What processes can we follow? What ways can we sort of repair the damage that's been done so far?

Well, great to be with you guys.

Looking forward to the conversation.

Yeah, I think it's a good question.

And I think the answer is pretty simple.

We are not looking to restore what we had.

I mean, we have Donald Trump because we got stuck with a system and became used to a system that was corrupt.

Is the issue of affordability policy-based or is there a more systemic issue going on here that it is not just, well, you know, tweak a policy here or there or raise this or that or create this regulation, but there's more of a wider spread, deeper systemic issue involved?

Senator, what did you make of her response there? She was kind of pending this on the New York Times for their reporting, but there were quotes from campaign staffers in that.

Yeah, I mean, I don't know the whole story here.

Apparently, this is somebody who was fired from her campaign.

Her campaign says that they didn't have anything to do with it.

I guess to me, the bottom line here is that Trump is just fishing for reasons to try to fix the election.

He said what he wants in those remarks.

He said he wants Mary Peltola off the ballot because that's probably the only way that Dan Sullivan can win.

When you look at this and what happens between now and next Tuesday, what do you think this is going to look like with the Justice Department should Democrats have a big night on Tuesday?

you see as kind of the actual potential threats of unregulated AI versus what's sort of the science fiction threats?

Yeah.

I mean, I don't know that any of them are science fiction threats any longer, but clearly for many people, the most acute threat is disintegration of jobs.

And I think that's going to happen sooner rather than later.

I think you will see the wholesale elimination of certain categories of jobs in the next five to 10 years.

And as a parent of a kid who's going to College, I know the conversation that parents are having today.

What is my kid going to do? What should I send them to school to learn? Second is the disintegration of our politics.

Who do you think is addressing the idea of data centers in communities particularly well? I mean, Sherrod Brown, you know, he's always

see as kind of the actual potential threats of unregulated AI versus what's sort of the science fiction threats?

Yeah.

I mean, I don't know that any of them are science fiction threats any longer, but clearly for many people, the most acute threat is disintegration of jobs.

And I think that's going to happen sooner rather than later.

I think you will see the wholesale elimination of certain categories of jobs in the next five to 10 years.

And as a parent of a kid who's going to College, I know the conversation that parents are having today.

What is my kid going to do? What should I send them to school to learn? Second is the disintegration of our politics.

and

What do you see as kind of the actual potential threats of unregulated AI versus what's sort of the science fiction threats?

Yeah.

I mean, I don't know that any of them are science fiction threats any longer, but clearly for many people, the most acute threat is disintegration of jobs.

And I think that's going to happen sooner rather than later.

I think you will see the wholesale elimination of certain categories of jobs in the next five to 10 years.

And as a parent of a kid who's going to College, I know the conversation that parents are having today.

What is my kid going to do? What should I send them to school to learn? Second is the disintegration of our politics.

Who do you think is addressing the idea of data centers in communities particularly well? I mean, Sherrod Brown, you know, he's always

I mean, listen, this is a full-blown cover-up.

The Pentagon in particular is trying to hide the cost of the war, trying to hide the consequences of the war.

I went to the Middle East to do what I always do, which is oversight.

You know, I've been in Congress long enough that I was here during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and I went into Baghdad when it was a real hot war.

I was at forward operating bases in Afghanistan doing oversight when we were getting hit by the Taliban.

There's no excuse to keep us from seeing the fight, talking to our military leaders, talking to our soldiers.

And it's never happened to me before.

And

Are Democrats concerned in any way about this with El-Sayed?

What? I mean, the accusation is that he's a Muslim and that he doesn't deserve to serve in the United States Senate because he's a Muslim.

There's no credible evidence that he has ties to any groups that present a threat to the United States.

This is just basic Islamophobia made up by a candidate that is trailing and a candidate who represents a party that doesn't have any ideas on how to fix real problems.

I mean, it's... is representative of a really sad dynamic that's playing out in the Republican Party.

Open racism and bigotry as a closing message.

Abdul El-Sayed is somebody who has served his community, who has saved lives, and who wants to serve his country.

What is your reaction to that?

Mm.

Um, corruption is i- i- an issue that has flipped plenty of Senate, House, and governor seats in the past with unlikely candidates winning.

People feel pretty damn strongly in this country that this war is an absolute disaster, and they're willing to vote for anybody that is gonna stop it and cease the price escalation.

You've got these two issues that are right now unifying left, right, and center and are putting, um, some, you know, pretty unlikely seats on the map.

And then you've got the Republican Party, which just doesn't seem to know what to say about increasing prices.

You played that clip from Cindy Hyde-Smith, but th- she's not an outlier.

Basically, Republicans, because Trump is offering them no cover, he's offering them no plan on how prices are gonna go down, are basically running a campaign on prices don't matter.

Right

So, Senator, I'm wondering, first of all, what's your reaction to the New Washington Post reporting on the Patriots?

Well, I think you have to see all of this as part of a pattern.

Zelensky has said this out loud, but it seems pretty obvious that Trump has decided he's going to put Ukraine in a position where they may be pressured to capitulate.

You've got the decision on diesel sanctions that he's going to allow Russia to sell diesel on the world market, which helps them fund the war.

He just announced he's not going to implement any of the congressional sanctions that were authorized just a week ago.

The new news tonight that he is slow walking or not selling any additional interceptors to Ukraine and Starshield being down.

This is a pattern of behavior over the course of about a week that looks to be a strategy, a strategy to put Russia in the most powerful position possible in order to gain a settlement, a ceasefire that is on Russia's terms.

He didn't think Elon Musk did either.

Businesses are ruthless, and we need a government that runs for public safety to keep us all safe.

Yeah.

And, and, and, and that brings me back to the first thing you, you said, right, which is, um, the level of celebration of the i- immorality.

I think that's actually a really important point, and I just want to say a quick thing about it, Jennifer.

Um, w- we celebrate Donald Trump in certain circles of this country.

There is a, um, rationalization, uh, of his corruption, um, in part because we've created a culture where all that matters is getting yours.

We've created an economy in which the winners, um, just get to grab everything available for them, even if it leaves their neighbors living in abject poverty.

It says the fight for meaning and connection in a broken America, which we spoke a little bit about this, but I think this sounds really important, the, the crisis of the common good.

What are you doing and why do you think you can make a difference here?

Yeah, thanks for having us.

I mean, two reasons.

One, I think we can win Florida and we can't give up on Florida as a national democratic party.

So I'm down here campaigning with Angie today.

I've committed $100,000 to her race and to the races in Florida.

And I think that there is going to be an investment here.

Is it weak that Schumer's not putting money in Florida?

How do you balance the political statement and the intent to end it against the question of whether we are supporting and protecting our people who are still in the region?

Yet the best way to support our troops and our people in the region is to end this war, to unilaterally end American hostilities, and to frankly ask our partners in the region to do the work of reopening the Strait and reopening the Red Sea.

The reality is, so long as the potential continues for— Just walk away.

Well, the president is saying that he is considering after the election going back to war with Iran.

And so, of course, Iran's response to that is going to be an escalation of the war.

The president needs to bring this war to an end.

And that will be the quickest way that the waterways will be reopened again.

What is the affirmative Democratic message other than we're not Trump?

Exactly what I said

...

in, in, in wartime at, uh, in wartime at least, because the Constitution says that Congress declares war, and it gives the power to Congress to decide to fund a war or to stop funding a war.

And we can't do our job if we can't see the war firsthand.

That's why for decades and decades, members of Congress have gone to see wars for themselves.

I and colleagues went into the Iraq War.

I was, uh, in Baghdad during the time of the surge.

Is that, is that sort of where things are?

What reason were you given as to why you could not access any of these military facilities, which, by the way, we've heard from reporting and even the former director of the CIA are now rendered inoperable?

Yeah, the reason was made up.

The reason was that it wasn't safe to bring me onto a base, but that's just not true.

Uh, the fact of the matter is, I, I've been in the Iraq War during the height of the surge.

I, I was brought to forward operating bases in Afghanistan when the Taliban was actively targeting our troops.

Um, this was not a question of safety.

This is a question of cover-up, um, because in addition to not being able to get on those bases, as you mentioned, I simply asked for the Department of Defense leadership in the region to come brief me at the embassy, and they refused to even come talk to me.

So when Trump repeatedly claims the Iran war is ending, what does that really mean?

Just tell us what happened.

Well, our job is to do oversight over war.

Uh, the Constitution makes it clear that it's Congress that has the responsibility to declare war, and then once a war is underway, even an illegal war like this one, it's our job to fund the war or to stop funding the war.

The only way you can do that is by seeing it for yourself, especially at a moment when the administration is hiding the costs of the war.

They're not giving us information in Washington, DC.

Uh, they're slow-walking reports of deaths and casualties and damage.

So I did what I have done over and over again during previous wars.

According to MS Now's reporting, the potential charges against Hutchinson are centered around this testimony, a story she was told by Secret Service agent Tony Ornato.

Can you tell us what you told him and what he said back?

Yeah, I didn't just talk to the Emir about it.

I talked to others and, uh, other leaders in Qatar about it.

Uh, and you know, I spoke very directly to Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia about the corruption of US-Saudi policy because of Jared Kushner's grift, because of the investments the Trump family is doing in Saudi Arabia.

But to your question, um, y- y- listen, I think Trump put enormous mob-like pressure on the Qataris to transfer that jet.

I think the Qataris believe that they did everything they could, um, to make clear that the jet was a gift to the federal government, not to Donald Trump.

But the reality is everybody knows that jet is going to Trump once he leaves office.

How do we have a relationship, a working relationship with these nations while also holding them accountable for these human rights violations and abuses?

What is it that people say to you at this United Nations with this president banning media, his son having islands rented out by Russian oligarchs and his speech, you know, incomplete sentences, inane nonsense and annihilation?

annihilation?Well, uh, the world is just walking away from the United States right now, and they're walking to China.

China is now the stable power.

If you want an economic relationship, if you wanna partner with a country on AI, you're gonna do it with China.

So I, I think the meetings that the Chinese are getting here are much more significant and ultimately gonna be much more substantial than any of the meetings Donald Trump is doing.

I mean, every country just treats this guy with kid gloves.

They're just trying to sort of stay out of the news, which also means that they're not doing anything to help the United States.

If the midterms bring about what the polls suggest is entirely possible, and Donald Trump seems to be reading the same polls based on how he's acting, and Democrats take control of the House and even the Senate, what can you do in terms of clawing back either the money that has been thefted or the credibility and integrity that's been sold?

Huh.

Like, it's harder for coaches to put a team together right now because athletes are empowered.

And basically, the courts for the last 10 years have been saying the whole college sports industry is illegal because these schools are colluding to try to set work rules for athletes, and they can't do that.

And what the courts basically said is that, um, you know, what you have to do is what every other industry does.

You have to...

If you, if you wanna set rules across the entire industry, you have to bargain with your workers, with your students, with your athletes.

Um, but the college sports industry does not wanna do that because the adults who are making all the money do not wanna share it with the kids.

Mm-hmm.

I'm wondering what kind of a message the president is sending to China and the world by conflating his flouting the constitutional guarantees journalists have in the U.S. with China.

Yeah, listen, I'm glad you're still covering it.

I'm glad it's still news.

I'm glad we don't accept this.

But he's been doing this for two years straight.

I mean, he has affection for dictators from Putin to Xi to others.

And that's because he wants to be a dictator.

Do you think some sort of compromise or negotiation with China about slowing the technology is possible or even advisable?

Businesses are ruthless, and we need a government that runs for public safety to keep us all safe.

Yeah.

And, and, and, and that brings me back to the first thing you, you said, right, which is, um, the level of celebration of the im- immorality.

I think that's actually a really important point, and I just wanna say a quick thing about it, Jennifer.

Um, w- we celebrate Donald Trump in certain circles of this country.

There is a, um, rationalization o- of his corruption, um, in part because we've created a culture where all that matters is getting yours.

We've created an economy in which the winners, um, just get to grab everything available for them, even if it leaves their neighbors living in abject poverty.

It says the fight for meaning and connection in a broken America, which we spoke a little bit about this, but I think this sounds really important, the, the crisis of the common good.

And give me the elevator pitch as to why the Protect College Sports Act should not pass.

So, I mean, listen, I love college sports.

I'm a big sports fan, obviously a big UConn fan, and I think it's a great thing for this country.

It's a unique American institution.

It brings people together, no matter your politics, your ethnicity, your religion, to root for, you know, you know, your favorite college sports team.

But I don't think we need to maintain an exploitative system in order to enjoy college sports.

And I think that my constituents who root for all of these players who play for, you know, UConn football, UConn basketball, don't want them to be treated badly.

Do you at least agree that something needs to be done, whatever the specific selection for a solution may be?

Uh, and we're seeing a moment where Democrats and Republicans, though not the Republican in the White House, seem to be agreeing.

Well, listen, I, I, I hope we can find agreement, but that seems a, a, a bit far off right now.

You, you note that the president has basically said he has no worries about all of these dire warnings from the AI companies, that their models are starting to essentially break containment.

But Speaker Mike J- Mike Johnson also parroted the same line just a few days ago.

He said, "I don't think Congress has any role here.

The industry just needs to take care of it themselves." The fact of the matter is the industry cannot take care of this by themselves.

They have one main incentive, which is to put this technology onto the market as quickly as possible, and if one company throttles back and a competitor doesn't, they will lose their company because their investors will abandon them.

Talk to us about the so-called Protect College Sports Act and why you're against it.

Does that sound plausible to you?

I mean, it's just so sad.

It, it's, it's so sad that [laughs] the, he, he basically told you exactly what he thinks, that it's wrong if Hunt- Hunter Biden profits off of his relationship with his father, but it's fine if Donald Trump Jr. does it.

Um, I, I mean, this is a national security crisis because we are right now dealing with Americans at risk in the Middle East because Russia is sharing intelligence with the Iranians.

And because the Trump administration and the Trump family are increasingly dependent on Russia to make themselves rich, they are likely not gonna say anything to Russia about it, and that might mean that people get killed in the Middle East.

No, of course it's not plausible.

[laughs] Eric Trump, his brother, said i- in response to this story, "I've never heard of this guy.

He's one of those coaches who, who looked into them, not just how they could benefit him, but how he could benefit their lives.

They're not too dissimilar from Matt's, but a little bit different perspective for sure.

Yeah, so as far as my, I'd say the evolution and journey, kind of what Matt's talked about, it's like you go from being the star player you're the practitioner, you're the star player of that office.

And you've got to turn into... building the best team.

And so it has nothing to do with you now as a star player.

So for me, I realized for me, it was a self-awareness was a huge part of my evolution and realizing that I am the only reason I will be the biggest obstacle to my success where, you know, I was focused on being a producer.

I micromanaged.

I was probably, you know, I'd say probably I was a control freak.

And Chris, I wonder if I could get you to riff off the same and just talk a little bit about, you know, from a journey standpoint, the level of fulfillment that you have outside of a clinical perspective and, you know, being an entrepreneur and a business owner, family and everything like that.

Talk to me about that for a second, your thoughts about it.

Yeah, this is one of the reasons I was excited to talk to you, Stephen, because I think nobody's been smarter than you on talking about the importance of having student and athlete voices as part of this process.

So listen, I love sports.

I love college sports.

In Connecticut, we maybe pay a little bit more attention to basketball than to football.

But I agree with Ted.

It's something that's really unique and great about the United States of America.

How do you feel about that?