WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.319 Welcome to the Deep Dive. You've handed us quite 00:00:03.319 --> 00:00:05.379 a stack of source material this week. It really 00:00:05.379 --> 00:00:08.720 paints a picture of a political landscape that's 00:00:08.720 --> 00:00:11.839 complex, maybe even chaotic, and definitely moving 00:00:11.839 --> 00:00:14.619 fast. It is. We're looking at, you know, domestic 00:00:14.619 --> 00:00:17.800 political deadlocks, serious constitutional questions, 00:00:18.379 --> 00:00:21.760 internal agency struggles, international friction. 00:00:22.350 --> 00:00:24.589 it's all happening at once. Information overload 00:00:24.589 --> 00:00:28.070 basically. Exactly. So our mission today is to 00:00:28.070 --> 00:00:31.489 try and cut through that noise, synthesize this 00:00:31.489 --> 00:00:35.310 chaos into clear usable knowledge for you. We're 00:00:35.310 --> 00:00:37.369 going beyond just the headlines to pull out those 00:00:37.369 --> 00:00:39.689 surprising nuggets, the details that really define 00:00:39.689 --> 00:00:41.810 what's happening right now. OK, so what's the 00:00:41.810 --> 00:00:43.609 roadmap for this deep dive? Where are we heading? 00:00:43.909 --> 00:00:45.229 Right. We'll start with the government shutdown. 00:00:45.429 --> 00:00:47.310 It's setting records now. So look at the impact, 00:00:47.450 --> 00:00:49.490 the polling, who seems to have the leverage. 00:00:49.869 --> 00:00:52.810 Then we pivot to this pretty major constitutional 00:00:52.810 --> 00:00:55.210 fight over ceding just one member of Congress. 00:00:55.369 --> 00:00:57.939 Testing the speaker's power, essentially. Precisely. 00:00:58.479 --> 00:01:00.780 Then we'll look at some severe internal strain, 00:01:00.859 --> 00:01:04.200 specifically at ICE immigration and customs enforcement 00:01:04.200 --> 00:01:07.700 and also the Pentagon. After that, some high 00:01:07.700 --> 00:01:10.280 stakes legal and financial moves, including a 00:01:10.280 --> 00:01:13.319 well, a planned $230 million lawsuit against 00:01:13.319 --> 00:01:16.040 the Justice Department. Oh, OK. And we'll finish 00:01:16.040 --> 00:01:18.920 up with a look at the very, very fragile piece 00:01:18.920 --> 00:01:21.019 over in Gaza. All right. Let's unpack this right 00:01:21.019 --> 00:01:23.140 here at home. Then the government shut down. 00:01:23.319 --> 00:01:25.879 It's now week four. It's officially passed the 00:01:25.879 --> 00:01:28.959 21 day Clinton -era shutdown. We're heading into 00:01:28.959 --> 00:01:31.439 new record territory. We are. And the specifics 00:01:31.439 --> 00:01:34.120 of the stalemate are kind of astonishing. For 00:01:34.120 --> 00:01:36.299 the 11th time this week, the Senate failed to 00:01:36.299 --> 00:01:39.260 pass a continuing resolution, a CR. That's just 00:01:39.260 --> 00:01:41.159 the short -term spending measure to keep the 00:01:41.159 --> 00:01:43.000 lights on while they negotiate. And the usual 00:01:43.000 --> 00:01:46.219 media line is Democrats block bill or Republicans 00:01:46.219 --> 00:01:48.299 block bill. Yeah. But what's fascinating here 00:01:48.299 --> 00:01:50.200 looking at the sources is that in many of these 00:01:50.200 --> 00:01:53.260 11 failures, neither side really chose to advance 00:01:53.260 --> 00:01:55.180 it. It's more like a mutual holding pattern, 00:01:55.500 --> 00:01:57.500 a political game of chicken, you could say, where 00:01:57.519 --> 00:02:00.140 both sides actively chose not to vote on reopening. 00:02:00.519 --> 00:02:02.439 And while they play chicken, the White House 00:02:02.439 --> 00:02:04.879 is scrambling, worried about federal employees 00:02:04.879 --> 00:02:07.200 calling in sick, these sick outs. They're trying 00:02:07.200 --> 00:02:10.500 to prioritize key groups. That's right. Air traffic 00:02:10.500 --> 00:02:13.460 controllers, obviously. Military personnel, people 00:02:13.460 --> 00:02:15.939 running the WIC program. That's the nutrition 00:02:15.939 --> 00:02:18.560 assistance for women, infants and children. Vital 00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:21.240 services. Which leads to this other really crucial 00:02:21.240 --> 00:02:23.680 point about executive power, right? This idea 00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:27.389 of Using tariff money. Yes. The administration 00:02:27.389 --> 00:02:30.110 has reportedly floated the idea of using the 00:02:30.110 --> 00:02:32.590 roughly two hundred billion dollars collected 00:02:32.590 --> 00:02:36.509 from tariffs as a kind of slush fund to pay for 00:02:36.509 --> 00:02:38.830 these priorities and basically bypass Congress. 00:02:39.069 --> 00:02:41.129 Two hundred billion dollars. I mean, that's a 00:02:41.129 --> 00:02:43.370 huge number. What's the legal reality there? 00:02:43.550 --> 00:02:44.969 Can they do that? Well, this is where you hit 00:02:44.969 --> 00:02:48.050 the constitutional wall. Terra funds, just like 00:02:48.050 --> 00:02:50.569 all federal revenue, legally go straight into 00:02:50.569 --> 00:02:52.870 the U .S. Treasury. The president cannot spend 00:02:52.870 --> 00:02:55.909 a single dime of it without Congress explicitly 00:02:55.909 --> 00:03:00.189 saying okay. It's the power of the purse. This 00:03:00.189 --> 00:03:03.169 restriction exists specifically to stop any president 00:03:03.169 --> 00:03:06.189 from creating a, well, a personal piggy bank 00:03:06.189 --> 00:03:09.590 with trade money, with no oversight. It's designed 00:03:09.590 --> 00:03:12.210 to prevent exactly this kind of end run around 00:03:12.210 --> 00:03:14.389 the legislature. That distinction is critical. 00:03:14.560 --> 00:03:16.879 Meanwhile, Congress can't even agree on back 00:03:16.879 --> 00:03:19.539 pay for the federal workers. No. Democrats want 00:03:19.539 --> 00:03:22.080 to pay everyone who missed a paycheck. Republicans 00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:24.960 want to pay only certain groups, mostly soldiers 00:03:24.960 --> 00:03:27.620 and air traffic controllers. It shows how deep 00:03:27.620 --> 00:03:30.969 the division is. So strategically, Who's holding 00:03:30.969 --> 00:03:32.810 the stronger hand in this? What are the polls 00:03:32.810 --> 00:03:35.569 saying? Well, polls from Reuters, Sipsos and 00:03:35.569 --> 00:03:38.250 CNBC consistently show Democrats seem to have 00:03:38.250 --> 00:03:41.270 the advantage here. The CNBC poll had it at 53 00:03:41.270 --> 00:03:44.169 percent blaming Republicans versus 37 percent 00:03:44.169 --> 00:03:46.569 blaming Democrats for the shutdown. But here's 00:03:46.569 --> 00:03:48.750 the real nugget, I think. Independent voters. 00:03:49.169 --> 00:03:51.629 They blame Republicans by almost three to one, 00:03:52.150 --> 00:03:55.060 58 percent to 21 percent. That's a massive gap. 00:03:55.280 --> 00:03:57.419 And that kind of pressure, especially from independents, 00:03:57.460 --> 00:03:59.580 it starts to create cracks. We're seeing signs 00:03:59.580 --> 00:04:01.599 of it on the Republican side. Like that letter 00:04:01.599 --> 00:04:05.180 from moderate Republicans. Exactly. 13 moderate 00:04:05.180 --> 00:04:08.080 House Republicans demanding negotiation on Obamacare 00:04:08.080 --> 00:04:10.460 subsidies as soon as the government reopens. 00:04:10.939 --> 00:04:14.419 And several GOP senators are privately signaling 00:04:14.419 --> 00:04:17.699 they oppose plans to punish blue states because, 00:04:17.699 --> 00:04:19.939 well, Republican voters live there too and would 00:04:19.939 --> 00:04:21.990 get hurt. On the other side, though, the Democrat 00:04:21.990 --> 00:04:24.930 resolve seems less about strategy and more about 00:04:24.930 --> 00:04:28.000 fear. That's what the sources suggest. They're 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:29.819 holding the line because they're afraid their 00:04:29.819 --> 00:04:32.519 base will, quote, rebel or they'll be guillotined 00:04:32.519 --> 00:04:34.699 if they vote to reopen without getting concessions. 00:04:35.040 --> 00:04:37.160 So it's maybe a battle of who fears their base 00:04:37.160 --> 00:04:40.139 more right now. Interesting dynamic. So connecting 00:04:40.139 --> 00:04:42.680 this to the bigger picture, what does our readership 00:04:42.680 --> 00:04:45.060 think? How long does this go on? Well, our readership 00:04:45.060 --> 00:04:47.240 poll suggests most people see an end in sight 00:04:47.240 --> 00:04:49.800 but not immediately. An overwhelming majority, 00:04:50.060 --> 00:04:53.740 69 .2 % combined, predict the shutdown ends sometime 00:04:53.740 --> 00:04:56.500 in November. Okay, let's shift from the money 00:04:56.500 --> 00:04:59.259 fight to something even stranger, maybe. This 00:04:59.259 --> 00:05:02.319 battle over preventing a single vote. The fight 00:05:02.319 --> 00:05:05.360 over seeding Representative -elect Adelita Grijalva. 00:05:05.779 --> 00:05:08.399 Right. So Arizona's Attorney General, Chris Mays, 00:05:08.600 --> 00:05:11.439 has actually sued Speaker Mike Johnson to force 00:05:11.439 --> 00:05:14.600 him to seat Grijalva. She won her special election 00:05:14.600 --> 00:05:17.540 for Arizona's 7th District Fair and Square, but 00:05:17.540 --> 00:05:20.560 the seat's been empty since March 13th. And Johnson's 00:05:20.560 --> 00:05:22.720 reason seems pretty transparently political. 00:05:23.199 --> 00:05:25.740 It's about stopping her from being the 218th 00:05:25.740 --> 00:05:28.939 signature on that discharge petition to release 00:05:28.939 --> 00:05:31.100 the extinct files. That appears to be the immediate 00:05:31.100 --> 00:05:33.740 goal, yes. Yeah. Just to clarify for listeners, 00:05:34.019 --> 00:05:36.800 a discharge petition is a House procedure to 00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:38.860 force a bill onto the floor for a vote if it's 00:05:38.860 --> 00:05:41.420 stuck in committee. It bypasses the speaker's 00:05:41.420 --> 00:05:44.040 control. Johnson wants to keep this petition 00:05:44.040 --> 00:05:47.000 one signature short. So what's his official reason? 00:05:47.160 --> 00:05:51.000 Because the excuses seem flimsy and changing. 00:05:51.339 --> 00:05:53.759 They do. First, he claimed it was impossible 00:05:53.759 --> 00:05:56.660 to swear someone in during a recess. Now, the 00:05:56.660 --> 00:05:58.420 argument is that Grigialva is somehow unique 00:05:58.420 --> 00:06:00.860 because she won while Congress was out of session, 00:06:00.899 --> 00:06:02.660 and therefore she can't be sworn in during these 00:06:02.660 --> 00:06:04.660 brief meetings called pro forma sessions. Which 00:06:04.660 --> 00:06:06.519 are just technical sessions to keep things rolling, 00:06:06.740 --> 00:06:08.819 right? Exactly. Just brief scheduled meetings. 00:06:09.339 --> 00:06:11.480 And the legal precedent here is really quite 00:06:11.480 --> 00:06:14.019 clear and goes against the speaker. There is 00:06:14.019 --> 00:06:16.670 the Supreme Court case Powell v. McCormack. It 00:06:16.670 --> 00:06:19.529 basically says you can only deny a duly elected 00:06:19.529 --> 00:06:22.170 member their seat if they fail the constitutional 00:06:22.170 --> 00:06:26.300 basics. Age, citizenship, residency. Johnson's 00:06:26.300 --> 00:06:28.620 pretext isn't one of those. So why does this 00:06:28.620 --> 00:06:32.220 specific fight matter beyond this one seat, this 00:06:32.220 --> 00:06:34.500 one petition? Because if you allow a speaker 00:06:34.500 --> 00:06:37.800 to use such a flimsy pretext, it sets a really 00:06:37.800 --> 00:06:40.759 dangerous precedent. What stops a future speaker 00:06:40.759 --> 00:06:43.480 from refusing to see an entire state's delegation 00:06:43.480 --> 00:06:46.279 based on some other manufactured technicality? 00:06:46.500 --> 00:06:48.860 It fundamentally undermines the whole idea of 00:06:48.860 --> 00:06:51.079 representation. And there's a deeper legal twist 00:06:51.079 --> 00:06:53.300 here, too, for the real constitutional nerds 00:06:53.300 --> 00:06:56.269 listening. Ah, yes. For the super learner. Johnson's 00:06:56.269 --> 00:06:58.089 argument that these pro forma sessions aren't 00:06:58.089 --> 00:07:00.470 real sessions directly contradicts established 00:07:00.470 --> 00:07:02.410 Supreme Court thinking, specifically in a case 00:07:02.410 --> 00:07:05.810 called NLRB v. Noel Canning. That case dealt 00:07:05.810 --> 00:07:07.810 with presidential recess appointments. So if 00:07:07.810 --> 00:07:10.089 a court actually agreed with Johnson. Right. 00:07:10.209 --> 00:07:12.350 If a court buys his argument about pro forma 00:07:12.350 --> 00:07:14.930 sessions not being real, it could accidentally 00:07:14.930 --> 00:07:17.310 hand back power to the president to make recess 00:07:17.310 --> 00:07:19.829 appointments power Congress has fought for decades 00:07:19.829 --> 00:07:22.730 to limit. It's this potential unintended consequence 00:07:22.730 --> 00:07:24.870 they might not have fully considered. Seems like 00:07:24.870 --> 00:07:26.910 a losing battle for Johnson anyway, doesn't it? 00:07:27.129 --> 00:07:30.170 His delay tactic seems temporary at best. It 00:07:30.170 --> 00:07:32.889 does, because another Democrat from a very safe 00:07:32.889 --> 00:07:36.149 blue district in Texas, TX -18, is expected to 00:07:36.149 --> 00:07:38.629 win a special election soon. They'll likely provide 00:07:38.629 --> 00:07:41.189 that 218th vote regardless of what happens with 00:07:41.189 --> 00:07:44.470 Grijalva. Okay, shifting gears again. Let's look 00:07:44.470 --> 00:07:47.209 inside some federal agencies. There seems to 00:07:47.209 --> 00:07:50.230 be significant internal strain, starting with 00:07:50.230 --> 00:07:53.470 immigration and customs enforcement. Yes. The 00:07:53.470 --> 00:07:56.209 goal at ICE is incredibly ambitious. Double the 00:07:56.209 --> 00:07:58.750 number of active agents to 10 ,000. And they've 00:07:58.750 --> 00:08:01.750 got a huge $75 billion funding infusion to back 00:08:01.750 --> 00:08:03.649 it up, plus incentives like loan forgiveness, 00:08:03.949 --> 00:08:06.790 $50 ,000 bonuses. They've got 150 ,000 applications. 00:08:07.110 --> 00:08:08.449 Sounds like they should be able to find plenty 00:08:08.449 --> 00:08:10.910 of people. But the story here is about who's 00:08:10.910 --> 00:08:13.490 failing basic standards. It's really quite striking. 00:08:13.759 --> 00:08:16.199 About a third of the new recruits are apparently 00:08:16.199 --> 00:08:18.660 failing the basic physical fitness tests. And 00:08:18.660 --> 00:08:20.240 basic is the word for it, right? Absolutely. 00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:23.040 We're talking 15 push -ups, 32 sit -ups, and 00:08:23.040 --> 00:08:27.360 running 1 .5 miles in 14 minutes. A career ICE 00:08:27.360 --> 00:08:29.800 official quoted in the sources called these requirements 00:08:29.800 --> 00:08:33.100 the minimum for any officer and described that 00:08:33.100 --> 00:08:36.419 failure rate as, quote, pathetic. And critics 00:08:36.419 --> 00:08:38.700 are worried this isn't just about fitness. No, 00:08:38.879 --> 00:08:40.919 critics like Senator Durbin are raising alarms 00:08:40.919 --> 00:08:43.279 that standards have been lowered across the board, 00:08:43.639 --> 00:08:46.000 the age cap was eliminated, Spanish proficiency 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:48.740 requirements removed. The concern is that this 00:08:48.740 --> 00:08:51.460 inevitably leads to lower quality recruits and 00:08:51.460 --> 00:08:53.460 potentially increased officer misconduct down 00:08:53.460 --> 00:08:55.779 the line. And this isn't just an ICE problem, 00:08:55.940 --> 00:08:58.039 is it? Finding fit recruits seems to be a wider 00:08:58.039 --> 00:09:01.070 issue. It really mirrors long -standing problems 00:09:01.070 --> 00:09:03.549 in the military. Get this. Seventy -five percent 00:09:03.549 --> 00:09:06.509 of American 17 to 24 -year -olds are already 00:09:06.509 --> 00:09:09.250 ineligible for military service. Reasons range 00:09:09.250 --> 00:09:11.649 from weight issues to aptitude test scores, health 00:09:11.649 --> 00:09:14.090 problems, or criminal records. Seventy -five 00:09:14.090 --> 00:09:16.570 percent. That's a systemic challenge for national 00:09:16.570 --> 00:09:19.629 security. Wow. Speaking of the military, let's 00:09:19.629 --> 00:09:21.730 move up the chain to the Defense Department leadership. 00:09:22.490 --> 00:09:25.029 Secretary Pete Hegseth is reportedly facing some 00:09:25.029 --> 00:09:27.870 serious pushback. He is. Even the conservative 00:09:27.870 --> 00:09:30.289 Washington Times is reporting that trust between 00:09:30.289 --> 00:09:32.750 Hegseth and the senior generals and flag officers 00:09:32.750 --> 00:09:36.490 has, quote, evaporated. What's driving that collapse 00:09:36.490 --> 00:09:39.470 in trust? According to the sources, senior military 00:09:39.470 --> 00:09:42.970 leaders view Hegseth's policy focus, particularly 00:09:42.970 --> 00:09:46.210 the magi and anti -woke initiatives, and also 00:09:46.210 --> 00:09:49.470 a specific inflammatory speech he gave, as a 00:09:49.470 --> 00:09:52.250 massive waste of time and, frankly, below our 00:09:52.250 --> 00:09:54.750 institution's dignity. Sounds like serious discontent. 00:09:54.870 --> 00:09:57.570 It does. One general warned the services are 00:09:57.570 --> 00:10:00.450 bleeding talent because qualified officers feel 00:10:00.450 --> 00:10:02.389 it's becoming the opposite of a meritocracy. 00:10:02.470 --> 00:10:05.990 They're losing good people. Is he concerned about 00:10:05.990 --> 00:10:09.049 this? His public stance is defiant. He's emphasizing 00:10:09.049 --> 00:10:12.029 restoring standards. He celebrated sending some 00:10:12.029 --> 00:10:14.190 overweight Texas National Guard soldiers home 00:10:14.190 --> 00:10:16.889 and mandated only the highest male standard for 00:10:16.889 --> 00:10:19.850 combat fitness tests. His quote was, standards 00:10:19.850 --> 00:10:22.370 are back at the Department of War. Hmm. And just 00:10:22.370 --> 00:10:24.269 quickly on leadership standards, there was that 00:10:24.269 --> 00:10:25.809 withdrawal for the special counsel position. 00:10:26.129 --> 00:10:29.169 Ah, yes. Pieden -Gressia. He'd admitted to having 00:10:29.169 --> 00:10:32.629 an occasional Nazi streak, which... Understandably, 00:10:32.789 --> 00:10:35.269 raised eyebrows. He withdrew from consideration 00:10:35.269 --> 00:10:37.269 to head the White House Office of Special Counsel 00:10:37.269 --> 00:10:39.389 after the Senate basically signaled they wouldn't 00:10:39.389 --> 00:10:42.370 even hold confirmation hearings. He does still 00:10:42.370 --> 00:10:44.909 have a job, though, as a liaison to Homeland 00:10:44.909 --> 00:10:48.769 Security. OK. Let's dive into the legal and financial 00:10:48.769 --> 00:10:51.389 world now. Some really high stakes maneuvers 00:10:51.389 --> 00:10:53.769 happening, particularly involving the Department 00:10:53.769 --> 00:10:56.429 of Justice. Looking at the James Comey case, 00:10:56.629 --> 00:10:59.570 it feels less like legal strategy and more like 00:11:00.240 --> 00:11:02.980 Well, stunts. The phrase table pounding comes 00:11:02.980 --> 00:11:05.860 to mind. When the law isn't on your side, you 00:11:05.860 --> 00:11:07.740 pound the table. That seems to be the approach 00:11:07.740 --> 00:11:10.080 here. Like trying to disqualify Comey's lawyer, 00:11:10.259 --> 00:11:12.960 Patrick Fitzgerald. Exactly. The prosecution 00:11:12.960 --> 00:11:15.100 claimed Fitzgerald had a conflict because he 00:11:15.100 --> 00:11:17.860 supposedly helped Comey leak classified info. 00:11:18.399 --> 00:11:21.059 But that's contradicted by the facts Comey shared 00:11:21.059 --> 00:11:24.299 memos he believed were unclassified. And Fitzgerald 00:11:24.299 --> 00:11:26.700 immediately returned materials that were only 00:11:26.700 --> 00:11:30.000 later retroactively marked classified. It looked 00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:32.059 like a red herring. And the judge didn't buy 00:11:32.059 --> 00:11:35.139 it? No. Judge Michael Nakmanoff denied their 00:11:35.139 --> 00:11:37.860 request for an expedited filter team, pointing 00:11:37.860 --> 00:11:40.120 out that Doherty had the materials for years 00:11:40.120 --> 00:11:42.279 and only raised this concern right when they 00:11:42.279 --> 00:11:44.259 filed the motion. Seemed pretty transparent. 00:11:44.500 --> 00:11:46.539 Then there's the acting U .S. attorney, Lindsay 00:11:46.539 --> 00:11:48.950 Halligan, and her texting spree. Yeah, that was 00:11:48.950 --> 00:11:51.250 something. She was apparently upset about reporting 00:11:51.250 --> 00:11:53.690 that, implied she'd misled a grand jury about 00:11:53.690 --> 00:11:56.610 a property involved in a case. So she sent dozens 00:11:56.610 --> 00:11:59.210 of texts to a reporter, Anna Bauer, trying to 00:11:59.210 --> 00:12:02.029 defend herself. Which sounds risky. Very. In 00:12:02.029 --> 00:12:04.490 doing so, sources say she came awfully close 00:12:04.490 --> 00:12:07.570 to violating grand jury secrecy rules. It suggests 00:12:07.570 --> 00:12:10.110 a certain level of perhaps inexperience or maybe 00:12:10.110 --> 00:12:12.429 even desperation in that office. But the really 00:12:12.429 --> 00:12:14.929 big financial story here is this planned lawsuit 00:12:14.929 --> 00:12:18.259 against the DOJ itself. That's the one. The plan 00:12:18.259 --> 00:12:20.659 detailed in the sources is for Trump to sue the 00:12:20.659 --> 00:12:24.139 Department of Justice for $230 million, claiming 00:12:24.139 --> 00:12:26.480 federal investigations seriously damaged him. 00:12:26.940 --> 00:12:30.240 OK. But how does that work when the DoJ is run 00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:32.679 by his own appointees? And that's the crux of 00:12:32.679 --> 00:12:35.039 it. The deputy attorney general, Tud Blanch, 00:12:35.200 --> 00:12:38.139 used to be Trump's personal lawyer. So the structure 00:12:38.139 --> 00:12:40.460 is potentially there for the DoJ, staffed with 00:12:40.460 --> 00:12:42.639 loyalists, to just say, you know what? He has 00:12:42.639 --> 00:12:44.519 a point. Guess we better settle. turning the 00:12:44.519 --> 00:12:46.899 Treasury into a payout mechanism. The comparison 00:12:46.899 --> 00:12:50.899 made in our sources is stark. It resembles a 00:12:50.899 --> 00:12:53.919 mafia protection racket using the power of the 00:12:53.919 --> 00:12:56.419 state to potentially extract money from the Treasury 00:12:56.419 --> 00:12:58.639 for personal benefit. It sounds almost designed 00:12:58.639 --> 00:13:01.139 to bypass accountability. Are there any checks 00:13:01.139 --> 00:13:03.139 on something like this? Congress seems unlikely 00:13:03.139 --> 00:13:05.980 to step in right now. The likely checks are external. 00:13:06.200 --> 00:13:09.340 One is simply massive public outrage. If the 00:13:09.340 --> 00:13:11.340 public is horrified, that could translate into 00:13:11.340 --> 00:13:14.460 electoral consequences. Maybe a midterm belief 00:13:14.460 --> 00:13:17.779 tsunami. And the other. State level action. State 00:13:17.779 --> 00:13:19.799 attorneys general could bring charges against 00:13:19.799 --> 00:13:22.620 DOJ officials involved, or they could face disbarment 00:13:22.620 --> 00:13:25.159 proceedings. A presidential pardon at the federal 00:13:25.159 --> 00:13:27.320 level won't protect them from state charges or 00:13:27.320 --> 00:13:30.639 losing their law licenses. That gives state AGs 00:13:30.639 --> 00:13:33.720 real leverage. OK, finally, let's touch on global 00:13:33.720 --> 00:13:37.870 instability. Gaza. Verifying anything there is 00:13:37.870 --> 00:13:40.789 notoriously difficult. Extremely difficult. Truth 00:13:40.789 --> 00:13:43.370 is always the first casualty in conflict, and 00:13:43.370 --> 00:13:45.909 this is no exception. We have very conflicting 00:13:45.909 --> 00:13:47.769 claims about the ceasefire. What are the reports 00:13:47.769 --> 00:13:50.669 saying? Well, Israel reportedly resumed bombing 00:13:50.669 --> 00:13:52.529 over the weekend, claiming two or three of their 00:13:52.529 --> 00:13:55.429 soldiers were killed by Palestinian forces. They've 00:13:55.429 --> 00:13:57.629 now supposedly resumed the ceasefire again. And 00:13:57.629 --> 00:14:00.590 Hamas. Hamas denies there's proof Israeli soldiers 00:14:00.590 --> 00:14:03.289 were killed. They claim Israel has killed 87 00:14:03.289 --> 00:14:05.480 Palestinians since the ceasefire began. though 00:14:05.480 --> 00:14:07.620 neutral sources seem to put that number closer 00:14:07.620 --> 00:14:10.059 to half that. And there are deeply disturbing 00:14:10.059 --> 00:14:13.080 claims from Hamas that 135 bodies returned from 00:14:13.080 --> 00:14:16.299 an Israeli detention facility. Semitamen showed 00:14:16.299 --> 00:14:18.840 signs of mutilation and organ removal implying 00:14:18.840 --> 00:14:21.720 medical experiments. Again, incredibly hard to 00:14:21.720 --> 00:14:24.519 verify independently. What's clear is that there's 00:14:24.519 --> 00:14:26.600 been significant fighting during the supposed 00:14:26.600 --> 00:14:29.580 ceasefire. Absolutely. Neither side seems to 00:14:29.580 --> 00:14:31.480 be acting like they're moving towards a permanent 00:14:31.480 --> 00:14:34.039 peace right now. The situation feels incredibly 00:14:34.039 --> 00:14:36.500 fragile. And the White House is clearly concerned. 00:14:37.039 --> 00:14:39.860 They've dispatched envoys, JD Vance, Steve Witkoff, 00:14:39.960 --> 00:14:42.240 Jared Kushner. That seems like a high -level 00:14:42.240 --> 00:14:45.360 intervention. It does. It signals deep U .S. 00:14:45.559 --> 00:14:47.980 concern. A total breakdown there could unravel 00:14:47.980 --> 00:14:51.000 regional alliances, undermine U .N. policy goals, 00:14:51.059 --> 00:14:53.259 and yes, from the administration's perspective, 00:14:53.779 --> 00:14:56.440 potentially jeopardize any shot at a Nobel Peace 00:14:56.440 --> 00:14:59.059 Prize. Sending envoys like this suggests they 00:14:59.059 --> 00:15:01.360 realize this truce is probably more likely to 00:15:01.360 --> 00:15:04.299 collapse than solidify. We have covered an incredible 00:15:04.299 --> 00:15:06.940 amount of ground, from the specifics of push 00:15:06.940 --> 00:15:10.679 -up failures at ICE to major constitutional showdowns 00:15:10.679 --> 00:15:14.120 in Congress and this potential $230 million raid 00:15:14.120 --> 00:15:16.259 on the Treasury. If you pull back and look at 00:15:16.259 --> 00:15:18.980 the pattern across all these sources, what emerges 00:15:18.980 --> 00:15:24.480 is a clear theme. A rapid multi -front expansion 00:15:24.480 --> 00:15:27.000 of executive power and an aggressive testing 00:15:27.000 --> 00:15:29.820 of institutional limits. Congress, the military, 00:15:30.200 --> 00:15:32.240 law enforcement, executive finance, they're all 00:15:32.240 --> 00:15:34.620 being stressed, maybe near the breaking point. 00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:37.080 And woven through much of this, especially that 00:15:37.080 --> 00:15:39.779 lawsuit plan, is the reported motivation of money. 00:15:40.440 --> 00:15:42.980 It reminds me of that ancient story of King Midas. 00:15:43.419 --> 00:15:45.639 Everything he touched turned to gold, but he 00:15:45.639 --> 00:15:47.519 starved because he couldn't eat gold. A powerful 00:15:47.519 --> 00:15:49.700 cautionary tale. So here's something for you, 00:15:49.740 --> 00:15:51.980 the listener, to think about. When the pursuit 00:15:51.980 --> 00:15:55.000 of money becomes the absolute driving motivation 00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:57.320 for political action, for governance itself, 00:15:57.980 --> 00:16:00.240 what fundamental non -monetary things these like 00:16:00.240 --> 00:16:03.179 trust, like basic competency, institutional fitness, 00:16:03.799 --> 00:16:05.700 even the credibility of the office, what has 00:16:05.700 --> 00:16:07.740 to be sacrificed along the way. Something to 00:16:07.740 --> 00:16:09.360 mull on until our next deep dive.