One Flu Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Jon Lovett (0:00)

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Jon Favreau (1:33)

Welcome to Pod Save America. I'm Jon Favreau.

Jon Lovett (1:35)

I'm Jon Lovett. I'm Tommy Vietor.

Jon Favreau (1:36)

On today's show, we'll talk about the life and sudden death of the Republicans' Talarico conspiracy, the party's decision to go all in on attacking Abdul El-Sayed as a Muslim terrorist, Elon Musk quietly spending more on the midterms than he did on the entire 2024 presidential campaign, federal agents raiding Ilhan Omar's house, Pete Hegseth's plan to live stream an execution by firing squad, and Kimberly Guilfoyle's Greek sugar daddies. What a list.

Jon Lovett (2:04)

Plural.

Jon Favreau (2:05)

Yeah, there's two that we know of, but who knows?

Jon Lovett (2:08)

That's dessert for the end.

Jon Favreau (2:11)

The story is still young. Then you'll hear Lovett's conversation with the Democratic candidate for Senate in New Hampshire, Chris Pappas. All right. Let's start in Texas, where the Republican desperation to hold on to a Senate seat that's slipping away led the Magaverse to concoct a conspiracy so stupid and short-lived that it barely survived the weekend.

It all started on September 30th, when James Talarico said during a virtual campaign appearance, what are you doing?

Jon Lovett (2:39)

Images of traditional Greek desserts.

Tommy Vietor (2:42)

I was realizing all I had was baklava.

SPEAKER_4 (2:44)

Hey, you got a joke in the oven.

Chris Pappas (2:46)

Joke to the hopper, everybody, stay tuned.

Tommy Vietor (2:48)

Don't look at my screen.

SPEAKER_7 (2:49)

That's my space.

Donald Trump (2:50)

You made it like a 100-foot.

SPEAKER_4 (2:52)

I can't believe glasses.

Jon Favreau (2:53)

Honestly, it's better that it's at least connected to something we're talking about because it could have very well been something that he planned on baking this evening.

Jon Lovett (3:01)

He has been baking a lot.

Tommy Vietor (3:02)

I did. I made a lovely apple pie.

Jon Lovett (3:04)

I feel like you're getting good at baking.

Dan Pfeiffer (3:05)

I am getting very good at baking.

Tommy Vietor (3:06)

I'm glad you're sharing.

Dan Pfeiffer (3:07)

I was reading about the actual news and I thought, I don't know a Greek dessert besides baklava. I thought, well, there's got to be a pun somewhere.

Tommy Vietor (3:14)

I know. I love baklava.

Jon Favreau (3:16)

What do you need aside from baklava?

Dan Pfeiffer (3:18)

Well, I don't need anything. But then I was thinking, I was thinking Kimberly Guilfoyle is on the Dolemaids, or that dessert, you know what they mean? But that wasn't very good. So I thought I was like, and then I was like, oh, baby's got baklava. That's nothing. So I was looking for other options.

Jon Favreau (3:33)

Okay. Well, anyway, should we go back to Texas?

Dan Pfeiffer (3:36)

Sure.

Jon Favreau (3:37)

Okay.

Dan Pfeiffer (3:37)

What happened there?

Jon Favreau (3:38)

So it started on September 30th when James Talarico said during a virtual campaign appearance that he was sick with the flu, went to urgent care, and would be staying home for a while to avoid infecting anyone. The following week, right-wing influencers reached the only logical conclusion about Talarico's extended absence, which is that he was actually at a psychiatric hospital in Ohio called the Lindner Center of Hope, experiencing what Ken Paxton's campaign called, a full-blown mental talifreakout.