 So I want to check in on the Senate race that's currently taking place in the state of Pennsylvania It is very fascinating on both sides. So on the GOP side predictably you have essentially what is a circus It features dr. Oz which is entertaining in and of itself because he's a clown but essentially that GOP primary has devolved into a debate about Brotherism and Dr. Oz has pledged to renounce his Turkish citizenship in the event He wins the primary and I guess he's a little bit disappointed and surprised that it's come to this which is weird because it's the GOP and This is what they do. So I don't get why you expect it any different But it's fascinating now on the Democratic Party side. You actually have some really interesting figures And when I say figures, I mean, there's one person that's interesting to me John Federman. He's the lieutenant governor and he's the more progressive candidate He's not a Bernie Sanders per se, but he actually has a message that's resonating with people He's less rehearsed as a politician. He's more unorthodox He has tattoos and a personality and he's currently blowing his competition out of the water So he's running against Connor Lamb who is a corporate Democrat who once used to be a really vocal Radical centrist who basically boasted about how moderate he was and by moderate. I mean right wing Except he has since had to distance himself from Joe Manchin after trying to be compared to Joe Manchin because Joe Manchin Kirsten Sinema single-handedly have tarnished the corporate Democrat brand after obstructing Biden's entire presidency So Connor Lamb is now left with nothing to brag about and now he's getting desperate So in this desperation, he's choosing to go on a kamikaze mission that will inevitably help the GOP I think his thinking here is that if I can't win if I'm gonna lose then I at least want the next best person to win And it's not the Democrat. It's the Republican because we're talking about Connor Lamb here So he's a right-winger. So if he sees that John Federman is poised to win He's going to do what he can to help the Republican but simultaneously as he does their bidding He's gonna deny that he has any involvement because it's his super PAC that's doing these attacks not him wink wink Definitely not coordinating with them wink wink. So there's an article about this by Holly Otterbyn of Politico and it is fascinating She breaks it down. Let's get to that. She writes a super PAC backing Pennsylvania Senate candidate Connor lamb is warning perspective donors That he is trailing front-runner John Federman by 30 percentage points in the Democratic primary and that the public's perception of his opponent's Ideology must change for lamb to have a shot primary voters Don't see Federman as the liberal he is reads a memo circulated by the pro-lam group pen progress Which was obtained by Politico for Connor lamb to have a path in the primary this dynamic needs to change The document highlights the testing of aggressive negative messaging against Federman who is Pennsylvania's lieutenant governor Including that he is a dangerous radical who proudly calls himself a socialist Supports far-left policies like a thirty four trillion dollar government takeover of healthcare and has spoken at the defund the police rallies and Wants to release convicted felons back onto our streets the Federman campaign sought to blame any coming-on thought on the Democratic side on lamb himself rather than an independent super PAC Connor hasn't been able to gain ground with Democrats So he's decided to run like a Republican and use Fox News talking points to attack a fellow Democrat said Federman spokesperson Joe Calvello This is a desperate move from a campaign that hasn't been able to raise the money on its own and hasn't broken through with anyone except For some political insiders, so I love that response from the Federman campaign. That's exactly what they should be saying You know conflate him with Fox News talk about how he's only winning support from insiders basically the donors of the Democratic Party and yeah, hit back don't just Expect these attacks to kind of fall short. I think that a lot of times Democrats They will just expect to absorb the blows by their opponents and not respond But no you need to forcefully push back against these smear attacks because this is what this is This is a smear campaign now. Um, there's a couple of things to say about this first and foremost It's this ingenious at best but outright lies at worst So when it comes to whether or not John Federman is a socialist I wish but he's not he's never said that he's a socialist He's a social Democrat So, you know, this is the whole far-left bad attack that we're seeing albeit from a Democrat Connor Lamb and he's barely a Democrat. He's a Democrat in name only he's a mansion Democrat So he's basically a Republican for all intents and all intents and purposes now He talks about the 34 million dollar government takeover of healthcare He's referring to Medicare for all because John Federman endorsed Bernie Sanders back in 2016 Now, I don't know if John Federman is the most vocal advocate for Medicare for all But we need people in the Senate who support Medicare for all because Medicare for all is good It's not a radical far-left policy if every other developed country has healthcare that is free at the point of service Do you think that the conservatives in Canada or the Tories in UK would call their healthcare system far-left? No, they wouldn't get elected if they attacked it, but yet you have a Democrat calling healthcare Far-left in the United States. What a fucking moron. It tells you everything that you need to know. He also Couldn't say that John Federman Supports to funding the police and he wants to tie him to that slogan, which is politically unpopular So since he couldn't say that because there's no evidence of that He I guess speaks to John Federman talking at Black Lives Matter rallies and just says oh well since there are some signs there That's a defund the police He supports defunding the police and he spoke at defund the police rallies. You mean Black Lives Matter rallies. I Mean you couldn't just say oh well He spoke at Black Lives Matter rallies because if you don't believe that Black Lives Matter then I don't think you're fit to Run for any office as a Republican or Democrat because of course Black Lives Matter So what does he do? He does this racist dog whistle and GOP smear campaign to just say oh well He supports defund the police. Oh, and he also wants to release convicted felons And put them back onto our streets some tough-on-crime Fear mongering that we see from the 90s. Conor Lamb is a Republican I don't get why he's running as a Democrat just run as a Republican now I think that a lot of people they see this and they think wait a second This strategy seems kind of contradictory because on one hand He knows that you can't just outright run as a corporate Democrat anymore because that brand is toxic Hence why Conor Lamb distanced himself from Joe Manchin, but at the same time he's trying to bring up this far-left attack Because he thinks that being far left is bad when what John Federman is saying is clearly resonating with the people so if Being a moderate and far left is bad then what idea what ideology is good, and it's not about ideology I think that Conor Lamb knows he's going to lose if you're 30 points behind it's gonna take a miracle to make that up I mean, it's possible, right? But it's gonna be very difficult. So here's what I think he's obviously doing This is a kamikaze mission. He knows that this attack is going to Hurt his campaign because people are going to see this as very disingenuous, especially Democratic Party primary voters in Pennsylvania, but He's trying to help the person who in his mind is the next best person if he can't win Then he'd rather have a Republican than somebody who might be a leftist like John Federman And that really is gross and again this is speculation, but I think that his motivations are pretty clear what he's doing here, I mean imagine if a Democrat was running in a primary who is progressive and they tried to do a Republican smear campaign against their opponent The Democratic Party establishment would come out and denounce that and say you're trying to help the Republican But here he is using talking points straight from Fox News and the GOP Against the front-runner So what else is he trying to do? I mean, it's not that big of a stretch to think that he wants the Republican to win when ideologically him and a Republican are Pretty similar anyway, so yeah now the response from Conor Lam's campaign is hilarious because they're basically Pretending to be outraged that Federman's campaign would dare accuse them directly of launching this attack because it's not them It's the super PAC obviously they would have nothing to do with this horrible smear campaign quote Abby Nassif Murphy Lam's campaign manager shot back This material did not come from our campaign But the fact that John Fetterman thinks only Fox News Republicans oppose socialism Defunding the police and banning all private health insurance shows how out of touch He is with reality and why the Republicans are dying to run against him in the fall. So I love that Oh, we definitely didn't say this. We had nothing to do with this, but here's all the same talking points again Well, if you had nothing to do with this and you're not coordinating with that super PAC that Started this mere campaign. Why are you saying the same thing as them? Seems a little bit suspicious, right? Maybe You're breaking the law. Maybe you are coordinating if you're just parroting what they're saying and I love how the name of this Super PAC is pen progress When this is basically a right-wing super PAC. It's so Orwellian. It's so Orwellia Orwellian It just is so disingenuous. I hate it but yeah, this is this is really interesting it's a desperate attempt and One thing that I've learned when it comes to attack campaigns is that usually candidates are very reluctant to do attack Campaigns against their opponents because that brings them down and they only resort to attack campaigns If they're desperate because it might bring down them in the thinking of voters But it also sometimes brings down their opponent. This is based on political science study So it's a little bit dated. Maybe that's changed over the years, but you know, it's a desperate attempt I don't know that it's gonna work. I hope that it doesn't but Conor Lam I genuinely don't understand why he'd run as a Democrat when he's functionally a Republican Just run as a Republican and you can be yourself. Why fake it. I mean, I just I don't get it Maybe he's not as crazy as Republicans But when it comes to the economy you are in lockstep with them. So why pretend just be a fucking Republican? I don't get it. But yeah, really interesting here definitely Hypocritical right because again if the Democratic Party establishment saw a progressive Using GOP talking points against the corporate Democrat They would come out and denounce it and say hey, you're helping the Republicans, but here Conor Lam does Just that and the establishment we hear nothing from them crickets. Is the DNC gonna denounce. I mean what's going on here I mean, I get they're supposed to be neutral But we all know that they're not neutral is Nancy Pelosi or Chuck Schumer gonna denounce these attacks I mean, of course not because you know what is acceptable for corporate Democrats is never acceptable For progressives. So this is interesting. I'm rooting for John Federman I don't think that he is you know as progressive as Bernie Sanders But you know, I think that he's a good candidate and out of everyone I'm rooting for him the most He has the best shot at winning and he's pretty progressive. I think that he would bring some necessary change So I hope that he wins, but I mean this mere campaign by Conor Lam It's desperate and pathetic but absolutely predictable for a Republican Democrat like Conor Lam