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The Jim Acosta Show
Jennifer Welch Busts Ivanka's New Island Plus Breaking News at the Kennedy Center! Trump's Name Must Come Down.
00:42:54
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- [00:06]
A
Well, guess what, everybody. This may be the last time you see Donald Trump's name vandalizing the exterior of the Kennedy Center. As we all know, Donald Trump put his name on the Kennedy center contrary to law. Well, just in the last week or so, a federal judge has ruled in a case brought by a Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, who was on the Kennedy center board, that Trump's name must be removed from the Kennedy center. That it was unlawfully put on the Kennedy Center. Well, just today, the Kennedy Center's general counsel sent a memo to staff members with the Kennedy center saying it is now time to take Trump's name off. And so this sign that you see above, John F. Kennedy's name will be coming off the building. According to this letter that was sent to staffers, the name must come down by a week from. From Friday. In addition to that, this memo applies to all letterhead. Any other signage that is associated with the Kennedy Center. Trump's name must come off of all of it. Obviously, this is a huge development. And as I was just down here today, I noticed there is other signage around the Kennedy center that has Trump's name on it. I saw a Trump bus go by. A Trump Kennedy center bus go by. How obnoxious is that? But all of this apparently coming to an end as the Kennedy Center General counsel appears to be waving the white flag on behalf of the administration and saying, yes, Trump's name must now come down. When it does come down, of course, we'll bring that to you, too. But wanted to bring you this latest development. Trump's name soon to come off the Kennedy Center. All right, welcome to the Jim Acosta Show. It's another day that ends in y in the bizarre and corrupt world of the Trump family. Joining me to discuss is the wonderful Jennifer Welch. Jen, great to see you again.
- [02:00]
B
It's great to see you, Jim. You're always one of my favorites.
- [02:03]
A
Oh, right back at you. The I've had it podcast is a must listen on all of the platforms, including on substack, YouTube, I mean, you name it. And. And, Jen, I can't think of anywhere else to start, and I'm kind of obsessed with this, and it may be symptom of my brain being broken right now. Is Ivanka Trump talking about this? Yeah. Is it Cezanne island or something like that? I guess she and Jared have purchased an island in the Adriatic Sea off of Albania. And it's. It's nuts. It's crazy. But it's also like one of these, like, eat the rich, you Know Trump faux Gilded Age moments.
- [02:43]
B
Here's what gets me about it.
- [02:45]
A
Yeah.
- [02:45]
B
If my daddy was cankles deep in the middle of a pedophilia ring, wherein the majority of the crimes were committed on a private island, I think it would be too soon to roll out that my husband and I were going to develop our own private island. Because what we must do now is brand Jared and Ivanka Kushner as Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell 2.0. That's what it is. That's the fight we've got. Fight. We need to Epstein island brand these people right now. We need to take a knife to a knife fight. Because this is weird. It is as weird as it gets. Furthermore, while she's sitting there talking about. We were on my friend's boat. She's talking about a big yacht. That's what she's talking about. With a helicopter pad on it. And we took a swim and then we just. Incredible. And we just saw this potential and it just. It stuck with us. And meanwhile, people are literally paying double for their gasoline prices.
- [03:47]
A
Yeah.
- [03:47]
B
And she's talking about developing her own Epstein Island. It's. It's so bizarre. If this were in a movie gym, I'd be like, well, that was a little too far. The whole island thing. Like anybody would do that. They're doing it.
- [04:01]
A
Yeah. And is Jared taking the money he got from the Saudis to pay for the island? I mean, that also adds another layer of sleaziness to it. But we should play the video of Ivanka talking about this.
- [04:11]
B
Yes.
- [04:12]
A
And I thought. I thought this was AI, but I saw other outlets running this, so I guess this is really her. I can't tell anymore because so much work has been done, but we should play this and then talk about 1400
- [04:23]
C
hectare private island in the middle of the Mediterranean. We were on a friend's boat and we stopped for a swim. Effectively, that's how we found it. We swam to the islands, we went on a hike barefoot all the way up to the top, and we were just captivated. And it stayed with us ever since. And over the course of many years, we developed the opportunity to help realize its potential and transform it, but with a lot of restraint and care. Because the land is so beautiful that really the architecture has to be fully integrated into it, almost rise from it. You know, it's not even a business for me.
- [05:03]
A
Despite the fully human anymore, it's a little bit like Trump. There's been a lot of work done, and not all of it is panning out too well. But, I mean, it's just so damn strange. And one would think, you know, like, there'd be people telling her, we don't want you to purchase your own private island in the middle of a midterm cycle. Like, this is a bad look. I mean, it's just there's so many different directions to go with this.
- [05:25]
B
My favorite part of that clip was, of course we're going to develop the island with a lot of restraint and care, as though the Trump kids know everything. Anything about restraint and care. The patronizing nature, the of the way MAGA treats their base is something that I get. But the fact that she wants to be mainstream and she is floating this idea out here and she doesn't realize there is a portion of the electorate that critically thinks and that recognizes that you're full of and that you and your husband are able to skirt the system because of your daddy. That's it. If Ivanka and Jared were raised by working class people, if, if Ivana were a nurse and Donald Trump were a plumber, she'd no more be on somebody's boat, swimming up to some island, hiking up to the top of it barefoot, than a man in the moon. I mean, this is all the shit that Republicans preach about hating people, not earning stuff on their merit. That is maga. And I want to bring it back to you. Why are you building a private island when your dad is cankles deep in the center of a pedophile ring where the main criminal committed most of his crimes on a private island? I just, I think that's stunning.
- [06:45]
A
Well, and I, you know, I, I kind of wonder whether, you know, maybe this is their exit plan. They've got to find a place to go into exile when this all ends in a spectacular, you know, Death Star explosion. And, and maybe this is where maybe this becomes Trump island, you know, and maybe we just make a deal with the Trump family. You guys go to this crazy island. Apparently there's a bunch of Soviet era nuclear bunkers on there, and it's just something out of a James Bond movie. Maybe we just make a deal. You guys go there, we leave you alone, and you just leave the rest of the world alone. I don't know, maybe that's the deal we make.
- [07:18]
B
But it looks how I always felt growing up in the Bible Belt about the Rapture. I was like, please come and take all of these people. Rapture them, because they're mean and judgmental. And so I'm fine if they want to go off and live on an island. But I do want to make sure that international law catches up with them there, because there's no question in my mind, and this is just my opinion, that Jared Kushner has engaged with these talks with Vladimir Putin, with these talks with Benjamin Netanyahu, that he is engaged in selling the United States interest down the river. And that is just my opinion, but I think the facts will ferret that out. Because what will live beyond Donald Trump is what all of these people have done. And there are enough Americans that care enough about this country and care enough about fairness and care enough about the rule of law to bring it back.
- [08:07]
A
Well, but it's not happening anytime soon. Trump is saying he's going to announce Todd Blanche as his permanent Attorney General, not acting Attorney general. He wants to nominate him and put him through the nomination process, which probably is a way for Trump to distract the public from all the other crazy, corrupt things that he's doing. Have a big, messy confirmation process. But I mean, Todd Blanche has been along with Pam, Bonnie, I mean, they're sort of like the Bonnie and Clyde of covering up Epstein.
- [08:33]
B
You know, let's put them all on record, Jim. Let's put him up, nominated, do it. Take it to the Senate and let's do a roll call. Because every senator, and I don't care if the Republican or Democrat that votes for Todd Blanche is a pro pedophilia senator, full stop. He went and made a deal with Ghislaine Maxwell. He did not take any U.S. attorneys. He's best friends with Ghiain Maxwell's attorney, Todd Blanches. He goes to prison of a convicted sex trafficker, meets with her with nobody else in the room, no U.S. attorneys, no notes taken, no tape. After this meeting, she is then moved to some cream puff prison facility where she has access to a dog. And I could go on and on about the well being of that dog, but I won't go on that right now. That's another podcast for another day, Jim. But there's no question in my mind, this is just my opinion. The fix is in. He told her, if you be quiet and you go, I'm going to move you to a better prison. I'm going to give you a puppy. When we can do it, you're getting a pardon. The fix is in. So do it, Trump. Nominate Todd Blanche. Do it. Nominate him. And then let's do a roll call. I want a roll call. I want to know what lion Ted Cruz. I want to know how he's going to vote on child pedophilia. I want to know how Josh Hawley's voting on it. I want to know how the Senate Majority Leader threw all these men that talk to us about how much they care about children, how much they care about the country, how much they care about the rule of law. Put them all on record. Let's do it.
- [10:02]
A
Yeah, no, you're right. And, and during the confirmation process, they need to grill Todd Blanch on what went down in that meeting with Galaine Maxwell. We need to know, we need to know the details of that. And was there some sort of sweetheart deal that you struck with her to, to keep her mouth quiet until she, you know, the coast is clear. And it seems to me that's exactly what happened. He'll deny that, but he's, he's a terrible, whenever you see him testify, he's just one of the worst liars I've ever seen. I guess that's why he fits in with Trump.
- [10:30]
B
But yeah, and let's remember that he is a 34 time loser in court. He was Donald Trump's lawyer. And Donald Trump was convicted of 34 felonies. And Donald Trump says, I don't like hanging out with winners. I like to hang out with losers. And Todd Blanche is not only a loser, personality wise, but in his legal care, he has been a loser. And so Donald Trump can't even hire a good criminal defense lawyer and now he wants this guy to be the Attorney General for the United States. But let's not kid ourselves. Donald Trump sees everything that is a part of the United States government as his personally. And so he thinks Todd Blanche will be his personal lawyer.
- [11:11]
A
Yeah. No. And the other person who's not pledging to abide by the rule of law these days is Mark Wayne Mullen, the Homeland Security Secretary who did get through the confirmation process in Oklahoman, I guess, like you, Jen. And so you might have some thoughts on Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen, but apparently he's refusing to commit to following court orders for the Department of Homeland Security. And he got into a back and forth with Chris Murphy, the senator from Connecticut the other day. Let's watch this because I thought this was pretty telling. I mean, he's, you know, he's doing what he should use.
- [11:46]
D
You obey based upon whether, you know what I said to be. No, no political. Don't put words in my mouth.
- [11:52]
A
What are you saying then?
- [11:53]
D
What I'm saying is we'll enforce the law. We're never going to break the Constitution.
- [11:59]
A
You just said that you will not follow every court Order.
- [12:04]
D
Because you. No, no, Chris. Senator, don't, don't start putting words on mouth. That's not what I said. I said I will never break the Constitution. We're going to enforce the law.
- [12:11]
A
Will you implement court orders when they
- [12:13]
D
tell you to stop and you're making an assumption on the court orders?
- [12:16]
B
I have.
- [12:17]
A
Will you not?
- [12:18]
D
I, I am going to enforce the law and I'll never break the Constitution.
- [12:21]
A
Yeah. So Jed, he just doesn't answer the question. And so I, you know, this is kind of what pisses me off is that the Republicans have decided we're not, you know, he says, I'll never break the Constitution, which I don't even understand what that means. But they're not following the Constitution. They're not honoring court orders.
- [12:38]
B
So here's the thing that you need to know about Senator Mark Wayne Mullen. First of all, there's no space in between Mark and Wayne. It is fully continuous Mark Wayne, that's just an aside. But also, this is a man who goes on and on about Christian values and this is a very anti LGBTQ plus guy. And every single day that he stands at a podium, he has to engage in gender affirming care because he's vertically challenged, he's a short guy, so he has to step up on a booster box in order to be seen from over the podium. Meanwhile, he sanct, sanctimoniously lectures everyone about his Christian values. And nothing has exposed these hypocritical Christians from Bible Belt states as much as Donald Trump. They're sucking up to him. A guy who talks about grabbing him by the who's knee deep in the Epstein files, who committed felonies, who wanted to go kill Mike Pence, another white Christian man who incited a bunch of rubes to go kill him. So all the, the fortunate thing here, and this is an opportunity for Democrats to message that Donald Trump has exposed all of the charlatans and these, these faux Alpha men, these gender affirming care men like Senator Booster Box, who has to climb up onto his box so people can even see his face. Thank God he was sitting down in that hearing so that Senator Chris Murphy could see him. Otherwise he'd have to be on his box. So these guys are blowhards. They're full of everything he said. There is a jet stream of they're criminals, they're dirty cops. And I'm just gonna say that that testimony is going to live longer than Donald Trump, the man he debased himself for. That will follow him beyond the grave the what he just said, there will be an example of a traitor to the United States of America. America.
- [14:33]
A
No. And it's true. And Mark Wayne Mullen was in the Senate. And you have to wonder, you know, what is going on on the Republican side in the Senate where they just. They won't stand up to Donald Trump. It's rare when they do. They've been doing it a little bit more lately on this Bill Pulte guy that they want for Director of National Intelligence and so on. But, I mean, this is what Donald Trump has been. He was. Donald Trump has been kind of out of, you know, out of sight, out of mind over the last several days. And then all of a sudden, he popped up Wednesday afternoon and he did a thing in the Oval Office where he was showing off the size of the reflecting pool, which he did not build. So he. I don't know why he's taking credit for the size of the reflecting pool, but you were getting to like, size and size, you know, possibly mattering in certain cases. And here he is holding up a sign, a poster that shows the. The size of the reflecting pool in comparison to skyscrapers. This is nuts. This is happening in the Oval Office of the White House in the United States of America. And you know, to me, like, this is kind of a break the emergency glass sort of moment. He doesn't seem well. And he's showing us examples of this every day.
- [15:37]
B
This is his best foot forward. This is his. The best thing he could do yesterday. Think about that. This is the President, United States, who started a war with Iran. Who gets dog walked by Vladimir Putin. Who gets dog walked by Benjamin Netanyahu, who gets dog walked by, you know, anybody in power. This man just completely folds like a cheap suit. Remember, he's writing love letters to Kim Jong un and Trump 1.0. We're in love. We each other love letters. Just nutty, right? So his mental health has declined so much that yesterday he woke up and he said, do we have an arts and crafts department? And somebody was like, what do you need, Mr. President? I need for you to make a poster because I'm gonna have show and tell in the office. And here's the saddest part about all of it, Jim. I get a crazy person. I understand it. We all know crazy people. We all know narcissists. Not one MFer. And the entire West Wing Oval Office said, sir, these are false equivalencies. Comparing the pool to a skyscraper makes no sense. They all said, great idea. We'll have that poster Made so that you can do your show and tell. Nobody told him it was a bad idea. And that's what's so troubling to me. And then to take it just a notch further, there's a portion of our fellow citizens who sit and just popcorn and laugh that at. Boy, I love Trump. He sure does love America. Do you see that chart he made in the oval pool today?
- [17:00]
A
That's a big pool.
- [17:01]
B
Yeah, that pool's bigger than the Empire State Building.
- [17:05]
A
I can't wait in that pool. And he's got this arch he's got. He might not get his Arc de Triomphe, or whatever they're calling, but he. He has his UFC arch.
- [17:13]
B
Oh, my God.
- [17:14]
A
White House, South Lawn, Jen. And he might want this there permanently. Apparently he wants it there permanently and just. He's just going to destroy the grass on the South Lawn. And it's. I, you know, I was. My team was pointing out it looks a little flaccid. It's not. It's not a manly, strong arch, it seems to me. It's got the red, white, and blue. It's sort of overcompensating. It's a monument to overcompensating.
- [17:35]
B
Yes. And here's what I say at this point. Leave it up. Do it. It. Leave it up. Leave it up. Let's leave it up, because it's going to be that much more fun to watch it get torn down. Leave the UFC thing up. Do. He wants to do show and tell every day. Nobody's stopping. Let's just. He's in his crazy era. He's in his gay area. He's talking about how hot men are. Let's just roll with it. That is biology.
- [18:01]
A
Is that so weird? Yeah.
- [18:02]
B
Oh, how he's talking about how hot everybody is all the time.
- [18:05]
A
I saw this. Yeah. I'm telling you. Do you know, I'm not. I have not talked about this very much, but since you always get me in these moods, Jen and I have to disclose. I remember during the first administration, I would be at some of these press conferences, and it felt like he was winking at me. He was kind of looking over at me and winking at me during pre. Because he gets bored so easily. You know, he falls asleep now. But in the old days, what he would do is he was just start looking at his. At the folks in the press corps and kind of like, does, like, you know, one of these things. And I was always like, what. What? What is this? This is so weird now. It's kind of Making sense.
- [18:39]
B
It all makes sense. You saw how delighted he was around the mayor of New York City. It's the happiest I've seen him since 2016. I mean, he was just as smitten as all get out. He met some quarterback for the New York Giants. I believe that's the position he plays. And he immediately starts talking about his thighs. He met a UFC fighter, was grabbing his thighs, and you're too good looking to fight. You're so good looking. He gave a microphone a blowjob on the campaign trail with striking familiarity. He talks about the size of Arnold Palmer's cock. And now we can add, he's winking at Jim Acosta. I mean, this all tracks. And so, I mean, I think there's
- [19:21]
A
a lot of evidence.
- [19:22]
B
I think he's in his deathbed confession era, and I think the dementia. He's in his, like, it stage. He's just like, you know, like, he's
- [19:30]
A
doing out of him. He can't hold. There's no filter. He can't hold back anymore. It's true. This is why he's talking about Roy Cone.
- [19:37]
B
I mean, he was the mentee of, of, of Roy Cone. And so I, it's, it's, it's pretty interesting. I mean, I wish Freud were alive. But you know what we need to do, Jim? The next time you're in New York, we need to get some super smart psychiatrist. Psychologist on.
- [19:52]
A
Yeah.
- [19:52]
B
Present this case.
- [19:55]
A
Break it down and see what this is. Because the, the, the UFC fighting set also. I mean, it also looks like a toddler's playset. You know, when you, or actually like the baby, you know, when it's an infant and the baby has to lay on the back and there's like the little thing that's over the baby with the little yes boys that hang down, it kind of looks like that. And you just could imagine Trump on his back like, like batting at the little toys that are hanging down.
- [20:19]
B
Maybe you could have football players hanging from it with great size. See, I touch on my terrible influence on you, Jen.
- [20:27]
A
Little plush Dana Whites or whatever his name is could be kind of dangling down for Trump to bat out with his, his cankles. But it, it is. It is. It's a damn mystery to me. And you know why, you know, he has people like Mark Wayne Mullen in the cabinet. Pete Hegseth in the cabinet. Cabinet. Now Todd Blanche he wants to have in the cabinet. I mean, you know, the, there's, there's Pete Hexeth. Every time I say Pete Hexeth, my team likes to show this image of, of Pete Hegseth. Again, what you were saying earlier about Trump, you know, there's a. The imagery.
- [21:02]
B
Okay, there is, it is. There's just. Here's my thing. The MAGA movement is very obsessed with LGBTQ plus trans issues. They say, oh, the Democrats and progressive winning the Democratic Party is all about culture wars. That is such. Have you seen the stage five meltdowns that have been going on since Pride Month started?
- [21:26]
A
Yes.
- [21:27]
B
We've got Riley Gaines, we got the governor of Alabama, and they're all talking about nuclear family month, Strong Family month. And I want to talk about weak families. Shouldn't we, by their logic, if they're such good Christian people, shouldn't they be lifting up weak families? Maybe the, the mother that's a single mother that has a couple kids and has to work a couple of jobs and she can't get a raise or health insurance because the Republicans are too damn greedy and then blame her for being lazy while they give all of these tax breaks to the parasites like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. It's just if you get triggered that much about gay people, I think maybe the call might be coming from inside the house.
- [22:08]
A
No question about it. And, you know, with it being Pride Month and everything, it is worth, you know, reminding folks that this is what they tried to do in 2024. And, and they succeeded at it from a political standpoint, Trump did. And I assume they'll try to play this game again heading into the midterms. About this, you know, she's for they. Them. Donald Trump is for you and all this stuff. And it's, it's all, it's total.
- [22:35]
B
They all engage in gender affirming care. Donald Trump wears a full face of makeup every single day. We just found out he stopped taking Propecia, which is the hair loss drug. So as bad as he looks now, I think he's about to start losing his hair. We all know they probably juice up with Viagra or Cialis. We all know. And who cares? I don't give a about that stuff.
- [22:54]
A
Yeah.
- [22:55]
B
Booster box climbs up on the booster box. The weird thing. You know what's weird? Have you seen all these Thirst trap videos they're making about Marco Rubio? I think this Stephen Chung guy, he must have some sort of crush on Marco because when they were heading to. I can't remember they were heading.
- [23:11]
A
I saw this.
- [23:12]
B
They dressed up little Marco like Maduro in that Nike sweatsuit that they found that they got him In. They dress Marco up in it, and then they prop him up on Air Force One and take a picture and then they post it. And now Kylie just showed me. They're making these thirst trap videos of Marco set to, like, Kanye west music. Like, he's so hot or something. It's the weirdest homosocial gay on the planet.
- [23:41]
A
It really is. But here's the thing.
- [23:44]
B
Bad gay. It's not how fabulous all the gay people we know are.
- [23:48]
A
Yes. No, there's nothing fabulous about any of them. And I saw the Marco Rubio thing, and I thought to myself, really? Is that what you think of Marco Rubio? Like a Latin American dictator? Gee, what a message to the Latino voters out there. Out there. You know, give me a break. But I, you know, I just, to me, the fact that Donald Trump, all he has now, I mean, they can't get celebrities to perform at the 250th birthday of America. You know, it's really, it's. These are, these are dark times for him. I'm not surprised. He was MIA for like six or seven days. He must have been just a world of hurt, you know, behind closed doors with his, you know, his phone and his very small thumbs posting.
- [24:29]
B
I know. I think when Milli Vanilli, number one, when you're inviting them to be your big headliner and then they cancel, I mean, this is rock bottom. And the problem is they don't realize it. They all live in these silos where they, you know, are in this whole MAGA world where they have the MAGA oligarchs that are ratioing all their posts where they think they're so popular. He's wildly unpopular. What they're doing is wildly unpopular. Extreme wealth is wildly unpopular. And I think that this is going to be a time where the pendulum is going to swing back really, really far the other way. I'm worried about free and fair elections. Not in blue states, but in Texas. You know, I think Talarico probably can win against Ken Paxton. But do I trust local Texas government officials to not get ballots, trash them? I don't. I hate to say that, but I don't.
- [25:32]
A
Yes. No, they. I, I fully expect. You know, it's always projection with Trump. You know, Trump accuses everybody else of election fraud. He's the one who tried to pull off a fraud in 2020. He's the one who tried to overturn the election. I just, you know, I'd like to remind people of that. But you're so right about where he is right now. He is at rock bottom. But it seems to me the bottom is still, we have not reached, you know, complete rock bottom as of yet with Donald Trump. And, and when his daughter and his son in law are purchasing a billion dollar island, it goes exactly to what you were saying a few moments ago. People are super pissed that, that this wealth gap has exploded to the point where it is right now. And if the first family of the United States can afford a billion dollar ex Soviet island or whatever the it is in the Adriatic Sea, I mean that just, that just crystallizes it for everybody right there very just perfectly. When Ivanka Trump is buying a billion dollar island because they just happen to sail past it on their boat and she, she called it the Mediterranean. She doesn't even know what she, which goddamn body of water they're in.
- [26:42]
B
Have you seen the protest videos of the Albanians? The Albanians are going nuts four days in a row. They're going crazy and good for them. I mean I think that you saw this in Hungary. You saw the people stand up against these two bit fascists and that's what all of these people are. And they think that they're a new brand of it. And these are not readers, these are not students of history. Stephen Miller, I do think he's a student of history. I do think he's probably read Min Kampf and Joseph, you know, Goebel's personality traits stuff. I think he's done a case study and all of that. But this is, history is not going to be very kind to all of this. And these are short term thinkers. They're, they're unable to play the tape through. So Ivanka, develop your island. It's going to end up getting confiscated at some point. There's not a planet where people are just going to let the Trumps continue to exploit everybody. It's not, it will not happen. There's going to be a Trump lash. It's coming, there is going to be
- [27:43]
A
a huge flash and somebody who is sort of leading the charge in this direction, which it is sort of, the irony is delicious. Is Hunter Biden finally? Yeah, I mean he has, he's been on fire on Twitter on X lately and he put out some tweet that basically says what we've been saying, which is how completely nutty is it that you know that, that, that folks go after Jill Biden and Joe Biden and go after Hunter Biden and accusing him of corruption and so on when Ivanka is going out there and buying, I don't know if we have the tweet to show, but it's, it's really incredible. And I give Hunter his due. Hunter is, Hunter is fighting back. And I, I think the public is ready for it. What do you think?
- [28:30]
B
I love it. I, I look, Hunter Biden is not a politician.
- [28:34]
A
He
- [28:37]
B
was the son of Joe Biden and the Republicans and Fox News and all these good Christian MAGA people loved to demean, diminish, and be cruel about Hunter. And Hunter does something that they cannot do. Hunter does something that all of the proud LGBTQ plus people that are celebrating Pride Month this month do. And they engage in something called rigorous honesty. And so it's nice to see Hunter fight back and say, you know what? Yeah, I smoked crack and I did it naked and I did it with hookers and I have a large penis and it's on videotape. You want to see it? Go look at it. Now let's talk about how up you are, you lying liar. And I like it. I like it. I like that he's defending himself. I like that he's thrown back. He even said somebody said, would you fight Eric in the UFC ring? He said, I'm in. Like, bring it on. And I think Hunter Biden would kick the ass out of Dumb and Dumber. I think he could take them both on end at the at the same time. I'm team Hunter. I love it. I think that it's nice to see somebody fight back against these liars because MAGA Republicans are liars. Everything they do is lie all day, every day.
- [29:48]
A
And they were accusing Biden of the Biden family corruption.
- [29:51]
B
Remember crime family?
- [29:53]
A
It's like bullshit Biden crime family and going after Hunter Biden and so on. And Ivanka and Jared are buying a goddamn island for a billion dollars. I mean, you know that you can't make this stuff up. Well, Jen, great to see you as always. Really appreciate it. It's the. You are the star right now of this moment and the I've had It podcast is the, is the, is the best right now. Everybody's talking about it. So always great to get you on and talk to you and I'll come on anytime I'm coming up to the studio. Just let me know when you let
- [30:21]
B
me know the next time in your in New York and we will get to the bottom of all of this and I'm going to find us an expert on repressed sexuality and we're going to do some hard hitting investigative journalism. Since Barry Weiss has KO'd 60 Minutes, you and I are going to Pick it up. It's just going to be a little bit more salacious.
- [30:40]
A
Let's do it. I love it.
- [30:42]
B
I love you, Jim. Thank you.
- [30:44]
A
Right back at you, Jen. Love you too. Thanks so much. Really appreciate Jen Welch. And it's, it's kind of incredible, you know, getting Jen's take on all of this, because she's absolutely right. I mean, if you look at, but you know, just the hypocrisy, the absolute hypocrisy of people on the far right in Maga going after Hunter Biden for years and years and years. And you have Jared Kushner getting $2 billion from the Saudis. Then he's involved in this so called Middle east peace process, which, how's that going right now? And he and Ivanka are apparently in the process of purchasing or have already purchased an, a private island in the Adriatic Sea off the coast of Albania for a billion dollars and causing mass protests in the country. You can't make this stuff up. And I guess I can't. You know, I suppose I can understand why the Trump family would want to go buy an island right now. They need some place to, to race off to when the heat is on. And maybe that's what we're, you know, in the beginning stages of right now, perhaps, you know, as I used to describe it, when Trump left office in disgrace back in early 2021, you know, he was like a dictator going off into exile. And remarkably, the, the dictator came back. I mean, that's certainly what has taken place. And now the dictator is, is unraveling before our eyes, you know, on the public airwaves every night, talking about reflecting pools and so on. But I kind of wonder if maybe the sequel is coming. Maybe we're seeing a sneak preview of coming attractions. Ivanka saying, yes, we were on our boat and all of a sudden we wanted to go for a walk on this island and we found this island and now we're going to buy this island for a billion dollars. And the island has Soviet era nuclear bunkers on it. You can't make this crap up. And I don't know, maybe that's the escape plan. Maybe this will be Trump Island. You thought Epstein island was something. Maybe it sounds like a reality TV show. Ivanka Island. Come to Ivanka Island. We brought it, we brought a, a slew of contestants to Ivanka island for a reality TV show competition. And, and I don't know, maybe they will compete Apprentice style to somehow win, I don't know, a bungalow or a villa on the island at some point, at the end of all of it. But it very much takes us to this moment that we're in right now. We're in a eat the rich people are pushing back against this truck, this Trump foe gilded age. And you know, when the Albanians are up in arms over Ivanka and Jared buying an island off the coast of Albania, we're in a very strange place. And I'm glad that we're all in this together, calling it out each and every day. I want to thank Jen Welch as always for joining me. I thought it would be fantastic just to have Jen, you know, live and unplugged in person for the, for the course of this program. But again, you know, as I always say, you know, at the end of the program, you know, supporting independent Media Matters, I, you know, we really didn't cover the 60 Minutes on this program, 60 Minute Scandal on this program today. We will do it with Steve Schmidt on Friday. But it's again, it's another reminder of why independent media matters. It's a reminder of why your support for independent Media Matters. And so when you, like when you share, when you subscribe, especially when you subscribe, whether it's on substack or on YouTube and you lend your support to this program, believe me, it matters. It makes it possible for, for us to continue to do the shows that we do each and every day. And, you know, it means the world to me when folks, you know, support this program. I get the emails, I see some of the messages that you send out there and all of that support that you send, it really, it keeps me going. And this week I was pretty steamed. I was on with Nicole Wallace on Ms. Now yesterday, some of you may have noticed. So Jim's doing his show on substack, but he's also on Ms. Now at the same time. I was on with Don Lemon and had an amazing time and it was great. Just like old times, Don and I being on cable news together. But, you know, one of the reasons why I did the show is with Nicole, who's absolutely wonderful is, is because we are in a moment that is just so damn important right now. And I get a little emotional thinking about this and talking about this. Scott Pelley was a mentor to me many, many years ago when I was a very young, wet behind the ears, greenhorn reporter at CBS News. This was in the early to mid 2000s, and Scott Pelley would occasionally anchor the CBS Evening News on the weekends. And he was on 60 Minutes too, and all these great shows. And I Just looked up to him. And I just thought that he and Dan Rather and Bob Schieffer and all these folks, they were legends. And they, they did it exactly the right way. They, they were the reason why I got into television news. People like Sam Donaldson and so on. And to see what Barry Weiss is doing over at 60 Minutes, to see what the Ellisons have tried to do with CBS News, the House of Cronkite, the House of Borough. It is absolutely. And I, and I said some of this when I was on with Nicole Wallace. And I'll say it again, it is absolutely un American. It is absolutely contrary to the values and ideals of this democracy. And I, you know, I don't see anybody else really saying this kind of stuff. So I'm going to say this, that what they are doing is, is damaging to this country. Barry Weiss, you are hurting this country. When you try to tear down an institution like 60 Minutes. And, and she and this new executive producer, they put over there, they put out these statements like, oh, we care about CBS. Oh, we care about 60 Minutes. Oh, we just want to update it and modernize it and so on. Bullshit. Baloney. 60 Minutes was blowing the doors off of almost every television program in the United States besides professional sports. The only, the only programs that were doing better than 60 minutes or that sometimes do better than 60 minutes are big time professional sports programs. NBA Finals, playoffs, NFL football games. Those are the kinds of programs that sometimes do better than 60 minutes. Other than that, nobody else really can touch 60 minutes. So it was a very successful, highly rated program. And so when Barry Weiss and this new executive producer come along, we respect you and we respect the journalism that you do, and we just want to make it better and more modern. And I see these media writers out there, I don't want to name anybody by name, you know, giving oxygen to this, this bullshit. Go home. Take that and go home. And I just, you know, it just needs to be said, and it needs to be said plainly. And if people want to clip this and put this on social media, have at it. I did my own thing the other night. But, Barry Weiss, you are a fool. You are being used by the far right in this country to destroy an American institution. In 60 minutes, you're being used. You need to understand that you're young. You don't know everything. You think you know everything, but you don't know everything. But you are being used to hurt. 60 Minutes, one of the main investigative reporting institutions in the world. They go all over the world and investigate all Kinds of stuff. And Donald Trump hates it. He doesn't like people like Leslie Stahl. He doesn't like people like Scott Pelley and Steve Croft and Sharon Alfonsi and so on, because they expose the corrupt and criminal and devious things that he does, like getting into cahoots with the, the dictator of El Salvador to send, to send immigration detainees to a foreign country to put them in a gulag. Of course 60 Minutes is going to go do a story like that because it's, it's a monstrosity. It's, it is, it is completely contrary to all American values to pull people up out of the United States and stick them in some kind of gulag in El Salvador. So of course, for Pete's sake, Sharon Alfonsi in 60 Minutes are going to do a story on that. But Donald Trump doesn't like it. Stephen Miller doesn't like it. But the people inside the White House, they don't like it because they're operating like fascists. And what do fascists do? What do authoritarians do when they take over in a country? They immediately go after the press. They immediately try to silence their critics. They immediately try to silence the journalists. It happened to me when I was covering them during the first term. They took away my press pass. They tried to ruin and destroy my career. When are people going to wake up to the reality of the situation that we're in right now? This is a, this is an ideological and partisan political project. This is what I said to Nicole Wallace on M Now, and I'll say it again. This is an ideological project of the far right. Remember when the far right spent years and years and years to overturn Roe versus Wade and pull reproductive rights. And they were very patient and methodical and they kept getting their people on the Supreme Court and they method and they used Mitch McConnell and they, and they got it done. They overturned Roe versus Wade. This is what the far right is doing with the free press in this country. This is what the people who support authoritarian, autocratic type rulers who live in our midst, who are, who are part of our society. This is what they want. They want the, the very select 10 to 15% of Americans who don't believe in democracy to run this country, to run everything. And people need to wake up that one of the things that they have to do to accomplish that is demolishing the free and independent press of the United States of America. If they can knock that out of the way. It's like Putin's project in Russia. It's like Viktor Orban's project in Hungary. If they can knock that, that pillar of American society, that fourth estate, out of the way, it moves them in the direction of their goals. And so people need this is not just about pulling the plug on a television program or chasing off correspondence that we know by name and that we read about and hear about. This is about demolishing American institutions to make way for their authoritarian ambitions. And the American people must wake up to the reality of the situation or else we're going to be in a whole lot of trouble. That's why I've been so passionate about this. That's why my friends like Don Lemon, Nicole Wallace and others have been so passionate about this. And we're not going to stop. We're not going to stop calling it out. We're not going to back down on this, because it is absolutely essential to protecting and preserving the American way of life that a free press continues to stand in this country. And I do want to thank Jen Welch for joining me today and thank all of you for joining me as well. Still reporting from Washington, I'm Jim Acosta. I'll see you next time.