The GOP Is Shifting Farther Right | Weekender Teaser
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Join Jared and Nick in this fully packed episode as they discuss the January 6th Commission, the recount in Arizona and how it has sparked recount movements in many other states, the growing sympathy for the Palestinians as a ceasefire has just been negotiated in Israel, and Jared's insights into the myth of liberalism on college campuses.
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I'm Nick Hauselmann and this is an announcement to let you know that we are going to be doing a new series called The Weekender over on Patreon that will appear every Friday.
And this is a little sneak preview so you can get a handle on what it's like and why you'd want to go over there.
Join the patreon and be part of that community which has been incredible and amazing a lot of people there and a lot of great conversations So here it is check it out and feel free to check out the actual patreon as well at patreon.com slash muckrake podcast Hey everybody, welcome to the weekender edition of the McCraig Podcast.
I'm J.J.
Sexton, enjoying my summer, enjoying my time off here with my good buddy Nick Hausselman.
We have a fully packed Patreon exclusive show today.
We got to talk about criminal investigations.
We're going to debate the perfect time to take a shower.
Which I'm very excited about getting into that, figuring out who we are and how we move through this thing called the world.
How we smell.
How we smell, hopefully decent.
But speaking of things that stink to high heaven, how about that, Nick?
How about that for a transition?
I bow down to you.
That's not bad.
So, we would be remiss if we didn't talk about that after we taped our last episode, the New York Attorney General's Office, and this is from Reuters, Said on Tuesday that it has now opened a criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump's company.
Attorney General Letitia James has been investigating whether the Trump Organization falsely reported property values to secure loans and obtain economic and tax benefits.
Phoebe and Levy, a spokesman for the attorney general's office, said that they had informed the Trump organization that our investigation into the organization, this is terrible writing, terrible quote, that the investigation into the organization is no longer purely civil in nature.
I just want to say, as a precursor, Nick, I'm shocked because I have always assumed that Donald Trump and the Trump organization, all above board, law-abiding citizens, I I am, I am, I'm shocked right now.
So you might, you might have to, you might have to take the segment as I collect myself.
Okay.
I mean, listen, the gold standard for ethical behavior, I think they actually sponsored, isn't there's like a, there's a university somewhere like that.
It's like sponsors, like ethical business practices, a business school.
I think that's, Trump University?
It must be them, so... I mean, here's the thing.
It's like, we knew this was going to happen.
They have the taxes.
This is all about taxes, right?
This is all it is.
They have numbers, and you can then, you know, cross-reference those to what they reported on other statements, like getting loans.
Is this more egregious than, like, FEC violations?
Yeah, right?
I mean, they... Nick, they've broken every law that there is.
I mean, like, when you start, when you start comparing the laws at some point or another, it's like the old, you know, it's the old thing where it's like through religions, you're trying to figure out which way is more a soul or like, you know, a scale of stones.
Who is they that has broken these laws?
Who are they going to say broke the laws?
Well, that's a great question, because it's certainly the shit flows downstream.
I mean, it's going to be pawned off on somebody else.
Oh yeah, Allen Weisselberg is just an awful human being.
He was the mastermind behind all of this, Jared.
Allen, man.
Can you believe it?
It's like the old crime bosses of yore who'd be like, I am shocked to hear that men completely unconnected to me who have never had a phone conversation with me, not once, and you can't prove it, are out there committing murders and crimes.
Like, I am an upstanding individual involved in this organization.
I cannot believe other people do it.
I do have to say, and before, you know, our patrons, and because they're lovely people, and our listeners, and they're lovely people, start popping open the bottles of champagne.
I know that I'm the party pooper.
I understand this.
I embrace the role, Nick.
I would be shocked I would be shocked gray white haired if if Donald Trump is held accountable for his crimes.
And this is this is a change.
This is a hopeful thing.
Like I want him to be held accountable.
I want him to suffer for his crimes.
But I also know what happens to white wealthy men in this country when they are charged with crimes and there's not a great track record.
Sure.
I mean, you know, there could be one worst case scenario is where he has to pay some money as a fine.
Like, big deal.
Pay back the taxes.
Like, seriously, that might end up being what it is.
And he won't have to pay it because they'll raise money around this and his supporters will end up paying for it, right?
Which would be probably another violation of another law, because I don't think you can do that.
But still, I'm sure that's what will happen.
And that's what's so sad about this.
Now, the one thing about bringing these kind of charges and making them public like they are, Is because of the background of who this guy is and what he was formerly, I don't think that they would even whisper these things out loud unless they knew they had him absolutely dead to rights.
So that seems to be the one thing, you know, it's going way too slow for my taste.
But at the very least, it seems like, you know, because they can easily be accused of it being a political witch hunt and partisan, they had better get it.
They better have these facts and evidence lined up perfectly to a T that are unassailable when they actually, you know, Go through with the whole thing.
Well, and what sucks about this is that Robert Mueller had Donald Trump rights.
I mean, and not just for any crimes, but on multitudes of crimes, including, you know, working with a foreign nation to try and steal an election, trading information, not reporting it to the FBI, just like engaging in some really horrid stuff, but then also got caught dead to rights covering that up.
Yeah.
Working to conceal his crimes and to hinder investigations.
Donald Trump has been caught dead to rights multiple times.
And, you know, unfortunately, this this might have just been another Tuesday for Donald Trump.
And, you know, a Tuesday now obviously revolves around him wandering around like a Sasquatch at Mar-a-Lago, interrupting senior photos and engagement parties and talking about God knows what.
I just read today that Michael Lindell has gotten hold of a bunch of voting machines and he's keeping them in some secret undisclosed locations.
I have to assume Trump's in on that.
I have to assume that this is part of it.
I want to believe that these things are going to come to account.
I understand that from the people that I've talked to, they feel like there's obviously a good case against Trump and that everything that he's ever done has been illegal and he he's not a smart man.
He's not a capable man.
So I am hopeful.
But then there's another part of this story that we have to talk about, which is that already, and this is a larger thing because it's not, Trump's one thing, right?
Trump is just like, again, a symptom of a larger disease.
They're already having conversations among the Florida GOP.
About how to protect him should criminal charges be brought against him, how to keep him from, you know, being sent to New York in order to stay in trial, how to, you know, keep this disgraced former president safe at Mar-a-Lago on the taxpayer's dime, I assume, which is how this whole story is destined to turn out.
But the party has already taken the next step, which is not only are they going to not recognize elections, but they're also not going to recognize The law, which where we've been going all along.
Well, you know, this shielding of him is a fascinating repercussion, which I think I think I was on the side of thinking that once he lost the election in November, he would slowly start to fade away.
And people were like, oh, my God, I can't believe how corrupt that guy was.
Thank God he's no longer in office.
These are Republicans.
I kind of thought that was going to happen, perhaps like the Liz Cheney path.
But instead, it's shielding after shielding because, I mean, listen, we just had an approval on a vote on the January 6th commission, and they got 35 Republicans to actually go against Kevin McCarthy.
How weak is that guy who told everybody not to vote for it?
But it was a suggestion.
It really wasn't the whip to tell him not to, but it was a suggestion.
35 people went against him.
But we keep seeing time and again that they're willing to cover for him.
By the way, by the way, you know, the reason why they didn't want the January 6th commission, and that's the name of the commission, was because they wanted to include, you know, Black Lives Matter riots, right?
They wanted to include the softball shooting of Scalise.
You know what they needed to include, Jared?
I want to know why I wasn't invited to Michelle Obama's birthday party in 2015.
Like, let's investigate that while we're at it, because it's an outrage.
And it's certainly as connected as any of the other things they want to include on a thing that's called the January 6th Commission.
So what is this about?
There's unfortunately not a video component of the Weekender edition or otherwise everyone could see the hurt still etched on your face.
That was a really emotional moment for you.
It was, it was.
So the point being, I guess maybe Trump isn't even Trump anymore.
Trump simply represents enough voters that can win these people elections.
Yeah, I think it's both.
I mean, Lindsey Graham, who, for as repulsive and horrific of a person as he is, and as pathetic as Lindsey Graham is, occasionally Lindsey Graham will say something that is pretty accurate.
You know what I mean?
There's like moments of clarity with that guy.
And you know, during the whole Liz Cheney thing he had said, Liz Cheney has made the determination that the Republican Party cannot grow with Donald Trump.
I have made the determination that we cannot grow without him.
And this goes back, and by the way, if people haven't heard our interview with Stuart Stevens from earlier in the week, go back and listen to that.
I just want to pause and say, you know, I think people found it illuminating.
I did as well.
It was good to hear it from the source, right?
That this thing has always been going along that way.
His book, It Was All a Lie, documents how the Republican Party, and we've talked about it for However long we've been doing this podcast.
They had the chance.
They could have gone in a different direction.
They knew after 2012 that they were not going to continue being a viable political project as long as they continued with this white supremacy, white aggrievement binge.
And they thought that they should, you know, become less racist, less xenophobic, and less hateful.
They tore that up.
They set it on fire.
They got on the exit ramp.
And they've arrived here.
It has been going in this direction all along.
And it's not even about Donald Trump anymore.
He's a really convenient symbol for them.
And what you're talking about And you've been talking about for forever, which is when the mask slides off.
Donald Trump gave them permission to take the mask off.
He showed them and they said all along, we watched them, they're all like, Oh, I don't really like it when he says those things.
Well, the problem wasn't what he did.
The problem is that he said it out loud, right?
And they're like, Oh God, he's saying the quiet part out loud.
And then they learned there are no repercussions.
He was the, the velociraptor testing the fence and making sure that they could get out.
So you're exactly right.
It's not about the individual.
It's about the symbol.
It's about what he has allowed them to do and where he has taken them, which is where they wanted to go.
You know, the thing that we, I don't know if we wrapped our head around properly is we know that a lot of the Republicans, or not all of them, are lying.
And they know they're lying because they obviously want to stay in power.
But do they know that the lies and the misinformation that they spread becomes gospel to their constituents.
That might be the thing they didn't really count on.
And that's probably why when they decided in 2012 that we can't be this party anymore.
And then all of a sudden in 2016, Trump comes along.
By the way, in 2020, he gets them 75 million votes.
Is that what it was?
75, ultimately, whatever it was in the presidential.
That's what they're looking at.
They're not even looking at it as a loss.
They're looking at this guy, this asshole, who they probably don't like and recognize he lies, was able to increase and give them the most votes anybody's ever gotten until Joe Biden got a few more, like 7 million more to win.
So that's what they're looking at here.
And that that is the key here is do they know?
And at this point, they actually have to because we're seeing what's going on like in Arizona is these people are taking this as gospel.
They are they are cementing these ideas in their head.
And they're already the interesting thing about them is that for the most part, let's generalize.
I don't want to be a generalizer, but let's just say there's something similar to many of these people who you see interviewed about about the voting fraud.
They're already predisposed to believe this, right?
They're already set up, and it could very well be religious, could be military, but there's something personality-wise in my mind that they're predisposed to be able to take this information and they're getting the green light from these politicians who are manipulating them.
And it's a Frankenstein's monster at this point.
I'm not even sure that the politicians themselves fully recognize what they were going to do, which is basically Destroy Democracy!
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