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The Atlantic wrote a lengthy expose on Cash Patel. They exposed via 24 people on record that he likes to get all liquored up and dick off at the FBI and not show up for work. And is constantly paranoid that Trump is going to fire him. He says it's a lie and he's now filed this huge defamation lawsuit. Pop this up. FBI Director Cash Patel sues the Atlantic for $250 million over its story on his alleged drinking. Here to discuss this with me is attorney and husband of mine, Josh Welch. Josh, what do you make of this 250 million dollar lawsuit?
C
These characters like Cash Patel, Donald Trump, they love to grandstand and say, I'm going to file a lawsuit. They love to put these millions of dollars and commas and zeros at the end of how much their damages are. And if you'll remember, I believe Donald Trump sued Hillary Clinton for the Russia hoax. And not only did he not prove his case, not only did he not prevail on that case, but I believe a judge ordered he and one of his cohorts to pay close to $1 million. So this is just another political PR scam by cash Patel. I will say that as a, as a lawyer, it would be breathtakingly easy to prove two things with Cash Patel. Number one, that he's incompetent. I mean, could you imagine how Easy. That would be just to lay up for the jurors.
B
Yeah.
C
And number two, that he drinks a lot. Like, how hard would would that be? Like, any incompetent lawyer would love to get that case. So best of luck to Cash, best of luck to his rock solid team of lawyers.
B
And what do you think happens once they send all the requests for discovery? And apparently the Atlantic interviewed, like, hospitality workers, waitresses, waiters, people that own these establishments, liquor stores, etc, how long before his lawyers are like, we've got to fold.
C
We got to fold up here, like a defamation case. It also brings to light that a defense in any defamation cases, obviously, are the statements truthful or not. So the lawyers defending this case will want to show. And what will be relevant is whether or not, number one, he is competent. So there's all sorts of questions and discovery and depositions you can take to that effect. Does he drink too much? Does he show up for work? Like, all of those things are relevant. They're not going to be able to be prevented from. From pursuing and. And they're not going to want to get into that stuff. This thing is dead on arrival.
B
And here's what the Atlantic has posted in response to this statement from the Atlantic. We stand by our reporting on Cash Patel, and we will vigorously defend the Atlantic and our journalists against this meritless lawsuit. So they're teeing up, but this is not Cash's first rodeo. He has filed defamation lawsuits before, which seems to be a feature and not a bug of people in the Trump regime. Pop this up. Cash Patel has attempted defamation suits against journalists before, including a suit filed in Texas over a report that Patel was spending more time at nightclubs than at FBI headquarters. Months later, defendant is now requesting, quote, the court grant his motion to dismiss and permit him to move for an award of attorneys fees and costs against Patel. And so then here's an excerpt from that. For the additional reasons set forth in Richie, defendant Fegluzzi respectfully requests that the court grant his motion to dismiss and permit him to move for an award of attorneys fees. Josh, what's your take on that?
C
Well, that's kind of a preview, I think, of what you're going to see in this lawsuit. Again, it would go something like this. So you would send Cash and some of his cohorts a subpoena to take their depositions. And in the deposition, you would, cash, do you drink? Cash, do you work? You show up for work and then you'd ask other witnesses, does this man drink a lot? Does he go to work very much. Is he very smart? And when all those people say, no, he's not very smart. Yes, he drinks all the time. No, he never goes to work. Then you don't have a defamation lawsuit. What you have is a factual story that told the exact truth. So again, he'll grandstand. Talk about the millions of dollars for people that just read the headlines. They'll read it, they'll think there's a little merit to it. But in about six months or a year, the slows, it'll be dead on its face.
B
And I just want to point out that the owner of the Atlantic is Steve Jobs widow, who, I mean, obviously has a bank account that could choke a bull. And I imagine that Cash Patel doesn't have quite those types of funds. So I'm sure she's like, let's tee it up, big boy. Let's go. All day long, moving along here. You, we've seen over the course of the last two to three months, these bro podcasters, Rogan, the flagrant guys, Theo Vaughn and others, even, oh, my God, even. What's the crazy one? Alex Jones, they're all, like, now off the Trump train. And so Trump really thinks that Joe Rogan is his crown jewel. And Rogan has called the people in the Trump regime, they're all fucking dorks. People in the MAGA movement are dorks. He's talked about Trump's deportation being completely insane, that they're getting like, you know, gardeners and people that are just over here earnestly working. And so Rogan's been pretty railing on him. But Trump has a way of, like a lot of dictators do in implementing this humiliation exercise. So he calls little Pip Squeak Joe Rogan, and who has been humiliating Trump. And then Trump invites him to the White House. And you would think Joe Rogan would go, Look, I have $300 million. I bet on the wrong horse. I'm not doing this anymore. No, no. Joe Rogan immediately, immediately goes to the White House. Pop this up. Trump and administration officials are working aggressively behind the scenes to court Joe Rogan, even as the podcaster torches the president over the Iran war and other things. The White House had been working to build bridges to Rogan for months. Trump is frequently in touch with the podcaster. According to a Trump aide, Rogan has increasingly broken with the administration over the Iran war, calling it a betrayal of no new wars promises, compared its brutal ICE tactics to the Gestapo, criticized lack of Epstein file transparency, disagreed with tariffs and declared himself politically homeless in April of 2026. And just this weekend, Rogan, if you saw Head barely standing over Trump sitting down, that was Joe Rogan. Josh, what's your take on that?
C
If you're Joe Rogan, how do you go from, at some point, Trump going too far away from you and then he wins you back? Like, it's the winning back part that I don't understand. I mean, to go to the White House and after everything Trump has done and to offer him support. I mean, think rationally. When Trump sent out the tweet about him being the Pope or looking like Jesus, at what point do you. Not just. Does he lose you? At one point, can you say, look, I'm not going back there? But like you pointed out, Trump has this way of getting people, even people like Joe Rogan to come back around, and it's, it's embarrassing. Like, I don't think we understand it.
B
You know what's so crazy about it is that a lot of the people that are in Trump's orbit have the bank accounts to be able to say, fuck you. They have fuck you money. And it's just this complete capitulation. These men that have, you know, exploited or, and, or worked hard, whatever it is, they get to this place and then they go and bend the knee to this man who clearly has dementia, is obsessed with his interior design projects, and wears a full face of makeup every single day. Yet we want alpha men in the White House. But, oh, yeah, our guy wears a ton of makeup. It's just the weirdest stuff.
C
And if you're Joe Rogan and you're sitting there in the White House, do you not have any self respect to just think, what the fuck am I doing here? Like, this guy, look, lost me a long time ago. All this crazy, shitty tweets out and stuff like that. Like, here's what I don't get. If Trump, if Trump lost you, then what the fuck has he done to get you back? How does that work? Like, that's the part that just completely levels me. Like, if he lost you, then he's fucking out, then it would get worse. Yeah, but somehow he's done something to where he's back in your good graces, to where you think he's competent and he's a good leader and a good person and a good role model. So, like, who the are you?
B
Well, here's what Joe Rogan wanted. He wanted FDA approval from Trump because everything with Trump is a shakedown. Everything is a shakedown. Somebody wants a pardon. Somebody wants to get their baby mama deported. Somebody his bro his son in law wants $2 billion from the Saudi. We got to get this criminal out of prison. All everything is a shakedown. These people are dirty cops that cannot play by the rules, yet sit around and act like they're oppressed because of all the dei. Play the clip.
D
I want to tell everybody how this happened. I sent President Trump some information. We have a gigantic opiate problem in this country. Obviously in 2024, more than 80,000 people died of overdoses. It's a horrible number. And there's more than 5 million people that are addicted to opiates right now in this country. With one dose of ibogaine, more than 80% of people are free of that addiction. With two doses, it's more than 90%. I sent him that information. The text message came back, sounds great. Do you want FDA approval? Let's do was literally that quick?
B
Sounds great. Do you want FDA approval? Let's do it. And then Joe Rogan gets FDA approval and then participates in this humiliation exercise. And I just want to point out the fact that Trump has to sit in the high chair with all of the people standing around him. That just always will, that will never look normal to me. All of these buffoons, all of these men jockeying. Here we go. Look at how, look at these crusty goobers. I mean, Joe Rogan's right. They all are a bunch of dorks. And you're at the epicenter of it, big boy. And your big boy, they should have put him in a, of booster step right there, Joe Rogan. So at least he could have appeared taller.
C
I think though it's answered our question because I was asking, I was posing the question, what could Trump possibly do to win you back over at this point in time? And, and so I think we've answered that. He's, he's obviously giving Joe Rogan this FDA approval for ibogaine, which I, in all honesty, I would support, like psychedelics for what they do with people that have PTSD or addiction, or there's a whole wave of science that I support. But to have to go in and like you said, bend the knee and capitulate to get this and go through this ceremony and that everybody just is okay with that. It's like you see it time and time again. People do it. There's just no, there's no end to the shame.
B
None. All right, then we have the best news that's happened in 2026, of course, is the defeat of Viktor Orban in Hungary. And we know that Netanyahu endors Victor Orban. We know that Donald Trump endorsed Victor Orban. And Donald Trump sent J.D. vance, speaking of humiliation exercises, he rat J.D. vance to the nth degree and sent him to go campaign with Viktor Orban. And it was a landslide in this guy. The new Prime Minister of Hungary, Magyar, he says he'll arrest Netanyahu if Netanyahu comes to Hungary. And this is a complete departure from Victor Orban. Pop this up. Magyar confirms that Netanyahu was lying when saying he was invited to Budapest. So Netanyahu said, oh yeah, I've been invited to Budapest. The new PM says that's a lie. And today the incoming PM said, per business that Hungary under him will quote, have a legal obligation to enforce the ICC rulings. And I'm sure Netanyahu knows this. So here's, and this is according to Bloomberg reporting. So here's what's happening right now, you guys, is increasingly the United States and Israel are isolated on the global stage. And you have the Prime Minister of Spain, who is really the moral nucleus of Europe right now, in my opinion. And he is speaking out not against Jewish people. Nobody is doing that except for the far right maga people speaking out against the war crimes, the absolute genocide and war crimes being committed by Israel and the United States of America. And Benjamin Netanyahu should be arrested. He should absolutely be hauled off in bracelets. Josh, what's your take on all of this and Netanyahu?
C
How refreshing is it to see a leader, this newly elected Prime Minister, take this position? It's painfully obvious what the position should be. But we live in this country where it's almost like we're in denial or we're co conspirators with Israel and every single thing we do. And if you stand up and dissent in any way, fashion or form, you're somehow a traitor. It's refreshing to see especially a newly elected prime minister, stand up and, and speak the truth, which is obvious.
B
I completely agree. And we live in this country right now where saying the truth, saying that Benjamin Netanyahu is committing war crimes. You have sitting US Senators who will not say this. You all famously remember I got into it with Cory Booker. Is Ben, Benjamin Netanyahu a war crime? The answer is yes, right? Yes. He, he, he is a war criminal. And so the United States has a problem with Israel right now. And the population of the United States does not want to fund war crimes against kids and the expansion of the Greater Israel Project. It is insane. It is utterly, utterly insane for Magyar,
C
though, to say this he's just been elected. So for him to come in and take this position and say, look, we will honor the ICC and we will honor these convictions, it's pretty astounding where we live in this country that we love so much that is so in denial about these things. So I applaud it. I applaud this man. I think his election and his success has been a breath of fresh air in what is sometimes an otherwise dismal news cycle.
B
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B
And then, of course, Donald Trump and his tariff policy has been nothing short of an abject failure. Increased inflation wrecked fundamental components of the U.S. economy. Pop this up, Kylie. Exactly two months after the Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump's most sweeping tariffs, American importers who were owed 166 billion in refunds plus interest can begin applying for reimbursement through a new U.S. customs and Border Protection portal. So this is just another Trump failure that the American taxpayer is going to have to foot the bill and it's always Josh. It's always Republican presidents do this every time they go into rural America and they lie and they say we're going to make you rich. We're so good at business, wealth is going to trickle down. We love Jesus, we love the troops, we love the flag. They lead you into wars, they lead us into economic failure. In our lifetime, it seems like every Republican president leads the United States to this same shit.
C
They love to wave the flag around, they love to talk about how they love vets, they love hard working Americans. And then this is just kind of a prime example. So this is a situation where the companies are going to receive this money and, and the consumers are basically going to be responsible for having paid the, the tariffs and, and not get any kind of refund.
B
Right? And these companies are going to get the money. The customers paid the tariffs, we paid price increases. And this is another corporate bailout dick over on working class Americans. And then I want to leave you all. This is really interesting and I want to premise this with. You hear a lot of Democratic strategists say, oh, the far left of the Democratic party is too into culture wars. They just, they need to quit talking about the bathroom and all of this stuff. It's such, it is an absolute lie that the left is obsessed with culture wars. It's the Republicans. They always have been, they always will be in. Any Democratic strategist that buys into that narrative is clearly a some form of fascist collaborator. Because here we have here the Supreme Court is taking up a case in Colorado on admitting children into a preschool that have gay parents. Pop this up. Supreme Court agrees to review a Colorado law to determine if preschools that decline children of same sex couples may receive state funding. Josh, unpack this for us.
C
Well, you have this religious right that the church in this case is relying upon versus individual freedoms. And you see the Republicans time and time again and, and the Supreme Court has agreed to take this case up which, which is odd in and of itself, but I think you said it best. The Republicans love the divide that comes from cases like this. They love anytime they can shame or marginalize anyone who's gay or trans, they want to capitalize on that because they view that as a strength. And the court in this case is going to take this case up and they're going to weigh, presumably they're going to do a test and weigh the rights of, of freedom of religion with your individual rights to have a same sex marriage or relationship. And, but really it's, it's more about, it's more about dividing and trying to use these sort of issues in a way. The Supreme Court has plenty of other things that they should be weighing in on. The fact that they're interested in a case like this shows their obsession with gay and trans litigation.
B
Yeah. And I will tell you that I think the Supreme Court will end up ruling because the the majority of the Supreme Court are all religious nuts. This case sets up a major First Amendment showdown pitting religious liberty against the rights of LGBTQ plus families with implications for publicly funded religious schools across the country. So imagine this. And I just think Democrats need to message this and message this and message this. Republicans are the anti family party, period. They are now there have a platform against preschoolers that have gay dads or gay moms. It's insane. Their bigotry is now targeted to preschoolers. And this is also the same party that covers up for a child pedophile ring. And Jeffrey Epstein, this is also the same party that will never fund health care. That will never fund child care. The MAGA party is a death cult. An anti family death cult. All right. That's all we have. Like subscribe. We'll be back later.
Hosts: Jennifer Welch & Angie “Pumps” Sullivan
Guest: Josh Welch (Attorney)
Date: April 20, 2026
This episode covers the fallout from Cash Patel's defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic, the bizarre dynamics between Donald Trump and big-name podcasters like Joe Rogan, major global shifts with the defeat of Viktor Orban in Hungary, the impact of Trump’s tariffs and their failure, and the Supreme Court’s willingness to consider cases targeting LGBTQ+ families. The tone is deeply comedic, irreverent, and passionately progressive, with the hosts skewering hypocrisy, "death cult" politics, and the increasing isolation of the U.S. and Israel on the world stage.
[01:05 - 05:50]
[05:50 - 12:24]
[13:07 - 16:51]
[18:46 - 20:12]
[20:12 - 22:30]
This episode is a lively, critical review of right-wing power politics and legal theatrics, starring familiar Trumpworld figures and culture war flashpoints. The hosts blend legal insight, international news highlights, and sharp commentary, all while keeping the mood punchy and relatable for progressive listeners eager to see hypocrisy and power plays exposed.