Elon Musk Spent $20 Million On This Election… and Lost!
Francesca and Wajahat react to JD Vance’s lies and Elon Musk’s bad bet in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election. Plus, NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani joins the show.
It’s day 72 of Trump 2.0, and democracy is being tested on a major scale.
On the latest episode of ‘America Unhinged’ on YouTube, Francesca Fiorentini and Wajahat Ali speak to Zoran Mamdani about NY and the Democrats, Ari Berman about Wisconsin and Musk, and also react to JD Vance lying about the US illegally deporting a Maryland man to El Salvador.
“When we sweep undocumented people up to deport them back to countries from which they fled, we are deporting them back into the arms of either a gang or their draconian, authoritarian, abusive government like Nayib Bukele’s,” Francesca says.
Wajahat adds, “We’re deporting them to a death sentence.”
Meanwhile, all eyes are on Wisconsin’s Supreme Court election. Despite Elon Musk pouring millions of dollars into backing conservative candidate Brad Schimel, liberal candidate Susan Crawford came out on top, preserving the court’s liberal majority.
Ari Berman, voting rights reporter at Mother Jones, joins the show to discuss how this election is a litmus test for Trump and Musk. He explains, “It’s the clearest referendum on Musk in particular, and by extension Trump, we’ve had since November. And it’s gonna tell us a lot about the political mood in one of the most important swing states in the country; whether oligarchy becomes insurmountable or whether there’s a plan to defeat it that can work.”
Over on the East Coast, the New York City mayoral race is heating up as former embattled governor Andrew Cuomo throws his hat in the ring. Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani tells Wajahat and Francesca, “Between Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo, New Yorkers are told that their two options with regards to Donald Trump is either collaboration or cowardice. And we are fighting in this race to show that in fact there is another way.”
Watch the episode above to hear the full discussion, including who Wajahat chose as his reek of the week!
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Listening to Susan Crawford's victory speech thrills me because she seems so normal.
Woo hoo great news! I was ready to hear he bought the election