In this week’s Brief: We’re talking about the political maneuvering that happened to reopen the government. And Micah dives into the Democratic Party’s ongoing identity crisis, exploring questions of leadership, vision, and unity as the 2026 elections loom. Should they choose the socialist or moderate path?
Shifting gears, they cover a major week in sports and pop culture, including Nancy Pelosi’s retirement announcement, an MLB betting scandal involving top pitchers, and tragic losses across the NFL that have fans reflecting on life and legacy. And catch our thoughts on the firing of Nico Harrison, the Dallas Mavericks GM who was responsible for the worst trade in NBA history.
Through it all, we’re considering what this mix of chaos and change reveals about our culture—and why true stability and hope can only be found in Christ.
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Topics
- (00:00): Introduction
- (01:10): Government shutdown: Current status and impacts
- (03:36): Political maneuvering and shutdown resolution
- (17:38): Democratic party dynamics and future challenges
- (23:43): Democrats’ identity crisis
- (30:04): The American political system’s distraction
- (31:51): Spiritual reflections on leadership
- (36:14): Nancy Pelosi’s retirement announcement
- (37:50): MLB pitchers’ betting scandal
- (40:21): NFL tragedies and legacies
- (43:43): NBA’s worst trade in history
Resources
- Send us your thoughts, questions, and topic ideas: [email protected]
- Culture Brief Instagram
- Watch on Youtube!
- Sign-up for Denison Forum’s daily newsletter: DenisonForum.org/subscribe
Links mentioned in this episode:
Other articles on this week’s top headlines:
- Lawmakers take step to end US government shutdown – Denison Forum
- Politico: Dem Civil War
- Politico: The shutdown endgame gets clearer
- ‘A very bad night’: Democrats face blowback from their own party over shutdown deal – ABC News
- Government shutdown end in sight as Senate approves funding package, sending it to House
- What to Know About the Deal to End the Shutdown | TIME
- These 8 senators broke with Democrats on the government shutdown deal. Here’s how they explain it
- The delicate dance of the Democrats
About Conner Jones
Conner Jones is the Director of Performance Marketing at Denison Ministries and Co-Hosts Denison Forum’s “Culture Brief” podcast. He graduated from Dallas Baptist University in 2019 with a degree in Business Management. Conner passionately follows politics, sports, pop-culture, entertainment, and current events. He enjoys fishing, movie-going, and traveling the world with his wife and son.
About Micah Tomasella
Micah Tomasella is the Director of Advancement at Denison Ministries and co-hosts Denison Forum’s “Culture Brief” podcast. A graduate of Dallas Baptist University, Micah is married to Emily, and together they are the proud parents of two daughters. With an extensive background in nonprofit work, finance, and real estate, Micah also brings experience from his years in pastoral church ministry.
About Denison Forum
Denison Forum exists to thoughtfully engage the issues of the day from a biblical perspective through The Daily Article email newsletter and podcast, the Faith & Clarity podcast, as well as many books and additional resources.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
NOTE: This transcript was AI-generated and has not been fully edited.
Conner Jones: [00:00:00] Hi, I’m Conner Jones.
Micah Tomasella: I’m Micah Thomas,
Conner Jones: and this is Culture Brief, a Denison Forum podcast where we are navigating the constant stream of top stories and news, politics, sports, pop culture, technology, and so much more. And we’re doing it all from a Christian perspective. And Micah. Nico Harrison. It’s a new era for the Mavericks.
He’s gone. This is something we’ve talked about a lot and it’s a new era for the Mavericks. It’s a new era for the government. It’s re Yeah, reopening. And so we’re gonna dive into it all. But man, what do you think about this week’s news stories?
Micah Tomasella: Yeah, we will touch on. Nico Harrison, at the end, the worst GM in NBA history who executed the worst trade in NBA history.
Truly, it’s gonna go down as that type of situation. This was the only type of ending
that was ever going to happen, but ultimately, it doesn’t bring our superstar back. It doesn’t bring the Dallas Mavericks any closer to having Luca Doncic on their team. We’re gonna talk about the shutdown ending and everything coming from that.
We’re also gonna talk about Mamdami. He’s the socialist guy that won in New York. What does that mean? And just the [00:01:00] dims newfound momentum, but also how they can’t seem to get outta their own way too. I wanna give you an update on a few more things, but let’s jump into the brief.
Conner Jones: The brief. Okay. We’re opening back up, Micah, finally.
Yeah, it seems that way as of right now, we are recording on Wednesday morning. The government is still shut down. It is day 43 of the shutdown, which is just insane to me that we made it 43 days
Micah Tomasella: and we’re
Conner Jones: recording with Congress
Micah Tomasella: on Wednesday, November 12th. But
Conner Jones: correct.
Micah Tomasella: A vote is expected. By
Conner Jones: this afternoon, Wednesday afternoon,
Micah Tomasella: Wednesday at the government could be back open right tomorrow.
Conner Jones: Hopefully by Thursday morning the government is open again. So Congress is voting on Wednesday afternoon. It then has to go to President Trump’s desk for signature to reopen the government, essentially to fund the government. That’s the bill. Yeah. And by Thursday morning, we are hopefully reopened now.
The, the a, the effects of like the air travel and all that, that is not just gonna end overnight. That’s gonna take some time to dial back, to get air traffic controllers all back in the towers and air travel getting back to normal. But I think that was a big piece of the kind of pressure that put a lot of.
[00:02:00] Democrats on notice. They were like, we need to get this government back open. ’cause people are really starting to feel this both in their paychecks. You know, government employed people as well as people on SNAP benefits are feeling it in their paychecks, putting food on the table as well as so many people are trying to travel and fly and they are hitting five, six hour delays.
Oregon and their flights canceled. We are on this, you know, trajectory of I think 6% of all flights were being canceled across the country. Yeah. Required by the FAA, essentially. And we were supposed to get to 10% by Friday if the government was not gonna reopen anyways. It’s been a mess. And so, yeah, of course.
Senators are feeling the pressure. They’re getting calls from their constituents and their districts and they’re saying, Hey. You know, we need the government rere reopened for travel purposes. But a lot of these senators have a lot of federal government employees in their own districts that are calling ’em and say, Hey, we, we, we need a paycheck.
Yeah. We can’t even come to work. ’cause we’re having to do DoorDash driving on these days when we’re calling in sick to just be able to make some paychecks. I mean, Mike, are you, are you happy that this government is finally like, coming together [00:03:00] and reopening? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, but we’re this is a.
Micah Tomasella: A funding bill through the end of January. So I really don’t want to be back in this situation again. I think, I think both aisles, both sides of the aisle need to come together for the betterment of the American people. And I, we have, you and I have been pretty, pretty direct on how we feel about this shutdown, right?
It, it is just people jabbing back and forth political theater. We’ll get into it more fully. At the expense of Americans. No, thank you. I’m not interested in that. Run the government. That’s your job. Yeah, I, I fully agree with you. You are correct. It only, this bill only opens the government through January 30th.
Conner Jones: The idea being it’s temporary, it at least gets funding to federal employees. Yeah, it gets funding to snap benefits. It also funds snap benefits through September, so that will not be part of the next right shutdown deadline of January 30th. That is gonna be funded. So that kind kind of takes a little bit of the pressure off the deal that was made between Republicans and the eight Democrats who joined Republicans to get this [00:04:00] passed which was required because they needed 60 votes.
And so there were 52 Republicans that were voting and they needed eight Democrats. So basically side with them and say, let’s get this passed, the 60 vote threshold of the filibuster. They got eight Democrats to join them by agreeing to that January 30th deadline. Restoring funding for agencies that had lapsed at the start of the shutdown on October 1st.
Funding more military construction, veterans affairs, agriculture costs all through September, and then requiring federal employees who were laid off during the shutdown, people who were literally told they were no longer employed to be given their jobs back and get payback for those affected workers.
Yeah. No more mass layoffs until January 30th. So basically any government employees are safe until January 30th in terms of mass layoffs. And of course, like I said, snap benefits. Food stamps will be funded through next fiscal year, which is a big deal. And in exchange, Senate Republicans offered to hold a vote on extending the expiring healthcare subsidy tax credits, which was the entire reason [00:05:00] the Democrats refused to vote to open the government.
Right? They wanted Obamacare tax credit subsidies to be extended because they’re saying in 2026, those premiums on the 22 million Americans who use Obamacare are gonna potentially double. And so if they do not offer these subsidies, those premiums are just gonna really hamper on so many Americans who use Obamacare for their healthcare insurance.
Right. Well, the Democrats were saying, we’re not gonna open the government until we, until we get a vote on this, and we agree that they’re gonna be extended. Well, the Republicans have been the whole time saying, well, we’re not gonna talk about this until the government’s open. And essentially the Republicans kind of want out here.
And got the Democrats to say, well, we’ll just agree to doing a vote on this in December as opposed to adding it into the bill. Well,
Micah Tomasella: so what, so what about polling though, right? Like, because I’ve seen so many different polls about this, like Politico recently has been sharing over and over and over again.
I’m just curious like as to what you’re seeing that, if you want to talk about who won the, the court of public opinion on this, like. Politico, [00:06:00] Axios. Other places like that are saying that Democrats clearly did, but then I was, I, I saw this clip on CNN from like a week ago. Saying that the Democrats were coming out worse from this.
So I, what have you seen? What do you think?
Conner Jones: Yeah, it all, of course all depends on who you’re watching and what you are being affected by personally, but you are right there. Heaven poll. So one poll that political ran showed that 50%, 52% of Americans blame either the Republicans or Donald Trump himself for the shutdown.
And only 34% of them blame the Democrats. So, you know, you might be right. A lot of people are saying that because the Republicans are really the ones in power, they control the house, the Senate, and the executive branch. That kind of pins the blame on them. Yeah. Others are saying, well, the Democrats are the ones who keep refusing to vote to open.
Right. The government and they. They weren’t gonna do it. And then it took these eight democrats, essentially what, you know, some are claiming they caved.
Micah Tomasella: Right. Its not like there was consensus. I mean, we’re gonna jump into this, morely not, but I mean, these Democrats had to break rank [00:07:00] and they have been taking flack for it.
They had to So much break rank. Yeah.
Conner Jones: Yeah. Let’s, let’s, let’s talk about that because so many other Democrats have been like. This is so bad. Why would you guys break, rank and agree to the do this with the Republicans? We did not get what we Yeah. Set out to do, which was Yeah, a essentially putting it in the bill that there would be Obamacare tax subsidies.
All they got was a promise like, Hey, yeah, we’ll vote on this in December. And then that vote, who knows what’s gonna happen with that anyways. So they are, you know, there’s a bunch of Democrats that are pretty prominent coming out against not just the eight who voted against them, but also Chuck Schumer.
Micah Tomasella: Yeah,
Conner Jones: Chuck Schumer is the highest ranking Democrat official in Congress, and he helped negotiate this deal, but he did not actually vote for it. He did not join those eight Democrats, so he voted no. Maybe that saves face for him a little bit. But he didn’t kind of like push back hard, and so a lot of Democrats are saying he just totally caved as a leader.
Senator Bernie Sanders, that’s the name we all know said this was a very, very bad vote that raises healthcare premiums for over 20 million Americans. [00:08:00] Senator Elizabeth Warren said the party lost the fight over healthcare. Senator Chris Murphy said that there was no way to defend the yes vote, and then some of the Democrats who are not in Congress but that are considering, you know, a run for president in 2028.
Some of the names we recognize Gavin Newsom, California governor. Oh, all he did on the night got something say the deal was agreed to on Sunday night. He tweeted just, he just tweeted the word pathetic and that was it. He is so that was his,
Micah Tomasella: he is Trump now. Like he’s
Conner Jones: trying to be,
Micah Tomasella: i, I mean, pathetic.
That’s the word you used too. Like and that’s all you said. I mean, that is just, yeah. You know, he’s just like the democratic. Trump at this point, it feels
Conner Jones: like, well, that it’s kind of his communication strategy. Yeah. The team that he brought in, that they’re trying to do, that they’re very people up on social media.
Micah Tomasella: I mean, it’s worked for Trump, so they’re gonna give it a shot. I mean, I get it.
Conner Jones: Yeah. They’re gonna try it. And then Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said that this is not a deal, it’s an empty promise. Representative Ro Kana tweeted. Senator Schumer is no longer effective and should be replaced. If you can’t lead the fight to stop healthcare premiums from skyrocketing for Americans, what will [00:09:00] you fight for?
Micah Tomasella: Yeah,
Conner Jones: so those eight Democrats, they’re getting tons of heat still today. I mean, we’re a few days out from that deal being made. So many, they’re still getting heat and they’re having to make the rounds on news channels and all that kind of to defend their decision to join the Republicans to vote for this.
And you know, Dick Durbin of Illinois, he’s one of the high ranking senators as well. Second highest ranking after Schumer said he couldn’t accept a strategy which wages political battle at the expense of my neighbor’s paycheck or the food for his children. I, it is worth noting that these eight senators who joined the Republicans are not up for reelection in 2026.
Yeah. They’re either all going to be. Reelected in future terms down the road 2028 or retiring. Like Dick Durbin, I believe is retiring, so he’s not really worried about getting voted out. So that’s kind of a just interesting little nugget there. It’s Politico did note that they said clearly the Democrats did not achieve their primary goal.
They are divided in angry and the momentum of last Tuesday’s election victories are now a distant memory, but in the long painful history of government shutdowns, [00:10:00] the party seeking concessions has actually never achieved its goals. Yeah. So they’re basically just saying. These government shutdowns do not work as good.
Leverage it genuinely. You’re not gonna get what you want when you’re the party that’s keeping the government shut down. You know, but the Democrats, I wouldn’t say they failed entirely, Micah. Right? They did manage to, you know, energize voters last week. I know you’re gonna hit on this in a minute. In New York City Virginia, New Jersey, where the Democrats did win these elections last Tuesday.
Just last Tuesday they were on a high, right? They, they managed to leverage the shutdown to get people to vote for them. So that was one thing that they got out of this. They also. Like I said, the polling shows that they are not fully to blame according to most American people. A lot of people are blaming the Republican party and then most importantly, they did put the Obamacare subsidies kind of at the forefront of the conversation.
They brought a lot of attention to it, right? So there’s a lot to take in there and to think about, and they’re kind of put the pressure on the Republicans now with this vote in December on those healthcare subsidies. ’cause the Republicans are either gonna have to like [00:11:00] cave in themselves in making a deal with the Democrats on the subsidies or.
They’re gonna have to very publicly vote down Obamacare subsidies and raise the premiums on 22 million Americans.
Micah Tomasella: You know, I was reading Mike Allen with Axios and, and I should have quoted this, but this is your section, so I didn’t put it in there, but it’s something like, over 50% of MAGA voters polled are four, extending these a CA credits.
Like there are a lot of MAGA voters mm-hmm. Republican voters. Who they themselves or have family that are affected by this. And so this doesn’t seem like a winnable issue long term for the Republicans to just say, no, we’re absolutely not gonna do it. So I mean, we will just see what happens from it. I know there is gonna be a bit more sensitivity from the Republican side.
We’re doing kind of a deeper dive into the Democratic side, but I mean, obviously Republicans have to start focusing on affordability. Correct and not all of the other things that they’re being focused on right now, if they want to have some success in 2026. And so this is absolutely a part of that. [00:12:00] But then also, you know, we have to understand that with an issue like this, it does affect a whole lot of people.
And I think that you’re like about to dive into this, right? If it, so now what? But this affects so many people and the government shutdown was continuing to affect more and more in a negative way. And I also was reading that. There was mum, there was kind of mumbles that, you know, the eight that did vote and kind of changed their vote.
’cause there were like two Democrats who were consistently voting for the spending bills. So I think like six more broke to, to make it 60 or something like that. But there was, you know, behind closed doors. A lot of the Democratic senators are happy that this is happening. They’re just happy that they’re not the ones that had to switch their vote and take the heat.
Almost feels a little coordinated.
Conner Jones: Well, yeah. You
Micah Tomasella: how like guys wonder, do you pick the only ones that are not up for reelection in 2020? It’s like you’re sending them out as the sacrificial lambs because they’re not running again.
Conner Jones: Right. They, they, they’re not facing voters next year, [00:13:00] which is a big deal.
I mean, and honestly, yeah, if you’re gonna send out eight people to do it, send them out. Right. They’re, they’re not up for reelection next year. It feels
Micah Tomasella: coordinated, but I mean, I have no idea. Just kind
Conner Jones: of feel, it’s hard to know. I’m sure we’ll get the, like, deep dive in, like the background story in a book next year, year.
I can’t wait. You know, like. Oh yeah, that’ll be great. And we’ll get, I love all that stuff. Who said this? And all the, the behind the scenes stuff. That’ll be fun. Yeah. Okay. So now what? Well, obviously hundreds of thousands of federal workers are gonna be returning to work. They should be getting paychecks, hopefully asap.
They get their paychecks. This, I think a lot of this shut down too, Micah. The pressure was on ’cause of the timing November, December going into the holidays with not just travel, but people trying to buy their Thanksgiving meals, presents for their families. Like all that stuff, it just adds to the bubble of pressure.
Right. Also. Speaking of air travel, hopefully it’s back to normal in a week or so. It’s gonna take some time. Yeah. So continue to check your flights if you were traveling, or especially for Thanksgiving, check your flights. Okay. This is a big one. Most people do not realize this. Back in September a lady named Alita, GLA gr I [00:14:00] think is actually how you say it.
Micah Tomasella: Yeah.
Conner Jones: She won a special election in Arizona to be elected to the House of Representatives. Okay. That was seven weeks ago, and she still has not been sworn in. She’s supposed to be sworn in today. Once the government reopens. And it’s a big deal because she has said she will be the final signature needed to force a house vote on releasing the Epstein files.
Good from the Justice Department. Good. It’s actually a good thing. But they, you know, there’s a few Republicans that have joined Democrats in doing in signing this petition essentially to force this vote. And she has. Consistently said, I will do it too. If I can just get sworn in. She’s being sworn in, she’s gonna sign it.
And we should expect to see a vote in early December to release all of those files. And then we’re also gonna see a vote potentially coming to ban Congress members from being able to trade stocks. I don’t know if they’re gonna call it the Pelosi Act or not, but I know that’s something that they are considering.
She
Micah Tomasella: made quite a bit in her career, didn’t she?
Conner Jones: She did. And we’ll talk about her here in just a minute too. Anyways, that was one of the. Suggested names, and then of course we’re gonna see just what happens with this crucial vote in December [00:15:00] on affordable, on the Affordable Care Act subsidies. That’s gonna be a big deal, Micah.
There’s a lot there. There’s a lot that’s gonna happen over the next week or so. But I, I just wanna say like this whole saga, man, it’s just been frustrating for Americans, right? And if you’re not an American, you’re listening to this, you’re in Canada, you’re the uk, you’re wherever. Just know we we’re all frustrated by this and we know you, your governments do similar things too, and even that the American government shutting down affects global trade affects so much.
Right. So there’s a lot of impacts here. It’s just frustrating. ’cause it’s, it’s a reminder that, you know, when we place our hope and people that we elect, it’s just gonna fail. Right?
Micah Tomasella: Yeah.
Conner Jones: That’s what happens when we place our hope and trust in people that are not. Christ, and that’s gonna be everybody besides Christ.
We have to place our faith in him, not in political parties, not in politicians themselves, not in companies or technology or AI or religious organizations. They’re gonna always leave you short. There are great people and great organizations doing amazing things, but they are not. Ever gonna be perfect.
And I, we shouldn’t [00:16:00] expect that. There’s only one source of truth and hope, right Micah? It’s, it’s our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He lived that sinless life that was not beholden to the fallen nature of man, and he was and is above the bad characteristics that lead our decisions, such as selfishness, or greed.
Or lust, or a specific example I’m gonna give. Hunger, which might sound weird to you, but when you look at the story of Jesus in the desert for 40 days fasting, no food, no water, hunger could have driven a lot of decisions the way it does for us. You know, you get a little hangry, you might make a, an impulsive decision that you regret later.
Micah Tomasella: Yeah.
Conner Jones: You know what I mean? Up
Micah Tomasella: in there.
Conner Jones: But Jesus was not beholden to that.
Micah Tomasella: No.
Conner Jones: No. Instead, in Matthew four, we read that Jesus answered to the devil when the devil was trying to tell him to turn stones into bread, he says. It is written, man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Amen. Go down a little bit and in verse 10, Jesus said to him, away from me, Satan, for it is written, worship the Lord your God. [00:17:00] And serve him only. Micah I, I just hope this week we can be reminded that we should only place our hope in every word that comes from the mouth of God and worship and serve him and not worship or serve any person on this earth.
’cause they’re gonna leave us, you know. Short, they’re gonna leave us failed. That’s just the way it is. But Jesus will not. And so as you look at this government shutdown, as you look at your company, as you look at your just situation in life, your church, whatever it is, just remember, we’re all falling humans.
Trust in God, not in any person or anything other than the Lord.
Micah Tomasella: Amen. Brother. Couldn’t have said it better myself. Alright, so we’re gonna kind of continue this conversation, but I’m gonna focus on Zoran mom. Donny, the 34-year-old Democratic socialist, newly elected mayor. Of New York City, right? What many consider the greatest city in the world.
He’s now the mayor. He’s the elected mayor. But we’re also gonna talk about the Democrats and their newfound momentum, but also kind of touch [00:18:00] on just their identity crisis, that they can’t seem to kind of find their way out of so much opportunity for momentum for them, but not a clear leader and not a clear ideology to rally around.
Right? Yeah. So let’s talk about that. So there’s no question the Democrats have found new energy. Zoran mom, Donny. His win in New York wasn’t just a local story. I mean, this was like. The most international story from an actual city mayoral race. I can recall a 34-year-old Democratic socialist unseating the establishment, talking about things like affordability, housing, putting power back into the working class or the things that he focused on across the map.
Democrats saw higher turnout last week, especially among y young voters, first time voters. It’s a rare kind of momentum. That the Democrats just haven’t seen in a while. But the big question isn’t just how they’re winning right now, it’s why they’re doing it and whether the energy will lead to actual results for them.
And that’s just gonna depend on if they can actually get some momentum that they can put into action. Because while [00:19:00] Malani rise captures a party on the move, well you know, Washington is still kind of stuck, right? And the shutdown and many other things can kind of point to that. But both parties seem more.
Interested right now, and this is kinda the bigger point that I wanna make. I mean, we’re talking about the Democrats, but I’m gonna say the same thing for a lot of Republicans. Both parties seem more interested in messaging than they do actual governing. What they seem more interested in gaining political points, trying to curry favor as opposed to actually serving the good in the will of the American people.
And it’s very frustrating and I think a lot of people feel the way that we do. Okay, so. Democrats had a big week last week. We know that we’re trying to break down why that is and what that looks like in the future, but also Connor, I think it’s worth discussing for a minute before I just kind of dive into different things, that just because a socialist, and let’s just call it what it is, he’s, he’s a socialist candidate, can win in New York City.
It doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll work for the rest of the country. What are your thoughts on that, Connor? I, [00:20:00]
Conner Jones: I do not think it works for the rest of the country. I actually think last week’s elections kinda showed that. Yeah, mom, Donny wins in New York and that’s just a different type of place. Yeah.
It’s so different than anywhere else in America. The closest thing I could think is maybe like Los Angeles, Seattle, a very Portland, maybe Seattle, but like a very large city that’s so diverse that you could kind of almost prop up anybody with the right message and Right. Communication skills. Yeah. And you could, you could take them to a win.
Well, if you look at the other elections last week in New Jersey and Ver Virginia, those are more suburban oriented. Yeah. And they were definitely more moderate candidates. Right. So. And in those states, you probably wouldn’t get a socialist to win. I just don’t think that would work. But
Micah Tomasella: you don’t come out of this with a clear answer, do you?
Conner Jones: Right. Like, I mean, well, that’s their problem is like, do we run a socialist in 2028 or do we run a moderate? If I’m the Democrats, man, I don’t know. Like it’s a tough, well, they’re in a tough position, to be honest.
Micah Tomasella: Technically the midterms are gonna show that. But the thing is, is like if they’re gonna kind of split their interests here, like say what you want about maga, the Republican party has basically just [00:21:00] turned into maga.
So there’s like this, there’s this unification in the message. Okay, well, somewhat. But then the Democrats, it’s like if they want to have success in the midterms, is it gonna work to keep kind of. You’re, it’s basically two different parties within the same party.
Conner Jones: It’s, it’s essentially what happened 10 years ago with the Republicans, like you’re saying.
Yeah. The Republicans had to make the decision, do we go full Maga or do we go just straight line conservative, the old way, the George Bush style, Mitt Romney style conservative. The MAGA way obviously won out, at least in this era, right? Yeah. The Democrats are now kind of in a similar situation, which direction do we want to take this party?
And they’ve gotta, they’ve gotta make a decision. The problem that they’ve got right now is there’s no real direct leader of the party. Yeah. This is kind of what a lot of people are calling out. There’s not a Barack Obama waiting in the wings right now. Somebody could rise up and they could find a good leader, but they need somebody to really step up and lead them through this time.
Micah Tomasella: Yeah. So that’s, it’s interesting that you bring that point up because. It almost feels weird to talk about the Democrats in this way. We’ve kind of gotten used to it ’cause they’ve kind of [00:22:00] had like a bad, I mean, really year midway through Biden’s term to now. So it’s been a bad few years for them. But for the most part, it’s the Republicans that are typically in fighting that are not unified on their message and it hurts Republicans.
So it’s almost weird when you think about kind of historically, or at least since we’ve been alive, you know, that we’re talking about Democrats in this way, but you, you know, here’s what’s happening, and I kind of wanna point out, I’m gonna call this kinda like the broken system. So here’s what’s happening.
The federal government’s been shut down for weeks, like we talked about. It’s about to open back up. Hundreds of thousands of workers are fo furloughed. Basically, basic services have slowed to AC crawl. Neither side wanted to blink. Right. Democrats say they’re standing firm for healthcare funding for family protections.
Republicans say they’re holding a line on physical discipline. Both sides claim principle, but the longer this has gone, the more it just feels like, you know, like I said, just kind of feels like performance. It feels very performative. This isn’t a new problem. Shutdowns have become leverage, not last resorts.
The playbook is predictable. You wait it out, you blame the other side, you test the polls. [00:23:00] Then you claim victory for fighting the good fight, whatever that looks like. Meanwhile, real people. Federal employees, families waiting on benefits. Small businesses with frozen contracts are the ones paying the price while everybody is in leadership is waiting it out and polling and trying to win, right?
So that’s the heart of it. Both parties are stuck in a system that rewards spectacle over substance. Some kind of coming up with these words that are kind of like dichotomies. ’cause that’s what I feel like this is. Yeah, you’re elected for one reason, but you’re doing something totally different. So right now we’re seeing more.
Spectacle over substance from both sides of the aisle. The fight isn’t about serving the people who elected them. It’s about scoring the next political win. And that’s a big part of the problem and what I’m trying to draw attention to. But let’s talk about the Democrats moment and their, their dilemma that they’re in right now.
So the, the irony of all of this, Connor, like we’ve talked about, is Democrats do have momentum, and I think that they have serious momentum. Mom, Donny’s message resonated because it felt grounded. It focused on people’s actual lives. It [00:24:00] focused on things like affordability, but inside the party there is so much tension between those who want to build on that and those who fall back on.
The old Democratic talking points, what you would call maybe like the old beltway script. Yeah. That’s where this momentum could either grow or collapse because progressives are arguing that bold ideas are finally connecting with maybe moderates or undecided voters, whatever it might be, disillusioned voters who kind of feel left out.
But moderates warned that leaning too far left is gonna alienate the middle and it’s not gonna win in the suburbs. You know, both are partly right, I think, but neither is talking much about governing itself and actually executing these ideas. So the Democrats are in an identity crisis right now, like we’ve talked about.
So underneath all the optimism lies what I would call an uncomfortable truth that Democrats just don’t know what they want to be. They just cannot get an agreement on what they want to be. There’s a growing divide between the energized progressive [00:25:00] wing who are led by people like Mom Donny, who just burst it onto the scene, right?
A OC, members of the Justice Democrat Movement and the moderate establishment that still dominates national leadership. One side once a. They kind of want maybe like a, like a European style social democracy is kind of what they’re asking for. Yeah. And with expanded welfare programs, taxes on the wealthy, strong labor unions and protections, the other side that’s more like centrist in, in the Democratic party once a coalition built on pragmatism and economic restraint.
But the fight isn’t just. Ideological. It’s, it’s personal too because progressives accuse moderates of selling out voters for corporate donors and political safety and moderates are countering that. The far left is out of touch with those suburban voters who actually do swing all of these elections, right?
That tug of war leaves the party sounding more divided than united on. Nearly every single issue. So [00:26:00] like, it’s not like the Democrats can come out and say, this is the way that we feel about something. Of course there’s some issues like that, but for the most part, you’re just hearing different wings of the party speaking on something and whether if they realize it or not.
It’s coming off very disjointed. I know you’ve noticed that too.
Conner Jones: Definitely. And the suburban thing’s real. I mean, last year the transgender you know, men and women’s sports thing was a massive suburban driver that drove people to the right, honestly, because the left was like, they went so far left on that issue that it, it drove a lot of people to be like, that’s actually just too far for me.
I cannot vote for that. Right. So you’re, you’re exactly right. You, you gotta, you gotta pick your battles here. Like where, how far left do you go about how far center do you go?
Micah Tomasella: Right. Well, ’cause it’s like one of those things where. How do you counter what people would call Trump’s extremism? Like how do you counter that with something extreme completely on the other side or something with that’s, you know, more in the middle, that’s more pragmatic?
I mean, I would argue the thing that’s more in the middle and the and and pragmatic is what’s gonna win out, but at the same time. Trump keeps winning [00:27:00] and you would say he’s quite extreme, right? People? Yeah. People want change because even, even a year into even a, a, a year into Trump’s term, almost a year, you know, we’re not seeing affordability change much for people yet.
Right. So, so people are growing increasingly impatient. For change. The problem is, is it takes time to implement things and that’s no matter who’s in office.
Conner Jones: Well, that’s also why midterms generally go against whatever the previous I was or whoever’s in, whoever’s in office. They generally go, they swing the other way.
Yeah. Those next year’s midterms are likely gonna go democrat unless something drastic Right. Changes and the affordability gets better or whatnot. Micah, the, your idea of like the identity crisis is it’s making me think of like a teenager. You know, that you’re like 15 and you’re just trying to figure out who you are, what you like.
What you wanna do with your life? Do I wanna go to college? Do I not? You know, like they’re, they’re trying to, to identify those things. But imagine you are having to bring together a whole party of hundreds of con congressional [00:28:00] members, tons and tons of people out in local districts, governors state senators and all that, and mayors, and you’re having to bring it all together.
And then you get a few of these people that just kind of rise up. And especially when somebody rise up out of nowhere, like Mom, Donnie. A name that nobody knew until the month of July when he shocked the world and won that primary. And you’re like, well, is that the way? And it might just look a little bit like, you know, if you’re a teenager, you’re like, that looks fun right now, but then is it gonna work?
And I think with Mom, Donny, we’re gonna see over the next few years. Can he actually fulfill all the promises he made to do free no bus rides and free rent? No, he can’t. And like all
Micah Tomasella: these we’re, we are bipartisan, but I think, you know, I believe we can kind of come out and wholeheartedly say, we don’t think socialism is the answer.
So no, I don’t think it’s the answer. Don’t think it’s gonna work. And something else to, I think is the answer is that in order for Mom, Donnie to accomplish what he wants to accomplish, the governor has to sign off on a lot of these ideas that he has. Fat chance on some of this stuff. So like you, you know, that’s what I’m saying.
We have to understand that dynamic too.
Conner Jones: [00:29:00] Yeah. I just don’t think, I don’t think he’s gonna be able, I think it’s gonna let the people down if he cannot fulfill those promises. Right. And then the whole conversation goes away about socialism. But if he somehow pulls it off, then it’s gonna be a different conversation next year.
Micah Tomasella: Yeah. So let’s talk about for a second, kind of the leadership. Piece of the Democratic Party. You know, we’re talking about ide ideological splits. Let’s talk about kind of leadership splits. So, you know, obviously President Biden’s influence has waned. It’s pretty much gone. Vice President Harris, who ran hasn’t united anybody.
No clear airs emerged. Governors like Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer, JB Pritzker, or eyeing 2028 to run. But so are younger progressives who wanna rewrite that platform entirely. People are talking about a OC may be running for president, right? Yep. So the, the party has energy to grow, but no single figure has been able to harness it yet.
So in short, Democrats have momentum, but not unity. And, you know it’s, it’s a, it’s a difficult place to be, and I’m not sitting here saying it’s [00:30:00] easy, but if they wanna win, they gotta figure it out. So, what’s at stake? If the last month has shown us anything, it’s that the American political system is not merely divided.
It’s, it’s distracted, it’s disillusioned. Power has become the prize. And it’s, you know, it’s kind of been that way, like instead of platform, so like people are seeking power and influence as opposed to propping up and giving a foundation to their platform or their party’s goals as a whole, especially like kind of on the democratic side is what I’ve noticed.
So when Congress shuts down the government, you know, it just, it, it shuts down and then there’s just this big messaging war. It tells voters one thing, loud and clear that winning matters more than. I don’t know, whatever’s going on with those that are struggling, winning matters the most. That’s not a democratic problem.
That’s not a Republican problem. It’s kind of an American problem right now. You know this happens all around the world, but it’s, it’s a sin problem. It’s an American problem right now. So while mom Donny’s victory and [00:31:00] the left’s new energy matter, they won’t mean much if the system itself just kind of keeps spinning in place.
If this just keeps happening on the status quo, if hey, promising big things, not being able to pull it off, voters didn’t elect these politicians to. To just stage conflict and to argue in public, right, and to post stuff on social media. They elected them to govern and to make changes like Mom, Donnie was, was governed because he said, you know, he was elected because people want free childcare.
And people want their rent to stop growing up and going up, and they want groceries to be cheaper. And those ideas on its face, like, I’m not, I’m not gonna judge people for wanting those things. Things are expensive and especially in New York City, I can’t even imagine how expensive things are. Right.
Yeah. I mean, it sounds nice. So until that, yeah, right. It sounds nice. So like until that changes, every win in New York or in Washington just kind of feels. Hollow. So lemme give a spiritual application from this. It’s kind of hitting me. So this week Dr. Denison wrote a daily article about shutdowns and parties that are [00:32:00] more focused on winning than serving.
It feels like. And I, and, and I can’t help think about what Dr. Denison wrote. He reminded us that much of what we chase is fleeting positions, recognition, control. But our real task is to serve and steward what truly matters. Well, what truly matters. Everything we have belongs to God, our influence, our voice, our time, our platform, our possessions, our relationships, it all belongs to God.
And what’s interesting is whether if you, yourself, acknowledge it or not. Doesn’t change if it’s true or not. You were created in the image of God true. And you have been given uniquely everything that you have, whether if you want to acknowledge it or not. So you might as well just go and acknowledge it’s gonna make your life a little bit easier.
But our our real, our our real task here is to, to focus on leadership in God’s economy is about service. It’s about humility. It’s about sacrifice. It’s about seeking the good of [00:33:00] others. Even when it doesn’t benefit us, it’s about putting others before yourself. That’s real biblical leadership.
Okay, so Jesus said this. I’m gonna give us two things that Jesus said in Mark 9 35. If anyone would be first. He must be last of all, and servant of all and again, Matthew 23, 11 through 12. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
Those words flip the the logic upside down of what we’re seeing. Greatness isn’t found in status, success or power. It’s actually found in the service of others. That’s why we kind of belong to what you could call an upside down kingdom, just what the world would define as power. We as Christ followers are called to define it as something totally different.
The people who humble themselves, who use their influence to lift others up are the ones that God actually calls. Great. So here’s the challenge. Ask yourself today, [00:34:00] Connor and I are gonna ask ourselves the same questions. What are you fighting for? Who are you really serving? The goal isn’t to win the argument, it’s to serve the people you’ve been given in your life to, to lead and to love.
Because when we lead with humility and steward our influence with integrity, we don’t just fix broken systems like what we’ve been talking about. We actually reflect the eternal kingdom of God.
Conner Jones: Man, that’s so good. Yeah. I think about some of the leaders I know in my life, like either at church or even universities or companies.
Man, the best leaders are just typically so humble. They have a way of, of carrying themselves. They’re like, they’re not that concerned about power or, or control. They have giftings that allow them to really correct, maintain some of that. But they’re humble in the, in their heart, which is just so huge.
And so, yeah, I think both political parties could take a page from that. Nope
Micah Tomasella: no doubt,
Conner Jones: man. Good call out Micah. Okay. That’s a lot of politics. There’s just, and it’s kind of at the forefront of this conversation ’cause it’s just right where our culture’s at right now. Yeah. [00:35:00] Everybody’s thinking about everything that’s happening with the government with shutdowns and elections midterm next year.
This is
Micah Tomasella: culture brief, so we’re gonna
Conner Jones: Yeah. So
Micah Tomasella: give you a brief on culture
Conner Jones: and to be completely honest, there’s just, it feels like nothing’s happening in pop culture right now. I mean, there’s always stuff happening, but nothing huge. Right. Even sports, you know, middle of the season, it’s nothing crazy besides Nico.
Anyways, Micah, I know last week you had a, an all time misspeak and you wanted to address that real fast. Do you want to, do you wanna address that real quick?
Micah Tomasella: Yeah. So last week, you know, we were talking about Argent, Argentine ar Argentine beef, Argentinian, you know, and I kind of just got a little stuck in the Argentinian type of thing and I, and I, I said Argentina, I do know it’s Argentina.
For all my haters out there. I do know that. And apologies for the misspeak and thank you for those that pointed it out to me. I appreciate it. We’re getting better. We’re getting better here.
Conner Jones: I heard it while we were recording. I heard it. I was like, oh, I need to correct that. Or like, just like say, Hey, I think you meant to say Argentina and I missed it too.
So, you [00:36:00] know, it’s part of, that’s part of, this is your
Micah Tomasella: fault if we really think about it. No,
Conner Jones: yeah, that’s that’s right. That’s exactly what it is. Oh, hey. You sound like a politician. Blaming the other person. Well, not
Micah Tomasella: just flipping it man. Just flipping it.
Conner Jones: Okay, let’s check in on a few things that have also happened this week.
Speaking of politics, speaking of Democrat leadership. Former Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, probably the most powerful person in DC that is not the president. She, and now she’s not running for reelection. Now, this is a few years out. That means she’ll still be in Congress until January of 2027.
Should she make it that long? She’s age 85. So she’s one of those octogenarian politicians that has felt the pressure to step outta the way, especially after she was kinda the one who coordinated Joe Biden dropping out of the race last year. She definitely was the one pulling all the strings behind the scenes.
Even though she was not in the same speaker of the house power position, but you know, she’s been in Congress for almost 40 years, will be 40 by the time she’s out of Congress in 2027. She was speaker of the house from 2007 to 2011, and then again from 2019 to 2023, so eight total [00:37:00] years. Micah, is she one of the most powerful representatives, if not politicians ever in American history?
She’s gotta be right?
Micah Tomasella: Probably.
Conner Jones: I mean,
Micah Tomasella: yeah, massive influence. That she, I mean, she has staying power for sure, but she’s kind of pe she’s the type of people that we come to mind when we talk about term limits and, and the need for them
Conner Jones: and stock trading and trading and no more stock. She’s one of the people that gets called out the most for that.
That’s been one of the controversial aspects of her and some of the things that she’s supported. She ripped up the paper behind Donald Trump after his State of the Union speech in his first term. That was interesting. She did, she got Obamacare passed, obviously with. Barack Obama working with him to get that passed through.
So that’s one of her big achievements. Anyways, kind of an interesting person, very powerful person. And she’s bouncing, mm-hmm And she’ll be age, I guess 87 by then. So that’s quite a storied career. Yeah, Micah. Yeah, we’ve had some sports stories.
Micah Tomasella: Yeah, just a few. So MLB pitchers, we talked about this with sports gambling before, but MLB pitchers Emmanuel Kloe and Luis Ortiz Ortiz with the Cleveland [00:38:00] guardians have been indicted.
Prosecutors said the players were paid thousands of dollars to throw intentional balls or off speed pitches at, agreed upon times, helping betters verifying. This is the verified amount. It could be more helping betters win more than $400,000 across games. Both face charges of wire fraud, bribery, money laundering, and conspiracy offenses that could lead to decades in prison.
Again, this is just a black eye on incorporating gambling. Yeah, so deeply into sports. I just, I cannot believe. That this is the end, that there’s more that we don’t know for sure, but also the more integrated these betting companies and the more widespread sports betting becomes. I mean, it’s just human nature.
It’s temptation like people are going to fall into this. They’re gonna falter and they’re gonna make mistakes. It is human nature. So that is, that’s a pretty crazy story, especially when you talk about what they’re being accused of and what they’re [00:39:00] being indicted by. Like literally the throwing, they’re throwing pitches at specific times, tipping off betters.
I mean, that, that affects the outcomes of games. And it removes the purity from the game, doesn’t
Conner Jones: it? Yeah. Well, and they’re doing this, they were getting paid like four or 5,000, maybe sometimes $7,000 per pitch based off of the winnings. If they could get these groups of people, these winnings, they were gonna get paid that amount.
And it’s like, you’re going to, you’re gonna face decades of prison and you’re gonna ruin your entire career and your reputation, again, all your millions of dollars on your contract for $5,000.
Micah Tomasella: It’s, it’s a disease though, right? Like we talked about this with guys like Chauncey Billups and, you know literally the head coach of the Portland Trailblazers like.
A Hall of Fame player, plenty of money. It’s an addiction. Right, right. Like it’s never enough. So it’s, you know, it’s just, it’s, it’s one of those things that people are gonna fall into. Isn’t the
Conner Jones: MLB. Isn’t the MLB instituting a new rule or something like they, they worked with the sports books to like change what they’re gonna do now for
Micah Tomasella: pitching?
Well, they tighten restrictions on pitch level betting to protect the [00:40:00] integrity of the game. So like for example, like they’re making some adjustments to what people can bet on. Like can they actually bet on the type of pitch? ’cause you can bet on literally anything, right? So people were betting on what kind of pitch are they gonna pitch on their next pitch.
You know, and then there’s a pitch clock too, that’s 20 seconds. So you’re placing those bets like real quick before the pitch is actually even thrown, right? It’s insane. So we also had two significant NFL deaths. We lost Marshawn Neland and Paul Tiger. Boo tiger boo. Yeah. So two significant losses.
You know, first of all, Connor and I are Dallas Cowboys fans. Marshawn Neland, a 24-year-old, was in a high-speed police. Chase struggled with mental health seemingly in his adult life and ended up. Committing suicide. I mean, which is just from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was being ch chased by the police, and then they found him later.
He literally what, two days before? No, the day before he had scored his first NFL touchdown.
Conner Jones: Yeah, man, it was,
Micah Tomasella: you know,
Conner Jones: this is so tragic,
Micah Tomasella: so tragic, such a young guy. The way that [00:41:00] people spoke about him, always smiling. Just can’t ever assume. That the person that you’re speaking to is doing okay, even if they come off that way.
As believers be gracious, ask deep questions, truly care about the people in your life. ’cause you just really never know what somebody’s going through and losing Marsha Neland. It’s just been, it’s just been tough. Unlike the DFW area, the Dallas Cowboys, the NFL, just a 24-year-old with his whole life in front of him.
Ended his life. It’s sad and seemingly off of the highest high you could have. Right. Like I, I mean literally a touchdown on Monday night, dis person,
full touchdown. I mean, as a defensive player, that doesn’t happen very much.
Conner Jones: No. He, it’s like, that’s a big key. He, he landed on a ball in the end zone off of a pump block and then two days later this, and so everybody was just kind of shocked.
It was like, how can you go from that high? But also it could be a reminder that, man, the highest highs that we think are true in life, like what we think will make us happiest.
Micah Tomasella: Yeah.
Conner Jones: If we can just achieve that one thing. If it’s a touchdown, if it’s a, a paycheck, whatever. If we can just achieve that one thing, is that [00:42:00] gonna satisfy us?
Is that what we want? And then you know it, it will never do that. The only satisfaction won’t you can have is in Jesus. And so if you are in this situation, man Jesus, turn to Jesus. That is the only place you can find true hope and peace.
Micah Tomasella: Yeah. And you know, and, and we don’t discount or discredit getting any kind of help counseling’s important.
Medication is important. God leverages all of these things to bring about healing in people’s lives. And so if you need help, let’s not, let’s not discount those things too. Absolutely. Okay. So also former NFL Commissioner Paul Tag Labu passed away at age 84, did a heart failure, complications. He had Parkinson’s, but he, he led the league.
He was the commissioner of the NFL from 1989 to 2006, so was the commissioner for a long time, overseeing expansion TV deals, efforts to grow the game globally, all kinds of things. He’s remembered as a steady, unifying leader who helped modernize the NFL into the powerhouse that it is today. He was pivotal for that and people were saying a lot of really nice things about him.
It just made me think, you know, ’cause he passed [00:43:00] away at 84, and I’m not saying that that’s not sad or whatever. Obviously losing an 84-year-old as opposed to a 24-year-old. But I mean, some of the things that people were saying about him, I was like, man. Like, that’s a beautiful legacy. Like people were very using very kind words, not just about what he accomplished, but like how he treated people from executives to the custodians.
Like, you know, I, I was reading about that and that’s, that’s the type of legacy that I would wanna leave behind.
Conner Jones: Yeah.
Micah Tomasella: Yeah.
Conner Jones: If you watch that documentary, the Jerry Jones documentary on Netflix this summer, he’s a
Micah Tomasella: part of it.
Conner Jones: He wa he was all throughout that. ’cause Jim and Jerry were butting heads all the time.
Yeah. ’cause Jerry’s like Right. You know, doing, but yeah. What a, what a legacy man. Both in the NFL but also in life.
Micah Tomasella: So we touched on this last sports update, Nico Harrison, who’s the GM of the Dallas Mavericks. He builds up this team that makes it to the NBA Championship with Luca Don at the helm. We lose to the Boston Celtics.
I say we because I’m a Dallas Mavericks fan, and then Nico says, you know what? This ain’t working for me no more. I don’t like Luca for X, Y, and Z. So he trades Luca [00:44:00] Donit to the Los Angeles Lakers for a really good player, but a good player that cannot seem to stay healthy. And in an old player. Yeah, in an old player.
It tru, I mean, and we’ve, we’ve dove into this, it, it, it truly is gonna go down as the worst trade in NBA history. So there was just no sports other way that he was going to keep history, sports history. Well, yeah, maybe, I mean, I would just have to look at it for sure. The NBA, I mean, we’ll just, we’ll just, I would think, but I mean, you know, everybody’s, everybody is, you know, happy that Nico got fired and I, and I understand that.
Me too. As crazy as this sounds, it’s not gonna bring Luca back. It’s kinda like every revenge movie that you ever watch. Like if you wanna watch like John Wick or something, okay, these Russians, like in the movie, killed John Wick’s dog, and then John John Wick goes on this killing Rampage. Well, there’s this moment in the movie later on, his dog’s still, you know, not with him anymore, right?
It doesn’t change the fact that the bad thing happened. So yes, Nico’s gone, but so is Luca. [00:45:00] So I’m still sad about it.
Conner Jones: Yeah, it’s just weird. It’s also weird, I the whole like, sports firing, same thing with coaches. Like when somebody gets fired and the celebration of somebody getting fired, it’s kinda a weird thing.
It’s like, you know, in a normal job you’d be sad for somebody getting fired unless they have done something absolutely terrible. You know, you could say that that’s the case here. Like, like the worst sports trade in history. Yeah. Like Nico. Yeah. That might be a fireball offense considering your job is to build a championship team and you literally traded that team away.
Yeah. It’s, it’s just weird. It, it really took over the entire. Sports world, not just Dallas. This is something that normally would be kind of really relegated to the city. But dude, I got, I got breaking news lawyers from like CNN and Fox News and AP and everybody crazy on my phone. Like it was like national news.
Everybody’s just waiting for this moment. Anyways, guys, thank y’all for listening to Culture Brief this week. This is a Dennis informed podcast as a reminder. And remember, you can now watch us on YouTube, go to the Denon Forum YouTube channel. Yeah, and find us there. You can watch the entire episode there.
Check out our fun little thumbnails that we put together, and you can also watch on Spotify. Or just continue to listen to [00:46:00] us wherever you listen. And we’re so grateful that you guys take the time and hang out with us and walk through culture with us, all articles, videos, anything else that we mentioned on this episode.
We will link in the show description and you can find it there. And we will see y’all next Thursday.
Micah Tomasella: Bye.
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