← Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
Trump Inauguration Debrief; January 6th Pardons; Day One Executive Orders; Biden Pardons His Family; College Football National Champs
00:45:38
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- [00:00]
Nicole Lapin
Doesn't it feel like every time you step out the door you have to pay a fee? I mean, it is nuts. I've been traveling a lot for the holidays and the amount of fees I pay just to get from point A to point B, it is mind boggling and it makes it really hard to stick with my spending plan. When we're trying to make progress. Life's curve balls often feel like taking one step forward and two steps back. A Chime checking account makes financial progress easier with features like no maintenance fees, fee free overdraft up to $200, or getting paid up to two days early with direct deposit. Learn more at chime.com@chime.com MNN you'll learn more about the fee free overdraft up to $200 and let me tell you, that is such a game changer. Historically, overdraft fees has also been something that's made it hard for me to stick to my spending plan. But the fact that Chime allows you to overdraft up to $200 with no fees makes it so much easier for me to actually stay on budget. Make progress towards a better financial future with Chime Open your account in two minutes@chime.com MNN that's chime.com MNN Chime feels like progress Banking services and debit card provided by the Bancorp Bank NA or Stride Bank NA members. FDIC SpotMe eligibility requirements and overdraft limits apply. Boosts are available to eligible CHIME members enrolled in Spotme and are subject to monthly limits. Timing depends on submission of payment file Fees apply at out of network ATMs Nurse hey guys, if you're anything like me, you've got a lot on your plate this new year. You've got college reunions to plan, what feels like a hundred destination weddings to book travel for, and a gym membership that just needs to be used like once or twice. Good thing our sponsor, NerdWallet is here to take one thing off your plate. Finding the best financial products, introducing NerdWallet's 2025 Best of Awards. List your shortcut to the best credit cards, savings, savings accounts, and more. The nerds have done the work for you, researching and reviewing over 1100 financial products to bring you only the best of the best. Looking for a lower rate on your auto insurance? They've got a winner for that. Or a balance transfer credit card with a 0% APR? They've got a winner for that too. No, you're getting the best products for you without doing all that research yourself. So let NerdWallet do the heavy lifting for your finances this year and head over to their 2025 Best of Awards at NerdWallet.com aw. To find the best financial products today.
- [02:28]
Jill Wagner
I'm Nicole Lapin, the only financial expert.
- [02:30]
Nicole Lapin
You don't need a dictionary to understand.
- [02:33]
Jill Wagner
It's time for some Money Rehab.
- [02:42]
Moshe Wenunu
Hi, this is Moshwanunu, the MO from MO News. If you're familiar with us on Instagram or our podcast, I'm a longtime TV news producer who launched an independent news brand just a few years ago. As you know, Nicole is on maternity leave. So this week my co host Jill and I are guest hosting Money Rehab. Each day we're going to be sharing the latest episode of MO News right here on the Money Rehab feed. So you guys get the news you need to know every day this week. Here's today's episode. Hey everybody. It is Tuesday, January 21, 2025. You're listening to the Mo News Podcast. I'm Moshe Wenunu.
- [03:17]
Jill Wagner
And I am Jill Wagner. This is the place where we bring you just the facts and we read.
- [03:21]
Moshe Wenunu
All the news and read between the lines so you don't have to and cover history on Monday, a huge day in American history with the inauguration of Donald Trump again.
- [03:31]
Jill Wagner
And Moshe, we are recording with me in New York and you are still.
- [03:34]
Moshe Wenunu
In Washington, D.C. yeah, making my way back late Monday, but still was in D.C. for this sort of wah wah inauguration because it wasn't out on the National Mall, it was indoors. Still lots of Trump supporters around town talking to them. Super pumped, super excited. The line from a number of them, America is back. They were excited about the weekend, the festivities, a number of inaugural balls last night as sort of the high priced donors were celebrating in black tie last night. But already Trump got to business within minutes of the inauguration yesterday.
- [04:15]
Jill Wagner
Yeah. So let's get to some news here. Donald Trump is officially the president again and off to a quick start with a number of executive orders. We'll recap the inauguration and what's next for his presidency. First, on immigration, declaring a national emergency at the southern border as immigration agents prepare for a crackdown on undocumented criminals in Chicago today, the president issued a Sweeping Pardon, roughly 1,500 criminal defendants charged in the January 6 Capitol attack. Plus, Trump declares a national energy emergency and signs executive orders proclaiming that there are only two biological sexes and halting diversity and inclusion programs in the government. Finally, Trump announced he'll rename the Gulf of Mexico and Mount Denali.
- [05:01]
Moshe Wenunu
Jill we'll tell you about what's behind that, including the renaming of America's tallest mountain.
- [05:08]
Jill Wagner
And right before leaving office, Joe Biden issues a number of controversial last minute pardons, including to several family members.
- [05:16]
Moshe Wenunu
Yeah, literally announced just minutes to go. His people put it out. Jill. There are a number of Democrats that are very unhappy about the optics of this. The decision here, by the way, it wasn't just limited to his family. Fauci got a pardon. We'll explain it.
- [05:30]
Jill Wagner
Another excuse for us to say you get a pardon, you get a pardon.
- [05:34]
Moshe Wenunu
You get a pardon, everybody got. Jill didn't get a pardon and Biden didn't pardon himself, but the rest of the family got him.
- [05:40]
Jill Wagner
And last, we'll have a recap of the College Football Playoff national championship. And Moshe has on this day in.
- [05:45]
Moshe Wenunu
History, Jill, a historic moment on this day in 2020 that I'll remind you of even though we probably don't want to remember.
- [05:53]
Jill Wagner
All right. At 12:00pm Eastern time on Monday, Donald Trump officially became the nation's 47th president. On Monday, in the Capitol Rotunda, Trump recited the 35 word presidential oath of office administered by Chief Justice John Roberts. He hit the ground running, signing a number of executive orders within minutes of taking the oath of office, but not before he took the stage for a nearly 30 minute inaugural speech, where he began by painting a picture of an America that needs saving. He took aim at the Biden administration, saying, our nation has suffered greatly in recent years. And he vowed to bring about an America that is respected, admired, prosperous and strong. Similar to his speech in 2017, he spent time focused on calling out what he believes were the flaws of the previous administration. As he stood several feet from outgoing President Biden and Vice President Harris, Trump talked about ushering in a golden age of America, promising a new chapter of his America first agenda. In fact, the two most popular words in the speech, America and American, he said them 41 times combined. So let's hear some of it.
- [06:59]
Donald Trump
The golden age of America begins right now. From this day forward, our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world. We will be the envy of every nation and we will not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any longer. In recent years, our nation has suffered greatly, but we are going to bring it back and make it great again, greater than ever before. We will be a nation like no other, full of compassion, courage and exceptionalism.
- [07:32]
Jill Wagner
Moshe I was one of the millions of people watching from home.
- [07:36]
Moshe Wenunu
It was most of us, Jill, as we all only like 800 people in the Rotunda.
- [07:40]
Jill Wagner
But as Trump was just going off on what horrible shape the country is in, and without naming Biden and Harris really taking aim at them, I felt awkward for, like everybody in there. Is this a normal thing that incoming presidents do while the outgoing president is sitting five feet from them?
- [07:58]
Moshe Wenunu
No. We've had very contentious elections in years past, but typically in the inaugural, it's about looking forward, what they're going to do. Less a campaign style indictment of the previous administration. But this is Trump style, right? He did this in front of Obama in 2017, talking about the American carnage that laid before him from the Obama administration in 2017. Now eight years later, slightly lighter touch here, I guess from Trump this time, but nonetheless, going after Biden and you know, you could see Biden kind of like looking down at the ground and they were indoors, so, like, much closer than they would have been if they had this kind of typical setup outdoors. So again, could Trump have probably just focused on what he was going to do without just like trashing the guy he just beat? No, but such is his way, right? Sort of like, don't let the door hit you on the way out, but I'm going to hit you a couple of times with it as we're leaving here. Even though he engaged in these niceties and riding to the Capitol together and they had tea together, you know, Biden brought back these traditions that exist. Nonetheless, Trump had choice words for Biden in his inaugural address.
- [09:10]
Jill Wagner
He did spend most of the speech giving very specific details about executive orders he signed on his first day in office, laying out the priorities of his administration. A list of many initiatives he ran on he is already engaged in. He called these executive orders the complete restoration of America and the revolution of common sense. He vowed to declare a national emergency at the border and send troops down to stop illegal immigration. He immediately shut down the CBP1 app that allowed asylum seekers to begin the process of entering America. He also declared a national energy emergency and said the government would end diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. We're going to get into those specifics later, along with some of the executive orders that he signed on his first day. It is also worth noting who else was on screen during Trump's speech to the nation. Sitting behind him on stage were members of his family, some of his cabinet picks, and the former presidents and vice presidents. Prominent seats on stage also went to tech CEO billionaires, who in some cases were sitting in front of his cabinet members. Mind you, Trump had to move his inauguration indoors because of record cold temperatures in Washington. So seats were limited to several hundred people, as opposed to thousands that could have watched had it been held outside. There was an overflow room in the Capitol. Crowds were invited to watch in DC's Capital One Arena. So these were hot tickets amongst the many Trump allies and donors. And only some very special people were given the look. Mosh, who stuck out to you.
- [10:38]
Moshe Wenunu
So it was notable for those tech CEOs, right? Elon Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO who spent hundreds of millions of dollars to support Trump and is co running Doge, though it looks like he's running Doge on his own now. Vivek Ramaswamy, reportedly now done with Doge before it even got started, is headed back to Ohio after some internal issues there.
- [10:57]
Jill Wagner
So Moshe, you and I have made predictions about how long certain Trump relationships were going to last. You're saying Vivek Ramaswamy didn't make it through day one?
- [11:07]
Moshe Wenunu
No, no, he does not appear so based on the reporting here, it looks like in the in the battle of Elon versus Vivek. Vivek is already out at Doge and we'll continue to watch all of this. But back to the tech CEOs here. In addition to Musk, in that row is Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder, along with his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez. They donated to the inaugural fund. Also they're Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla. We've noted that Zuckerberg also donated to the inaugural fund and has made a point of making some moves in recent weeks to try to engender goodwill with the new administration, including dropping fact checking, putting a couple Trump buddies on the Meta board, doing the interview with Joe Rogan, where he went after Joe Biden, among several things. Also there, the Apple CEO Tim Cook, the Google co founder Sergey Brin, the TikTok boss Shozi Chu, the OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, again sitting in the row in front of the Cabinet like Marco Rubio, had a worse seat than Jeff Bezos if you looked behind him. Also notable, a number of top donors. Mariam Adelson, the casino magnate, wife of Sheldon Adelson, who passed away. Mary Adelson I think gave more than $100 million, if not closer to 200 for the campaign here. So she had a very prominent seat there. Now we've always seen sort of prominent CEOs and business leaders potentially attend inaugurations here, but never seated like this, this prominently in that Cabinet row. You did see the number of cabinet nominees there, including those were still waiting for a hearing, like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Pam Bondi was nominated for AG Cash, Patel nominated for FBI Director, Doug Burgum among several others there. And then there were like the overflow rooms in the Capitol where even governors and spouses of members of Congress, etc were seated there. And then Trump went to go visit with them. But the fact that these tech CEOs, some of these donors, et cetera, were in the room where it happened, pretty remarkable given that there's just a couple hundred of them in there. A reminder, we haven't seen an indoor ceremony like this since 1985, since the second Reagan inaugural. You noted the cold temps, Jill. You know, it was cold, but like, was it as cold as Obama was in 09? Sure it is. Leading the questions as to whether crowd size was really the issue here, given that a number of hotels were not even fully booked here. And so whether, you know, we had mentioned security is a potential issue. Haven't seen more on that. A crowd size weighing potentially here on Trump, even though he won't admit it openly, you know, especially given how cold it is, how many people are he's going to have on the mall. We know how important crowd size is to him. There were the comparisons between the Obama inaugural and the first Trump. This is now the second Trump. There wasn't that much buzz. So the feeling even among Republicans and Trump supporters as I spoke to him was like, yeah, this is probably a crowd size thing, meaning that he was.
- [14:01]
Jill Wagner
Given the choice and chose to do it inside because he was nervous that the crowd size wouldn't be.
- [14:06]
Moshe Wenunu
I mean, presidents have a choice to do wherever they want in the world, you know, you know, like you're the president, this is your inauguration. Where would you like to hold it? So he made the choice on Friday to move it inside, noting the weather. But certainly there are folks who believe weather didn't wasn't the only issue as far as this. And Trump really had a unique day yesterday. We haven't seen a inauguration like this again in 40 years. And then he went to the arena and addressed fans where he then signed executive orders in front of them. Was an interesting contrast though, that ceremony. You know, Trump officially is the oldest person to be inaugurated as president. He's actually several months older than Biden was four years ago. And then in contrast, you had a 40 year old J.D. vance, the third youngest ever VP in American history behind Teddy Roosevelt and Richard Nixon when Nixon was Eisenhower's vp. So he was there. You know, he had his daughter behind him adorably like sucking her thumb like he's got a Very young family. He's only 40 years old. So notable contrast, there's the man who's a heartbeat away from the presidency, happens to be the third youngest, whereas the president, technically the oldest to ever take the oath of office.
- [15:11]
Jill Wagner
Notably, Trump did not highlight tech that much in his speech, although he did give a shout out to Elon Musk, in a sense, when he mentioned his ambitions to plant a US flag on Mars. After Trump's speech, Carrie Underwood sang America the Beautiful Acapella after a technical difficulty so you could briefly hear the music. Then it cut out. She waited more than a minute for the music to come back, during which time the camera was cutting to various people kind of, like, smirking and being awkward. It was a very strange thing, like.
- [15:42]
Moshe Wenunu
Like, just suddenly there was a huge tech issue until she was like, you know what? We know the words. Let's just do this. Like, let's not wait any longer.
- [15:51]
Jill Wagner
But I felt like it was one of those, like, tech CEOs. They're just like us. Because they were all, like, awkward. And, like, I felt like I was doing that myself, watching. Kind of like, oh, my God, what's going to happen now? Elon Musk was gig. Yes, Guy, maybe we're immature, but.
- [16:05]
Moshe Wenunu
But more power to Carrie Underwood there. Some artists might not have been willing to do it, but she knows her voice. She knows she has her voice, and she did an incredible rendition, in fact.
- [16:14]
Jill Wagner
Based on the one or two seconds of the music that played, it sounded like what she did. Acapella was more powerful than it would have been had she sang over the band. As we mentioned before, earlier in the day, the Bidens revived the tradition of the outgoing first couple hosting the incoming first couple for tea in 2021. Trump did not attend Biden's inauguration. Also, they took part in the tradition of Biden and Trump riding to the Capitol together in the presidential limo. It came as you saw Obama, Bush, Clinton, all in attendance, none of whom feel very warmly about Trump, none of.
- [16:48]
Moshe Wenunu
Whom feel warmly about Trump, Some who literally, you know, Hillary snickered at times at some of the things Trump was saying in his speech. Now she's had to watch him get inaugurated twice after losing the presidency. But nonetheless, this feeling, despite everything that was said during the campaign trail, despite saying, this guy's a fascist, he's going to ruin democracy. They were all there, minus Michelle Obama, who stayed in Hawaii. As I mentioned, the camera would pan at times to Biden and former VP Kamala Harris a lot during the speech. They were cordial. They clapped at times smiled, stood when crowds stood, nonetheless. Got to be zoning at a time like that, right? Just being like, oh, my God, like I can't believe what I'm watching before, you know, Kamala Harris thinking she could have beat him. I mean, Biden still said in interviews as recently as last week, I totally could have beaten this guy and made part of his legacy, like, you know, ensuring that Trump would not return to the White House again. So a lot of probably complex thoughts happening in their mind as this goes on. And then you do see like Trump's smile and the smiles of his family, the, the feeling from them that they're back watching. George W. Bush sort of has that 10 year old boy energy at a family event at times, like just making weird facial expressions, et cetera. Like watching Prince Louis out in the uk.
- [18:03]
Jill Wagner
As soon as he walked onto the podium, he gave somebody like a very aggressive wink. It was just great. It was classic.
- [18:10]
Moshe Wenunu
He's w. He's w. As I mentioned, Hillary Clinton cracked up specifically when Trump announced he was renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. She could not help herself but to laugh to the point where I think Bill looked over at her towards the end being like, all right, you know.
- [18:23]
Jill Wagner
Like, get it together, like your former Secretary of State, former first lady, former senator.
- [18:28]
Moshe Wenunu
We, we knew this part was coming. We knew this part was coming. And then the revival of the tradition. The Bidens walking out of the Capitol, the Trumps and the Vance is waving at them as they flew off in the Marine One helicopter, though it was not called Marine One because he's the former president. It's a special air mission, something. And then he got to take the presidential jet, California, where they're staying out there. And it just so happens that Biden is staying at the estate of a billionaire Democratic donor out there in Santa Ines, California. And that's all she wrote for Joe Biden for now.
- [19:01]
Jill Wagner
After the official inauguration ceremony, Trump headed to meet supporters in an overflow area of the Capitol, which is where he really let loose, talking about some of the agenda items that he didn't mention in his official inauguration speech. And that includes a Nod to the January 6 rioters, saying that they'll be happy with his actions, suggesting that he may pardon them. He then criticized Joe Biden for some of the pardons that he had made, including former Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinziger, who were the only Republicans on the House Select Committee for January six.
- [19:31]
Donald Trump
Why are we helping some of the people? Why are we helping Liz Cheney? I mean, Liz Cheney is a disaster. She's a crying lunatic. And crying, crying. Adam Kinzinger, he's a super. Crying. I never saw the guy not crying. He's always crying. I look at him, I remember years ago, he was actually on my side. And then one day, you know, when you don't want to kill people in wars, they turn against you.
- [19:53]
Moshe Wenunu
So, Jill, I don't know what he's talking about, the crying. I've never seen Adam Kin cry.
- [19:57]
Jill Wagner
Nonetheless, I've seen him a lot, by the way. Like, I've seen.
- [20:00]
Moshe Wenunu
He's on like, CNN all the time. Anyway, this is the, the speech Trump wanted to give. In fact, he said as much in the speech. He's like, you know, they made me be all presidential for my inaugural speech. Then he walks downstairs to give this speech, unfiltered, upset about the Biden last second pardons. We'll talk about those in a little bit here. In the podcast, he said that the Vance has tapered his language a bit and made him talk about unity for the official, official speech. And then he goes and gives this speech, which is sort of the raw, unfiltered Trump that you normally got at his campaign rallies, where he's like, can you believe they did this? Can you believe they did that? And this is really what I'm going to do.
- [20:35]
Jill Wagner
I love that he thought that his inauguration speech was unifying by, by his.
- [20:40]
Moshe Wenunu
Standards, by Trump standards. Right. Because he normally gives the kind of like, you know, just going after everybody's speech, which is the after speech that he gave off the cuff there in a different part of the Capitol.
- [20:52]
Jill Wagner
Trump then went to Capitol One arena, signing executive orders in front of a crowd of 20,000, along with his family. So that replaced the inaugural parade that was intended for supporters. It was moved inside because it was just too cold. And then after returning to the White House Monday evening, President Trump pardoned about 1500 people who stormed Capitol on January 6, 2021, amid Trump's false accusations that the 2020 election was rigged against him. He also commuted the sentences of 14 of his supporters in connection with the attack. And that includes individuals associated with the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers like Enrique Tario, that is the Proud Boys leader, who is convicted of seditious conspiracy. Tario was serving 22 years in federal prison. Trump's actions include, quote, full, complete and unconditional pardons for some most notorious participants in the attack, including others convicted of assaulting police, destroying property, carrying firearms, or otherwise contributing to the violent rampage. The president also ordered the Justice Department to Shut down hundreds of pending January 6th prosecutions. Okay, now to the speed read where we're going to dive a bit deeper into some of the immediate moves that Trump is making. In his inaugural speech, the president announced his first executive order will be to declare an national emergency at the southern border. He also announced he'll reinstate what is called the remain in Mexico policy from his first term, which requires migrants to stay in Mexico until their US Immigration court date, which critics have argued exposes them to danger. As part of his immigration agenda, Trump said all illegal entry will be immediately halted. He's going to send troops to the southern border and officially designate cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. Also today, through executive order, Trump said he'll invoke the Alien enemies Act of 1798, which gives presidential powers to detain non citizens during times of war to, quote, eliminate the presence of foreign gangs and criminal networks, bringing devastating crime to US Soil. So most migrants who were waiting in Mexico to enter the US and they had appointments with the Biden administration's CBP1 app that we had mentioned earlier. That app went offline at 12pm yesterday as Trump was being sworn in. And there are some images online where you see some of those migrants in tears, breaking down in tears after they were so close to coming into the United States.
- [23:21]
Moshe Wenunu
Yeah, though we've heard this from the Trump administration from the moment they won in November that they were shutting this thing down, not to expect anything. And so ultimately here it's going to be a very hard at this juncture be seeking asylum here in the US as the Trump administration looks to do the exact opposite in terms of letting people into the country. In fact, their focus is not only not letting folks in the country, but beginning mass deportations still. Then there's a 1798 Alien Enemies act which Trump mentioned, the more than 200 year old law. This is going to face legal issues, the same thing we saw first time around. The Trump folks feel like they haven't figured out this go around that everything they did was sort of haphazard eight years ago. They've had time to think it through. Nonetheless. Still controversial to bring back a law from the John Adams administration here. But we'll see what judges rule, how judges rule on these various provisions that remain in Mexico policy that was actually created by Trump implemented back in 2019, it resulted in tens of thousands of migrants waiting for extended periods in Mexico. Known formally as the Migrant Protection Protocol, it was criticized for pushing migrants into camps there in Mexico. But the criticism from the Trump folks has Been. Why are they allowed to wait here in the US While we determine their asylum claim and safety, etcetera, but remain in Mexico? Also controversial. Well, for obvious reasons in Mexico, since many of these folks are not from Mexico but from other countries and they're remaining in Mexico there the rhetoric here from the Trump administration, very serious. Stephen Miller, the White House Deputy chief of staff, he's back again. You might might remember him from the first go around. He wrote very simply on X yesterday, all illegal aliens seeking entry into the US should turn back now. Anyone entering the US without authorization faces prosecution and expulsion. Now, a reminder here, it's one of the reasons Trump was elected. When you look at polling, nearly two thirds of Americans, including a majority of Hispanics, nearly half of Democrats, support deporting people who entered the country illegally. In the last four years, roughly two and a half million migrants alone entered and just in 2023 alone, record numbers over these last four years. So Trump has promised the largest mass deportation in history. It's extremely popular. 87% of Americans, 9 out of 10 support deporting undocumented migrants with a criminal record. And that's something, Jill. We're seeing support from the New York City mayor, Democrat, we're seeing support from the Colorado governor, a Democrat, especially when it comes to anyone who is here illegally with a criminal record.
- [25:53]
Jill Wagner
President Elect Trump's administration plans to initiate a large scale deportation operation targeting illegal immigrants in Chicago, and that starts today. The operation involves 100 to 200 ICE agents who will focus on individuals with criminal histories and removal orders. But anyone in the country illegally could be targeted, according to the incoming border czar, Tom Homan. Homan said that public safety threats and fugitives are priorities, but that no illegal immigrant is off the table.
- [26:20]
Moshe Wenunu
Now, that focus on Chicago, we'll be watching that very closely today. The mayor there has pledged to maintain the city's sanctuary status, so how these raids work will be interesting to watch. Now, the governor in Illinois, a Democrat, Pritzker, has said they will protect non criminal undocumented residents. But anyone who's committed a crime here, even if it's like driving without a license, shoplifting, et cetera, you know, you saw that they passed the Lake and Riley act recently with the Republican Congress. Ultimately, again, you see major support here, even from Democrats. So Chicago will be the center of all of this today. I imagine we'll see in other cities in the coming days and weeks. Here Trump is going to fulfill or try to fulfill his promises on the border. He's talked about clarifying the role of the military on the border using the National Guard. He's talked about declaring a national emergency here as one of his provisions designating the drug cartels in Mexico as terrorists. Now, that does have an impact when you designate them as terrorists. That now means more people can claim asylum because they're like, well, I live in Mexico amongst terrorists now that you've declared the drug cartels terrorists, so you're obligated to take me in as an asylum seeker in the U.S. so some folks who know the law are, are worried about going ahead and designated the criminal cartels as terrorists. He's talked about also ending birthright citizenship. We didn't hear it in the inaugural speech, but we may be hearing it in the coming days here. What does that mean, ending birthright citizenship? Well, the 14th Amendment to the Constitution declares that if you are born in America, you are an American citizen, even if your parents are not. Now, Trump says he wants to end that, meaning if parents are here illegally or didn't follow a process or happen to be here as tourists. Just because you're born here doesn't mean you get citizenship again. The law says otherwise has been adjudicated by the supreme court. So the 14th amendment, birthright citizenship fight among the many things we'll be watching on all things immigration.
- [28:18]
Jill Wagner
The second priority for President Trump is to declare a national energy emergency. During his inaugural speech, he vowed to rapidly bring down costs and defeat inflation caused by, quote, massive overspending and escalating energy prices. He said America will use its large reserves of oil and gas to bring down prices and enrich the nation. As we've reported here many times, the US Is currently the largest producer of crude oil in the world. But here he is at the inauguration.
- [28:45]
Donald Trump
Yesterday, the inflation crisis was caused by massive overspending and escalating energy prices. And that is why today I will also declare a national energy emergency. We will drill, baby. Dr. America will be a manufacturing nation once again. And we have something that no other manufacturing nation will ever have. The largest amount of oil and gas of any country on Earth, and we are going to use it.
- [29:25]
Moshe Wenunu
So, as we've told you on this podcast before, this all comes as the US has never produced more oil and more gas than it has in the last couple years. The US has produced more than any other country has on Earth in history. But Trump says here it can be doing even more. So he's talked about more drilling on federal lands. He's talked about refining more capacity here. Now we'll see how the energy companies feel about this, remember that with more supply, prices go down, especially if demand doesn't increase. So we'll see if they push back on all at. Drill, baby, drill. And then when it comes to energy, there's clean energy. Trump has vowed to put an end to the EV mandates and some of the clean energy provisions that Biden enacted and passed as part of the Inflation Reduction act in recent years. Though it's interesting, very strategically, the Democrats and Biden here made sure that a lot of these clean energy programs, the development of which are in red states and money goes into red states, Republican states, meaning there's a lot of Republicans now or people employed in Republican majority states who now have jobs, who are doing very well off of clean energy. Dems did this purposefully. So while they talk, you know, very simply of, you know, rescinding everything that Biden did when it came to clean energy, they're going to be Republicans in Congress, they're going to be Republican governors out there who are like, wait, actually, can we keep a couple of these things? Because it turns out that clean energy is cheaper in some cases. You're finding this out in Texas, some other places than traditional energy. So it'll be interesting to see how the clean energy thing crumbles here or doesn't, depending on what people are discovering was actually built up over the last couple of years.
- [31:06]
Jill Wagner
Yeah. By the way, late Monday, he confirmed that he'd be pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord.
- [31:10]
Moshe Wenunu
Yeah, the Paris Climate Accord. We were in it under Obama. Trump pulled us out of it. Biden put us back in it. It obligates us to a number of promises related to clean energy. Now, a number of those promises states and cities are promising on their own. But nonetheless, this is something Trump promised to do, which is take us out of the International Climate Agreement officially.
- [31:32]
Jill Wagner
Now to another declaration. During Trump's speech, he said that the official government policy will be that there are only two genders in the United States, male and female. Later, he signed an executive order instructing the State Department and Department of Homeland Security to remove non binary and other options from federal documents. An official from his administration claimed that this is to protect women from gender ideology extremism. The order will also prevent taxpayer money from being used for health care related to gender transitions. He also announced that he would sign an executive order ending diversity, equity and inclusion efforts within the federal government. Here's how he put it this week.
- [32:12]
Donald Trump
I will also end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life. We will forge a society that is colorblind and merit based.
- [32:36]
Moshe Wenunu
Now, remember here Trump ran anti woke anti trans literally. One of the ads that they say was most effective was the one that read Harris is for they them. Trump is for you. The executive actions here are expected to rescind the 2023 Biden policies related to the treatment of transgender individuals in the federal workplace. Remember, in 2022, the Biden administration allowed U.S. citizens to be able to select the gender neutral X as a marker on their passports as opposed to male and female. The order will prevent taxpayer funds from being used for gender transition health care or add a privacy and intimate spaces in facilities like prisons, migrant shelters, rape shelters. Now, civil rights organizations are reacting to all of this. They say they're filing a whole bunch of lawsuits, that it's not just simple with a wave of a pen here, that Trump can do all of this, that transgender Americans have equal protection rights. That said, at the same time, you do have legal experts who say it is as simple as some of these executive orders. At least a certain aspect here, that while they can be challenged in court, the administration can implement these orders immediately, especially when it comes to moving transgender individuals into spaces that align with their birth sex as opposed to their current gender identity. That means, for example, trans women serving time in women's prisons could in short order be moved to male prisons. Again, Jill, you know, we're noting just within hours of taking office, Trump, you know, implementing a lot of things very quickly.
- [34:08]
Jill Wagner
President Trump also used the podium to talk about his ever growing US Expansion plan, including saying that he plans to regain control of the Panama Canal. He also talked about sending American astronauts to the planet Mars in his inaugural address, envisioning a moment when the US Flag is planted on Martian soil. The audience broke into applause and Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and the world's richest man, was spotted giving two enthusiastic thumbs up. Musk has been a long standing proponent of trying to colonize. And finally, Trump said he plans to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. An idea that he first floated a couple of weeks ago.
- [34:46]
Moshe Wenunu
He floated it and now it's official, at least as far as the US Government is concerned. Jill, it'll be interesting to see how many red state education departments pick up on this and literally start changing it in textbooks.
- [34:59]
Jill Wagner
Yeah, the map companies have to be happy.
- [35:02]
Moshe Wenunu
Well, the map companies don't have to do this. Like ultimately this is a government thing. So the State Department, when they put out a press release related to the Gulf of Mexico, they now have to use the term Gulf of America. The private companies, foreign countries, they don't have to use the term, but it's a matter of, you know, the government that Donald Trump currently oversees, that's what he has now officially declared it. Now, imagine there'll be a lawsuit related to that as well. But it's, it's within his power to do that.
- [35:28]
Jill Wagner
He also plans to revert Alaska's Denali mountain back to Mount McKinley. In 2015. President Obama restored the name Denali, which was the title used by Alaskan native tribes for centuries before that. It had been referred to as Mount McKinley since 1917, when it was renamed to honor the former President William McKinley.
- [35:49]
Moshe Wenunu
Yeah, so it was Mount Denali, then Mount McKinley, and then Obama made it Mount Denali again, and now Trump is going to make it Mount McKinley again. This has been a big thing for Trump, you know, restoring certain names here, despite they were trying to do this on behalf of the natives who live there. And then there's the larger thing, right? You know, you're talking about the Panama Canal and Greenland and Canada and all this stuff going back several presidents now. You know, Even Bush pre 911 was talking about approaching the world humbly. Now, of course, after 9 11, you know, Bush went in U.S. policy for a bit there was trying to remake certain adversary countries as democracies, but that didn't quite work out for us. So a number of presidents now have been talked about a more humble American foreign policy. And Trump for the most part, has talked about no new wars here, except kind of post election. He's talked about Canada as the 51st state taking Greenland, reclaiming the Panama Canal. Now, how he's going to do all of that, given he's promising no new wars. Complicated, right? How do you take back the Panama Canal short of invasion, given that Panama is like, yeah, no, it's our canal now. You know, thanks for building out a centuries ago. But then you promised it to us and you gave it to us in the 90s. Greenland's like, you know, we're not for sale. We are looking to be independent potentially. So how is that going to happen? Canada is saying, yeah, we're not really interested in becoming the 51st state. We're our own country. We have our own sovereignty here. So, you know, Trump has his own concerns in regards to economic measures. He's got his concerns when it comes to Greenland and the mineral rights there and the Chinese interest there in the Panama Canal. The big issue is the Chinese increasing role in the ports and Canal there and what it means for national security and economics. So there's legitimate concerns when it comes to U.S. foreign policy. But he's, you know, just declaring things like we're going to reclaim the Panama Canal, that that's a piece of territory in a foreign country. So it's unclear how he's going to do that. Jill, I should note we're going to be focused, doing a deep dive on that over on Modus Premium and all things Panama Canal, Greenland, the American expansion plan under Trump, what it may include and how it may go down, because we're still trying to figure it out over here.
- [37:57]
Jill Wagner
And this from cnn. Joe Biden making some controversial last minute news as he left office and headed into Trump's inauguration. The former president issued some unprecedented preemptive pardons for five members of his family. His team cited his concerns about politically motivated attacks and investigations from incoming President Donald Trump. In his last statement as president, Biden said, quote, my family has been subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats motivated solely by a desire to hurt me. The worst kind of partisan politics. Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe that these attacks will end. The pardons were granted to his brother, James Biden, James's wife, Sarah Jones Biden, Biden's sister, Valerie Biden Owens, and Valerie's husband, John Owens, also Francis Biden. That's another one of Biden's brothers. The White House announced the pardons with less than 20 minutes left in Biden's presidency. The announcement came as Biden entered the Capitol Rotunda to witness Trump swearing in before departing the Capitol for the last time as president. So most of the networks were reporting it basically as Trump was getting sworn.
- [39:06]
Moshe Wenunu
Yeah, they were like pulling out the Bibles, Roberts walking up the stage and they're like breaking news. Biden has pardoned his family members. So Democrats in an uproar here. You know, the optics are terrible. Like literally the last, you know, if, if they didn't do anything wrong, why wait until the last possible second here to do it? Because the optics are pretty bad. James Biden, his brother, one of the brothers there who is pardoned, has actually been investigated for years for the work he was doing with Hunter Biden. Was he getting an advantage due to his then brother who was VP and his connections? In an interview back in 2020, Biden criticized the idea of an outgoing president preemptively pardoning family members. At the time, there was a presumption that Trump was going to do that. And Biden was like, that's a terrible thing. And now he's done it. A Trump team spokesperson wrote on X that even Schumer said that something like this would be a gross abuse of presidential pardon authority. And he was talking about Trump at the time, the Schumer person. So the fact that Biden has already pardoned Hunter Biden after promising he wouldn't do that, has already upset people. And now there's that. Apparently, according to people close to Biden, he weighed the decision very heavily, but couldn't in good conscience not protect his family, feeling that Trump would go after them as adversaries. He wanted to save them the headache. Here again, the Biden folks say, well, they didn't do anything illegal. We just wanted to protect them from the legal issues. Nonetheless, we will never know. Like, we're never going to know here. And the optics here, especially again with like, minutes to go in his presidency, no ability to, like, ask him about it, has some people concerned.
- [40:41]
Jill Wagner
Right? And is this just going to be the new norm that any president can.
- [40:44]
Moshe Wenunu
Free Trump on his way out? Like now every president is going to just pardon all their family members preemptively.
- [40:49]
Jill Wagner
Or anybody, forget it. Not even their family members, like members of their administration, like their Cabinet, because.
- [40:54]
Moshe Wenunu
There is a process for pardons. You have to go through the Justice Department. They got to determine, typically you've committed a crime to go through a pardon. So this whole, like anything they might have done since 2014, like pardon, like the pardon authority in the Constitution is pretty open ended and the Supreme Court's been deferential on it. But there's a lot of concern about the precedent that Biden has opened up. Because, by the way, Jill, it wasn't even his. It wasn't just his family.
- [41:17]
Jill Wagner
That's right. He also issued preemptive pardons for General Mark Milley. Dr. Fauci, members of Congress who served on the January 6, 2021 committee. This move is aimed, he says, at protecting these individuals from potential revenge by Trump. Among those pardoned, former Republican Representative Liz Cheney, who is a vocal Trump critic. She has been targeted in his calls for retribution. General Milley retired as chairman of the Joint Chiefs in 2023 and has faced GOP criticism over the Afghanistan withdrawal. Dr. Fauci, a longtime government scientist, became a polarizing figure because of the federal response to the COVID 19 pandemic.
- [41:55]
Moshe Wenunu
The people here apparently didn't get a heads up that Biden was giving them these extra pardons. Fauci says. I really, truly appreciate the action President Biden has taken on my behalf. Let me be perfectly clear. I have committed no crime and there are no possible grounds for any allegation or threat of criminal investigation against me. Milley said that he was grateful, but again, didn't know about this in advance. The New York Times writes that in issuing the preemptive pardons here, Biden has effectively turned the constitutional power the president has of forgiveness into a protective shield against what he maintains would be politically motivated vengeance. No other president has employed executive clemency in such a broad and overt way. The presidency getting even more powerful here. Again, it's customary for a president to grant clemency at the end of his term if you committed a crime and there's a feeling that, like either you were prosecuted unfairly or you've served your time. Unprecedented though, to kind of use this protectively. And then you got Fauci even saying, like, I didn't ask for this, like I didn't need this. I haven't done anything illegal here. Nonetheless, Biden feeling like it was necessary to protect a certain number of individuals, including, as you mentioned, several of his family members. And finally, for some non politics news, big news in college football last night. Ohio State defeating Notre Dame 34 to 23 to win the national championship. A very big deal for the Ohio State Buckeyes winning the first ever 12 team college football Playoff national championship. In fact, they went to multiple rounds this year and if it wasn't for the 12 team situation, neither of these teams would have been in the national championship game. But a big deal for the Buckeyes here, their last championship was back in 2014. This is their ninth national championship overall, but their first in a decade. Here they become the first team in college football history to win five games against teams that were ranked in the top five of the AP poll at the time. They were playing Ohio State running back Quinchon Judkins rushing for 100 yards, two touchdowns. He also got a third score as a receiver. Notre Dame tried to come back there in the second half. They were able to rally a bit to come within one score, but still not enough for the Fighting Irish. They still will go back to the drawing board here. They haven't won a national championship over there at Notre Dame since 1988, so they're hoping next year better luck. Anyway, congrats to the Buckeyes. All right now time for on this day in history, on this day in 1975, 50 years ago, shining Star by Earth, Wind and Fire released the iconic hit on this day in 1977. Speaking of pardons, Jimmy Carter granted a pardon to nearly all Vietnam War draft evaders, a blanket pardon to anyone who had evaded the draft, impacting thousands and thousands and thousands of people on this day in innovation history, in 1981, the first DeLorean sports car rolled off the assembly line in Northern Ireland. You might know the DeLorean most famously for its use in Back to the Future as the car Marty and the Doc take to the past and the future. And on this day in 2020 mentioned the top the first coronavirus case reported officially in the US up in Washington State. We now know, Jill, that was not the first case. In fact, by then there were probably hundreds of thousands of cases around the US but at the time we were very slow on tests. We didn't have enough tests. And so officially this date is marked down as the first positive acknowledged case.
- [45:29]
Jill Wagner
In the U.S. i remember then New York City Mayor de Blasio being like, new York is fine. Nothing to see here.
- [45:36]
Moshe Wenunu
Take the subway, take the gazes. And little did we know, weeks later.
- [45:40]
Jill Wagner
All right everyone, thanks for listening to the MO News Podcast on a historic day. If you like what you hear, please share this with your friends. It will help us grow. Follow us and subscribe so you don't miss an episode and review us in the App Store.
- [45:52]
Moshe Wenunu
Thanks for tuning in. Thanks for watching our coverage yesterday and stay tuned. It's going to be a news packed week, month, year.
- [46:02]
Jill Wagner
Joel Four years.
- [46:03]
Moshe Wenunu
Four years.
- [46:06]
Jill Wagner
All right, bye everyone.
- [46:07]
Moshe Wenunu
Thanks for listening to the MO News Podcast.