Unpacking Biden woes, Trump’s surprising approval swing, Dem dark money oligarch caught in scandal

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Unpacking Biden Woes, Trump’s Surprising Approval Swing, Dem Dark Money Oligarch Caught in Scandal"

Episode Title: Unpacking Biden Woes, Trump’s Surprising Approval Swing, Dem Dark Money Oligarch Caught in Scandal
Host: Matt Whitlock
Release Date: May 20, 2025

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1. Biden's Health Diagnosis and Alleged Cover-Up

Timestamp: [00:32 - 10:31]

The episode opens with a somber discussion regarding President Joe Biden's recent prostate cancer diagnosis. Host Matt Whitlock extends thoughts and prayers to the Biden family, emphasizing the severity of the diagnosis:

“That's a terrible diagnosis that we wouldn't wish on anybody.” ([00:32])

Whitlock addresses the political maneuvering surrounding Biden's health, noting that some Democrats are advocating to minimize discussions about his condition and the potential end of his presidency:

“Some Democrats are using this diagnosis to suggest we should end any discussion of the end of the Biden presidency and the coverup around his conditions.” ([00:55])

Despite appeals from figures like David Axelrod to quieten the discourse, Whitlock anticipates ongoing scrutiny. He references a recent Axios report revealing snippets of Biden's conversation with Robert Hur, part of a special counsel investigation:

“[The audio] brings back up the discussion of Beau Biden in this special counsel conversation.” ([01:16])

The conversation highlights Biden's apparent lapse in memory regarding his son Beau, leading to widespread criticism and allegations of politicizing personal tragedy. Whitlock underscores the constitutional implications, questioning Biden's role as commander-in-chief and the involvement of his staff in the alleged cover-up:

“There will be constitutional questions about how President Biden and his team executed the constitutionally appointed role of the commander in chief of the United States.” ([06:45])

Moreover, Whitlock criticizes key Biden staffers, including Jake Sullivan and Pete Buttigieg, for their roles—or lack thereof—in managing national security issues, suggesting a broader failure within the administration:

“President Biden not talking to his national security advisor when there were so many major national security issues going on is incredibly troubling.” ([08:15])

2. Congressional Moves: GOP Advances Trump's Budget Bill

Timestamp: [06:45 - 10:22]

Transitioning to legislative developments, Whitlock discusses the House Budget Committee's progression of President Trump's significant budget proposal. Key aspects include Medicaid work requirements and the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction issues:

“The Medicaid work requirement is incredibly popular to the American people.” ([07:30])

He highlights internal Republican debates over specific provisions, such as the timing of Medicaid changes and the potential repeal of green energy tax credits to fund middle-class tax cuts:

“Some of those tax credits have already been used and Republicans in some states have said they're already creating jobs. Those can't be pulled back.” ([09:00])

Whitlock emphasizes the strategic importance of passing this bill swiftly, noting Speaker Johnson's insistence on prioritizing the vote over Memorial Day vacations:

“Speaker Johnson has said he will not let his members go to any kind of Memorial Day vacation until this bill has passed.” ([09:45])

3. Trump’s Approval Ratings on the Rise

Timestamp: [10:22 - 14:30]

A surprising trend discussed is the uptick in President Trump's approval ratings. According to RealClearPolitics and Nate Silver's polling aggregator, Trump's approval has surged by 10 points since 2017:

“President Trump has seen a surprisingly positive trend in his approval rating.” ([10:22])

Whitlock explores potential reasons for this increase, citing reduced media scrutiny for the general populace versus critical coverage by major news outlets for attentive audiences:

“People who had paid very close attention to a few narrow stories supported President Trump less than those who are simply going about their day and living their lives.” ([12:15])

Additional factors contributing to Trump's favorable ratings include positive developments in trade negotiations, efforts towards Middle Eastern peace, and strong public support for deporting criminal illegal immigrants:

“Deporting criminal illegal immigrants has 80 to 90% support among the American people.” ([13:50])

However, Whitlock also acknowledges challenges, such as declining consumer confidence tied to Trump's tariff policies, which have led to anticipated price increases at major retailers like Walmart:

“American consumers still have concerns about the impact of President Trump's tariff agenda on their pocketbooks and on their daily expenses.” ([14:00])

4. Consumer Confidence and Trade Tariffs Impact

Timestamp: [14:30 - 17:00]

The discussion continues with the repercussions of Trump's tariff policies, particularly their effect on retailers and consumer prices. Whitlock references Walmart's announcement of potential price hikes due to supply chain disruptions:

“Walmart, Target and a number of other big stores told the White House that they're expecting to see empty shelves over the next few weeks.” ([14:30])

In response, Trump criticized Walmart, arguing that the burden of tariffs should not fall on consumers:

“President Trump lashed out at Walmart, suggesting that they should eat the cost of those tariffs.” ([15:00])

Whitlock counters by highlighting Walmart's operational challenges despite its profitability, emphasizing the company's narrow margins and extensive infrastructure:

“They operate on very, very narrow margins despite major profitability.” ([16:15])

Optimism is maintained with the anticipation of new trade deals, including those with China and the UK, which Whitlock believes will restore market stability and consumer confidence:

“There’s hope for both Walmart, Walmart's customers and the administration on the horizon with President Trump's announced China trade deal, the UK Trade deal.” ([17:00])

5. Democratic Scandals: Dark Money and the Wyss Suit

Timestamp: [17:00 - 20:00]

Whitlock shifts focus to Democratic malfeasance, spotlighting activist Hansjörg Wyss, a Swiss billionaire funding Democratic agendas. Highlighting a recent scandal, Whitlock reports that Wyss is now embroiled in a major sexual harassment lawsuit:

“Wyss has been accused of sexual harassment by a 30-year-old former employee.” ([18:30])

He condemns Wyss's actions and calls for the return of funds donated by the oligarch to Democratic causes, framing it as an issue of foreign interference and ethical misconduct:

“We here at 10 minute drill look forward to seeing Democrats return the hundreds of millions of dollars this foreign billionaire has given to every single one of their pet causes.” ([19:15])

Additionally, Whitlock criticizes Democratic officials like LaMonica McIver for aggressive actions against ICE agents, citing a 500% increase in assaults:

“DHS has reported a 500% increase in physical assaults on ICE agents.” ([19:45])

6. Local Initiatives and California Spending Critique

Timestamp: [20:00 - End]

In a concluding segment, Whitlock covers local government initiatives mishaps and criticizes California's fiscal policies. He marks the two-year anniversary of Sombrita, a failed shade and lighting pilot by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation aimed at gender equity at bus shelters:

“Sombrita... fails to provide shade to or light a part of a 25 million bus shelter initiative.” ([20:30])

Whitlock uses this example to critique California's broader infrastructure challenges, including the stalled high-speed rail project and prolonged recovery from wildfires:

“Look at how hard it is to do anything in the state and look at what they think is a worthwhile spend.” ([21:10])

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Conclusion

Matt Whitlock's episode of "10 Minute Drill" provides a comprehensive analysis of pressing political issues, from President Biden's health and potential cover-ups to President Trump's fluctuating approval ratings amidst legislative and economic challenges. The discussion extends to Democratic scandals involving dark money and ethical breaches, alongside critiques of local government inefficiencies and state-level spending priorities. Through detailed examination and notable quotes, the episode offers listeners a nuanced understanding of the current political landscape.

Transcript

[Host]

The latest on Joe Biden's health and cover up President Trump's approval ratings take an interesting turn. And scandal royals the Democrats dark money universe. All of that and so much more today on 10 Minute Drill. Everybody get up. Get up. The story of America is the story of an adventure.

[Co-Host]

I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. We are a nation under God, and I believe God intended for us to be free.

[Host]

We begin today on a more somber note. First, extending our thoughts and prayers to the Biden family and to President Biden himself on the diagnosis that he's now suffering from prostate cancer. That's a terrible diagnosis that we wouldn't wish on anybody. However, some Democrats are using this diagnosis to suggest we should end any discussion of the end of the Biden presidency and the coverup around his conditions.

[Co-Host]

Yeah, well, I mean, I think those conversations are going to happen, but they should be more muted and set aside.

[Host]

However, despite those requests from people like David Axelrod, this story isn't going away anytime soon. On Friday, Axios released snippets of President Biden's conversation with Robert Hur, a part of that special counsel report.

[Co-Host]

This is what, 20, 17, 18? That period? Yes, sir. Remember, in this time frame, my son has either been deployed or is dying.

[Host]

This audio was notable for a number of reasons. One thing that it brought back up is the discussion of Beau Biden in this special counsel conversation. You'll remember that after the report first came out, President Biden called a press conference to attack Robert Hur for invoking his son Beau.

[Co-Host]

There's even reference that I don't remember when my son died. How in the hell dare he raise that?

[Host]

What was incredibly notable here is that her did not bring up Beau Biden. President Biden brought up Beau in that conversation, but President Biden didn't remember that part of his conversation with her. So not only did Biden lash out at her incorrectly, he lined up surrogates, a number of them, everyone from Nancy Pelosi to members of his own staff, to attack her from for politicizing the death of his son. Jill Biden herself sent a fundraising email attacking Robert Herr for politicizing the death of their son, even though it had been Joe himself that brought that up. There are two primary reasons I believe this issue isn't going away for Democrats anytime soon. First, the question of who was calling the shots is incredibly important. President Biden is the only person who had the constitutional authority to take the actions that were taken from the office of the presidency of. But now we know whether it's stories about auto pens or other issues that he had very little involvement. President Trump has been forced to spend his entire first few months of his administration focused on undoing the radical agenda that Joe Biden left in place. Now, we know Joe Biden himself had very little to do with it. So there will be constitutional questions about how President Biden and his team executed the constitutionally appointed role of the commander in chief of the United States. The other issue here is the Biden staff who are involved in this cover up, and members of his Cabinet. Jake Sullivan said last week that he was not that he was shocked by what he saw in President Biden's debate performance. To me, that's incredibly troubling because it suggests that Sullivan had not been in close contact with Joe Biden for several months before that debate. President Biden not talking to his national security advisor when there were so many major national security issues going on is incredibly troubling. The other note, Pete Buttigieg said just last week during the beginning of his soft presidential kickoff in Iowa that nothing about his interactions with President Biden had troubled him. Was President Biden not communicating with Secretary Buttigieg either? Pete Buttigieg is going to announce very soon that he's running for president and he's going to ask the American people to trust him. How can they, after he was involved in such an incredibly unconstitutional, shocking coverup of President Biden? On Sunday night, the House Budget Committee advanced President Trump's big, beautiful bill. There were some remaining issues left to address, so four Republican members voted present so that the bill could advance while they continue to work out some key details. Some of those sticking points include things like the Medicaid work requirement and when it will come into play. There's been discussions of doing it as late as 2029 or moving it all the way up to 2026. One thing that's so important to remember is that requirement is incredibly popular to the American people. If you support fixing Medicaid and ensuring that it's there to support, people must support the cuts to fraud, waste and abuse that are destroying the program. You can't say I support protecting Medicaid, but also say we need Medicaid to go to millions of illegal immigrants or people that are ineligible for the program. Other remaining sticking points include the SALT issue, which we talked about last week. State and local tax deduction. Republicans from blue states have been pushing for a higher threshold for them to be able to deduct their very high state and local taxes from their federal tax return. This has become a bit of an ugly fight with some including New York Republicans Nick LaLota calling to actually raise taxes on small businesses to pay for this blue state tax deduction, which got him a lot of pushback on social media. The other issue is the green energy tax credits from the Inflation Reduction act and one of those can be repealed to pay for extending middle class tax cuts that are so important to American people up and down the tax bracket. Some of those tax credits have already been used and Republicans in some states have said they're already creating jobs. Those can't be pulled back. However, we know there are lots of those gold bars off the Titanic still sprinkled around the country that can be pulled back to use for much worthier causes. The next step for this bill is going to be the House Rules Committee, which could vote on Wednesday or Thursday of this week, setting up a larger House floor vote likely on Thursday. Speaker Johnson has said he will not let his members go to any kind of Memorial Day vacation until this bill has passed, which is a incredibly valuable step to pushing forward President Trump's agenda and getting it over to the Senate where they have a self imposed deadline of July 4th to move their bill forward again. Extending these middle class tax cuts is the most important thing Congress will do right now. Over the last few weeks, President Trump has seen a surprisingly positive trend in his approval rating. Right now, according to RealClearPolitics, his approval is 10 points higher than it was at this point in 2017. Nate Silver's polling aggregator also shows the highest it's been in almost a month. We've seen Reuters, YouGov and RMG all show upward trends in his approval rating over the last three weeks. There are a number reason for this, but the New York Times believes that it might be because people aren't paying close enough attention. The New York Times found that people who had paid very close attention to a few narrow stories supported President Trump less than those who are simply going about their day and living their lives. I think this is incredibly notable. They use cases like Abrego Garcia or they asked the question of how closely are you following day to day news about market trends. Those people had a lower support for President Trump than those who again were going about their days and living their lives. This shows a very interesting dichotomy of the way that people experience President Trump and his presidency. If you are hyper focused, particularly on news outlets like the New York Times, MSNBC and CNN and the way that they weight their coverage towards stories that are overwhelmingly negative towards President Trump, you will likely have a worse, worse view of his presidency. However, if you are going about your day, doing your job, spending time with your family and getting news as much as you can, but not necessarily hooked up to it like an iv, you likely have a better perspective of the Trump presidency. There are a number of reasons for people to positive views right now. In the last week, we've seen positive momentum towards real trade deals, China being the most important among them. President Trump just spent the last week in the Middle east talking about peace in the Middle east, which is broadly an overwhelmingly popular concept. And again, as we've talked about from the beginning here, deporting criminal illegal immigrants has 80 to 90% support among the American people. And that has been a linchpin of his agenda for these first few months of his presidency. So again, there are lots of reasons people might feel positive about President Trump. One wrinkle in a lot of positive news about President Trump's approval rating trends is consumer confidence. New numbers came out on Friday showing that American consumers still have concerns about the impact of President Trump's tariff agenda on their pocketbooks and on their daily expenses. This came around the same time as news came out from Walmart that prices in their stores would likely rise as a result of tariffs and their impact on supply chains. On Saturday, President Trump lashed out at Walmart, suggesting that they should eat the cost of those tariffs. This comes just weeks after Walmart, Target and a number of other big stores told the White House that they're expecting to see empty shelves over the next few weeks. If some of these trade issues aren't resolved because of challenges with their supply chains, Some push back to that, pointing out the fact that Walmart operates on very, very narrow margins despite major profitability. They operate 4,600 stores in the United States employing over 1.6 million people. They are the largest employer outside of the federal government, which means that they have very high overhead. It might look on paper like they're incredibly profitable, but the numbers show us that most of that goes back into operating their stores across the country and being one of the most reliable stores for people to buy their groceries, get their prescriptions, buy clothes, just about everything. However, there's hope for both Walmart, Walmart's customers and the administration on the horizon with President Trump's announced China trade deal, the UK Trade deal, and a new major deal that the White House is teasing. That could come as early as this week, which continue to settle markets and help people resume normal consumer confidence, shopping habits and things like that. Our favorite, Tim Waltz, the charisma of the Democrat party, the man who was willing to answer the call for new bold masculine leadership is back in the news this weekend. He spoke at the University of Minnesota law school's graduation and made quite a bit of news.

[Co-Host]

Donald Trump's modern day GIs Cappo is scooping folks up off the streets. They're in unmarked vans wearing masks, being shipped off to foreign torture dungeons.

[Host]

Those who are familiar with Tim of the feminine products Waltz and his record will remember the fact that Tim Waltz instituted a Covid snitch line for people to report on their neighbors for any kind of lockdown infraction or even any kind of masking infraction. So for him to call anybody else Gestapo is outrageous. But I would also note, as we talked about last week, DHS has reported a 500% increase in physical assaults on ICE agents, which includes New Jersey Democrat LaMonica McIver bowling over federal agents at an ICE facility. We have talked extensively here about Hansjorck Wiess, the Swiss billionaire Democrats are relying on heavily to fund their political agenda around the country. This is what I believe Bernie Sanders and AOHC would call an oligarch if he weren't a liberal funding their entire political organization again from overseas. The real foreign interference, if you will. My hometown newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle reported last week that Hanyuk Wyss is now the subject of a major sexual harassment suit. Wyss has been accused of sexual harassment by a 30 year old former employee. Now this is a family program, so we're not gonna get in the details of this, but he repeatedly propositioned this former employee and retaliated against her when she refused his advances. We here at 10 minute drill look forward to seeing Democrats return the hundreds of millions of dollars this foreign billionaire has given to every single one of their pet causes, from pushing WOKE education to radical abortion laws. And we believe it is incumbent on the Arabella Advisors network to sever all ties with these or any other foreign perverts they might be working with. Not wanting to miss an incredibly important holiday for today's you can't make it up segment, we are marking the two year anniversary of Sombrita. For those of you who have not heard, Sombrita was a shade and lighting pilot unveiled through the Los Angeles Department of Transportation's gender equity action plan. You'll see from photos that it fails to provide shade to or light a part of a 25 million bus shelter initiative which was touted as a first of its kind bus stop shade structure intended to bring gender equity to public transit. The Los Angeles Department of Transportation even released diagrams showing how the shade would work. This is a perfect story for the state that has spent $30 billion on high speed rail and after 40 years, not laid a single piece of track. Or the state that's working on a rebuild after the tragic LA wildfires that at current pace will take 461 years to complete again. As Democrats tout California as a model for the nation, look at how hard it is to do anything in the state and look at what they think is a worthwhile spend. Sombre. Yeah, that is all the time we have for today. Thank you so much for joining us. You thank Please leave us a review. Tell your friends, subscribe on YouTube everything else. Thanks so much. Have a good one.