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Michael Popak
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Michael Popak
Although there's not one scintilla of proof to connect any of the attempted assassins of Donald Trump to Democratic Party rhetoric or those that criticize legitimately the Trump administration. That hasn't stopped the Trump administration in just the hours in the aftermath of the White House Correspondents Dinner to attack the left, to attack the Democratic Party and to claim that it is responsible for these attempted assassinations on Donald Trump without taking any personal responsibility for the cauldron of hate fomented by Donald Trump and his administration. It's the ultimate gaslighting and cover it here and Midas touch an unlegal af. I'm Michael Popak. Let's get to the bottom of it. Within moments of what happened at the White House Correspondents Dinner, Donald Trump took to the podium, try to take some sort of victory lap and argue that this was justification for his ballroom, that this was an unsafe place that was not secured by who? By by by his own government by people in his own administration. He runs the Secret Service. He runs the FBI. If there's incompetence surrounding him, it's his fault. Now, in terms of Cole Allen, the alleged assassin who was arraigned today, what his political leanings are or what motivated him to take up a shotgun, couple of handguns and a knife and go down to the White House correspondence dinner is left to future analysis and his defense team. He has a manifesto he wrote in his manifesto about his feelings about Donald Trump at one point, according to the manifesto, calling Donald Trump a rapist and a pedophile and taking matters in his into his own hands, he did not suggest that it was people like Jamie Raskin or elected officials or the members of Congress who encourage the military in a public service announcement not to follow illegal, unlawful commands of their commander in chief. None of it. In fact, there is no connection that's ever been established between the shooter of Charlie Kirk, shooter of Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, the attempted whatever that was supposed to be at a golf course in West Palm beach, and now this attempt a floor above the White House Correspondents dinner to get to Donald Trump. And yet, reflexively immediately, the White House decides they're going to use this for political grist to promote their policies of suppression of First Amendment, crushing First Amendment expression of speech, the freedom of the press, the Fourth Estate, and to try to curry favor and rehabilitate the image of a presidency that everyone who's been polled admits is failing and failed. Here's Carolyn Levitt. We're only less than 48 hours after the White House correspondence dinner, and here's Carolyn Levitt with her talking points or propaganda points about blaming, yes, members of the Democrat Party. By the way, note to Carolyn Levitt, the party is called the Democratic Party. Play the clip.
Carolyn Levitt
This political violence stems from a systemic demonization of him and his supporters by commentators. Yes, by elected members of the Democrat Party and even some in the media. This hateful and constant and violent rhetoric directed at President Trump day after day after day for 11 years has helped to legitimize this violence and bring us to this dark moment. Those who constantly falsely label and slander the president as a fascist, as a threat to democracy, and compare him to Hitler to score political points are fueling this kind of violence. The left wing cult of hatred against the president and all of those who support him and work for him has gotten multiple people hurt and killed and it almost did so again this weekend.
Michael Popak
Now, of course, this is right on cue. We just saw Dana, Dana Bash at cnn, which has now been captured by Donald Trump's right wing friends, the Ellison family, in a purchase last week. Go after Jamie Raskin and ask him if the political rhetoric of the Democratic Party is responsible for activating sleeper cells of political terrorists. I think the answer to that is a resounding no. But what is the purpose of trying to create a through line between the rhetoric and the attempted assassination? It is to crush dissent. See, every person must agree, fair minded person, a patriot, must agree that if we don't like the policies, if we don't like the laws, the assault on the rule of law, the assault on our Constitution, the assault on the separation of powers, the abuse of power by Donald Trump in real time. We are not only permitted to call it out, but we are commanded to do so by our Constitution and our obligation as fellow Americans and patriots. Because to sit by idly, quietly, silently bound and gagged, and allow Donald Trump to get away with this expansion of presidential power, these false claims of emergencies and national security matters in order to expand his presidential powers even beyond the outer limits allowed by the Supreme Court. If we were to allow all of that to happen and sit idly by, we would be complicit in the destruction of our democracy and the guardrails around it. That's exactly what Donald Trump wants to do in exploiting events like what happened on Saturday night. This is a playbook of Stephen Miller and those around Donald Trump. To exploit a moment of national crisis, a national tragedy that was averted, and use it for political gain. To distract from the underlying failures and lack of moral character of the president. To distract from the failures of that evening. Even Donald Trump had enough brains to say that that building isn't very secure. Whose idea was it to go to the Hilton for the correspondence dinner? And at the same time, which was the scene of Ronald Reagan getting clipped and almost assassinated, Donald Trump figured out that wasn't a secure building of two minutes after the event. And who in their right mind puts in one room so many people in the chain of succession under our Constitution and otherwise for the presidency. What idiot. Fill in the blank. Put TRUMP Number two, vice president number four, secretary of state, number five, treasury number six, secretary of defense number seven, attorney general in line to the throne, number eight, interior secretary number 12, health and human Services all in the same place. And then Carolyn Levitt said, no, we didn't have a Designated Survivor because there were a few people that were that weren't there. Play that clip.
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White House discussed doing like it does,
Carolyn Levitt
for instance, with a joint address to
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Congress for these large events and designating
Carolyn Levitt
someone as the Designated Survivor for future large events that the Cabinet attends. Well, those conversations ahead of the WAKA Dinner did take place, but there were several members of the Cabinet in the line of succession who did not attend for various personal reasons, so designating one Survivor was not necessary as we had several members who were not there already.
Michael Popak
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They also have Magic Spoon Treats, which are crispy airy snack bars with 12 grams of protein, 7 grams of fiber, 0 grams of added sugar and 2 to 3 grams of net carbs. Look for Magic Spoon on Amazon or at your nearest grocery store. And if you want to try something new, check out Magic Spoon's Protein Pastries. They're packed with protein and taste like the nostalgic toaster pastries you grew up with, but without all the sugar. You can get $5 off your next order, including the protein pastries at magicspoon.com legal that's magic spoon.com legal af for $5 off do you know what the succession statute says? You had the 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 and 12 all in the same room at the same time. This isn't that Fox show Designated Survivor where the what was he the Director of of Health and Human Services or the Interior becomes the President of the United States. What incompetent plan the security for that event. We know who it was. Trump and his FBI director accused of public drunkenness and excessive drinking and a secret Service heads, that's who. At the very same time we've got in order to make out the narrative that Donald Trump is doing to suppress dissent in America against his administration and blaming the Democrats, but no one else, for the politically heated moment that led to the attempted assassination. Once again deflecting attention from his own rhetoric, right? The salty language, the F bombs, the misogynistic comments, calling people disgusting, calling the press the enemy of the people. How soon we forget, right? Calling people stupid, undermining institutions, calling judges unelected Marxist activist criminals, going after their family, doxing them, going after reporters and the media, indicting the Southern Poverty Law center, issuing executive orders, making pariahs out of members of law and law firms, the media and the like, and then sit by and go because the Democrats respond with, with. With criticism, with appropriate First Amendment critics, criticism of his policies, we're to blame. See, a Donald Trump and his populist message can only get elected and reelected by putting Americans at each other's throats. See, Trump wants a seething cauldron of America. He doesn't want unity. He wants Americans to hate each other. And from that cauldron, he bubbles up. He doesn't want unity. He doesn't want harmony. He wants to pit American against American right and make his policies about the other and going after the other, whether the other is someone who's a transgender American, a black or brown American, a gay American, a Muslim American, a Jewish American. He goes after all the hyphens in order to get elected, reelected, scare the crap out of his base, his constituency, whatever's left of it. It's in shreds at his feet to try to get elected or reelected. And we call it out here through the prism, through the lens of independence of courage and conviction on the Midas Touch network on Legal AF YouTube channel. Because together we will support and protect and defend the democracy, the Constitution upon which it rests, the rule of law that is required for America to regain its foothold as the leader of the free world once again. See, I believe we can heal most of what Donald Trump has done in the first 16 months and beyond, when patriotic Americans and adults with gravitas come into office and public service and root out corruption and fix all of the policies and executive orders that Donald Trump put in place and take our place at the rightful head table of democracy and freedom around the world. And we will do it. And we will look back on this moment and we will say we were a part of the Midas Touch and Legal AF community. We were there. We are building and protecting our democracy with our bare hands, the only way we know how to do it together. I'm glad you're here. I'm Michael Popak Take a minute, hit the free subscribe button over here and on Legal AF until my next report, this is Michael 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
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Episode: Trump Plot after Shooting Instantly Emerges...
Date: April 28, 2026
Hosts: Michael Popok (national trial lawyer strategist, MeidasTouch Network)
Context: Immediate analysis after an attempted assassination of Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents Dinner, focusing on the Trump administration’s narrative, political implications, and legal realities.
This episode of Legal AF provides a critical legal and political breakdown of the aftermath following the attempted assassination of Donald Trump during the White House Correspondents Dinner. Host Michael Popok explores how the Trump administration and its allies instantly began blaming Democratic rhetoric, leveraging the crisis for political advantage, and deflecting responsibility for their own rhetoric and security failures. The episode navigates the intersection of law, political power, free speech, and efforts to suppress dissent.
“It’s the ultimate gaslighting... Within moments...Donald Trump took...a victory lap and argued this was justification for his ballroom...He runs the Secret Service. He runs the FBI. If there’s incompetence surrounding him, it’s his fault.” (01:29–02:37)
“He did not suggest that it was people like Jamie Raskin or elected officials...None of it. In fact, there is no connection that’s ever been established between the [various] shooters and Democratic rhetoric.” (03:22–04:06)
“This political violence stems from a systemic demonization of him and his supporters by commentators, yes, by elected members of the Democrat Party and even some in the media.”
— Carolyn Levitt (05:24)
“We are commanded [by the Constitution]...to call out...the abuse of power by Donald Trump in real time. To sit idly by...we would be complicit in the destruction of our democracy.” (06:29–07:07)
“Who in their right mind puts in one room so many people in the chain of succession under our Constitution?” (07:53)
“There were several members of the Cabinet in the line of succession who did not attend for various personal reasons, so designating one Survivor was not necessary.”
— Carolyn Levitt (10:04)
“This is a playbook...to exploit a moment of national crisis, a national tragedy that was averted, and use it for political gain. To distract from the underlying failures and lack of moral character of the president.” (08:15)
“How soon we forget...calling people stupid, undermining institutions, calling judges unelected Marxist activist criminals, going after their family, doxing them, going after reporters and the media, indicting the Southern Poverty Law center, issuing executive orders, making pariahs out of members of law and law firms, the media and the like...” (12:53)
“Trump wants a seething cauldron of America. He doesn’t want unity. He wants Americans to hate each other. And from that cauldron, he bubbles up.” (13:44)
“We are building and protecting our democracy with our bare hands, the only way we know how to do it—together.” (16:35)
01:29 – Trump Administration Gaslighting
"It hasn’t stopped the Trump administration ... to attack the left, to attack the Democratic Party and to claim that it is responsible for these attempted assassinations on Donald Trump without taking any personal responsibility..."
— Michael Popok
05:24 – Blame Laid on Democrats & Media
"This hateful and constant and violent rhetoric directed at President Trump day after day after day ... has helped to legitimize this violence and bring us to this dark moment."
— Carolyn Levitt
06:29 – Necessity of Dissent
"We are not only permitted to call it out, but we are commanded to do so by our Constitution and our obligation as fellow Americans and patriots."
— Michael Popok
07:53 – Security Blame Ironic
“Whose idea was it to go to the Hilton for the correspondence dinner? ... What idiot ... put Trump number two, vice president number four ... all in the same place?”
— Michael Popok
10:04 – Designated Survivor Excuse
"Those conversations ... did take place, but there were several members of the Cabinet in the line of succession who did not attend ... so designating one Survivor was not necessary."
— Carolyn Levitt
13:44 – Deliberate Division
"Trump wants a seething cauldron of America. He doesn’t want unity. He wants Americans to hate each other..."
— Michael Popok
16:35 – Hopeful Closing
"We are building and protecting our democracy with our bare hands, the only way we know how to do it—together."
— Michael Popok
This episode underscores the importance of vigilance, factual clarity, and the defense of democratic norms in moments of national crisis. With sharp legal acumen and passionate rhetoric, Popok and the MeidasTouch team challenge listeners to reject gaslighting, support constitutional dissent, and act together to protect American democracy.
For a fuller, unfiltered narrative in the panel’s own words, listen to the complete episode on the MeidasTouch Network or subscribe for ongoing analysis on Legal AF.