The Joyce Kaufman Show 8/7/26 - Conservative media changing their view of President Trump, Socialist movement promises, MRNA Flu vaccine, FBI memo in Trump investigation, former NBA player to summit himself as WNBA prospect to test WNBA's welcome to Transgendered people

This is the Joyce Kaufman podcast, honest, straight, and unapologelic, with your host, Joyce Kaufman. Yes, they were there, and that's something that we never forget on this show, that we have this incredible military, a volunteer military, that goes above and beyond. And when you think about it, In a period of time where politics have gotten so ugly that they are forced to answer things that we've never asked members of the military before. You actually had a sitting senator, a military veteran, Kelly, asking if they would disobey the orders of the commander-in-chief. And that's... That's a serious matter. But I will say that the idea that the American public still has so few of its family members serving in the military always affects the way the military is viewed. You know, during World War II, where every single family had someone serving in active duty. The pro-America. rhetoric was everywhere. We had war bonds and just incredible, you know, support for the troops. That hasn't existed. You know, the Korean conflict, the Vietnam War, they were not popular with the American public. The Gulf War, a lot of those, you know, those military exercises ended up. making the public very reluctant to be positive when talking about our incredible military, but not me. You know, I understand what a sacrifice it is for any individual to give up two years, four years of their life, and some people, lifetimes, and some people actually their very life to serve for the greater good. And so I will never not talk about it on a Friday or not. expect that people who listen to this show have some deep understanding of just how remarkable the men and women who choose to serve. It's a volunteer army, how remarkable they are and their families, because it's a family affair. You don't get to play out your politics or anything when you have someone serving. So we pay homage to them and we're grateful for them and not afraid to talk about it. There's some crazy plot twists happening right now, all over the place. Hopefully Derek will join us in the final segment of the show. He is slated to be on, but he kind of does his own thing. So I'm just hoping that he'll be able to. It's always a busy day in the newsroom is what he'll tell me. So we'll see. But I have questions, particularly about this Perez Hilton guy, that I know Derek will be able to answer. But I'm looking at the coverage of this presidency. And it's no news to anybody out there.

that he doesn't get a fair shake from the media, especially from the legacy media. But now, he's not getting much of a fair shake even from conservative punditry, the world of conservatives like Fox News. They're running polls and showing numbers that are horrendous for these midterm elections when it comes to some of the races where... They're very important races, whether or not the Republicans maintain control of the Senate and the House. It's a pretty big deal for the final two years of the Trump presidency. And we know his favorability numbers have been going down. He has never really in all of the years, the first four-year term in these two years of this second term, he's never had good numbers, especially. Because things are rough right now. There's no denying that the average American is struggling. And whenever you're struggling, the buck stops at the president's desk. Your politics aside, if you can't afford to put the groceries on the table or you can't afford to move or to pay your rent or your mortgage, you're getting foreclosed on, your car is getting repoed. the president is going to get heat. And so how does a network, even one that is pretty much pro-Trump? I mean, I don't think you can deny that Fox is a pro-Trump, that some of the hosts are insanely pro-Trump, Sean Hannity, Laura. But when you, what, Jesse Waters, but when you look at how Fox News is sort of staking out an independent perspective more and more these days, you really have to wonder how it's going to affect the election, because I've been very positive about the midterms. But I'm looking at these numbers, and they're historically bad. You know, a 31% approval rating, a 68% disapproval rating of his performance on the economy. That could be devastating. You have the Democrat, James Talarico, leading Ken Paxton. Not by much, but even the fact that he's leading it all is pretty scary. And you have a quarter of non-Maga Republicans, so the kind of old-school Republicans, I call them rhinos, they're open to backing James Talarico? Well, that's what the poll numbers are showing. Now, you know, Sean Hannity challenges all the polling numbers, but my job is not to tell you that the polling doesn't matter. I don't think it's as important as others do, but it's relevant, and it's the trend that I watch. Are the numbers trending in a bad way? Are they trending in a good way? Because that does tell the story. And the numbers are trending terribly right now. And I don't know how that's going to affect these midterms. You know, obviously Fox News, their business model is in appealing to people who are right of center, conservatives, and all of their prime time stars.

clearly are cheering for Republicans. And many of you and my audience and certainly me, we're cheering for conservatives and conservative values because we're terrified of the DSA and this complete lack of understanding on the part of young voters of what socialism really can do to a country. It'll destroy this country. Capitalism is the very reason that we have done as well as we have in 250 years. You unplug that engine. I don't think any of us know what might happen. The viewers of the Fox network are predominantly Republican. And so the fact that they cover these issues and lean right isn't surprising. But, you know, not everyone is marching behind the same Republican message. You've got a MAGA message. You've got a rhino message. And then you have this sort of... I call it Looney Right message, which spends all of its time demeaning the DSA and the various lunatic candidates, including people like me. I mean, I find this Hong creature who at first hated Thanksgiving and now it's our favorite holiday. I find these people laughable, and I give them time. I talk about them. But how relevant is that going to be in the upcoming election? Because obviously only people in her state have to be concerned with her. The show the other night with Larry Kudlow, I guess that's the Fox Business Network that I was watching. He had Tommy Tuberville, the Republican senator, was on the show. And remember, Kudlow in the first administration, the first Trump administration, he ran the National Economic Council. And it should be the furthest thing from, you know, an uncomfortable interview for Tommy Tuberville. And it's not hostile. He shouldn't, he shouldn't expect hostility. But he spent much of the interview. telling him that the Republicans were blowing it. He said, and you know, Larry Kudlow, I have a lot of respect for him. He said, the socialists are winning. They're taking over the Democrat Party, and the Republicans are doing nothing about it. So the polls are lousy, and the Republicans are failing to sell the economy or responding to what voters cared about. And the Senate, I don't know what they're doing, besides going on constant vacations. You know, earlier in the week, John Roberts was pressing one of his guests on the difference in the presentation of the war by the president and by others, particularly by other military experts.

And it's not a good sign. You know, this is much messier than I think people had anticipated for this midterm. The war complicates it. So they're going to stay conservative, but they are... They are making sure that they're putting on more independent voices from the Republican Party and that it's not, you know, the president's talking points all the time, which, of course, annoys him. And then he expresses that annoyance, and it doesn't help. He is worn out the American public and certainly the media with this war. There's no question about that. Anyway, don't forget to download that 850 app. You put on your laptop, your cell phone, you can listen to the podcasts, and you can get breaking news, especially over the weekend when you might be out of touch, or visit our website 850WFTL.com. Quick break. I'll be right back. So, you know, the FDA has approved the nation's first MRNA-based flu vaccine, which is that technology that was used in the COVID shots. Now they want that to be used in the yearly annual influenza vaccinations. And I don't know that the public is going to be comfortable with that. I'm sure not. It's probably going to become one of the biggest health care debates of the upcoming flu season. So we'll try to get on some experts from maybe the Heritage Foundation because... I can't see. I'm not lining up for an MRNA vaccination. Not after everything that I've seen. You know, I'm trying to figure out, and I'm sure that half of my audience is in the exact same position as I am. I'm just trying to figure out. You know, what kind of story on a Friday would make us feel a little bit better, you know, to bring some kind of story within a message that's, that upbeat. You got this guy Ennis Cantor Freedom in the NBA. Guy was a first round pick. I think it was the third overall pick in the NBA back in 2011. And... He is, he got blackballed, basically, from the NBA. And so now he has declared himself a prospect for the 2027 WNBA draft. Yeah, yeah, yeah. In the aftermath of Sophie Cunningham from the WNBA, the one on the Indiana Fever, making a stand that the women's sports should remain female only. Many coaches and players have kind of opened up the floodgates for men in their league.

The Golden State Valkyries forward, Gabby Williams, even made a public statement. She said, I would welcome a trans athlete on my team or against my team any time. So the WNBA, which had stayed pretty silent about protecting this fairness in their league, you know, this is almost, well, it is comical. for Enos to say, okay, I'm going to hold your feet to the fire. If simply declaring who you are is all that's required, then I meet every requirement necessary to compete in the WNBA, he said. You know, he came out for this press conference wearing a WNBA sweatshirt with the Nike logo crossed out. And then you had Riley Gaines. the outkick contributor, who said she thought it was genius and perfect. And she said, I'm just waiting to see which WNBA team recruits him, you know, Enos Freedom, as he changed his name. He hasn't played team recruits him, you know, Enos Freedom, as he changed his name. He hasn't played in the NBA since he got waived by the Houston Rockets in 2022 after he got traded from the Boston Celtics. He said, my team and I have carefully reviewed the WMBA's eligibility criteria and government frameworks surrounding self-identification and inclusion. According to freedom, based on the current guidelines, I can and am officially declaring my eligibility for the upcoming WNBA draft in May of 2027. You know, how is that? any different than Leah Thomas, the swimmer at UPenn. When he was going by the name Will Thomas, he spent three seasons on the men's team before transitioning to the female team and the division. And the WMBA has asked for this. Let's face it. Now is the time for them to put their money where their mouth is. If you're so inclusive, if you want to be so inclusive, you should not have a problem with this. If he identifies as a woman, who are they to tell him who he is? Who are they to tell him if this is genuine or not? This is a great way to put their feet to the fire. And it has the opportunity to show that all of this, you know, trans acceptance talk is just virtue signaling of the worst kind. He says, I'm definitely not here to mock, make fun of, or disrespect any community or personal choices. I'm simply asking that the current rules be applied equally to everyone. The rules that represent the very values many WNBA players and coaches have publicly advocated for. Bingo, that's exactly right. Players like the Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve.

or players like Gabby Williams, the Valkyreys coach Natalie Nacazi, the Seattle Storm their center, Stephanie Dalson, and the majority of WNBA fans have made it clear they are supportive of men in women's sports. So he wrapped up his WNBA draft announcement saying, my team and I are prepared to ensure these guidelines are applied equally, consistently, and without exception. And I look forward to the WNBA honoring its stated principles. See you at training camp. Now, the WMBA is going to have to put their foot down to protect the fairness, the integrity, and the safety of their league. Or else, they're going to allow these progressive politics to ruin the WNBA just when it was finally getting some legs. You know, the whole situation will be hilarious to witness. If the league allows freedom to be eligible, you know. But then if no team drafts him, he could claim discrimination. If they say their sport is for females only, then they're going to run into the fury of the liberal foundation, which many of their fans and their players and their coaches are still holding to. So this will be a great way to expose the hypocrisy. Actually, it's not even hypocrisy, it's idiocy. of this progressive movement that's been ingrained in the WNBA. So good for you, Freedom, Enis. It's about time that they get hoisted on their own proverbial partard. All right, let me take a quick time out. You stay right where you are. We're going to talk a little politics coming up in the next segment, so stay right where you are. I think it was... I don't know where I read it, to be honest. I jotted down some notes, but I know that it was probably John Solomon, who wrote it or at least it was part of his news organization, just the news, that the FBI opened a criminal probe specifically targeting Donald Trump in May of 2017. alleging and remember in May of 2017 he was the newly elected president that that he was that he may have been acting as a Russian asset when he fired James Comey now just think about that for a moment Internal FBI memos, newly declassified by the White House, show the investigation, codenamed Oxford comma, was launched in the immediate aftermath of James Comey's firing, which was on May 9th of 2017, and was predicated on an allegation that previously released records show that the Bureau's own agents had dismissed the whole Russian issue.

The FBI is opening a full investigation based on an articulable factual basis that reasonably indicates that President Trump may be or has been wittingly or unwittingly involved in activities for or on behalf of the government of the Russian Federation, which of course would constitute violations of federal criminal law. and definitely could be viewed as threats to the national security of our country. This is their rationale for opening the probe. The goal of the investigation, these memos say, is to determine if President Trump is or was directed by, controlled by, and or coordinated activities with the Russian Federation in a manner constituting a threat to the national security of the United States and or a violation of federal criminal statutes. In addition, this investigation will also seek to determine whether President Trump and others yet to be named obstructed and or conspired to obstruct any associated FBI investigation. These people, they weaponized the DOJ and all of the Alphabet Soup spy agencies. The memo, which was written by the Counterintelligence Division, and then it was approved by James Baker, who at the time was the FBI General Counsel. And then the assistant director for counterintelligence, this William Priestap, made clear the concerns about Russian influence and obstruction included James Comey's firing, in part because of the public explanations that Trump gave for it. The alternative explanation can be reasonably read to imply that the FBI's counterintelligence investigation was a factor to President Trump's decision to terminate James Comey. So now, both the acting FBI director at the time, McCabe, Andy McCabe, and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, were advised that the probe had been launched. And this is all in these memos. The FBI marked the investigation as a sensitive investigative matter and declared it was the least intrusive method to address the serious national security risk posed by the activities alleged. But that decision proved anything but non-intrusive, right?

It prompted the appointment of the special counsel Robert Mueller by Rosenstein. And then, what was it, two years that probe went on, that literally hamstrung the Trump administration, even though Mueller's team, like the FBI before it, couldn't find anything to substantiate any collusion between Russia and Donald Trump or his. you know, campaign, his elections, his election staff. And then you had the John Durham, the subsequent investigation by Durham, which was released by the Biden Justice Department back in 2023. which concluded there was zero, no basis for the FBI to even open the original crossfire hurricane investigation into this whole alleged Trump-Russia collusion. This is serious stuff. Because it shows that the case was closed on April 9th of 2019. which was a few weeks after Mueller's probe was sunset. And the final report was issued, and there were no charges against Trump. The special counsel provided the Attorney General with a confidential report explaining his prosecution and declination decisions. That's what the closing memo says. And the memos are being released as the federal prosecutors in Fort Pierce here in Florida are investigating whether the FBI, the Department of Justice, and all these intelligence agencies were engaged in an ongoing conspiracy to violate the civil rights of Trump and his followers through repeated criminal investigations that had no evidence of wrongdoing. It was well known that the FBI wanted to investigate James Comey's firing by Trump. They wanted to call in an act of obstruction and that such concerns led to Mueller's special counsel appointment. And the records now show us that James Comey was fired on the merits because the Department of Justice believed he mishandled the Hillary Clinton. email investigation and the department's independent inspector general also later on concluded that James Comey violated long-standing department practice and protocol with his conduct in the Clinton case. So these new FBI memos, which were declassified by the White House Government Transparency Task Force, reveal for the first time that the FBI predicated the obstruction case against Trump and even gave it a code name on this concern that he was an asset of Vladimir Putin's, even though they knew darn well that he wasn't.

In fact, the lead agent in the Crossfire Hurricane case texted his colleague the same week that Oxford comma was opened, suggesting he didn't believe the allegations were substantiated. He says, I hesitate in part because of my gut sense and concern there's no there there. That was Peter struck. And he wrote that to his girlfriend there. the FBI special counsel, Lisa Page, right? Unbelievable. Why is this important? Because we can never have this happen again. You know, now they're screaming, oh, you know, Donald Trump is weaponizing the Department of Justice. No, he's not. He's trying to uncover how it was weaponized against him, a sitting president, and then a citizen after the presidency. And this has to be cleared up once and for all. And we have to figure out a way to never let this happen again. Good luck with that, right? Anyway, it's just, it's so frustrating. It's like the whole Anthony Fauci thing. You sit around and you realize it couldn't happen. Derek's be calling in now, so let me take a quick break. We'll be right back with our TMZ segment. They say that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. But in the case of Derek Kaufman, the apple rolled all the way to L.A. The one thing Derek and his mother share in common, however, is the love for breaking news. TMZ is breaking news faster than the New York Times. So sit back and enjoy the news from Hollywood as only the Kaufman family can bring it. All right, it's been a couple of weeks since we've had an opportunity to check in with Derek over there at TMZ because he has been gallivanting across North America, most recently, up there in Canada. Did you have a wonderful vacation? We had a wonderful trip. We were in Montreal and Quebec. Carter got to see Weird Al Yankovic and meet him behind stage. He gave a free concert randomly in a park. And he got a cool jacket and a pick with Weird Al. So what's better than that? Does he even know who Weird Al is? Are you kidding me for a seven-year-old? It's an obsession. I mean, I've introduced him to all the classics, but Weirdhouse still puts out new songs. He parodies Taylor Swift songs, Olivia Rodriguez. He was up there with the accordion. What a show. What a performer. And at 66 years old, he's still running around in a fat suit doing Michael Jackson songs. It's pretty remarkable. It really is. I mean, when I told Poppy that I showed him the picture of Weird Al and Carter, he said, how would that child even know who Weird Al is? We barely remember him.

He transcends generations. I got to tell you, like for little boys with fart jokes and all sorts of stuff in your songs and word crimes, he does a cover of blurred lines, which is good for grammar geeks. It's just, he's truly one of one and the best in the biz at that particular genre. I can't say Mary and Nixie loved it, but Carter and I had a blast. Stayed up until 1 a.m. with a 7-year-old. You can't beat it. No, I guess not. You are an unusual family, that's to be sure. So much crazy news. You know, earlier in the week, I was trying to cover this Perez Hilton story, but I didn't really know who he was. And my producer, Sharina, kept saying, you need to talk to Derek because Perez is basically the online TMZ. Yeah, look, he was a celebrity blogger in the early days of the 2000s and, you know, 2010s. And he was known for being pretty rough on celebrities. He would take pictures of them and then draw things on their face and so forth, make fun of Lindsey Lohan and Paris Hilton during that whole era. And then he transitioned to sort of a celebrity himself. He got so big Perez Hilton that he would hang out with those kind of celebrities. but this episode that went down in Miami where he moved recently to take care of his mother he had lived in Vegas and had a podcast and so forth he just kind of came apart you know and on TikTok live was engaging in self-harm I won't get into the details but it was on for a little while people took videos of it and screen grabs police eventually got involved and he was taken away and and given psychiatric treatment, and he's recovering from that. Now, the response has been interesting because he was so rough on celebrities back in the day that some of them aren't exactly sort of celebrating this, but they don't have as much sympathy as you might think. Michael Lohan has stated as much. That's Lindsay's father because of the way he treated her back in the day. And even Michael Jackson's nephew says, look, he doesn't hold a grudge against Perez Hilton, and he's praying for him despite what Perez did in the early years of that blog. Really? Because I mean I have to admit it must be a generational thing because I had no idea when I saw the headline I thought they were talking about Paris Hilton Well, that's how he named himself, you know. He named himself. Perez Hilton based on her name, and it's a persona. And, you know, he's a family guy, too. He has three kids that he is, I believe, through surrogacy. And he is, it's just a very, very sad episode. I've never seen something like this. It's a very online way of doing, you know, self-harm, for lack of a better word. It's quite upsetting. I wouldn't look it up. And even most news outlets are being careful about what they're describing. No, I bet. And this whole influencer thing, you know, I'm always stunned at the level of influence that these influencers have and the amount of money. I mean, you took me to a Christmas party one time. We were across the street from some like 20-year-old influencer who had a multimillion dollar house just off of what?

That's the tip of the iceberg. This is, look, there's a tremendous amount of money through sponsorships and brand deals and so forth. If you have a following and you have a platform, you reach a tremendously large audience. It's no longer television that is doing that. It's your followers on Instagram and TikTok and so forth. And so there's a lot of money to be made just through influence of this sort. I mean, the Kardashians were at the tip of the spear of this and they're still among the biggest. But you're talking about hundreds of millions of followers. There's no television show that's getting... more than if you get 10 million viewers you're a massive event or a football game so it is it is the way of the future and that's where the advertising revenue comes from so who is this sydney towel who apparently was battling cancer did did her audience was that it she they were following her battle Yeah, people do these online sort of, you know, you follow their journey through cancer. And she, you know, she was at Dartmouth, who's a smart kid, but struggled with, suffered from a three-year battle with a rare form of bile duct cancer. And, you know, she passed away and a GoFundMe was started in her honor. It's unimaginable. This is a very, very young person who lived a very public life through social media. The family is hoping to raise around $75,000. uh... to to go towards you know reflecting on her and and the expenses that come with losing a family member in this way so it's very very uh... upsetting story she looked bright and full of life it didn't seem to be what's in the troll or or sort of doing trashy things and it's uh... it's a very just sad story it's really resonated Yeah, I just don't like the public nature of people's lives being displayed like that. I think it's just weird and uncomfortable for my generation. People hid these kinds of stories behind closed doors. People didn't know, and forget my generation, prior generations. They didn't even know we had a president who had polio. It was hidden. Now everyone has a telephone in a world-class camera in the palm of their hand, and they capture everything. And this is the way that... In a lot of ways, we're a lot more isolated. We no longer talk to each other, but we certainly communicate with the world through our phones and social media more than ever. That's true. The youngest generation, the youngest generation, Gen Alpha, is sort of rebelling and going screen-free. So we'll see where it goes. It ebbs and flows. Really. And finally, this Courtney Clenney case, I mean, this was a Miami case, and we covered it extensively when she murdered her boyfriend. Apparently, did she reach a plea deal? I heard that there's going to be a sentencing on Monday. Yeah, well, the news that I was looking at was that she, her family has settled a lawsuit, a separate civil suit with the apartment complex where this happened, where they sued him, where she federally stabbed him, you know, she was on trial for this. I don't believe that's reached its conclusion. But you're right, the case has gone off for a long time. She said she was a victim of abuse at the hands of Christian for many, many years.

and was basically acting in some sort of self-defense or was, you know, sort of traumatized by that. So it hasn't reached its conclusion to my knowledge, but it has certainly gone on for a very, very long time. And she was another one of these influencer types, right? I think she was like an only... Only fans model or something. You're right. You're right. She isn't only fans model, and you're right. They did speak out. She did strike a plea deal. So his family seems relieved that it's over in that stabbing death. And, you know, listen, this has gone on for a very, very long time. Prosecutors and Courtney have reached a resolution that's going to avoid a long public trial, which would re-traumatize and bring all these details back out. And there will be a sentencing on August 10th. So we'll see what kind of time she serves from the plea. All right. Well, we'll get to talk about it next week. Thanks for making yourself available today, kid. Good to talk to you. You got it. Take care, everyone. All right. And that does it for me. I thank you for your time this time until next time. My plan is to be back here on Monday, if it be his will, and he delays his coming. What goes on before and after my show is my business, okay? How about that? And as always, let me just remind you that I pray that God blesses you, that God blesses Israel, and that God blesses the United States of America. We'll have chance to catch up on all the politics on Monday. Stay safe. This has been the Joyce Kaufman podcast, available everywhere you get your podcasts.