HOT TOPICS | Massie Is Out… But Trump May Have a Problem

Added: 2026-05-21

[00:00:14]Rise and shine everyone. I have not had coffee. I just realized that. Coffee.

[00:00:20]Where's the coffee people? I want a coffee. Can you please bring me a coffee?

[00:00:26]>> That's Tim. Don't ever get married. He hates me because I'm always yelling stuff out like that. Uh, thank you for joining us everyone.

[00:00:32]>> What did you say?

[00:00:33]>> I didn't say anything.

[00:00:37]What' you say? You're gonna watch.

[00:00:39]>> I said get married. It's the best thing.

[00:00:42]Didn't I say that everyone? Uh, anyways, good morning. Married married life.

[00:00:48]Married people problems. Okay, so look, thank you. I'm gonna get right to it again. Uh, as I have been because we have a lot to cover. So, good morning everybody. like and thumbs up. It affects the algorithm. Let me know where you Oh, Quebec. Wow. Amazing. So, um, how long?

[00:01:05]That's what I kept thinking about uh, as I was editing the newsletter overnight.

[00:01:09]How long How long are we going to sit here and watch them do this, right? Do you feel like they're just sort of you don't have any agency? Like, how long are we going to sit and be polite about this? How long are we going to celebrate people who spent their entire careers voting against us? Now, this let me just tell you um this morning I'm going to say in this open to the show not exactly what some people think I should say or am going to say because I'm going to be very honest with you about what's happening right now. So my question is, how long are we going to celebrate people who spent their entire careers, I'm just being honest, voting against us just because they asked one question about a pedophile's client list?

[00:01:58]Are y'all ready for this one?

[00:02:01]I'm fired up this morning, even without coffee. How long? Because look, I I'm tired of like turning people into saints and martyrs that really aren't saints and martyrs. I appreciate when they do the right thing. However, I want to talk about last night. Not the way the news talks about it. Not with the charts and the analysis and both sides and oh my gosh, this person's a hero.

[00:02:23]No, I want to talk about the truth because and what it actually means, what it reveals about this country in this moment right now. If I get an can I get an amen?

[00:02:34]Thomas Massie lost his primary. Okay, now I know everyone's like, "Here's what Thomas Messi, you know, but he won and this, okay, I I understand that, but I'm always looking at the big picture and sometimes I'm a bit of a contrarian."

[00:02:50]So, Thomas Massie lost his primary and I've seen people calling him a hero this morning.

[00:02:58]He's a martyr. Apparently, he's a saint.

[00:03:01]He's the last honest Republican.

[00:03:05]Okay, I have nothing against Mr. Massie, but I what I what I have is an affection and an affinity for the truth. Let me tell you who Thomas Massie is. Thomas Massie voted for the Save Act, voter suppression. That's really dressed up as election integrity. He voted to confirm Pete Hegth as a secretary of defense.

[00:03:29]Now, I know some Democrats did it as well, and they deserve to be called out.

[00:03:34]He voted for Pam Bondi as the attorney general. He voted for Tulsi Gabbard as a director of national intelligence. Call your friends because I'm going to tell you the truth this morning that you're not going to hear anywhere. And the doors of the church are open this morning. So come on in if you have a sermon and you can contribute to the teal if you till if you want to become a member because that's how we stay viable. the very people, okay? He voted for the very people dismantling this country right now. He put them there. He voted against LGBTQ protections his entire career. He is anti-abortion.

[00:04:14]He votes with Republicans 91% of the time. I'm going to repeat that because maybe you did not hear me. And I'm going to repeat it if I can remember it word for word. Thomas Massie voted for the Save Act, which is going to disenfranchise women because their uh IDs may not match when they go to the voting booth, which they voted for.

[00:04:43]Pardon me for this. Hey Siri, turn on do not disturb.

[00:04:47]So he voted for that voter suppression.

[00:04:53]That's voter suppression that people are calling election integrity. It is not.

[00:04:59]Go read what the Save Act is. Voted for Pete Hexath. Voted for Pam Bondi, Tossa Gabbard.

[00:05:11]These are the people who are undoing the democracy in this country. Voted against LGBTQ protections his entire career.

[00:05:17]Anti-abortion. Votes for Republicans 91% of the time. And we're calling him a hero.

[00:05:27][ __ ] Y'all better y'all better come on.

[00:05:29]You know who's a hero is Kesha Lance Bottoms. We're going to get to her in a minute. In a minute. And you calling him a hero? For what?

[00:05:38]For what?

[00:05:42]You know what that tells me about where we are right now is that the bar is not on the floor. The bar has gone through the floor, through the basement, past the foundation. It's somewhere below hell right now. The crust of their earth's core. Maybe it's in another galaxy because it's gone out. It's fallen out of earth right now. And looking up. We have been here before in this country. We celebrated scraps and called them oh progress like oh yeah, two step forwards, one step back. It's more like one step forward and two steps back because they keep undoing it. We've thank people for the bare minimum of decency and we've called that leadership.

[00:06:25]Like Mike Pence, one of my dear friends I had who was on CNN, love her to death.

[00:06:30]And she was she came on and she said, "And Mike Pence is a hero because he I was like, Mike Pence is not a [ __ ] hero. Mike Pence did what he was supposed to do. He did his job on January 6th. That is not a hero. We have to stop applauding people and um and for for for doing the bare minimum doing their jobs.

[00:06:52]We have gotten so accustomed to nothing that almost nothing that almost nothing felt like something felt like everything.

[00:07:01]That is a trick. Wake up people. It's always been a trick. Now, I'm glad Mike Pence did what he did, but that was his job. He was supposed to do it. I'm glad Thomas Massie fought for the Epstein files. That was his job. That's what he was supposed to do.

[00:07:19]And I don't expect Thomas Massie to be uh a liberal. He's a conservative. I get it. But you just need to know the real deal before you start saying, "Oh my god, they got rid of this great the last Republican." Okay, fine. Look at I think he's a fine man in certain respects, but I don't like the [ __ ] that he did with women. I don't like the [ __ ] that he did with the LGBTQ community and I don't like the [ __ ] that he's doing to suppress votes, black people's votes in this country, okay? So, let's be real about that.

[00:07:53]Now, who is Thomas Massie going to vote for? Is he going to vote for the Democrat in November? That's what I want to know if I was on the Hill. So, after all of this is that's happened to you, Mr. Massie, have you seen the light? Are you still going to vote for the Republican come November? That's the question that I have to all these people that they're saying are converts and all that. Who are you going to vote for? Because if you're going to vote in the right place, I'm with you. If you're not, get the [ __ ] out of here. I ain't got time for you.

[00:08:22]This is what's real about Massie. They spent $ 32.6 million to take him out.

[00:08:28]The most expensive House primary in American history. They sent the Secretary of Defense to Kentucky the night before the vote. the man who is supposed to be in charge of a war right now. Not doing a very good job at it obviously on a campaign stage in Kentucky because they were terrified of the questions he was asking about Epstein. Okay, this is where Thomas Massie did the right thing and deserves some credit. And Massie walked to that microphone after he had lost and he said this about who he has taken out and what he's doing. Roll it.

[00:09:04]And we need we need basic decency. We need basic decency. That's what the Epstein Files Transparency Act was all about. By the way, today is the six-month anniversary of the Epstein Files Transparency Act. We've taken out two dozen CEOs, an ambassador, a prince, a prime minister, a minister of culture.

[00:09:33]Thank you.

[00:09:34]>> And that was just six months. I got seven months left in Congress.

[00:09:49]>> Now, this is where Mr. EF Hutton Massie gets my ear because I'm listening. Now, Thomas Massie, if you're going to start doing the right thing from here on out, we can talk.

[00:10:02]Seven months with nothing left to lose.

[00:10:05]I like that. You You know what is the advice your mama always gives you? At least my mama gave me was don't mess with someone who has less to lose than you. Don't mess with someone who has nothing to lose.

[00:10:18]She was talking about dating all kinds of stuff. You know what? Hooking up with don't do it.

[00:10:25]So, here is where this connects because everything connects. It always connects here. While you were watching Kentucky last night, right, the Department of Justice quietly uploaded a document to its website without a press conference, without a statement, just posted it like it was a grocery list. And the document said that the IRS forever barred was forever barred from auditing Donald Trump, his sons, his companies forever.

[00:10:49]This is a man who paid zero dollars in federal income taxes in 2020. I think it's zero.

[00:10:55]his personal defense attorney, who he made attorney general, is the acting attorney general right now, signed a document permanently shielding Donald Trump from the tax laws that every other American lives under, the ones that you live under. You get audited, your neighbors get audited, working people who made honest mistakes, as I said last night, on forms, get letters from the IRS, and they have have issues. You know, that's the normal course of action. Donald Trump, not anymore. Not ever. And then they created this1 bill7776 million slush fund.

[00:11:34]Your money to pay the people who stormed the capital. And they named it 1776.

[00:11:41]Now, here is the history, the real history, the one that they did not teach you in school because they did not want you to make this connection.

[00:11:48]1862, little history lesson for you.

[00:11:51]Abraham Lincoln signed the DC Compensated Emancipation Act. Okay, you know what that did? It freed enslaved people in Washington and it paid their enslavers up to $300 for each person who was freed. The people who were enslaved received nothing. Not a damn [ __ ] dollar. Not an acre, not a mule, nothing. No 40 acres and a mule, nothing. The people who own them got the check. Reparations for white people. And that's what this new thing is.

[00:12:29]Reparations for white people. That is the first reparations payment in American history. Are you guys listening? Are you learning something today, class? Andy, is my mic on?

[00:12:41]>> Sure.

[00:12:41]>> I'm not sure. Okay. I just want to know.

[00:12:43]I just want to know. You guys can hear me. I hope the people in the back can hear me.

[00:12:48]the first reparations payment in American history to the slave holders, not the enslaved.

[00:12:57]Oh, but then you remember when they got we got the reparations, I think when we get we got the reparations, remember in the 70s when we got all that money and stuff never happened.

[00:13:10]And that tradition, that unbroken American tradition of who gets protected and who gets the bill runs in a straight line from 1862 to last night.

[00:13:24]We cannot find the money for descendants of the people who built this country with their bodies and their blood for free. Too complicated, too expensive.

[00:13:32]Cannot figure out who qualifies. We can't do it. But the insurrectionist, okay, let that we'll have that done by Tuesday. And it was done by Tuesday. A billion dollars.

[00:13:46]Five secret commissioners. Not a billion, almost $2 billion. Five secret commissioners, no congressional vote, named after the founding of the country that did not consider black people human when it was founded. So you tell me whose pain this country thinks is real and you tell me who gets made whole and who already you already know that we have always known that.

[00:14:12]Now here they think it was an own because they you know we'll name it 1776. We don't care about that.

[00:14:21]Now, if they had named it 1619, so when I'm president, I'm gonna come up with a 1619 project.

[00:14:32]Maybe it could be uh 1 trillion600 billion or it can maybe it can be 16 trillion and then the rest out 16919 to really start fixing [ __ ] up around here.

[00:14:50]Now, here's what they don't want you to understand. Because if you understand it, it you become dangerous.

[00:14:57]That they don't like me. I'm too dangerous.

[00:15:00]They're not doing this because they are powerful. They are doing this because they are afraid. Afraid of what happens when enough people connect these dots.

[00:15:08]Afraid of what happens when you stop being patient. afraid of what happens in November when you show up in numbers that no amount of money and no amount of germandering and no amount of suppression can stop. They spent $32.6 million in one congressional district in Kentucky because they know the math.

[00:15:27]Because they know the math.

[00:15:31]And in that same night, they did all of that. Right?

[00:15:37]Here's where you get some inspiration.

[00:15:40]Okay? like and thumbs up.

[00:15:44]That same night, last night, Kesha Lance Bottoms won the Democratic gubanatorial primary. And she did it, look at that smile. She did it with no runoff, over 50% of the vote, the only black woman in the race, the former mayor of Atlanta, and if she wins in November, she will be the first black woman ever elected governor in any state in the history of the United States of America.

[00:16:10]I have getting emotional now. I don't even live in Georgia anymore.

[00:16:20]You know what I say about karma. I'll tell you at the end. A state that tried to throw out its own election results in 2020. A state that hasn't elected a Democratic governor in nearly three decades. She won anyway the same night. And hey, mom, I'm watching you. My mom is sending me all kinds of texts. This is where I look, I don't want to get too emotional. You know, I cry if you look at me because black people are show are turning out in droves. You hear me? In primaries, they are exceeding and Louisiana, I don't know about in Georgia, they are exceeding the percentage that people thought that they would show up.

[00:17:01]I don't want to do show up in because that's a dangling participle that people would show up. They are exceeding that. I see you, mom. Thank you. My mom keeps me informed.

[00:17:12]They didn't expect that. And so that governor in Louisiana, you better look out. That MAGA piece of you know what?

[00:17:18]You better look out, governor, cuz I think you are out of there.

[00:17:23]That same night that they buried Massie, which was last night, shielded Trump from taxes and paid insurrectionists with your money. Kesha Lance Bottoms, not even in a runoff. The darkness and the light at the same time.

[00:17:37]I mentioned to you uh I was feeling Malcolm X the other day. The ballot or the bullet.

[00:17:44]He meant use the power you have before they take it. Use it while you still have it. Use it like your life depends on it because it does. Your health care, your voting rights, your children's future, your ability to walk into a polling place. All of it is on the line in November and they know it. And that is why they are spending 32.6 6 million in Kentucky alone. That is why they are burying documents at midnight. That is why that they are paying insurrectionists with your money and naming it after 1776 because they are trying to demonize you before November gets here.

[00:18:25]Do not let them. Kesha Lance Bottom showed you last night that it is possible in Georgia. If she can do it there, you can do it anywhere. So pay attention people. That's what I tell you. Skip the dumb [ __ ] Pay attention.

[00:18:41]Stop arguing over small stuff while they are doing the big stuff in plain sight.

[00:18:46]Stop alienating your allies. Stop demonizing your allies.

[00:18:51]Show up.

[00:18:55]Our Washington DC correspondent is Mr. Daniel Grimes and he joins us now live from the Capitol, live and in living color.

[00:19:04]Good morning.

[00:19:06]>> Listen, Don, >> I'm on a roll. Sorry.

[00:19:08]>> The sermon has been preached. It is time to pass the collection plate. So, go ahead, folks. Pass that plate. Hit like, hit subscribe. That's the collection plate here on the Don Lemon Show. So, uh, great sermon this morning, Don. I'm here at the Capitol. We got a lot a lot to do. Lawmakers are going to leave for a week-l long recess starting on Friday.

[00:19:27]So, today and tomorrow, their last days here uh before a weekl long recess.

[00:19:31]Well, President Trump set a June 1st deadline to pass that reconciliation bill. Remember, that's the $72 billion reconciliation bill. Most of that funding is going to ICE Border Patrol, but also $1 billion in security upgrades for Trump's ballroom. Why am I talking about that? Because last night we heard from Thomas Massie, they want to build this ballroom. What is the president talking about? And so, Don Massie said he's got seven months left in Congress.

[00:20:03]He's out he's not alone. Senator Bill Cassidy, Louisiana senator, lost his seat and he's already being unfiltered.

[00:20:10]Last night, he was the fourth Republican to vote in favor of the War Powers Resolution. That means it advanced.

[00:20:18]Hopefully, the full Senate will actually vote on that. And that is the Senate clawing back some of its power from President Trump. The House is gonna vote on a war powers vote today. We're going to see if Massie joins that vote. He has not before. So that would be some news there. But again, there is all of these people who have a vendetta now against the president are unchained. Their ability to actually fight back. Uh I actually want to play a clip from Massie so you can hear it in his voice himself.

[00:20:49]>> For 14 years, those sobs in Washington tried to buy my vote.

[00:20:55]>> They they couldn't buy it.

[00:21:02]Why did this Why did the race get so expensive? Because they decided to buy the seat >> and it and it got real expensive for him. Look, um they used they used a lot of dirty tricks, but we stayed the course.

[00:21:22]those s. So, so Don, if that doesn't sound like someone who is done and a little upset, I don't know what is.

[00:21:31]>> Yeah. Uh I think I I think he's had it.

[00:21:33]I think he's like our friend over at Jen over at the I've had it podcast. I think he's had it. I hope he's learned his lesson though about who exactly um he's dealing with and a party that doesn't that only loves him as long as he's doing uh what the president wants. Uh Daniel will be coming uh to you throughout the day. Uh and go get them.

[00:21:53]Check out Daniel's Daniel I it's a Danielle Lemon the Grimes Lemon newsletter over on the Substack this morning. Seven things that you need to know before you start your day. And uh it's fantastic.

[00:22:04]So go check it out. Go sign up for it over on the Substack. Daniel Grimes, our Washington DC correspondent. Thank you very much. Standing by is someone who I have the utmost respect for. He works for the Bullwork uh podcast and you can see him over there. You can read over there as well. Uh we're going to bring in Mr. Joe Perticone, but first I want to get a word in from our sponsors and we're back with our guest. Support comes from Select quote. Can I ask you something? Are you numb to all of this yet? AI changing jobs overnight, markets bouncing all over the place, the world feeling like it shifts every time you open your phone. Well, a lot of people are trying to figure out how to protect their future. One thing people forget about is life insurance. And a lot of people think it costs way more than it actually does. The truth is it can be a lot cheaper than people expect, especially if you get started sooner rather than later. And that's why I like Select quote. For more than 40 years, they have helped millions of Americans compare plans and find coverage that fits their life and their budget. Their licensed agents do the shopping for you and they work for you for free. Go to selectquote.com/lemon and save more than 50% today. Select quote, they shop, you save. This episode of the Don Lemon Show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Now, you know, one thing that stays on my mind sometimes is just the pace of life. The world feels loud right now. The the news never really stops. Boy, do I don't I know that work never seems to stop. And some nights your mind just keeps going after the day is over. I have learned that talking helps. Talking to friends, that helps.

[00:23:41]Talking to people you trust, that helps.

[00:23:43]And sometimes having somebody outside of your everyday life can help even more.

[00:23:47]May is mental health awareness month.

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[00:24:12]>> But listen, I got to watch Fox also for the first time in 18 months.

[00:24:18]And there was the president and talking about, by the way, while gas is almost $5 and diesel's almost six. They're talking about this big ballroom they're going to build. And it looks it looks like ro the Roman Empire. Architecture from the Roman Empire. I see a few analogies there. and people are just trying to make ends meet. But we were promised that um Miriam Adlesen would pay for that ballroom. But she Hey, they she spent so much money in this race, they're going to have to reduce the footprint of that thing.

[00:25:00]Uh so that was Thomas Massie last night talking about uh you know the ballroom and I think it's very interesting that we're dis he's discussing the ballroom because he's right on with that. Let's bring in now Mr. Joe Perticone. Uh Joe, he's a national political reporter over at the Bullwork. Joe, thank you very much. I appreciate you joining us this morning. Look, I mean it is very interesting. Thomas Massie is not wrong.

[00:25:20]You have the president out here, you know, he's in the middle of a war. He sent his defense secretary down to Kentucky to campaign against Thomas Massie. And then yesterday, as all of this was going on, Donald Trump is out giving a press conference standing in front of the work that they're doing uh on the the what was the East Wing of the White House, which has been demolished.

[00:25:37]Um and I mean, look, it feels pretty tonedeaf to me, but I don't know if Republicans are if they even care.

[00:25:47]>> So, um great to be on again. Um, so the clip you played with Daniel right before I joined, it reminded me of an old Thomas Massie quote from right into the first few months of Trump's first term in which he said, "I always thought when they they being Republican primary voters were voting for me or Ron Paul or Rand Paul that they were voting for libertarian Republicans, but I realized they were voting for the craziest son of a [ __ ] in the race." And Trump is bestin-class in that category. And now we see decade later it's come back to bite him in which he helped fuel this sort of award the craziest guy and the most bombastic guy and now that's all the way at the top and that guy doesn't like him. So Trump >> is that an FAFO? I mean I I I hear what you're >> Yeah. I mean, I hear what you're saying because a lot of a lot of these folks, they get Look, everything Trump touches dies. You know what that you know um what's his name? Uh came up with that.

[00:26:52]What's my friend's name? I can't think it. I'm think I need more coffee. Um everything Trump touches dies. We know that. And so these people don't realize when they get, you know, uh all tangled up with Donald Trump that Donald Trump is just going to throw them under the bus. And what took them so long to realize that?

[00:27:11]>> Rick Wilson, by the way.

[00:27:12]>> Yeah. I think when you look at like the Freedom Caucus, I was around when the Freedom Caucus formed in Congress.

[00:27:18]>> Same.

[00:27:19]>> And they they were like the rebels. And then when the rebels become the establishment, what do they do? And now they're his most loyal lap dogs. Like the former rabble rousers and now most loyal lap dogs in Congress. And Massie was one of those original guys. But he started realizing like, wait a minute, like I don't want to just go along. I want to cause trouble. Whether you agree with the type of trouble he's causing or not, you know, it's up to you. But the the the fact is is that like Massie has now been on the receiving end. Sometimes the person on the receiving end is someone like Bill Cassidy who lost this weekend. Um who just like does one wrong vote. It's like um another >> he's a pretty he's a pretty traditional cons old school Yeah. conservative, right?

[00:28:08]>> Yeah. And there's, you know, I thought of it when uh Cornin lost the Trump endorsement yesterday is there's an old joke that's been going around Capitol Hill for years and it's like what do you call someone who votes with Trump 99% of the time? A traitor. Um, and so, you know, if you cross them in any which way, and Ma Massie crossed him in the biggest, most public way, you know, they're going to throw everything they have at you. I mean, the Secretary of Defense going to the district to campaign for your opponent. Like, that's pretty unheard of. We didn't see Lloyd Austin hitting the campaign trail under Biden. You know, that's that's a whole new frontier.

[00:28:47]So then why is it that look if you can do this you you can become a gazillionaire if you can figure this out. Why is it that Donald Trump's poll numbers are so low but the Republican party is still afraid of him lawmakers and he still has uh such influence over elections. And look, let me let me give let me just give you know because I talked about Thomas Massie um is not the hero that people make him out to be. He did the right thing as it relates to the Epstein files, but he voted against LGBTQ rights. He voted against a woman's right to choose. He voted for the Save Act, which will disenfranchise black and minority and many poor uh voters in the country. So, I don't think he's a hero on those things. He did the right thing on the Epste files. But also, it wasn't a small number of Republicans who sided with him. It was almost half of the electorate uh in Kentucky, and that says something. Do you disagree with that? I I mean, when we looked at the polling going into the primary, there was this massive shift and it was like all boomers and older all backing uh his opponent and then you had sort of younger voters, which there's not a lot of in his district backing him. And so you see that split there. the most like the reason why Trump holds such sway is that yes his approvals are in the gutter with like almost everyone now but in within the Republican party within the core base primary turnout who will turn out for him if he demands it he's still putting up Saddam Hussein numbers he's still like 80 to 90% approval amongst those people and so you know that's not good for Bill Cassidy or John Cornin or you know go back to Mitt Romney, like really anybody who might cross him, they can, you know, see their doom.

[00:30:36]>> Um I saw uh gosh, just want to this there's this one young lady who is I see on social media and I saw her at the White House correspondents dinner um gatherings and her name is Michael and she works for MS Now. I think she's a hell of a kick-ass reporter and I told her and she she was interviewing some people in Kentucky. I don't know if we have that sound bite, Andy, if we do or Nikki, if we if you can find it. She was interviewing some people in Kentucky and they she asked them, you know, she said they said because um Thomas Massie was a bad person or he didn't vote or do what he was supposed to do. And then they asked, she asked them for examples of what he did wrong or examples of what they were saying and none of them Joe could name one.

[00:31:27]>> They could all they said they just didn't like him because Donald Trump didn't like him. I mean that sounds a little not a little that sounds a lot cultish to me.

[00:31:35]>> Yeah. It's like that. I mean, for years now on the campaign trail, you you ask why someone's so bad and they go because Trump said they are. Um, when you look at, you know, someone like Massie, like Fox really went all in on him, um, because the president went all in on him and the allies and he setth you saw down there. And like, so when they when they all go all in, it creates this feedback loop. And when you have the very hyperonline, very um partyline towing primary voter, they're going to repeat it and get it in their head. And it's sort of how these um you know, little sound bites, there'll be an incident where a member of Congress or candidate says something dumb 10, 15 years ago and it always gets mentioned. Um, you cannot mention Congressman Hank Johnson without to a Republican without them bringing up that he one time said Guam might tip over, which was a silly silly gaff, you know, I don't even more than a decade ago, but it always comes up. And so in the, you know, you know, right-wing cinematic universe, these things live on and these narratives form and swell and it becomes impossible to refute them because they just know. They know because the president said it.

[00:32:53]Uh, let I want to hear from Thomas Massie again because Thomas Massie, he did I mean we I guess we have he talked about the ballroom. He talked about the price of gas. Andy, is that the one that we ran already?

[00:33:04]>> Um, okay. Did we do the uh you have a king one?

[00:33:09]>> Not yet.

[00:33:10]>> This this relates to what we're talking about. Uh, Massie says, "If the legislative branch always votes with Trump, you have a king." Here it is. If you always vote with the president, if the if the legislative branch always votes with the president, we do have a king.

[00:33:26]>> If the legislative branch always vote, which votes whichever way the wind is blowing, then we have mob rule.

[00:33:36]>> But if the legislative branch and the representatives and the senators that serve with it always follow the constitution, we have a republic.

[00:33:49]What do you say to that? He's not wrong.

[00:33:51]>> He's not wrong, but Mike Johnson has a solution here, and it's just not voting at all. Um, they'll come into the the House like this week, they're here for a day and a half, and they leave. Um, they've passed fewer bills than any previous Congress in recent history, I think, since the start of the 21st century. So, you know, there's a solution there in which like yes, they do everything he says, but oftentimes they're not doing much of anything. And so, you know, it's it's kind of both ways there.

[00:34:26]Uh, I would say so. Let's see one more from Massie. We did the they couldn't start restart the war without he H Heath campaigning here, Andy. That one we did already. Is that >> Nope. Have not done that. Let's hit it.

[00:34:40]Hit it.

[00:34:41]>> I did get the call through though. I have I have called and conceded the race. Um we've been honorable the whole time and we're going to stay that way.

[00:34:51]>> But here's one thing I saw on Fox. They were saying, "Oh my goodness, you know, we're ready for war. There's about this we're about to restart this war. We were supposed to restart this war today, but we can't restart this war today. The war can't start today." They said, "We got to wait a day." And I then it it like it occurred to me where was the secretary at war yesterday? He was here.

[00:35:15]>> Listen.

[00:35:16]>> Wait, wait, wait.

[00:35:19]>> No. Look on the wars.

[00:35:21]>> Look on the bright side.

[00:35:23]>> No more. No more. No more wars. No more wars. No more wars.

[00:35:31]>> All right. He sounds like a nerd here.

[00:35:33]And you can tell he can't sing cuz no more wars. Anyways, they people say they don't they want no more wars, Joe, and all of that. And yet and still, they're voting for the war guy who's standing in front of, you know, the the so-called ballroom, which they they don't even have the permits, I believe, the right to even build a ballroom right now, nor the money. And, you know, then they sent and then they sent the war guy to Kentucky.

[00:36:01]>> Yeah.

[00:36:01]>> I like what the [ __ ] is going on here? I mean, okay, sorry.

[00:36:06]>> It's a it's a smart strategy, I guess. I mean, you can keep delaying uh more military action if you constantly have the Secretary of Defense on the campaign trail for you. You know, not a bad idea for other candidates. Um, but you know, like you can tell that what Hexath wasn't hired to be a Secretary of Defense. He was hired to be a yapper, which is why he was a TV show host going to be Secretary of Defense. That's a rare move. Usually top generals then go become pundits. Um but he you know clearly they have their priorities in order which is sticking it to people who break with them um who don't do what they say and that's far more important than a war that is not working out for them either politically or just strategically.

[00:36:55]>> Yeah.

[00:36:56]>> Um Joe I want to talk to you about man you write some very interesting stuff. I love the stuff that you write about. you uh give people some insight on these like you see people um um on social media saying, "Oh, such and such and such and such." And they're going off and they're reading. A lot of it's AI that they, you know, they put into a computer and they're reading. I can always tell when it's AI. And um and you say you you give people some insight on a little secret that many people don't know about. So, we're going to talk about that, but also we're going to continue on to discuss this election. I want to I want to go to Texas and talk to you about Texas as well. uh because Cornin is pos is is proving to be a big problem for Donald Trump. We'll see.

[00:37:35]Maybe he'll get past this one uh as well. But a word from our sponsors and we're back with Joe Pertico. Support comes from Lean. Now, everybody's talking about weight loss injections because the results can be dramatic. But I know a lot of people hear about weekly shots and possible side effects and they think uh I'm not doing that. That's why doctors created Lean. Lean was designed for people who are serious about losing weight and improving their health, especially if they have been struggling with more than just a few pounds. Yeah, more than just a few pounds. This is for people who want to really lose weight.

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[00:38:36]Okay. Um so we're back with Joe Pericon.

[00:38:40]Joe, a little bit more that I want to discuss um about uh about Massie and then we can move on. Uh Andy, let me know. What do we have? We did the King one. I just want to get his response to uh let's put let's about why let's play Jim Acasta about why Massie lost. Here it is.

[00:39:01]It really tempting for people in Washington to to get caught up in the horse race stuff when it comes to these election nights and these primary contests and so on. But we need to be cleareyed about what happened tonight.

[00:39:11]Thomas Massie lost his primary against a Trumpbacked challenger because Thomas Massie was in favor of releasing the Epstein files because Thomas Massie worked with Roana, a Democrat and other Republicans like Marjorie Taylor Green, Lauren Boowbert and some others to force the federal government to force the Justice Department to release the Epstein files. Something that Trump, something that JD Vance, something that others in the administration had promised to do during the 2024 campaign.

[00:39:40]Thomas Massie wanted that to happen.

[00:39:42]Donald Trump all of a sudden did not want that to happen. And because Massie was successful in getting it pushed through the Congress, which kudos to him, that was great. Trump wanted to knock him out and he did knock him out.

[00:39:56]That's what happened.

[00:39:58]>> So that's what happened. Um, is that what happened? Is that in your estimation what happened? Do you think if if Pete Hexath had not gone down and Donald Trump had not done that, do you think Massie would have won or you think the other guy would have won anyways?

[00:40:12]>> So they they had been they Trump world have been opposed to Massie for years, but it really took on a new life after the Epstein file stuff. The fact that he just did not give up and he kept hammering at it and he didn't accept when Mike Johnson said, "Well, actually the oversight committee is going to do their own thing." He said very clearly anything that like James Comr is doing is actually being managed by the White House. So, it's not clear and it's a broken promise and you have to get it released. And the fact that he didn't give up and he was successful and put all of these Republicans, the exception of one, Klay Higgins, into a bind in which they all voted to release the files almost unanimous.

[00:40:56]that really pissed him off because it didn't just, you know, go against what the president wanted to do. It didn't just like give him a political wound. It also showed that with enough like will and enough coalition building like Thoren Boowbert and Roana and the entirety of House Democrats that that's a weird coalition of people and it showed that there if he can build it a big enough coalition they actually can force the administration to do things or not do things and they have to nip that in the bud right away because they can't allow things like that to snowball.

[00:41:32]We've seen a little bit of it last week.

[00:41:35]they got enough signatures for the discharge petition for Ukraine aid, but that didn't get the same kind of media attention or the um aggressiveness that doing something like the Epstein Files did. But by getting Massie out, who's really the ring leader of what the Epstein files whole saga was, at least legislatively, getting the administration to release the files, they they were able to remove a key instigator of an actual legitimate check on the executive, which they they don't like, they don't want, and they haven't seen. And if they can get rid of him, they won't have they hope they won't have to deal with it if they can somehow maintain their majority. If you can explain to us, Joe, th this controversy that has uh erupted that's that's brewing. Um Paxton versus Cornin. Um Donald Trump has endorsed Paxton for the Texas Senate race. Republicans aren't necessarily happy about that, including the Senate Majority Leader John Thoon.

[00:42:37]This is what he had to say about it, and then we'll talk. Given that you've spent months trying to encourage persuade the president to endorse John Cornin in the Texas primary and given that the NRSC has in invested heavily to help Cornin win that primary, how personally disappointed or frustrated are you with the president's decision to endorse Ken Paxton today?

[00:42:56]>> Well, I think you all know my position on this issue. I've made it very clear for um months now and um Senator Hornin is a principal conservative. is a very effective senator for the state of Texas and uh but I don't none of us control what the president does. He made his decision about that. That doesn't change the way I feel. Um and uh I am certainly um supportive of continue to be supportive of Senator Cornin and his reele.

[00:43:30]Okay? Ken Paxton has faced a multitude of political and legal controversies during his tenure, including a historic impeachment by the Texas House. In 2023, a 2015 felony securities fraud indictment that was resolved and an ongoing US Senate campaign featuring contentious primary against his incumbent who was John Cornin. One may at 2023, the House voted 121 to 33 to impeach Paxton, suspending him from office. Uh, and then on and on and on.

[00:43:57]the securities fraud thing in 2015 that went on from 2015 to 2025. He has had personal and political scandals uh including um the divorce that cited adultery and on biblical grounds and on and on and on. And so when John Thun says that he is a principled conservative Republican, meaning Cornin, that's the shorthand for what he is saying. Am I correct?

[00:44:21]>> Yeah. And you know, Ken Paxton, he's in the way that like Paul Ryan was a Jack Kemp, Ronald Reagan molded conservative.

[00:44:30]Paxton is like the perfectly molded Trump conservative. He's got the adultery, he's got the crimes, he's got all of that. So, you know, for for Republicans, the NRSC has been hitting Paxton really hard, which is Senate Republicans campaign arm. And now they have to about face, well, they will in a week >> uh when Paxton wins >> and have to back him. is going to cost him so much money, which means they're gonna have to divert funds away from Michigan. Um, and that's what you can see John Thun kind of stonefaced there.

[00:45:01]He he is pissed because he knows that he can't spend the money on the races that are key to holding the majority. He now has to go on defense in what is historically the safest race because even if it's really close, they're going to have to spend loads of money holding it that they can't do elsewhere. And so when he says this is a bad candidate and Republicans know bad candidates when when Cornin himself was NRSC chair, he had to deal with some of the worst candidates of the cycle and they had uh I believe that was 2012 and they had to basically lose a bunch of seats that probably could have been won and they ended up doing it in 2014. But you can just tell and it wasn't just Theon. It was like I was in the Senate yesterday and it was just they were so upset, but not really like at the decision to back someone and to turn on their colleague, but they were just like the combination of, "Oh no, this imperils the seat and oh no, I could be next." Because they all can eventually be next if they do something wrong.

[00:46:06]I want you and I want the viewers to listen to this, Joe, because you write something um that I think is um relates to this at least uh about who's buying the midterms and who's buying elections and what whether what you're seeing is true or not. Here's Robert Reich on who's buying the midterms. Watch.

[00:46:24]>> Shady political groups are trying to trick you into voting against your interests. Three special interest groups, the Israel lobby, cryptocurrency, and AI, have wildly unpopular policy goals. So, they're trying to hide their intentions from voters like you by disguising their political action committees and running ads that don't seem to have anything to do with their own policy goals. Let's look at the crypto industry. Their main pack is called Fairshake, which spent over $14 million on Illinois primary races in March and has nearly $200 million on hand to keep dumping into our elections. Now, here's one of Fairshake's ads against Democratic Illinois Senate candidate Juliana Stratton, who was endorsed by cryptocritic Elizabeth Warren, and whose main primary rival was strongly pro- crypto.

[00:47:22]>> Who is Juliana Stratton, corrupt criminal Mike Madigan's handpicked politician? That's >> even though it's paid for by a pro- crypto pack.

[00:47:32]>> It doesn't even mention crypto. I wonder why that may be.

[00:47:37]>> Stop Juliana Stratton.

[00:47:39]>> Fairshake is responsible for the content of this ad.

[00:47:42]>> It doesn't mention crypto or her commitment to rein it in because her position is so popular. 65% of voters are concerned about the lack of crypto regulations and believe using it hurts local economies. The AI industry is following the same playbook. Their biggest spenders are leading the future pack funded by Open AI's president and top investors and public first action funded by >> We get the point. You understand? We understand what's happening >> uh with that. And this is Joe. You write about this. You said that political video something similar. It's adjacent.

[00:48:20]That political video you just liked is probably an ad.

[00:48:27]I think this is amazing that you did this and I right on because sometimes I I see these things and some it catches me sometimes it gets me and then I realize it's an ad and then during the 2024 election a lot of these people that you saw touting uh Trump Kla Harris Joe Biden or whatever you think that they're just these rabbit supporters and they're being paid >> right >> yeah and it's so it's like a different component there's two components to what I wrote there one was about AI one was about influencers um and it's like it's different with us we're a journalist Unless we have that traditional background, we have that those ethics that are instilled in the way that you go about telling a story. Content creators and influencers, there's plenty of great ones, plenty of plenty of awesome ones, but in many cases, they do things for money, sponsored content, and it's not always clear if a campaign is paying that person. So sometimes this would be disclosed if the campaign directly paid them. But maybe the campaign hires a consultancy who then pays that influencer to back a candidate. You saw in the governor race Tom Styer paying influencers 10 bucks a pop per video, you know, which is not a lot, but it can add up if you do a lot of them. And then there's this other component in which Rob Flity who is the Harris digital director in 2024 he wrote in the bull work the postmortem where there was candidate or candidates were getting extorted in which the influencer says give me $5,000 or I'll back your opponent. I brought that up with a few senators and Brian Shots told me he was like oh I'm very familiar with that.

[00:49:59]That's a common thing that happens. And so it's this wild west of unregulated or lots of loophole space in which you open your phone, you watch a video about how great someone is or how bad someone is and you think, "Wow, this is an honest arbiter of truth." That's not always the case. Um, and so no one really knows who's an in who's being paid by a campaign or not at this moment. The other layer of that is with AI. And so these crypto companies, they run these packs like Robert Reich uh said in the video, but also these campaign organizations are using AI to reconstruct quotes. Maybe if it was a reported quote and then they'll add Chuck Schumer's voice to turn it into an ad in which he's actually saying it on camera. Or they'll go even further where the main governor Janet Mills, the NRSC made an ad in which she was doing a 80s QVC commercial selling medical supplies to children for transgender treatment.

[00:50:59]And it's like that she she did not host a QVC show in the 80s uh selling transition treatment. I can promise you that. I I fact checked it. But um it's this new frontier in which these very unpopular industries um and you know shady creators are able to have a really heavy hand in the campaign cycle and we don't even know it which is the most concerning part.

[00:51:24]>> Uh here's the thing though you you mentioned in there and I thought this is you're right because I've watched these ads by Spencer Pratt in California, Tommy Styer. Uh, I mean it's really, you know, a lot of politicians are now relying on social media to get their messages out, not traditional media.

[00:51:40]They're not even going on legacy media.

[00:51:42]They're going mostly to digital media, podcasts, and social media. And so, um, like this one you mention, uh, Tommy Styer, and the LA Times wrote, "The Tommy Styer campaign pays influencers.

[00:51:56]Uh, their posts don't always make that clear." And then there's, I don't know if you have this one, Andy. Let me know if you have it. Um, this there's this one that you tell me if you would think it's an ad. It's the one from Tik Tok.

[00:52:07]Do we have that one, Andy?

[00:52:09]>> Yes.

[00:52:10]>> Okay, let's roll.

[00:52:11]>> Hear me out. I have something to admit.

[00:52:13]I did not expect the most progressive governor candidate to be a billionaire.

[00:52:19]But look at the policies, you guys.

[00:52:21]Let's see. To start, tax the rich, singlepayer healthcare, free college, regulating AI, build a million affordable homes. What are we missing?

[00:52:30]He even wants to abolish US immigration and customs enforcement and hold agents accountable. He might be the most progressive one in the race. Am I crazy or what, guys? You let me know.

[00:52:41]>> You can really hear the passion in her voice.

[00:52:45]>> Again, allegedly, reportedly that is that is that a paid ad? Is that what's happening there?

[00:52:52]>> I mean, that's what it looks like in in in these cases. There were tons of them that the Styr campaign was paying and it's like he got this big write up and it made him look like a real villain.

[00:53:02]But this is happening almost every state now and >> we we look forward to 2028. Every presidential candidate's going to be doing this.

[00:53:12]>> Um and the ones who don't face the wrath of, you know, potential content creators going elsewhere, getting a bigger check and then attacking them. I mean, you know, we see review bombs on movies that are considered too woke or whatever. That can happen in a content creator ecosystem in which suddenly all of these people are paid to attack a primary candidate who didn't pony up the right amount of cash.

[00:53:38]>> Let's see the Janet Mills one.

[00:53:42]Oh, we have Spencer >> for common sense. One governor will deliver a shocking collection of policies. Introducing the Janet Mills collection. Featuring a confusing choice that forces girls to compete against biological males, which will come with a no parent permission required estrogen kit. Keeps parents completely in the dark while their minors take prescription hormones. Or try the family enrichment ensemble, where Maine kids face the risks while mills own family benefits at Maine Health. The Janet Mills Collection policies nobody likes at a price Maine kids shouldn't have to pay.

[00:54:13]>> Wow, that's a social media campaign.

[00:54:15]Let's see the Spencer Spencer Pratt one.

[00:54:26]>> Please, I'm begging you. There's homeless drug addicts in front of the schools. My children aren't safe.

[00:54:33]>> Look, if you were a transgender migrant, I could get you a free [ __ ] >> Let's move the drug addicts closer.

[00:54:40]>> Bass already solved crime. I endorse her.

[00:54:43]>> Next.

[00:54:58]Please, I just want to rebuild my home.

[00:55:01]It's been over a year.

[00:55:08]>> Mom, look.

[00:55:20]This is a machine. If we want to burn this town to the GROUND THROUGH that >> you can do it, Spencer.

[00:55:32]>> Okay, let's get the music stop. Yeah, we don't want the music as we'll get Okay.

[00:55:38]Wow. Obviously AI, right? Uh and then there's one. Do we have another one? Do we have one more? We said >> that's all I have.

[00:55:47]>> That's all we have.

[00:55:49]Joe, I mean, and he's and he might win.

[00:55:52]Spencer Pratt.

[00:55:54]>> Yeah. Uh so you can like obviously it's AI, but the thing there's always like a a pathetic tell in AI. And the one there was that for some reason it's Hugh Jackman who's saying his house burned down. And instead of just a random person. I don't know why I spotted that.

[00:56:12]But you see these videos and like for instance the Pratt video, he didn't produce that. That was a fan-made videos and then he goes and promotes them.

[00:56:21]>> So there's >> it's very Trumpian.

[00:56:23]>> Yeah, it's very loophole. In the case of the Janet Mills one, that was not even some shady political action committee.

[00:56:30]That was the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the official campaign arm of Senate Republicans making a fake ad in which the governor of a state is clinking champagne glasses in an emergency waiting room in a fur coat.

[00:56:45]>> There there is a there's a different level of shamelessness, at least coming from the official level. um this cycle with Republicans doing this. The NRSC is the biggest offender as I note in the piece, but it's increasing heavily on one side use at least the use of AI the influencers thing everyone's doing. But with AI, it's Republicans are leaning on it a lot more and they're the AI friendly members of Congress and and at the state level as well now. So that makes sense.

[00:57:17]>> Joe Perticon is a national political reporter orbit the bull work. Go check out his work. It is fantastic. That's why we have him on. We love having you on. Thank you, sir. Okay. Did you get anything that you want to tell us that you got any breaking news? You got any scoops before we go?

[00:57:30]>> Well, it's about 11:00 a.m. I got to go down and find John Cornin and see what he has to say. So, follow along.

[00:57:38]>> All right.

[00:57:38]>> I'm sure it'll be a lively time.

[00:57:41]>> Thank you, sir. Thanks. We'll see you.

[00:57:43]We'll see you soon. Joe Perticone. So, there you go, guys. I mean, look. Did you see that stuff?

[00:57:49]It's crazy, but that's where we're going right now. So, all of this talk about I don't know. I don't know what's going to happen in 2028. I don't know. I know, you know, Democrats keep saying that's why we don't need, you know, a reality star. We don't need an actor. We don't that maybe I'm not so sure about that because I I think people underestimate the power of social media. They underestimate the power of the medium that we're in now, this sort of new digital media. They underestimate that power. Look at what they did what it what this independent media did for Donald Trump in 2024.

[00:58:29]Think about it. And so now you're going to have the influence of social media, etc., etc., etc. And there you go.

[00:58:38]So that's why I tell you the same thing every single time because it's important that you pay attention and it's important that you u be awake in all of this.

[00:58:50]So I will say to you pay attention again. Stop arguing over the small stuff while they do the big stuff in plain sight. Stop shouting down your allies and alienating them. Stop having purity tests about every single candidate.

[00:59:05]show up.

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