It's Thursday, October 31st.Happy Halloween to those who celebrate.I'm Jane Koston, and this is Whatta Day, the show where we have already stress-eaten the candy we're supposed to hand out tonight.Do kids take Venmo?
On today's show, we deep dive into how Dems are leaning into using social media to get the word out.And Elon Musk thinks Donald Trump could bring some temporary hardship for everyday Americans.But that's a good thing.Let's get started.
The backlash to Donald Trump's Madison Square Garden rally has been fierce.
As I've talked about on the show, it featured a cavalcade of offensive comments, from jokes about how cheap Jewish people are to a riff about how Latinos just have too many babies.
But what stuck was a joke about how Puerto Rico is a floating island of garbage.Major Puerto Rican artists with tens of millions of social media followers have since thrown their support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.
Chief among them, Bad Bunny. And on Wednesday, Nicky Jam walked back his previous endorsement of Trump in a video to his 40 million social media followers.
He's saying there, never in my life did I think that a month later a comedian was going to criticize my land and speak badly about my land.And for this, I renounce my support of Donald Trump and have stepped aside from any political position.
But three days after the rally, Trump still will not apologize.In fact, he doesn't know anything about it.A reporter even asked if he owed Puerto Rico a direct apology during a campaign stop in Green Bay, Wisconsin on Wednesday.
I love Puerto Rico and Puerto Rico loves me.I don't know.I don't know anything about a comedian.I just I love Puerto Rico.Nobody's done more for Puerto Rico than me.
Sure.And Republicans tried their damnedest on Wednesday to deflect attention from the ongoing fallout over Trump's rally.
Their vessel of choice was President Joe Biden and a comment he made in response to the rally's racist rhetoric during a videoconference call with Latino voters.
The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters, his is demonization of theism conscionable.
Biden released a statement on Twitter shortly after.He clarified that his comments were about the comedian's hateful statement, and not about all Trump supporters.A raging debate about apostrophes and possessive nouns ensued.
Because of course it did.Just two days ago, vice presidential candidate J.D.Vance said that people are too easily offended.
But all of a sudden, Republicans seized on Biden's alleged slate, because if anyone cares about large groups of people being called mean names, it's Republicans. Trump even mentioned it at his midday rally in North Carolina.
We're garbage.We're garbage.And I call you the heart and soul of America.You're the people that built America.
You're not like those other people, you know, the enemies of the people.Harris responded to the manufactured outrage about Biden's comments Wednesday ahead of her rallies in a bunch of swing states.
Listen, I think that first of all, he clarified his comments, but let me be clear.I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for.
But while Republicans were trying to whip up their supporters, they still haven't addressed the real anger they're facing over the racist comments.Democrats have been on top of the blowback.
One super PAC said it would spend nearly $200,000 sending text messages to Puerto Rican voters in three major battleground states, Michigan, Wisconsin, and most importantly, Pennsylvania, home to about half a million people of Puerto Rican descent.
And Harris will be in Nevada today for a rally with another mega famous star with Puerto Rican roots, Jennifer Lopez.
So for more on how all of this is reverberating among Latinos and the Puerto Rican community specifically, I spoke with Adrian Carrasquillo.He's a national political reporter who writes about our increasingly Latino America.
Adrian, welcome to Whataday.
Hey, thanks for having me.
So what kind of reaction have you seen to the Trump rally comments within the Puerto Rican community specifically and among Latinos more broadly?
Everybody's prideful.No one wants their culture to be heard, to be hit, to be criticized, particularly in such a big platform.I'm half Puerto Rican.My father's Puerto Rican.You know, there's something about Puerto Ricans.
There's the century of colonialism. there's this feeling this connection of just their u.s.
citizens but they can't vote in the presidential election you know they have these advantages but when do we talk about puerto rican has there been any meaningful policy in the last dozen years right for ricans and for puerto rico no so to be slapped in the face the week before the election and i think that that's what it was for a lot of people i think it was a slap in the face
I think these reports come out and they were across the board terrible.There were comments about black people, there were comments about Jews, there were comments about Latinos.
So altogether, I think that that's where we've seen this strong initial response that then led to the other stuff, the bad money endorsement, all those other things.
So of course, Trump has yet to personally apologize.He's called the rally a love fest.
While trying to back away from the comedian who was saying all of this incredibly offensive stuff, to what extent is the doubling down also now part of how people are receiving these comments?
Where it's like, it's not just that this comedian made these comments, it's the fact that no one's apologizing, despite the Archbishop of Puerto Rico asking for an apology. the head of the Puerto Rican GOP asking for an apology.
They're just not getting it.How is that playing?
And we saw that in the initial reports when there was Trump's first rally.And there was a woman in the crowd who told, I believe, the Washington Post, I'm here to see if he apologizes.I'm not voting for him if he doesn't apologize.
It's just the height of disrespect.And it's so interesting because you see Republicans scrambling and praying and hoping to turn the page and try to move to Joe Biden's comments.
But then Nicky Jam, who was one of the two high-profile endorsers, he's a reggaeton artist, he posted saying, you know, something like this is going to happen.You have to respect Puerto Rico.And that's why I'm retracting my support of Donald Trump.
And again, it brings the news cycle back to this story. It's been pretty incredible how it's only seems to have grown after the criticism.
Yeah, it was funny because you mentioned Nicky Jam and we've seen Bad Bunny, Daddy Yankee, Louise Fonzie, like so many big names.
But collectively, do you think that these men have the power to push people who were maybe debating on whether to vote or who to vote for?
Do you think that they can help get those people out to vote for Harris or even flip would be Trump voters to Harris?
You know, because I know that my audience on Twitter is news obsessives.I was like, this is like the Taylor Swift or Beyonce of Latinos.And then I had a lot of people being like, that's exactly who he is.So look, it's a big deal.
I would say that I've told friends and people who were interested in what I thought about this a month ago, the only person that could have an effect for Latino men.
The only person that Puerto Ricans, I think that their endorsement would matter is, and I said that because Bad Bunny has a reputation for defending Puerto Rico, for being there for Puerto Rico.
And then what I heard was, because I was on the phone with the Harris campaign when this happened, and I tweeted, it was sort of like the office meme with Michael Scott running through the office.
It's happening.It's happening.Yes.
But they told me that there were some conversations before Kamala Harris came out with her Puerto Rico policy. So I think they were of the belief that he would share that policy that day.
But just the confluence of events, of it also coming after this extreme disrespect of Puerto Rico, that's what no one could expect.
And to answer your question on could it have an effect, I think that he is literally the only person who would have an effect because he's sort of respected, he's got credibility, and he's not always cheerleading for Democrats.
There's some people that early voted, but we've seen in interviews and stuff, people saying that
We're undecided or we're gonna vote on election day that this would have an effect on their vote But if you're a voter whose main issue is the economy and you think that Trump is the better candidate on that issue as polls show many voters do Why do you think that these comments especially like most people haven't heard of this comedian?
Why do you think that that would sway them?I mean, I think it would sway me, but I'm biased.I
No, and I think Latinos are not a monolithic vote in this country.
About two thirds of them are Mexican-American, and we see that in larger parts in the West Coast and the Southwest.But he also said horrible things about Latinos and how they're always having babies here.So they were.
Yeah, that was that was really gross.And I think I've just been thinking about how, like, nine years ago, Trump comes down the golden escalator and starts talking about how Mexicans are rapists.
I think what it does is it underlines because what happened with those initial comments is I know so many people, friends, operatives, Democrats, different people, and casual political folks who were horrified by those initial comments, but I think they leaned to more Mexican American because I remember being in Florida and different places where Cuban Americans, other people would say, he's not talking about me.
There are many Latinos like myself and others. who have a pan-Latino version of Latino identity, where they know that, you know, you're talking badly about immigrants, or you're talking badly about people who speak Spanish.
We sort of can hear what you're doing there and the dog whistle.Here, what you have is Puerto Ricans, and particularly in Pennsylvania.
We both know that there's not that many undecided voters at this time, but Joe Biden won Pennsylvania by 80,000 votes, and this state is going to be one of the deciders of the election.
And so to the extent that there can be something in the late game here, and we know that endorsements don't have the most power, I think that this one, this confluence of events, both events, I think matters.
In these final days of this race, what are you going to be watching for?
I am particularly watching for, I've covered Latino politics over the last decade, and I'm really, really interested and focused on Arizona, Nevada, because there has seemed to be behind the scenes, Democrats and pollsters and members of the campaign
who have been talking less about Arizona and Nevada to me.You know, in 2020, Brookings Institute wrote that young Latinos helped Joe Biden win in Nevada and Arizona.That's incredible.We both know that Joe Biden only won Arizona by 11,000 votes.
and maybe that was going to swing back or it was going to be very difficult for Democrats to win.But Nevada, Barack Obama won Nevada by 12 points in 2012.That state has become only closer and closer.
And so those states, and what I'm looking at particularly in those two states is Latino men, support from Latino men.I think that that could be a difference maker.You could have really interesting situation where maybe
Harris wins Pennsylvania and maybe Trump wins some of these other states, which I think would be monumental, would be a big deal if Democrats lose those states.
Adrian, thank you so much for your time and thanks for joining me.
That was my conversation with national political reporter Adrian Carrasquillo.
We'll get to more news in a moment, but if you like the show, make sure to subscribe, leave a five star review on Apple Podcasts, watch us on YouTube and share with your friends.More to come after some ads. And now, more news.
If you've listened to a Trump rally recently, you know there is a true bromance happening between the former president and billionaire Elon Musk.
And you know what he wants more than anything else?For our country to be really well run, solidly run, to be run democratically.All the things that everybody in this room wants.
During an interview with the Economic Club last month, Trump announced that he is creating a government efficiency commission with Musk at the helm.
And while the thought of Musk having even more sway over our government is terrifying to me, Musk's comments at a Twitter town hall Friday were somehow worse.
We have to reduce spending to live within our means.That necessarily involves some temporary hardship, but it will ensure long-term prosperity.
Our means?What do you mean, our?And temporary hardship for whom?Because I'm going to guess that somehow the world's richest man is going to be just fine.But that's not all.
Monday afternoon, a Twitter user predicted what would happen with Musk helping Trump, writing, quote, there will be an initial severe overreaction in the economy. Musk's response, quote, sounds about right.So don't worry.
Musk and Trump are going to tank the economy.But if you sit tight, it'll maybe be better in the end.Maybe.Great plan, guys. Remember the fight over Obamacare?Sure you do.It sucked.And some Republicans say they'd love to do it again.
NBC has released footage of Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson speaking at a small campaign event for Donald Trump in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on Monday.
I mean, health care reform is going to be a big part of the agenda.When I say we're going to have a very aggressive first 100 days agenda, we've got a lot of things, though, on the table.But health care, it's the secret.It's the secret number one.
Among other things, Johnson said that if elected, Trump would, quote, take a blowtorch to the regulatory state.And he had this to say about the Affordable Care Act.
And so health care is one of the sectors, but we need this across the board.And Trump's going to go big.I mean, he's only going to have one more term, right?Can't run for re-election.And so he's going to be thinking about legacy.
And we're going to fix these things.No Obamacare.
You might remember that Trump tried and failed to repeal the ACA the last time he was president, a move that resulted in his lowest polling numbers of his entire presidency.Which is saying a lot, because remember the Trump presidency?
An update to a story we brought you earlier this week.The United States Supreme Court interviewed on Wednesday to allow Virginia to continue purging its voter rolls.Governor Glenn Youngkin says the purge is meant to keep non-U.S.
citizens from voting.The Supreme Court's conservative majority made a decision to allow the removal of voters to continue over the dissent of the court's three liberal justices.Youngkin reacted to the news at a press conference on Wednesday.
And of course, that just provides further comfort across the Commonwealth that this election will be secure, it will be accurate, it will reflect the will of the voters.
The upside is that Virginia has same-day voter registration, so wrongly purged voters can still exercise their right to vote in this election.In more election lawsuit news, on Wednesday, the Trump campaign had a victory in Pennsylvania.
A judge sided with Trump's team, allowing a one-day extension for people to apply in person for an early mail-in ballot.Trump's encouragement of his supporters to vote early in Bucks County led to long lines as voters flooded the registration sites.
which the campaign claimed was disenfranchisement.Bucks County voters will now have until end of day Friday to get their mail-in ballots. U.S.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at a Pentagon press briefing on Wednesday that troops from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in Russian uniforms are moving toward the Ukrainian border.
We're closely tracking the unprecedented level of direct military cooperation between Russia and the DPRK.In our meetings today, we shared our deep concerns about the deployment of DPRK troops to Russia.
We also discuss how we're going to work together with our allies and partners to respond to this dangerous and destabilizing escalation.
The increased troop activity comes as North Korea and Russia develop a closer relationship.U.S.
officials are concerned about the effect of the country's involvement in Russia's war with Ukraine, as well as what aid North Korea might be receiving in return and increased tensions with neighboring South Korea.And that's the news. One more thing.
We talk a lot about what's happening at every stop on the campaign trail across the country with rally after rally, but we can't forget about how much campaigning is happening online.
Democrats know that viral content on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, pick your poison, goes a long way in getting the party's message out, especially with young voters.
We saw this through the Biden administration's partnership with several influencers and content creators over the past few years.
The Democratic National Committee also, for the very first time, gave more than 200 content creators special access to their convention in August.
So to get a sense of what things look like on the digital campaign trail in these final days before the election, I went to the TikTok queen of politics, Annie Henry.
She is a digital political strategist who famously worked on Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman's successful campaign in 2022 as his TikTok manager. Annie, thanks for coming on Waterday.Thank you for having me.
So I want to talk a little bit about X, formerly Twitter.The Washington Post reported that ever since Elon Musk took over, Republican messaging is getting more traction, more followers, and that's what's really getting pushed.
Have you noticed a difference or a change in how that works?
I think that it's really clear where he stands in this election.
And I think it does raise a lot of concerns on what information he is allowing to perpetuate, what information he is potentially suppressing, what misinformation he is allowing to be shared.
Some of it being blatantly harmful information or rhetoric that is being amplified.I am still on Twitter and I will continue to call it that.But like agreed, agreed is not what it was before.
I know that the people that I'm reaching or what I'm also being fed is not for me.And that is just because of, I think, what he has done to the platform.Organic reach and mobilization is a lot more fragmented than it potentially was prior.
his cooking of certain numbers because he's, you know, amplifying things from the back end.He's doing that to try to show this cooked way of support that isn't actually there.
I don't know how effective it is in the political kind of landscape still, but I do think communities and online communities are still really present there.
And because the community is organizing within itself, it is hopefully still hitting those eyeballs.
We just have to be more creative and innovative with how and where we're utilizing them and in what ways to make sure we're creatively reaching out to the people we know need to hear it.
I want to talk to you a little bit about that outrage because one of the voting blocs, Democrats, are really focused on are centrists who can be persuaded to go for Harris.
But we know that social media algorithms are geared to show users content, especially political content, that is either something they already really agree with or something that's going to piss them off. How do you square that?
Or rather, is that a function that social media campaigning is kind of meant to serve?How do you work within how the algorithms work?
I think there's algorithms that, you know, obviously it likes things like confrontation.But I think there's also a lot of ways that the algorithms can work in our favor.We know that
that people like personal and that is like what social media and particularly TikTok thrives off of is people being vulnerable.
And that is something that in politics and with so many of these issues, they are things that people can get vulnerable and share about.
And I think we are seeing that, you know, there was a recent video that was going viral about young people hearing the Access Hollywood tape for the first time.
And one, we forget that so many of these young people perhaps don't remember when that came out. maybe did not even hear it.
We're seeing them take these really vulnerable moments and share about why they're voting this way or that part of their identity will be put at risk if they don't.And I think that that really resonates.Also having mass amounts of people do it.
And so much of the internet is about these trends and about people wanting to feel included. And we are really doing that with this election of people wanting to be involved in democracy, like caring about shit is cool.
We just got to be creative and innovative and we are smart enough to figure it out.
I agree.Annie, thank you so much for joining me.Yeah, of course.Thank you.That was my conversation with digital political strategist Annie Henry.
Before we go, if you care about the planet or even some of the people on it, stick around to the end of this episode for another Crooked Ideas anti-doom initiative conversation, spotlighting the people who are fighting for our planet.
Today, our friend, Crooked Correspondent Priyanka Arabindy sat down with climate scientist Dr. Decora Jones to talk about the simple ways we can all impact the climate movement, even if you don't have a science background.
Stay tuned at the end to hear the conversation. That's all for today.If you liked the show, make sure to subscribe, leave a review, don't let Elon Musk make your country's economic decisions or help you have kids, and tell your friends to listen.
And if you're into reading and not just transcripts of Mike Johnson saying the horrible quiet part out loud, like me, whataday is also a nightly newsletter.Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe.
I'm Jane Koston, and happy Halloween, you crazy kids. What Today is a production of Crooked Media.It's recorded and mixed by Desmond Taylor.Our associate producer is Raven Yamamoto.Our producer is Michelle Eloy.
We had production help today from Tyler Hill, Johanna Case, Joseph Dutra, Greg Walters, and Julia Clare.Our senior producer is Erica Morrison, and our executive producer is Adrienne Hill.Our theme music is by Colin Gileard and Kashaka.
Before you go, check out my interview with climate scientist Dr. Decora V. Jones.This is part of the Anti-Doom Initiative from Crooked Ideas.I'm Priyanka Arabindy, and I asked Dr. Jones about what makes her hopeful in the face of climate change.
So you are a scientist by trade.You spent a lot of your career working on policy, trying to tackle really big problems facing us and our planet.What makes you optimistic about our planet and our future?
Well, the thing about going into science and being able to like sit in it is that you have this curiosity that you are always trying to satisfy.
The thing that keeps me hopeful about the future in front of us is that it's not just, you know, scientists being curious about what we can do.It's everyone being curious and motivated to act.
it's not just about the scientists acting, because if that were true, they would have been listened to in the 80s and 90s, and there would have been collective action around climate.That's not where we are right now.
And so we just have a fundamentally different landscape where there is much more curiosity, much more motivation for people to be able to act and hold folks accountable for the kinds of things that are going to make our planet better.
What does the science tell us that we should be prioritizing to kind of make the biggest impact on climate change and the effects of it that we are seeing?
We definitely need to prioritize mitigation, getting our greenhouse gases down.And that can be carbon dioxide emission, that can be methane emission.
Methane, lots of that is going to be coming not just from cows, because I know people like to joke about the cows, but also our food waste.
So how we think about composting, not just at an individual household level, but at a broader community and more industrial level.
How we are thinking about getting more of those gas powered cars off the road, how we are electrifying more broadly, how we're thinking about heat pumps.Like it has to happen at every single level of society.
The other thing that I like to say is that it's not about if everyone has a PhD or even a bachelor's degree in a kind of engineering that will then contribute to the technological advances.
Ideas are amazing, but at the same time, you actually have to implement them.And to implement those ideas, you need grants makers and people who are going to create and apply for those grants.You need people who are going to be
gardeners, you need people who are going to install solar panels, you need people who are going to be accountants to make sure that we are accountable to all of the different ways that we need to change our society for good.
So when people are just like, but I don't have this or I can't, you have some skill that can contribute to the broader revolution that needs to happen for all of us.So why not use that? We all have a part to play.
We absolutely all have a part to play.And even if it's just calling your elected officials that are local elected officials, state level, federal level, and making sure that the kinds of funds that went into things like the Inflation Reduction Act.
It's so hard to say the IRA sometimes. of making sure the money that your taxpayer dollars that are going into funding things like this are coming back to your communities.
So it's kind of like find the place to tune in that feels very authentic to you.For other people, it is going to be about getting more renewables on the grid.
It is going to be about finding the jobs that are putting together the chargers for the electric cars that are going to be powering our future.Because the chargers don't build themselves.
You know, for other people, it is about getting involved in global advocacy and action.
What do you say to people who kind of think it's too late to do anything, to act?
Who benefits from you thinking it's too late?You do not benefit when you think it's too late.But there are plenty of other bodies, institutions, corporations, and others who benefit from your inaction because you think it's too late.
Heard you loud and clear.Dr. Takora V. Jones, thank you so much for being here.
Franca, it's been a pleasure.This has been fun.
For our anti-doom initiative to work, we need more people to know that a better future is possible.Learn more at crookedideas.org.And to make sure that your voice is heard on everything that you care about, please vote.
Sign in
