Pardon Trump For Going On Trial

Unravel the seismic legal battles ensnaring a former President as we examine the implications of Donald Trump's upcoming criminal trial. Promising an unflinching look at the hush money allegations involving Stormy Daniels, we dissect how these accusations could have affected the 2016 election and beyond. The shadow of potential campaign finance violations looms large, yet it's only a fragment of Trump's whirlwind legacy—from his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic to the Capitol insurrection. We also shed light on the financial lifelines thrown to Trump amidst his mounting legal and financial troubles, and what these signal about the state of justice in America.

Witness the spectacle of accountability as we traverse the landscape of a former leader's downfall. The episode captures the collective exhale as equality before the law takes center stage, scrutinizing Trump's recent eccentric rally rants and his company's financial misadventures. The emotional stakes for Trump are high, and we ponder the personal impact of his public struggles. With the November election on the horizon, we emphasize the crucial role of voter turnout and the responsibility we hold to maintain the pillars of justice and accountability. Join us as we grapple with the potential consequences of this political saga and the enduring power of the electorate.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Yo, what up? This is D-Night and you're listening to the Pardon the Interaction podcast. It is pocket pardon time of the century, because we are headed towards the trial of the century, as Donald Trump is set to face a criminal trial beginning Monday of this week for his attempt to interfere in the 2016 election by using hush money to cover up an affair with the porn star that I'm sure you're all familiar with at this point, stormy daniels. Um, you know I'm not necessarily a huge fan of her work, or at least I wasn't upon her arrival until the political scene, but, um, you know it's growing on me, but, yeah, so the broad strokes of this, uh, this criminal trial, involve trump using his company to launder money, uh, through the trump organization and michael cohen to pay off stormy daniels to keep her from going public about an affair that he rather trump and her had while his wife, melania, was pregnant, and it was at a time that would have been extraordinarily inconvenient for that information to go public, given that it was right around the time of the hollywood access tape, which I hope everyone is familiar with by now, also known as the grab them by the pussy tape, famously, and the only way that Trump skated. That is the fact that hours after the release of that tape, wikileaks happened to dump Hillary Clinton's emails into the public venue and practically stole the headlines and the news coverage by doing so. We later came to be aware that that was a link directly to the actions of russian intelligence services.

Speaker 1: 1:55

Uh, again, yet another set of set of election interference crimes that trump won't be held accountable for, but we gotta go. What we got um in his attempt to use his company to launder those funds was also in evasion of, uh like election finance or campaign finance disclosure laws, meaning that such payments typically have to be disclosed to the public if they're in service of helping the candidate win an election, and trump failed to do that. That takes what is typically misdemeanor crimes of falsifying business records and and bumps them up to a felony because they were in service of covering up some other crime. And boom, here we are. Trump is headed to court, and I know a lot of people they like to poo-poo these charges like oh, whoop-dee-doo. Like oh, he took some of his own money and he spent it on a porn star to try and keep her quiet.

Speaker 1: 2:57

Well, you know, from a number of ways you could look at that and from various perspectives where it might change your opinion on how serious these charges are. First of all, it is with all likelihood that had another negative story come out about trump, especially in the realm of, well, gross, detestable hate behavior. Not necessarily that that you know, banging a porn star is gross and detestable like I make no judgments about that. But you know, given the fact that he was running for president, and it would have been a very negative story and in context with the access hollywood tape, add in the context that he is a republican and his current base are the right-wing evangelicals if this story had been revealed to the public, a number of them likely wouldn't have voted for him and he never would have became president of the United States. So in some ways you can think of this as one of the most important crimes as it pertains to Trump's rise to power, because without it he never would have had the White House, he would have never been able to do a number of things in, including botching the covert response, nearly tanking the economy, attacking congress on january 6th, on and on, and on, and on and on.

Speaker 1: 4:16

Just think of all the insanity of of the four years of his administration and beyond, donald Trump likely wouldn't have been in the picture because he wouldn't have won the election. You can also try to think of it in terms of how valuable was this really? He paid less than $200,000 to a porn star and he used his company to do it. For Trump, the value of winning the White House in 2016 is incalculable. He has made so much money off of the White House these past eight years that it's an absurd number to even try and consider or calculate. It's beyond ridiculous If you just think of it in terms of well, the fact that Trump was probably going bankrupt and probably would have had a claim or file for bankruptcy if he hadn't won the White House, and probably would have had a claim or file for bankruptcy if he hadn't won the white house.

Speaker 1: 5:12

All of the money that he practically stole from the government straight up due to his relationships with foreign entities, getting loans that he shouldn't have received in the first place. That kept his properties afloat, money from the secret service staying at these like overpriced properties of his where he would run up the rates and run the secret service budget dry, sending that money straight into his pockets. Holding all of these events at his properties where he was hosting uh, you know, foreign leaders and and members of foreign governments like that alone an incalculable number and apparently his relationships that he built thanks to his position in the white house have even bailed him out recently with the new york civil fraud judgments and along with the eg and carol judgment, where he's basically in the hole half a billion dollars. But because of his prior relationships established because of his political access, he's received bonds that he likely would not have otherwise. Those have bailed him out. And one of these individuals who controls night insurance, mr hanky. He's responsible for refinancing the loans on some of trump's properties, like the trump tower loan, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, benefits that he wouldn't receive otherwise.

Speaker 1: 6:34

Trump's whole true social scam is built off of the fact that he was in the White House for four years and it's practically a way for people to gamble on the idea of a second Trump administration. Literally anyone can pump money into that thing now that it's being publicly traded as a way to try and buy Trump's favor, whether that is the individual goofball MAGA donor, all the way up to foreign adversaries and foreign billionaires and foreign agents who are attempting to curry favor with Trump, should he ever take the White House again, in an attempt to garner him to make decisions that aren't in the best interest of the United States but in the best interest of his pocketbook. We know that to be Trump's MO, and given the fact that, if he is re-elected, that he won't be constrained by the idea that he will have to win votes for a third election that will allow him to operate with the level of impunity, that would be extraordinarily unfortunate for all of us, given the way that we've seen trump act and the plans he has for a second trump administration should he be re-elected, with mass deportations, concentration camps, creating his own privatized army by federalizing local law enforcement I mean just all kind of insane, apocalyptic type shit, shit to spell doom for all of us. You know and I know it sounds ridiculous it sounds as though I'm being hyperbolic, but I'm not. He already tried to kill congress once. I'm absolutely sure he'll try and finish what he started. In fact, it's likely that once he takes office if he does win, he'll pick up where he left off. He won't even wait till the end of his administration to get the people who could hold him accountable out of the way he'll probably just start off start off day one of his administration to get the people who could hold him accountable out of the way. He'll probably just start off, start off day one of his administration with rounding up his perceived enemies inside the government and this project 2025 a plan to hollow out the executive branch of the federal government by firing everyone that he perceives to be disloyal to him and replace them with cronies, people not qualified to actually do the job of running the government, but people who exist only to carry out his orders, no matter how illegal or insane, a plot that would ultimately lead to the ruin of the united states.

Speaker 1: 9:04

I mean these people in these long-term government positions, positions, these career government officials. They have the expertise to do these jobs. You cannot replace them with fucking morons off the street that you vetted through facebook and instagram and assume that the government is going to function. It's just not. It's not going to happen. And then, of course, he plans to hollow out the military, the intelligence agencies, replace the heads of those with his hand-picked cronies.

Speaker 1: 9:37

You know, imagine, I don't know. Say, steve bannon is the head of the fbi, we'd have attorney general jeffrey clark, you know, after the FBI raided his house and had him standing out in the street in his underwear. That guy would be your attorney general deciding which of Trump's enemies get prosecuted and which of his allies get get protected. Just you know CIA Director Cash Patel, who's got a stake in his social media company, directing the central intelligence agency, taking advantage of our spy networks across the world and doing who knows what with classified information, using it to bribe other foreign officials or blackmail people into engaging in behavior that they wouldn't otherwise, just causing unknown and unmitigated harm to the national security of the united. It would be a fucking nightmare. It'd be a nightmare.

Speaker 1: 10:35

And so you now see why it is ultimately so valuable to trump to have won the white house in the first place, but also how dire the circumstances would be if he were to be re-elected, and why it is of the utmost importance to hold him responsible for cheating in the very first election in 2016. Got to hold that man accountable, because if you don't ensure that he faces consequences, he will never change his behavior. He is incorrigible. He is sociopathic. It's in his nature. He cannot help himself. It's in his nature. He cannot help himself like he won't change on his own. Consequences are the only thing that can ensure that his behavior is corrected and, if not corrected, at least mitigated.

Speaker 1: 11:22

I know a lot of people also poo-poo the baller investigation, or at least his conclusion, and obviously, yes, it was a massive letdown that mauler wasn't willing to pull the trigger on even telling the public that trump would likely be charged if he wasn't president and should face indictment once he was removed from office. Uh, giving that, putting the impetus on the senate or on the congress in general to hold impeachment hearings and get them up out of there. Yes, that was unfortunate. But also, without the appointment of Special Counsel Mueller to investigate the Trump campaign's conspiracy with Russia to help seal the 2016 election, we would never be seeing this trial, because this investigation was spun off from that one and sent to New York. Because this investigation was spun off from that one and sent to new york. Obviously, bill barr crushed these charges once he became attorney general. He made sure that trump wasn't going to be prosecuted for the hush money slash election interference case. That's okay. It eventually ended up in in the manhattan district attorney's office where, even after all this time, we're finally getting a trial and we're finally going to. We'll at least see trump held to account for his actions and his criminal behavior.

Speaker 1: 12:39

You know, obviously I'm not a trump supporter. I am not pro-trump in any shape, form or fashion. I do not wish him success in any venture. I do not wish to see him return to the White House in any shape, form or fashion. But even with my biases, I am more than willing to place them aside and say that when Trump is held accountable here, it's not just that I'm expecting Trump to go to jail, because in all likelihood he's going to be found guilty given the evidence, but he won't be spending any time in jail. I would imagine the judge would not be willing to sentence him to any prison time, but the fact that he is going to face a trial and face a jury of his peers for his actions, regardless of whether he is found guilty or not, regardless of whether he serves any prison time or not, that is the type of accountability I want for anyone in any position of power who has been credibly accused of criminal activity, whether that be a Democrat or Republican, right-leaning or left-leaning, liberal or conservative or independent for that matter, liberal or conservative or independent for that matter.

Speaker 1: 13:49

I am glad that we are reaching a point where the highest office in the land that is not a means for people to escape the consequences of their actions when they engage in criminal activity.

Speaker 1: 14:03

I'm glad we finally reached that point. This country was founded on the idea that we don't bow down to kings, that no one is above the law, that no one is above facing consequences, and we're finally proving that to be the truth, or at least in this one instance, because, damn, have a lot of motherfuckers before him previously got in the way with some incredibly insane shit. So at least we're going to get this one. Yeah, maybe I should get my hopes up, because I guess anything could happen over the course of the next few weeks. But as happy as I am about trump's potential downfall, he is not taking it quite as well. Not not nearly as well at all, as you may be aware of, given the state of affairs from his pennsylvania rally this past weekend, where he totally lost his fucking mind and his brain melted into jello. Yeah, it wasn't wasn't an ideal performance on his part.

Speaker 2: 15:02

He was in rare form where he was railing against the illegal atlantafans just this week it was reported that an illegal atlantafin and you just look at this, what's happening?

Speaker 1: 15:13

or whatever the fuck those are, along with railing against wind because it was killing our birds but wind doesn't work anywhere.

Speaker 2: 15:22

It's too expensive. It doesn't work. Kills all your birds. If you'd like to see a nice bird cemetery walk under a windmill sometime, In Japan because they're taking our seals. United States Seal Company, one of the great companies of the world 50 years ago, is being sold to Japan. Congratulations, Japan.

Speaker 1: 15:43

Yeah, he's totally lost it. He's not doing great. I mean, again, it's been a rough week. Not only is he a lifetime career criminal finally facing his first criminal trial, but last week we all watched the stock of his true social parent company fall straight into the fucking dumpster. It it was like a russian pushed it out of a window. The way that thing fell so fast. I think it it hit somewhere in the in the 20s as a low. That thing's worth less than half of what it was upon launch. And guys, that's only been a few weeks, it's. It's gonna be worth pennies by the time that thing gets done. That's, that's gonna be the end of his prospects of of becoming, uh, an actual billionaire, like as the launch put him on the bloomberg's billionaire list. These last couple of weeks of the stock price continually tanking has taken him off of it in a similar fashion. You know also evan corcoran, his lawyer down in florida, the one that got crime fraud accepted off the classified documents case. Well, he's officially left Trump's legal team. So who knows what kind of secrets or just dirt he'll be willing to dish about his time during Trump's employ over the past couple of years here.

Speaker 1: 17:05

That $290 million gift of a bond reduction in New York all the way down to $175 million. That doesn't seem to be going well as it appears that NIA Financial won't be able to prove the bond in court, meaning it doesn't appear that they have the assets to cover the actual payment of the bond. So that's not going great. I'm sure that's extraordinarily frustrating for trump. There's been a huge swing in the polls towards biden, meaning that biden is now taking the lead in the general election in in a lot of these polls as well as in a number of swing states here. So trump no longer being in the favorite, that's probably not. It's not doing great for his mood or his emotional stability, I would imagine, especially since he's probably spent the last couple of years thinking he's got this thing locked up. I'm sure that's debilitatingly stressful. Yeah, he's got a lot on his plate and, depending on how this trial goes, I would be totally unsurprised if he snapped emotionally and we saw him fleeing in a low speed car chase on the interstate, much in the same fashion as oj did in 94. I'm not saying that that's going to happen, but I wouldn't be totally surprised if it did. But we're finally here. We made it. We finally got to the point where we're seeing consequences for this dude after years and years of insane, fucked up ass behavior. It's a it's about time now.

Speaker 1: 18:43

I know everyone is disappointed because I'm sure that you all would like it to be as simple and clean as hey. Hey, like there's a set of charges, he gets convicted, he goes away forever, problem solved. It's likely not going to be the case, because even if he is convicted on all the criminal counts, I think the lowest possible sentence he can receive is zero months, and I'm sure a judge in these circumstances is likely not inclined to lock him up for any amount of time and will give him probation, although there is the slight possibility that Trump engages in some ridiculous ass behavior over the course of this trial and does receive a prison sentence. So I guess you can cross your fingers and hope for that in the Senate. So I guess you can cross your fingers and hope for that. There's also the prospect of the Supreme Court issuing some kind of immunity ruling, narrowly tailored to Trump, that gets him out of a number of these other criminal charges that he's facing and at the end of the day, whether that happens or not, come November, it's going to be.

Speaker 1: 19:45

On us to save ourselves, as it was in 2020. On us to save ourselves, as it was in 2020. It's that's just a fact of the matter. Like the legal system, the criminal justice system was not built to solve massive problems of this scope, in this nature in the political arena, at least not in its entirety. But hopefully it won't crack under the pressure placed upon it by Trump and all of his cronies and we'll instead meet out some measure of justice, making it possible for us to do our part, save ourselves by voting for Joe Biden in November.

Speaker 1: 20:25

At least, that's what I plan on doing.

Speaker 1: 20:26

I'm hoping, if you listen to this, you plan on doing the same. You plan on convincing as many people as you listening to this, you plan on doing the same. You plan on convincing as many people as possible to join you in that effort, because, even though trump won't necessarily be able to pardon his way out of the state offenses here in new york and in georgia, should he be convicted, if he is ultimate, ultimately re-elected, he will be able to use the powers of the federal government to likely stay out of jail and, in fact, will be incentivized to do horrific things in order to stay in power in order to stay out of jail. So if you want him to be held accountable, you got to do your part. You got to show up, cast your vote in November and make sure this dude don't ever see the White House again, like the only house he should be seeing from this point on is the big house. And we can make that happen if you reelect Joe Biden. And that concludes this episode of Pardon the Interaction.