Cage Match Inside the White House

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Baby! [02:39] Knicks-focused episode of Todd. That is what I said. I was like, who will even know where we're going to be? But it turns out, very fortuitous, happy to just talk about the Knicks on this podcast. Thanks for inviting me, John. Congratulations. I had nothing to do with this. I had some excellent timing because I put the boys to bed, and then I went downstairs, and I turned the game on at the beginning of the fourth quarter when the run started. Oh, my God. Fuck you with your Pacific Standard time.

[03:09] West Coast I am. Not that I ever do because I have [03:11] to the young children, but is the best. It is the best. You're so lucky. I had put my, I let them stay up a little bit late and we saw the first quarter and it was like, we can turn this off now. They were like, my eight year old started like kind of crying and he was like, I hate the next. And I said, you need to manifest positivity. I put them to bed and then they, he woke me up at seven o'clock.

I know I slept in and he was like, Monday one. And then we watched highlights. I was slightly concerned that Trump had cursed them for the [03:41] out it's just about him actually physically being there true and also smart nix fans burned a bunch of sage in front of the garden yesterday because we know how to clear bad vibrations clear the trump stink out of it yeah it's just it hangs in the air especially in this weather but listen um [04:01] Well, there we go. There we go. That's it. Thanks for joining us.

Make sure to subscribe to Potsdam America. We got lots to talk about on today's show. We're going to talk about Trump saying we're on the verge of a deal with Iran for the 39th time since the war began a little over 100 days ago. Who knows? This could be the big one. We'll also cover the president's latest inflation gaffe. Spoiler. [04:26] He loves it. In his attempt to quiet Republican furor over Bill Pulte by announcing his long term pick for DNI. There's also new reporting that the knives are out in Trump land, which is perfectly illustrated by an explosive new story from Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan about how these morons bumbled their way through the Epstein crisis.

And finally, you will hear my conversation with our pal Ron Brownstein, one of the best political analysts out there about the midterm state of play, his take on the Graham Plattner saga, the House map, the Senate map and much more. [04:56] please consider subscribing to a crooked and become a friend of the pod. You get ad free episodes of pod save America and all your favorite crooked pods. You also get to be supporting one of the few pro democracy, independent media outlets left in the world. Barry Weiss hasn't shut down yet or tried to murder.

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[05:45] The ceasefire with Iran broke down, missiles started flying again, Trump threatened to bomb the shit out of the entire country, and then at the last minute... [05:53] announced with great fanfare that he's calling off the strikes because a deal... [05:57] is finally at hand. Is this an episode from six weeks ago, three weeks ago, last week, next week, ten weeks from now? [06:04] All of the above. [06:07] You know, John, [06:08] I've come to the Chris Nolan theory of time that it's a dimension. [06:12] And so it's always happening.

[06:16] We're always at war and a deal is always imminent. We're always at war with... It is omnipresent. We live in the dimension of... [06:23] Yeah, we're never not. [06:25] about, it will go on forever. Middle Asia. It has been happening. I guess. [06:32] We're going to be talking about this [06:34] For eternity. Like, it's like, all right, let's talk about the latest almost deal with Iran, and then we'll talk about the inflation gaffe, and then we're off. [06:44] I, I think I, I, I've been thinking a lot about this and I wonder if it's time for the press to stop asking him anything about the war.

[06:55] Because it's so it's like asking, like, perhaps a mentally ill person about stock tips. Like there's no use in doing that. They'll tell you some things. Now, I will say, I will say he's pretty good at that because of all the insider information, which he trades off of. So that is true. 3,700. He's quite quite adept at doing that. So the latest S. strikes hit targets across Iran, including apparently drinking water infrastructure. [07:25] which would likely be a war crime. And after Trump threatened to take Karg Island and assume, quote, total control of Iran's oil, he backed down with the Post claiming, quote, final points have been in both concept and great detail approved by all parties involved and then listed 10 countries.

Iran was not one of them. As I mentioned, CNN has tallied this up for us. It's at least the 39th time that Trump has claimed a deal is imminent. And, you know, he did take some questions on the [07:55] But like you said, it was all the same questions and all the same crazy answers. We thought it was much more interesting to play a supercut from his his calling to Fox and Friends this morning between when he threatened to destroy the country and he announced an almost deal. He was he was there to ostensibly discuss Iran, but that only barely happened.

Here are some of the highlights. I mean, I'd like to get a deal now. [08:21] less than three or four weeks to go because, you know, once you do this, you can just go a step further. [08:27] But I don't know that America has the appetite to do what I would really much prefer doing. Look, we were in Vietnam 19 years. If it were me, I would have had that war done in three months. [08:39] But we did great in 2020. It was a rigged election. [08:42] And you saw it in California.

Very interesting. If I could just say all of a sudden, oh, we have a surprise. Steve Hilton won. But Iran is a rigged election. But I shouldn't have brought that up. But let's get back. Let's get back. I just want to say to the public, it's a rigged election. We need to save America act. Period. Got it. OK, let's get back to Iran. Much simpler. Iran is very good at publicity, but they're not good at fighting. So. [09:09] I took a look and... [09:11] I must tell you, [09:12] uh, [09:13] They...

[09:15] Can't believe the press they get. [09:17] They can't even believe it. And they told me, they said, it's amazing how well we're doing in the papers. We're not doing so well. They're negotiating with us to make a deal. [09:25] They did an editorial today about... [09:28] We're not hitting them hard enough. I mean, it's just not hitting them hard enough. We dropped $250 million worth of bombs on them last night. You know, the whole thing is crazy. Part of the problem is that they read the fake news. I mean, because Fox is great.

All the anchors on Fox have been fantastic, from Sean to Jesse, Laura. I mean, they've all been... [09:47] Great, everybody. Every single anchor. It's been great. You guys have been amazing. [09:53] Excellent. Seems like he's locked in, huh? [09:55] Dude, okay, I mean like where do we even begin with this? First of all, there's so many things to call attention to. [10:03] The fact that he had to, in the middle of all of this, go off on the 2020 election and Brian Kilmeade is like, I shouldn't have brought that up.

I shouldn't have brought that up. And he says Iran is my fault, though. It's my fault. I took us off topic. And then Trump says, let's get back to Iran, a much simpler situation. [10:21] Um, he sounds like an old, angry person who's not yet even stood up from bed. You know, he has that kind of the throaty congestion of someone who's just ranting from from bed. Like and it's just obviously it's just association at this point, just word salads. None of it makes sense. [10:51] the American public feel assured that they have their hands on the wheel here, that they got their arms around this thing.

Well, look at Vietnam. That took so long. Yeah, no, dude, we don't want to do that again. Also, his whole thing about, you know, I do what I want to do, but the American people might not have the stomach for it. He wants to do this big war. He wants to keep going with the war. [11:12] He wants more war, harder war. [11:18] At one point, he's pressed to give his message to the Iranian people. And Trump says, and this is a quote, my message to the Iranian people is they're afraid because they have no guns and the other side has guns.

That's not a message to the Iranian people, I don't think, is it? That is not a message to the Iran. Every time someone has asked him that this whole war, though, he confuses. [11:42] regime. And so everyone's like, what about the Iranian people? And he's like, they're running scared. That's what they're doing. And it's like, they some people are specifically mentioning the Iranian people. And he, of course, does not give a shit about them, even though that was, you know, that was one excuse for why we were doing this in the first place.

[11:58] I also love the notion that the Iranian regime... [12:02] that Moshtaba Arremini, who has not been seen in public since this began, is calling Trump to be like, it's amazing how well we're doing in the papers. The papers. I grabbed the New York Times here. I grabbed the post this morning. You should have seen the wood on the post. Amazing. I'm getting amazing press. [12:22] They put the Knicks on the back page. I was right there in the front. And that was a great game, Mr. President. He also starts talking at some point about Tiananmen Square and how it takes a – it starts the drivers of the tanks in Tiananmen Square who mowed down citizens, at which point he's cut off.

And they're like, we only have a minute, Mr. President. They literally cut him off on Fox & Friends because he's so addled. Can I say, though, seriously, John? [12:52] Yeah. [13:01] The story of whenever this ends, or maybe it never ends because time is dimension, but when it theoretically comes to a conclusion, the story of American war crimes in Iran will live with us as our legacy for decades. And we on Runaway Country had talked to. [13:21] A retired master sergeant at the, what is it called? The Civilian Protection Center of Excellence, which was a department in the DOD, which was set up to mitigate and prevent civilian deaths.

Like, for example, bombing a girls' school or bombing water infrastructure. And Pete Hegseth wrote in and dismantled it effectively. Like, civilian deaths are not beside the point. [13:51] And we, I mean, [13:53] The... [13:55] This administration owns these civilian deaths, and we don't have a good tally of them because there's so much opacity with regards to this war, even as it concerns American deaths. And we have a free press. But at some point, the numbers are going to come out. And Donald Trump will own every single one of those deaths for a deal that looks like it will be nothing on par with the JCPOA.

[14:25] editorial board saying that he's not bombing hard enough. He's not doing enough, right? Because they're hawks over there. He also calls the wall. He's like, I know that you guys own them, but they're trash. He said to the Fox people, referring to Murdoch. And he's like, what do you what do they want from me? We just dropped $250 million worth of bombs on them last night. So now he is bragging to the American people about using their tax dollars to drop bombs on Iran that hit water [14:55] potentially cause civilian death.

So now he's telling people like, hey, what do you want from me? I spent your money killing people in Iran for no reason last night. It's the first time we've also gotten any kind of price tag from him. I mean, it's so embarrassing that this is like the braggadocio about killing civilians is the only way we get some transparency about the from this White House about what the damage and the sort of collateral on the table is. It's like [15:25] the football away yet again, or is this finally Charlie Brown's moment?

It seems like it's still just a memorandum of understanding. So Trump said that in the Oval, which means it's sort of the same deal as before deal. The Israelis are apparently surprised, and they said they're not part of this deal at all. So no matter what the deal is, it's not solving the conflict between [15:55] said that the Ayatollah has agreed already. Iran is not saying that. There's an Iranian news agency said there's a high chance the agreement will be approved. So like, you know, maybe we're going to get there.

But, you know, [16:07] It feels like we're right back to if it does get approved, what it is, is the end of the naval blockade, reopening of the strait, and then kicking all the nuclear issues down the road for more negotiations that I'm sure will not go anywhere else. [16:24] And there's there's definitely going to be some sweetening to the tune of I mean, Marco Rubio on the Hill said they were not going to trade sanctions relief for reopening the strait. But and Nahal Tuzi has like a breakdown of this in Politico today.

There's definitely ways that they can make sure money flows to Iran, basically to fill back up the coffers and pay them for reopening, pay them to reopen the strait. [16:54] We may not know about it as American taxpayers, but it is certainly there is going to be a shell game going on inside the bowels of the federal government to ensure that money goes to the Iranian regime. Because otherwise, why would they do any of this? No, of course. And what happens, what will happen is some intrepid reporters will find out what the shell game is and report it in a in a great story.

And then someone will ask the White House about it and they'll basically say, fuck you, fake news. And then everyone will go on to the next thing. [17:24] Brian Kilmeade who said, "Mr. President, you're like an anaconda, squeezing the life out of the enemy, slowly squeezing them to death." He said it like four times. Yeah, he was really happy with his analogy. He was like, "But did you hear the anaconda thing? I'm workshopping it." [17:42] Before we move on, what did you make of his rant about the California election? Did you realize that Steve Hilton won because...

[17:48] Donald Trump complained about Spencer Pratt losing. Yeah, what did he say about Spencer Pratt? He was like, the kid got shafted. He got shafted. But then I said something. I said something, and now... [17:59] Now we got Steve Hilton. Now he made it through. [18:01] Yeah, it was happening to Steve Hilton, too. But now I mean, it's it's good that someone's got their eyes on California. We guys we know how you operate. And it's a it's a complicated, you know, con, right? You think, oh, well, the gubernatorial race matters more.

But no. [18:15] What this is, is about singular and discrete races that are stolen for no apparent reason. But just to throw you off the scent. Yes, it's about the A. mayor, the incumbent, who wanted to face Spencer Pratt much more than she wanted to face a progressive challenger. And yet did her best to rig the election so that she could get that progressive challenger and not Spencer Pratt. [18:45] It's incredible, buddy. Man, these people. But like, can I just say, the election fraud and going back to 2020 is like so much more animates this dude than actually Iran.

I mean, he's both incompetent and incoherent on Iran, but he's also bored of it. Like he doesn't really have – like he would much rather – he wants to talk about the Save America Act. He wants to talk about raw power and the stealing of elections and getting his election deniers, having them act with the full force of the federal government. [19:15] This guy up in the morning. Yes, as you can tell from the tone in his voice. [19:27] Pod Save America is brought to you by Nutrafol. Real change comes from the small healthy habits you do every day that quietly add up to big improvements.

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I had the Thai beef curry with rice. And who knows what I'm going to have tonight? Maybe it's like a good chicken dish they gave me. Anyway, I've used CookUnity for years, long before they were ever a sponsor. It's great. It's the first chef-led meal delivery service that makes your meals in small batches inside local micro kitchens across the S. [21:08] So every dish arrives with the kind of freshness you'd get at the restaurant itself. Meals from Michelin-starred chefs, James Beard winners, and Food Network stars. Go to com slash crooked or use code crooked before checkout for 50% off your first week.

[21:38] CookUnity works with some of the best chefs in the country to bring creative, delicious meals to your door. There are hundreds of dishes to choose from, and the menu is updated constantly. Taste what happens when real, award-winning chefs make fresh, small-batch meals just for you. Go to com slash crooked or enter code crooked before checkout to get 50% off your first order. That's 50% off your first order by using code crooked or going to com slash crooked. [22:03] Well, deal or no deal with Iran, it's looking like it may be too late for Trump to turn the economy around before the midterms.

And per usual, he's making it abundantly clear that he doesn't care. New inflation data from Trump's own Department of Labor shows that prices rose in May to a three-year high for the third straight month, with energy prices up 24% from a year ago. Data on wholesale inflation released Thursday morning put that measure at its highest since late 2022. [22:31] of how much people's financial struggles are weighing on him. Here's a few highlights to jog your memory. Do you believe the price of oil and gas will be lower before the midterm elections?

[22:42] I hope so. I mean, I think so. It could be. It could be the same or maybe a little bit higher. I thought that oil prices would go much higher. I look today, it's like at 102. And that's a very small price to pay for getting rid of a nuclear weapon from people that are really mentally deranged. Affordability is a hoax that was started by Democrats. How much longer will Americans continue to see these high gas prices? [23:12] American financial situation, I don't think about anybody. I think about one thing.

We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That's all. I don't care about the midterms. Look what happened last night. That was... [23:24] the prelude to the midterms. [23:26] Well, I think... [23:27] Good news. [23:28] We have a new contender for the crown. Here's what Trump said on Wednesday in response to a question about the latest inflation data. [23:36] Sir, Mr. President, about the latest inflation number, which came out this morning. Could that be a great... No, I love it. The numbers were great. You know what I really love? I love the inflation.

You know why? [23:46] Because there's still [23:47] I love the inflation. He loves the inflation. God, I wish they could pan to other faces in the room. You know, that's good. Yeah. Someone in the pool. Just go to Susie Wiles's face. I love when this is being said. [24:06] I love the inflation. I love the inflation. I mean, this is the downside, John, of having a malignant narcissist in office. Like they can't summon empathy when empathy is the prerequisite from staving off the the political fallout from stopping the bleeding here.

Like they the the war is so catastrophically out of Trump's hands to a certain degree because he refuses to engage in diplomacy and doesn't really give a shit and is also an idiot. [24:36] But like if he's going to try and manage the political reality that he and his party are facing, you got to start the sentence with empathy. And I feel your pain and I know this economy is bad and it's tough to be a working class American. But – [24:48] X, Y and Z about Iran and the stability of the globe or whatever.

But he is constitutionally unable to summon to even pretend not only is he constitutionally unable to pretend to be empathetic. He's the opposite. He is digging the knife in further. Bill Clinton's message was, I feel your pain. Donald Trump's messages. I cause your pain. And I'm fucking glad I do it. And tough shit. [25:12] That's me. I cause your pain. You and your dumb cars. You and your dumb desire to put food on the table. Don't talk to me about health care. [25:22] I need another million for my ballroom. Now, for my money, I still think the reigning champ is I don't care, but I don't think about Americans' financial situation at all.

I don't know. I love the inflation. It's funny because he uses the article in front of it, right? I love the inflation. So that makes it a little funnier. [25:42] Well, no, he says it's actually the full quote is so good. You know what I really love? I love the inflation. You could argue, right? [25:52] He's like, wait, hold it. He's teased it up. He's like, I'm about to, you know what I really love? [25:56] the inflation. Like it's so sadistic. Honestly, I don't think about Americans financial situations is part of a bigger question.

And I'm not excusing it at all. I think it was a disastrous quote. But this is psychotic. This is someone who's like, you like the pain? How about a little bit more? You know what I really like? Fucking over the American public. It's always dangerous to do this. But I was trying to think of like, what was he actually [26:26] old, very old mind, he was thinking, you know what, this data, it's going to be great because as soon as the war is over, [26:34] This inflation is going to come right down and then I'm going to take all this credit for inflation falling.

So I love the like, I think it's a little bit like it doesn't make sense. It doesn't. No, of course not. Of course not. Because he's talking about ongoing inflation. It still doesn't. Well, he doesn't know. He also doesn't know what inflation is, really. Yes. Can I just say also, I don't moonlight as a petroleum engineer, but I will for this podcast. Yes. I try and I try and come prepared. [26:58] Like the gas prices are not going down, even if the Strait of Hormuz opens back up. [27:03] tomorrow. No.

This is baked. [27:07] This is this is where I didn't know the Washington Post is talking about the reality of these like ships getting through back through the straight. They're like, even the hundreds of fully loaded tankers that have idled in the straight since last February will not be able to quickly move their cargo. Vessels are now so coated with barnacles that teams of divers will need to be dispatched to clean them. I didn't know that. [27:37] an issue, the issue in the midterms. This is going to be an issue for

D. Vance in the Republican primary and whoever decides to run against him from outside the administration. I mean, this is like by by by act by 2028, it won't maybe it won't be. Hopefully it won't be as much of an issue. But like 2027, when the primaries are happening. Yeah. 100 percent. You're so right to say that. That is [28:07] Because the I mean, again, I'm not a petroleum engineer, but the refineries and the production facilities have taken offline and it takes months to get them back up and running. And like if the oil supplies I also didn't know this, if oil supplies drop low enough, then it breaks down.

If there's not actually oil running through the pipeline, it can break down the production systems. So like if they don't resolve this in the next several weeks, there's like a catastrophic supply side issue where the infrastructure starts breaking down. [28:37] That's well, like fixing all that is going to take. Forget about the fucking travel season. We're talking about holiday plans, Thanksgiving, Christmas. Like, again, I'm not rooting for any of this. I didn't say that. I don't know why I'm saying again. I'm not a politician, but this is a fucked up situation.

And yet. [28:54] I, I, [28:55] Well, and not and yet the incompetence and the refusal to acknowledge reality here. [29:01] is makes you think they really want to lose that there's something again they're just it's it's self-flagellation politically speaking here's the other challenge and i'm no geopolitical expert but if they uh come to a deal where it's just about opening the strait for money and for ending the naval blockade and then they go on to negotiate the nuclear issue which is going to be [29:27] Tricky, to say the least. And they don't include Israel in the deal.

Then, as we get into the fall, and... [29:36] Trump has his elections and we have our elections here. Netanyahu has his elections in Israel. Like as long as Israel continues to be at war with Lebanon and firing, you know, firing at Hezbollah and Hezbollah is firing rockets in Israel and Iran doesn't want to let those rockets go unanswered. And then Iran gets involved like that. We're not bringing peace to the Middle East with them with a memo of understanding. [30:06] terms and in the [30:07] presidential primaries, that the Middle East is now [30:11] like permanently in this state of, I mean, there's always been a lot of conflict in the Middle East, but like this latest conflict continues as a sort of like a low boil, I guess in the best case scenario, a low boil.

But like and they're going to have to deal with it. They're going to deal with the fallout of this war for years. It is. This is what I mean by time is a dimension. The war is ongoing. The war never ends. We are constantly on the brink of a peace deal. Call me in 2059. [30:41] Oil and gas executives have been warning the White House that, as you said, that gas prices are likely to spike. So they're hearing this from the oil executives themselves. This is not like this is not just some just us talking about it.

And then Politico has a story on Wednesday with the headline, the die has been cast. Trump allies fear it's too late to reverse economic woes. I also think there was a funny quote that I just saw from John Cornyn, who is liberated now. He spoke to The New York Times and he said he said this about Donald Trump. [31:11] He's going to have the most miserable two years of his life in the last two years of his term, I think, because I think November is going to be a disaster. [31:21] You know what?

I mean, fuck. I know. What's going to be miserable? I mean... [31:28] miserable things to Democrats who have backbones and certainly not to Republicans who might actually stand up to him. I mean, John Cornyn has no reason to continue to enable the agenda of this madman. And yet, given the opportunity to break with him, hasn't. I mean, it's just such cold comfort when you hear the guys that are on their way out the door suddenly sort of develop a moral compass. It's such bullshit. And by the way, they haven't delivered on anything.

There have been some pretty big ticket issues that they could have done something about in the last week, [31:58] when your backbone's made of actual bone matter and not, what am I even saying? John Cornyn, what the fuck ever. What the fuck ever is what I say. I know, I agree with everything you said and then I also love hearing quotes like that. So it's, you know, to get a little bit of both. I get mad because I'm like, where have you been? But also, yeah, I- [32:19] I think I think what he said is right.

I hope so. Well, and I think that there's a you know, you should be dragging all of these. Every time an administration official goes in, goes up to the hill, a fairy gets her wings. Every time an American administration official goes to the the hill and has to testify under real questioning, they prove themselves to be absolute clowns. And someone ends up losing their job. Like, just look at the, you know, look at the track record of Pam Bondi and Kristi Noem and, you know, Tulsi Gabbard, [32:49] So the once Democrats control Congress, and I think there's a likelihood that's both houses like there's going to be some real investigation into the absolute.

[32:59] I'm not going to say I mean, the amorality, the potential criming and the deep corruption in this administration. And they're going to have to answer for it. All of it. And then and then they're going to continue fighting with each other, which we we hear is happening right now. [33:16] Apparently, Trump Trump is not happy about any of this. And it's putting a real strain on the support of workplace culture that he has tried so hard to build. [33:29] Trump is, quote, increasingly frustrated with everyone from his own team to the Senate.

He's pissed and people are not recognizing the level of pissed that he is. And here's another White House ally talking about Trump's staff. Quote, knives are out in some capacity, this person said. I mean, people are stabbing people like it's chaos. The chaos is like creeping back. Sounds like a fun place to work. [33:52] Well, [33:53] Good benefits. [33:56] Great, great. The ladder is steep, but you can climb it. [34:02] I don't... [34:03] The knives are out. Like if you thought, should we be surprised that this the most incompetent and corrupt White House in American history is beset by infighting and backstabbing?

Absolutely not. I guess what's marginally interesting to me about that is. [34:21] those quotes are choice. [34:25] but that it hasn't spilled out as much. I'm setting aside like Bongino gate and all that, that infighting hasn't spilled out in the sort of real criminology of this White House, the way that it did in Trump 1.0, given that things are going so much worse for Trump, and he's so much more addled and obviously less. I mean, maybe he's asleep more. So that offers a reprieve and people can, you know, unruffle their feathers.

But it's interesting to me that there [34:55] backstabbing sort of anecdotes coming out of this White House the way there was in Trump one. I don't know what that owes to. Maybe it's Susie Wiles, but it sure still doesn't sound like a good place to work. I mean, nothing is. Once you've been to the Crooked Media headquarters, you're going to [35:09] The bar is very high. Very high. My guess on this is that the percentage of like diehard loyalists is much higher in the second term. And so all the people who might have had a conscience or wanted to speak out or thought things were going too far, they're all gone now.

And so it's just the hardcore true believers. And so if you're starting to get knives out among those people, that's that's the good stuff right there. That's when you know things are combustible. [35:39] And I would say, [35:41] And I'm sure we'll talk about this later when we talk about the slush fund. There is the carrot on the stick of personal enrichment in a way that is like it's almost an explicit promise. Like if you're in this White House and Pam Bondi was doing stock trades, they all have sort of various honeypots that they're dipping into.

That will keep you there in your seat maybe a little bit longer because you have side hustles in a way that that was not an option or that they hadn't discovered that maybe in Trump 1.0. [36:11] reason to stay longer, perhaps, than you would. I mean, you know, personal, what is it? Personalized bourbon doesn't just grow on trees, John. And if you're Kash Patel, being FBI director, you know, membership has its perks. It sure does. So Trump was, of course, pissed that Republicans keep defying him. And that's like one of the things he's really mad about.

And it looks like Republican [36:41] you and I talked about last week, has led to Trump announcing his long term pick for DNI. [36:50] And it's that's S. attorney and former SEC chair Jay Clayton. So that got announced today on Thursday, presumably because enough Republicans said, fuck, no, we're not dealing with Bill Pulte is a bridge too far. [37:11] director, even a temporary DNI, which some of them said absolutely not about, that even if they do that, then what they were going to do is hold up 702 or the reauthorization of 702, which is what gives the federal government warrantless spy powers.

[37:26] Got to make sure the government has warrantless spy powers, right? That is a, again, that is a bipartisan push. But anyway, so now the question is, does this do it for Congress now that they've got, and also... [37:41] What do you think about Jay Clayton? Okay, so... [37:44] Two things. One, as I understand it, and our Crackerjack fact-checking team can probably disabuse me of this if it's incorrect, but Pulte... [37:53] remains i think the times is reporting the current plan is for pulty to continue to serve as acting director until clayton is confirmed by the senate yes and and and bill once and he once again there there was another story about apparently he called tulsi gabbard bill pulty and was like um i know you said you're leaving next month or whatever but you're out now i'm starting and she's like what the fuck she's like what happened the president should tell me that and then she called the president and he was like well i what do you want your last day to be and so now it's going to be

[38:23] Well, that's because he knows he has, you know, the clock is running and these, you know, Tish James mortgage fraud documents don't just find themselves. He has a special skill. Well, I mean, he's in there to be faffing around in classified material to try and drum up reasons why elections have been stolen or Democrats are corrupt or whatever the fuck it is. But I don't like the idea of Bill Pulte being anywhere near that. [38:49] the Office of National Intelligence. Like that is setting aside Jay Clayton, like that is alarming.

And that is every reason why Democrats, they should, first of all, Senate Republicans like John Cornyn, who are, you know, intent on giving the president, keeping him in line, they got the wool pulled over their eyes on the slush fund. I know we're talking about that coming up, but they shouldn't get their wool, the wool pulled over their eyes on Bill Pulte. Like that man needs to be [39:16] locked out [39:18] of the intelligence infrastructure and get a restraining order, basically, because even two weeks on the job for him is too many.

And if that means holding up FISA reauthorization until and unless that happens, then that's what should happen. Like he is a danger to democracy. This is basically what that's basically what I haven't seen other Democrats yet. But Mark Warner, who's the ranking member on Intel, said that Warner was like, this is fine. I'm like, I wish [39:48] But there's no way we're reauthorizing FISA unless we get assurances that there's no Bill Pulte at all. [39:56] Thank you. [39:57] Bill Pulte needs to be extradited to a different country and get nowhere near a passport office.

I will say, I mean, Clayton oversaw a lot of the review of the Epstein documents. Oh, yeah, because he was SDM. He was the one, I think, his prosecutors brought the case against Nicolas Maduro, which was nominally the reason Trump went in and seized Maduro. [40:27] won him favor. He also, in recent days, has been raising alarms about fraud in California and the vote count. So like I noticed that. Yeah, he said he said, I'm not saying there's fraud, but the laws, the way they're written in California, present the opportunity for fraud.

I'm like, OK, now we know why Jay Clayton was just totally. I mean, that's and that's a prerequisite for any. But like. [40:49] I don't know. There's a part of me that thinks, OK, maybe Clayton gets in there and he proves himself to be more of a bulwark against Trump's most lawless impulses. Or maybe he becomes more of a stooge. Like Todd Blanche was a kind of respected, like white, you know, white shoe law firm kind of guy and has turned out to be like the architect of our national nightmare.

So I'm a little worried. I'm worried about anybody that meets Trump's standards or substandards for any of these positions. [41:19] And Mark Warner, people, Democrats who have like very good reputations on this are signing off on him and saying he's good. That's reassuring. But, you know, I worry something happens to you when you walk into the Trump administration. You have to check your morals and your brain at the door, especially if you're someone who wants the job. That's that's a that's a red flag. No one in their right mind should want this.

Also want the promotion. Yeah. [41:43] idiot ass administration understand there's a legislative branch that like needs to confirm this but like why did he nominate this guy as the house is out and the senate's out like this is nothing nothing's going to happen till i think june 23rd so fisa authorization is going to expire almost no matter what even if the candidate is more to the liking of the upper chamber yeah and again is it some kind of a scheme or is it just typical incompetence it could be [42:19] So [42:22] Pod Save America is brought to you by

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So we've talked about this to everyone that, you know, Blanche said it's we're not moving forward with it. But then Republicans in Congress blocked any provision in the ICE funding bill that would have killed it for good. And then Trump talks about how much he loves it still. And he loves the slush fund. And sure enough, it sounds like from this reporting and and Sarah talked to quite a few officials, current and former in the Justice Department, [45:28] that basically the plan could be that anyone who wants a payout from the slush fund or from what used to be the slush fund would just sue the government because that's who you'd sue for that.

And then the federal government, the DOJ, will just settle. [45:44] and settle for an amount of money. [45:45] Some amount of money is a payout. And that's that. [45:48] Even if the courts are like, because they wouldn't take their case to court because the court would be like, well, that's fucking crazy. You're on video almost murdering a cop. So, no, we're not going to pay you any money or find in favor of you. And they'll say, well, we don't have to go to court because the DOJ will settle with us.

Yeah. I mean, it's not an adversarial lawsuit. Therefore, it would be thrown out in court. [46:18] The true story of corruption is what they're doing behind closed doors inside the guts of the federal government. And I will just plug Runaway Country one more time, because this week we talked to ProPublica reporter Robert Fattorecci, who's been breaking amazing stories, including the way in which the Trump kids are dipping their hands in the deep coffers of the Department of Defense and, you know, making 10x investments on venture capital funds or rare earth mineral startups or drone contractors.

[46:48] of cash floating around in the American federal government, and they have figured out a way to tap that maple tree, if you will. And the slush fund is exemplary of the opacity. Once people stop, once these kind of issues stop being adjudicated publicly in courts or, you know, politically, and it's just a kind of behind the scenes process, a settlement fund at the DOJ that hush, hush, you can tap if you have friends at the DOJ. That's where the most brazen [47:18] And I have every reason to believe that they intend on.

I mean, Sarah's reporting, yes, but it's also Todd Blanche refused to write down like he wouldn't submit a written written statement saying the slush fund is outlawed. Like their behavior in and around the cancellation of the slush fund was so transparent. It was clear that they were going to try and resurrect it in some fashion. [47:48] as he heads towards retirement and indicated he may not vote to confirm Blanche unless the fund is truly dead. Gee, you fucking think, Tom? [47:57] Why are you even alive? What are you doing, Bill Cassidy?

What is the point of you? I think I said this last time we were on the podcast lesson. What is the point of you, Bill Cassidy? I'm [48:07] Like, how cuck can you be to this person? [48:10] Madman and his stooges. [48:13] When is enough enough? Apparently there there is no limit. And I do think that what you just mentioned about Blanche, that is one leverage point here is don't confirm Blanche unless, you know, they put it in a court filing. Right. You've got to you can't just say it anymore.

[48:43] That's the kind of fight you can pick that actually is, you know, gets more attention than just we don't want Todd Blanche because Todd Blanche sucks. Right. Like we have like you have some good examples. I think on the slush fund, too, I would make like this is an extreme example that tells the whole story of the Trump administration. And if I were Democrats, I would hammer it every single day from now into the midterms. [49:13] money and give it to criminals who beat cops and abuse children. [49:18] Yeah, that's because those are a lot of the Jane says itself.

Somehow, somehow, so many of the January six convicts are also have either gone on to commit child abuse or had in the past. So that's just that's interesting. But yeah, these are the people that they want to give your money to if they win. And this is one area, too, where there's a lot of things that Trump's doing where if Democrats take Congress, unfortunately, we're not going to be able to do anything until we have a Democratic president. So everyone's going to have to keep fighting. [49:48] everything where you were just talking about happening behind closed doors, happening in secret with the slush fund, with the other stuff, Democrats, Democrats, [49:55] take Congress, they're going to be able to shine a light on all of that and make sure that it doesn't happen.

A lot of it, at least. And make sure it doesn't happen. Slush fund is a perfect example of that. And so I would be saying that all through the fall. Like you elect Republicans and they are going to Donald Trump is going to take your money and use it to pay out. [50:17] criminals, criminals who beat cops. John, they're such jabronis, though, like they probably can't even pull it off in secret. Like they had, they quote Stanley Woodward, who's an associate attorney general who signed off on the sludge fund.

And he responds, we're on it to a post by Lindsey Graham that suggested victims of the weaponization fund could still be compensated through other means. It's like, you're not supposed to say that, dude. He then deleted the post. [50:47] Thank you. [50:47] They're so dumb. They are so dumb. And the criminals who are going to try to get the payouts, they're not going to be able to stop themselves from bragging about it because they're also dumb. Yeah, totally. [50:57] Yeah. Videos of themselves rolling around on beds of money like Demi Moore and indecent proposal.

Yeah. Like videos that they took of themselves breaking into the Capitol and trying to, you know, exactly. So speaking of knives out in Trump world, let's talk about the explosive story in The Times about just how badly the administration fucked up the entire Epstein saga. [51:27] just generally acting like morons. What were some of your favorite bits? [51:31] Oh, God. I mean, do I have to talk about abused nipples or will you talk about that? [51:37] I really don't want to have to talk. You know what? We're going to have to tackle it.

Tommy and I did a lot of nipple talk responding to this on YouTube. When don't you? [51:46] Sorry, we don't do a lot of public nipple talk. Right, okay. Good clarification. We did lead off with this yesterday on the Pod Save America YouTube, but that's why I want to hear your take. Well, that's why you should be a subscriber, huh? Exactly. That's a great place to plug our YouTube. [52:01] Again, let's table abuse nipples. Maybe we won't even get to it. We'll drive people to the subscription only YouTube. [52:08] rapid response.

I think just one of the things that grabbed me initially was the idea that they're sitting in the sit room. Trump isn't there. And it's like the Cracker Jack A team to figure out what to do about the Epstein scandal. And it's like Susie Wiles, David Warrington, fine. Caroline Levitt, [52:25] Stephen Chung, [52:26] Pam Bondi, Kash Patel. This is like, I'm trying to think, is it like a gang of like Rasputins or Yago? Like what's the appropriate character delineation for this group of malicious idiots? But anyway, then I, of course, my...