Senator Dianne Feinstein announced her retirement last week, but is she capable of serving for the next two years as her term expires? Mike Papantonio & Farron Cousins discuss more.
Transcript:
*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.
Mike Papantonio: Senator Feinstein announced her retirement last week but the question is if she’s even, even capable of serving for the next two years as her term expires. Big big question here, man. I’m telling, there’s every every sign of just failing mind. Go ahead and pick it up.
Farron Cousins: Yeah. And, and you know, this is a difficult story to talk about because we wanna make it clear we’re not insulting her. We’re not mocking or making fun.
Mike Papantonio: No, of course not. It’s just she’s not.
Farron Cousins: But twice last week, well, first on the day that she announced she was retiring at the end of this term, reporters came up to her a little while later and said, hey, we want to talk about your retirement. And she says, well, I haven’t made that decision yet. I haven’t said anything. And her staffer next to her had to say, well, actually, you, you did, you made that announcement this morning.
Mike Papantonio: Well, they actually said, no, actually, Senator, you put it in a written statement where you made that announcement. And then just last, was it last week?
Farron Cousins: Well, it was the next day.
Mike Papantonio: Okay.
Farron Cousins: The next day, yeah. She walks out of a vote once again, you know, reporters are asking questions and she says, did we, did we, did I vote on that?
Mike Papantonio: Mm-hmm.
Farron Cousins: And the staffers had to say, yes. Actually, you, you did just vote on that judicial nominee. You voted no. And it had just happened. I mean, we’re talking within that hour, she had performed an action, a vote, an official vote in the Senate.
Mike Papantonio: Literally did not know she had done it.
Farron Cousins: Had no idea.
Mike Papantonio: Yeah.
Farron Cousins: That, that’s, we, I mean, that is so dangerous. And if people watching this don’t understand how dangerous it is for a, a member of the Senate to be casting votes, not even knowing that she’s doing it.
Mike Papantonio: Well, she’d be 90, she’d be 91 by the time she finished this term. It’s clear, she has clear memory, memory loss. I mean, slim, very slim mental acuity. She’s the oldest serving senator. And it, it’s, you know, at some point, don’t we have to say it’s, it’s just like the story we did on Santos. I mean, yeah, he’s a Republican. You wanna support him because you need the vote. Get rid of the guy. He’s a crook. Don’t you have to say to Feinstein, ma’am, it’s time, it’s time to call it, you know, let’s throw water on the campfire. You go on home. Let Katie Porter or Ro Khanna run for your, for your seat right now. Those two people are in the running, aren’t they?
Farron Cousins: They are. And actually, Barbara Lee also announced her candidacy this week.
Mike Papantonio: Mm-hmm.
Farron Cousins: Adam Schiff, of course is, is in it too. Which you can go away Schiff.
Mike Papantonio: Yeah.
Farron Cousins: But man, to think of having Katie Porter or Ro Khanna in the Senate.
Mike Papantonio: Oh yeah.
Farron Cousins: It, it is hugely remarkable. Of course, you know, if they’re both in the primary, that means they will not both be in the House anymore.
Mike Papantonio: Yeah. Well.
Farron Cousins: So it’s a big risk, but a huge reward.
Mike Papantonio: I get it. I get it. But can you imagine Katie Porter or Ro Khanna in that position, which she should have enough class, and the people advising her should have enough class to say, you know what, you’ve done your job. You’re just not ready for it anymore. Let’s go home. Let’s have a new election. Let’s run these people.
Farron Cousins: Well, we can do the special election.
Mike Papantonio: Of course, of course.
Farron Cousins: Which will, which will weed out that overcrowded primary.
Mike Papantonio: Yes.
Farron Cousins: And allow, this is what the Democrats need to do, it will allow us to keep the other three people in Congress.
Mike Papantonio: Yeah. While it’s.
Farron Cousins: And not lose those seats.
Mike Papantonio: That’s right. That’s right.
Farron Cousins: The smartest thing is for the Democratic Party to say, you know, you’ve been here since 1992. We, we love you. It’s time to go. But we can’t afford to lose four seats in the house.
Mike Papantonio: Yeah.
Farron Cousins: Just because you want to hang on for two more years.
Mike Papantonio: I agree.
