7/30/26 Panel

the various livestock we're dealing with all of that on my way home yesterday but yeah just to and you raise a great point i think people don't realize all that goes on in a city when this happens and both of you know full well that you have to do the red cross everybody has to set up just in case and it's an amazing amount of work but and it also highlights how important our forecasting system is. Because I know that in the past, when we've known that we're going to get significant amounts of rain, the amount of preparation that is done in advance of that, cleaning out storm sewer grates, lowering the level of the lake in Washington Park, ensuring that the Woodville pump station, for example, we've sandbagged that before. And it seems as though none of those things... And maybe some of them happened, but certainly the fact that the Woodville pump station, which is a major pump station for sewage to get it to the sewage treatment plant in the city of Albany, flooded. And I believe it flooded almost to the top. I don't recall that anything like that ever happening in the 14 years that I was mayor. And I think that it probably is because of the fact in part that. This was not the forecast. And so we have a federal government that is eliminating funding for forecasting. We need more of it than ever because this, again, demonstrates that as hard as we work and as many tools and instruments as they have out there. And New York State, I think, is the epicenter of being in the forefront of this arena, but to still have this happen shows that we need more science, not less. Absolutely. And I've talked about Noah here and everybody has. And I think people don't realize how much it, those people. many of whom have lost their jobs, impact our lives. And the fact that they're not putting test balloons up on the same pace that they used to all this detail that they would do. that would provide advance warning so that cities could do what it does. It's interesting. The weather that I follow the most is Hudson Valley weather, and they're very up to date, and I felt like I had really good advance notice about that this was going to be a really significant rain event compared to, say, the smoke and the fires several weeks ago when it felt like it just came out of the blue, and I felt like we had no advance warning. But that's a private sector. That's the private sector. Yeah, but they rely on no idea also. But it wasn't supposed to. to come up this far. It was supposed to be heavier further south and not this far. But the other thing on a positive note, but again, cuts in funding, Cohoes had a city engineer forever, Gary Nathan, and he worked very hard and got federal and state funding to fix this main thoroughfare where it needed underground sewer work done and to make the pipes bigger and all that stuff and put in rain guards. And that...

It did not flood in the way it has in the past. And I thought, good for you, Gary. But that works because you have the right people in place. But also you have the funding for these water and sewer infrastructure grants, which the Trump administration has cut the funding for us. So so many other communities who haven't done that work yet. And it saves money. It saves lives. It's so important. And now we've learned the fundings cut if you didn't vote for Trump. Right, right, right. But it is all of that being able to do that work that people don't see, but it helps absorb that water and do it in a way that it doesn't pollute the river when they overflow goes in. I mean, all this detail who thinks about that, but there are people in the city who do in any case. I go on. Well, we already started, my goodness. It is interesting to nerds like us. We hit the headwinds. That's good. March Gallagher is here, Ulster County Controller, and the former president and CEO of the Community Foundation of the Hudson Valley. Good morning, March. Good morning. I'm happy to be here, especially among this esteemed company. And I look forward to talking about our topics today because there's a lot going on. There is a lot going on. And Kathy Sheehan joins us as well as I mentioned. Mayor of the City of Albany. Mayor, always good to have you here. Thank you for having me. All right, let's get going and talk about what is making news. And it is, again, we seem to have been talking about this for a long time, and yet, and yet, we... the back and forth of the war in Iran and... We're involved. We're not involved. There's a ceasefire. There's not a ceasefire. We're going to end this in 10 minutes. Oh, maybe we'll bomb the hell out of them. We're not going to bomb the hell out of them. We're going to do this. We're going to do that. And now, and that seems to have been the story over the last several weeks. And so this morning, we look at the fact that this war seems to be widening. Other... A more determined Iran is with us. And we are looking at other countries getting involved in this. And what the New York Times now has on a tab in their coverage called the Whiplash War. And we are entering our... or six months. So a lot going on in that regard, and I think that's important. But this is the headline in the New York Times, and I think I'll start there, which is mid-east teeters on brink of expanded war as Iran and U.S. resume attacks.

Egypt said it had come under attack from an unidentified drone. Earlier, Saudi Arabia acknowledged direct involvement in the war for the first time. So yes, this is an expanded war. And we again are looking at the possibility of an expansion. And what does that mean? And we don't quite know. Mayor Sheehan. Well, I just thought the quote that was in one of the articles that I read from Donald Trump saying, we're going to be hitting them very hard because it's our turn to hit them. And... And that's a recent quote. That's a very recent quote that was, you know, it's our turn. I think that when we talk about, you know, the concerns about a return to full-scale war, what does that mean? I mean, it feels as though we're in a war, what full-scale, how full-scale... describes that war, I think, for those who are concerned about being bombed and those who are concerned about losing critical infrastructure, whether that happens because of a drone or because of a missile that comes from the United States, I don't think matters much to them. And so when you think about the... the fact that we have a military that seems to be indicating that a return to full-out missile strikes would deplete our...

missile capacity is concerning. The fact that we're talking about a main goal being reopening a waterway that was open before the U.S. started this war leaves the president in a very weak position from the standpoint of being able to declare any sort of victory, and I think he knows that. And the fact that it's expanded to this attack in Egypt, which if that was, in fact, an Iranian drone, really expands the scope of who is being... drawn into this dispute, you know, I think we are in for a long-term, very difficult situation and how that impacts us here in the United States. is that fuel prices continue to rise. There is a lot of uncertainty among consumers about how this is going to impact everything in the economy moving forward. You add to that the... the new tariffs that are being proposed. And I fail to see how this president is addressing the one thing that seems to be a universal concern among Democrats and Republicans. And that's affordability and the economy and how we put food on the table. You know, your comments about Trump saying, it's our turn now, really to me, harkens back to the former Khomeini, which Iran did have this sort of repetitive. way of acting, which was to make it look like they were taking an active strike, but taking a strike that was less damaging maybe to save face, like a tit-for-tat situation, but one that really wasn't going to escalate the war. And I think the new leader of Iran does not feel that way. He's more interested in pursuing nuclear weapons than his father was. And he's not just making strikes to save face. You know, we're seeing a more aggressive posture by Iran right now. And in addition to... the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Kane, saying that we were depleting our interceptors. We also had Admiral Bradley Cooper, the head of Central Command, saying we should stop bombing around the Strait of Hermuz because it's reached its limit of effectiveness. Now, to me, these two statements together show that the military is not with the President on this. We never saw leaks like this out of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Central Command. I mean, this is... unbelievable to me and kind of shocking to read these statements coming from chief leaders. So I sense that the military is really concerned that Trump is not leading us in a direction we need to go in. You know, I always like to read the comments on the articles that I'm looking at to see what the general public is saying. And I saw a comment this morning that was saying, you know, we really haven't won a war since.

World War II. And that was an interesting perspective. I hadn't really thought about it that way. I mean, I guess you could say some Venezuela was effective or Grenada was effective. But that is concerning. And I think, you know, it's showing cracks in the American military facade. And there's no good way out for Trump, which leads me to the place where I'm concerned that he is just going to continue down this path right through the November election because leaving with a deal that's worse than the J.C. P-O-A that Obama signed is definitely not something Trump wants to do, and he's not going to want to admit defeat. So he's just going to continue and maybe even escalate thinking that that's the way to win votes. And I'm really concerned for our American lives and for the lives of our allies and for innocent people in Iran being killed like the school, you know, school full of children that was killed at the beginning of the war. So a lot of concerning things here. And I just, I think that the military is not really with Trump on this act. action. Teresa Bourgeois. Yeah, I found reading through the New York Times as a blurb summaries of what's happened, and I found reading through that was just a tour around the Middle East countries. I mean, clearly there's a rapid expansion of engagement in ways that are disturbing. The, you know, the Trump-JD Vance War is spreading in the Middle East, and it's having its broader, broader impact, and it's going to impact all around the globe. You see the Saudis have now acknowledged that they're doing joint operations with the U.S. You see Egypt ports have been hit in Egypt now, and of course Jim Jordan has been taking incoming, and it's destabilizing them even further. The thing that I, the new signals that I found chilling was... Russia and China clearly intertwined with Iran have been for a long time interdependent in terms of fuel access and stuff, but militarily. And they had appeared to be somewhat staying on the sidelines, but there's a new Reuters report out that says that Chinese weapons are being sold to Iran. They're getting three to 400 shoulder fire missile launchers. and they're going to be coming into the country made available to them within the next few weeks. And then you had the reports from Volodymyr Zelensky providing evidence that the Russians had targeted, had provided targets through Iran about how to target U.S. military where it's stationed in the region. And so they, you know, I think that's all very, very concerning. And I had the same note that you did about the military saying we've gone as far as we can go with the bombing. And Mark Kelly had, who, you know, a military veteran himself, had said a while back, you know, we can do these bombings from the air, but only for so long, and then they're no longer going to be ineffective, and you're going to have to do one of two things, either boots on the ground, or you have to sit at the negotiation table, and shouldn't you get to the negotiation table? But I think one of the most important things is to really understand the cost of this. which you both alluded to, a billion dollars a day in military costs. One billion dollars a day.

for military. Think how that money could be spent, even just for the military and for veterans. But on top of that billion-dollar costs for the military, there's the cost to the American taxpayers of increased fuel costs, right? But there's other things that go through the streets, and now it's not just the Straits. It's the Red Sea. And Lloyds of London yesterday announced that they're going to dramatically increase. There's a coalition there that determines insurance rates to insure in ships going through. And this seems like maybe annoying detail, but you dramatically increase the cost of ensuring ships, then you dramatically increase the cost of shipments. And out of their fluoride, fertilizer, all sorts of things come not through just through the Straits, but now if it's the Red Sea as well, I mean, 10% of the world's shipping, I believe, moves through that area. So the ripple effect. on the pocketbooks of Americans. And then there's also obviously the lost opportunity cost. If you're investing a billion dollars a day in this war, then You're not going to invest in water infrastructure in the U.S. where you're drinking water. You're not going to be investing in NOAA. Look at all the deep, deep cuts to, you know, we'll talk about Anthony Fauci later, but to health research and such, right? Look about the farmers, the pressures on farmers. Bankruptcies are dramatic. So I think that the, and people's pocketbooks, people are going to feel between the war and the tariffs, the Trump tariffs and the Trump war. I mean, it's just an incredible economic burden on the American. people and for what for something that could have and should have been dealt with at the negotiation table well in the negotiating table has been made more complex by the fact that trump decided to take this path and to take this pathway without consulting with his allies and particularly our allies in europe and so rather than creating a platform just jump in when you say take this path and i understand what you're saying but A path would mean that there was sort of a point, right? Like there's actual... Right. I mean, but, well, his stated objectives were regime change. Correct. And eliminating a nuclear threat forever in Iran. And you mean at the beginning. I guess I'm just saying right now, like, what path? Right. But Iran added... something critical to the negotiating table that wasn't there before. I mean, anyone sitting at home still thinking, God, I voted for this guy because he's such a great businessman, has got to look at this and say, who does this? This is a man who single-handedly, by this decision, and it was Trump's decision to go to war with Iran, has made Iran stronger. Absolutely. And think about all the money that was released to them when that memorandum of understanding happened. For years, they were, you know, just pounding on the Biden administrations in Obama. You gave, Obama, you gave away all this money.

airplanes of cash, which that was crazy. Right? But they released all of this money with the Memorandum of Understanding that lasts all but 30 minutes, right? But there's this massive infusion of money to Iran. It's a great roadmap for the next president. I can tell you how to solve the problems of the country right now. Just remove the tariffs and stop the war and say you're going to the negotiating table and the economy is going to turn around. But you're right, they so emboldened Iran because they showed that Iran they might not have the weapon systems, but the weapon they have is the Straits of Hamoos and the Red Sea. And it wasn't as though there weren't people in Washington who didn't know this. War-gamed for years, these exact scenarios. We knew. And here we are, but how do we get out of it? I mean, they need serious negotiation. And I know. Fred Hoff. What? We need Fred. Oh, okay. They need negotiators like Fred, right? Isn't this what Fred does? Well, yes. And I think doing it, but I agree. One of the things that also, and this is minor on the list, but one of the things that has troubled me is just with the expansion of this war and more parties becoming involved that I was looking in the Washington Post today. for a story on this. And there is nothing on the website until a story under the death of 15 elephants in Kenya. Now, I will tell you that I am inclined to probably read about the elephants. That was a sad story, but... However, under it, Trump threatens to hit Iran hard-fowing missile attacks and U.S. assets. And this is most of the way down on the page. I keep on thinking of a term that you use a lot, Teresa, which is normalized. And that... because of what the New York Times refers to the whiplash war, that we do get whiplash to the point where... We're not even, we don't even know how to report or to talk about this because, and we were talking about this on the program the other day. What is the news? What is the news about the war except that it is expanding? But then after that, what? more is there to say? We'll be complacent and lulled until there's an operation, a terroristic operation on U.S. soil. And I fear that there will be. And I'm surprised, frankly, that there hasn't been one so far because we've gutted our internal national security, you know, our FBI, our other assets. That we haven't. Did Trump?

The United States has, exactly, our president has. And I think it puts us all at grave risk and we're not really talking about that. We don't have the effective tools to monitor these things in the United States now. So I think we're going to continue to be in a sort of fugue state just going along, accepting this as. what's the news and what's happening until something violent happens to us here. I think the phrase slippery slope, as I was reading this rundown today, I just kept thinking slippery slope, slippery slope. And where is the firebreak in all of this, right? Where is the firebreak that stops this expansion? You know, we're now in an exponentially paced expansion in the last few days. When I read this today, I used to work on... for a couple of years on war games around the global spread of nuclear weapons. And it's slow, it's slow, it's slow. But then there are a couple of things that happen. And then it can expand very rapidly. And I think we're at a point now where, and we're not engaged with our allies. We're not engaged with our NATO allies. And we seem to be engaged with countries in the Middle East sort of. at one-off as opposed to everybody coalescing because this administration doesn't do that bringing people together and so so what shifts what How does this get shifted? That's what I kept thinking this morning and last night. How do you get this back on track? Because Benjamin Netanyahu has no interest in doing that, right? And so who comes in and tries to, does the military, by signaling, as you suggest, this is much more public? Does that help? How does it get fixed? We started out this month of July with the president saying on July 8th at the NATO summit, I don't want to deal with them anymore. They're scum. And then shortly thereafter, Iran attacked three oil tankers. The U.S. bombarded Iran. Then we heard that the Strait of Hormuz will open only under Iranian arrangements, not American threats. Then Iran targeted more ships. The U.S. struck 140 targets in Iran, and then the back and forth, the back and forth, and back and forth. And then here we are on the 30th, on the 25th, both sides paused attacks. And earlier this week, the president said, right now there are very friendly negotiations going on.

That on the 27th and on the 30th, the war is expanding. Who can believe anything he says? He's trying to game the markets. You can see his rhetoric and his text in advance of, you know, what's happening on Wall Street to try to drive, you know, Wall Street prices. And I think, you know, it's going to get to the place where traders see through this and people are not relying on his statements anymore. His statements are just not credible. Whether he's speaking about further escalation or whether he's talking about peace, he is no longer credible. And this is somebody who is putting American lives in harm's way. And I look at the men and women of the military who are sworn to perform and to obey the commander in chief and who for... very good and noble reasons chose to join the military where they weren't conscripted. You know, these are all volunteers who have stepped up to serve this country and they are being put in harm's way. And I think that from the standpoint of, you know, if I had a son or daughter who was over there, I would be so concerned because I look at this commander in chief. And I don't think he, for a second, is thinking about my child's life. I don't think for a second that that even enters the decision-making sphere. And we know that they've lied about casualties. They've downplayed the impacts of this and who's being injured where. And for what? A president who is on a grift that has enriched himself by billions of dollars. just since taking office. They removed the names of deceased soldiers from the Pentagon website. They removed four names. I mean, I just... Those families. Yeah. One of the retired generals was talking about it in an interview on TV, and he literally started crying. And I just... And the other thing that you don't hear, you hear them asking for supplementals for the military. But where is the request for a supplemental budget for the Veterans Department? Veterans Affairs that is going to have to absorb all of these new, you know, injured... military people. You don't hear a request for that. And the Veterans Affairs Department is already under strain because of the deep cuts that they've made there. And in any case, but where do we, what fixes this? That's what I wanted. The elections fix it, I guess, where there's oversight. I just want to, I am not in any way, shape, or form. defending those actions. I just, I believe those names have been replaced. Is that correct? They put the names back, but in a different category. Okay. All right. And they increased the number of people that were wounded as well. Right. Right. But they did, but only after public outrage. Correct. Did they, and it took a couple of days, and they put them in a different place.

We welcome your letters. Panel at wamc.org. Panel at wamc.org. Panel at wamc.org. We'll continue our conversation and welcome your letters after this short break. back to the round table and to our panel discussion this morning. The music for today's panel is by Blues Traveler. They'll be performing at SPAC tonight at 6 p.m. with the gin blossoms and spin doctors who we heard from yesterday. You can go to spec.org. For more information, the playlist is posted online at wamc.org slash roundtable. And we welcome all of you and your letters as well. Panel at wamc.org. Let's go to Carol, who says, As you have all said, what is the news? Project 2025 has provided the blueprint for exactly what is happening. Tire them out, top concerns that are still happening but not making top stories, ICE, detention centers, boat bombings that are illegal, gutting our services, Epstein, Iran War, Corruption Daily, and the list goes on and on and on. The elections won't fix this. Someone said on the show weeks ago, we lack imagination to stop the craziness. I hope someone gets creative. That from Carol. Yes. Thank you, Carol, except for I would say I passionately believe that elections will help this. If the Democrats take control of the House, you have a different agenda. You have a different set of negotiations around budgets. You begin to have some oversight of the Trump administration not following the laws around appropriations. And, you know, when the funding has been set aside for particular programs and they decide not to spend it, they're doing that unfettered because of the Republicans. The House and Senate Republicans need to be held accountable for what they are not doing because what's not working in our government right now. is the House and Senate Republicans are not doing their job in holding this administration accountable. So elections will go a long way to changing the direction we're going in now. Got this letter from Kippy, who says Jared Kushner needs to be sent home immediately. Donald's off-ramp can only happen with real negotiators who have the best interest of the USA, not this grifter.

family. Let me ask a question that is a little muddled in my mind, but I'm curious as to what you think. Did the president... Because to me, there's a huge difference. But is the president profiting from this situation as it unfolds or was this situation created so he could profit from it? Well, I think that there... remains a lot to be seen with respect to where his investments are particularly for example with respect to manufacturers of missiles and others who are being seeing a boom because of this war. But I think that one of the things that is undeniable is that his motivation, I think, is so grossly undermined when you look at how dependent he and his family are on the Saudis and the investments that the Saudis made in their fund, the reliance that they have on that, is this a president that can actually make any independent decision. based on that interaction, which is why, right, we have the Somoluments Act, because you don't want foreign governments being able to influence what happens in the United States. And I don't know how anyone can look at what has happened and the investments that Jared and others in the Trump family have been able to garner. And think that for a moment, this is a president who can make decisions independent of what those countries want. And so I have always thought that part of the reason that Trump made this decision is because of not just the influence of Benjamin Netanyahu, not just in Israel, but certainly the Saudis as well. You know, I think Trump, just to go to your question, Joe, I think Trump had a roadmap, a plan at the beginning of the war. I'm sure he had investments and he had plans for investments that he thought would profit. I don't think this thing has gone the way he thought. But I have no doubt that he's sitting in the Oval Office every day trying to figure out how to make more money off of this, even if it is benefiting our defense contractors who he then expects to contribute to his next ballroom fundraising plan. So it may not even be direct. It could be, you know, But I agree with Kathy. We're going to have to completely overhaul our ethics, you know, law and rules around the administration and what they're allowed to do. I don't see Jared Kushner on the board right now. I'm not reading his name in the paper. It doesn't feel like he is deployed. It doesn't feel like he's doing any negotiating. I know that he was in Pakistan. They were trying to get ahead there. But I'm not seeing him right now. It seems like he's somewhere lining his pockets, not representing the American people. Well, I think he and Whitkofer is still negotiating.

And, you know, they've been in Russia around the Ukraine issue, and then they've been in the Middle East on these issues. I mean, you know it's been reported, documented that the sons, the Trump sons through their company, have invested through, I think it's called affinity, but through in drone tech, drone businesses with drones and in other areas. And so whether they did that in anticipation of the $1.5 trillion budget increase or because of this, hard to know. I think that he was drawn into. this through Benjamin Netanyahu because, you know, as has been reported in many different people, Republicans and Democrats, that Benjamin Netanyahu had pressured several previous presidents to do this and all of them understood you don't do it because, for the exact reason, because of the straits, because of the amount of trade that runs through these areas. But the one area that I think needs so much more sunlight is the Venezuelan oil deal. What is going on with the Venezuelan money? Where is that going? It was supposed to go to funding in the World Bank. It's now reportedly J.P. Morgan's getting the money. Who's controlling that money? How is it being spent? What's it being used for? Who's... in whose pockets is going to. I think there's a lot of questions. I think there's a lot of questions about in some of these countries going into the minerals that they intend to access. I think that this is not the war, but this incredible, and it's not getting nearly the attention it needs, opening up of federal lands and decreasing federal historic sites, monuments and such. bears ears, there's four or five of them, reducing them by, in some cases, 90%. That opens up these lands to mining. And then there's some questions about who owns those mining rights and how the Trump family may or may not be benefiting, or at least as friends, from that. So I think there's a lot of serious questions about who's profiting here. that need much more attention. It's being written about, but it's hard. There's so much incoming. It's hard to keep track of it all. 13 billion dollars, quote, missing. I mean, it's not, we don't know where it is. Trump is saying 13 billion has been achieved through the Venezuelan oil sales. And we don't know. Exactly. Where is it? How is this okay? And then Marco Rubio says, oh, well, you know, we're giving it to the government to pay the civil servants and such. Show some evidence of that. Where's the transparency? And as an aside, what are we doing to Cuba, just destroying that country? Those people are suffering. Let's go back to the letters. Debra writes, I think the question we Americans need to focus on is what capacities must have free people possessed to govern ourselves. What do we need to get government to work for us? Create a fair economy and live up to our ideals. Thank you for the great program. That is Deborah. Then we go to Nick. I still think the answers can be found by gazing peacefully into the reflecting pool. Okay, tongue and cheek comments aside, I don't understand how Snap could ever be questioned. It helps everyone, even Walmart. I went to the local farmer's market yesterday and got the most lush vegetables with food stamps. They were out of Kool-Aid and gum.

As for food banks, the stores have somewhere to give expired food. Volunteers have purpose. Farms give to food banks and people get fed. The world needs compassion. By the way, kudos to Hudson Valley weather. They are the best. Thank you for mentioning them. Deepest thanks to WNC and the panel. That from Nick. Can I say something about SNAP? You know, it is a great program. It really does provide a lot of support for people. But we supporters of that program do us no favors if we act like there aren't any problems. There are problems with SNAP. One of the problems is that these card readers are stealing people's benefits. I hear about it time and time again. We've got to get better technology on that. There is fraud. It's people stealing other people's benefits. How does that work? What do you mean? You know how you can have a card skimmer on a gas? station pump. Well, the same thing happens in certain stores when people are running their SNAP, their EBT card. And there are, you know, there are other issues. Our benefit error rate in New York State is higher than it should be. It was kind of went up during the pandemic because we were letting things fly and we discharged and retired a huge amount of our really expert workforce. So I just, I'm concerned as an auditor when we start defending these programs, we don't want to admit that there's anything that could be improved. That's a mistake. All. of these government programs that we support that we want to have to help Americans can be improved. We should be constantly seeking their improvement. And we just, we don't do that because we're so busy defending the program. Jeff writes to us and says, dear panel, America has been at war somewhere all my life. And I'm not a spring chicken. Russia has been at war with Afghanistan, Syria, Georgia, Chechnya, and Ukraine over the years. You know who's not been a war? Doesn't spend a dollar. Making war, of course, you know, it is China. China. And that is from Jeff. And what do they do? How do they expand? They expand by going in and building roads and infrastructure and things of that sort. Donald Trump doesn't care, writes Fred, about affordability anymore than he cares about immigration or any other issue than his own power and ability to serve himself in the oligarchs. We keep bemoaning the fact that he is alienating people from both parties, but he doesn't care about that either. The plan is to suppress the vote in any way possible so that he prevails no matter what. Can I say back to snap for a second? The other thing about SNAP is there was another report out recently about the percentage of Amazon employees who are on SNAP benefits or a range of these benefits. These companies, these big companies, Walmart, Amazon, these companies, need to pay people an affordable wage because the... We taxpayers are essentially subsidizing Amazon for underpaying their employees. That needs much more attention. Or there should just be a bill sent to Walmart and Amazon. This is what it cost us to feed your employees and now we're charging you. Because you don't pay an affordable wage. Yeah, I agree with that. But I think that it all comes back to, you know, in the United States, I think that we are.

a society that has fallen in love with greed. And we cannot see our way out of it. People are looking at the grift that's happening, the fact that this president has enriched himself to the tune of two plus billion dollars over the course of two years in office. And... people are sitting back saying, boy, someday maybe that could be me. Instead of saying, how in the hell are we letting this happen? And in part, it's because of Citizens United. It's because we have a Supreme Court that decided that money is speech and that corporations have the right to spend as much money as they want and that wealthy people have the right to spend as much money as they want. getting people elected. And so to the writer who wrote in and said, how do we change this as a country, we do need to look at how things that restraint. And a really vocal civic society and civil society kept in check has been let out, right? We've opened Pandora's box. And now it is about greed. It's about clicks. It's about all of these things that I think are truly harming the average working family. And so it... it will take a tremendous amount of work. I mean, we are talking about potentially amendments to the Constitution to fix this. Because right now, with all of the money that is involved, you have, your congressperson is sponsored by Coca-Cola or Walmart or you pick the corporation, big insurance. That is what is driving these decisions. And until, and the Democrats are taking. Just as much of this money, in many cases, as Republicans are. This is a fundamental problem. And it is, to me, driven by this false story that we've been fed that, boy, you know, if I let this guy make a billion dollars, I might make it too. Can I ask you a question, though? I mean, there was so much outrage over Hunter Biden. Yeah. But over far, far, far less than anything that these, the Trump kids are doing. But why do you think so much outrage over him, but the Trump kids nothing? No laptops. Because, you know, the rules apply to thee, but not to me. This is about stoking out. I mean, look at how much outrage. The outrage that's been stoked against Anthony Fauci, against all of these people who are being targeted by this administration. At the same time, this administration is saying, all these people, these people who stormed the capital and caused loss of life.

that they were being prosecuted maliciously. This has been their playbook all along, and far too many people are falling for it. We do have to take a break. We will do exactly that. We welcome your letters. Panel at wamc.org. Panel at wamc.org. We'll be back right after this. Welcome back to the Roundtable and to our panel discussion this morning, Kathy Xi Jinping and March Gallagher and Teresa Bourgeois with us listening to the music of Blues Traveler going to be... at SPAC tonight, and we look forward to that. And also, we look forward to your letters. Panel at wamc.org, panel at wamc.org. All right, let's go to another topic. We are going to talk about Rand Paul threatening. Anthony Fauci with contempt charges. This is after yesterday's a volatile hearing, or as volatile as a hearing can get when someone He is pleading the fifth. So, but you understand. Anthony Fauci repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment during a Senate hearing Wednesday where Republicans pressed the retired government scientists on whether he was sufficiently truthful and past testimony about the coronavirus pandemic. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, a longtime adversary of Anthony Fauci, concluded the nearly three-hour hearing by saying the committee is planning a vote next week and whether to hold Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress. Paul acknowledged... two GOP colleagues that there are legal questions about whether Anthony Fauci could be held in contempt, citing President Joe Biden's preemptive pardon of Anthony Fauci last year, but contended that Anthony Fauci should have just answered questions on Wednesday, even if it meant admitting to a past lie or other wrongdoing. Anthony Fauci, who helped lead the nation's pandemic response and frequently appeared before Congress during his 54-year government career.

began the hearing by saying that it, quote, pains me to now invoke the constitutional right against self-incrimination. But he alleged that Paul, who convened Wednesday's hearing, was wrongly seeking to trap him in a misstep that could lead to perjury charges. That reporting from the Washington Post. I was so impressed that Anthony Fauci kept a thousand pages of journals. I like him even more now, that he took the time to record his thoughts in that way and that I was surprised, honestly, that that document still exists, that he took the time during the events to record what was going on. You know, it raised his standing from where I sit. But also, people are so done with Rand Paul's self-promotion at the expense of this 86-year-old American hero. I don't think he's winning anything over by continuing to bash Anthony Fauci. And the American people, I think I read a majority of American people actually believe that maybe wrongly, according to scientists, that this COVID epidemic was lab manufactured and it was a leak from a lab. So I don't see. Rand Paul really changing the opinion of the American people here. And it's... It's a waste of time and I don't think it's going to benefit them. I think Rand Paul is trying to sell his book. I think he's, you know, running on steam that is left over from, you know, 22 when he was really aggressive with Anthony Fauci. And I just don't think it's going anywhere. I think people are done with it. That's what I think. And it's really a shame because we are going to have a harder time, I think, recruiting scientists and professionals to work in our bureaucracy knowing that they're going to risk being treated like this. Teresa. I'm incensed. I know you are. I know. So make good radio. I'm trying not to scream. I did not hear the entire hearing. But let's just think about what the Trump JD Vance administration did. doing COVID in their lackluster and that's putting it politely response i mean just think about chlorox right and think about all the misinformation that they put out yes let's praise them for the fact that they were investing in science at the time and they was an accelerated effort to get a um COVID vaccine, but then they didn't have a plan of how to distribute the COVID vaccine. And so the Biden administration came in and they developed that plan and moved it out. And I just think that he's talking.

Rand Paul is going after one of our preeminent scientists. Now, this is a person who, George Bush, President George Bush, when he was asked, the father. Who are the public servants that, you know, who are the people that we don't know about that are doing great things that really are doing it for our country? And what's the one person he said that came immediately to mind? He said, Dr. Anthony Fauci. That's a Republican president. His son, President Bush, who developed PEPFAR, the program for combating AIDS around the world that saves lives and saved American money. He praised... Dr. Anthony Fauci. So this is a person who has been for a long, long time, an amazing public servant. And he has to go through this that has resulted in, I'm sure, extreme financial pressures, but also threats on his life. Every time Rand Paul and these folks use him as a whipping post to raise money and to try to bring the base back together, he and his family, their lives are threatened. This is hideous. Think about if Rand Paul is truly concerned about loss of life around health issues, is he holding hearings about why there's a measles epidemic in this country? Think about all the children and the cost of these costs and a cost of life and financial cost. Think about the foodborne illness outbreak, the explosive diarrhea problem that the country is dealing with, right? And that's partially the lack of response is because the Trump-JD Vance administration has gutted our public health system, so it's been slow to respond. Think about the Ebola outbreak around the world. That has accelerated because the U.S. backed out of the efforts to try to contain this global spread. And this isn't a problem just for these individual cases that we now know about, that there's no longer the U.S. infrastructure in place to try to prevent this. Why is he not holding hearings on the deep cuts in scientific research, ongoing existing active research that was going on where people... who are quite, you know, maybe deathly ill, they were in studies. Those those studies were halted because of the cuts that these Republicans did. And he's talking about Anthony Fauci's responsible for keeping... so many people alive as a result of COVID. This is, this was beyond shameful. I think that relitigating what happened during COVID is the biggest waste of taxpayer dollars, especially with respect to exactly what you're talking about, Teresa. This is an issue for which it doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter whether he really thought it was lab-born, but he said something different. None of that matters. What matters is what we're doing to protect public health going forward. And so you have identified areas where right now we have public health crises that are going on that we should be expecting those who have been elected to represent us. in Washington should be focused on and should be having hearings about so that we can protect people so that we can understand how people are getting sick and what we can do to prevent those illnesses. And so trying to embarrass this individual because he thought it was cool that they made a bobblehead of him is so disgusting and shameful. And it feeds to the most base human instincts that we shouldn't even be giving any light of day two. But I think that this highlights, and the fact that he pled the fifth, highlights the fact that we have a Justice Department that should probably like the Department of Defense, they renamed it the Department of War, should be called the Department of Retribution, is so focused on... These vendettas that President Trump has and that others with power have against individuals and they are weaponizing it. And so, of course, he took his lawyer's advice and said nothing because we have seen people get indicted over nothing. Judges have thrown out those indictments, but just going through that process and the expense that's associated with it. And the toll that it takes on a person's health and on their mental health is something that we are seeing time and time again, and it's only getting worse. So of course he pled the fifth. That's what I would have advised him, and it's absolutely what he should have done. Brilliant strategic move because it forced all the focus. It's not on him. It's on how cool. totally inappropriate this is for Rand Paul. It was brilliant move. And Rand Paul's opening statement, he acknowledged the number of American deaths from COVID. It's almost like he's, he's, you know, undermining his own argument, right? Which is like, It was a huge, serious, terrible threat to the American people that Anthony Fauci was there defending us and acknowledging and recommending these measures to save lives. And thank goodness he did or the loss of life would have been bigger. So I found it strange that he was, you know, acknowledging the dead in his opening statements. The other thing that I thought was interesting is that he really did. Rand Paul's statement, if you listen to how he talked about the notes that he got, you know, how they got the notes, you know how they got the notes, that Anthony Fauci did the right thing in terms of these were public documents, so he left them there. And so they went and took them. His diaries were actually, you know, done on a public computer, so considered public documents, so they're there. But.

Anthony Fauci has never said that there's a definitive answer about what the origins were, that it's probably happened in the market, but one of the things that... inexplicably that he was excreted for was continuing to look, you know, he noted, Rand Paul noted that he kept looking into the, if it was from the lab, right? Because he's a scientist and there was nothing definitive. So yes, he kept looking into the lab. It was crazy. But it's dangerous because think about all the work that's not being done. when they spend their time on this. And also it's breeding more uncertainty among the public about these vaccines. Think about, you know, at the same time, the Trump JD Vance administration, this Bill Pulte guy, he's firing more and more people in the intelligence community. And the intelligence community is both domestic and foreign, right? And think about all the, you know, all of the... public servants, a human infrastructure we have in this country to keep us safe, it's been dismantled in the last year and a half. That's what they should be looking at about, you know, it's homeland security, how to keep us safe. But that was very intentional. I mean, it has always been the mission, and, you know, was a writer or one of us that mentioned Project 2025. Both. You know, that was the playbook. These are individuals who don't want government to work. They're seeking to break this down. And so that is what we are seeing writ large. And it's why experience does matter. Taking back that narrative, I think, is going to be really important. And we're seeing it right now with this outbreak, and I can't pronounce it, right? Cyclosporias. I call it the explosive diarrhea because I can't say the word. Right. You know, and getting our arms around it and understanding it. We're seeing it with respect to weather events. We're seeing it with respect to wildfires. There are things that government does and does well historically. And that is important to our everyday lives. And we continue to see the defunding of that, the demeaning of those who are doing these jobs, and people with talent leaving in droves because of the... the focus of this administration on breeding distrust in anything that our government is doing. Well, I just remember in early 2020 in late January, early February, because when I was in the Congress, when I worked for Senator Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Health, Dr. Anthony Fauci, obviously, is somebody who was, you know, any big issues, he was there. I mean, he didn't know me personally, but I knew of him high, high respect for him. And I started to hear him.

In these news reports, I follow health news talking about this. And I remember calling a friend of mine who used to work on health care. She was in the White House and the Senate on health care policy. And I said, are you listening to what Dr. Anthony Fauci is saying? I said, this is really, really serious. And this was in late favorite before it really burst onto the scene. And people need to have faith in listening to people. Not that they're unquestionable, but to. To erode the faith in our public servant experts is really, really damaging. That's how you end up with measles outbreaks. They're now uncontrolled. Children's sick, you know, people dying. That's how you end up with all of these other things. And thank God people listen to Anthony Fauci, Dr. Anthony Fauci, because think how many more people would be dead if they hadn't. And thank goodness he stayed. He was in his 80s. He could have retired. He could have just walked out the door, especially the abuse that he was suffering and the, you know, the disdain that the president was showing him at that time. I mean, we're lucky he stayed. I think the public should all send him to his lawyer's office. Thank you, Dr. Anthony Fauci cards. But I do think that there were lessons to, there are lessons to be learned, right? And that's what we really should be. focused on and talking about, right? How do we, how do we provide space for those who are the experts to say out loud, we just don't know? And I think that there was so much pressure that was placed on not just Dr. Anthony Fauci, but health, you know, public health. professionals all across this country of wanting these definitive answers in something that was evolving. And I think the lesson that we as the American people can learn is that we do have to step back. And realize that there might not be an answer at this moment to this question. They were dealing with a new virus that was acting in ways that viruses don't act. You know, I have a very good friend who was working at the Wadsworth Labs and infectious disease. And she would say to us, this. This virus behaves differently than any virus that we've seen. And so we have to just be willing to say, let the scientists do the work that they need to do. And so to see Rampal take that and then at a national level. you know, just try to debase this individual who I do think did the best that he could with the information that he had available to him and could certainly have done better and certainly learn from how to effectively communicate and maybe not state things as though we know this as of today, but this could change tomorrow. We have to be willing to say that. You know.

To me, it's, again, as we've all said, huge waste of resource, huge waste of taxpayer dollars, and it's not helping to make us healthier at all. And also when they say, you know, you should be in jail for closing the schools and closing the businesses and you drove all these people. That is such revisionist history. I mean, okay, you want to keep the schools open? Who is going to drive kids to school? Where are the bus drivers? Because they were all older and there weren't enough of them, right? They were at risk. Who's going to cook the food? Who's going to be the teachers? There wasn't... And, you know, he complained about, well, you shut down places of worship. Those places chose to shut down on their own, and it probably saved people's lives. We live in a bubble, and we forget that we're in a global environment, right? We're not the only country that had these shutdowns and these lockdowns, and it was changing information over time. You know, everybody was masking outside. Do you remember that? And then we realized, oh, we don't have to mask outside. You know, things are changing quickly. We're not the only country. Well, in early days, one of the biggest and most deadly outbreaks in Orange County occurred because people went to a funeral. Yes. In Albany, Georgia. There were dozens of worshippers at a church who died because the virus was spread at their church. It is total revisionist history. It's a waste of our time. We need to be focused on what we've learned and how that is being applied by public health professionals across this country. But they can't be because it's all being defunded by this administration. I was just going to... counter with a point that you made that I think we should just hit one more time before we go to a break in a minute here, which is meanwhile measles. Right. I mean, I think that's the... What are the lessons? What are the lessons learned? What happens when you decimate the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health and the, you know, what happens when you decimate that infrastructure? When you don't give the states, you know, the states are trying to fill the gaps, but you don't have this coherent message. You don't have this national tracking. It's the same thing with NOAA. You know, you don't have the day-to-day tracking so you're not giving... atmospheric information. You don't have the day-to-day tracking. You're not tracking sewer, you know, testing in sewers and other things to have early warnings about these spread. Or you're not giving a consistent message about the measles vaccine. But I think we have to call out not one other senator, which is Senator Moran from Ohio, who was so insulting and, you know. an F-bomb to Anthony Fauci about masks. You know, who that, you know, just he said totally, he was totally inappropriate, but it was shameful. And he's in a tight race in Ohio for his seat, I think he is. No, maybe not. But any case, he should.

He should apologize. He should publicly apologize for his abhorrent behavior. But I do think the Homeland Security should be tracking. you know, what the government is not doing right now to protect us against the spread of these illnesses or other things. We're not going to know for 20 to 30 years the full impact of this gutting of science and regulation. It's going to take a really long time to really be able to compare statistics. The fact that they're cutting funding for PhDs. They're 15% fewer PhDs now in this country. What does that, and that's because they cut the funding, there's no funding. What does that mean for our innovations economy? What's going to that? that mean for what's next in manufacturing. What's it going to mean for what's next in drug discovery or a whole host of things? We're going to take a break. We welcome you and your letters. When we come back, we will finish up. We have a couple more big topics to discuss. We'll do exactly that. We welcome you. Panel at wamc.org. Panel at wamc.org. And we welcome you as always. We'd love to hear what is on your mind. Last half hour of the roundtable panel coming up.

Good morning. Welcome back to the roundtable and to our panel discussion. Kathy Xi Jinping and March Gallagher and Teresa Borshowan with us this morning. We have much more to discuss on this morning's program in the 25 minutes that we have left or so. Let's talk about Todd Blanche. Todd Blanche's attorney general nomination has been paused as two Republicans hold out. I was coming home last night, and I was listening to a discussion with John Cornyn and people within his office of saying, look, we're going to come to some resolution on this. Both sides seemed to be willing to talk. And then by the time dinner was over, he said, I'm done. So we'll see where this is right now. The Senate committee weighing Todd Blanche's bid to become the next Attorney General postponed a key vote on his nomination Wednesday amid a standoff between the... Trump administration and two Republican senators who have threatened to withhold their support. The postponement was a high-profile setback for President Donald Trump and a further indication that congressional Republicans are becoming more willing to stand up to among key matters. It also leaves the fate of Todd Blanche's nomination uncertain after Senator Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, announced the vote's deferral just hours before it was set to take place. at 9 a.m's Thursday hearing 90 minutes ago. Senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis had insisted that the Trump administration limit in writing central provisions of a controversial deal struck This spring between the Justice Department and the president to resolve a lawsuit, he filed against the IRS over the week of his tax returns. DOJ was not able to provide the senator's sufficient assurances to win their argument to support Todd Blanche. Todd Blanche in his testimony said he saw no reason why it would have to be put into writing. We're going to do what I say we're going to do. The senators have said their votes for Todd Blanche's nomination hinge on their requested changes to the deal. A no vote from either one of them would be enough to sink Todd Blanche's nomination at the committee stage, given the expectation that all Judiciary Committee Democrats will oppose Todd Blanche's confirmation. Kathy. Well, look, I mean, the sad... story is that Todd Blanche will remain and can remain as the attorney general in an acting role until the end of Trump's term because of how he was appointed to that position. I would hope, though, that at least some Republican senators would care about how history will look upon them and refuse to actually give it the imprimatur of the Senate's approval. You know, Todd Blanche has been singled out by judges.

for his potentially unethical practices. Those practices, if proven, would rise to the level of resulting in him being disbarred. You know, this is a person who agreed to a seven-figure settlement with an individual who was pardoned by Trump, but in that case, his case had with stood. a federal appeal that suggested that he had been maliciously or unfairly prosecuted. This is an individual who blocked access to an abortion access. And, you know, he's agreed to, and nothing has changed about the unprecedented. And I use that word because there is zero precedent for this, the non-prosecution agreement that is shielding not just Trump, but his entire empire and all of his family from any prosecution or even investigation. And it claims that it's just by the IRS, but the way that it's drafted, it's far broader than that. Now, Trump is a proven liar. He is a convicted fraudster. He has declared bankruptcy multiple times. He ran a university that was a scam, an online university that was a scam. This is an individual who has in no way, shape, or form to me, demonstrated that he should be given the benefit of any doubt in any... anything. And yet that is what Todd Blanche is handed to him. And so this is, again, a department that should be renamed the Department of Retribution because Todd Blanche is not someone who will pursue to me justice in the way that most Americans think about justice and certainly not in the way that our founders thought about justice. Earlier on, Todd Blanche slipped and said that he was the president's attorney rather than representing the American people. My thought was, you know, seeing the news, I was like, well, well, look at Congress actually doing its job. Too bad it takes people who are no longer going to be serving to stand up and do the right thing. I think Trump is learning, oops, there is, you know, a negative feedback loop when you go against your incumbent. senators because he really was not supportive of either of these two senators and in fact endorsed Ken Paxton against John Cornyn in Texas and now Ken Paxton is probably going to lose hopefully to James Talarico. But, you know, there is something that happens for the president when he goes against people that used to be former allies. They no longer feel loyal to him. What I want to know is what difference does it make to Todd Blanche, whether we put it in writing or not? You know, he has said, he has stated under oath that he is not going to pursue the $1.8 billion fund. But I don't see what difference it makes putting things in writing. They don't care about things in writing. It doesn't matter whether it's in writing or not. Trump will just do whatever he wants. You know, we have multiple district, federal district court judicial decisions. You know, Judge Williams found that the suit for...

against the IRS had been filed for an improper purpose. You know, the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia Judge Brinkema had blocked and froze the $1.8 billion fund. So we have judicial decisions like sort of already weighing in here, and that doesn't matter. So I don't think putting anything in writing matters either. I agree with you, and I understand it. I was back and forth on this all afternoon in my brain, which is, okay, but then why are they not agreeing to do it? Okay, you know what I'm going to say? think that this is a confabulation of the president. He has directed Todd Blanche not to agree in writing because in his own mind he doesn't want it there. And it really is not going to dictate whether they move ahead with things or not. It's just something that the president has demanded of Todd Blanche. All right. Teresa Borgia. Yeah, I respectfully, I don't agree with you on this one because I do think because of the nature of the... consent agreement that they created, this consent agreement that they created because it says, remember, he's settling a lawsuit that Trump brought for an improper purpose. But for an improper purpose, right? But unless you put it in writing, then you have to amend the consent agreement. And that's basically what Thom Tillis is saying in John Cornyn, saying you have to amend the agreement. And if they don't amend the agreement, then the agreement is still in effect. No matter what the words are, it's what's on paper, right? And so if they amend it, if it's amended by the Justice Department and that Trump people try to proceed anyway, then you have that when you go to court. But I think stepping back, I agree with both of you, sticking back, you really have to look at the whole of... this person's record, to Todd Blanche's record, to see whether or not he should be Attorney General. And there is no way he should ever be Attorney General. I mean, just look at January 6th. Just look at what he's, the agreement, this slush fund, to be given to people who... Trump rallied them. They go to the Capitol. They destroy the Capitol. But most egregiously, they viciously violently beat police officers, public safety officers. They were... adjudicated for that. They were found guilty. In some cases, they pled guilty. But in all cases, they were found guilty. And this president pardoned them. And now this former personal lawyer to the president, acting as acting deputy attorney general, I believe, they came to this agreement to provide this slush fund, which will pay them. Now, let's just remember, what did the assault on the capital cost? broader costs were enormous and uncalculable, but just for the physical damage to the building between $2.7.3 million and $3 million. That's what the taxpayer paid for that. But the total cost was over $2.7 billion, billion when you combine the property damage, the cost of the police, the cost of the health, you know, for the health effects of the damage.

the injuries to the police officers, and for the upgrades that were needed as a result of that, and the long-term, remember, they kept the capital enclosed. And so for that alone, the fact that he would create a Celestevon and say, no, that's not what we do, not have that a dependence. But there's, as you say, there's the IRS, there's a mishandling of the Epstein files. But then he also drove out of the Justice Department, these public servants who did the prosecuting of the January 6 folks. And he drove many other people out who made decisions that the... Trump didn't like. That's not what an independent attorney general does. So for me, the question shouldn't be, well, what about John Cornyn? And are they going to agree with Senators John Cornyn and Tellis? To me, the light should be shown on the Republicans who are agreeing with this nomination and saying, how could you possibly agree to support the nomination of a person who wants to create this slush fund for people who beat police officers. It's outrageous. It's crazy. That's where the attention should be on all of these other people on the Judiciary Committee. We'll pause there. We'll take a break. When we come back, we'll finish up. We've got just about 15 minutes left. We welcome your letters. Panel at wamc.org. Panel at wamc.org. You're listening to the Roundtable on WAMC.

Good morning. Welcome back to the roundtable and to the battle discussion. Just during the break, we said, well, what should we talk to about next? And then I think we came to some... conclusion, but then I'm not sure we did. Did we, Kathy? Did we come up with something? We need more time. What did you want to talk about? Well, no, I mean, I was just saying that what we're seeing happen, you know, I was young, but I certainly was, you know, aware of what was happening during Watergate and my parents talking about it. And the fact that... The Saturday Massacre seems like child's play. And for those of you who are not old like me and don't know what I'm talking about, you know, it was when Nixon fired a series of individuals who refused to fire the special prosecutor who was investigating Watergate. And it was a big deal. It really was the beginning of... the realization that this president was going to have to resign, that this was not going to stand. And to be living in an age where we have truly a... public sentiment out there, I'm not saying it's the majority, but a public sentiment out there that sees the president as an all-powerful, no checks and balances, he can do what he wants, and you hear it when people get interviewed because he's a businessman, because he's a great guy, because it's all going to work out. The amount of power that he has is truly horrifying to think about. And that's what Watergate was about. And I, you know, you mentioned, JD Vance said, you know, Watergate wouldn't even be a thing. He said it wouldn't even be a 12-hour news story today. And he compared himself to Richard Nixon and argued that a deep state forced Nixon out of office. You know, this name calling. Right. And I think that that is what the lie that they are trying to sell you is that this is about allowing those that you elect to have. unfettered power and believing that they're going to do it in your best interest, notwithstanding the evidence that we have right in front of us of a president who is a habitual liar, who doesn't care about working families and has said that out loud, hasn't even thought about what the impact of the price of gas in what he's doing in the Middle East, and who has enriched himself to the point of over two. billion dollars how are we letting this stand why are there not people flooding the streets of dc and protesting and it and remember go ahead

I was just reminded. I do have a follow-up question, but it'll go right into that, and I'm going to give it to you, Teresa, so go ahead. 1,200 former Department of Justice employees signed a letter, put their names to a letter in this era of retribution. They put their names to a letter saying that Todd Blanche should not be confirmed. 1,200. And, you know, why aren't people listening to those voices? And they wrote, it's because of his... Didn't Pete Hegseth' mother say he shouldn't be chosen? Yes, you did. Okay. Well, so we don't listen to that. No, but what I'm saying is Kathy's right that... There was a time when the head of the Justice Department said, no, I will not do this. And Nixon said, yes, you will. And he said, no, I will not, I will resign. He resigned. The next person, no, I will not do this. It's what you're asking me to do is illegal. And then who finally said yes? Bork. Borg. Borg. Eventually the Republicans wanted to be at the Supreme Court.

This is why I'm asking, how is it possible that these Republicans on the Judiciary Committee don't see that, is there no other person? No other Republican who could be the, you know, Attorney General, Mike Lee, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, John Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Marsha. You know, these other senators on the committee are afraid of Trump's retribution. And going back to what we were saying before, you raise this issue. Like, why are the Trump brothers, the boys being treated so deferentially when Biden's son wasn't? It's because the Republican Party and the MAGA Trump machine. controls a huge amount of the media. They have learned how to exercise these tools that message to the American people in a way that Democrats haven't figured out yet. We are far behind in terms of controlling the media message. And I don't even mean through traditional channels. I'm talking TikTok, Twitter, all these other methods. You know, we, they have, and they also have generations of strategy coming from the Heritage Foundation all the way through Project 2025 that is just incomparable. to what we have on the Democratic side. Well, you've hit on a point that I find very scary, and I don't think it's getting nearly enough attention, which is David Ellison and his family and then, you know, friends of Trump controlling different aspects of the media. And if this merger goes through and they take control of CNN and all, not just the traditional news channels, but all of these other information channels, the way people are influenced, I think that's deeply, deeply troubling. But still. President Trump, I'm not a polls person, I hate polls, but he's weaker. According to the polls, historically weak polls. Who knows? But, you know, he's holding that 30%. But these folks, they know better. Now, I know in the past there's been concerned for people's physical safety and their family's physical safety. And if they go against Trump, and I understand that that's a real feeler. But if they all said no to this, if they all said no to him, You know, he's going to be acting attorney general anyway, but they could say no, and Trump would still have him as acting attorney general for a while. But they need to have some courage. And collaboration. It doesn't seem like there's collaboration between them. I was just going to say that the sort of... We keep saying this and no one to stop this, no one to stop this, no one to stop this or that, or this, or that, or this, or this, or that. Saw the latest construction photos from the ballroom yesterday. That's going on, even though it's still in court.

And which brings us to Dallas and Dallas Airport and what's looking, what they're looking to do there. And I'm just curious in the idea of. I don't even know how that fits into the scope of the federal government of why they're suddenly taking over the rehab of Dallas. No federal money is going to go into it. The airport is run by the Metro Washington Airports Authority. Trump is not involved. I don't understand why he's involved. He's going to take care of over the authority. There is going to be federal money. There are always federal money in airport projects. And he's going to ensure that his friends get the contracts. We've seen that. You know, over and over and over again. You know, he has been intimately involved. He said that he had received proposals. right from a number and pitches for 30 30 right you know so so that's about creating a specification that is so narrow that only the firm whose specification is chosen gets the contract the construction contract i mean it's about the grift and we've been saying it over and over and over again it's about the grift That's it. Period. But MWA is saying it's not going to be federal money, that they're going to bond it and that they have buy-in from United and other airlines to take this on. But none of these projects have been done without federal money. I mean, the Albany airport is being done with federal money. All of these airports have gotten federal dollars. Okay, but that's almost a separate issue in the sense of then what Trump says, of what he actually will say that there's going to be no federal money used for the ballroom or there's going to be no federal money used for the arch or whatever the case may be. And those things usually don't turn out to be true. There are bills on paid bills for the July 4th thing, which now he wants the taxpayers to pay for. And think about what he did with the 250 celebrations, that there was in a commission, it was a bipartisan commission. in place for years, and they took a large percentage of that commission's budget that was supposed to be used in the capital around the country for celebrations of our 250th anniversary. They shifted it to a Trump-run entity. and basically gave them a quote-unquote grant to run all of his programs. They took the money, just like they did with the Board of Peace, taking away billions of dollars in aid that goes to starving children. It's just where's the outrage? I mean, meanwhile, Dulles desperately does need a makeover and a couple of the ideas in his proposal are being well-received, you know, that there won't be these people-movers, you know, these shuttles above ground, that they're going to connect things underground, that there'll be a train system.

he's latching on to something that does need radical overhaul and does need upgrade. But show me one construction project since he's been present that's gone well. I haven't seen it. And that hasn't benefited people he knows. But the question is, think about it's reportedly all the time that he's spent on this. This is a time. when we're at war. This is a time when our farmers are going bankrupt. Family farmers at historic proportions are going back on. Health centers, rural health centers, what's where his constituents are, closing, are, you know, there's all sorts of issues, and he is focused on what? on Dallas Airport, on the reflecting pool, I'm putting up an arch that the Gold Star families do not want it, desecrates Arlington Cemetery, and the list goes on and on, and stealing our public lands. We are out of time. I'm sad. But don't worry, we'll have another show. We could bet for... many more hours in the days ahead. So you must have a happy, somebody must have something happy to say. I got nothing to reason. Sorry. Other to say that I love you all, and I thank you very much for being here. We'll be right back and continue with the program. And our third hour right after this.