Donald Trump fires thousands of government workers, including people who make sure America's skies are safe and nukes are secure. Negotiators from the US and Russia prepare to meet in Saudi Arabia about ending the war in Ukraine, even though Ukraine and the European community won't be at the table. Elon Musk and DOGE continue to force their way into access to incredibly sensitive government systems—this time at the IRS. And Trump's Justice Department drops the corruption case against New York Mayor Eric Adams in an obvious quid pro quo. Jon and Tommy discuss how the administration is justifying Trump's actions at home and abroad and why Democrats need to focus on the potentially horrendous consequences. Then, Tommy is joined by legendary sports commentator-turned-pundit (and potential 2028 presidential candidate) Stephen A. Smith to talk about reaching young men and what he thinks Democrats are doing wrong. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.
Chapter 1: What are Trump's cuts to air safety and nuclear inspections?
Good. Good for him. He's honoring it. He's not here. Maybe he'll come in at some point. He's not on Survivor again, everyone.
No, yeah. That's good.
I know what you're thinking. Good disclaimer. He's not on an island. He's not doing the traders or whatever the other stuff is.
The truth is, we didn't bother to know where he's going. We could have asked him. That would have been nice.
So on today's show, Trump and the White House spent the weekend promoting a quote attributed to Napoleon that, quote, he who saves his country does not violate any law and then set about proving they believe it by indiscriminately firing thousands of workers, including hundreds of people who oversee our nuclear weapons and handle air safety for the FAA.
We'll talk about all that and why I'm never flying again.
I feel the same way, man. I don't have any of your flying anxiety, but how many plane crashes do we have to watch on TV?
I mean, we were prepping for this while one happened, another one from a Delta flight from Minneapolis to Toronto.
How does it get upside down?
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Chapter 2: Why is Trump's negotiation with Russia causing concern?
Basically, this effectively ended three years of trying to isolate the Russians by the West, basically, this call. And, you know, the Europeans are also not invited to these talks, which again is nuts because the EU and its member states have given something like $145 billion worth of support to Ukraine over the past few years.
And they're obviously more threatened by a Russian military operation than we are because we have an ocean in between. So it was really messy. And then on top of that, Pete Hexeth, the Secretary of Defense slash America's designate if there's ever a case race to decide the future. But not to get home. Yeah. Not good at flip cup, though. Surprisingly bad. You and I can take them.
But so, Hegseth announced at a meeting in Brussels, a NATO meeting, that it was unrealistic for Ukraine to join NATO or get back all the territory it lost since 2014, which is like... maybe true and a fair thing for like an analyst to say, but everyone was like, hey, man, you're part of the team now negotiating with Putin and you just gave him massive concessions before these talks even started.
And then he walked it back and then they kind of walked back the walk back. So there's like amateur hour left and right from Hexeth.
And then Trump said he potentially supports readmitting Russia to the G7. Yeah, G8. We're G8ing it up. Bring it back. He said many people on both sides were to blame for the war in Ukraine. Just a callback.
Never says. Callback to the first term. Yeah, never says Russia invaded.
I also thought it was amazing that I'm sure you guys talked about this. I don't know when it happened, though.
No, it all happened after we recorded.
It happened.
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Chapter 3: What is Stephen A. Smith's critique of the Democratic Party?
I will say, though, when we were just talking about collective action problems and people being afraid to step up, like Danielle Sassoon, who was the prosecutor that was running SDNY that resigned, and then Hagan Scotton. Hagan Scotton. I mean, if that name doesn't sound like a conservative to you, this guy was graduated top of his class.
Harvard Law is a one to bronze stars in Iraq and clerked for not just Roberts, but Kavanaugh. Solid. Yeah, that's the guy who said, like, you'll find a fool, you know, you'll eventually find someone who's enough of a fool or a coward to follow your motion, but it's never going to be me.
Like, those two stepping up is, I'd like to see a little more of that from some people, you know, who are Republicans in Congress who just aren't doing anything or basically like they... Ezra Klein had a great column over the weekend. He called them NPCs, non-player characters, the whole Congress. Republicans have just decided, like, no, we're not going to do anything.
They are NPCs, yeah. I mean, Bill Cassidy put out a statement about Tulsi Gabbard's nomination, why he was voting for her. They basically said, Donald Trump nominated her, thus I will vote for her. Just giving up his power. But yeah, this is an area where I agree with you. I'd like to see Republicans doing more, but I think Democrats do have some power here. Like, Hochul should... Remove Adams.
Yeah. Hopefully that happens in the near term. That might be mean that Andrew Cuomo is back in our lives. And that's tough from another perspective. But someone else. Right. It's a big city. You guys don't have more people in New York to run for office. There's a scenario here where this is such an overreach that it weakens Trump. And I think Democrats in New York have to help us get to that.
Yes. Well, you heard, I mean, Trump's like, I don't know anything about this. And then Beauvais was trying to walk back the initiative. He was like, this isn't a quid pro quo. It's like the original memo says that, oh, he can't stand trial because then he can't help enforce President Trump's immigration policies. I mean, it's like, of course, it's a fucking quid pro quo.
It's nonsense. It's an obvious quid pro quo. Can I read you a headline that you might like? Jan 6 rioters argue pardons apply to charges including murder plot, child porn. Defendants argue that Trump pardons should absolve them of additional crimes some discovered during investigations of the Capitol riot.
That's right. That's right. Donald Trump has let out of jail people who've tried to commit homicide, who were plotted to commit homicide.
He had a kill list.
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