S2 Ep126: Trump’s Corruption Is as Stupid as It Gets

Interactive Transcript

spk_0 An incompetent president and his competent allies screwing up an appointment of a US attorney

spk_0 in order to bring a politically charged and baseless case. This is quintessentially Trumpian.

spk_0 It is mind-blowingly corrupt and unfathomably stupid.

spk_0 Hello everyone and welcome to George Conway explains it all.

spk_0 To Sarah I'm Sarah Longwell publisher of The Bullwork and because I'm not a lawyer,

spk_0 like always I have invited my good friend George Conway to help explain the illegal news to me

spk_0 and to you. And you know we're just really in it now George. But the thing that you you asked

spk_0 we could just tell we'll break the third wall you and I were texting earlier and you wanted us

spk_0 to dig up the clip of you and Jimmy Kimball that was like it's exactly a year ago.

spk_0 A year and two weeks ago it was the night of the I was there to comment on the presidential debate

spk_0 between Vice President Harris and now President Trump. And I had to-

spk_0 That was the one where she cleaned his clock and it didn't make enough difference to the American

spk_0 people. So I watched this clip earlier and it is it's funny. We did this on the next level too

spk_0 with JBL where we were revisiting one of his triads where he said like let's lay out the worst case

spk_0 potential scenario. And I was amazed at how prescient it was in retrospect and in fact for all JBL's

spk_0 darkness and gloominess even he he had a lot of the stuff but even he was still didn't have

spk_0 the imagination to see where we are already 10 months in like it's already worse but you also so

spk_0 I like this I like this idea of going back and looking I went back and read some stuff from our

spk_0 friends who are Democrats and and a lot of their concerns really were sort of policy oriented

spk_0 but I think for for those of us in this kind of never Trump pro-democracy these things transcend

spk_0 general policy what I think we understood and in this clip you're being very prescient is we

spk_0 understood how Trump was going to behave a second time around when he was in bold in when he didn't

spk_0 have the guard the Supreme Court and given him all these new powers and so I want to play the clip

spk_0 of you saying and this at this point right we didn't know Trump was going to win so but you were

spk_0 laying out pretty clearly in this clip how you thought Trump would behave if he did win so let's

spk_0 watch it. I was speaking with Jane Fonda about Trump and his like enemies list and I feel like

spk_0 you're you might you're probably above me on that list it's quite possible yeah I was hoping we

spk_0 you know maybe bunk together. Well it's you know what I'm going to be with Jane and a cell

spk_0 but you know yeah you could he should a little old for you. No he's right no she's not

spk_0 but it's amazing. But I mean on a serious note like do you have any concern because yeah okay maybe

spk_0 it sounds a little bit outlandish but also like we sounded outlandish and we're like he's not going

spk_0 to leave the White House he's going to stay there it's like oh then he like did he actually did

spk_0 that thing. These things that sound fantastic turn out to be what actually happens because he is

spk_0 a narcissistic sociopath and he doesn't believe in anybody other than himself he doesn't believe

spk_0 in the country he doesn't believe in any of you he doesn't believe in the rule of law he doesn't

spk_0 believe in the constitution that he would swear to uphold and and he all he's all about his

spk_0 grandisement and and putting putting himself first and revenge and that's what narcissistic sociopaths

spk_0 who they seek revenge and they are obsessed with revenge they're obsessed with control they're

spk_0 obsessed with destroying their enemies and that's that what Donald Trump when he becomes president

spk_0 if he were to become president again he would his view as the government's mind the law is mine

spk_0 everything I'm going to do to everyone else what they would do to me but I'm smart and then

spk_0 I'm going to do it first and I'll throw everybody in jail it's it's it's it's for real I mean it's not

spk_0 it this isn't just him blowing smoke this is deeply ingrained in his

spk_0 seriously and you ask any I've been talking to psychologists and psychiatrists for years about

spk_0 this and then they kind of are muted because there's this thing called the gold water rule they're

spk_0 not supposed to diagnose anybody from afar even though you know you can see this guy there's

spk_0 more evidence about this guy than you could ever ever collect for on any other patient in the world

spk_0 and here they all agree he's not he's absolutely a sick man he's you know and if you even if you

spk_0 took the characteristics like you did the you did this bit five years ago when before I even went

spk_0 on television about the narcissistic personality to be shorter and there's also anis social

spk_0 personality disorder which is about sociopathy sociopathy even if you don't accept that there's

spk_0 a medical diagnosis there to be had because I'm not a doctor you're not a doctor you don't want

spk_0 anybody with those characteristics any ticks off every single fricken one of them you know what

spk_0 anybody with even half those characteristics have any control over your life

spk_0 George Conway everybody I don't know what to add to that

spk_0 well you're gonna have a few things because I'm gonna ask you some questions about it I mean first

spk_0 of all this idea of revenge right which I gotta say sometimes part of what frustrates me is

spk_0 how much people just didn't listen to the things that he said he was going to do how much people

spk_0 just didn't it's always this well we you know you guys take him literally but not seriously and

spk_0 we take him seriously but not literally he's not literally gonna do these things you know he's

spk_0 literally doing these things so now that he's been here 10 months what would you say are it's

spk_0 tough to rank things uh just in real time but what do you what do you what do you think he has done

spk_0 so far that either has exceeded what you thought he might do or if you're like no it's bang on

spk_0 exactly what I thought he was gonna do what are the ones that alarm you the most I think the

spk_0 only thing that I didn't foresee was the bit with Doge everything else makes perfect sense the

spk_0 Doge thing was just sort of a wrinkle that he added that came on at the last minute but everything

spk_0 else is basically right on schedule I mean he was telling us he would do these things and people

spk_0 didn't believe him because they think he's a buffoon they think he's a moron including the people

spk_0 who worked for him and worked for him before and and people who voted for him he just blows smoke

spk_0 it's like no no no this he's programmed this way he's a sick man he actually thinks everything is

spk_0 about him and belongs to him and he seeks to control everything that's what narcissists do and this

spk_0 man is a beyond a par- pathological narcissist he's a narcissistic sociopath who has no conscience no

spk_0 no belief in in in the integrity of other human beings no decency no honor no belief in rules

spk_0 he is somebody who wants to control everything and everything that he cannot control or bent his

spk_0 liking should be destroyed and that's basically where the United States of America is he's not

spk_0 going to be able to control the United States of America because it's people at the end of the day

spk_0 and the reason why Trump was elected frankly was because people don't like to be told what to do

spk_0 whether it be by by liberals on TV or or law professors or democratic politicians or woke people

spk_0 they rebel against that and they're going to rebel against this and I'm not necessarily

spk_0 violently but they're going to rebel against this and he's not going to be able to control it

spk_0 and he seeks instinctively to see destroyed what he cannot control and that explain that that is

spk_0 what this kind of character is like we have seen it in history the historians and the

spk_0 psychiatrists first saw it we have seen that they saw in the 2015 2016 what would happen if Trump

spk_0 became president because these these these are the character traits of all the bad people throughout

spk_0 history whether they be Hitler Stalin Saddam Kim Jong-un Putin all these people

spk_0 wants to destroy everything they cannot control and they want to control everything for their own

spk_0 benefit for their own ego and they do not care about any other living human being on the planet

spk_0 yeah no stipulated but I want to get into like the specifics of the things that he's done so like

spk_0 which is it that you you feel like is the biggest threat at the moment is it the attacks on

spk_0 free speech is it the attempt to co-op the military I don't really see any of it separately I know

spk_0 that sounds weird it's like it's not going to be any one thing this is a disease that's

spk_0 metastasizes in all directions he will fight strike out against Phil Schrues speech because he

spk_0 doesn't like it when people like Jimmy Kimmel or you and I make fun of him he doesn't like it when

spk_0 we're doing anything that doesn't say Donald Trump is the greatest Donald Trump is wonderful

spk_0 Donald Trump ended seven wars and the law firms well again that's about power law firms are a

spk_0 power center that have fought him in the past because he is so lawless so he had to bring them to

spk_0 heal the military his generals didn't do what he wanted them to do in the first term so he's take

spk_0 you know his generals are now being brought here to be being united states so he can lecture them

spk_0 about what they should be doing people in the streets marching they are bad they have to be

spk_0 controlled so that's why we have the army that we want to subjugate so we can subjugate the people

spk_0 and then the pop it's about immigration that's all that's classic creation of an enemy by

spk_0 associate path to get other people to join his side you create the enemy you you say that they

spk_0 that they're organized in tifa they're terrorists that are coming into the united states from

spk_0 Venezuela or wherever you have to blow them up on the seas and you have to blow them up in

spk_0 Chicago if they're on the Chicago River for crying out loud there is no end to it and it is no

spk_0 dividing line between any of it it is this giant corrupt evil blob that just goes off in every

spk_0 direction and you can't say that any one piece of it is surprising or any one piece of it is

spk_0 somehow different or worse than the other it is all part of the same cancer

spk_0 does that you know i mean i can't rank them that okay i can i i hear i hear you that it's all part

spk_0 of the same thing i have been sort of marinating in the you know i watched the clip at the military

spk_0 speech this week both by hegseth and by trump and i was i was so and i think part of this is trump

spk_0 superpower i i was so pulled in by as i was watching trump speech how terrible he sounded like how

spk_0 how how how tired and plotting and insane like just he was off on all of these rabbit holes he

spk_0 clearly going off frompter just to say a bunch of nutty things and talk about movies and betray

spk_0 all of his own misunderstandings or low or surface level understandings of so many things so to me

spk_0 i was watching it thinking well surely the leading lights of the american military the generals are

spk_0 watching this and thinking why can't this is this somebody's got a 25th amendment this guy we

spk_0 can't be taking orders from this person he's clearly unwell but but i think what i when i went

spk_0 back and sort of did a second viewing and after you know picking it over with with the guys on some

spk_0 of the other shows i think what's very clear is that trump is trying to weaponize and politicize

spk_0 the military and make it his own private army there's a reason too that i said you're right that

spk_0 they're all connected because like you can connect that sort of hegseth saying kind of a you're

spk_0 either on our side or get out in his speech you know trump sort of saying hey the enemy is from

spk_0 within we want to test you guys out on on our civilian popular you know it's about you know we're

spk_0 gonna you're gonna police our civilian population like it was actually deeply frightening and it's

spk_0 connected to the massive budgetary you know might they have now given ice who is also in the streets

spk_0 covering their faces grabbing people and you know they're building these enormous facilities those

spk_0 to me they are connected but they are also some of the scariest things and then the free speech

spk_0 stuff you know it's interesting to watch you with Kimmel because obviously now Kimmel's at the

spk_0 center of these free speech conversations now Kimmel's been a bit of a light in the darkness because

spk_0 he was able to you know he was a good example of when you really push back uh you can you can get

spk_0 people to cave right there's a public outcry Kimmel himself stood strong and there's a lesson in

spk_0 there for everybody but the the attempts to chill free speech uh and to chill civil society and then

spk_0 there's a prosecuting of his enemies I you're right actually it is difficult to rank them because they

spk_0 are all I mean the assault on the rule of law like they are all really bad and when you take them

spk_0 together what you see it's authoritarian takeover it it's it's it's it's literally textbook

spk_0 we've seen this before in other countries in other places in other times and all of these

spk_0 elements are there the creation of the the the internal enemy right the Germany,

spk_0 Vimeau Republic the stab in the back myth right the people people stab this in the back the attacks

spk_0 on the Jews attacks on on immigrants the the lionization of horse vessel this young S.A.

spk_0 guy who got killed in 1930 the lionization of Charlie Kirk same thing you're creating saying the

spk_0 enemy is out to kill us all so we have to kill them first and we have to use every force that

spk_0 it's available to us and and that's why Hitler when Hitler became chancellor the first thing he did

spk_0 was he took over the state governments the barbarian state police and the and the Prussian police

spk_0 he took over all the law enforcement it's the same thing well hold on now that that is one thing

spk_0 though that hasn't happened is the taking over of I mean I guess the tease that out just a little bit

spk_0 because no what I'm saying is to take over what forces you can take over right take over what

spk_0 no here we have a stronger federal system but well that's what I was going to say is like federalism

spk_0 is our friend it's so funny like as as conservatives we've always been sort of federalists at heart

spk_0 and the the disaggregation of power really is serving us as well as any other thing in this moment

spk_0 both in terms of how it makes elections more difficult to rig how it makes it difficult for him to

spk_0 take over more local governments right like yes Republicans would probably let him do that in

spk_0 red states but you know Pritzker's not going to let him do it newsroom's not going to let him do it

spk_0 and this is where 2022 guys was a really important year in retrospect you can just see how important

spk_0 it was to have people who didn't think that the election was stolen weren't Donald Trump's personal

spk_0 lackeys winning in those governors races those lieutenant governors races those secretary of state

spk_0 races and because that does make it harder for him to do exactly what other aspiring authoritarians have

spk_0 done but you're right he is looking at what can he do within his power uh meaning like what and who

spk_0 will roll over for him easily which is why actually I'm gonna I this wasn't I wasn't thinking we'd

spk_0 talk about the shutdown but I'm curious to get your thoughts about the shutdown because I know

spk_0 the Democrats have chosen to make this about health care because they they're very good kitchen

spk_0 table issues I agree people really do care about health care and they really care about affordability

spk_0 but it does seem to me there's kind of an opportunity here to say like we're not funding your

spk_0 fundamentally corrupt government the government that is currently taking like it seems like it's

spk_0 worth telling people like they're so afraid of not having to own the government shutdown that if

spk_0 I were them this far out I'd be like yeah we're shutting it down because he is corrupting the entire

spk_0 system right and I thoroughly agree with you there every time and this is the this was the problem

spk_0 with the 2024 campaign they wanted to make it about and I think you alluded to it at the top of

spk_0 the show they want to make it it's all about issues issues this this should have all 2024 should

spk_0 have been as you know we tried to make it as best we could you and I we tried to make it about

spk_0 this guy wants to do bad things to the country overall he wants he's a bad guy you can't believe

spk_0 what he says you can't believe his promises he's dangerous and he's nuts and that's that transcends

spk_0 that's why we are where we are today why we're on this show that transcends all of these individual

spk_0 issues now these individual issues meet people are going to wake up when they can't when they

spk_0 when their social security checks don't come or when when when egg prices go through the roof as

spk_0 they already have frankly or when they don't get their electronics from China or whatever pick

spk_0 pick your thing but it's really this stuff is small potatoes compared to what this man is trying

spk_0 to do and people have to wake up to that and the democrats you know a few of them get it

spk_0 but there's no consistency to their messaging on this about how fundamentally dangerous and

spk_0 unamerican it is well can I just can I just say because I think some people will listen to this and

spk_0 they'll be like but wait I hear Sarah say like talking about democracy you know that voters don't

spk_0 care about democracy and I think democrats feel that way I think they feel like they over indexed

spk_0 on democracy and I actually want to take the take a second to pull that apart because what I do

spk_0 say guys stop talking about democracy talk about America okay democracies an idea that lives up

spk_0 here America's the place where all these people live that being said you should not shy away

spk_0 from making it clear that Donald Trump is corrupting the American system that he is destroying

spk_0 very important pieces of America you know people don't know democracy by her roots they know

spk_0 her by her fruits they know they know her by free speech they know her by a a de-politicized

spk_0 military you can talk about the fruits that people understand that they engage with that feel

spk_0 personal to them not only point is stop making it an esoteric conversation about democracy and make

spk_0 it a concrete conversation about the things that he is destroying in our country yes truth

spk_0 in the real talk and just basically human decency banding together as Americans as one people

spk_0 who believe in freedom as opposed to worshipping one man who wants who who's fullest desire is to

spk_0 be worshipped by everyone and control them all we can't be controlled we're Americans we're the

spk_0 home of the brave to use phrase and we we stand up to this this is why America

spk_0 this was a founding idea of America was never perfect we get you know we worked on it for

spk_0 250 years and more people came to America because of it because they do they do not want more people

spk_0 coming to America right that that moment is is not here right no that's right including people you know

spk_0 let me ask you a legal question um about this the military so Trump's obviously threatening to

spk_0 deploy the national guard now to Portland and Chicago there are troops in these cities now it's

spk_0 unclear exactly what they're doing but what's the likelihood that the Supreme Court would strike down

spk_0 the domestic deployment of the military again it really is going to depend on the context of which

spk_0 the within which the issue comes up how these issues are framed and what the facts are

spk_0 are going to is going to determine what he can do or what he can't do in in particular cases I

spk_0 mean if if you have you know the military shooting people in the streets that might you know that

spk_0 that might move the court in one way if you have you know if if it's just a question of calling out

spk_0 the national guard and deputizing them but not really doing anything of it they're going to let

spk_0 they might let him do that because they'll they'll defer well the president says there's an emergency

spk_0 on the other hand if he's if he really is using the military to arrest people and not invoking

spk_0 the insurrection act that's a different thing it really how the court is going to react to this

spk_0 I think is really going to depend on the context in which the issues get presented and um I think

spk_0 that's going to be true in a lot of different situations because I think this court

spk_0 doesn't see or doesn't want to see what we see and they also don't want to get ahead of what's

spk_0 in front of them because they're afraid that they're going to do something that's going to

spk_0 cause Trump to basically pull the plug on them and ignore them that's something we've been talking

spk_0 about for months I think there there's a fear amongst them but on the other hand if the if the issue

spk_0 comes up in the right way it'll force them to do the right thing and again I'd have to look at a

spk_0 case by case I mean for example I do think they're going to lose the birthright citizenship case

spk_0 for example but that's because it's so extreme I just think that any when if if if something though

spk_0 comes up on the issue of deference to a president and what could whether president has to decide

spk_0 whether something's in emergency or not and there's at least something remotely colorable

spk_0 a couple of them you may lose a couple of the people who might otherwise save us and so the

spk_0 context is everything that's the best answer I can give I want to get to Lindsey Halligan and talk

spk_0 some more about James Comey and the prosecution of Trump's political enemies but first this show is

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spk_0 subscription purchase thanks Factor okay so last week I did the show with Andrew Weissman and

spk_0 he and I did we talked a lot about Komi and his indictment but there's been some commentary since

spk_0 then about the validity of Lindsay Haligan's appointment as U.S. attorney for the Eastern

spk_0 District of Virginia where people are like we're not sure that was illegal because of course he fired

spk_0 the original person who was in the office because they said that the case against Komi was too

spk_0 weak to bring so they just got rid of him trumped it that weird bleat to Pambondi being like you

spk_0 got to get this other person in there and so low and behold they get Lindsay Haligan who was an

spk_0 insurance lawyer totally not qualified for this job and she indicts Komi promptly and everybody's

spk_0 sort of like I don't know is it legal for him to appoint her so what do you what say you on that?

spk_0 No and Ed Whalen writing for national review he's a very prominent conservative lawyer who

spk_0 believes in the rule of law though he doesn't really fit the never trump law because he hasn't been

spk_0 but he's there in the trenches really he wrote a piece and it's pretty straightforward it's pretty

spk_0 straightforward the issues have sort of come up in Alina Haba situation in the situation with the

spk_0 the woman in Nevada who got who's appointment got deep six this week by federal judge there's

spk_0 a statute and I think we probably talked about it before that basically allows for the appointment

spk_0 by the attorney general of an interim united states attorney for 120 days and that's basically

spk_0 designed to give an incoming president time to get a senate confirmed nominee confirmed and what

spk_0 normally happens is even you know at the end of 120 days the district court gets to appoint

spk_0 the interim US attorney usually what they will do is as a courtesy to the present and because

spk_0 usually the president picks normal people they will pick the same person and that person would

spk_0 ultimately be would also probably be the nominee that gets confirmed by the senate that's how things

spk_0 normally work but what what the statute basically revises the the administration only gets to do that

spk_0 once and after that 120 days district court gets to pick somebody and then that person stays until

spk_0 there's a senate confirmed nominee and what happened with Lindsey Halligan here is there was a 120

spk_0 day appoints he by the attorney general's his fellow named seabird his 120 day period nominated by

spk_0 bondie expired the district judges thought he was pretty good because he's an experienced prosecutor

spk_0 they reappointed him and he was going to be he was going he was nominated by trump and would have been

spk_0 in the ordinary course confirmed by the senate except he didn't want to prosecute James Comey because

spk_0 he thought it was bullshit and so trump basically pushed him out he the guy resigned and the pressure

spk_0 point was the statute of limitations running at midnight on September 30th but I think what's

spk_0 interesting here is I think the people who are in the Comey camp are on Comey side kept quiet about

spk_0 this actually rather obvious issue because they they don't want to give the justice department I'm

spk_0 just speculating here any ideas that they could that they should fix the Halligan situation and what

spk_0 happened was Halligan ends up going into the grand jury by herself she's never been in the grand jury

spk_0 before she has no idea what she's doing as reflected by the fact that when she ultimately took the

spk_0 indictment out from the she's she barely survived the grand jury getting only like 14 out of 23 votes

spk_0 on two of the counts and one of the counts that the grand jury rejected and when she goes into

spk_0 the federal court to demonstrate judge presenting indictment she's presenting both

spk_0 the draft indictment that that got partially rejected and the indictment that

spk_0 she signed but she signed both and then she pretended she hadn't seen one of it it was just a mess

spk_0 she has no idea what she was doing but the more thing was again nobody went in there with her

spk_0 there are no other authorized DOJ lawyers went in there with her and if her appointment is invalid

spk_0 the indictment is invalid and lo and behold all of a sudden we now have a situation where they

spk_0 cannot fix this even if Pam Bondy Donald Trump and Lindsey Halligan had a brain among they can't

spk_0 fix this because the statute of limitations expired at midnight on September 30th and she was

spk_0 the only one who signed the indictment and she had no more authority than you or I or my courties

spk_0 to sign that and present that indictment to the grand jury and it's over for that case among the

spk_0 you think you think for sure that I don't think it's fixable I mean unless there's some scrui

spk_0 scrui I mean we have this concept in the law of equitable tolling where in some cases the you know

spk_0 you kind of get a mulligan and you get it you get the statute of limitations can be delayed for a while

spk_0 but I don't think there's going to be a statute of limitations equitable tolling doctrine that's

spk_0 going to save an incompetent president and his competent allies from screwing up an appointment

spk_0 of a US attorney in order to bring a politically charged and baseless case I don't think that's going

spk_0 to trigger the intellectual doctrines that would allow that statute of limitations to be extended so

spk_0 I think this is just one more thing that's going to cause this case to go bye bye well that is

spk_0 an interesting theory and I hope that you're right I mean there are so many different

spk_0 problems with this case it really is as I said by Jen Socky show the other night I said this is

spk_0 quintessentially Trumpian it is mind-blowingly corrupt and unfathomably stupid

spk_0 it is just classic Trump classic okay I also want to just make sure we get to this because I

spk_0 have been wondering what you think about it you know Donald Trump put out this presidential

spk_0 memorandum on domestic terrorism and why isn't it and I talked about the the domestic terrorism

spk_0 presidential memorandums what they called it but I want to just touch on it again because

spk_0 comi Jimmy Kimmel deploying the national guard to blue cities it's all part of the same playbook

spk_0 of intimidation and revenge right which is like sort of what we were talking about up at the top

spk_0 and so the memorandum doesn't establish new law but it certainly issued a warning to the

spk_0 that the administration intends to go after it's political and ideological enemies right he's like

spk_0 naming democratic donors and acting like they're funding terrorism right and my guess is

spk_0 like I saw this thing from DHS because this is it goes under reported just how absolutely

spk_0 bat shit insane the social media channels are that are the official social media channels

spk_0 of the federal government there's one from DHS today that was like if you're a communist you're

spk_0 gone if you're a terrorist you're gone if you're a globalist you're gone and I was like what is

spk_0 a globalist does it somebody who like is it is it bailing out argentina with 20 billion dollars does

spk_0 that make you a globalist does supporting they are having a Slovenian wife or taking taking

spk_0 the guitar replaying I don't know I had it's right but like what is a globalist what is your is it

spk_0 are we are we is it are we is it a code word for Jew I like can't figure out it historically has

spk_0 been a code word for Jew soros you hear a lot of soros they love soros they're gonna investigate

spk_0 soros and he's been this this you know Jewish money man bogeyman for the right for a very very

spk_0 long time look it's it's again it's it's it's it's look it's performative but it's also dangerous

spk_0 as as a lot of this stuff is it's designed to create the perception that there are internal

spk_0 enemies again talk about the stab in the back myth in vimar germany and basically the demonization

spk_0 of all opposition to the regime I mean that's what they're doing here they're basically lumping

spk_0 everyone together everyone you know they're saying antifa is a real organization which I don't

spk_0 think it is but all the all the you know you've got trend a r igua whatever you call it the

spk_0 venus waylands their terrorists and you've got antifa their terrorists and and and people who

spk_0 are calling uh Stephen Miller fascists they're inciting violence uh it's all designed to create

spk_0 basically the perception of your neighbor is your enemy and it's designed to divide and it's

spk_0 designed to enhance the power of one man and all of his minions and it's profoundly dangerous and

spk_0 and the funny thing about it is it's like there is no legal there's no actual legal teeth to this

spk_0 it's just you know it's it's a proclamation and it it cites the definition of domestic terrorists

spk_0 under the under the law but congress never actually did anything with its definition of a domestic

spk_0 terrorism it didn't really prescribe any consequences for domestic terrorism just has this

spk_0 definition in there and the reason why it's because it doesn't really need to they're all sorts

spk_0 of laws that if people actually commit crimes like real crimes like they blow things up or they get

spk_0 together a room and they just they plan they conspire to blow things up and kill people and to threaten

spk_0 people and to do things like there are like hundreds of statues on the books of the federal government

spk_0 and even title 18 of the US code and every state you could put these people away forever

spk_0 but it's not about that it's about creating a state of alarm it's about creating the atmosphere

spk_0 where they have an excuse to militarize and threaten the society threaten civil society threaten

spk_0 the party society that opposed them isn't what he's trying to do bite because you're right there's

spk_0 no teeth to it but isn't the point then to create like the pretext of we are going to start

spk_0 investigating democrats like they are talking about democrats they're opposition a political party

spk_0 as a terrorist organization and so if you if you say okay we're we're going to go after terrorists

spk_0 this is why I was bringing up the globalist thing like these are so non-specific these are

spk_0 and but terrorism has a has a definition but what they're trying to do is expand the aperture

spk_0 of terrorism and domestic terrorism to just their political opposition so that they have the

spk_0 pretext to go and investigate their 501c3s and their 501c4s and all of the groups that do activity

spk_0 that is either pro-democracy or you know if they have the ability to do political work they're

spk_0 used every means that they're disposal whether it be the Lindsey halogens of the world or the

spk_0 Pete headsets of the world or whoever is left from that meat confab in chronico after people

spk_0 you know who decide that they're not going to follow illegal orders remain all right I mean it's

spk_0 going to be whatever they can do whenever they can do it and that's that's that's how fascism

spk_0 works it doesn't have to be you know they don't believe in the law so at the end of the day they

spk_0 can start these investigations and doesn't matter how they end you just you have an excuse to basically

spk_0 have ice or FBI agents wearing masks I mean that's going to be the next thing that happens they

spk_0 could all use them all one giant police force police eight policing agency that combines forces

spk_0 I mean they're taking to trying to take people from the national guard and put them into ice they're

spk_0 trying to do they're trying to mix everything all up they're trying to basically create one unified

spk_0 fascist force to intimidate everybody and that's where we are today well I don't know whether just

spk_0 leave it there with um that on that ray of sunshine note but I do I guess I do want to say

spk_0 that we have been chronicling the things that Donald Trump does that are illegal trying to explain

spk_0 the legal thing I do think it's important for people to understand how quickly things are escalating

spk_0 the military stuff that happened this week was deeply alarming George and I think I think I

spk_0 think I was pushing back I was kind of trying to get you to rank them I think for for simplicity's

spk_0 sake but I actually think your framing is correct ultimately that you also have to see how all of

spk_0 these things are interconnected I'm less interested in connecting them necessarily to Donald Trump's

spk_0 mental state as much as I am people seeing the through line but people people with understanding

spk_0 and that this I think really is your point it's not so much a medical diagnosis as

spk_0 Donald Trump has no interest in any of the rules or less he's trying to break all of them he is

spk_0 trying to do anything he can to escape his own accountability right this is why for 2026 he's

spk_0 trying to do mid mid uh decade redistricting in Texas because he does not want Democrats to take

spk_0 the house because he does not want one of the branches of government that are opposed to him

spk_0 to be able to conduct oversight on him and he wants to make sure that the Democratic or people who

spk_0 support sort of pro-democracy and therefore conversely anti-Trump policies anybody who is in the

spk_0 foundation world whatever he wants them chilled he wants them afraid he wants them to not fund

spk_0 organizations that would pursue accountability or he doesn't want billionaires to fund packs that

spk_0 would try to elect Democrats who would then exact accountability right he is trying to have all

spk_0 of that happen while showing people like saber rattling by putting ice in the streets and by putting

spk_0 the national guard in the streets like all of this stuff is part of the same deal he's trying to get

spk_0 comedians fired people who criticize him it is all the same thing and I think people need to see

spk_0 how it litters up into something that is deeply deeply frightening right and and I think that's

spk_0 I mean I think the thing is it's it's hard to absorb right if you're listening to this you can't

spk_0 keep up because like you know next hour there's going to be some there's a between now and five

spk_0 o'clock right now it's 1150 that we're talking about by the time this podcast airs no problem we

spk_0 we one more outraged it would be a major scandal in any other administration I mean we was like

spk_0 we're having a watergate a day or two watergate so yes whatever it is I mean Richard Nixon even

spk_0 in his wildest drunken drunken dreams couldn't have dreamt up a tenth of this shit if if that

spk_0 all right this is and it's it it feels chaotic and it's overwhelming and that's

spk_0 but that's because it's all one thing it's really just all one thing it's just really really bad

spk_0 and manifesting itself in so many ways that you really kind of you almost underestimate

spk_0 it's danger if you just focus on well he did this one thing and we look at this issue in this lawsuit

spk_0 or looking this issue at this law at this law at this lawsuit look at this one proclamation or

spk_0 look at this one executive order all right it's a mix it's a melancholy it is just it's chaotic it's

spk_0 all over the place but it's all designed to do the same thing and it's not like there's this

spk_0 master clever plan they're improvising as they go along okay I mean just look look some of it

spk_0 a lot of it was in the project 2025 playbook to be sure but the way it's being carried out is just like

spk_0 you know what's the bad idea that we're gonna do today let do it do it do it in every direction

spk_0 push even when there's not necessarily follow through they might they'll go to the next day

spk_0 and again you can't just focus on any one thing because you're basically playing whackable you have

spk_0 to focus on the fact that this is gonna get worse because this is who he is and the government

spk_0 you know I thought the reason why I talk about I keep want to talk about the man's mental state

spk_0 is that he is he's pro you can't turn that programming off and now it's like a worm it's like a

spk_0 computer worm it's in the mechanisms of the government we now have a basically narcissistic psychopathic

spk_0 state that's where we are we have the united states of america as an entity is becoming more and more

spk_0 like a not job human being with almost limitless power and trying to control everything around

spk_0 and destroy everything around it that it can't control and that is what people need to focus on

spk_0 and everything that we talk about that's the narrative and I know it sounds you know I mean when

spk_0 I said this stuff in 2024 you know on the Kimmel show or elsewhere I was saying basically this

spk_0 and you know I get it people were just saying huh well that's just that's not gonna happen he's

spk_0 very nervous it's like here we are and it's gonna get worse there is no doubt that unfortunately

spk_0 we were certainly all correct about the nature of the threat you know and I have always said I

spk_0 think people are under reacting to the moment George as a last matter uh and then we're gonna go I

spk_0 do want to say I liked that haircut on Kimmel uh I think you should rethink I think you should

spk_0 think about that going back to that haircut uh that was really I don't you know I think I

spk_0 I'll have to go back and look at it and figure that out I thought that was a very very handsome

spk_0 no I like it fine I just when I saw it there I was like that hair cut is great you know oh you know

spk_0 because I had it cut I'm embarrassed to say this one of the two days before I spent the weekend

spk_0 L.A. that week or at least a couple of days in L.A. and I got my haircut at criss-stuff a couple

spk_0 days before so I'm not gonna fancy enough to know what that is I remember you know remember you're

spk_0 not old enough because remember in 1990 something Bill Clinton there was he criss-stuff had a shop

spk_0 he was a very famous hairdresser and he had a shop on not but two blocks from from a few blocks

spk_0 from your office and Clinton brought him out to California and they held up traffic at L.A. X

spk_0 because the president of the United States had to get a haircut from criss-stuff on Air Force

spk_0 one L.A. X so it became famous criss-stuff became famous he made a whole bunch of money off of that

spk_0 and you know he has he still now has I mean he sold his his place in DC his his hairdressing shop in DC

spk_0 it's now called Pharaoh Salon which is also very good um but he still has one in Beverly Hills and

spk_0 I went there just you know you know yeah because of a political junk yes and how criss-stuff that'd be

spk_0 good and there was a that was the best haircut I've had in a while I'm sure okay well now that we've

spk_0 solved that uh this this show has been brought to you by criss-stuff okay last matter I just want to

spk_0 remind our listeners that we have a handful of tickets left to our Bullwork live show in DC on

spk_0 October 8th is next week coming out with Tim JBL and me unfortunately George will not be there

spk_0 I think you have like hockey tickets or something and they're for you. Yes I do. I'll keep tickets.

spk_0 Uh but it's going to be a great show um only about can he seats left but we do have some so please

spk_0 come out and hang out with us. We'd love to see you. George as always thanks for talking

spk_0 about the illegal news with me guys hit subscribe we'll see you soon. Bye.

spk_0 Oh my he said Sarah let me break it down for you there's a

spk_0 obstruction of justice corruption to the legal tangles and troubles that growing fast

spk_0 it's a storm that's gonna last and last oh come away tell him well about it

spk_0 those legal problems can't live without it from the more the less to the Russian

spk_0 ties

spk_0 oh Sarah listen close

S2 Ep126: Trump’s Corruption Is as Stupid as It Gets

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