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Brad
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Michael Popak
Let's go.
Brad
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Brad
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Michael Popak
So when like you, I heard Donald Trump at Camp David use the phrase about the peaceful what was started as peaceful protest in California, but have now ended up being a pitched battle because Donald Trump is flaming the passions by sending in illegally the National Guard over the objection of the California governor. When I heard him stand at Camp David along with his defense secretary and others and say, well, if they're going to spit, we're going to hit. When the spitting starts, the hitting starts. Giving license and permission for excess force for police brutality, including of the National Guard. I remind the National Guard, these are your neighbors. You work in these communities. When I heard that, I said, this sounds eerily familiar. This sounds like something that Donald Trump said during the end of his last term when the Black Lives Matter movement was protesting police brutality against people like the late George Floyd. And Donald Trump took to both social media and to a podium and he used and paraphrased the phrase that's now gone down in civil rights history as being one of the most infamous lines, notorious lines mentioned by a law enforcement official. The chief of police of Miami said, well, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Now, that doesn't mean. But Donald Trump wants you to believe that meant at the time, which is that other people in the streets start shooting with the looting. And isn't that sad? No, that's not what that meant. What that meant was, and Donald Trump knows it, is that Police will shoot if there's to protect property, which is again, an asymmetrical response to the situation. We have First Amendment expression going on in California. I'm going to put these two pieces together. Spitting and hitting, looting and shooting, all under the rubric of Donald Trump intentionally picking a fight and baiting, baiting the citizens of California because the more they fight back and the more they tip over from peaceful First Amendment expression into some sort of lawlessness, you are playing into Donald Trump's hands. And that we cannot do. It's time. It is time for the Gandhi moment, for the Martin Luther King moment. Right. Not the Rodney King pull the truckers out of the car and hit them and bash them with a fire extinguisher moment. Don't take the bait, I guess, is one way of putting it. Let's look at spitting and hitting, looting and shooting here on Midas Touch and Legal af. So we had the statement. Asin, who's who works with Midas Touch did a great job of catching that and playing it for those that haven't seen it. I'm going to play it next. I'm actually going to do back to back. We're going to have the statement of. Of. Of which is a dog whistle from Donald Trump to law enforcement and the National Guard troops on the ground because he wants the pitched battle on purpose. Wait till I tell you what Stephen Miller said about it. Okay. Against the backdrop of hitting and spitting, let's also remember that Donald Trump not only did not believe that any type of punishment was appropriate for any of the Jan Sixers, even the most violent, even the ones that were detained pretrial because of their violence, because they use medieval weapons, makeshift or brought with them, or homemade or used police material to beat police officers. This was a bloody battle on the steps of the Capitol. Our nation has never seen. I'm not saying all of the people, but the 2,000 that got arrested and indicted and prosecuted and convicted most of them. Yeah. So Donald Trump didn't call that as Stephen Miller just called California a fight for our civilization. That was a fight for our civilization. What else do you call insurrectionists that attack the Capitol, try to burn it to the ground and try to assassinate elected officials. And the carnage that was left in its wake, emotional and physical, mainly law enforcement. So to Donald Trump, that was a peaceful protest. That was a walk in the park. That was a day of love. These are his words. And then he pardoned them all, giving license and permission to the next set of insurrectionists to do it again. When they don't like it, it'll make all right. But then split screen, right? And we'll should do a split screen of the video of them crawling all over the Capitol or the photo of what, of what started in California as a peaceful protest, not what the Trump administration is calling migrants are setting self driving cars on fire. I don't know how they know they're migrants. I think there's lots of fair minded people who are, who have proper immigration status or are American citizens born here or naturalized or otherwise or green card holders that have a right to First Amendment expression. But Donald Trump wants the fight. He's picked the fight. He sent in in a very Ray Bradbury way. He sent in firefighters not to put out the fire, but to burn the books to stoke the flames. He wants more kerosene and gasoline on the flames, not less. Why? Because it serves his political purpose. As Newt Gingrich just recently said, the old mandarin of the trumpet of the Reagan era and of post Reagan era, he said, this is perfect. This sets up the two parties. One party is for law and order and the other party is for migrant rights and lawlessness. You see, do you see how it's being, you see the oil painting that's being created in front of our eyes? How do we stop it? Well, Gavin Newsom is doing his part, right? Gavin Newsom is doing his part to call out the illegal sending in of the National Guard by Donald Trump over the objection of the governor. The only time that's ever happened is in 1965 when Lyndon Johnson, to protect civil rights and civil rights protesters sent in the National Guard. Again, this is our time for a Selma, Alabama walk over the bridge in Selma moment, Gandhi moment, Martin Luther King moment of peaceful protest. Not the Rodney King brain, the trucker moment. Because you're playing into Donald Trump's hand. Yeah. And so you've got Gavin Newsom doing the right thing. I'm sure there's going to be a lawsuit that's going to be filed against this illegal exercise by Donald Trump. The problem is Donald Trump lives as any vampire in the twilight in the darkness. And this is sort of a gray area. You think it wouldn't be, but this is sort of a gray area about if you're a president and you don't exercise the Insurrection act, if you don't invoke the Insurrection act and you do it through other statutes to quell violence and the state doesn't cooperate with you, are you allowed to commandeer the National Guard and take it over? That's not as crystal clear as you would think. It sounds wrong. I could certainly make the argument under the case law that it is wrong, but the Supreme Court again is going to have to make another law under the name of a case involving Trump. This. You know there's going to be entire law school textbooks devoted to Trump law law made under Donald Trump's first two terms or thereafter. You know it would. It will fill several volumes, you know, with the Supreme Court.
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Michael Popak
So they're going to have to ultimately decide what can we do in the meantime. Not play into their hand, not fall into their mouth, not give the Stephen Millers of the world and others the justification to crack down on blue states, on our immigration position, on our First Amendment immigration position. You got Tom Holman, the border czar, of course, telling the world, flexing muscle, we'll arrest anybody that gets in the way of our, of our immigration plans or our federal officers or ICE officers, and that includes elected officials. Yeah, we know. We've seen it. We've seen it. You've already arrested a judge and an elected official, a member of Congress in this, in this White House, and we're only like 150 days in to the White House. So let me, let me, let me go back to back again with the clips and you'll see as I started, when you spit, we hit permission for excessive force and brutality by law enforcement. No other way to read that and the loot and shoot comment back to back. Let's roll it. Do you first see those protests spreading to other cities, Chicago, New York, for example, in the next few days, we're.
Donald Trump
Going to be watching it very closely. And when they spit at people, you know, they spit. That's their new thing. They spit and worse, you know what they throw at them. Right. And when that happens, I have a little statement. They say they spit, we hit. And I told them, nobody's going to spit on our police officers. Nobody's going to spit on our military, which they do, is a common thing. They get up to them this far away and then they start spitting in their face. That happens. They get hit very hard.
Michael Popak
What are the rules?
Stephen Miller
Well, I've heard that phrase for a long time. I don't know where it came from, where it originated.
Michael Popak
I view that phrase 67 the Miami Police.
Stephen Miller
Well, I don't know. I've also heard from many other places, but I've heard it for a long time, as most people have. And frankly, it means when there's looting, people get shot and they die. And if you look at what happened last night and the night before, you see that it's very common. And that's the way that was meant and that's the way I think it was supposed to be meant. But I don't know where it came from. I don't know where it originated. I wouldn't know a thing like that. But I will say it's very accurate in the sense that when you do have looting, like you had last night. People often get shot and they die, and that's not good. And we don't want that to happen.
Michael Popak
All right, this is the same guy. This is the same guy. And then he tried to act in the second clip, like, well, I don't really know what that means. And I've heard it before. It just means, you know, when there's looting, shooting happens around it, and it's really sad. It shouldn't happen. But that. That's not what that means. And he knows it's not what it means. What it means is that's a permission slip for law enforcement to start blowing off heads with weapons to protect property. That's what that means. Right. We saw this on college campuses, a version of it during the 1960s and 1970s. You know, at Kent State in the 1970s, when people were peacefully protesting, hippies were peacefully protesting the Vietnam War, but they did not disperse in time yet. National Guard that killed people on the Kent State campus who were just doing peaceful protests. And we did a lot of soul searching during that period as a nation from an existential standpoint. And here we don't have time for soul searching. There's no time. Everything's being done at a high velocity and in real time. We're not at the soul searching stage. We're at the opposing a fascist dictatorship stage. But sometimes when they come heavy, we got to back up. I don't want to say come light, they come heavy. Show of force, show of peace. Not trying to match their M16s with our burning Waymo cars and rocks that go watch history. That doesn't work. Right. So we're going to have to take it down a notch in order to take it up a notch. Right? Or as Michelle Obama famously put it, when they go low, we got to go high. And going high here is not giving them the excuse for the crackdown. Get the National Guard out of California. That is of the utmost importance. We'll follow it all right here on the Midas Touch Network and on Legal AF.
Co-Host
Come on over to Legal AF, the YouTube channel.
Michael Popak
We're following this stuff closely every hour on the hour over on Legal AF, the YouTube channel. Hit the free subscribe button there. Legal AF, the substack. We sit at the intersection of law and politics. So you don't have to come over there. You're going to nerd out at everything we're posting there, including filings in courts and commentary and the rest. So until my next report, I'm Michael Popak. Can't get your fill of Legal af. Me neither. That's why we formed the Legal AF Substack. Every time we mention something in a hot take, whether it's a court filing or a oral argument, come over to the substack. You'll find the court filing and the oral argument there, including a daily roundup that I do called, Wait for It Morning af. What else? All the other contributors from Legal AO are there as well. We got some new reporting, we got interviews, we got ad free versions of the podcast and hot takes where Legal AF on Substack. Come over now to free subscribe. There are research firms, there are consulting firms, and then there's Forester.
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Legal AF Podcast Summary: "Trump Gives Unlawful Order That Can End His Term Quick"
Release Date: June 10, 2025
Hosts:
In the June 10, 2025 episode of Legal AF by MeidasTouch Network, hosts Ben Meiselas, Michael Popak, and Karen Friedman Agnifilo delve into a contentious and pivotal moment in American politics: former President Donald Trump's issuance of what they argue is an unlawful order pertaining to the deployment of the National Guard in California. The episode meticulously examines the legal and political ramifications of Trump's actions, drawing parallels to historical events and highlighting the potential consequences for his political future.
Michael Popak opens the discussion by addressing a recent statement made by Donald Trump at Camp David, where Trump seemingly incited excessive force against protesters in California. He states:
“When I heard him stand at Camp David... when Trump sent in... he used and paraphrased the phrase that's now gone down in civil rights history as being one of the most infamous lines mentioned by a law enforcement official.”
- Michael Popak, [02:30]
Popak draws a direct comparison between Trump's rhetoric and his infamous “When the looting starts, the shooting starts” comment from his previous term, suggesting a deliberate strategy to provoke confrontation.
The hosts explore the historical context of such rhetoric by referencing Trump's previous statements during the Black Lives Matter protests and the tragic events at Kent State in the 1970s. Popak emphasizes the dangerous precedent set by equating property protection with lethal force against civilians:
“What it means is that's a permission slip for law enforcement to start blowing off heads with weapons to protect property.”
- Michael Popak, [07:45]
The discussion highlights the potential misuse of the Insurrection Act, questioning the legality of Trump's order to mobilize the National Guard without state consent. Popak notes:
“Are you allowed to commandeer the National Guard and take it over? That's not as crystal clear as you would think.”
- Michael Popak, [07:15]
He underscores the ambiguity in legal interpretations, suggesting that the Supreme Court may need to intervene to clarify presidential powers in such scenarios.
A pivotal moment in the episode involves a clip of Stephen Miller, a key Trump advisor, defending Trump's "spit and hit" rhetoric. After Trump's speech, Miller comments:
“Well, I've heard that phrase for a long time... frankly, it means when there's looting, people get shot and they die.”
- Stephen Miller, [13:12]
Popak criticizes Miller’s attempt to downplay the statement, arguing that it is a clear endorsement of excessive force:
“That's not what it means. And he knows it's not what it means.”
- Michael Popak, [13:53]
This segment underscores the normalization of aggressive law enforcement tactics and their impact on civil liberties.
The episode shifts focus to California Governor Gavin Newsom's response to Trump's directive. Popak praises Newsom for his stance against what he terms unlawful interference:
“Gavin Newsom is doing his part to call out the illegal sending in of the National Guard by Donald Trump...”
- Michael Popak, [14:20]
Emphasizing the need for peaceful protest, the hosts advocate for a "Gandhi moment" reminiscent of Martin Luther King Jr.'s nonviolent resistance, contrasting it with past violent responses to protests.
Popak discusses the potential legal battles that may arise from Trump's actions, predicting extensive Supreme Court involvement and the creation of legal precedents:
“...entire law school textbooks devoted to Trump law... the Supreme Court.”
- Michael Popak, [07:50]
He cautions against allowing Trump's provocations to justify authoritarian measures, urging lawmakers and citizens to uphold democratic principles and resist escalating into lawlessness.
Towards the end of the episode, Popak encourages listeners to engage with the Legal AF community through their YouTube channel and Substack for ongoing updates and in-depth analysis:
“Until my next report, I'm Michael Popak. Can't get your fill of Legal AF. Me neither...”
- Michael Popak, [16:00]
He highlights the importance of staying informed and actively participating in legal and political discourse to counteract authoritarian tendencies.
The episode concludes with a somber reflection on the current state of American democracy, emphasizing the urgency to address and counteract divisive and unlawful political maneuvers. The hosts call for unity, legal scrutiny, and peaceful advocacy to safeguard civil liberties and uphold the rule of law.
Notable Quotes:
Michael Popak ([02:30]): “When I heard him stand at Camp David... as being one of the most infamous lines mentioned by a law enforcement official.”
Stephen Miller ([13:12]): “Frankly, it means when there's looting, people get shot and they die.”
Michael Popak ([07:45]): “What it means is that's a permission slip for law enforcement to start blowing off heads with weapons to protect property.”
Key Takeaways:
For more detailed analyses and real-time updates, listeners are encouraged to visit the Legal AF YouTube channel and subscribe to their Substack newsletter.