DEBATE: Brian Tyler Cohen vs Caroline Sunshine on Redistricting, Spencer Pratt

[0:00] let's bring in brian tyler cohen host of the no lie with brian tyler cohen podcast [0:04] and caroline sunshine former communications aide for president trump's 2024 presidential campaign [0:10] welcome back to both of you brian let's start with you you have been on this redistricting train [0:15] for years yeah telling democrats that you should redistrict a lot of times they wouldn't listen to [0:19] you now it seems like they finally are and realizing the risk of this what's your reaction [0:24] to what happened in virginia and what democrats should do now look i think that the reaction [0:28] to what happened in virginia is that it is the perfect encapsulation of the asymmetry between [0:33] the two sides where we have independent redistricting commissions in all of the democratic weapons and [0:39] you know even when you go to the voters even when three million people show up to vote in [0:43] a referendum that based on some small technicality all of those voters voices are going to be silenced [0:49] at the same time that we have republicans in florida in texas in north carolina possibly south carolina [0:57] tennessee all who have just decided by fiat that they're going to redraw their state's maps i mean [1:02] basically elected legislatures elected legislatures but but redrawing the state maps without a single [1:07] person weighing in on this stuff basically ushering in jim crow 2.0 in the south i wouldn't be surprised [1:12] if we get to a point where we see no black representation in any of these southern states [1:17] and so i think it's a wake-up call to democrats across the country if you are a democrat in new [1:22] jersey new york maryland illinois uh oregon washington colorado this is the time to start [1:29] fighting back and recognize the urgency of this moment right here because republicans don't believe [1:34] that democrats have a right to exist as a party and so if we don't start fighting back and if we [1:39] don't stop unilaterally disarming they're going to we're basically going to good government [1:44] ourselves into obscurity caroline what do you think of this is it is it jim crow 2.0 well so [1:49] you're opposed to this because you think that this dilutes people's political power unfairly [1:56] is that why you're opposed to this i think that it dilutes the ability of people in certain [2:00] jurisdictions to be able to vote for their representatives nashville has been cracked into [2:04] multiple districts memphis has been cracked in multiple districts and so there's no way that those [2:08] people who live in those jurisdictions can vote for their representatives because the republicans [2:12] have purposefully gerrymandered those states to dilute uh their voting power so you're against [2:16] diluting voting power i'm against gerrymandering okay so do you support then illegal immigrants [2:21] being allowed to vote in elections illegal immigrants don't vote in federal elections well illegal immigrants [2:26] are who democrats want to vote in federal elections but do you say that doesn't make any sense [2:31] it doesn't matter if they want it doesn't matter what anybody wants if you're about if you are against [2:36] diluting political power for anybody you should not want illegal immigrants to vote in american elections [2:41] because we can't this isn't this isn't a discussion about that and illegal immigrants are not allowed to [2:50] vote in federal elections what about this move of what the supreme court did and what republicans are doing [2:55] right now when it comes to redistricting a lot of this started with president trump telling texas [2:59] to get him more congressional districts well i think checks and balances played out here i mean [3:04] the virginia supreme court said this can't happen in 2026 but it could happen in 2028 so i'm not sure [3:10] what the big deal is here this went through the democratic process and the supreme court the judge [3:14] struck it down saying the language in the referendum was flagrary misleading and he's not saying it can't [3:19] happen he's just saying it can't happen in 2026 because it's unconstitutional and he's correct [3:23] because that is a flagrant power play by democrats to try to reshape the midterms in 2026. [3:28] now my question for you if you think that's a power play was it was it a power was it a power play [3:32] when donald trump demanded the same thing in texas said that he was entitled to five seats in texas [3:37] was that a power play texas isn't virginia the states are sovereign according to the constitution [3:41] 10th amendment says federalism i'm asking you if it was a power play it played out how it played [3:46] out in texas because texas isn't virginia i understand that texas is not virginia but i want [3:50] to know if you think it was where does this go because you want to talk about power plays i would love to [3:54] know hassan piker on your side of the aisle said today that as a result of this ruling if a peaceful [3:59] revolution is not possible then violent revolution is inevitable so do you agree with hassan piker [4:06] i'm not here to i'm not hassan piker hassan piker can do you agree with that hassan piker can speak [4:10] for himself what does he mean by that i don't know you can ask him i'm not hassan piker i'm i'm [4:13] do you agree with that do you condemn that call call hassan piker and ask what i'm what i'm here i [4:18] don't care what hassan piker says i'm not hassan piker i don't think brian's pushing for a violent revolution [4:22] yeah are you or no just to be clear because like where does this go now that the supreme [4:25] court in virginia is here's where it goes it goes it goes to me me calling on every democratic [4:30] elected official either in the legislature or the governor's office in democratic states across [4:34] the country and demanding that they redraw maps to fight fire with fire and actually counteract [4:38] what republicans have done in a raft of different states across the country and what they continue to [4:43] do in southern states across the country in response to the voting rights act being gutted [4:47] do you think that there should be a national ban on gerrymandering to try to stop this whole thing [4:52] around the country opposed to it but i also believe that the constitution says you know 10th [4:57] amendment what is not outlined here is left to the states and i think states have a right to decide [5:01] their own process and that's what i'm arguing with you is the process played out here in virginia it was [5:07] put on the ballot on a referendum directly with the voters it barely passed the language was extremely [5:12] misleading there was an appeal it then went to the state supreme court what's the problem here checks and [5:17] balance is played out and you you support a national ban a hundred percent and in fact uh when the [5:23] democrats put that forward a national ban on gerrymandering in 2021 the freedom to vote act [5:27] every single democrat voted for it every single voted democrat republican voted against you think [5:30] the united states supreme court which has supported texas's right to do this and has supported california's [5:36] right to do this will support virginia's right to do redistricting you think they might overturn this no [5:42] i think that this supreme court has proven itself to be an arm of the republican party if nothing else [5:47] and we have seen numerous instances where whether it's this u.s supreme court uh where you had a [5:52] bunch of justices uh beat their chest about uh the importance of precedent and the voting rights act [5:58] which is you know that that precedent has been reaffirmed over and over and over again for the past 60 [6:04] years just like roe was president that was reaffirmed over and over again the supreme court stands for its its [6:10] own uh adherence to the republican party you think the supreme court might step in i don't think [6:15] they're gonna hear this i don't see why they i don't see why they would again the people of virginia [6:18] spoke and what's interesting is when this referendum was put on the ballot let's be very clear [6:22] it disenfranchised the rights and the voices if we're talking about who got disenfranchised with a [6:26] referendum of rural virginians this referendum transferred power from majority of the state [6:32] which is rural virginians and consolidated it among the swamp which is people who work in dc and live in [6:38] virginia but i didn't hear you speaking up then and by the way about the disenfranchised i would [6:44] concede that when you have a gerrymandered map certain people are disenfranchised which is why [6:48] this whole thing was sparked off after republicans first went after texas i didn't agree with with [6:53] it when it happened in texas but what i don't want to see is unilateral disarmament i think gerrymandering [6:58] is a scourge all around but if you really care about disenfranchisement then you'll care about it when [7:04] it happens right off the bat you'll care about it when it happens in texas you'll care about it when all [7:08] of a sudden memphis is cracked into multiple districts nashville is cracked into multiple [7:12] districts and those people have no voting power because that's a hundred percent republican and [7:16] that is true in california now that republicans are being disenfranchised by prop 50. but the [7:21] difference is the districts are the districts are not it's not fair to republican voters and the idea [7:25] of like a 52 to nothing map here is not fair just like it's not fair uh what we're seeing in in [7:31] tennessee and other places where there's going to be no democratic representation that's bad for [7:35] democracy correct it's terrible for democracy the difference is there's only one party that actually [7:39] supports a nationwide ban on gerrymandering and that's the democrats revolution to be clear is [7:43] also bad for democracy and i i either brian or myself are endorsing violent revolution just to be [7:49] clear uh always against political violence i've said that repeatedly quickly here in los angeles there's [7:55] a very interesting uh race happening right now for mayor karen bass the incumbent who has been [8:01] embattled and does not have very high approval ratings right now is being challenged by spencer [8:06] pratt a reality star known for the hills who's a republican gets a lot of attention on social media [8:12] had a debate this week got a lot of attention for it um what do you make of of what spencer is doing [8:19] right now he's running ads that he's getting a lot of attention for certainly a lot of republicans [8:24] around the country who don't live in los angeles and can't vote for him are endorsing him what do you [8:28] think of his chances to actually win in a deeply blue city i think spencer pratt could be the next [8:33] mayor of los angeles and i'll tell you why the last time a reality television star who was politically [8:40] incorrect ran for office he ended up all the way at 1600 pennsylvania avenue and spencer pratt is [8:46] reminding me of the saying first they ignore you then they laugh at you then they fight you then you [8:51] win he has all the makings i don't even have to use the donald trump example he has the charisma of [8:57] mamdani aoc trump he has that outsider anti-establishment energy and he is good at [9:05] harnessing attention he is running tactically speaking a very nimble agile smart campaign [9:10] i can tell that campaign is not being governed by committee my guess is it's a very small team of [9:15] five to six people who just like trump in 2016 are able to move a lot faster than bloated political [9:21] consultant type campaigns and spencer you know people are saying they don't like his politically correct [9:26] you know comments so in the debate the other night you know people said he was offensive maybe when [9:31] he was suggesting that nithya raman go ask people who are homeless under the freeway for treatment [9:36] they were going to get stabbed in the neck and people were really offended by that well guess [9:39] what in venice california today we had a man get his arm sliced off with a samurai sword so spencer [9:45] pratt it looks like is way more in touch with reality than the rest of the candidates on that quickly [9:50] brian thoughts on spencer what could possibly go wrong with a [9:54] long-time reality star who speaks bluntly knows how to game the media and decides that [9:58] he wants to be a politician look i think that that would actually lose brian i think that that would [10:02] actually i think that would actually carry more weight if donald trump's approval rating wasn't [10:07] what it is right now and if he wasn't you know basically exposed as as a con artist for promising [10:13] to be uh this populist champion and instead you know prices are higher for everybody health care is [10:18] cut food assistance has been cut and we're spending god knows how many billions of dollars per day [10:21] and a war in the middle east that he promised would never happen well in the next few weeks [10:24] we will be talking to all the leading candidates for la mayor including spencer pratt here on the [10:28] story is but for now thanks to caroline and brian we could keep going all night but at some point [10:33] we got to stop thank you guys both for being here we appreciate it coming