Welcome to the June 30th, 2022 edition of the Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar newsletter. Remember to purchase your tickets to the Breaking Points live show in Atlanta here: https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0E005CD6DBFF6D47 with password BreakingPoints. The exclusive premium ticket sale has ended and the tickets will be available to the general public at noon so get yours quickly! Lifetime members, when you purchase tickets please email james@breakingpoints.com to get a refund. The high volume of ticket sales is something we are all very grateful for, so keep it coming!

Programming Update: There will be no Breaking Points show Monday July 4th, 2022 because of the holiday. The first show next week will take place on Tuesday July 5th. Pre-recorded segments will be posted to YouTube to make up for it.

Now to the 6/30 show which can be found here: https://youtu.be/EGmxg62luJQ

The public congressional hearings held by the House committee investigating the January 6th Capitol riot caused a stir Tuesday afternoon. A former aide to Donald Trump’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows testified about Trump opposing metal detectors for the crowd at the Capitol building and other eye-catching moments. She claimed while under oath that Trump had a meltdown, throwing his lunch on the wall when rebuked by then AG William Barr. She went on to describe a physical altercation between him and secret service agents who tried to drive Trump away from the Capitol. She added anecdotes about Trump’s lawyers worrying about the criminality of the administration’s behavior on that day. Hutchinson’s testimony made waves in liberal media for the revelations about Trump’s behavior and what went on with his inner circle. Soon after, reports came in from the secret service disputing Hutchinson’s testimony of Trump’s physical altercation with agents. They say that agents are willing to testify under oath and the J6 committee did not reach out to the secret service beforehand. Other details from Hutchinson’s testimony have been disputed, leading to questions about the credibility of the statements she made under oath.

All of the attention being paid to January 6th and Trump’s role in it have been a boost to Ron DeSantis. In a new poll, DeSantis pulled within single digits of Trump with GOP voters nationally as speculation grows about a 2024 Presidential run for the Florida Governor. The continued focus around Trump’s antics could benefit DeSantis if he decides to take advantage of his political momentum to wage a Presidential bid.

The expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization will proceed now that Turkey has dropped its objection to adding Finland and Sweden to the military alliance. After Sweden and Finland signed an agreement acquiescing to Turkish demands on a range of issues, the Turks flipped and will now enable NATO to add the two nations. The nordic countries will crack down on Kurdish militants the Turks deem to be terrorists and arms embargoes for Turkey will be suspended. At the NATO Summit, President Biden will give them a private meeting where Turkey will push for a deal to send them F-16 fighter jets in an arms sale. New countries require unanimous approval for joining NATO, which the historically neutral Sweden and Finland are doing in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Finland shares a border with the Russians spanning over 800 miles, and Sweden possesses contested island territory in the Baltic sea. So far, the response from the Russians to NATO expansion has been mild given the role NATO possibly expanding to Ukraine played in their ongoing invasion. The other big announcement at the NATO Summit came from President Biden who says the US will significantly expand NATO’s reach in eastern Europe. A military base will be established in Poland, permanent troop deployments in Baltic states will increase, and an additional brigade will be maintained in Romania. When asked about the concerns about NATO allies carrying their weight in the alliance, the White House defended their contributions. Nine allies are at the 2% threshold this year, 19 have plans to meet it by 2024, and five have commitments to meet it later.

The war in Ukraine spurred NATO to expand and European security concerns to become an important geopolitical issue. It has carried on in the Donbas region with no peace in sight. In a new poll, 89% of Ukrainians oppose territorial concessions as part of a peace deal with Russia and 78% approve of their President Zelensky. The caveats being Ukrainians in the Donbas region and Crimea were not included in the poll. It took place a few weeks ago before notable Russian successes in the Donbas. Nonetheless, the faith in the possibility of victory is unlikely to change anytime soon because of the existential stakes for Ukraine and the possibility of unlimited backing from the US will propel them to total victory. On the other side, Russian strongman Putin still wants most of Ukraine, even though his forces are only equipped to make incremental short term gains. With both sides unwilling to negotiate and believing they can achieve their goals on the battlefield, any progress towards ending the Ukraine war through peace is nowhere in sight.

The domestic political fallout from the SCOTUS decision to overturn Roe is roiling both parties ahead of the midterms. Democrats are ahead by 7% in a new generic ballot poll and confidence in the Supreme court dropped further. The gap between the two doubled in the past month, and the gap doubles again to 15 points when asked to choose between a pro-choice Democrat and pro-life Republican. The good news for Democrats in polling has been frought, and some are hoping abortion can be a midterm lifeline. But in the past year alone, more than one million voters across the country have switched to the GOP, particularly in hotly contested suburban areas. It makes for a dramatic shift, and an important reminder to consider the Krystal and Saagar rule when it comes to polls. Typical pollsters through various methodological factors generate data that tilts approximately seven points in favor of Democrats in addition to margin of error. Projections showing a GOP takeover of the House have not changed, but a few swing Senate races are less certain for Republicans in a favorable landscape. Georgia Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock leads former NFL star Herschel Walker by 10 points in a new poll that has Governor candidates tied at 48. Combined with favorable polling for Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman, the party is becoming more optimistic about its Senate prospects going forward.

A growing theme on Breaking Points is the Uvalde coverup stories are becoming even worse by the day. Journalists in Uvalde looking to learn more about the facts surrounding the school shooting of Robb elementary school have been blocked, harassed, and threatened with arrest. The police see the journalist as enemies by the police force and a paramilitary gang of bikers working with police officers. Other journalists have been interfered with for covering the funeral processions for some of the 19 children killed inside the school. The well known police failures during the shooting happened while the school shooter spent over an hour killing the children and two teachers in a classroom. Texas law enforcement agencies have fought efforts to obtain information and refused to release public records of what happened during the shooters. Uvalde residents who ran into the school have faced harassment and threats for speaking out about the police failures during the shooting. The Mayor of Uvalde accused agencies of selective information releases targeting local law enforcement and not officers from the Texas Dept of Public Safety. Answers about the shooting could lead to criminal charges, renewed law enforcement response guidelines, and a modicum of closure for mourning families.

British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell has received a 20 year prison sentence for aiding Jeffrey Epstein in his global sex trafficking operation. She was convicted for conspiring with Epstein to recruit, groom, and abuse underage girls who prosecutors say could not have done it without her. Epstein sexually abused hundreds of underage girls over decades and killed himself in prison under mysterious circumstances while awaiting trial back in 2019. Maxwell is 60 years old and could end up spending the rest of her life in prison. Victims of Epstein and Maxwell’s operation expressed relief at the sentence, despite it being shorter than what prosecutors were hoping for. Maxwell expressed her empathy with survivors who she hopes are at peace with her punishment. She has consistently deflected blame for facilitating Epstein’s actions and the threats to victims who chose to speak out. Maxwell was placed on suicide watch ahead of the sentencing despite not being suicidal possibly for precautionary reasons. Not much was learned about Epstein’s operation during the trial, a major blow to the possibility of the public finding out how deep it went into elite society.

In similar news, the R&B star R Kelly received a 30 year prison sentence for luring children into sex. He was convicted for years of psychological and sexual abuse towards underage girls through his fame and money. Officially, his charges stemmed from federal racketeering and sex trafficking after he was convicted by a jury of similar charges last September. Prosecutors seeked a 25 year sentence and trial included testimony from multiple victims of abuse by Kelly. The court also heard from people who orchestrated the disgraced marriage between Kelly and the late R&B star Aaliyah when she was 15 years old. The defense focused on Kelly’s traumatic childhood rife with abuse and other trauma. The 55 year old singer will likely spend the rest of his life in prison and awaits trail in Chicago for child pornography charges.

In his monologue, Saagar scrutinizes the Biden administration’s war on nicotine, cigarettes, and by proxy poor Americans. Cigarettes are obviously bad for your health, but with vaping systems the results are less clear. The answer seems clear enough for the Biden administration to declare war on nicotine users of all stripes, reeking of elitist class disdain. The FDA has banned menthol flavored cigarettes, most likely to be smoked by black Americans. It is a nanny state regulation dividing black Americans who do not want more police in their communities or arbitrary drug regulations. Then the Biden FDA targeted the removal of most nicotine from cigarettes to get millions of people to stop smoking. Instead of pushing for alternatives, they banned Juul e-cigarettes which would wipe out 42% of the market overnight.

So they are going after cigarettes and all the other nicotine delivery methods smokers rely on. Juul was specifically targeted as an example because of political pressure from groups concerned about the sharp rise in teenage vaping usage. The smoking rate among the general population is about 14%, but the rate jumps to nearly a third for poor Americans. America has a major drug use problem currently, but there are no crackdowns on marijuana or alcohol, the preferred drugs of elites. Alcohol use skyrocketed during covid times and has shown no signs of slowing down to potentially serious health effects. Alcohol taxes have only gone down and breweries are popping up all over the country, supplementing pervasive functional alcoholism among elites. With marijuana, the negative health effects are being explored in real time from higher THC levels. The war on nicotine and cigarettes, lack of media coverage, and the selective regulation of drugs is extremely revealing of how elite culture works.

After the monologue, Krystal and Saagar discuss the class angle of the selective regulation and the unique singling out of Juul in the vaping market as counterproductive measures to tackle the problem.

In her monologue today, Krystal breaks down the Biden 2024 announcement as a sign of his weakness. Lost during the Roe v Wade news was an announcement that Biden is pushing to rig the Democratic party primary process for his benefit. Building DNC resources, restocking operations in battle states, and shaping the nomination process in his favor by reshuffling the order of states. He notoriously finished 4th in the Iowa caucus during the 2020 run making it an unfavorable first state for Biden, who is pushing to put the favorable Michigan ahead of it. Bernie Sanders has taken himself out of the race with a whimper which brought Biden great relief. The signs point to Biden running again and the fears he had of facing a legitimate primary challenge. Even party loyal liberals have been souring on Democratic leadership during the Roe fallout because of the blatant failures of the top party brass. Washington Post columnist Perry Bacon Jr recently called for the entire leadership to be removed in a high profile op-ed. Democrats have given win after win to the right for over a decade with the current leadership. The problem is that the party is a consultant and protection racket above any ideological agenda.

Leftists have an idea of who should come in and lead the party, unlikely to be popular with more mainstream liberals. To keep their grip on the party, top brass will reach for the electability narrative that the left cannot win against a Republican who is an existential threat to the country. With the base becoming more frustrated and Biden’s poll numbers even worse than Trump’s the electability argument will be more difficult to foist onto voters. Democratic with progressive policy goals who prioritized electability are looking for other options, but they won’t be given any. The party has no successor options to Biden, and this time it will be harder to force the base to vote in line.

After the monologue, Krystal and Saagar talk about the failure of the Biden administration on its policy goals and electability leading to exploration of alternatives. The Ted Kennedy primary of Jimmy Carter is instructive for anyone looking to challenge Biden, and the space exists now. Elite infrastructure and candidate quality is the problem for those looking to challenge Biden, and the left has already folded.

Krystal and Saagar are joined by Madison Hilly, the executive director of the Campaign for a Green Nuclear Deal. In light of her work as a nuclear power activist, the power grid struggles dealt with by Germany are the focus of the conversation. Germany has been closing its last remaining nuclear plants and is struggling with energy prices because of western sanctions. They had previously been deeply reliant on Russian oil, and continue to rely on pipeline oil exports from Russia carved out of the EU’s oil embargo. Germany is looking at rationing natural gas after Russia cut supply in retaliation for increased economic warfare. If supply does not pick up for the Germans, they are expecting a supply shortage by December. Rationing could plunge their economy into a recession and failures of German energy policy are being blamed for the dilemma. Coal plants are being reopened and their campaign to close down nuclear facilities remains in progress. The three remaining plants power 11% of the country’s electrical grid. Madison makes the case for nuclear power and addresses the common concerns that arise when advocates tout support for nuclear power.