Trump RUSHED TO HOSPITAL after ELECTION LOSS Tonight: "we lost HOW MANY Votes?!"

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-26

[00:00:02]Did Republicans call 1 800 dialpine with Donald Trump pushing a slush fund that could hand out six-f figureure payouts to the very people who sent lawmakers into hiding and literally running for their lives on January 6, 2021.

[00:00:18]Republicans are on the verge of saying something they haven't said to Donald Trump much in the last 10 years. No, or yet. Here's just some of the reaction on Capitol Hill. Listen to outgoing Senator Tom Tillis.

[00:00:34]>> I think it's stupid on stilts. Why?

[00:00:38]Because it will invariably put us in a position where your taxpayer dollars and my taxpayer dollars could potentially um compensate someone who assaulted a police officer, uh admitted their guilt, got convicted, got pardoned, and now we're going to pay them for that. That's absurd. The American people are going to reject this out of hand.

[00:01:02]>> Wow. Now do the ballroom in the arch.

[00:01:05]That was Tom Tillis. Here's Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson. He called the timing of the announcement of the fund a quote galactic blender. The New York Times is reporting this about what happened behind closed doors. But acting attorney general Todd Blanch met with Senate Republicans on Thursday to defend this political stink bomb. Quote, "What unfolded in an ornate room just off the Senate floor Thursday morning was a two-hour blowup in which dozens of Republican senators vented their anger and concern about the president's fund at Blanch. They questioned it. They questioned its legal basis, whom it would pay, and how the process would work, and they made it clear they wanted no part of the plan." Former Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said this quote, "So the nation's top law enforcement official is asking for a slush fund to pay people who assault cops. Utterly stupid, morally wrong.

[00:02:02]Take your pick." End quote.

[00:02:05]I mean, this isn't the first quote utterly stupid or morally wrong decision Mitch McConnell has had to make with regards to Donald Trump. Trump went down the escalators at Trump Tower 11 years ago. At any point in those 11 years, McConnell might have stood up to him. We know he privately described Donald Trump as a quote despicable person. But McConnell and the rest of the Republican party wouldn't be here now if they'd spoken up before this news cycle. With Donald Trump now literally asking them to sign off on and commit money to paying out the people who threatened to kill all of them and Mike Pence on January 6. They had decided any other moment before this week to hold him accountable for January 6th and voted to impeach and convict him during his trial in the Senate. Back when Mitch McConnell said this, there's no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. No question about it.

[00:03:15]I want to bring in Washington correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, Ben Weider. And joining me at the table, Paul Reichov. He's the host of the Independent Americans podcast. He is the founder and CEO of Independent Veterans of America. Michael Fineberg's still here. Um, Ben, what do you think?

[00:03:30]>> I mean, I think uh, you know, I think if we're thinking about why why this moment, why now? I mean certainly, you know, I don't think you can find very many people outside of, you know, President Trump and Todd Blanch who are defending this IRS slush fund. But, you know, the politics are important to to consider. On the one hand, you know, we've seen in recent weeks the tremendous power that Donald Trump still wields in Republican primaries. You know, Senator Bill Cassidy, Representative Tom Massie, both uh ousted uh after bitter primary fights in which Trump was adamantly opposed to them. But we also know that the party is extremely worried about their prospects in November. The backdrop is we have a very unpopular war in Iran. We have the economic impact of that. And then this IRS slush fund is a very very hard thing to defend to voters. You know, how do you defend to voters that your taxpayer money should go to someone who is convicted of crimes who in some of the cases of some of these January 6th uh protesters have been subsequently convicted of other crimes after being pardoned. Um it's a very very hard cell and I think you know the political calculus and the real challenges that that Trump's decisions which which seem from a political perspective to be driven more in many cases by vengeance than any real grand political strategy uh are are causing some Republicans to say wait a second you know maybe it's time for us to actually step up and oppose something.

[00:04:53]>> Yeah I mean Paul Reichov I think the the problem uh is that there's a political calculation at all. It should just be WTF this is wrong next request because the thing about Trump is and this has always boggled my mind about um the fear that Republicans have. He'll move on and ask for something else next week. I mean this is it like he doesn't stay mad. He just asks for something else ludicrous.

[00:05:18]And here he is. I mean the thing with the fun too is that he doesn't think there's anything wrong with it. He thinks it's too small. Listen.

[00:05:28]You know, it was the most violent thing I've ever seen in politics what they did. And yet, if I say, "Oh, let's look at this one or that one." They say, "Weaponization, weaponization." What they did in terms of weaponization will never be allowed to happen to this country again. So, we think that those people, we think that anybody involved in that process should partake. And you're talking about peanuts compared to the value. It destroyed the lives of many, many people.

[00:05:58]Um, so it was the most violent thing. I think he's talking about the prosecutions of him. Um, I played the sound of Mitch McConnell basically referring him for criminal prosecution.

[00:06:11]That's essentially a criminal referral.

[00:06:13]If he' done that on paper, would have been asking the Department of Justice to investigate him. Describes him as practically immorally responsible for the violence on January 6. So, it's Memorial Day weekend where we honor the integrity, the sacrifice, the honor of generations of Americans who step forward. And a couple days before that, he wants to provide compensation. We shouldn't even call it compensation, a payout.

[00:06:38]These war chicken hawk are going to send us home for Memorial Day weekend where I'm going to honor my fellow veterans that I served 27 months in combat with.

[00:06:48]and they are going to not even give an up or down vote on continuing this war almost 3 months in while Americans are paying almost $5 a gallon at the pump.

[00:06:57]It is pathetic. They use this procedural argument and every American should just be absolutely outraged about this. It's a it's a disgrace.

[00:07:08]>> We need to get him on a podcast so we don't have to do all that bleeping. That was Democratic Congressman Pat Ryan last night, visibly outraged, but didn't seem too surprised because naturally, what do House Republican leaders do when they are afraid of being rebuked by members of their own party over Donald Trump's increasingly unpopular and unaffordable agenda, including the war in Iran? Well, they call the whole thing off. Last night, House Republicans scrapped the War Powers vote. It was meant to force Donald Trump to withdraw from the war in Iran or at least try to get approval from Congress for it. After, as the New York Times puts it, quote, "It became clear they, the Republicans, lack the votes to defeat the measure." More from that report, quote, "The decision to shove the War Powers resolution came after Republicans had lost control of the floor during an earlier unrelated vote with several of their members defecting and several more absent. As the House chamber descended into chaos, leaders wary of risking another public defeat on a far more politically consequential vote abruptly scrapped the Iran war measure. We're back with Paul and Michael. This is perhaps one of the biggest political stories in the second Trump term that Trump doesn't have the political juice to continue to wage war in Iran.

[00:08:23]>> I think you're right. Pat Ryan's a friend of mine and um he speaks for so many people. Uh he also is a West Point grad, a combat veteran. He represents West Point. It's in his congressional district. And he understands what he's talking about. And I think he's touching on something that a lot of Americans feel, especially veterans feel right now, that there's a generation of chicken hawks that are sending other people's kids to die all over again. And I think Iran has become a dividing point, especially within the Republican party, especially within the veterans and national security community with people like in the manosphere, the podcasters like Joe Rogan and Shawn Ryan. But I also want to say that who were out who were out they're done. They said we're done. That's it. He said no regime change wars and now Tulsi Gabbert's out who her entire platform she said no regime change wars more than any politician I've ever seen in the last two decades. Right. Um >> JD Vance.

[00:09:10]>> Yeah. And it's also but it's al Congress is also the dog chasing the car because Iran's already underway. The question is can they stop Cuba? Because he said Cuba's next. They're communicating it.

[00:09:20]You know like there's probably an overunder on the poly market now whether he does it before or after July 4th.

[00:09:25]They didn't stop him on Venezuela. They didn't stop him on Iran. They have an opportunity to stop him before he starts combat with a new country. And Cuba is that dividing line. I think we have to try to push that to the forefront and see where Republicans stand on that because in some ways Iran's already underway.

[00:09:39]>> Well, the thing that people say and they they point to Indiana and they point to Cassidy and and I guess Massie and say, "Well, he's still really powerful in the Republican party." You can't say that without pointing out how small the Republican party is right now. It's shrinking by the week.

[00:09:51]>> Yeah, I think Massie is really really important. And I've been talking about this a lot this week. I mean, he just carved out a whole new lane for a presidential campaign just by running against Iran, against the tariffs, uh, in favor of releasing the Epstein files and against Trump. That's a presidential platform that's pretty popular in either party >> in either party or no party at all. He could also run as an independent and and galvanize a lot of people. And he's walk worked across the line with Roana and others. Something's happening here, whether whether the movement is going to be within the Republican party to challenge Trump and whoever his successor is if he leaves power or to actually break away. And they're representing a majority of the country that is against all those things, but also doesn't want to go to the Democrats. 45% of the country is independent, unaffiliated, and they're looking for voices who represent that angry majority, especially on national security and regime change wars.

[00:10:36]>> It's amazing how wide open this question of national security is right now.

[00:10:41]Michael Fineberg.

[00:10:44]>> Yeah, I'll be honest. I'm not quite as ready as you two to put up the bunting and celebrate at the Republicans newfound discovery of integrity in the spine. Because all we've got right now are, to use a word I hate, vibes. A lot of discussion happening right now about Trump being sick, going missing. He's missing his son's wedding. Uh, and the GOP had this last second cancellation here which is very ominous, very troubling. Could well be connected to health issues. There's also like beyond, just as an aside here, there's a Republican congressman missing and he's not even one of the old ones.

[00:11:23]Like I don't want to be too mean, but like you know, we've seen stories in the last, you know, year or so of like older Congress people in both parties sort of just disappearing. Maybe it's they have health issues, but like they're not telling anybody. There's like a kind of middle-aged Republican missing. And the rumor is, this is a rumor. I'm saying rumor, rumor, rumor, that the guy has perhaps passed away and Republicans are hiding it because if he's if he's like announced like deceased, then they have to start they have to hold the special election. And that's a the district this guy is in, again, this is all rumors, is a like true swing district. It's like the Biden like it was Biden and Trump that was tied when Biden and Trump ran against each other. And so in a blue wave environment, Republicans would not hold it, right? And so um there's that.

[00:12:15]And in this context, you see Trump hiding, hiding from his son, Republicans hiding, potentially deceased, um all because they want to avoid this vote. And here's the thing, if it was just a standard embarrassing vote, they would hold it today.

[00:12:32]They would hold it because embarrassing votes that don't really mean much. You would hold them on a Friday afternoon because what is this? It's a long weekend. It's it's it's it's a it's Monday's Monday's a holiday, too.

[00:12:44]Perfect time to bury bad news. Friday afternoon long weekend because the new everyone's everyone's on vacation and by the time everybody comes back on Tuesday, they've sort of forgotten about it. That's that's when you bury bad news. But they can't bury this because it's actually a vote they would lose.

[00:13:01]It's just like the files. Mike Johnson closed down Congress because of people going to the hospital, some people dying and new elections happening. The House flipped because of death and because of the people turning against Trump. The House of Representatives flipped in the summer, last summer, and he closed it as long as he could to delay the opening of the files. And why is he closing it now?

[00:13:28]Because now Republicans want to end the war just to save their own