Trump Needs Iran To Bail Him Out Of His Own Mess - David Cay Johnston

Añadido: 2026-05-09

[00:00:00]This is a situation in Iran that is um is one that Trump certainly didn't anticipate, David, still being at this point. And we'll cover in I hope in our conversation in the minutes ahead the cognitive test brag that he's doing and sort of some of his other uh madness.

[00:00:17]But certainly the front and center issue domestically and internationally and you know polling bears this out as well is this uh is this horrible growing morass that is Iran. Give me some thoughts on this please.

[00:00:32]Well, um, as Pogo said, um, 60 years ago, we have met the enemy, and it is us.

[00:00:40]We Donald has gotten himself into this quagmire, and I don't see a way out, unless the Iranians want to let him out.

[00:00:48]I actually do see a hopeful sign about that in that there's been a shift in tone in the uh rap style Lego videos that the uh IRGC, the revolutionary guards have been putting out. They had been um demonizing Trump, ridiculing Trump. uh they had him swirling in a toilet bowl and they've shifted over the last three days to um in one case showing uh Legos that were American and Iranian people wanting to be united for peace.

[00:01:23]Um then they had one today going after Cash Patel as a drunk.

[00:01:31]uh they are focusing on Hegsth and I suspect there'll be others and this is propaganda. So why are they shifting away from the immediate elements of the war and going to Cash Patel and going to um the idea of peace and it suggests something's going on in the IRGC. I have no idea what, but they they they are so good at their propaganda that they didn't do this without thinking there's an a way they want to get to wherever they want to go. We have seen, we're now in the third month of this war that Donald said would last two or three weeks. And we have seen in the last two months and a week that a number of ships go through the straight of Hormuz roughly the number that would go through in a day and a half under normal business.

[00:02:21]Uh we are looking at a worldwide recession. Even even if this stops today, we certainly aren't going to have any economic growth worldwide in 2026.

[00:02:32]Uh we're looking at privation and the distinct possibility of starvation in parts of the world, especially since uh the Trump administration is so against food aid to the poor that they literally burned tons and tons of food and medicine that we had purchased to provide to poor people largely in Africa.

[00:02:53]Um and the um uh the countries that are immediately around this around this war site, particularly the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are trying desperately to figure out how do we get out of this. Uh and the Iranians who clearly are very strategic in their thinking about this war. They're in control of what's going on. not Trump did something uh yesterday that I thought was quite significant. They launched missiles against um I'll mispronounce it now. Um I had it earlier today on overseas TV, right? Fujia that that's that's the place in Iraq. There's a there's a a a United Arab Emirates port outside the straight of Hormuz outside it and the Iranians attacked it.

[00:03:44]It's a oil processing facility and they clearly did that to tell the United Arab Emirates, you know, we got your number.

[00:03:52]Um, the Saudis apparently have been doing everything they can frantically with the Pakistanis, not exactly a nest of vipers you want to be in bed with.

[00:04:03]Um, and others to try and find some way to bring an end to this. And of course, the Saudis are terrified of the Tehran regime and have been from the get-go.

[00:04:13]Um, so this is for now this is a quagmire and your point just before I came on is exactly well taken that uh we're hearing General Kaine say that well this isn't full combat operations because they are trying to avoid the 60-day limit on the use of force by the president.

[00:04:35]force that's supposed to be used only in response to an attack on us or an anticipated attack, an im imminent imminent attack um so that they can stop the clock. And we saw Hegth say that, you know, well the the the 60-day rule doesn't apply and if combat operations uh uh start up again, that'll reset the clock. No, that's not how it works, but good grief, who knows what this Supreme Court would do u in this case. But th this this is bad. It's going to get worse. Uh this week we've seen a little dip in oil prices, both delivered oil and uh futures oil.

[00:05:15]However, we've also drawn down here in the US our stocks that are the oil companies hold of gasoline, diesel, uh other refined products in just about record levels down. And you can't keep doing that. So, you know, expect uh $5 gasoline on the average.

[00:05:40]California is already at six because you have higher taxes in California to pay for benefits like more roads and uh things like um um mass >> transportation infrastructure. Yeah.

[00:05:52]>> Transportation infrastructure. Very well good way to put. Um so, you know, you should expect gasoline prices are going to go up. Uh, no two ways about it. And we just got the latest trade data and it's troubling too. Since Trump has returned to office, the dollar has fallen 10 and a half% against other currencies. Now, a weak dollar should mean more exports sold by the US because they're cheaper and fewer imports because they're more deer to bring in.

[00:06:23]Nah, that's not what's happening. Um our export our our imports are up about 4.1%.

[00:06:31]Uh services have improved but by a little over 1% immaterial uh compared to a year earlier. And so nothing is pointing in the right direction for Trump. I mean if somebody in the in the audience who's in the chat can point to some numbers that are going up that are going in the right direction uh you know please do. uh all the economic data that I look at, you know, over the course of a week or 10 days and all these boring charts and graphs and government reports, I don't see anything going in the right direction. And certainly, you know, $2 a gallon gasoline promised by now. Donald Trump says, "Elect me and you'll have $2 gallon gasoline in a year or maybe at the most 18 months." Yeah, right.

[00:07:15]>> Well, it seemed like such a ridiculous promise at the time alongside by now all these other ridiculous promises. But Trump is now saying on that, well, it's high now, but it'll drop, you know, like a stone once we once we wrap up this little thing. And then he'll points to the market, of course, David, that's his big thing.

[00:07:32]>> The Dow has shattered 50,000, >> right? You know, that's >> Dow is now sliding down. It's it's it's quite high. I mean, it's actually unsustainably high based on historic data, but the Dow's at about 48,000. It gone over 50. So, it's it's come down.

[00:07:49]uh uh but remember that roughly 2/3 70% of stock trading in the US is not investment. It's high-speed in and out in a second and sometimes a fraction of a second into a stock where they simply froth the market and try to sweep off the bubbles of profit from the foam. Um the long-term investment capital expenditures by companies that that's not growing. Um, uh, Trump has claimed credit for things that were announced, you know, long before he he came along because capital investments are not overnight. They're long-term plans.

[00:08:27]>> Uh, I wanted to play you a little bit of Heg Seth uh, this morning speaking. And then I just wanted to note what we've learned about Hegsth and him taking his wife to highlevel meetings. It's a weird. In fact, she has no security clearance whatsoever. But as you know, she was on that signal chat with everybody from Tulsy Gabbard to Pete Hegathth and they were discussing details of a planned bombing in Yemen.

[00:08:51]So, uh, again, this is a this is this ain't your daddy's Pentagon. Um, play me a little bit of Hegsth uh uh cut 13, please. Tony, >> for too long, Iran has been harassing ships, shooting at civilian tankers from all nations, and trying to impose a tolling system. Iran's plan, a form of international extortion, is unacceptable.

[00:09:20]That ends with Project Freedom.

[00:09:23]Two US commercial ships along with American destroyers have already safely transited the straight, showing the lane is clear. We know the Iranians are embarrassed by this fact. They said they control the straight. They do not. So, American ships led the way, commercial and military, shouldering shouldering the initial risk from the front as Americans always do. And right now, hundreds more ships from nations around the world are lining up to transit.

[00:09:54]Sentcom, along with partner nations, is in active communication with hundreds of ships, shipping companies, and insurers.

[00:10:02]All of these ships from all around the world want to get out of the Iranian trap that they have been stuck inside.

[00:10:10]As a direct gift from the United States to the world, we have established a powerful red, white, and blue dome over the street. American destroyers are on station supported by hundreds of fighter jets, helicopters, drones, and surveillance aircraft providing 24/7 overwatch for peaceful commercial vessels, except Iran's, of course, which is why our ironclad blockade remains in full effect as well. In fact, six ships tried to run the blockade out of Iranian ports as Project Freedom commenced and they were all turned around.

[00:10:48]>> So, that's a little flavor for this new Project Freedom as it's branded. And again, where we sit, David, with having articulated a route that ships can take, but again, what I'm reading is, yeah, but no ship captain really wants to navigate that route despite >> no insurance company wants to pay off if they something goes wrong. Two ships, not 150 a day, two ships. when Pete Hexath gets up and says a 100 ships have moved in the last 24 hours to the straight of Hormuz, I'll buy his nonsense as having some legitimacy. And and people should understand that there are essentially four lanes that you can go in and out of the Persian Gulf from the Gulf of Aman to the Persian Gulf.

[00:11:33]Um, one of them, the one most commonly used, the Iranians say they have mined it. Now, I don't literally know that they have. We only know they've said they have uh and I haven't seen any indications that we've been out with mind sweepers removing mines. Uh maybe that's a a faint by them and they're bluffing and maybe it's really there. Uh the effort there on the Iranian side was to push ships into the lanes closer to the coast of Iran where there's a greater chance of using a drone, a missile or speedboat to uh attack a ship. And why can't they even if the uh uh one of the other problems in the straight of Hormuz is what looks to you and me like surface water hides huge mountains underneath. And if you're in an a very large carrier or an ultra large oil carrier, you have a very deep draft. A great deal of that ship is under the water. You hit one of those mountains, you're in serious trouble.

[00:12:37]Even if you're going at the at a very slow speed, the the uh you know the physics are um uh what is it? Weight mass or weight uh times velocity squared. Uh and in this case, it's not the velocity that'll kill you, it's the mass. So the the you know the the straight is not open. The Iranians are in fact in control of what's going on here and they're going to suffer losses.

[00:13:07]I mean, they have these speedboats.

[00:13:10]Depending on the time of day and conditions and whatnot, the US military is more than capable of going out and knocking out these speedboats. They knocked a couple of them out the other day. That's not the only thing the Iranians can do.

[00:13:22]um the the use of of artillery if it gets close enough. Artillery that you can fire off your rounds that are carefully measured for where they're going and then pack up and leave very quickly before American fighter jets get there to come after you. We've seen this in in Ukraine a great deal where the Ukrainians have been very smart about putting up artillery, firing off, and then disappearing.

[00:13:49]Um, so you know, but we're not supposed to be in this war. Donald said two or three weeks and my guess is you and I, Mark, will be talking about this uh after Halloween.

[00:14:03]>> Wow. Wow. Well, look at his poll numbers. Tony, throw up some poll numbers real quick. It doesn't almost matter where the poll F I think or this is a a lot of these are are related to young people and just uh well that's job approval generally as you know has suffered enormously only um um a disapproval rating of 53%. But this is what I wanted. Yeah. Support for US military action in Iran among registered voters support. Look at under 35 registered voters 39% support. Uh 61% of registered voters under 35 oppose this war. This is going to matter. Uh young Americans are going to show up on this. 61% of Americans.

[00:14:46]>> One of the three courses I'm teaching, I only have to teach two, but I choose to teach three, is a journalism course. And so I had my students go out and interview other students and other young people. And they had to capture their names and give them to me so I could fact check them. Why aren't we seeing demonstrations in in in by the student body? Now, where I teach is a technological school. This isn't Berkeley or uh San Francisco State. Um but the interesting thing I did not expect to hear back from twothirds of the papers was well, when I was in college, Vietnam War era, and I was covering anti-war demonstrations for the San Jose Mercury, the cops, if they arrested you, they they didn't even book you in many cases.

[00:15:30]And typically they let people go. There were a few prosecutions here and there, but you had to do something pretty awful. They said, "No, no, they the the Trump administration has changed the rules here. You can ruin your entire career because they will falsely accuse you of things. They will uh get you indicted for a felony. they a number of the students appointed to the Texas case of the eight people I think it was eight might have been nine who were prosecuted for domestic terrorism for peacefully protesting outside an ICE center and I thought wow that's that that tells me that young people are paying attention to this and they recognize that yeah the stakes have been changed by this administration's utter disrespect for your first amendment rights because of Whatever Donald says, that's what you're supposed to do. And if you don't agree, well, then you're a bad person.

[00:16:26]>> Well, the tentacles of that go into the Justice Department. As you know, the Justice Department has just asked for all the information, names, and information on everyone involved in the Georgia election of 2020. They're still going back and litigating that. I mean, this guy is just, you know, he's on a jihad about this 2020 election. And and so there's that. And then uh play David um from Meet the Press this past weekend, Todd Blanch talking about that he's going to go after Comey on this ridiculous 8647 thing. Here's Todd Blanch.

[00:16:58]>> Give me specifics, but can you give me any insight? Are you talking about writings? Are you talking about conversations? What does this >> He's saying there's more than just the seashells.

[00:17:07]>> We are talking about evidence of all sorts. And that means documents. That means witnesses. And that means that means the whole array of what we did.

[00:17:14]And again, we are not talking about um some political guy in DC running out and getting an indictment. We are talking about career prosecutors in North Carolina systematically investing a case with the FBI working with them, with the Secret Service with working with them, and now we have an indictment.

[00:17:30]>> Well, the image, excuse me, is part of what led to this indictment. It is worth noting that on Amazon.com, we looked this up, there are dozens of products with the same terminology. We're showing it right here. 8647 being sold and purchased right now.

[00:17:47]Should individuals selling or buying 8647 merchandise be concerned that they're going to be prosecuted by the DOJ?

[00:17:55]>> This is this isn't about a single incident. Okay, this isn't I mean, of course not. That's posted constantly.

[00:18:01]That phrase is used constantly. There are constantly men and women who choose to make threatening statements against President Trump. Every one of those statements do not result in indictments.

[00:18:10]Of course, there are facts, there are circumstances, there are investigations that have to take place. And we have charged dozens and dozens of men and women this this year with threatening President Trump and others. So, this isn't a new charge we're bringing.

[00:18:22]>> Just to be very clear, you are suggesting the seashells themselves are not at the root of this indictment.

[00:18:29]>> No, I am suggesting that every single case depends on the investigation that's done. And of course, the seashells are part of that case. I mean, that's that's what the public sees. But without a doubt, and it should be evident by the fact that it's been 11 months since the posting and the indictment, there is an investigation that takes place. And that's the result, the result of that investigation is the indictment that was returned last week.

[00:18:51]>> This is the absurdity of this. This is utterly absurd, isn't it, David?

[00:18:55]>> Yes. It's very good that Kirsten Welker asked the follow-up question and pinned him down about this about what about people who buy 8647 merch. uh this case will go nowhere. James James James Comey isn't going to lose one second of sleep about this, but this is indicative of what an authoritarian does. Um and I know that there are people who push back when I say this, but you know, you go down this road, eventually you end up with firing squads. every single fascist dictatorship that has been studied, there are seven big ones, Salazar in Portugal, Mussolini, Hitler, uh number of others, they all end up, and so do ones that aren't fascist there on the left. They end up eventually with firing squads, including killing people right around the great leader because at some point you have to instill discipline around people and fear. Fear is the important motivator here. and they're using a a concept in law enforcement uh that I'll be talking a lot about in the fall when I teach white collar crime called general deterrence.

[00:20:01]So we try to prosecute every murder case if we can find the uh the responsible party that's called specific deterrence.

[00:20:10]But on big federal crimes, tax cheating, fraud, um the government does what's called general deterrence. You pick somebody who's a high-profile target and you prosecute them to intimidate other people so they say, "Hey, I better not break the law." And sometimes you go after small fry for that. Um, I had an IRS official once tell me that yes, the reason they prosecuted this truck driver who made, you know, $30,000 or something like that for tax fraud was to send a message to all the tax truck drivers in America. The problem was they got zero publicity about it. I only learned of the case by making a Freedom of Information Act request. So, General Detroit doesn't work without publicity.

[00:20:52]But that's all this is about. This is efforts to say Comey is not worried, >> but you know, maybe somebody else won't step up. Somebody else won't go vote.

[00:21:00]Somebody won't speak out. Nobody should be threatening the president of the United States. I don't care who he or she is. That's wrong. It's a crime. If you're uh it's a serious threat. This isn't a crime. this is retribution.

[00:21:16]>> And yet the irony of course is that Trump uses these the language of of retribution in some of the most ugly ways we've ever seen. Uh it's certainly a president speaking. Uh now to the kind of the other stuff that I think is significant yet it could also be seen like this ballroom in some kind of weird sideshow to the to the main Trump presidency. I I see it as again part of the grift and corruption and uh over-the-top uh ask that Donald Trump does. I put it in the same category as shaking down the government for billions of dollars for in his one lawsuit, millions, hundreds of millions of dollars in the first lawsuit he launched. Uh that was due to what he felt was legal harassment or what he claimed was legal harassment. But look at how he's gotten all of the talking heads on board. Play cut five. This is sort of the ballroom blitz ask.

[00:22:05]Everybody now saying, "Oh, after this attempt on the president's life, we need that ballroom." Go ahead.

[00:22:10]>> Ballroom will will be a solution for this.

[00:22:13]>> So, yes, a ballroom is imperative.

[00:22:16]>> Makes a really good argument for the the expanded White House ballroom.

[00:22:20]>> We're going to introduce legislation that would authorize $400 million to be spent to build the presidential ballroom. Well, I I don't know what that that price tag or the dollar figure will be, but the ballroom is going to be something that all Americans can enjoy and appreciate.

[00:22:38]>> Working on legislation to uh ensure that we are getting the ballroom funded, >> trying to stop a ballroom. It's all just Trump derangement uh syndrome.

[00:22:46]>> This is just a Trump derangement syndrome issue that they're not able to get over. We need to have that ballroom built.

[00:22:52]>> What needs to be done now? Well, >> I think we got to build that ballroom as soon as possible. And a big beautiful ballroom is going to be great for the country.

[00:22:59]>> And so just minutes ago, David, Senate Republicans adding a billion dollars for security enhancements.

[00:23:06]>> Yeah. To the White House East.

[00:23:08]>> Break that news, but you've got to do it. A billion.

[00:23:12]>> It all works together. So yeah, >> Mark, I'm old enough to remember when Donald Trump said that if he got elected and sent to the White House during the 2016 campaign, he would never leave the White House. He'd never play golf again.

[00:23:24]He would never go to Mara Lago. he would never go to Trump Tower because there was so much he had to do. And if Donald Trump were only going to be at the White House, I could make an argument for the ballroom.

[00:23:36]But so long as he's going to travel uh around the country and around the world, he's going to show up in ballrooms in London and uh Rome and Tokyo. Uh and so the idea that this ballroom is necessary for the security of the president, one of two things is true of everybody you just saw. Either they are themselves unbelievably stupid, they have the the mental depth of a of a sixth grader, and I may be insulting sixth graders, or they're just lying through their teeth and don't care because it's their loyalty to Trump that matters. Uh th this is just the most absurd possible thing. And if we're going to press this on the grounds of security, uh, then I think Democrats should be demanding the only medical records that have never been released, starting with the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865 of a president, vice president or presidential candidate who where there was an attempted assassination because the medical records, I'm sure, from Butler, Pennsylvania will show that no bullet grazed Donald Trump's ear. Yeah, Trump was completely unharmed in in in that. Um, and you know, this is all of a kind. And the other part of this kind is the cognitive test. And the reason I mention it as linked is because of what you just said, which is that sort of the entire GOP, it seems in large measure anyway, is in league with him and enables whatever the most ridiculous over-the-top ask is. And similarly, I think they all look the other way on what we all can see is this the the madness of the king is getting worse and worse. But what he's doing now is in multiple venues he is bragging about taking this cognitive test over and over. It's the weirdest, stupidest brag.

[00:25:35]And yet here it is. Play me um cut 10 if you would. Uh Tony, this is just one of them. It could be anyone. I have a bunch of them. and uh he talks about the fact that he's so good at this cognitive test >> administration.

[00:25:48]Yeah.

[00:25:50]You know, one of the things I said is that we should have, in my opinion, anybody running for president or vice president should take a cognitive test.

[00:25:59]And no president has ever taken one except me. I've taken three of them. And I've aced each one. One in the first administration, two over here. And whenever they get a little sassy like, "Does he still have it? Does he still have what it takes?" I say, "All right, I'll take another one." And they are hard. There are many people in this room I know that is smart. They're not going to ace them. There are many people standing back there, the fake news media that I'd like to have them, you know, the first question is very easy and they always show the first question is you have a lion, a bear, an alligator, and a what's another good a squirrel. Okay.

[00:26:40]which is the squirrel.

[00:26:43]So they show that question and then the first four or five questions are they get a little more difficult. By the time you get to the middle, they're tough. By the time you get to the end, I don't want to be insulting, but there won't be I'm not going to do what Gavin Newsome said. You saw him. He said, "Everybody in here is stupid and he's stupid." When he I think it was the worst political interview I've ever seen. He said he's stupid. He's dumb. He gets bad marks on everything. he can't read his speech.

[00:27:10]And uh nobody wants to report that. It was the worst. But I won't say that because I think everyone in this room is brilliant. But nobody's going to get all 30 questions correct. Nobody. Because when you get to those last questions, they're pretty hard. You got to be pretty sharp. But every time. So I've taken >> So there you have it. I have way more.

[00:27:31]But David, and and as you give us a response, we have the actual test. I mean, the test is is is so basic. It's a it's a test that you give somebody after they've had a stroke or after there's, you know, their signs of dementia, etc. Go scroll down a little bit. This is the thing, the ID. Name these animals. Okay.

[00:27:50]>> You know, Mark, I I went to see my GP not long ago and I asked him, uh, are you going to give me a cognitive test? And he said, why would I give you a cognitive test? And I I said, "Well, what are the criteria for deciding this?" Donald, almost the same age. He's two and a half years older than me. And he said, "Well, you'd have to be exhibiting some sign that tells me that I should be concerned about your cognitive decline. Do you think you have some cognitive decline?" I said, "Compared to when I was 40?" Yeah, of course. Occasionally have to struggle, can't remember a word or don't pronounce it quite right, but those are things I understand to be absolutely normal. And I said, 'But Donald keeps saying almost nobody can pass these tests. And my doctor almost started laughing. He certainly, you know, smiled. He's a very seriousminded sort of fellow, terrific guy. And um when Donald doesn't seem to understand that if you get a repeated cognitive test, it's because they're concerned about your condition. And in his case, there are a whole bunch of physicians now who've said what I've said that Donald has frontal lobe dementia. There are many kinds of dementia. Uh the way he walks where he throws one leg across the other and goes off at an angle, which there's video of, uh his repetitions, uh his uh complete flights of fantasy to irrelevant things.

[00:29:15]Um all of these and others fit that diagnosis. And several of these physicians or cognitive researchers who I've been on various TV stations with here and overseas, uh, they get asked, of course, the obvious question by the host. Well, you haven't, he's not your patient. How can you diagnose him? And they all say the same thing. You don't have to have somebody in an examining room always to diagnose what's wrong with them. And clearly, Donald is serious serious uh mental decline here.

[00:29:48]Um, but nothing's going to be done about that unless he really really goes nuts.

[00:29:54]I mean, what he did the was it Friday night that he had uh three or four minutes.

[00:30:00]>> Yeah, sorry. Go ahead.

[00:30:01]>> He had another truth social post.

[00:30:04]>> Um, nothing's going to happen there. Uh, and we're all going to suffer for it.

[00:30:09]And by all, I don't mean Americans. I mean the whole world.

[00:30:14]>> Well, the entire world is recalibrating.

[00:30:17]They're rethinking uh the relationship to America. I mean, the reputational damage, you and I have spoken this before, David. I mean, this is this is probably irreparable. I mean, in in in multiple lifetimes.

[00:30:28]>> Yeah. It's it will take a very very long time. I mean, we have put so much money and effort since the end of World War II into trying to say we're the good guys.

[00:30:40]And we're not we're far from perfect. I mean, we've done lots of horrible things, but we've done a great many really terrific things in the world.

[00:30:47]There's a reason people line up to come here, not to go to Russia or China or Iran. Um, and he squandered all of that because he's just this petty little child who spent his whole life cheating other people and therefore everybody must be cheating him.

[00:31:06]>> Yeah. Read the read the read the David K. Johnston books on that. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:31:10]Sorry to interrupt, but I wanted to squeeze one more cut in for you real quick. I know I only have you for another minute. Uh, this is Chris Coons talking to judicial nominees. Okay, these are people who will serve on the federal judiciary about the 22nd amendment. This should be a layup and it is uh again cut 17 if you would please, Tony. Uh, this is No, you can't get it.

[00:31:30]Okay. Um, it's coming. Uh, this is what we were talking about before that, you know, everybody falls in line and here it is. This is Chris.

[00:31:39]>> Mr. Mark, if I might um just tell me about the 22nd amendment. What does it provide?

[00:31:47]>> The 22nd amendment. Senator, my career has mostly been in criminal prosecution.

[00:31:52]I haven't had an opportunity to to use that one specifically.

[00:31:56]>> Anyone able to help on the 22nd amendment to the United States Constitution >> there as well?

[00:32:05]Senator, I believe it is the amendment that deals with the two-term limitation on correct service.

[00:32:10]>> It states no person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice.

[00:32:14]>> Um, Mr. Mark, is President Trump eligible to run for president again in 2028?

[00:32:22]>> Senator, with without considering all the facts and and looking at everything, depending on what the situation is, this to me strikes as more of a hypothetical of something that could be >> It's not a hypothetical. Has President Trump been elected president twice?

[00:32:36]>> President Trump has been certified the president of the United States two times.

[00:32:39]>> Is he eligible to run for a third term under our constitution?

[00:32:43]>> Um I would have to to review the the >> All I need to tell you is the language of the constitutional amendment that makes it clear that no, he is not eligible to run for a third term.

[00:32:52]Anybody else brave enough to say that the Constitution of the United States prevents President Trump from seeking a third term?

[00:32:59]Anybody willing to apply the Constitution by its plain language in the 22nd amendment?

[00:33:06]Nobody.

[00:33:08]All right, let's move on.

[00:33:09]>> It's lunacy, David. It's real lunacy.

[00:33:12]>> Well, you know, it's one thing for the leadership of the House and the Senate to bow their knee to Donald, ignore their constitutional duties. Like, hey, it's been 60 days, pal. you can't continue to prosecute this uh uh matter in Iran without our explicit approval.

[00:33:32]But now what we're seeing is a quizzling judiciary being built by Trump of people who will be loyal to him, not to the Constitution. You know, all the years I taught law, I never had a single law student who would have behaved like these people who were up for lifetime appointments as judges. Not one. And they all knew what the 22nd amendment was by the end of of the course. And every one of these uh uh nominees went through first year where you largely study the constitution usually in two parts. The main constitution and then the amendments. And this well I have to know the facts and circumstances. That's of course the classic answer in law class is well it depends. But then you have to say what depends is the next part of it. And these folks won't do it.

[00:34:23]And the reason they won't do it, it's very obvious. They want to be federal judges. And Donald Trump will probably pull their nomination or get it somehow blocked if they say anything that doesn't fit with his completely fictional view of what's going on here.

[00:34:39]>> Yeah, clearly that's their concern. All right, I've kept you a little bit longer. Thank you for hanging out. I always love this.

[00:34:47]>> See you Tuesday. Okay, David K. Johnson, everybody. Hi, it's Mark and I thought that was great. Hit the notification bell, you'll know whenever there's a new video being dropped. And please subscribe to our channel to help us save the universe.