona Supreme Court decision that enacted a no exceptions abortion ban from 1864.

Donald Trump: And I stand with the Speaker.

We’ve had a very good relationship.

Glennis Meagher: We’ll talk about Trump’s nod of approval for MAGA Mike, and if it’ll be enough to call off MAGA Marjorie.

Brian Derrick: Stick around for an It’s Giving, our group chat, and a good vibe to say goodbye. Let’s do it! All right, Gigi, before we jump in, tell our loyal fans and listeners, who [00:01:00] is the celebrity?

Glennis Meagher: No way. Yes. That’s the secret. Spill.

Brian Derrick: Spill. No,

Glennis Meagher: I’m not going to tell the world who the celebrity is. For those who don’t follow me on Instagram, an A list celebrity recently moved to the neighborhood and 13 year old me is thrilled.

Brian Derrick: I feel like we owe it to our listeners to give them better content. No.

This is

Glennis Meagher: going to. I’ll tell you on November 6th, 2024. Oh, what? The day after the election.

Brian Derrick: Why would, okay, alright. We’ll leave it a mystery for now.

Glennis Meagher: Yeah, something that’s not a mystery. Trump is on trial.

Brian Derrick: This is a big deal. It’s the first time an American president has ever been tried for a crime.

Glennis Meagher: It’s kind of wackadoodle time.

I feel like it has started.

Brian Derrick: Totally. So case kicked off on Monday and there are no charges Cameras allowed in New York courtrooms. So we’re not getting the daytime courtroom drama that everybody probably wants as a distraction from their life.

Glennis Meagher: Not I.

Brian Derrick: I know it would [00:02:00] be miserable. You’re right. It would, it would be really terrible.

So we’re spared. Let’s say we’re going to be spared from the clips and et cetera. And all we’ll have is caricaturists drawings of Trump asleep at the defendant’s table.

Glennis Meagher: Yeah. And just for a reminder for all, because again, there are a lot of Trump trials going on. He’s on trial for falsifying for allegedly falsifying business records to reimburse his former fixer Michael Cohen for paying adult film star Stormy Daniels 130, 000 in October of 2016 to stay quiet about an alleged affair with Donald Trump

Brian Derrick: immediately after Melania had a

Glennis Meagher: baby,

Brian Derrick: a baby, right?

Glennis Meagher: Yeah.

Brian Derrick: What a guy.

Glennis Meagher: I know. What a guy. I mean, like, are we surprised? No. Is anyone shocked? Are you shocked? No,

Brian Derrick: no. Yeah. So it’s not the case about the classified documents at Mar a Lago. It’s not the case about setting a mob upon the Capitol. And it’s not the case about fake electors [00:03:00] and election interference in Georgia.

It’s the case about election interference in New York because this was a campaign expenditure, trying to preserve a false image of you before an election, let you win. This happened in October 2016, like you said, is against the law to do it in the way that they did while falsifying records to cover it up.

Glennis Meagher: Yeah. He claims to be a good Christian man, and this is not that. Not that

Brian Derrick: not that. But now we get a jury of his peers.

Glennis Meagher: Here we go.

Brian Derrick: I think that Trump has made a big to do about where some of these trials are taking place. And like the idea that it’s impossible to get a fair jury pool for him in New York because obviously New York votes predominantly Democratic.

But I honestly think that it’s just as likely that you get one secret trumper because all it takes is one for a hung jury. Right. Many, like many. And, and so the idea that like, oh. He thinks that the system is rigged and is going to get [00:04:00] 100 percent anti Trump jurors versus the idea that he could just get one very pro Trump person on there.

Feels like, I don’t know. We’ll have to see what the perception is. I’m not a, we’re entering our courtroom era. We are going to be talking about court so much over the next couple of months. Trump will be in court in New York four days a week as this trial begins. And there are other cases coming. And so I will be the first to admit that I’m not, I’m not like a courtroom drama person.

I was never the judge Judy girl school. No, no law and order, no true crime for me. It’s not my jam. I have enough, there’s enough darkness in the world. I don’t need to like. Spoon feed my brain that low

Glennis Meagher: vibe. Yeah.

Brian Derrick: And so I do it’s new. Yeah. I watch it all. You can be, you can be our judge, Judy, and I’ll, I can be bailiff.

Glennis Meagher: I, you know, you think that it’s just going to take one anti Trump or sorry, pro Trump person on the jury to have like [00:05:00] a hung jury. But I think there’s so much distrust in the system in total at the moment that people, you know, I saw this interview on the internet, so it, it’s, it’s Must be true. But it actually was on the Washington post, uh, social media.

Uh, and they were asking New Yorkers, could you be fair? And some were like, no, some were like, yeah. And another guy was like, I definitely could be, but I would be more like questioning everything else around it. Not like how I feel about Donald Trump, but like the evidence. So whatever. And I was like, Ooh, I hadn’t thought about that, but there’s a lot of just distrust in the system.

And I think that could come into play here

Brian Derrick: before we move on from this. Do you feel like you would be an impartial juror?

Glennis Meagher: Yes, I do. I actually, I was talking to our lawyer friend in chief, Emily Amick, and I was telling her how, when I recently had jury duty for this murder trial, also I texted the group chat, how like when I was in that jury duty, And like the, the defendants like in the room and I was like, Oh, that’s kind of crazy.

Like they’re asking you all these questions and like the defendants just staring at you. And then I was thinking about that for the jury. What if [00:06:00] Trump was just in that room?

Brian Derrick: Just to clarify, I’m not talking about your murder trial. I’m talking about Trump. You would be a fair jurist. In the Trump case,

Glennis Meagher: I would, I really believe that I would, because even one, I would never be selected because of my job and what I do, but I would look at the evidence presented to me.

Brian Derrick: And say, guilty as charged.

Glennis Meagher: No, I like to think that I would actually. Were, was like the law correctly interpreted? Is the, what is it like the, the prosecution’s job is like to prove without a reasonable doubt that that person is guilty? I know your answer, you’re like, no way.

Brian Derrick: No, I would be more fair than you, for sure.

Why do you think you would be more fair than me? I think that I’m less personally triggered by Donald Trump than you are. I think that you hate Trump more than me.

Glennis Meagher: LOL, we should start a tracker, who hates Trump more?

Brian Derrick: Well, We will be giving [00:07:00] here. I think that here’s here’s our commitment. We won’t cover every twist and turn of the entire trial.

It’s not everything that comes out of it is important and not everything that makes news needs to be paid attention to. But we will check in when important things are happening because this does have an impact on the 2024 election, which impacts not only us, but also the future of our democracy and the state of the world at large.

So it is important. But I think that we need to like look at it through a lens of what matters here and not turn it actually into a circus or an afterschool courtroom drama.

Glennis Meagher: Yeah. I do think that ship has kind of sailed a little bit. Like Donald Trump has created the circus by which he is the ringmaster.

But I agree with you that we cannot lose sight of what this actually means for our democracy. And I am on the record as saying that I would be. Super fair.

Brian Derrick: You heard it here first. Yeah. [00:08:00] A lie. This is again, in my You heard it.

Glennis Meagher: I’m laying the groundwork for my ultimate nomination in the Supreme Court of the United States of America.

Yeah,

Brian Derrick: exactly. Exactly.

Well, we have lots of courtrooms to be talking about because we are still reeling from the decision that got handed down from the Arizona Supreme Court last week. And here to talk about it with us is Cameron Stevenson. Cameron is the founding editor and chief political correspondent for the Copper Courier.

Welcome to the pod, Cameron.

Camaron Stevenson: so much. Thanks for having me on.

Glennis Meagher: What’s the vibe like in Arizona? It’s pretty shocking to kind of go back to a bill from 1864 as The law of the land.

Camaron Stevenson: Yeah, it’s, I, the vibe, I guess, would be surreal anger and motivated by fear, I guess. It’s, you know, this band has been a looming presence since [00:09:00] the 19th century.

Roe v. Wade paused it so that it couldn’t be enacted. And then when Roe was overturned two years ago, legislators here, who are very against abortion, have, were scrambling to find ways to put it in place. They’d been passing little abortion bans. over the years leading up to to Roe being overturned and anticipation of it happening.

And so for us, it’s kind of been just a matter of time, but when it actually, you know, when the Supreme Court ruling actually came out and they said that this ban could go into an effect, which is a total ban on abortions, there’s no exceptions for victims of sexual assault. There’s no time limit for, you know, of course, Four weeks, six weeks, 15, it’s, it’s just done unless it’s to save the life of the mother.

But even then, that’s up to the discretion of a doctor who has You know, presumably the law breathing down their neck so it’s it’s basically gonna be non existent

Brian Derrick: and if they make the wrong call It’s jail time for the doctor, right? Like this is this makes it a felony

Camaron Stevenson: a [00:10:00] minimum two years in prison and not just for the doctor for anyone involved So If, if your partner is driving you to the hospital or picks up your medication, they in theory could be prosecuted as well.

So

Brian Derrick: abhorrent.

Glennis Meagher: It’s, it’s so archaic. I’m reading here in the notes, this, this law predates Arizona statehood. And I also was doing some research about the guy who wrote the law, who ends up. He’s a child bride collector. Like truly, he was married and divorced multiple times. His first marriage was to a 12 year old in his thirties.

He yes, I know Brian it’s, it’s horrific. He married a 15 year old when he was almost 50 and then went on to marry other women who were, you know, 40 years younger than him. So safe to say this guy didn’t have women’s best interests. at heart here.

Camaron Stevenson: No, no. I mean, that’s probably the most generous description you could you could make of this guy.

No, he definitely viewed women regardless of age as property and [00:11:00] treated them as such.

Brian Derrick: That’s horrifying. And I just want to clarify for our listeners, what is the law right now in Arizona? Is this is this ban in effect currently? When would it be in effect? Like should people What should someone do if they are hearing this from Arizona and potentially need help?

Camaron Stevenson: That’s a great question. And I’ll start off by saying that abortion clinics are still operating. Clinics who provide abortion related health care and services, they have said that they will not stop providing service until they are mandated by a court to do so. And that mandate hasn’t happened yet. So that is still available.

There’s a lot of confusion as to when this is actually going to go into effect. We’ve heard as as soon as 14 days from the ruling, which would be next week. However, there were other bans and other provisions in the, the judicial process where an agreement was made between two parties saying, you know, whatever the judge justices decide, we’re going to wait 60 days.

And so now that’s going back to the lower [00:12:00] courts for them to kind of hash out and figure out, but it’s, it’s safe to say that, you know, by middle of summer, they will be banned here. Now we do have a little bit of. Uh, silver lining, I guess you could call it in the sense that our attorney general here is very supportive of abortion services and healthcare.

Uh, she won by less than 300 votes in the last election. Out of literally

Brian Derrick: out of

Camaron Stevenson: over two and a half million. Yeah. If anyone says, uh, my vote doesn’t matter, I will point to attorney general Chris Mays 10 times out of 10 prime example, her, her predecessor and the person she ran against were very, are very supportive of the total ban.

She has since. Taking office, been given total control over the enforcement of abortion laws in the state by our Democratic governor, Katie Hobbs. And she said she’s not prosecuting. The county attorneys are not allowed to prosecute. Law enforcement cannot bring charges. It’s all dependent on her staying in office, but it does allow a little bit of breathing room

Brian Derrick: there.

So I just want to connect some dots for listeners because I [00:13:00] know that people are always looking for reasons for hope and to feel empowered in our democracy. So in 2022, Over two and a half million votes cast for Arizona’s attorney general, Chris Mays wins first out LGBT statewide elected official in Arizona, I think, and now is able to, at least in part, hold this horrifying law from 1864 at bay because of her win by 280 something I’ll see you soon.

votes. Incredible. That is the power of a vote. That is the power of being involved in elections down ballot. Yeah. for highlighting that. That’s a big deal. Yeah.

Glennis Meagher: All of the offices matter to and thank you for highlighting how her position can then, you know, at least put a stopgap against the state Supreme Court who’s, you know, outlawing abortions.

And then she’s able to say, well, we’re not gonna prosecute them. So yes, your vote does matter.

Brian Derrick: I actually agree. Yeah. Would also love to understand [00:14:00] what the role of the legislature is in this. Couldn’t the legislature act now to just change the law?

Camaron Stevenson: Yes, they 100%, 200 percent absolutely could. They could get rid of this law.

The ban isn’t part of the constitution, so they wouldn’t need to do anything special. Just a simple vote by our elected officials. And actually one of our Democratic representatives, Stephanie Stahl Hamilton, she introduced a bill in January that would repeal the total ban. Uh, it was completely ignored by the Republicans who control the state legislature here.

They didn’t give it a hearing. They didn’t let it, you know, be open to debate or discussion, which has turned into a very interesting turn of events because a number of Republicans in our state legislature now have come out against the total ban. And so they’ve, they’ve tried to backtrack and tried to say that we’re, you know, we’re, we’re moderate.

We don’t want this total ban. And then, uh, I mean, the most recent example is that they. still won’t let [00:15:00] the ban, the repeal for the ban come to a vote. They actually shut off the microphones of Democrats who tried to propose it last week. They tried to bring it to the floor to discuss and debate and to vote on.

And they literally shut off their mics and concluded the session for the day. So they couldn’t discuss it.

Glennis Meagher: Going back to the moderation of it all that the moderation like language that you’re talking about happening in Arizona, Donald Trump is doing the same thing. We saw last week that he took a step back and was like, well, let’s leave it up to the states.

And we saw what that looks like. Arizona is like, it’s a key swing state. There’s 11, electoral college votes up for grabs. How are you feeling about the presidential?

Camaron Stevenson: Yeah. So again, this is going to, it’s going to create a really odd schism. Cause even while I said that there are Republican legislators verbally coming out against the band, even though they still privately support it, we have our own Arizona freedom caucus here of, you know, ultra MAGA pro Trump supporters who came out in support of the band.

And they said, you know, this [00:16:00] is great. The more bands, the better, you know, let’s ban it more if we can. And so now they’re at odds with, you know, former president Donald Trump’s alleged, you know, his claim that he wants. And yeah, I, but you know, he’ll, he says six things, six different ways on, you know, any given moment.

So it’s, I think again, actions speak louder than words. And people know him as the president who appointed Supreme Court justices specifically to allow these bans to take place. And so, you know, without any actual action in support of, of women’s rights, I think everyone who is supportive of this ballot initiative to protect reproductive rights in our constitution is going to take notice of that in November.

Glennis Meagher: Pam, thank you so much for joining us. If you want to follow more, what are your Instagram TikToks? What’s the handle? We’ll get people there. Follow for all news Arizona.

Camaron Stevenson: Yeah. No, thank you both. First of all, for having me on here. [00:17:00] Um, a lot, especially for the next, you know, six to eight months, Arizona news is national news.

And so no matter where you are, It’s worth a chance. It’s worth a follow to check us out. Um, our handle is just, it’s at copper courier, um, on every social platform. Uh, copper, C O P V E R C O U R I E R.

Glennis Meagher: Awesome. Pam. Thank you so much. I’m sure we’ll be talking to you again soon. Uh, we’re New Yorkers. We’re not in Arizona and we need the tea from you.

Brian Derrick: Definitely. Glennis, where were you for the 15th vote for Kevin McCarthy for Speaker of the House?

Glennis Meagher: I don’t know. Probably in this seat at my desk. Picture it.

Brian Derrick: January 2023. We might be right back there again soon because there is some real drama a brewin in the House of Representatives.

Glennis Meagher: Yeah, Marjorie Taylor Greene is at it again.

Brian Derrick: Exactly. Marjorie Taylor Greene filed a motion to vacate Right after the House passed [00:18:00] a package to avert a government shutdown, which would be terrible for America, Republicans would have been blamed for, etc. So,

Glennis Meagher: Objectively bad.

Brian Derrick: Objectively bad. They, they averted that. And so she wanted to punish someone for, for that.

So she filed a motion to vacate. This is what happened to Kevin McCarthy with Matt Gaetz, if we all remember that. That’s how we ended up with Mike Johnson, a speaker. And that’s just kind of been sitting there for a while. And it seemed for a long time, like nothing was going to happen. That she was just Marjorie, man, Marjorie, like she’s out on a limb.

She’s kind of a cuckoo bird to begin with. And so this week the house is trying to move a bunch of different legislation, including a foreign aid package that has to do with Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan, as well as other like must pass. And now suddenly conservatives are losing their minds about any kind of compromise or like common sense solution to any of these like very difficult problems and they’re threatening to oust Mike [00:19:00] Johnson.

Glennis Meagher: All conservatives or like the Marjorie Taylor Greene subsection of conservatives?

Brian Derrick: We are learning about this in real time. I should have started there. You undoubtedly listening to this, we’ll have information, important information that we do not have right now, because this is a story that is developing in real time.

I’m actively getting push notifications about it. There are a growing number of Republicans saying that they are down to push Mike Johnson out as speaker. I believe Thomas Massey is like leading that effort to, to he’s like another house freedom caucus, super far right. Dude, here’s

Glennis Meagher: what really chops my ass about the conservative party.

Maga Mike Johnson is also super conservative. He’s essentially a Christian nationalist. So I kind of lose my footing sometimes in this, this alt right world, because I’m like, who, what? What’s all this? That part, that part. Exciting.

Brian Derrick: So let’s talk about that. Why are all of these MAGA people so upset with their [00:20:00] fellow MAGA speaker of the house?

Because what they’re actually upset about is how our government works. Like how our democracy is designed to function is through compromise, right? That’s the only way that things can pass both chambers and be signed into law because we have a divided government right now, and so. What they’re actually upset about is our system of self governance itself, because anyone that they put into that role has the exact same challenges and competing incentives, and the only way through is compromise.

And if you’re unwilling to compromise on absolutely anything, then you literally cannot accomplish anything.

Glennis Meagher: And

Brian Derrick: so what we are stuck in is this cycle of Republicans essentially taking umbrage with our system of government, blaming it on the speaker, pushing them out, replacing them with someone further right.

Same thing happens again, pushing them out, replacing [00:21:00] them with someone further to the right. And they’re not understanding that at the end of the day, anyone who wants to pass a government funding bill is going to have to make compromises no matter how far right their personal beliefs are. So, Mike Johnson holds a presser and says, I’m not resigning.

And apparently this happened right after Thomas Massey, who’s a Republican House member from Kentucky, stood up and said, Mike Johnson, you have to resign so that we can pick somebody new.

Glennis Meagher: But who are they gonna pick? It literally is giving mean girls, she doesn’t go here. That’s the energy I’m getting.

Brian Derrick: Yeah, it really is. It’s a lot of just bickering and really petty like personality clashes. It’s, it’s a disaster. These are not people that are serious or concerned about. Like working for the American people. And so what, what could happen this week? Well, Mike Johnson says he won’t resign, but if a bunch of Republicans start coming out in favor of pushing him out, he might, if so we would [00:22:00] immediately be in the position that we were six months ago.

When they did McCarthy and there’s no clear successor as we saw that time when it was almost Jim Jordan. Like who knows who knows what what could happen next and tell

Glennis Meagher: her green?

Brian Derrick: No, definitely not. Definitely not. Um, or Mike Johnson could be saved either by Republicans. If they kind of change their minds or, or make some, some sort of consent, he makes some sort of concession to the far right or by Democrats by pushing forward the bipartisan legislation that’s already passed the Senate that everybody wants to become law.

And that seems to me at this moment in time, it changes by the hour, but seems to be like the most likely scenario is a bipartisan push forward on the

Glennis Meagher: legislation for you on the Taiwan.

Brian Derrick: It would, it would do, it could be two birds, one stone where we pass the aid. And Mike Johnson is saved. If Democrats save him once, he’s likely not going to [00:23:00] get ousted next week.

Like, like he’ll, he’ll, he’ll sort of, uh, strengthen his position as speaker for the time being

Glennis Meagher: hot mess

Brian Derrick: express. Absolutely.

Glennis Meagher: Dot com dot edu dot gov. Like get it together. Get a grip, Republicans. Here’s my next question for you. You’re my in house conservative brain trust that Donald Trump, daddy Donald just was on the record with Maga Mike Johnson at an event saying I stand with the speaker.

So now Marjorie Taylor Greene at all are going against their Messiah, Donald Trump.

Brian Derrick: Exactly. So I think that Trump is coming into this thinking we just need to look like the adults in the room and they’re not. So it’s kind of two kids stacked on top of each other with a trench coat on trying to get into an R rated movie.

LOL.

Glennis Meagher: But

Brian Derrick: that’s kind of what they have to deal with is Marjorie Taylor Greene stacked on top of Lauren Boebert stacked on top of Thomas Massey [00:24:00] and you have a mess. So Mike Johnson flies down to Florida to stand next to Donald Trump to try to hang on to the speakership and maybe get like one thing done while he’s at the helm of the conservative party in the house.

And. They have this odd press conference around election integrity and basically try to use this photo opportunity to push back on Marjorie Taylor Greene’s effort to oust him. I think that Trump is coming into this thinking, we just need to look. Like the adults in the room and they’re not so it’s kind of two kids stacked on top of each other with a trench coat on trying to get into an R rated movie, but that’s kind of what they have to deal with is the Marjorie Taylor Greene stacked on top of Lauren Boebert stacked on top of Thomas Massey and you have a mess and To try to draw attention to lies about the election.

Because that’s all that Trump can really talk about.

Glennis Meagher: And [00:25:00] I laughed in my head because they unveiled, this is the blind leading the blind, they unveiled a bill Friday that would ban non citizens from voting in elections, despite it already being illegal. I read it and I was like, wait, what? Non citizens can vote and then finish the sentence.

Brian Derrick: I didn’t read the bill because that’s never going to become law. But because, because exactly as you’re saying, it’s, it’s, yeah, a hundred percent. There’s no evidence that non citizens are casting votes in any sort of significant numbers. It’s a myth. And they just love a mythological boogeyman to run against, you know?

So non citizen dead zombie voters. 2024. So we have the governor of New Hampshire, Chris

on George Stephanopoulos’s show, talking about all the wonderful reasons that he supports Donald Trump.

George Stephanopoulos: Just to sum up, you would, you support him for president, even if he’s convicted of classified documents, you support him [00:26:00] for president, even though you believe he contributed to an insurrection, you support him for president, even though you believe he’s lying.

about the last election. You’d support him for president, even if he’s convicted in the Manhattan case. I just want to say the answer to that is yes. Correct?

Chris Sununu: Yeah. Me and 51 percent of America.

Brian Derrick: It’s giving, because we know that if you let Chris Tanuno near a cliff that his friends are jumping off of, we know exactly where he’s going, baby.

Are you kidding me? It’s giving brainwash. Yeah, truly. It is. It is giving brainwashed. It’s giving ride or die. If someone, if someone said that about me, I would be like, we have to get married. If I literally like murdered someone, stole something, blah, blah, blah. And you’re still, you’re with me. I’m like, wow, that’s, that’s a ride or die.

It’s giving

Glennis Meagher: Chris a new, new is to Lulu. Okay. That was bad. Sorry. I just came to me. That’s internet speak for delusional. By the way.

Brian Derrick: Yeah, it’s sad. For those who have never [00:27:00] heard of Chris Nunudu before, he is actually, was this really moderate Republican guy, super popular governor of New Hampshire, considered to run for president.

And to, and he believes all of the, all of those things. He came out so forcefully against Trump after January 6th. And that interview more than anything shows the absolute jellyfish that Republicans have become, where they have. Zero spine to stand up to Trump and

Glennis Meagher: worms for brains. It is giving worms for brains

Brian Derrick: for score.

And we have a

Glennis Meagher: double header.

Brian Derrick: We have another one. This

Glennis Meagher: one kind of killed me because he goes on a weird, just a weird Irish accent at one point. We’re talking about Donald Donald Trump. He was giving a speech at Gettysburg, the battlefield. And he just like was really off script more than normal

Donald Trump: Gettysburg.

What an unbelievable. Battle that was, the Battle of Gettysburg, what an unbelievable, I mean it was so much and so interesting and so [00:28:00] vicious and horrible and so beautiful in so many different ways. It represented such a big portion of the success of this country. Gettysburg, wow. I go to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to look and to watch.

And, uh, the statement of Robert E. Lee, who’s no longer in favor, did you ever notice that? No longer in favor. Never fight uphill, me boys. Never fight uphill.

Brian Derrick: Me boys! It’s giving word count. Like, when you didn’t do the homework, you didn’t do the reading. You gotta get there. You have to get to that 500 minimum word count for, for class.

And it’s like, it was beautiful. It was historic and beautiful. It was beautiful and historic. And it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was, like, what are you, you haven’t said anything. What are you talking about? It’s giving,

Glennis Meagher: like, theater minor who forgot her monologue and just keeps going.

Okay, Brian, let’s talk about our group chat. Okay, I said something in the group chat because you know me [00:29:00] I have a Clarence Thomas watch. I’m a watcher. I want to know where he is. What is

Brian Derrick: this is piping? This T is like he’s

Glennis Meagher: Missing in action. He didn’t show up to work.

Brian Derrick: Oh, my God. Wait. I love that. You’re like, immediately 48 hour mystery.

Okay, he’s not missing. But Clarence Thomas is not

Glennis Meagher: at work.

Brian Derrick: Clarence Thomas skipped oral arguments yesterday is when all of the Supreme Court justices show up and listen to lawyers argue. It’s a very important part of the

Glennis Meagher: process.

Brian Derrick: It is. And usually when they are not there, they either join remotely or they at least say why.

And he was just poof. He was gone. He was not there. And no one knows why.

Glennis Meagher: You got one job. It’s a pretty important one. You can’t just show up without an excuse. Okay. You need an excuse.

Brian Derrick: I mean, who cares? I hope he never comes back. I just want to know what’s happening. Same. That’s

Glennis Meagher: what I was saying. I was, I was like, this is it.

Brian Derrick: Yeah. [00:30:00] So that would be probably the biggest thing of the whole year that could happen this year would be if Clarence Thomas.

Glennis Meagher: Retires, retires.

Brian Derrick: Yeah. It’s for any reason, unable to continue to fill, fulfill his duties. Then we would immediately be in Supreme court nomination mode. Joe Biden would get to pick the replacement huge deal.

It would make, it would be, it would be huge. It would be, It would be a transformational moment for, for that was, so

Glennis Meagher: I was, I was fire fingers last night. I was sending that out to folks being like, he’s gone. He’s not here.

Brian Derrick: Yeah. I think the last thing I sent you in the group chat was the Suffs clip. Did you watch it on Fox News?

Oh,

Glennis Meagher: I did. Kind of. Yeah, they were like making fun of. Oh my God.

Brian Derrick: Yes.

Glennis Meagher: Okay. Suffs is a musical on Broadway that is about suffragettes. And last week, Brian, Emily Amick, we’ve had on the pod and Annie Wu, who we’ve had on the pod, did a talk back after the show [00:31:00] with one of the stars of the show, correct?

Brian Derrick: Correct.

Nicky James, also a personal friend. And, um, Fox news covered this show to say how outrageous this Broadway show is and how people should be so upset and offended by its content, which is literally a musical history of women winning the right to vote in America. Like that’s your boogeyman prime time.

Jesse Waters villain is women voting. Oh my God. What? What is happening in this country? What is going on over there? Fox needs

Glennis Meagher: to get a grip. Get a grip.

Brian Derrick: I was really, I’m, I’m still, I am still shook by that. It’s a very good musical and I learned a lot. And I work in the, like, civil rights and civic engagement space and I still, I learned so much.

Highly recommend if you’re able in New York to go see it.

Glennis Meagher: [00:32:00] Noted.

Brian Derrick: If not, if for no other reason than to spite Jesse Waters because what a, I can’t say it, what a, what a,

Glennis Meagher: what a loser. Literally, what a loser. I think that’s like the best insult now. Like you’re a loser.

Brian Derrick: What else was in the group chat? What was

Glennis Meagher: in my group chat?

Because people like the non political stuff.

Brian Derrick: Caitlin Clarke. She’s making about as much as a

Glennis Meagher: an unpaid artist in New York City. The numbers are abysmal. I hope more people see this. Betcha’s News posted about it and they have like a good chart. She got drafted first round WNBA. I, her, I’m not gonna get this number absolutely correct, but her first year salary is somewhere between like nine, 70, 000 and 80, 000.

Brian Derrick: Nope. It’s like 78, 000.

Glennis Meagher: And like, I assume she can get sponsorships, et cetera, but that’s besides the point. Her base salary from the team should be better funded. Hard stop. Yeah.

Brian Derrick: No, it’s offensive. They had a graphic. I’ve seen a couple graphics that were comparing it to what, [00:33:00] um, first round picks for the NBA are, and it’s like, Yeah, right, right.

And it’s, it’s obviously in the millions. Yeah. It’s like 10 million. And for her to be making under a hundred K is like,

Glennis Meagher: Totally. It’s like a systematic framework snapshot of like how unfair it is.

Brian Derrick: A hundred percent. Our, our producer is reacting, which tells me that this has not permeated the internet yet.

If you do not know what we’re talking about, go Google Caitlin Clark salary and start reading baby, because this world that we lived in, that we live in, Is not ready for prime time yet. We have work to do.

Glennis Meagher: That’s right.

Brian Derrick: Okay, ladies. Now let’s get in formation. Should we leave them with a good vibe?

Glennis Meagher: Uh, yeah.

Brian Derrick: People love to think that running the government is like waving a magic wand, but in reality, it’s more like Lincoln logs and you have to do one thing and then stack the next thing on top of it and on top of it and on top of it. And that is how you build. [00:34:00] Sustainable, powerful, progressive movements. And this week we are celebrating another log being added, uh, around gun safety.

If you remember back in 2022, Biden signed the first major gun reform legislation in 30 years. And we’ve already forgotten about it, which is insane to me, but got the first bipartisan Any, any sort of gun safety reform passed and signed into law now in the process of iterating upon that law and like doing reviews and issuing new rules, they have now issued a new rule requiring.

Background checks for all gun sales, closing the gun show loophole that we have literally been talking about for decades now and online show

Glennis Meagher: loophole. Was that a loophole that I could go to a gun show and just buy a gun?

Brian Derrick: That’s exactly right. And if, as long as you were buying from like some rando at a gun show, then they didn’t have to run a background check on you and you could just buy it.[00:35:00]

And no more new rule says you have to run a criminal and mental health background check on potential buyers of guns, period. And so this is a really big deal. It’s like probably Biden’s boldest action on gun safety as an executive decision. And. While there are going to be core challenges, we are definitely excited and celebrating bold progress on the issue of preventing gun violence.

Good vibe. Good vibe for the week. For sure. Thanks for listening.

Glennis Meagher: That’s all the vibes for this week. Thanks for listening. If you want to join our group chat, email us at vibes at career newsroom dot com. Check back in next week for some more vibes. See you then.

Brian Derrick: Vibes Only is a production of Courier. A civic media company that protects and strengthens our democracy through credible, fact based journalism, and seeks to create a more informed, engaged, and representative America.

Vibes Only is produced by Devin Maroney, with support [00:36:00] from couriers Kyle Tharp, Arcee Dimezzo, and Daniel Strasberger. Tara McGowan is founder and publisher of Courier.