The Joyce Kaufman Show 7/27/26 - Elon Musk no longer a trillionaire, The media condemning President Trump over Iran, Supreme Court rule in immigration asylum cases, Idaho college murderer wants his freedom

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try it at progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states. This is the Joyce Kaufman podcast. Honest, straight, and unapologelic with your host, Joyce Kaufman. Oh, it's Monday. I don't know about the rest of you, but this was a weekend that just flipped so quickly. You know, I didn't have time to turn around or get anything done. But I'm always grateful, grateful for the little downtime and grateful for the beginning of a new work week. And the crazy news that is always presenting itself. You know, I think about the days gone by. You know, once upon a time when I must admit, nah, never mind, let's just be happy today. It won't last, so let me like try it for a moment and see how far we go. The news is pretty much the same. The man who fell to earth, though, Elon Musk. Now, there's a story that I'm really trying to wrap my mind around. And it's difficult. After a record-setting IPO last month, SpaceX Honeymoon is over. Yeah, not good for Mr. Elon Musk. Investors in companies that are led by him, who I happen to be one of them, I'm sure many of you are. We lost money. He lost a ton of money. The IPO was such a, you know, it made him the first trillionaire in history. And the rocket company was the, I mean, it was at like $2.25 per share when I last checked it. But that was last month. And since then, boom. Hundreds of billions of dollars in wealth. So no more trillionaire status and SpaceX stocks price cut in half. On top of that, Tesla has lost more than 18% of its value over the past week. Well, they had quarterly earning, didn't meet the quarterly earnings expectations. Investants are, well, they're kind of losing their patience for AI and robotics and all these things. I mean, we hear. that this is the newest and the most important thing we should be attending to. But he has a sense of humor. He put it on X, he wrote, former trillionaire. And then he, you know, just made some comment. He said, it's a new era for a company that was once on a glide path that seemingly could do no wrong on its way to that historic $75 billion IPO. It's now, and I guess one of the benefits of being private as he was so long is that there isn't a market to weigh in on and you don't have to evaluate your business decisions. Being publicly traded means everything gets evaluated and every bit of information gets transmitted through your market prices. So every time there's a launch, every Starlink decision, every AI or XAI, whatever he calls it, will be scrutinized now by the market.

And, you know, SpaceX aborted a launch because of engine issues this month, and the company, you know, faced another problem. The stock was going down. The IPO said that they were going to establish a colony on Mars and put data centers in space. And then they got Delta major setback in even just getting Starship off the ground. But as I've said before, anybody who thinks you can figure out this market and that you'll be able to beat this market, you are out of your mind. It's a complicated, complex market one where half of the products, I don't even know what they are. The big news today, of course, every mainstream media outlet is... condemning the president, well that's not any news, but everything about Iran and this military action seems to be getting worse. You know, we're at another fork in the road, but every time he gets to this point, he has fewer choices, fewer options. They get more narrow, and the costs of any course of action get greater. So they explained yesterday that a pause in airstrikes, which is now, I think up to three nights, after 13 straight nights of attacks. They say it was meant to create space for diplomacy, but it also warned it was locked and loaded for another possible escalation. But there seemed to be some signs of diplomatic activity, of which I am not a big fan. Iran said it hosted talks with Oman at the deputy foreign minister level in the last couple of days, but there's so far no sign that the Islamic Republic is going to shift on its core demand, which is, of course, what caused the latest flare up with us controlling shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. So Donald Trump finds himself back in a familiar spot. He's tried to coerce Iranian concessions by attacking, but that's not working any better now than it did after the initial round of fighting. Now, he could increase the pressure by deploying ground troops because we do have the military edge, but... I don't know. I don't think he has the stomach, and I know the American people, don't have the stomach for U.S. casualties in an already deeply unpopular war. We're five months into this, into a war that he said would take a few weeks. So it doesn't seem to be a lot of maneuvering space. But all the strategy... that I hear articulated, whether it's by Marco Rubio or JD Vance or anybody else, leaves the president with fewer and actually much worse choices. And the political heat, it's hot. We had a jump in oil prices last week. So you have higher gasoline costs, and that's more angst, especially for people who oppose the war.

Although Brent crude, which is the international benchmark, fell 6% this morning because of the pause in the fighting. And an alternative oil shipping route through the Red Sea is now being threatened by the Houthi rebels. And global crude inventories are getting really critically low. And we all know what that means for the midterms. Excuse me, you're clearing my throat. Well, the president could still act and do a number of different things. He's got a lot of targets in Iran that he has begun attacking, and he could try to further strangle the Iranian economy by striking the infrastructure, the transport infrastructure and their power plants. And he seemed like that was something he was going to do at the very beginning. But that's going to heap even more pain on the Iranian civilians. And so it doesn't sound like it's a good idea. CNN's Jim Shudo. Maybe if I cleared it once and for all, I wouldn't have this problem. Anyway, he reported that the vice president, JD Vance, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Stan Kane were concerned about escalating the war when they met on Friday. Kane was worried about the impact on our stockpiles of munitions. And last week, CNN had a report that both the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency, have recently assessed that the kind of bombing that we've been carrying out may not give us any better negotiating position, and we're expending a lot of resources. Well, the economic blockade on their ships and ports to try and chuck off the funding, that's for me, because they need their income. But nobody's happy with this war. The Republican Senator Bill Cassidy said that President Trump should initiate a national dialogue where the president comes to the American people, comes to Congress, and then Congress helps make a tough decision. There doesn't seem to be any other way forward. We've got to do something different. So we'll see. But it's a mess of that you can be sure. And the elections, the 2026 midterms? Oh my goodness. I don't have a whole lot of good news there for you. I did an interesting thought of the day about the Democratic Socialists of America. You know, they're not just putting up candidates, you know, these... charismatic, sexy candidates and pouring a lot of money and winning those races. No, they have spent the last 10 years designing an entire electoral structure for the DSA. And that scares me because the one thing they are is academics. They don't really care if it's good, but if it looks like it'll work on paper.

They will proceed, and they have done just that. Missouri is going to be the big test case, and I did my thought of the day. There is a new podcast out. It is... A brilliant piece based on Robert Malone's discussions about what we're finding out from Anthony Fauci and Barrack and all these testimonies in the Iran reading room, which is what they're calling this investigation into the origins of COVID. Can you believe that we're talking about the origins of COVID still? But we are. And the podcast gives a lot of information. So if you are still thinking that you've heard it all, you may want to listen to the new podcast. Just saying. You know, I always try to dig a little deeper and to... you know, get down and get down and dirty with these stories, not just the surface headline stuff that you hear on everybody else's shows. I'm not putting anybody else down. I just don't operate that way. And Joe Manchin is back with a new experiment. These people are always launching new independent experiments, most of which. you know, have no legs. Let me take a quick break. Don't forget to download that 850 WFTL app. You can put it on your laptop, your cell phone, wherever you want it. That way you could be listening to the podcast right at the end of my show. Or you could get breaking news over the weekend like I did. And you can even participate in our contests. So I can't do that, but you can. So it's a good app. Get it. If not, visit our website, 850WFTL.com. Quick break. Stay right where you are. I'll be right back. You're listening to this podcast, so I know you've got a curious mind. Here's a helpful fact you might not know yet. Drivers who switch and save with Progressive save over $900 on average. Pop over to Progressive.com, answer some questions, and you'll get a quick quote with discounts that are easy to come by. In fact, 99% of their auto customers earn at least one discount. Visit Progressive.com and see if you can enjoy a little cash back. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $946 by new customers surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2024 and May 2025. Potential savings will vary.

As a small business owner, sometimes it feels like no matter how much planning you do, there's always surprises, like an urgent, expensive repair. But here's a surprise you will like. With Progressive, small business owners save 13% on their commercial auto insurance when they pay in full. So enjoy a surprise for once. Get a quote in as little as eight minutes at progressivecommercial.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates, discounts not available in all states or situations. So I've just been trying to spend a little more time reading beyond the headlines. I always read beyond the headlines, but lately, I feel as if there'll be 25 different publications, and they're all saying exactly the same thing. And how does that? That doesn't make sense and it doesn't really work out well. Right now, the Supreme Court has a new rule in front of it that would allow citizenship and immigration services to refer asylum applications to immigration judges without first interviewing the applicant. And you may think to yourself, well, that doesn't sound like such a big deal. But it is an enormous deal because the control now shifts out of U.S. citizenship and immigration services. And one would think it would tighten asylum regulations and it would expedite enforcement. But that's not how I read it. The asylum system in the United States is facing an unprecedented crisis, and it is completely strained at the adjudicatory capacity, and it's been undermining the protection that actual asylum seekers need. You know, if you're seeking refuge from a country where they're out to get you, and they're out to get you, kill you. You don't want all this going on. So at the moment, both the U.S. Customs and Immigration Services and the DOJ's immigration judges look at all the applications. And the customs people look at the ones for immigrants who are not in removal proceedings. In other words, not somebody who's already got an order of deportation. Immigration judges, they only deal or have only dealt in the past with people who are already in the removal process. So now depending on the person's status, it'll either get pushed through and adjudicated or it's going to get referred to the immigration jet. It doesn't sound like it's going to speed anything up. And it gives an applicant a second opportunity at asylum. Which, how does that shorten the timeline? Doesn't make sense to me. Because for far too long, the asylum system has been exploited.

You know, people use it to delay, to get authorization to stay in the country working. They're not real legitimate claims of the country where I came from is out to get me or they have my parents held hostage. That's not what we see anymore. It's not just people who genuinely fear persecution. So this sounds to me. like it's a delay tactic and not in the best interests of this immigration reform that we voted for. Because that's why Donald Trump is sitting in there. There's no question that it was about immigration again. And so imagine. Every time we get a little bit closer, to resolving the enormity of the millions of illegal aliens who were permitted into this country and many have disappeared into the innermost workings of this country. Every time we think we're closer to resolving that, something comes up that makes it even harder. So I'm just... I'm just convinced that two years is not enough for Donald Trump to pull off what it was that he promised, what it was that we voted for. Now there's news also out of the Idaho College killings, you know, that Brian Colberger guy, he had, he wants to take back his guilty plea. He wants to, he's filed a petition to reopen the case. And he said that he only made this guilty plea because of some false promises and bad information that he was given. I mean, this guy murdered those students. There's no question that he did it. The evidence is ridiculous. And, you know, he was a criminology student, so he thought he covered his tracks, but... You murder four people. It's kind of hard to cover your tracks. And this was, you know, I think we forget when these cases drag on for as long as this one has and so many of them do. We forget how heinous the crime was. I mean, these kids were in their house at the University of Idaho. And he's... He was convicted and he's serving four life sentences and now he wants to change, you know, challenge the conviction because he doesn't think the plea deal was done appropriately or didn't come together the way it should have. He said, my actual innocence is my truth. And the plea hinged on by false promises and blatant disinformation must be withdrawn. And he reiterated in a phone call from prison in Idaho to the Times on Sunday night. He said, I have an absolute claim of innocence. No, you don't. He has not had done an interview that I know of or made many public comments until this phone call with the Times yesterday.

And in the call, he didn't discuss any evidence or any specific details related to his claiming innocence as well as, you know, whatever his concerns are about the plea deal. It's rare for defendants to win post-conviction challenges, which usually revolve around claims of some newly discovered evidence or, you know, they had a bad lawyer, ineffective counsel. Steve Lankalves, the father of one of the victims, won't even talk to the press. He wants to discuss the issue with his family before he makes any public comments. And the prosecutor's office in Leda County, they're not returning calls to anybody. I see New York Times called didn't get a call back. Epic Times didn't get a call back. Blaze didn't get a call back. They thought this case was over. The Attorney General of Idaho, Raul Labrador, released a statement saying his heart went out to the victim's families, noting they had already endured unimaginable loss, and now they have to look at this. Now they have to face this nonsense. He said, my office stands ready to do whatever is necessary to ensure justice is fully carried out. Well, there's no justice without a death penalty in this case, in my opinion. And I'm not a person who always felt that way. But you listen to some of the descriptions of these crimes. And I'm not a person who always felt that way. But you listen to some of the descriptions of these crimes. And the human being who did it should be. absolved of human status, in my opinion. I mean, people have forgotten. This was a little town, Moscow, Idaho. They hadn't seen a homicide in years. And then all of a sudden, they got the biggest story in the news. For weeks, investigators couldn't figure out who was the perp. And then when they finally arrested this Colberger, There were, you know, a lot of questions that were still unanswered. Like, who was this guy? Why was it that he had absolutely no relationship that they can find with any of those students? In court, the law enforcement officials outlined the evidence against him. They had his DNA on the K-bar knife sheath that had been left next to two of the victims. Amazon records showed he had purchased the K-bar knife and sheath a couple of months prior. He drove the car, the type of car they were looking at from the surveillance video, a white elantra. I remember a lot of the details because it was such a horrible case. And his phone, remember, his phone showed he was out that night with his phone turned off at the time of the murders. He didn't discuss, as I said, the evidence in this phone call with the Times. He said, the intention is for all of those questions to be investigated and answered appropriately in a trial setting. He had a court-appointed lawyer throughout the case. And now he's a jailhouse lawyer, right? He's prepared his own case, all the documentation to challenge the case on his own.

And then he said, I need a lawyer, though, to help me. No. No. It was a handwritten filing. It was made public by court officials today. And he did focus on a claim of ineffective legal counsel. He said his lawyers failed to disclose or review exculpatory evidence and had made promises about what life in prison would look like, including details about visits and employment. These pledges, he said, had induced him to agree to the plea. Now, no innocent man would have agreed to the plea. That's the bottom line. After he was arrested, he initially said, oh, I'll be clear to this. And they spent, like, more than two years challenging all the evidence that have been collected. And then they came up with a surprise plea deal, like a few weeks before a trial was to begin, in which he accepted responsibility for the murders. He wasn't required to offer a motive for the killings that he never has. And the lack of a detailed confession really outraged some of the victims' family members, and even President Trump, who had called on the judge to demand. that he give an explanation. And the judge asked him, are you pleading guilty because you're a guilty? And he said yes. And then he sat in silence at the sentencing hearing at which family members of the victims were very emotional. That was a highly charged hearing. But this is a guy who, you know, Saturday night, everybody was out partying. They come home and the four victims were stabbed to death. You know, killing someone with a knife is very personal. It's not like shooting a gun. And four people, two of whom were found together in a bed, the... The bodies of another victim and her boyfriend were found in a bedroom on the second floor, and the two surviving roommates were there for the whole thing. And one of them saw the shadowy figure. I mean, I remember this case as if it were yesterday. And that's why it's despicable that the family's going to get dragged through this again. He was a guy who they had all this stuff that he'd written when he was a teenager about how he has no emotions. He's suicidal. He said, I'm a sickly, tired, useless, and stupid man. Then he became a junkie. Then he got sober. Then he earned a master's degree. I mean, it's an interesting story, but it all resulted in four kids, brutally murdered that way. And now the family's going to have to go through all that again. I hope not. Anyway, let me take a quick break. And then I got to touch on one other crime case that I had not been paying attention to, but on Saturday, I saw the testimony of the husband of this Lindsay Clancy on her mental state. It's another story that it's so heinous that it just breaks your heart to think that...

that people are so bereft of human emotion. Let me take a quick time out. Please stay right where you are. Well, you know, what's so crazy to me when it comes to the elections is that the Democrats really should be very well positioned to make gains in the midterms, right? But if you saw what goes on in their party headquarters, according to the New York Times, I don't think the Times, is going to, you know, tell you the, a worst case scenario. They're going to tell you a best case scenario. And the party is so short on cash that the leaders at the headquarters are asking vendors not to send bills until after the midterms, which is a bookkeeping maneuver. that is just like the newest sign of financial duress for the DNC. And it's leaders. It's leadership. And you have all this momentum. You have an unpopular president of the opposing party. And you can't even raise money to win some elections. And then if you listen to my thought of the day, The DSA is putting together strategies for long term. They're not even worried about individual races. There's only 100 days between now and the midterms, by the way. And you'd have to admit that a lot is going right for the Democrats. You've got the president's approval down. You've got gas prices going up. You've got an unpopular war dragging on. But it's the dysfunction and the debt inside the DNC that's causing all this concern. It's getting crushed in the fundraising arena by the Republic, by the RNC. And, you know, at the center of all this is this lunatic Ken Martin, the party chair, you know, who found himself really isolated. People don't like him within the party. And if you were in his position and everybody was threatening you to lose your job, I could see why you might be a little bit bent out of shape. According to interviews with a lot of top Democrats, including some former officials of the DNC, who were just speaking on the condition of anonymity, they said his nerves are shot. And he does crazy things. Like he threw his phone at the desk of a junior aide while he was, you know, yelling at the young person. And it actually, the young person complained to the DNC's HR department. And the fallout from the phone throwing episode was described by half a dozen people who were there. So it wasn't like he's hiding any of this. He's coming apart at the seams. And he is now met with those HR officials about his behavior, but nothing is being done. He's not giving interviews about it. The executive director of the DNC, the Roger Lau, said in a statement that the discussion about deferring bills.

was nothing more than a standard negotiation with vendors over contracts and payment processes. Well, I've been involved in a lot of campaigns, and I've never heard anyone suggest that you not submit your invoices until after the election. It doesn't even pass the smell test. And around the office, He's making all kinds of jokes to his colleagues about how long he's going to stay in that job, even though he, ostensibly his term doesn't end until 2029. What an awful job it is, though. Remember when Debbie Wasserman Schultz was in that job? It almost crushed her. Not that would have bothered any of us. He's frustrated, but he's still bullish, so we'll see. They're far behind the Republicans when it comes to money. Donald Trump controls a $400 million super PAC, and the RNC is sitting on nearly $130 million, while Mr. Miller's DNC is $2 million in debt. And it's not, they're not just there to help Democrats win back power in the midterms, but also they got to lead the party into the 2028 presidential race. They got to come up with a new primary calendar. They got to organize debates and the convention. Even his supporters say that things are not looking good. He's paranoid and he confronted the party's finance director. And before he met with the top congressional Democrats in mid-July, he was basically called out by Chuck Schumer, who's the Hakeem Jeffries, two New Yorkers. They're not going to be polite about this. He got elected last year, what was it, I guess February, to a four-year term. And the only thing that could push him out, I mean, he could quit. But the only thing that could push him out is a vote of the membership itself. And with the trust as low as it is in him right now, and mostly among donors, which is the most important factor for him, and party officials, actually. He definitely got a black eye from that long promised autopsy report of the 2024 election. First, he said he wasn't going to release the document, and then everybody went crazy. And he released it. And it was pretty awful. And I don't ever see him on television. Now I don't watch a lot of television, as you know. But I would think that the chairman of the DNC would be on quite a bit, and I'd run into him every now and again. I think the only, they said the only television interview he's done in the last four months was on a local news station in Erie, Pennsylvania. Because he's like completely paralyzed by the idea of leaks and he's surrounded by leakers.

during a meeting in May with the full staff after that autopsy release. He was joking with his staff and he said, well, these are tough times. Don't tell the press what we're going through. Wow. How do you keep leaks from happening in this situation? You don't. So we'll see. But one would think that... With what they learned in the last presidential election, we're throwing a billion dollars into Kamala Harris's failure of a campaign. It's not the money. Ken, it's not about the money. I know you think it is. But it's really about momentum and it's really about strategy. And the Democratic Socialists of America got better strategy and better fundraising than you do. But money is the most acute problem for them right now. You know, because for the last, I don't know, three elections, maybe two to three presidential elections, the DNC has transferred millions of dollars every election to any of these, you know, sibling committees that are responsible for winning the House and the Senate. You know, the RNCC, well, that's the Republican side, the DNCC. Even, and it's so short on cash, even after it took out a $15 million loan last year, that officials have already said to congressional leadership that there will be no transfers like that in 2026. So the political environment may not be good for Republicans, but it's a real mess for Democrats as well. Which means that anybody can win. And I know that's not what people want to hear, although it is kind of what I want to hear. Let me remind you that coming up after me is the one and only Guy Benson, followed by Will Kane. Then it's Joe Pags and Lars Larson. We have the overnight guys until 6 a.m. when Jennifer Ross and Stephen D.ner, they come back with the South Florida morning show. It's followed by Brian Kilmeade at 9, Eric Erickson at noon, and I get to come back at 3. But I still have a segment left in today's show. So, sit tight, don't get excited, and don't touch that dial. So Cracker Barrel finally named the new CEO today. It's a year after that crazy rebranding effort where Julie Massino decided that, you know, she's going to change the logo. No more old-timer in overall sitting in a chair and leaning on a barrel. You know, I'm a nice simple one. It just said, Cracker Barrel.

Some people claim that the design changes removed the Southern charm and that the establishment really was catering to its customer base, which is conservatives, southerners, you know, country folk. And so when you come in with a bunch of woke ideas, what did you think was going to happen? Because it happened. You know, business tanked. And the company, which is based in, I think it's in Tennessee, they had to go back to the original logo like before the week was out. So now they have a new CEO, David Dino, a former chief of Blumen Brands. The Miss Messino will stay with the company until October. But... Blumen Brands is Outback Steakhouse and a bunch of other restaurants. I think it's like Panera Bread. I don't know. You know, these corporations own multiple chains now. So it's hard to remember who's on first. But Crackabow is like the most iconic American brand, right? No matter where you go in the country. you know what you're going to find. You're going to find the rocking chairs out front, penny candy, and, you know, extremely comforting food, you know, biscuits and gravy and not a whole lot of salads. But a lot of hospitality. I've always liked that about Cracker Barrow. Like the staff seems like pretty happy to be there. So we'll see what happens. This Mr. Dino, it's been a year looking for who was going to take over. She's going to get, listen to this. She's going to receive more than $4.6 million in severance pay, according to a regulatory filing. So she'll receive a base salary of a million dollars along with an annual bonus. No, that's what he's going to get. He's going to get a base salary of a million a year and annual bonus and company equity. Now imagine, she walks away with almost $5 million for almost destroying a business that was doing great. So figure that one out. You know, I need to fail, maybe, so I get some more money. Ms. Messino joined Crackabella back in 2023. She had been like the president of Taco Bell's international operations, and she led the company during its All the More campaign. which in addition to the logo change, replaced the aesthetic, you know, the country keach aesthetic with all these bright wall coverings and crispy, just awful. But of course, they had to go back. It's a restaurant that was based on nostalgia. So when she took that away, did she really think,

that putting meatless sausages on the menu was a good idea? Apparently she did. You can see how that worked out. Anyway, I thank you for your time this time until next time. My plan is to be back here tomorrow at three if it be his will and he delays his coming. 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. Everybody else is taken. And listen to all of the podcasts. You had the two back-to-back podcasts about their immigration according to the founding fathers and you got a podcast now. about COVID origins. I'll see you all tomorrow at 3. This has been the Joyce Kaufman podcast, available everywhere you get your podcasts.