WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.459 You know, there's usually this assumption when 00:00:02.459 --> 00:00:04.580 a new administration, or really when anyone, 00:00:05.259 --> 00:00:09.119 takes power. Right. You expect this honeymoon 00:00:09.119 --> 00:00:11.779 period. The machinery of government is supposed 00:00:11.779 --> 00:00:14.500 to just hum along. The party base is united. 00:00:14.679 --> 00:00:16.620 And the corporate world kind of falls in line, 00:00:16.780 --> 00:00:19.519 right? They kiss the ring. It's that first hundred 00:00:19.519 --> 00:00:22.120 days narrative we all expect. Yeah, the standard 00:00:22.120 --> 00:00:24.600 playbook. You win, you claim your mandate, and 00:00:24.600 --> 00:00:26.699 everyone else just, you know, adjusts to your 00:00:26.699 --> 00:00:29.269 gravity. But looking at the stack of reports 00:00:29.269 --> 00:00:31.210 we have for today, this is all from electoral 00:00:31.210 --> 00:00:35.549 vote news dated February 13th, 2026. That playbook 00:00:35.549 --> 00:00:37.770 isn't just being ignored. It feels like it's 00:00:37.770 --> 00:00:39.869 being shredded. We are not seeing a honeymoon. 00:00:40.310 --> 00:00:42.890 We're seeing friction. A massive grinding friction. 00:00:42.990 --> 00:00:45.770 Between the White House and, well, pretty much 00:00:45.770 --> 00:00:47.869 everyone. It really feels like the tectonic plates 00:00:47.869 --> 00:00:50.880 are shifting. We've got reports in here on everything 00:00:50.880 --> 00:00:54.259 from corporate CEOs trying to bribe their way 00:00:54.259 --> 00:00:56.939 to safety. All the way to federal judges using, 00:00:57.060 --> 00:00:59.759 and I mean this literally, exclamation points 00:00:59.759 --> 00:01:01.320 in their rulings against the administration. 00:01:01.460 --> 00:01:03.619 And it's not just one or two things. It feels 00:01:03.619 --> 00:01:06.140 systemic. And don't forget the call coming from 00:01:06.140 --> 00:01:09.859 inside the House, the internal fracturing within 00:01:09.859 --> 00:01:12.099 the Magier coalition itself. That might be the 00:01:12.099 --> 00:01:14.599 most surprising part of this whole data set. 00:01:14.780 --> 00:01:16.319 You'd expect the Democrats to be the opposition, 00:01:16.500 --> 00:01:19.299 sure. Of course. But some of the biggest headaches 00:01:19.299 --> 00:01:21.219 for the administration right now, they're coming 00:01:21.219 --> 00:01:24.359 from its own appointees, its own base. So the 00:01:24.359 --> 00:01:27.319 mission for this deep dive is to look past the 00:01:27.319 --> 00:01:30.659 press conferences, past the tweets. We need to 00:01:30.659 --> 00:01:33.159 understand the operational reality of all this 00:01:33.159 --> 00:01:36.439 friction. Is it just noise? Or is the administration 00:01:36.439 --> 00:01:38.989 actually hitting a wall? Because if the CEO of 00:01:38.989 --> 00:01:41.689 Apple, the federal judiciary, and the so -called 00:01:41.689 --> 00:01:44.290 online right are all causing problems at the 00:01:44.290 --> 00:01:47.010 same time, you have to ask. Is the coalition 00:01:47.010 --> 00:01:49.730 holding? That is the question. Exactly. And I 00:01:49.730 --> 00:01:52.030 think the best place to start answering it is 00:01:52.030 --> 00:01:55.170 with the money, or maybe the intersection of 00:01:55.170 --> 00:01:57.469 money, fear, and some very expensive electronics. 00:01:57.829 --> 00:01:59.890 Let's talk about Apple. Let's zoom in on Tim 00:01:59.890 --> 00:02:02.370 Cook. I've always seen him as a pretty calculated 00:02:02.370 --> 00:02:05.959 guy. He navigated the first Trump. term fairly 00:02:05.959 --> 00:02:08.460 well. He's usually the one who stays quiet, keeps 00:02:08.460 --> 00:02:11.139 the supply chain moving. But the reporting here 00:02:11.139 --> 00:02:14.840 suggests he is sweating. Sweating, might put 00:02:14.840 --> 00:02:17.180 it mildly. I think so. You have to understand 00:02:17.180 --> 00:02:20.280 the leverage game here. Apple is, well, they're 00:02:20.280 --> 00:02:22.879 uniquely vulnerable. Because of China. Their 00:02:22.879 --> 00:02:25.500 supply chain is still so heavily dependent on 00:02:25.500 --> 00:02:28.699 China, which makes them target number one for 00:02:28.699 --> 00:02:32.419 tariffs. Cook's legal obligation, his fiduciary 00:02:32.419 --> 00:02:36.319 duty, is to keep those tariffs off iPhones. It's 00:02:36.319 --> 00:02:39.400 that simple. If the administration slaps a 60 00:02:39.400 --> 00:02:42.659 % tariff on Chinese goods. Apple's stock tanks. 00:02:42.780 --> 00:02:44.800 End of story. So he has to play the game. He 00:02:44.800 --> 00:02:47.139 has to cozy up to the president. He does. But 00:02:47.139 --> 00:02:49.699 the details in this report on how he's playing, 00:02:50.120 --> 00:02:52.379 honestly, it's bordering on comedy. But the source 00:02:52.379 --> 00:02:54.759 material calls it enthusiastic gift -giving. 00:02:55.099 --> 00:02:57.139 I'd call it a bit more desperate than that. It's 00:02:57.139 --> 00:02:59.280 a strategy of personal appeasement, for sure. 00:02:59.680 --> 00:03:02.319 But the specifics are so telling. Cook recently 00:03:02.319 --> 00:03:04.900 gave Donald Trump a Mac Pro. OK, for anyone who 00:03:04.900 --> 00:03:07.060 isn't a tech gear head, the Mac Pro is the big 00:03:07.060 --> 00:03:09.620 one, right? The tower looks like a giant cheese 00:03:09.620 --> 00:03:12.580 grater. That's the one. It's a machine for, you 00:03:12.580 --> 00:03:14.960 know, high end rendering, Hollywood editing, 00:03:15.439 --> 00:03:18.199 massive data crunching. It's a beast. But here's 00:03:18.199 --> 00:03:20.000 the inside, the source flags that really made 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:23.400 me laugh. Cook gave him the base model. The entry 00:03:23.400 --> 00:03:27.879 level one. Yes. Retail price, $6 ,999. Which 00:03:27.879 --> 00:03:30.120 sounds like a lot. To a normal person, it sounds 00:03:30.120 --> 00:03:33.099 like a Ferrari. But in high -performance computing, 00:03:33.439 --> 00:03:36.659 the base model Mac Pro is almost useless. It 00:03:36.659 --> 00:03:40.120 has minimal RAM, minimal storage. A functional 00:03:40.120 --> 00:03:42.659 one would cost double that. So it's like buying 00:03:42.659 --> 00:03:45.020 someone a Ferrari shell with a lawnmower engine 00:03:45.020 --> 00:03:47.400 inside. That's a great way to put it. And the 00:03:47.400 --> 00:03:49.259 source argues Cook did this for two reasons. 00:03:49.419 --> 00:03:51.840 One, it's assembled in Austin, Texas. The Made 00:03:51.840 --> 00:03:55.219 in America prop. Exactly. And two, Cook knows 00:03:55.219 --> 00:03:57.439 Trump isn't going to use it to edit video or 00:03:57.439 --> 00:04:00.819 compile code. It's a $7 ,000 paperweight. But 00:04:00.819 --> 00:04:03.400 if he gave him a MacBook Air, which is what he'd 00:04:03.400 --> 00:04:05.500 actually use. It would say Made in China on the 00:04:05.500 --> 00:04:08.719 back. Wow. That is cynical, but clever. Yeah. 00:04:08.979 --> 00:04:11.340 Here's a shiny box. Please don't tax me. Oh, 00:04:11.340 --> 00:04:13.819 it gets worse. The gift basket didn't stop there. 00:04:14.039 --> 00:04:16.759 Cook also wrote a personal check, a million dollars 00:04:16.759 --> 00:04:19.199 to the inauguration committee. A million dollars. 00:04:19.420 --> 00:04:22.360 He presented a custom plaque with a gold base 00:04:22.360 --> 00:04:25.639 because, you know, gold. And he even attended 00:04:25.639 --> 00:04:28.120 a White House screening of a movie Melania Trump 00:04:28.120 --> 00:04:30.860 was promoting. And the report notes he had to 00:04:30.860 --> 00:04:32.819 pretend to like the film. That might have been 00:04:32.819 --> 00:04:35.319 the hardest part of the job. That is a lot of 00:04:35.319 --> 00:04:39.670 hoop jumping. Flattery, cash, FaceTime. So. The 00:04:39.670 --> 00:04:42.310 million dollar question, quite literally, is 00:04:42.310 --> 00:04:46.089 did it work? Did he buy Apple any safety? Yeah. 00:04:46.269 --> 00:04:49.129 The evidence suggests absolutely not. And this 00:04:49.129 --> 00:04:52.250 is the key takeaway. Despite all of that, the 00:04:52.250 --> 00:04:54.810 Federal Trade Commission, led by Chairman Andrew 00:04:54.810 --> 00:04:57.970 Ferguson, just launched a major attack on Apple. 00:04:58.269 --> 00:05:00.410 The FTC. Wait, I thought they went after monopolies 00:05:00.410 --> 00:05:03.009 or, you know, pricing schemes. What's the angle 00:05:03.009 --> 00:05:05.259 here? This is where the goalposts move. Ferguson 00:05:05.259 --> 00:05:07.420 is accusing Apple of violating the FTC Act by 00:05:07.420 --> 00:05:09.620 supposedly suppressing conservative voices on 00:05:09.620 --> 00:05:11.740 Apple News plus Carote. So it's not about economics 00:05:11.740 --> 00:05:13.980 at all. It's about editorial bias. Precisely. 00:05:13.980 --> 00:05:16.560 And that's a nightmare for a CEO like Cook. You 00:05:16.560 --> 00:05:18.839 can negotiate tariffs. You can negotiate taxes. 00:05:18.939 --> 00:05:21.139 How do you negotiate an accusation of cultural 00:05:21.139 --> 00:05:23.699 bias? You can't. The source describes Ferguson's 00:05:23.699 --> 00:05:26.740 legal argument as, uh, thinner than Triggy circa 00:05:26.740 --> 00:05:30.259 1977. Huh. So it's not expected to hold up in 00:05:30.259 --> 00:05:32.439 court. No, but the court case isn't the point, 00:05:32.519 --> 00:05:35.209 is it? No. The point is the squeeze. Exactly. 00:05:35.709 --> 00:05:38.370 The analysis here suggests Cook made a strategic 00:05:38.370 --> 00:05:41.990 error. By folding so early and so often, he signaled 00:05:41.990 --> 00:05:44.350 that he can be bullied. And the source uses that 00:05:44.350 --> 00:05:47.810 German word schadenfreude. Right. The administration 00:05:47.810 --> 00:05:49.930 sees that pressure work, so they just apply more. 00:05:50.350 --> 00:05:52.050 It's the classic if you give a mouse a cookie 00:05:52.050 --> 00:05:55.009 scenario. Or in this case, a Mac Pro. And the 00:05:55.009 --> 00:05:57.149 prediction in the report is that Cook will eventually 00:05:57.149 --> 00:06:00.079 fold on this, too. He'll tweak the news algorithm 00:06:00.079 --> 00:06:02.759 to prioritize right -wing content just to make 00:06:02.759 --> 00:06:04.920 the headache go away. Which tells us that in 00:06:04.920 --> 00:06:08.439 2026, loyalty isn't a shield. It's just the price 00:06:08.439 --> 00:06:10.339 of admission to get into the room where you get 00:06:10.339 --> 00:06:12.519 yelled at. Very expensive price of admission. 00:06:12.860 --> 00:06:15.199 And we're seeing that same dynamic, that clash 00:06:15.199 --> 00:06:18.480 between appearance and reality playing out in 00:06:18.480 --> 00:06:20.220 the government itself. For sure. So let's pivot 00:06:20.220 --> 00:06:22.620 from the boardroom to the border. We've got these 00:06:22.620 --> 00:06:26.370 headlines about the borders are Tom Homan. ending 00:06:26.370 --> 00:06:30.290 the ICE surge in Minnesota. Right. Now, on the 00:06:30.290 --> 00:06:33.250 surface, ending the surge, that sounds like a 00:06:33.250 --> 00:06:35.709 victory lap, like mission accomplished. That 00:06:35.709 --> 00:06:38.069 is absolutely the spin. But if you actually look 00:06:38.069 --> 00:06:40.009 at the congressional calendar, the reality is 00:06:40.009 --> 00:06:43.709 much more mundane. They ran out of money. They 00:06:43.709 --> 00:06:45.269 ran out of money. This is that funding cliff 00:06:45.269 --> 00:06:47.970 we've been hearing about. OK. DHS funding was 00:06:47.970 --> 00:06:50.949 set to expire on Saturday. Congress left town. 00:06:51.529 --> 00:06:54.050 So operationally, the surge had to stop because 00:06:54.050 --> 00:06:56.889 the checkbook was empty. You can't pay for jet 00:06:56.889 --> 00:06:58.810 fuel with an IOU. But they're not framing it 00:06:58.810 --> 00:07:01.790 as we're broke. Oh, no. And this is the political 00:07:01.790 --> 00:07:03.750 maneuver the source highlights. The White House 00:07:03.750 --> 00:07:05.689 is using the retreat to set a trap. They're going 00:07:05.689 --> 00:07:08.129 to say we wanted to keep Minnesota safe. But 00:07:08.129 --> 00:07:10.790 the Democrats filibustered the funding. Exactly. 00:07:10.970 --> 00:07:13.689 They turn a logistical failure into a political 00:07:13.689 --> 00:07:16.430 weapon. It's a good soundbite. But what about 00:07:16.430 --> 00:07:19.250 the operation itself? Was it even working before 00:07:19.250 --> 00:07:21.610 the money ran out? The report suggests it was 00:07:21.610 --> 00:07:25.040 a disaster. It was facing massive local resistance, 00:07:25.800 --> 00:07:28.360 protests, non -compliance from local authorities. 00:07:28.879 --> 00:07:31.040 It was incredibly unpopular. So they were probably 00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:33.420 looking for an exit ramp anyway. It seems like 00:07:33.420 --> 00:07:36.360 it. Holman is claiming success, pointing to other 00:07:36.360 --> 00:07:39.060 cities. But in Minnesota, the funding cut was 00:07:39.060 --> 00:07:42.199 almost convenient. It saves face. I didn't quit. 00:07:42.360 --> 00:07:45.319 They made me leave. Right. But there's a deeper 00:07:45.319 --> 00:07:47.480 layer of dysfunction here that we have to touch 00:07:47.480 --> 00:07:49.939 on. The Wall Street Journal dropped a report. 00:07:50.079 --> 00:07:53.000 That reads more like a grocery store tabloid. 00:07:53.120 --> 00:07:56.160 It really does. It details this massive rift 00:07:56.160 --> 00:07:59.199 between DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and the border 00:07:59.199 --> 00:08:01.759 czar Tom Homan. Yeah, we can skip the salacious 00:08:01.759 --> 00:08:03.980 details, but the organizational impact is very 00:08:03.980 --> 00:08:06.180 real. The report confirms that the secretary 00:08:06.180 --> 00:08:09.040 and the czar, they hate each other. And Homan 00:08:09.040 --> 00:08:11.180 is the one with the White House's ear. Noem's 00:08:11.180 --> 00:08:13.740 being sidelined. Which is dangerous. It breaks 00:08:13.740 --> 00:08:15.920 the chain of command. When you have a figurehead 00:08:15.920 --> 00:08:18.480 secretary in a czar running the show, it changes 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:20.959 tactics. And the source predicts Holman is going 00:08:20.959 --> 00:08:23.879 to pivot. He has to. The public surge model failed 00:08:23.879 --> 00:08:25.959 in Minnesota, so he'll pivot to the shadows. 00:08:26.300 --> 00:08:28.459 Meaning what? Instead of sweeping neighborhoods 00:08:28.459 --> 00:08:31.139 where people can film it and protest, the prediction 00:08:31.139 --> 00:08:34.320 is they'll target private businesses. Workplace 00:08:34.320 --> 00:08:37.039 raids. Behind closed doors. Away from the cameras. 00:08:37.460 --> 00:08:40.399 Less shock and awe. More silent enforcement. 00:08:40.519 --> 00:08:42.419 Which is much harder for the public to rally 00:08:42.419 --> 00:08:45.840 against. A tactical adaptation. Yes. Okay, so 00:08:45.840 --> 00:08:48.500 we have a CEO trying to buy peace and failing. 00:08:49.019 --> 00:08:52.279 We have a border czar spinning a retreat. But... 00:08:51.899 --> 00:08:55.139 There is one group that isn't spinning, isn't 00:08:55.139 --> 00:08:57.500 paying, and is definitely not retreating. The 00:08:57.500 --> 00:09:00.120 courts. Let's talk about the courts. This is, 00:09:00.139 --> 00:09:02.620 for my money, the most significant pillar of 00:09:02.620 --> 00:09:04.980 this whole deep dive. The friction between the 00:09:04.980 --> 00:09:07.519 executive branch and the judiciary has reached 00:09:07.519 --> 00:09:10.720 what the source calls a fever pitch. And we aren't 00:09:10.720 --> 00:09:12.919 just talking about liberal judges striking down 00:09:12.919 --> 00:09:15.879 policies. No. We're talking about Trump appointees 00:09:15.879 --> 00:09:18.419 blocking the Trump agenda. That's the twist. 00:09:18.620 --> 00:09:20.539 Let's start with the attorney general situation. 00:09:20.720 --> 00:09:22.860 I'm using quotes because Pam Bondi is in the 00:09:22.860 --> 00:09:25.399 role and the friction was immediate. Right. She 00:09:25.399 --> 00:09:28.139 demanded states hand over massive amounts of 00:09:28.139 --> 00:09:30.600 voter data, social security numbers, driver's 00:09:30.600 --> 00:09:35.639 licenses. And Michigan said no. So the DOJ sued. 00:09:35.940 --> 00:09:38.379 And Judge Hala Jarbu dismissed the suit. Judge 00:09:38.379 --> 00:09:41.500 Jarbu was appointed by Donald Trump. Wow. She 00:09:41.500 --> 00:09:43.480 looked at the law and basically said the federal 00:09:43.480 --> 00:09:45.299 government does not have the right to demand 00:09:45.299 --> 00:09:48.360 this private data from the states. A Trump judge 00:09:48.360 --> 00:09:52.320 citing states' rights to block a Trump DOJ. That 00:09:52.320 --> 00:09:55.720 has to sting. It proves that the loyalty they 00:09:55.720 --> 00:09:57.639 expect in the political world doesn't always 00:09:57.639 --> 00:10:00.500 translate to the bench. These judges have lifetime 00:10:00.500 --> 00:10:02.740 tenure. They worry about the law, not the next 00:10:02.740 --> 00:10:05.559 primary. But the conflict getting the most attention 00:10:05.559 --> 00:10:08.379 involves the military. This story about Senator 00:10:08.379 --> 00:10:11.360 Mark Kelly is just wild. It really is. It's a 00:10:11.360 --> 00:10:13.539 full -on constitutional showdown. Mark Kelly, 00:10:13.799 --> 00:10:16.399 Democrat from Arizona, but also a— retired Navy 00:10:16.399 --> 00:10:19.139 captain and astronaut. Right. He recorded a video 00:10:19.139 --> 00:10:22.000 and in it he reminded military personnel of their 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:24.000 First Amendment rights and their duty to refuse 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:26.000 illegal orders. Seems like pretty standard stuff. 00:10:26.100 --> 00:10:28.700 Don't break the law. You'd think not to the Secretary 00:10:28.700 --> 00:10:31.460 of Defense Pete Hegseth. He saw it as insubordination. 00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:34.220 He moved to Sonsher Kelly and this is the kicker. 00:10:34.299 --> 00:10:36.659 He tried to cut his pension. Initiated proceedings 00:10:36.659 --> 00:10:39.559 to downgrade Kelly's retired rank and cut his 00:10:39.559 --> 00:10:43.049 pension. Can they even do that? Can you strip 00:10:43.049 --> 00:10:45.889 a retired astronaut's pension for a YouTube video? 00:10:46.250 --> 00:10:48.490 Well, Judge Richard J. Leon had a very, very 00:10:48.490 --> 00:10:50.870 specific answer to that. And I'm guessing this 00:10:50.870 --> 00:10:52.590 is where the exclamation points come in. Oh, 00:10:52.629 --> 00:10:56.850 yeah. Judge Leon is a George W. Bush appointee. 00:10:57.110 --> 00:11:00.149 A conservative. And his ruling was scathing. 00:11:00.350 --> 00:11:02.649 He granted an injunction to stop the Pentagon. 00:11:03.070 --> 00:11:04.830 And in his written opinion, he used the word 00:11:04.830 --> 00:11:07.110 horse feathers, horse feathers with an exclamation 00:11:07.110 --> 00:11:10.429 point. The source actually counts seven exclamation 00:11:10.429 --> 00:11:13.090 points in the ruling for a federal judge. That 00:11:13.090 --> 00:11:15.190 is the equivalent of screaming. Unbelievable. 00:11:15.549 --> 00:11:18.269 He quoted Bob Dylan. You don't need a weatherman 00:11:18.269 --> 00:11:20.870 to know which way the wind blows and ruled that 00:11:20.870 --> 00:11:23.230 retired military members, especially sitting 00:11:23.230 --> 00:11:25.470 senators, do not forfeit their First Amendment 00:11:25.470 --> 00:11:28.110 rights. He said the government's actions caused 00:11:28.110 --> 00:11:31.820 irreparable harm. It was a complete rebuke. A 00:11:31.820 --> 00:11:33.779 message that the judiciary isn't going to just 00:11:33.779 --> 00:11:35.899 rubber stamp political vendettas. Not at all. 00:11:35.980 --> 00:11:37.440 And then there's this other case that's a bit 00:11:37.440 --> 00:11:40.120 more technical but just as chaotic. U .S. Attorneys. 00:11:40.600 --> 00:11:43.480 Yes. In the northern district of New York, the 00:11:43.480 --> 00:11:45.759 administration's pick, a guy named John Sarcone, 00:11:45.820 --> 00:11:48.559 was disqualified. Not fit for the job. But he 00:11:48.559 --> 00:11:51.460 wouldn't leave. He just changed his title to 00:11:51.460 --> 00:11:53.840 First Assistant and kept running the office. 00:11:54.200 --> 00:11:57.460 It's the old assistant... to the regional manager 00:11:57.460 --> 00:11:59.720 trick. So what happened? The district judges 00:11:59.720 --> 00:12:02.559 had enough. Under the Vacancies Act, if a position 00:12:02.559 --> 00:12:05.299 is empty too long, the judges can appoint the 00:12:05.299 --> 00:12:07.879 U .S. attorney. And they did. They appointed 00:12:07.879 --> 00:12:11.100 a man named Donald Kinsella. So the judges picked 00:12:11.100 --> 00:12:13.379 their own prosecutor. How did the White House 00:12:13.379 --> 00:12:15.870 take that? About how you'd expect. They tried 00:12:15.870 --> 00:12:19.190 to fire Kinsella by email. By email? And then 00:12:19.190 --> 00:12:22.110 Deputy AG Todd Blanch tried to fire him via social 00:12:22.110 --> 00:12:24.529 media. You're kidding. You're fired in a tweet. 00:12:24.929 --> 00:12:27.490 Effectively. The source calls this astounding. 00:12:27.870 --> 00:12:29.850 The Department of Justice is publicly defying 00:12:29.850 --> 00:12:32.309 federal judges on social media. And the result 00:12:32.309 --> 00:12:35.090 is nobody knows who is in charge of federal prosecutions 00:12:35.090 --> 00:12:37.350 in upstate New York. And that's the real danger. 00:12:37.549 --> 00:12:40.490 It's not just legal drama. If the chain of command 00:12:40.490 --> 00:12:43.370 breaks down, public safety takes a hit. Correct. 00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:46.259 The whole machinery of justice just grinds to 00:12:46.259 --> 00:12:48.720 a halt. OK, we've covered the external enemies, 00:12:49.379 --> 00:12:53.360 Apple, Democrats, the courts. But now we have 00:12:53.360 --> 00:12:55.679 to talk about the internal war, the fractures 00:12:55.679 --> 00:12:58.860 within the Tarakie movement itself. This is that 00:12:58.860 --> 00:13:01.799 uncomfortable alliance problem, the coalition 00:13:01.799 --> 00:13:04.480 that brought this administration to power. It 00:13:04.480 --> 00:13:07.500 has corporate types, religious liberty advocates 00:13:07.500 --> 00:13:11.379 and a very aggressive alt -right faction. And 00:13:11.379 --> 00:13:13.240 keeping them all in the same room. is getting 00:13:13.240 --> 00:13:16.539 harder. Impossible, it seems. The report highlights 00:13:16.539 --> 00:13:19.320 this standoff over anti -Semitism and a woman 00:13:19.320 --> 00:13:23.240 named Carrie Prajam Bowler. A former beauty pageant 00:13:23.240 --> 00:13:25.899 contestant appointed to the White House's Religious 00:13:25.899 --> 00:13:28.500 Liberty Commission. The conflict started when 00:13:28.500 --> 00:13:31.460 she retweeted Candace Owens. Okay. And the tweet 00:13:31.460 --> 00:13:34.519 was attacking Zionists in very, you know, conspiratorial 00:13:34.519 --> 00:13:36.399 terms, trafficking and anti -Semitic groups. 00:13:36.779 --> 00:13:38.240 Usually the administration just brushes that 00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:40.419 stuff off. Usually. But this time, LT Governor 00:13:40.419 --> 00:13:42.600 Ben Patrick, who chairs the commission, fired 00:13:42.600 --> 00:13:44.919 her. He drew a line. Good for him. Well, hold 00:13:44.919 --> 00:13:47.899 on. She's refusing to be fired. How do you refuse 00:13:47.899 --> 00:13:50.409 to be fired? Just keep showing up to work. She 00:13:50.409 --> 00:13:52.629 claims she serves at the pleasure of the president, 00:13:53.110 --> 00:13:56.230 not Dan Paschke. She says she will only leave 00:13:56.230 --> 00:13:58.789 if Trump himself tells her to. So she's forcing 00:13:58.789 --> 00:14:01.149 his hand. She is forcing the president to choose. 00:14:01.669 --> 00:14:04.070 Does he side with the institutional Republicans 00:14:04.070 --> 00:14:06.909 like Patrick, who want to weed out anti -Semitism? 00:14:07.409 --> 00:14:09.690 Or does he side with the online base, the Candice 00:14:09.690 --> 00:14:12.190 Owens and Nick Fuentes wing that helped get him 00:14:12.190 --> 00:14:14.529 elected? That is a brutal wedge issue for them. 00:14:14.649 --> 00:14:17.210 And the source points out the hypocrisy. The 00:14:17.210 --> 00:14:19.629 administration loves to attack universities like 00:14:19.629 --> 00:14:21.809 Harvard for alleged anti -Semitism. They use 00:14:21.809 --> 00:14:23.769 it as a weapon. But when the call comes from 00:14:23.769 --> 00:14:26.289 inside the house... When it's their own influencers, 00:14:26.710 --> 00:14:29.610 they freeze. Because they need those influencers. 00:14:29.730 --> 00:14:31.830 They have this transactional relationship with 00:14:31.830 --> 00:14:34.889 Jewish voters, but a codependent one with the 00:14:34.889 --> 00:14:37.549 far right fringe? The math just doesn't work 00:14:37.549 --> 00:14:39.549 anymore. And we're seeing that loyalty test fail 00:14:39.549 --> 00:14:42.769 in Arizona, too. I mean, Kari Lake. Nobody has 00:14:42.769 --> 00:14:44.809 been more loyal to the brand than her. And what 00:14:44.809 --> 00:14:47.220 did that loyalty get her? She went to the White 00:14:47.220 --> 00:14:49.639 House for an endorsement for her house run and 00:14:49.639 --> 00:14:52.759 was snubbed, left waiting. It's just politics. 00:14:52.879 --> 00:14:55.379 Look at the governor's race there. Karen Taylor 00:14:55.379 --> 00:14:57.779 Robson dropped out because Trump pulled support 00:14:57.779 --> 00:15:00.899 to back Andy Biggs. Why Biggs? He has the backing 00:15:00.899 --> 00:15:03.860 of Turning Point USA, the youth activist wing. 00:15:04.519 --> 00:15:07.460 Robson was the loyal traditional one. Biggs is 00:15:07.460 --> 00:15:10.320 the aggressive future. Loyalty was just discarded 00:15:10.320 --> 00:15:12.620 for utility. So if you step back and look at 00:15:12.620 --> 00:15:15.399 the whole picture. Tim Cook finds out his money 00:15:15.399 --> 00:15:18.659 doesn't buy him safety. The border czar is fighting 00:15:18.659 --> 00:15:20.919 with his own secretary. The judges are screaming 00:15:20.919 --> 00:15:24.159 horse feathers at the Pentagon, and the base 00:15:24.159 --> 00:15:26.919 is fighting itself. It paints a picture of just 00:15:26.919 --> 00:15:29.539 extreme volatility. It's not a well -oiled machine. 00:15:29.799 --> 00:15:31.379 It feels like the administration is fighting 00:15:31.379 --> 00:15:33.860 a multi -front war, and some of the fiercest 00:15:33.860 --> 00:15:36.299 battles are with its own allies. And that's the 00:15:36.299 --> 00:15:38.620 key insight. We think of strongman politics as 00:15:38.620 --> 00:15:41.259 this disciplined, monolithic thing. But what 00:15:41.259 --> 00:15:44.200 these reports show is chaos. It's a scramble 00:15:44.200 --> 00:15:46.580 for survival. Which leads to the big question 00:15:46.580 --> 00:15:49.200 for you, the listener, to chew on. Right. The 00:15:49.200 --> 00:15:51.799 source highlights all these uncomfortable alliances. 00:15:52.019 --> 00:15:54.259 You have corporations wanting stability, populists 00:15:54.259 --> 00:15:56.639 wanting disruption, religious groups wanting 00:15:56.639 --> 00:16:00.440 morality, and the alt -right pushing hate. Can 00:16:00.440 --> 00:16:03.019 they all coexist? The evidence from this week 00:16:03.019 --> 00:16:06.519 says no. And if they can't coexist, who gets 00:16:06.519 --> 00:16:09.120 perched? If you can't even fire a commission 00:16:09.120 --> 00:16:11.960 member without a standoff, How do you run a country? 00:16:12.220 --> 00:16:14.740 At what point does the infighting stop being 00:16:14.740 --> 00:16:17.840 just drama? And start paralyzing the government 00:16:17.840 --> 00:16:20.620 entirely? Power is only as strong as the coalition 00:16:20.620 --> 00:16:23.039 holding it up. And right now, that coalition 00:16:23.039 --> 00:16:24.679 looks like it's held together with duct tape 00:16:24.679 --> 00:16:27.299 and angry tweets. And the tape is peeling. That's 00:16:27.299 --> 00:16:29.240 a heavy thought to leave you with. Thanks for 00:16:29.240 --> 00:16:30.980 diving deep with us today. We'll be watching 00:16:30.980 --> 00:16:33.019 the cracks in the foundation, and we'll catch 00:16:33.019 --> 00:16:33.659 you on the next one.