How To Stop Activist Judges

Summary

Ruthless Podcast Episode Summary: "How To Stop Activist Judges"

Release Date: March 25, 2025

In this compelling episode of the Ruthless Podcast, hosts Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan, and John Ashbrook delve into the pressing issue of activist judges and explore strategies to curb their influence over the judicial system. The episode seamlessly weaves through heated discussions, real-world case studies, listener interactions, and an insightful interview with esteemed journalist Alex Eisenstadt.

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1. The Escalating Issue of Activist Judges

The episode opens with Josh Holmes highlighting the widespread concern over activist judges hindering the implementation of conservative policies. Comfortably Smug vehemently criticizes the overreach of district judges, stating:

"Who the hell does some district judge think they are... I can tell military planes to turn around, get the hell out of here." (00:05)

This sets the stage for a robust debate on the judiciary's interference in executive actions, particularly those spearheaded by former President Trump.

2. Case Study: Deportations Under the Alien Enemies Act

A significant portion of the discussion centers on the Trump administration's efforts to deport individuals under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. Josh Holmes introduces a news clip where Trump brands Judge James Boasberg as a "constitutional disaster" for halting deportations:

"President Trump stepped up his attacks on federal Judge James Boasberg, calling him a, quote, constitutional disaster." (11:36)

The hosts dissect this conflict, emphasizing the frustration within the Republican ranks over judicial impediments. John Ashbrook underscores the disproportionate impact a single district judge can have:

"One district judge... could stop... critical parts of the Trump agenda." (02:52)

3. Transgender Military Service Ban Blocked by Judge Reyes

Another pivotal case discussed is the injunction against Trump's executive order banning transgender individuals from military service. Josh Holmes narrates:

"U.S. district Judge Reyes... in her 79-page ruling... cites Lin Manuel Miranda's musical 'Hamilton' to justify blocking the ban." (31:07)

John Ashbrook expresses outrage at the unorthodox justification:

"If you’re citing 'Hamilton' instead of the Constitution, you have brainworms." (32:13)

The hosts argue that such judicial decisions undermine the Trump administration's authority and disrupt national security measures.

4. Legislative Solutions: Expanding Spectrum for Independent Media

Transitioning from judicial overreach, Josh Holmes critiques the legacy media's control over information dissemination. He proposes that Trump and Republicans in Congress seize the opportunity to:

• Increase Spectrum Availability: Breaking the monopoly of big cable by providing more spectrum for affordable wireless internet (00:34).

• Support Independent Media: Ensuring platforms like the Ruthless Variety Program remain accessible without being sidelined by traditional media bundling practices (00:34).

5. Hack Madness Tournament: Identifying Media "Hacks"

The hosts introduce Hack Madness, an interactive tournament bracket where listeners vote on what they deem the "biggest journalist hacks" in politics. Comfortably Smug excitedly remarks:

"This will be the fifth version... everyone decides... get involved in it." (14:25)

This segment encourages audience participation, fostering a community-driven critique of mainstream media figures.

6. Special Interview: Alex Eisenstadt on "Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump's Return to Power"

A highlight of the episode is an in-depth interview with Alex Eisenstadt, a senior political reporter at Axios and author of the book "Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump's Return to Power."

Key Insights from Alex Eisenstadt:

• Trump's Campaign Organization: Eisenstadt praises the professionalism and efficiency of Trump's second-term campaign compared to the chaotic first term.

  "Chris Aceveda and Suzy Wiles put together a much more functional operation... professionalized." (54:53)

• Security Concerns: The book reveals heightened fears of assassination attempts, particularly from Iranian operatives, and the Secret Service's strategic responses.

  "The fear within the Secret Service... about Iran assassinating Trump is far more profound than we knew." (61:19)

• Role of Trump Family Members: Eisenstadt discusses the influential roles of Donald Trump Jr., Melania Trump, and Barron Trump in shaping campaign strategies and media outreach.

  "Barron became involved in the podcast push, a central part of the Trump campaign." (68:07)

• Media Coverage Gaps: He highlights why certain critical stories, such as Iran's threats against Trump, received limited mainstream media attention due to timing and source preferences.

  "Sources wanted to wait until the campaign was over to divulge certain details." (64:08)

Michael Duncan commends Eisenstadt's work, emphasizing its importance for future Republican strategies:

"I'm really glad you did it... Republicans can try to replicate the success of the Trump campaign." (69:26)

7. Listener Feedback: Satirical Takes on Democratic Policies

The episode features humorous and critical listener comments mocking Democratic stances on various issues:

• Sharon Penley satirizes Democratic support for the arts under DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) initiatives.

  "A stage full of plus-sized ballerinas... tackling Madame Butterfly as an added win." (42:04)

• Hank Borg pokes fun at Democratic sympathy towards Mexican cartels and their economic impact.

  "Legitimate businesses in Guadalajara suffering because cartel members aren't buying tomatoes anymore." (43:05)

• Rick Corell humorously criticizes USAID funding decisions related to food preferences, blending absurdity with political commentary.

  "Determine the food preference of Sherry Jacob's Barrel CAC down by the railroad tracks." (43:52)

These segments add levity while reinforcing the hosts' critical stance toward Democratic policies.

8. Incident Report: Woman Kills Her Dog at Orlando Airport

A brief yet striking segment recounts a tragic incident where a woman drowned her dog at Orlando International Airport after being denied boarding due to improper paperwork. The hosts discuss the broader implications on societal values and personal responsibility:

"You have to solve your own problems. If you get a dog, you're responsible for the dog." (48:03)

Comfortably Smug provocatively suggests immediate action against such behavior:

"You can throw right hit him right in the ear. I think you can take him out." (10:35)

This conversation underscores the podcast's commitment to advocating for personal accountability.

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Conclusion: Navigating Judicial Overreach and Media Control

The episode concludes with the hosts urging listeners to engage in the legislative process and support initiatives that counteract judicial activism. They emphasize the importance of maintaining the rule of law while advocating for expedited processes to implement conservative policies effectively.

Josh Holmes encapsulates the overarching theme:

"The principle by which this question arose is an 80/20 issue... argue that issue." (30:48)

Listeners are encouraged to participate in the Hack Madness tournament and stay connected through various platforms to influence future political discourse.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• Comfortably Smug:

  "Who the hell does some district judge think they are... I can tell military planes to turn around, get the hell out of here." (00:05)

• John Ashbrook:

  "One district judge... could stop... critical parts of the Trump agenda." (02:52)

• Judge Reyes:

  "There is no clause in that law that makes it subject to judicial review." (16:38, referenced in discussion)

• Comfortably Smug:

  "I'm super excited about this, which is good." (04:36)

• Alex Eisenstadt:

  "Trump is one of the greatest political athletes of all time." (60:29)

This episode of the Ruthless Podcast offers a fervent exploration of the challenges posed by activist judges, the interplay between media control and legislative action, and a deep dive into Trump's strategic maneuvers to reclaim political dominance. Through thoughtful analysis, spirited debates, and engaging storytelling, the hosts provide listeners with a comprehensive understanding of the current political landscape from a conservative perspective.

Transcript

[Josh Holmes]

Everyone's talking about judges, they're talking about these activist judges. What can be done?

[Comfortably Smug]

Who the hell does some district judge think they are being like, I can tell military planes to turn around, get the hell out of here. He was like, I'm angry that the plane didn't turn around when I demanded they turn. You don't know what, like, how much fuel is on the plane. You don't know what the situation is. If there's a storm over the Gulf of America, whatever they're dealing with, for him to have like this level of ego, to be like, I'm a district judge, I can tell a military plan to turn around, get the hell out of here.

[Josh Holmes]

The media is broken. For decades, big cable and legacy media filtered information to hide the truth. But thanks to podcasts like the one that you're listening to and new media around this country, the truth can break through, providing voices and views that legacy outlets we know well will not air. But big cable still has a major way of controlling information access. They do this by limiting access to something called spectrum, the invisible airwaves that power affordable wireless Internet. And by forcing you to keep their bundles, the old cable package bundle, keeping independent media out of reach. Trump and Republicans in Congress have a huge chance right now to get this right by making more spectrum available and breaking the big cable's stranglehold on your information. You gotta tell your senator and your member of Congress to work with President Trump, sell more spectrum and make sure that you can hear programs like the Ruthless Variety Program. Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please.

[John Ashbrook]

Just a catching strays over here.

[Josh Holmes]

You're in for a hell of a show.

[Comfortably Smug]

Keep the faith, hold the line and own the lids.

[Michael Duncan]

Time for our main event.

[Josh Holmes]

Good Tuesday to all of you. Welcome back to the Ruthless Variety Program. I'm Josh Holmes, comfortably smug. Michael Duncan. John Ashbrook, left to right across your radio dial, as we always do here on the Ruthless Variety Program. We got a big show in front of you. Everyone's talking about judges, they're talking about these activist judges. What can be done? What can be done? So we're going to explore that a little bit in this hour or so. I mean, what do you.

[Comfortably Smug]

I mean, that's the thing is I know myself, like many conservatives are super frustrated. We had a streak in President Trump's first administration where it was like a judge factory, but I guess those are like higher tier judges that hopefully this stuff gets to on appeal. But it's like, how long does this process take? Cause it's like, you know, we Got things to do. There's a lot of illegals that we gotta get out of this country. And judges putting a stop to it is not helping the situation at all.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, it's crazy to think that, like, one district judge, of which there's, like, hundreds across this country could stop, you know, critical parts of the Trump agenda here over the will of millions of Americans who voted last November.

[Michael Duncan]

And we know you gotta be smart about how you handle it, because Democrats have a history of trying to intimidate these judges. Remember Schumer on Gorsuch? Democrats and their communist allies tried to intimidate judges, and then Roe v. Wade was overturned.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

So we know you gotta be smart about it.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. So at issue there is, there are judges throughout this country, mostly at the district court level, that have blocked deportation, tried to block deportation of violent gang members. They have blocked a ban on transgender military service. There's just all kinds of different things that are happening within the Trump agenda where you're getting courts pop up. And look, we warned a little bit about this at the beginning, that this is what they did the first time around. Now, they were a lot more successful the first time around in that literally everything that the Trump administration was putting forward, they were able to just put a stay on it, litigate it, and you win some, you lose some. This time around, I think a lot more of it has sifted through the screen of Democratic 501C4 fail son legal challenges that ultimately, they've focused in on a few, but these few are pretty significant. You see, the White House is pretty worked up about it, so we're gonna talk about all of that. We got some variety for you, which is good. And then we've gotta be great.

[Comfortably Smug]

I'm super excited about this, which is good.

[Josh Holmes]

And then we got a special guest, Alex Eisenstadt. It's not every day that we have a journo.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. One of Ashbrook's buddies.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. On the program.

[Michael Duncan]

He's written a book.

[Josh Holmes]

He's written a book, but this is one of the guys. So he was at Politico for a long time. He's now at Axios. He's one of the few that I actually don't know what his politics are, which is the purpose of being a journalist. And one of the reasons why he's been as effective as he has been in a journalist capacity is because he gets along with Republicans. Understand. He's not trying to judge anybody. He's just reporting the news.

[Comfortably Smug]

If I remember correctly, he was publishing articles that were like, Is Biden, like, okay, is he cooked, like, before he dropped out? And like, things critical of the Kamala Harris campaign before election day. So, like, he's, he's, I've seen, sent out tweets and written stories that, like, absolutely did not toe the line for the Democrats, which I don't think. And I want to hear about this. I bet it hasn't made him very popular among his fellow journo buddies.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, the guy's very well sourced on both sides, and that's how you get to the place where he is in his career. And this book that he has written is very deeply sourced into the Trump campaign. So looking forward to the conversation.

[Alex Eisenstadt]

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[Josh Holmes]

We'll start with the judges, but I do have a question. Quick story.

[Comfortably Smug]

Oh, okay.

[Josh Holmes]

So my oldest, he's playing baseball now. And you know, Northern Virginia, you got to work to try to find your fields and all of that kind of thing. And it's very, you know, there's a lot of people up there, not a lot of fields. So you go to where you, you can, and they're playing in this, this field. This is great. But there's like 8 million people, like, walk. You can't find parking. And this is like two or three weeks in a row for me. It's driving me crazy. And so we get there, they're playing baseball. It's great. One of the highlights of my life is to watch my son learn the game of baseball. And I'm enjoying it or whatever, but I'm noticing that there's like, I'm not kidding you, like 700 people walking around this park and like, what are you, what are you doing? This is one of my pet peeves, by the way. If you're a grown adult, get the fuck out of a park. I don't need to see you in a park. You, like, go, go do something. Go run a bike path or something. Or bike or whatever. Like, don't hang out in a place that's designed to teach kids baseball. And they have, like, jungle gyms. But, like, this is where they are. They're congregating there. And I See, off towards like the. The third baseline couple of weeks ago, this group of like 35 people. And they're all standing there, and every one of them looks like a complete incel. Like a. Literally, you could typecast what these people and you know in your head as you're listening to this? Exactly what that looks like. I don't need to describe it. Every single one of them is staring down at their phone. They're not looking up at all. Like, no conversation between the 50 people that are standing there, which would look.

[John Ashbrook]

Strange because this is a park during the day.

[Josh Holmes]

It's a park during the day.

[John Ashbrook]

And they're all congregated into a group and they're not looking at each other or talking or like playing baseball or any of the normal things you would do at a park during the day.

[Josh Holmes]

Nothing.

[Michael Duncan]

But this is.

[Comfortably Smug]

I've never seen anything. This is weird as hell.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, it is. And my first question is, a group of wolves is called a pack. A group of geese is called a gaggle. What do you call a group of incels?

[John Ashbrook]

Virgins.

[Josh Holmes]

Virgins. Or. Or a terrorist.

[Comfortably Smug]

So you're telling me this is like a baseball park? They got jungle gyms for kids and stuff, and there's just like adults standing around here? Yeah, they're just standing around their kids, which.

[Josh Holmes]

Which as a parent, like, you look and you're like, what's that all about?

[Comfortably Smug]

That makes no sense.

[Josh Holmes]

Right? Because I mean, you're just like spidey sense antennas.

[Guest Speaker]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

So a couple of dads, we get together, we start talking about this, and we're like, well, what? They're in the open, they're in nature, they're walking around, but they're all just staring at their phones and they're doing it collectively as a group. It's. It might be that like, Pokemon Go situation.

[Comfortably Smug]

Really?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. You know, I mean, you heard about this? I've never seen it in the wild.

[Comfortably Smug]

No, I remember it was. It was a big thing. But that was like years ago.

[Josh Holmes]

It was years ago. But maybe there's more of those kind of things. Maybe it's not Pokemon.

[John Ashbrook]

Maybe it's some like a treasure hunt thing. Some geolocated based treasure hunt. Like they do this like geotagging thing I've heard of on the Internet, where.

[Comfortably Smug]

They like moving around these guys. And you're saying it's just like hundreds of people who are just like standing there.

[Josh Holmes]

They're just standing there staring at their phone. And then they move in packs.

[Comfortably Smug]

I call the cops.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, listen, that was because, like, if.

[Comfortably Smug]

It'S adults hanging out. You want to feel like, go to the National Mall, go have your picnic there, you know what I mean? They have like, it's like a mile of grass.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

And it's accepted that like there's no jungle gyms, there's no baseball diamonds. Go hang out there. But like in a kids playground, I'm calling the police.

[Josh Holmes]

That's what I'm saying. So a couple of the dads and I, you know, he sort of checked it out, realized that they were no imminent threat, but also completely hilarious. So we just like watched them because they're just.

[Comfortably Smug]

You just rolled and start threatening him.

[Josh Holmes]

With pack of death. That might come next week. Because listen, what happened this week? This week one of these guys, like parts off from the crowd and he's down on his phone and he's just typing away and he's, he's not looking up at all. And he walks through the baseball diamond between the pitcher's mound and the plate.

[John Ashbrook]

No.

[Josh Holmes]

During the game.

[Michael Duncan]

Unreal.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, yeah. No. He doesn't have the faintest clue that he is disrupting anything. He literally just walks through it. Never looked up from his phone. And like, nature can hit him.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's the rule.

[Josh Holmes]

I think that's.

[Comfortably Smug]

Beat him in the head.

[Josh Holmes]

Is that.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's the rule.

[Josh Holmes]

You can throw right.

[Comfortably Smug]

As hard as you can. You can right hit him right in the ear.

[Josh Holmes]

I think you can take him out. I don't think there's. I mean, he's doing what he's doing.

[Michael Duncan]

I think Abner Doubleday would have wanted nothing less. When he invented the game, it was not to be interrupted.

[Josh Holmes]

But can you believe this? I mean, growing up where we grew up and interacting with the people, like, if you saw that situation, none of.

[Comfortably Smug]

The dads took a swing at that guy.

[Josh Holmes]

No, I mean, I'm thinking, I'm thinking that like week four there could be. It could get ugly.

[Comfortably Smug]

I remember when, like dads used to kick ass at baseball games. 50, 50 chance someone's getting their ass beat.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, if they did that, if that was happening when I grew up, those guys would be in a lot of trouble. No question about it. Anyway, I might, I might work the crew together. I'm glad you guys riled up. I just needed to deposit this because I'm like, am I on a line here?

[John Ashbrook]

No, you're not.

[Comfortably Smug]

You got stand your ground, dude.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay. All right, all right. We're going to get to the judges. So let's set this up with clip number one, please.

[News Clip]

President Trump stepped up his attacks on federal Judge James Boasberg, calling him a, quote, constitutional disaster. Now the showdown between Trump and the judiciary enters a new phase. Heading to the U.S. court of Appeals in Washington as the administration looks to reverse Judge Boasberg's order, halting some deportations.

[Josh Holmes]

Mr. President, do you think you have the authority, the power to round up.

[John Ashbrook]

People, deport them, and then you're under.

[Josh Holmes]

No obligation to a court to show the evidence against them? Well, that's what the law says, and that's what our country needs.

[News Clip]

At issue is the deportation of hundreds of Venezuelans who were flown to a notorious prison in El Salvador last weekend under the Alien enemies Act of 1798, despite Judge Boasberg's verbal order to turn the planes carrying them around. In court, the judge warned there will be consequences if he decides that his order was deliberately disobeyed. And he expressed sharp skepticism about the sweeping claim of presidential power at the heart of this case.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, sharp. It was sharp.

[Comfortably Smug]

Can I swing at this first?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

Who the hell does some district judge think they are? Being like, I can tell military planes to turn around. Get the hell out of here. He was like, I'm angry that the plane didn't turn around when I demanded they turn around. You don't know how much fuel is on the plane. You don't know what the situation is. If there's a storm over the Gulf of America, whatever they're dealing with, for him to have this level of ego, to be like, I'm a district judge. I can tell a military plane to turn around, get the hell out of here. Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Bring that. Bring those terrorists back here to America.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

And how quickly can this be heard on appeal? Because it feels like this is taking forever.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, you would think it would be heard a lot quicker than it has.

[Comfortably Smug]

I do. I do. Why isn't it?

[Michael Duncan]

I think that's our biggest problem.

[Comfortably Smug]

We got all these judges confirmed, and what are they doing? Get to work.

[Michael Duncan]

They're absolutely.

[Comfortably Smug]

This decision out.

[Michael Duncan]

Throw it out. The process needs to start working right now.

[Comfortably Smug]

It needs to get going.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, it's an interesting legal case that we will get into on both the White House's perspective And then, honestly, McCarthy over at NRO, who we have used significantly over this course of this program, talking about the Trump cases now. Wildly outrageous, all of those things. Very conservative guy. He's got a little different take on it. We're gonna present to all of that here in a minute, but also, we need to remind everybody.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's right.

[Josh Holmes]

Hack madness. Hack madness. Has begun.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yes.

[Josh Holmes]

Yesterday, Smug, you launched the first round.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's right. The two play in games to see who gets in 16th. There's that music.

[John Ashbrook]

There's the music.

[Comfortably Smug]

Voting has begun, folks. So it is pinned right now on my profile on X. Comfortably Smug. Go there and vote. And by the time you hear this, there's a good chance that, like, the first round is underway.

[Josh Holmes]

There's an awful lot of you who may be doing this for the first time. We've done it five times. This will be the fifth version of it. It is an incredibly significant tournament bracket dealing with the biggest journalist hacks in all of politics. It is a people vote.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And people decide. And so these are real games.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And you got to get involved in it. If you're not involved in it, if you didn't get a chance to fill out a bracket, that's okay. Your participation still continues.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's right.

[Josh Holmes]

The comfortably smuggler X account where you can vote on each and every one of these people.

[John Ashbrook]

We had over 1100 submitted brackets.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, I love that.

[John Ashbrook]

And I love that. So a lot of people are really excited. This could be our biggest tournament yet. I'm expecting, like a couple million votes.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's a big deal.

[Josh Holmes]

It's so good. All right, we're going to get back to the deportation case, the other cases that have been blocked by judges, the White House's case, the case against, and we're going to dissect it all right after this.

[Michael Duncan]

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[Josh Holmes]

Okay, let's start with the White House case. I think nobody does a better job of articulating their position and why President Trump is correct on the activity that he took to get these people the hell out of the country than Stephen Miller. Let's play clip two.

[Comfortably Smug]

So you called the judge's order just earlier today, quote, patently unlawful, end quote, and said that it was an assault on democracy itself. Does that mean that the administration is ignoring this order? And might you ignore future court orders that meet the criteria you laid out?

[Stephen Miller]

The President of the United States and his administration reserve all rights under the Constitution to conduct national security operations in defense of the United States. The Alien Enemies act, which was passed into Law by the founding generation of this country, men like John Adams, was written explicitly to give the president the authority to repel an alien invasion of the United States. That is not something that a district court judge has any authority whatsoever to interfere with, to enjoin, to restrict or to restrain. Any way you can read the law yourself, there's not one clause in that law that makes it subject to judicial review, let alone district court review.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. So, I mean, look, he makes a very transparent case about all this. And I love the fact that Democrats come at a challenge to the law, the legality of what President Trump did, based on saying, like, it's an old law. Yeah, it's all, it's, it's old, man. That's like saying the merits of a bill are judged on how many pages, not what's in it. You know what I mean? It's just, it's completely insane that that is their primary focus on how they go about doing this. He lays it out. There's a very serious national security imperative of which President Trump spoke with great detail during the campaign about what he was trying to do. None of this should be a surprise. They're all acting like this is just a wild, out of left field, radical thing that this president has done.

[Michael Duncan]

Right. And you got to remember, Barack Obama deported 3 million people when he was president of the United States. I don't remember a district court judge challenging those deportations at that point. There have been a record number of district court challenges to this president, more than we've ever seen in history. They are activists. This is lawfare. And the appellate process needs to work and has to work now.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's it.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, that's why we have the system. But here's the other side of it. From a conservative perspective, somebody like Andrew McCarthy spent an awful lot of time in this, in this world navigating these kind of things, tried terrorist cases, and now speaks eloquently about a whole bunch of different things. He's got a little different take in.

[Andrew McCarthy]

Clip 3 the problem, Julie, is that the lower courts are stuck with the jurisprudence that the Supreme Court developed after the 911 attacks, which gave even alien enemy combatants who were held overseas and had been captured overseas rights of access to the U.S. courts. So I think if Trump is going to win on this Alien Enemy act initiative that they've tried, he's going to have to win that at the Supreme Court, because I think the lower courts will be stuck regardless with the jurisprudence there. They already have. But listening to your reports and especially the comments from, from the House speaker and also from, from Senator Schumer. It seems to me like the, you know, they got their eye on the wrong ball. The issue here shouldn't be the judges. How about Congress help the President with Trende Aragua?

[Josh Holmes]

So what he's talking about there is the terrorist, you know, this gang, this Venezuelan gang, Trend Aragua that is here. And part of the core case that the Trump administration is arguing is that Trend is basically a state actor, a Venezuelan state actor that we are at war with because they are mayhem within, within the United States. And this is a, a group that if you're a part of it, you ought to get the hell out. We don't need a full jurisprudence, we don't need the full activity of the courts in order to remove them. You know, like he raises a question here about whether or not the precedent that was boxed in by higher courts during the Supreme Court era of the post 911 era actually is just what these lower codes are following.

[John Ashbrook]

Or like the Obama administration deciding that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed needed to be tried in a New York federal court is sort of undermining the Trump position. Cuz there's a lot of jurisprudence around that. I think that's McCarthy's point and that is like, it's a tough thing to hear, but I don't think we're ultimately going to resolve any of this until the Supreme Court steps in.

[Josh Holmes]

And that was kind of his point is that some of these lower courts, they may very well have an agenda, but they can fall that agenda right underneath the precedent that they are supposed to adhere to based on what happened after 9 11. It doesn't make it any easier from our perspective in that these people ought to get the hell out of our country. His point is that there is a full, you know, 30 year history of jurisprudence of how you go about doing that. It's the TPS report argument basically that you were making.

[John Ashbrook]

And unfortunately when it comes to jurisprudence in this country, the TPS does matter.

[Josh Holmes]

It does well. So now it just gets escalated. So the Court of Appeals is going to hear oral arguments this week. They're going to do it in a DC sick circuit which is hearing that, you know, Supreme Court, if you can.

[John Ashbrook]

Hear a Supreme Court save us, that's.

[Josh Holmes]

Where this is going to end up. No question about it. They got a fact finding hearing where the Trump administration, this is according to Fox News. The Trump administration is to submit more information on the flights, including the information how planes departed the US they were carrying any people who were deported, quote Unquote, solely on the basis of the proclamation and how many individuals were on each plane, where the planes landed, what time the planes took off, that kind of thing. So they're actually. Looks like they're examining what that district court judge was talking about. About like, okay, well, you took off. I ordered you to turn the planes around and you didn't, which, who gives a shit?

[Comfortably Smug]

Bingo.

[Josh Holmes]

About that.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's what I'm saying.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

I'm like, is there any way to expedite this in the sense that, like, if you're the Trump team, say, we don't want to. We don't want any fact finding. Just rule on this. Just rule on it and say you want the illegals and the terrorists stay here because you're a D.C. judge. Just go ahead and say that. So we can already get this to the Supreme Court. Let's just skip this step. This is taking so long. I mean, like, we went through four years of violent illegals, murdering, raping, robbing, assaulting Americans with impunity, and now, I mean, those judges weren't doing their job, sentencing these people to jail.

[John Ashbrook]

Exactly. Smug. It's not like there was any district judge across the country that was filing an injunction to stop the Biden administration for shipping hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants across this country.

[Michael Duncan]

Right. And where was the district judge stopping the illegal from murdering Lake and Riley? You know, like, if the illegal, if these district judges are so captured by the communists who control the Democrat Party, why can't the higher courts see that and see their actions and be like, no, you cannot be captured by communists. We have to rule based on American law, based on the Constitution, that if you are here on a green card, if you are here on some sort of illegal process, that you can be sent away.

[John Ashbrook]

I know. It's just that, I mean, the federal judiciary is never going to go for that because it needs to stay out of the political process. And you saw that statement that Chief Justice Roberts put out about how important the normal appellate process is, and that is because they're trying to keep it out of the politics of the day. And we got to. We got to trust the, you know, trust the process. Yeah, Everyone says that in sports at some level.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, look, I can understand the frustration from the Trump administration. No question about it. They sent a reply brief to the D.C. circuit on Wednesday of last week where it said the district court is continuing to attempt to price sensitive information from the government. All of the district court's orders should be stayed and the executive branches standing as A co. Equal branch of government should be respected. That's their point of view. You're not in the enforcement game. We are. What the court is saying is you may be right about that. But if you don't have due process for people, and we don't know whether or not you have or not. We have. It's subject to review. And where this gets hairy, and I don't have the details on this, but where it gets hairy is there's a whole bunch of people that they shipped out of this country that had deportation orders. Yeah. They're violent criminals. They've been convicted of crimes.

[Michael Duncan]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

And vast majority of them. There is no argument. The argument from the courts is that they expanded the scope to include people that perhaps didn't have deportation orders. It doesn't mean that they're not illegal, by the way. That they're not illegal or a member of a violent. It just wasn't processed through their TPS report.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

Which is an argument. It's an argument, I think, the political argument about the action itself. Isn't it another one of these eight thousand twenties that we talked about last week where the vast majority, 80% of the American people would be like, yes, they're here illegally. They're part of a gang, suspected part of a gang that is doing tremendous damage in our neighborhoods. Get them the hell out of here. That's the 80. The 20 is like, where's your TPS report? The problem, I think, is where you get into the second half of this argument about whether or not the judicial branch has any sort of say in jurisprudence and due process in this country. And it gets hairy. It's the only one, as we've discussed on a number of occasions here, it's the only thing that is on the lean end of 50 for the Trump administration that we've been in discussion since his inauguration.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. Do you want to put up that poll?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Let's skip ahead because I think this is a good precursor to do it.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

So this is a new poll from Washington Post Ipsos on this specific issue. In the poll, an overwhelming majority of Republicans, 79%, say Trump should not defy court orders. It also found that 82% of independents and 92% of Democrats agree. Now, look, it's not exactly that clear cut. If you look at the framing of the question itself. It says, you know, if an order by the Trump administration was found to be illegal by a court, should they defy that order? And it's like you're kind of rigging it a Little bit in that sort of framing. Like, if you put, you know, Donald Trump wants to deport violent criminals from this country and a court wants to stop him, should he ignore the court? I bet you it's closer to 50. 50, but. But the point remains the same, and that is by vast margins, the American people like the rule of law in the sense that there needs to be a check and a balance across, you know, the executive branch. So tread lightly. I see.

[Comfortably Smug]

I would say I understand the thinking of, like, you know, you can't just go wild, run amok with it, because eventually, you know, Democrats are going to win an election someday, and then they're going to go ham with it. So I get that. I mean, at the same time, it's like, we got it number one. We got to find a way to just expedite this as quickly as possible, whether it's setting a precedent by the Supreme Court when they finally get this there, or I think, like, McCarthy mentioned of, like, get a bill done through Congress, maybe just like, super limited scope, so it doesn't have time for people to throw in their own little gimmes and whatever BS they want of just being, like, trend terrorist group can be allowed to be deported instantly. Just ram that through the House and the Senate. Get that ball. Like, because the thing is, is there's not a lot of time we need to put up, like, record deportation numbers on the daily because of this hole that the Bidens put us in.

[Josh Holmes]

They have no question about that. Where we're dealing with here is a very specific, very dangerous group that everybody agrees has absolutely no business being here. The question is how you went about doing it. And this is bedeviled the Trump administration in the first term is what they're talking about is always on the 80. It's always in the 80 and the 20. The question is how you go about doing it. Now, I think Stephen Miller makes a very, very persuasive case that there is laws in the books here that deal with a president making a determination that these people are a clear and present threat to the United States of America. Nobody would argue the trend. Aragua is anything but that. Where it gets hairy is some of these people that don't have deportation orders, some of these people who haven't been processed by the system, and whether or not these people are actually a part of that gang to begin with. And I guess my. Where I come down on this is I agree with you. Smug in that we gotta process this as quickly as possible. No question the higher courts need to make a ruling. I also think in a sea of 80, 20 issues that this president has put on, that has led to a 25% approval rating of Democratic Party because they oppose all this stuff. Be careful what you talk about. Talk about the principle of what it is that you're doing. When they start getting into impeaching judges in that kind of thing, you're going 80, 20 in the other direction. And they've got such a wave of momentum at this point. The principle by which this question arose to the courts in the first place is an 8020 issue. Argue that issue.

[Michael Duncan]

Right. They need to, they need to impeach the decision. They need to, they need to get rid of the decision. Some of these district court judges, by the way, their thinking behind what the opinions they're writing is completely. You can't understand it. Like, one of them cited the play Hamilton.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, we'll get into that in a minute.

[Comfortably Smug]

Get out of here.

[Michael Duncan]

Exactly. Maybe now's a good time to get into that.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Well, this is second. A second case, the one that has come up dealing with the Department of Defense. Pete Hegseth very disinterested in a decision and. Well, he should be. Of a court ruling basically that the military's ban against transgender enrollment doesn't stand. Right. And this went to Reyes. Judge Reyes. U.S. district Judge Reyes in Washington, D.C. issued a preliminary injunction last week. This is, according to Fox News, again, blocking the Pentagon from enforcing Donald Trump's executive order from banning transgender people from serving in the military. In her 79 page ruling, Reyes in part cites Lin Manuel Miranda's musical Hamilton to justify blocking the ban on transgender troops.

[John Ashbrook]

Look, I'm not for impeaching judges. I'm in favor of impeaching this judge.

[Josh Holmes]

This one might.

[John Ashbrook]

If you, if you are a serious person who is somehow elevated to a US District judgeship and you're citing Hamilton instead of, I don't know, the Constitution.

[Comfortably Smug]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

Or maybe the founding fathers that this musical was based upon. You are such a loser and you have brainworms.

[Comfortably Smug]

Right? This is such, like, theater kid bullshit. It's like, get out of here. It is.

[Michael Duncan]

And it's why we need. It's why we need the higher courts to overturn them. And a higher court can say that. I don't care which musical you like, if it's Hamilton or hello Dolly. None of those things apply to US Law. The terrorists need to be out.

[Comfortably Smug]

And we also need to spin up that judge factory again that we had going on in the first Trump administration. And we need to Start getting some judges in here who, like, make Pat Buchanan look like a rhino. Like, we don't need any more of these, like, country club Republicans where we don't know where they're gonna stand. It's a coin flip. Oh, man. You know, this guy's kind of libertarian. You don't know where he's gonna. We gotta. I mean, like, that time has gone. Like, we're dealing right now with a radical left who's bankrolled overseas. But your grace has given untold tens of hundreds of millions of dollars to buy up all these prosecutors and judges across the country for their radical agenda. This is not like, oh, you know, this is just your standard Bill Clinton kind of like Democrat Party.

[John Ashbrook]

Just agree to disagree.

[Comfortably Smug]

These people are literally stopping terrorists from leaving.

[Michael Duncan]

They're using our own system against us. And it's like, oh, well, we're not sure what we can do. Maybe the terrorists should be allowed to have that apartment building in Denver, Colorado. Maybe they should be allowed to run amok in our country. Nobody understands it. They're like, wait a minute. They're terrorists. They shouldn't be here. It's basic principle. You know what I mean? Like, and I understand the background and the context and what they were thinking after 9, 11. And I appreciate all of that stuff, but, like, this is a new day and age, and these judges need to operate based on what the reality is in America today. And if they're not, people would be very upset.

[John Ashbrook]

I love that Ashbrook said that, because I think it's extremely accurate, like, not just with this specific deportation case or their transgender case, but also, like, you know, all of these Hamas sympathizers who are going to Nasrallah's funeral, Right? And there's some professor somewhere, this Mahmoud Khalil who's, like, organizing for Hamas on Columbia's campus. And the argument always is using our values against us for the reason why we should let terrorists stay in our country. It's like, those really dishonest liberals on the Internet who are like, how, as a Christian, could you agree with this, you know, fucking nothing about our religion, but you're gonna say I'm a bad person for wanting to enforce the laws of this country. These are bad people, dude. They are dishonest people and do not take their arguments seriously.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, they're trying to. They're trying to catch a technicality.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, one way or another, they're trying to catch a technicality. And I guess the question from an administration standpoint is, have you thought through their Game plan before we execute it. I think in the case of the transgender thing, I think this is an open, enclosed book for the same reason that Bill Clinton could say, don't ask, don't tell is the new policy of the United States military. You can do the same in terms of transgender by acclamation within the context of an administration that was challenged.

[Michael Duncan]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

It was upheld.

[Michael Duncan]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

Because of an executive.

[Michael Duncan]

But if you listen to these district court judges, they're like, no, I'm sorry, the guy in the dog mask and Karl Rove in a wig. They're allowed to be in our military. We're not allowed to tell them they're not allowed. You know what I mean? Like, people elected a completely different government.

[Josh Holmes]

Or they're like, one day more. Exactly. Get out of here. Fully doing a theatrical play to try to justify their decision making.

[John Ashbrook]

Les Mis is a good play, though.

[Josh Holmes]

I'm just gonna say it's a pretty good play. By the way, on the play front, did you see that? There was a story in the Daily Beast last week about how they were all, like, outraged.

[John Ashbrook]

It was a bonkers plan is what they said.

[Josh Holmes]

Quote, unquote, bonkers plan by Donald Trump to try to renovate the Kennedy Center. Literally renovate it. And he was like, they spent $200 million building rooms underneath it that nobody ever uses. Why would they do that? We'd like to renovate this situation. And, oh, by the way, I kind of like cats.

[John Ashbrook]

He loves cats. Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

I like. Kind of like to play cats. Maybe cats can come back and they're.

[John Ashbrook]

Like, bonkers, Bonkers, bonkers. It's hilarious.

[Comfortably Smug]

I mean, we talked about this. That, like, they just hypervalate about every single thing.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Comfortably Smug]

And the fact that they can't focus on something shows how just scattered they are.

[John Ashbrook]

If we can't impeach Judge Reyes, at the very least, we should be able to replace Hamilton with cats. And it's like, Trump's point is absolutely right. And that is like, maybe the Kennedy center, which ostensibly is like, a public service of the arts in our nation's capital, should, I don't know, show some shit that, like, regular Americans want to watch? You know what I mean? It's like, not everything has to be like, I don't know, the marriage of fucking Figaro.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, she's like, I'll be back. You will see. I mean, you can't make it up. It's the funniest shit of all time that they're actually. They literally are what we thought they were. They are so Sort of boxed in by their own culture that they actually think that there's nothing but this just sort of weird lib. Progressive.

[Michael Duncan]

This is how communists think. They make a decision and you have to live with it. Just think about, like separately think about what they're doing with these Tesla cars. Okay. They're like, yeah, I'm striking a blow against Elon Musk by starting fire to somebody's Tesla. Well, a regular person has a car payment on that. They were expecting to take that car to work or to drop their kids off at practice. And the communists are like, no, it doesn't matter that you're hurt. What matters is that we attack Elon Musk and regular people suffer. This is communism. This is what these liberal judges are trying to enforce on our society. Just like all of their lunatics out there burning cars. And we have to stop it in our country.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, look, I don't think there's any disagreement certainly amongst the four of us on that. I would just say in terms of the politics of what it is that they're dealing with, knowing that you've got big things like taxes and big, big, massive economy wide arguments that are happening in the next 90 days, 100 days. Be very careful about what portions of this we're arguing. Is it the intent? Because that's 80, 20, and on our side that's great. If we start talking about impeaching judges, it goes 20, 80, and these. I mean, there's multiple polls that show that this thing is underwater by a long shot. Argue this thing all the way through the Hill. My guess is that we get to the Supreme Court on some of this, we're all going to get a victory in the end one way or another. So I just caution people from a, if you're involved in a political discussion, make sure it's a political discussion. You can win. And the courts do their job to ensure that you win that too. You can have your cake and eat it too. Just don't go too far and absolutely blow your credibility with the American people. Because that's a thing. Like, that's a thing at the beginning. They've done such a good job, this administration has done such a good job at picking issues that Democrats put themselves in a lean end of public opinion with and then driving it all the way through to the point where they just explode themselves. This is one of those, it's a little nuance. You gotta be smart about the way that you execute it. But the underlying action that this administration took still is with that 80, 20 proposition. That we've been talking about for the last time. Anyway. So our question to you and our question of the day, you gotta like and subscribe in order to do it and then feel free to opine. But our question is what should be done? What should be done? Should we just keep seeing this legal process all the way through? Are impeachment of judges warranted? Should we just do everything we can do to start up that Trump McConnell confirmation train that was done between 17 and 20 to ensure that our higher courts are the real backstop to this stuff?

[John Ashbrook]

Or should Congress do something?

[Josh Holmes]

Or should Congress do something? Because ultimately that's what the judiciary is relying upon and that's what Andrew McCarthy is talking about. They're like, well, if you wanted to pass the law, then pass the law and we'll adhere to it, but you didn't do that. And so anyway, interested in all of your thoughts? I know there's a lot of frustration out there, us included, on all of that. You can leave your comment there and we'll get to your comments from last week right after this. We will unleash the power of American innovation.

[Comfortably Smug]

We will soon be on the verge.

[Josh Holmes]

Of finding the cures to cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and many other diseases.

[Michael Duncan]

The cure for cancer is closer than.

[Josh Holmes]

Ever, but the Biden Pill penalty is.

[Michael Duncan]

Forcing researchers to abandon breakthroughs that could.

[Josh Holmes]

Save millions of lives.

[Michael Duncan]

Only President Trump can fix it. He'll ignite a golden age of innovation to defeat cancer once and for all. Tell Congress, end the Biden pill penalty.

[Josh Holmes]

All right, so our question from last week is what is the craziest thing that Dems will defend next? This goes to our 8020 construct that we were talking about in the previous segment, but it is truly remarkable. You all have liked and subscribed. We appreciate it. But to do this, we always start with a voice.

[Michael Duncan]

First one comes from Sharon Penley. And you're gonna love this. Sharon writes, craziest position for Dems to take next requires great visuals. Therefore, I advocate they tackle the last bastion of DEI immunity, fine arts. This is something we could all get behind. A beautiful reach across the aisle moment. Who could be against a stage full of plus sized ballerinas pirouetting and delicate pink tutus? Who hasn't longed to hear a bass, a bass baritone Tackle the challenge of singing Madame Butterfly as an added win for us, now that Trump and Rick Grenell are administering the Kennedy center, they could usher in this new golden age for the arts. Bravo.

[Josh Holmes]

Amazing.

[Michael Duncan]

Well done, Sharon Penley. Thank you, Sharon.

[Josh Holmes]

Thank you for that Dunks. What else do we got?

[John Ashbrook]

This is from Hank Borg. Hank writes next crazy from the American left promoting sympathy for the Mexican cartel and its loss of income due to the Trump administration's securing of the southern border.

[Comfortably Smug]

It feels like they're halfway there already.

[John Ashbrook]

Dude, that doesn't even sound that crazy.

[Guest Speaker]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, the media would never be like, we're actually hurting the Mexican cartel, but they would be like, you know, you don't actually understand that there's millions of Mexicans who rely on the internal economy.

[Josh Holmes]

That's it.

[John Ashbrook]

Of the cartels being involved in the community. It's like there are legitimate businesses that are going to suffer.

[Josh Holmes]

Dude, I love how educated we are on the left side.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

To the point where your immediate thought on that was exactly.

[John Ashbrook]

That's exactly the way they.

[Comfortably Smug]

If someone says that around Ezra Klein, he's going to write about it.

[Josh Holmes]

You have got a residual economy in the crisis.

[Guest Speaker]

There are.

[John Ashbrook]

There are Mexicans there in Guadalajara that have simple tomato stands at the market, and they're going to suffer because this cartel member isn't buying tomatoes anymore.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. And you've done that.

[John Ashbrook]

You've done that.

[Josh Holmes]

What else we got?

[Comfortably Smug]

This comes from Rick Corell. Rick writes, I think the Democrats will defend USAID funding to determine the food preference of Sherry Jacob's barrel CAC down by the railroad tracks. Bland or spicy, Nobody knows. Dude, that is hilarious.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, Rick. 1010.

[John Ashbrook]

Stop.

[Josh Holmes]

I love that. All right, So I think. Smug. I think you're the one that brought this to our very interesting story. A very interesting story. Maybe we should just leave with a clip and go from there. Let's go to clip four.

[Alex Eisenstadt]

The Orlando Police Department has just released new images of a woman who's accused of killing her dog at Orlando International Airport. Here are the pictures just in from Orlando police. You can see right here the woman who police say is Alison Agatha Lawrence with her dog back on December 16th. Police say she was planning to fly to Columbia with her dog, but when she didn't have the proper paperwork to take the dog on board, police say she drowned it in the restroom and then went on that flight.

[Josh Holmes]

I don't even look first. I hate that I'm laughing. It's sad. This is like a clearly mentally disturbed individual. But according to the ap, a woman drowned her dog in the Florida airport bathroom and then boarded an international flight where she was prevented from bringing her white miniature schnauzer with her because of a paperwork issue. The woman is arrested in Lake county on Wednesday on the charge of an aggravated animal abuse, a third degree felony. She was released on $5,000 bail. Okay. We've talked a lot about the airline situation. They say that she couldn't board, she had to make the flight. She had a couple of options. Yeah, she chose the darker of those options.

[Comfortably Smug]

She's like, how do I get on this plane? Drown the dog. Like, that's the first idea. She's like, thinking of options. And I don't know how you get. Drown the dog on there, do we? Is there a photo of this dog? I've mentioned these type of dogs. One of these, like, shitty little white dogs.

[Josh Holmes]

One more time. I think you can probably see it's a miniature schnauzer. It's a miniature schnauzer. I mean, we're talking a white miniature.

[Comfortably Smug]

You know the type, folks, the, like, really shitty little white dogs that are always filthy.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, but you were saying it was asking for it.

[Comfortably Smug]

Well, and then you see it's like one of the little tiny ones, like she was standing in line. It's one of those small dogs. You know the type, folks, ugly dogs always running around, filthy little dogs. No one likes these dogs to begin with. And you see it so frequently on planes. That's like, you know, the dog's always going ham. They always claim that, oh, you know, this is my, like, you know, psychological support dog. Or.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, she didn't have the paperwork for that.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's the thing is, like, she took the matter into her own hands and like, look, the airline says the dog's not flying.

[Josh Holmes]

I just think the airline said the.

[Comfortably Smug]

Dogs that fly, she's like, you know what?

[Josh Holmes]

I'll obey with that command.

[Comfortably Smug]

And it's like, what are you going to do? You're going to leave your dog an orphan?

[John Ashbrook]

I think, I think what we have.

[Comfortably Smug]

To recognize, it's a dog. It's a dog.

[John Ashbrook]

We have. We have a problem in our culture. And that is the import that there are some people that put on a post on Instagram for travel. And the idea that you might. Might miss a vacation because of a dog and not be able to post on Instagram about your trip to Colombia is probably what motivated this woman to drown her dog.

[Comfortably Smug]

I mean, would you be mad if she. If she took it out to the quarry and shotgun the dog? Well, some people do that when they.

[Josh Holmes]

Want to get rid of it in a quarry.

[Comfortably Smug]

You know, sometimes if you got to get rid of a dog, you got to get rid of a dog. And there's like limited options in an airport. It's not like, you can have access to a handgun in an airport.

[Josh Holmes]

So you're saying she's like the drowning.

[Comfortably Smug]

I mean, what's the other way? Is she gonna choke the dog out? Which is more. Which is more like humane? You want to choke this little dog out with your hands? Are you just gonna dunk it in the toilet?

[John Ashbrook]

She could have. I mean, like, you know what?

[Comfortably Smug]

She should.

[John Ashbrook]

Given the options, what she should have done is just checked into the lounge and brought the dog in. And then just bounced.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. And be like, it's just left it. Now it's somebody else's problem.

[Comfortably Smug]

But that's the thing is, I think it's more responsible to kill the dog. To be like, here, now you take care of my problem.

[Michael Duncan]

Personal responsibility.

[Comfortably Smug]

You know, it's the conservative view. It's like, you're not going to depend on someone else to take care of your problem. You take care of your problem yourself. She had a problem and then the problem was taken care of. There was a dog.

[Josh Holmes]

There was a. There was a potential adoption element.

[John Ashbrook]

We're going to get so much fucking hate.

[Comfortably Smug]

It was a dog. It was a dog. It had to go.

[Josh Holmes]

Also, what was the paperwork that was the problem on this particular dog? I mean, the dog couldn't have weighed more than ten pounds.

[Comfortably Smug]

And here's the thing is, I know that agent at the gate was super excited to be like, ma'am, your dog's not going to board. They get so uppity and happy with their job. Like, actually, your suitcase weighs 26 pounds. You're gonna have to move it around. Can we talk about the blood's on the hands of that lady at the gate.

[Josh Holmes]

Can we talk about the mental health of somebody who's like, I simply must bring my dog on international travel. I simply must. Like, there's no other arrangement that can be made. I need to have this dog with me. And they're like, you can't bring it. She's like, fine, drown it in the bathroom.

[Comfortably Smug]

Well, again, to me, this lady strikes me as responsible because usually people are like, trying to pawn their dog off on their friends. Like, oh, I gotta get out of town. You wanna take care of my dog? I don't wanna, but, like, I guess.

[John Ashbrook]

Cause we're friends, you think euthanasia is more humane than boarding the dog.

[Comfortably Smug]

You gotta solve your own problems. You gotta be responsible for. If you get a dog, you're responsible for the dog. You know, like so many people, I'll just leave it at my mom's house or I'll leave It with a friend, it's like, no, you got to take care of your own problems. This lady did it.

[Josh Holmes]

So your point that the society did not incur any ramifications.

[Comfortably Smug]

That's the thing from the act.

[Josh Holmes]

That's the thing here. Interesting. It's interesting. Take, once again, our airports and our airplanes. Having a bit of a moment. Having a bit of a moment. Listen, we got to get to our interview. This guy is a very good journalist in Washington, D.C. somebody who Republicans talk to. Very few in the corporate mainstream press are people that you allow inside your bubble to have candid conversations because they think that you'll treat them fairly. This is somebody who's had a demonstrated record over decades of treating people fairly, understanding what's the difference between news and opinion, and just reporting out the facts. He's written in a book. And you're going to hear all about it right after this. Well, our next guest, notably absent from the Hack badness tournament. He's a senior political reporter at Axios. He was previously at Politico. We've all known and worked with Alex Eisenstadt for quite some time. How are you, sir?

[Guest Speaker]

Thanks, Josh.

[John Ashbrook]

I've been.

[Guest Speaker]

I've been looking forward to this one.

[Josh Holmes]

This is. I mean, look, you're in brave new territory. Not a lot of your colleagues have ventured into the ruthless situation.

[Guest Speaker]

So you bet. You mentioned the Hack tournament. Can we talk about that?

[Josh Holmes]

Sure.

[Guest Speaker]

So I have to say that every year I wait for that episode with a lot of anxiety because I'm like, is this the year that I'm going to like that I'm going to be on this thing? It's like, oh, is this the year that I, like, wrote something to piss off, like, Holmes rash bro? Because I've been lucky so far, including this year. I've been lucky so far, but I'm like, the thing about luck is, like, it runs out at some point. So it's like I'm, like, one bad headline away from, like, being on that thing.

[John Ashbrook]

You know, honestly, you're further than you realize, I think. I mean, the hacks that we picked for this tournament are gratuitous offenders.

[Josh Holmes]

And it's gratuitous.

[John Ashbrook]

It's gratuitous.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, here's the thing. The hack madness thing doesn't get put together because we disagree with the headline or disagree with the story. It's the gratuitousness by which you pursue just straight partisanship.

[Guest Speaker]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Which is something we work together for a long time. It's something you've never done. Have you written things that I absolutely hate? 100%.

[Guest Speaker]

And you've let me know about it?

[Josh Holmes]

I've let you know about it. But, I mean, I know that you're in constant search of the truth and you're well sourced and you do due diligence on the stories that you write and on the book that you've written here, which is why you're on the program. Listen, the inside story of Trump's return to power. This is part of what everybody is sort of wondering about on the actual inside. Now, many people, I think, in your community, the journo community, think that they've got the inside scoop. I know from talking to people on the inside, you actually kind of do.

[Guest Speaker]

Thank you. Yeah. So let's go back in time to February 2023, which is when I started working on this. I went to a bunch of people in Trump world, people who work for him, around him, donors, operatives, lobbyists, and I said, look, I want to write a book. I want it to be a fair book. It's not going to come at things from the pro Trump angle or the anti Trump angle, but I just want to talk about what happened, give readers a sense of, like, what happened behind the scenes, give them a sense of what it's like to be a fly on the wall. And what I told people was, I want you to just treat me like your journal. Tell me what happened day to day. And a lot of people, some people did not participate, which is fine, of course, but a lot of people did. And I think those people really wanted to tell history. We didn't know how historic this campaign would be at that point. We didn't know how dramatic this campaign would be. And it ended up being a lot more dramatic than any of us expected. But I think everyone felt the need to. They wanted to record history and they wanted to help document history. And so I'm appreciative of the people who, who wanted to help with this project.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, I'm really glad you did it, because a lot of us on the consultant side watched what was happening in the Trump campaign from the very early days. And it was clear, clear that they were much better organized than anybody gave them credit for. I mean, the way they handled Iowa, the way they handled New Hampshire, it was a clinical display of how you win an election. And I know you go into great detail on all that.

[Guest Speaker]

So this is an important theme of the book, which is that if you look at the operation that Chris Aceveda and Suzy Wiles put together, it was far more functional than anything Trump had in 2016, far more functional than he had anything in 2020, and definitely far more functional than the organization he had in the White House. And so she has put together this very effective operation, one that's very professionalized, and she's taken it to the White House. And so you see in the, in the first White House, there was a lot of infighting, right? You had different power factions. All of them were leaking on one another, they were stabbing each other in the back. They're pushing their own agenda. And this time around, you don't have that. Susie Wiles has brought in people who are loyal to her there. Many of them are Florida based. They've worked with her and around her. They worked with her on the campaign. And so you see a much tighter group that is much more centralized. And so that's not to say there hasn't been some chaos. That's not to say there hasn't been some intrigue during the few months of this White House. But I think it's been a lot less than what you saw in his first term.

[Josh Holmes]

You got a couple of vignettes in this that I think sort of uncover how deep you were into reporting out this book. One of them revolves around Butler. What can you tell us about that?

[Guest Speaker]

Yeah, so we, you know, we all know what happened that day. We've seen those, those horror, the horrifying video. Very disturbing to watch, of course, what happened on stage that day. But one of the things I really tried to do was take readers inside what happened next, because I don't think there's been as much coverage about what happened in the hospital on the way to the hospital that day. And so one of the things that I try to convey in this is just how chaotic it was and how many, how much people were uncertain about Trump's state going into right after it, right after the shooting happened. And so one of the scenes I have is that they're getting off the, they're, you know, they're going into the caravan of cars. They're going on the way to the hospital. Chris Lassevida is back in Milwaukee preparing for the convention, and he's cutting ads and he gets a call from his daughter, who's also on the campaign, and she said, dad, something's happened to the President. He calls Susie Wiles, who's in one of the SUVs speeding towards the hospital, and he tells her, he asks her what's happened. And she says, I don't know yet. She doesn't know the condition that he's in. And so they were rushing to get all the AIDS into the SUVs. They're, they're, they're bolting to the airport. They're bolting to the hospital, rather. And then they get into the hospital and Trump is. They close down a wing of the, of the hospital to make room for Trump. There are Secret Service agents with long guns out, and he gets stretchered out and his shirt is off because it was so bloody that he's just in there in his undershirt. And he gets to, he's in his room, he gets a CAT situation scan. And after the CAT scan is done, he asked the nurse, can I get a copy of this on cd? Because I want to compare it. I want to release it to the press, and I want to compare it to Joe Biden's so I could show that my mental acuity is better than the ultimate showman.

[John Ashbrook]

The ultimate showman.

[Guest Speaker]

But to that point, there he is. Then as he's about to head to the airport, he's about to leave the hospital, he's looking at these pictures. And of course, you remember those, those pictures that were taken of him from that day, and he says, those are the most iconic American photos I've ever seen. And I think what this shows is, and this is a theme in the book, too, is he understands the power of imagery in a way that I think few politicians really do. He knew that those images would have a lasting impact on the campaign, on his legacy, really.

[Josh Holmes]

Also had, look, a big impact on the campaign. I mean, you mentioned on the way to the hospital, all they knew is shots rang out and there was blood.

[Guest Speaker]

They didn't know. That's right.

[Josh Holmes]

They didn't know if he was hit. If he was hit seriously. Ear. It could have been anything. Yeah, but they were trying to figure all this out in a matter of moments between the stage and the hospital. And it sort of affected the psyche of that entire campaign.

[Guest Speaker]

It affected the psyche of the campaign, and it. Only the fear of an assassination attempt had always sort of been quietly in the background. There's one scene that Trump comes to. This is a, this was a few months prior. Trump comes to D.C. for a, for a hearing in the January 6 indictment. And so he's come, he's, he's, he's leaving Reagan Airport. He's coming downtown and what's happened. But D.C. police have failed to shut down the streets. So as they're making their. As his team is making their way to the courtroom, as the team is making their way to the courtroom, there is almost a traffic accident with Trump's attorneys. They almost get into an accident. And then on the way back to the airport from the courthouse, it's pelting rain. The D.C. police still have not blocked off the streets. And as they're making their way back to the airport, one of Trump's aides worried themselves someone could easily ram Trump's car on the freeway, on the Beltway, just making it back to the airport. It was that close. There was another scene in the book where Trump is going to the Iowa. Iowa State football game, and he's going to. He's planning to go to a frat house. And the day before, Secret Service goes to check out the frat house, and there's, like, dozens of guns that are in one of the rooms, just completely out in the open. Secret Service had to put those guns, lock them up in a closet. And so it just goes to show there were a lot of concerns about Trump's safety even before the assassination attempt. And that intensified in the weeks ahead when it become clear that Iran was really trying to assassinate him.

[John Ashbrook]

So I'm curious, you know, outside of just like, the assassination attempt, and then you've got, in multiple jurisdictions, dozens of indictments against Donald Trump and all of this sort of thing, and, of course, the campaign over the summer and all of this and the switch out between Biden and Kamala, was there a point when you were writing this that you're like, wow, I might be writing the definitive memoir of the greatest comeback in political history? Like, was there a moment that crystallized that?

[Guest Speaker]

Well, I don't want to say that I was writing the definitive, but I knew that I was writing something really remarkable. And it occurred to me as I was finishing up this book that what he. That, and this is one of the conclusions that I reach, is that no matter. Trump has split the American public. Either you love him or you hate him, and there's not a lot in between.

[Josh Holmes]

Right.

[Guest Speaker]

But here's what we can conclude, that he is one of the greatest political athletes of all time. His instincts are, bar none. For him to make this comeback illustrates that he understands something very fundamental about the American psyche. And he took his indictments and he turned them around, and he turned them into a political asset instead of a political liability. We heard throughout the campaign that this was going to be the end of Donald Trump. Hardly the case.

[Josh Holmes]

Couple of things you mentioned Iran. This is obviously something that was overshadowing the campaign, didn't get a lot of connection to Donald Trump himself. But as we've come to find out through your opinion Porting and others, there was a constant fear that Iran was going to try to engage in some kind of retribution for Soleimani or something else.

[Guest Speaker]

The fear within the Secret Service and at the highest levels of the U.S. government about Iran assassinating Trump is far more profound than we knew at the time. So let's go back to late summer. Secret Service has a briefing with Trump. And what they tell him is this, that the Iranian government has teams of agents in the country with access to surface to air missiles. And so from there, Trump and his team and his security apparatus come up with a plan which is they are going to put him on the plane of a donor by the name of Steve Wycoff. And Wyckoff, of course, now is playing a very important role. And he's Mideast envoy. And so they put him on the, they put Trump on this decoy plane and the other aides are put on Trump Force One.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, my gosh, that's a huge assignment.

[Guest Speaker]

What an assignment.

[Josh Holmes]

They didn't get the intel briefing.

[Guest Speaker]

So Trump, Trump takes his own motorcade to the plane. And the other aides are not told that Trump is not in their motorcade, but they're taking their own motorcade. The aides get in Trump Force One, the doors close, and all of a sudden they realize Trump is not in his seat. And so they ask, so the, so the team, the leadership says, look, the President's not flying with us today. This is just a exercise for, for how things could work in the future. And so the aides are kind of like frustrated. They're like, well, what's going on here? Because are we like, are we, you know, being used as, like, lure. Are we used as bait? And they're like, no, they're given reassurances. No, you're not bait. But what this illustrates is the concern, because people were worried that the surface to air missiles could be used to down the plane upon either takeoff or, or landing.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, man, that's just a wild.

[Michael Duncan]

It is wild. And, and I have a question for you, Alex, on this. I mean, everything that you are reporting in this book, everything you're talking about, this is American history. This is very interesting color about an objectively consequential figure in our country and in our country's history. And I just wonder why we don't hear more of this in the mainstream press. I mean, obviously you're very well sourced and maybe the others in the mainstream press are not as well sourced. As you are. But, like, the Iran stuff, I remember reading, like, one throwaway story and, you know, on a broadcast digital piece about, oh, Iran is after Trump. Like, why is there not more coverage of this in the mainstream press? There's such a demand for it.

[Guest Speaker]

Yeah. So I will say a couple of things. First is that there was reporting in here that sources gave me, that they made clear to me they did not want out there until when the campaign was over. And so we did get some reporting on Iran. I don't think we got as much reporting as. We don't know as much as we do now. The second thing is there was some reporting and there were some details that the people who worked for Trump did not want to divulge until after the campaign was over. And they felt freer to talk about their stories and to give a download of what happened. And the concerns about Iran were something that they didn't want to talk about.

[Josh Holmes]

Necessarily as much at the time as an ongoing threat. No question. One of the things I find fascinating is the reboot here from the first four years to now, a second term. And the first four years, obviously, Jared Ivanka played a huge role in that administration and what it ultimately looked like. And there was this inference that family was sort of out of it. We were redoing this and sort of a professional. Jared Ivanka wanted to do their own thing. They wanted to get out and out from underneath politics and everything else. But the family stayed very involved with some different players.

[Guest Speaker]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And tell us a little bit about that.

[Guest Speaker]

Sure. So, you know, you've seen Donald Trump Jr. Has taken on a really important role as not just being a figure on social media, which he certainly is, but he's kind of emerged as a power broker and a really important influencer. Right. Like you see Don Jr. Out now. He's very involved in this Wisconsin judicial race, and you're seeing him get involved in other. I know he's been helpful to you guys in Senate races. So he's an important figure. I think Melania Trump is also an important figure, and people don't talk about her as much. She doesn't necessarily love politics, but she plays an important behind the scenes role in this campaign. And she's got a lot of opinions on things, particularly as it relates to style. She doesn't like it when Trump dances at rallies. He doesn't necessarily take her advice on that, but he does take advice from her on other things. And that includes he. She gave him advice. He wanted his first tweet back after he was replatformed on Twitter. He wanted to go after Ron DeSantis. She urged him, no, don't do that, because that's not how you want to spend your first tweet. And he followed that advice. But here's the other thing that Melania understands. She understands that by being scarce and by being out of the limelight, it increases her value. So she'll. She went to an event at one point in this book, she goes to an event at John Paulson's house, big donor out in Palm beach, and donors loved her. And she's done other events, and she's a massive, massive draw. Her scarcity creates value.

[Josh Holmes]

It's interesting. She's not alone, though. I mean, this is sort of the emergence of Barron. We were introduced to Barron Trump in the first term as a young kid for great reason. His mom wanted him out of the spotlight and very private in this campaign. He's an adult, and he's going into college, and he's got opinions, but not only that, he understands a new media world in a way that not everybody does.

[Comfortably Smug]

Right.

[Guest Speaker]

And that's something that Trump recognizes. So there's a vignette in this book where at one point, Trump's aides are coming up with this plan for the final stretch of the race, the media plan. And they want him to do some podcasts. And so they call up Trump, and he's on the phone, and they have him on speaker. They're back in the office, and they say, we'd like you to do some podcasts. And he says, ask Barron. So the aides, they don't have Barron's cell phone number, right? Because he's sort of a protected member of the family. And so they finally get his number. They call him up, and he's like, yeah, that's a great idea. And he suggests that they do the PBD podcast. Patrick Bet David, who of course, is very influential, podcast conservative circles, and he recommends some others. And he becomes involved in this podcast push, which I would argue is a very central part of the Trump campaign in. In October. And one of the chapters I have in the book says, brat summer became bro fall. And. And look, I mean, the conservative podcast push that Trump engaged in was very important. It wasn't even just conservative podcasts, really, but it is. He went on and got a lot of support from younger people. He cut into demographic groups that Democrats typically have. He won over urbanites. He won over more suburbanites. He won over. He made gains among black voters, other minority voters. And this conservative podcast world. And this is not sucking up to you guys. You play an important role in this. It has become a major advantage that those in the conservative world have over liberals who really are nowhere in this space right now. And it's something that they are just trying to put their arms around and they don't really have.

[Josh Holmes]

That's fascinating. It's fascinating stuff. Listen, the book, Revenge the Inside Story of Trump's Return to Power by Alex Eisenstadt. You got to get. You got to buy this. Because we just scratch the surface of it. I assume everybody can buy it anywhere you get.

[Guest Speaker]

Anywhere, anywhere.

[Josh Holmes]

Anywhere you get. Listen, love this stuff. You've been a terrific reporter for a long time.

[Guest Speaker]

Thank you.

[Josh Holmes]

Incredible amount of stories that we didn't know before this book. Thanks for coming in here.

[Guest Speaker]

Thanks for having me.

[Michael Duncan]

Tons of insight in that book. I'm really glad Alex came in to talk about it. I recommend everybody go and check it out for themselves. That campaign made history in so many ways. And the more you can read about it, the more you can study it and the more Republicans in the future can try to replicate the success of the Trump campaign. I think that's better. Really glad he came in today.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. I mean, you got to like the fact that there are people at the higher echelons of that campaign who trusted him with the stories that they were telling. You know, not all flattering, but no campaign, no, nothing in life is. But when you've got a story that you can tell in a accurate, just way, you give it to people like this. I'm glad he came in. I hope he sells a million books. Listen, you gotta subscribe, like and subscribe to the YouTube channel. Follow Us along the way. And don't forget the follow hack madness. If there's one thing, if you don't have an X account, get on X, or no other reason than to follow smug and vote along with us. Because your vote may determine who is the next hack. The one, number one hack.

[Comfortably Smug]

It's a huge deal in all of.

[Josh Holmes]

Washington, D.C. with that, folks, I think we did it.

[Comfortably Smug]

I think so. Absolute banger of an episode. Gentlemen, thank you so much, Alex, for dropping by for that interview. And thank you so much to our listeners. Again, like Holmes said, like and subscribe to the YouTube if you have. Not yet. So until next time, minions, keep the faith, hold the line and own the libs. We'll see you Thursday. Stay ruthless.

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