The Joyce Kaufman Show 10/21/25 - President Trump pardons George Santos, White House ballroom, MAGA Halo, and more

This is the Joyce Kaufman podcast, honest, straight, and unapologelic with your host, Joyce Kaufman. Well, happy Tuesday. Well, can I tell you, it is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. And that's probably the last positive thing. You're going to hear coming out of me today. And I... I'm just puzzled. Maybe that's what it is. I'm just confused when I hear certain stories, and I think I understand, and then I realize that I'm clueless. Like, for instance, why did President Trump pardon George Santos, or whatever it is that he did to George Santos? I don't know. There's something a little bit weird about that. I read a piece that said, like a phoenix from the ashes, George Santos, was sprung from federal prison this weekend after a presidential pardon from the Donald. George Santos has been doing the rounds since his release with a plethora of Fox News hits, an appearance on Megan McCain's podcast, and a forthcoming TikTok of his release due out in a notable magazine. In these, he detailed how he'd been kept in solitary confinement for long stretches of his three months in prison. George Santos was sentenced to 87 months after taking a plea deal where he admitted to committing wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. What's next for the divo? Well, he's already teased that he will not return to the Empire State. Sadly, it seems that my family and I will be departing the city I've called home my entire life. He posted yesterday. New York City will become a very dangerous place to live in. If we elect Zohran Mamdani, and that is a risk I am unwilling to take now that I want to start growing my family. Okay. So I'm guessing that he's planning on moving to the nation's capital, right? And that basically he's going to become an advocate for prison reform like Kim Kardashian. That seems to be one of the ways that these colorful characters reinvent themselves. Now, of course, the president is said to be considering commuting. Diddy's sentence, Sean Combs' sentence for sex trafficking, and that, according to TMZ. And they said they got it from a high-ranking White House official. The White House Communications Director says the report is not true, but I have a feeling that that may be exactly what the president is planning to do.

It's very difficult for me to understand that. Either with a party of law and order, either he's going to be the president of law and order, which is what I assume he kept talking about and why we're having people rounded up who are in this country illegally and deported to their home countries. I don't think you get to pick and choose like, okay, we're going to observe these laws but not these laws. Or we're going to excuse this behavior but not that behavior? I just, I don't know. I don't know. But it's time to at least get consistency. And I was very concerned. George Santos is not my idea of a character that should have been even on the presidents. list of things he needed to do today. Just saying. Now, I allow any president to perform commutations and pardons. I don't have to understand them. It's a presidential power. I get that. But sometimes they just need to make a little sense. And I don't know about that. I'm struggling. Maybe somebody will email me and tell me why. And please don't say, well, because he's a Republican and they were unfairly targeting Republicans. No, George Santos has nothing to do with being a Republican in this crime. And I don't believe he was targeted any more than anybody else. We've targeted lots of politicians. Lots of politicians end up in jail, but it's because they commit crimes. And I'm just not willing to forgive the crimes. Trust me, if it were you or me, we'd never make it to the desk of the president a pardon for us if we were committing wire fraud. Just saying. And then you have the Christopher Moynihan. This is a guy who the president pardoned for his role in the January 6th riot, as they like to refer to it. I don't refer to it that way. I say the protest that was taking place in Washington that day. He got arrested on Sunday for threatening to kill Hakeem Jeffries, the House Minority Leader. What? Then there was another story in Texas. One of the aides to Congressman Tony Gonzalez, he's a Republican out of Texas, set herself on fire after having an affair with him. And then her mother said to the New York Post this morning, well, that the story had no merit. What? I'm just, it's all very confusing to me. You have Anna Bauer, the senior editor at Lawfare, which is an online legal magazine that's published with the Brookings Institution. Two Saturdays ago, she ran.

This is a really interesting time to be a pundit or to be a reporter. I'm not a reporter, but there are plenty of people out there who are starting careers in journalism, straight up journalism right now. And it's got to be the most interesting time that I can ever remember. But not for the reasons that I would like it. You know, if I could just talk about... how we finally had an administration that was more concerned with taking care of the American people than it was with anything else, I'd be a happy camper. And I truly believed that this might be that time and that he might be that president. But in the last 48 hours, well, actually in the last two weeks, I've become very concerned about some decisions that have been made. That's all, you know. The last time I was this concerned about a decision that Donald Trump had made was when it came to allowing... Jeff Sessions to pick his job in the administration, when he should have been DHS secretary, he should have been in charge of, you know, immigration, customs, something like that. Just because he wanted to be Attorney General didn't mean that it was a good move and it ended up being a terrible move. And then it ended up with him having no position and no future. A man who I believe was a fundamentally great Great member of Congress, member of the Senate. Senator Jeff Sessions was one of my heroes. I mean, crafted immigration policy, which was amazing. I had a real mind for fairness. And look at how that story ends. Not well. Not well. And again. If you're going to have an affair with a congressman, a married congressman or a married congresswoman, my recommendation is don't set yourself on fire afterwards. You should have known that it wasn't going to turn out well. Anyway, don't forget to download the 850 app. You can put it on your cell phone, on your laptop, on any device that you want. That way you can get podcasts. We have a new podcast coming up today. You could listen to that. I talk about everything from transgenderism being fake, fraud, and phony to DEI. And what that actually didn't accomplish that they intended to accomplish. It's a pretty interesting podcast. And if you had the app, you could be listening to it today. Anyway, let me take a quick time out, a quick break. You stay right where you are. So disillusioned, you could say, I know I'm not the only person who's experiencing a lot of that these days.

I keep hearing people say they're not going to watch the news and they're not going to read the papers and they're not going to go on the internet, but it's really kind of difficult to do that. You may think it's a great idea, but just try pulling it. And, you know, TMZ is my source for a lot of news. You know, it's not just because Derek, my son, works there, but because they've been right over and over again. They've broke news stories over and over again. And TMZ is standing by their story, even after the White House denial, that the president is considering commuting ditty sentence possibly this week. Yeah. Now, I have no idea. I did not follow that case as closely as Derek did and many other people did. So I have no idea. What did he actually was convicted of other than it was less than the amount of charges that had been leveled against him? So when the White House Communications Office says the story is not true, okay, TMZ usually backs down, not this time. They say, we stand by our story. Our story is accurate. Donald Trump is considering commuting ditty sentence as early as this week, according to a high-ranking White House official. According to the source, the president is vacillating on a commutation. We are told some of the White House staff are urging Trump not to commute the sentence. But our source states the obvious, Trump will do what he wants. And we're told Trump could set ditty free as early as this week. Diddy is serving a 50-month prison sentence for violating the Mann Act. He's served 13 months, and with credit, he could get out in around, I guess, around two years. But none of that matters if Donald Trump commutes his sentence. As you know, Trump just commuted George Santos, the former congressman, his sentence on Friday. And we know almost immediately after Diddy was sentenced just, I guess it was at the beginning of October, that his legal team was in touch with high-ranking White House officials, all of whom had the ear of the president. And he was talking about a commutation or a pardon. And just days later, Trump told the media he was aware that they had asked. Okay. Well, then...

I don't know what to tell you, but let's not forget that Diddy was a friend of Donald Trump's until 2020 when he supported Joe Biden. But Trump never shuts the door on people, which I think is fascinating. And he shows mercy to a lot of people who cross him. And I find it utterly believable, and I'm pretty sure, like I said, that TMZ is not going to run with this story unless they have pretty good sources. And I did not call my son to ask that question. I try not to put him in positions like that. Sometimes I can get an answer from him most of the time. He says, don't ask me to violate. the confidentiality with which we conduct the business here at this enterprise. So I don't. But if they go online like they did today and say they're standing by the story, I've got to figure this story is a good story. The story is true. And if it's true, I'm not going to be okay with that. I'm really not. And now we have these photographs that are being taken during the demolition in the White House. Now the... ballroom that Donald Trump wants to see built there like I don't know is the White House going to become a wedding venue I'm not really sure what this is all about and now they're asking to move money from the Department of Justice to the general account to pay for some of this for this ballroom but I thought this was all going to be done with private funds wasn't that what the president said And we'll have to see. But when these things start emerging, don't expect me to sit here and just, you know, shake my head and say, oh, but it's Donald Trump. No, no. I don't understand the need for the ballroom. I really don't. I know he likes things super nice. And the White House should be super nice. But... a 90,000 square foot addition to the White House that he approved and announced before there was the usual review process. That doesn't sit that well with many of us. The Federal Commission that oversees major White House projects, is called the National Capital Planning Commission, had not yet signed off on the ballroom's construction plans. As a matter of fact, the chairman said that the demolition phase, which didn't require approval, that's a distinction that's a bit like saying the fire doesn't start until the roof caves in.

You know, in other administrations, this would be a scandal. But in this case, it's just business as usual. No, you see, I'm not okay with that. And I'm okay with a lot of things that he does that people object to. But the visuals of this demonstration are very difficult to even come by. Nobody's allowed to take pictures, although they got a big one on the cover of drudge today. Every presidency reshapes the White House, but usually in small ways, right? Truman, he had to rebuild the very foundation, the bones of the White House. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. redecorated it for taste. President Obama added solar panels, but those changes were part of a process. The quiet bureaucracy that ensures that the people's house belongs to the people. Donald Trump gets to live there. Joe Biden got to live there. Bill Clinton got to live there. George Bush got to live there. You get to live in our house when you're the president. But it's our house. President Trump's got to follow those same process rules as far as I'm concerned. The White House is, for Donald Trump, the White House is less a symbol of civic stewardship and more like prime real estate with a very weak homeowners association, apparently. And this new state ballroom will seat nearly a thousand guests paid for by private donors. So if wealthy donors pick up the tab, then there's no rules? No public funds? Does that mean no public oversight? Because we ought to be thinking about that. We ought to whether you're on the left or the right, you ought to be thinking about what that means going forward. We ought to whether you're on the left or the right.

Because the White House is not just another, you know, part of the Trump real estate empire. And when you renovate on spec, when you use financing to do the renovation, that's atypical, like asking wealthy donors to put up the money, I don't know, because it's not been done before. Democracy doesn't run on donations. It runs on legitimacy. And we're a republic, but we're supposed to be a democratic republic. And legitimacy requires that we know who's paying for the walls that we're tearing down. We'll see. You know, the demolition is taking place. The pictures are being snuck out. And here's what could happen going forward. The next presidents who decides that one of the standard operating procedures is inconvenient is going to remember this moment. They'll remember that President Trump gutted part of the White House without permission and paid no price. The guardrails don't disappear all at once. They erode through precedent. One. thing at a time, one ballroom at a time. And if you want a White House that is going to stand as a symbol of democratic continuity, each president, just a temporary tenant in a house built to outlast them all, I think you're going to have to be mindful. of what I'm talking about. But hey, listen, I know people expect me to be a cheerleader 24-7. It's just not who I am. And I don't understand this. I don't understand the partons right now, the commutations. I don't. And unless somebody's able to clarify them and explain them to me better than they've been explained so far, whether that's Karoline Leavitt or whether it's Donald Trump himself or one of his, you know, advisors or one of his cabinet members, somebody's got to do a better job because right now this looks a little bizarre. It's not Trump Towers. It's the White House. You don't want to have spectacles going on like this in the middle of a government shutdown. Think about that. There are people right now who are not getting paid. And they're putting up this ballroom. That is not a good look. It's just not. And while I don't care most of the time, whether it looks like, as long as it's legit, but I don't know that this is legit. I really don't. I'm concerned about the last couple of weeks. It seems as though peace in the Middle East was such a big headline that a lot of other stuff that was going on that I now am paying attention to. It's a little untoward, a little bit, maybe more than a little bit. Anyway, let me take a quick time out. You stay right where you are. I'll be right back.

Getting a lot of those should say some text messages from people trying to, you know, explain some of this stuff to me. Here's one from Phil that says, my take on the George Santos pardon is the fact that he admitted his guilt fully, which is so very rare these days when so many people lie, deny, and refuse to admit any guilt whatsoever. In fact, it's very biblical where it states whoever confesses his sins shall receive mercy. As far as P. Diddy is concerned, I agree with you wholeheartedly that he should serve out the rest of his sentence. It would send a terrible message to abusers of women. The only issue, the only issue I have with Trump right now is the fact that his promise to return hard to working Americans a Dodge tariff refund, or Doge tariff refund, seems like it's been completely dismissed. And I'm sure you agree that Autopenn pardons were far worse. Love your voice. And yes. But I'm so tired of that being the way we discuss these things. Like, this is terrible. Oh, but Joe Biden was worse. Oh, this is terrible. Oh, but Hillary Clinton is worse. You know, it's like, how about can we get some stellar people of integrity? There was an article. I don't even remember where I saw it. Hopefully I can pull it up, you know, during the program. It was an article talking about how Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, has what they referred to as the MAGA halo. And I really, I went to bed last night. I had to take some notes of my thoughts because they were coming hot and heavy. As to what does that actually mean? Because we've got history, right? Marco Rubio ran one of the strongest campaigns in 2016 against Donald Trump in that primary. I mean, I would venture to say it was the strongest campaign. So strong that Donald gave him a nickname. I mean, he gave most people a nickname, but Marco Rubio, you know, that really stuck. When Donald Trump came into office in 2016, he tapped into Marco Rubio. Now, we could make all kinds of assumptions about why he did that. I'm going to go with, and this is so hard for me to say because you know how I feel about Marco Rubio, but I'm going to go with the fact that he saw a great deal of potential and Marco Rubio smart. You know, Marco Rubio has the right ideas, understands communism, understands capitalism, understands capitalism, understands politics, probably too much.

So I think Donald Trump said this is a person who could be extremely useful to the country. And even in 2016, in the first administration, he was included, not the way he's been included this time. But think about this. Right now, Marco Rubio is the Secretary of State. And on Friday, Donald Trump said, in the Knesset, okay, so he's standing in front of the austere body, the Knesset in Israel. And he makes a statement that Marco Rubio will probably go down in history as the best secretary of state. Now, you can make that argument pretty easily, in my opinion. You could. And then think about this. He's also a national security advisor because once he had to remove the congressman. And I think what do you make him, the UN ambassador? He needed somebody to fill in. And apparently, from what I can tell, Marco Rubio is still in charge. Now, there's a deputy who's working, and there are entire staffs that handle the day-to-day. But Marco Rubio has multiple hats that he wears. And Donald Trump has multiple hats that he wears. So that tells me. that he really trusts Marco Rubio and is impressed for whatever, you know, reason with Marco. You know, here I was able to find that. It was, I guess, his chief of staff during his campaign said that from Marco Rubio to the state department's goat. An evolving relationship with the president and a growing workload signaling a promising future for the fourth in line to the Oval Office. Since President Trump returned to the White House, I'm reading from this article in BISPAC review by Kevin Haggerty. Since President Trump returned to the White House, his purpose-driven administration has seen the America First agenda applied both at home and abroad, integral to the mission, Secretary of State Marco Rubio's key role in foreign policy and beyond, found his former chief of staff suggesting that the chief diplomat is in a prime position to benefit from the, quote, maga halo. Okay, what's the maga halo? Well, this is Trump's party now. The Republican Party is Trump's party now. And the people in the administration are beloved unless they cross Trump. Right? But if they work with him and if they do really good work and he recognizes that and praises them publicly, they get the MAGA halo. You know, who wouldn't want a MAGA halo? Especially if you're doing the right thing. Marco Rubio. is standing on his principles. They happen to line up exactly with Donald Trump's when it comes to foreign policy and national security, and certainly capitalism versus communism. There are very few Cuban politicians who don't understand how important it is to beat back this Zohran Mamdani and all the rest of these socialist slash communists.

that have, you know, really taken over the Democrat Party. So when his chief of staff, Matt Terrill, is talking to the Hill magazine, He ran the campaign back in 2016 for Marco Rubio. He said the reality is that what President Trump has right now is a grip on the Republican Party. And the people who are around President Trump right now, they're going to have the MAGA halo. This is Trump's party. This is what he said. Same thing that I said. So I think the people in the administration have this halo that President Trump provides. And I don't see that changing. That's what he told the Hill. And he's the managing partner of the public affairs firm, Firehouse Strategies. And look at all the hats. He pointed out the same thing I did. He said, I think that what happened, he is interim national security advisor. Oh, that's right. And he's the acting archivist of the United States, in addition to being fourth in line to the presidency as the Secretary of State. What happened, he says, is that President Trump got to know Marco Rubio, really know him, particularly in his first term when they were working on foreign policy, on policy. And while all these roles that have been assigned to Marco Rubio are kind of laughable sometimes because, you know, there's memes out there that say, like, you know, what else is Marco going to be asked to do? He's doing them all well. When President Trump gives you more things to do, it means that you have his trust, that you have his confidence. And so that will serve you very well. People ask me all the time is, am I going to be on the JD Vance for President Banwagon? And... I always say to them, there are a couple of people who are positioning themselves to run in 2026 or whatever, it's 28, right? And Marco Rubio is one of them. I think Ron DeSantis is one of them. I know that Ted Cruz is got an exploratory committee, so he's one of them. So these are... very seasoned and very beloved people. I mean, Ron DeSantis looked like he was going to overtake Donald Trump in the primary this time around. So he's in a power position, no question about it. He's also a fundraising magnet. Now so is Marco Rubio. And the difference is that... And this is going to be the point of distinction. This is going to be where people like me and all the other radio pundits that you like, you know, the ones that you believe are truthful and smart like Levin and, you know, whoever you believe, right? You know, I don't listen to a lot of people, but I do listen to Levin. I have a lot of respect for him. Sometimes I, you know, I'm tired of him. But for the most part, there's no denying his brilliance and his ability to...

give a different perspective and an accurate perspective of this presidency. But I listen and I look around the dials, or whether it's on television or it's on the radio, and I realize that the stock in Marco Rubio rises every day. When someone like me who said I will never support this man, I said that. You know, I had to eat those words. I said, there is no way someone who came into my studio in Palm Beach County lied to my face. There's no way I could ever support him in any endeavor. And here I am telling you, I think he's positioning himself to run, and I would not have a problem supporting him. I think he will one day be president. I don't know if it's the next president, but I think he will. And I remember... In 2009 or 2008, having a conversation with a congressman who I thought had tremendous potential and would be the next Speaker of the House. If the Republicans took over, I said this is the person that could definitely take the Speaker's position, blah, blah, blah. I was wrong. I admit it. But that person told me that there were two people. whom we disagreed on, that he thought were going to become extremely important in the political process and ultimately break through a lot of glass ceilings. Because the person I'm talking about was an African American Republican. And he said to me, the two to watch to keep your eyes on are Tim Scott and Marco Rubio. And I remember I laughed so hard, I think I wet myself, because I could not imagine first Tim Scott being anything other than a congressman, which is what he was at the time. And I certainly couldn't imagine Marco Rubio. in any real position of power. I was furious at him. He was a liar. He lied to me. And today, I realized that he was right. Both Tim Scott and Marco Rubio have risen to the top of the proverbial political food chain. by aligning themselves with the American people. I could say aligning themselves with MAGA, getting the MAGA halo, you know, having Donald Trump, you know, say nice things about them, but it's more than that. They understand you and me. So they speak to you and me. They speak our language. You know, they talk about terrorists, calling them terrorists. They talk about transgenderism, calling it inappropriate. You know, they speak our language. And whether that's a direct result of hanging around with the Trump administration or not, I don't care. It is important that politicians connect to people. And Marco Rubio has connected big time, big time. And I have to admit, you know, I was wrong.

Now, that doesn't mean that I can't be proven right in, you know, later. He could screw everything up. I just don't see that happening now. And as for Tim Scott, like, you know, I don't know. I don't know what his future is. I think he'll always be a second to a powerful person. But he could end up, you know, Senate Majority Leader one day. I have no question that he'd be a... He has leadership qualities in a very quiet way, much like this Mike Johnson does, who I knew nothing about. And now I have to say, as a speaker, commendable, doing a commendable job. I'm not. politically aligned with him all the time, but I'm watching him, you know, keep the, herd the cats pretty well. Anyway, don't forget coming up after me is Guy Benson, followed by Will Kane, then Joe Pags, Lars Larson. The Overnight Guys, leading to 6 a.m. tomorrow morning when Jennifer Ross and Stephen Deiner come back with the South Florida Morning Show, followed at 9 by Brian Kilmeade at noon by Eric Erickson, and then I get to come back at 3 o'clock. Still have a segment in today's program left, so stay right where you are. I'll be right back. I mean, we really are just, we can't find any... Modern day heroes is what that tells me. We end up having to reach into historical periods of time for whatever reason to find heroes. That's sad. I think about growing up and we had heroes that were like alive and kicking. You know, we didn't have to rely on the... the president from 50, 60 years ago to have a great story. It's amazing to me. It really is. And I don't think that the majority of Americans get it, unfortunately. I think we've become numb, and we accept so much just mediocrity and idiocy. You know, it's sad. It really is. Another email from another friend, George Santos heard he was in isolation and chained. Excessive punishment, if so. Yeah, but I don't know. George Santos exaggerates everything. So maybe he was in solitary confinement. Maybe he wasn't. I don't know. But that's not the, for me, that's not the point. The ballroom? After being hounded for 10 years and Trump being in his last four years of presidency, why not? He thinks like a realtor, right? It increases the value of the people's house and it's all private money. Yeah, we'll see. Marco Rubio, she didn't think he could be president. He looks small. It does not carry the image of an American. I used to feel the same way, but I'm starting to change my mind. And I think...

I think he does have the maga halo, and that'll take you pretty far in this current, you know, environment for sure. So I thank you for your time, this time until next time. This has been, you know, the first two days of this week have shown me that... Nothing changes if nothing changes. Just because somebody is an R or a D after their name, if they're going to do the same old crap, then nothing changes. And we've got a lot of the same old crap going on already. So, as I say always, remember that what lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. So wherever you are, just be yourself because everybody else is taken. And pay attention. You know, that's my clarion call to my listeners. May God bless you. May God bless Israel. And may God bless the United States of America. See you tomorrow at 3. This has been the Joyce Cowman podcast. Available everywhere you get your podcasts.