Jim Acosta

0:00With verbal care, help is always ready, before, during, and after your stay. We've planned for the plot twists, so support is always available. Because a great trip starts with peace of mind. At the UPS store, reinsure your small viz stands out with a variety of high quality paper stock options, banners, posters for shores and more. Most locations are independent leoned. Product services pricing and hours of operation may vary. Center for details, the UPS store, be unstoppable, come into your local store today and get your print on. Welcome to the Jim Acosta show and it's another day that ends and why in the turmoil unleashed by Donald Trump in the Middle East and the affordability crisis in America that is now being exacerbated by the war against Iran. Royal prices are soaring, we'll talk about that and there is no end in sight to the war itself. Let's discuss with retired Lieutenant General Mark Hurtling, who is out with a new book. We should show this to the viewers. It's entitled, if I don't return and Mark, good to see and for the audience at home that realizes, yes, I'm not at DC.

1:08I'm actually out west. I'm at a higher elevation. So if I get short of breath using my podcast or voice here, Mark, you'll have to forgive me, but good to see it. Good to see you too, Jim. And you're in cold Utah and I am in extremely hot Orlando, Florida. It's 88 degrees right now. Yeah, so we've got the extremes of the temperature for sure. No question about it. We got our bases covered and dukes in the background too. So anything could happen during this podcast, Mark. But great to see as always. I guess we should just jump right into this. You and I haven't spoken in a while. I guess it's not that big of a surprise that Donald Trump would do this in the Middle East and go after Iran and this fashion he's talked about this for a long time. And I guess he's made good on that talk. The problem though is that it is unleashed the law of unintended consequences. I mean, you know, oil is soaring around 90 bucks a barrel. That's going to cause problems for people back home as they go to the gas station.

2:10I mean, we're also seeing, you know, Israel unload on Lebanon. We're seeing the United States unload on Iran. And, you know, civilian casualties obviously are soaring at this point. Some American casualties. But I guess just to get us started, what's been your sense of all of this? Just watching this because I mean, this really has the potential to spiral in a bad way. Yeah, you use the term unintended consequences, Jim. And I think that's the one that accurately describes what happens when you go to war against a big country, even if you have, you know, a capable military, which we very much do an effective military to conduct operations. But there's a couple of things that have been bothering me about this. The first is, and it's received a whole lot of attention in DC. The different mission sets that we've seen over the last six days. What exactly are we trying to do, which points to a lack of strategy. The other thing is the, how do you take this strategic vision from the civilian leaders of the government and employ it into a military campaign plan.

3:22Now, we saw a Brad Cooper, Admiral Brad Cooper on TV yesterday, given a press conference along with Secretary Egg Seth early in the week. We saw the chairman of the joint cheese chairman, you know, he's done a phenomenal job of Gantane in terms of being being very professional and very succinct and outlining the military operations. But, you know, what I see is keep coming back to you having been the recipient of civilian orders in the past and having to shape a campaign plan is when you get the changes in mission sets that these two individuals have been have been given this so called shifting and states of let's go through them regime change regime decapitation destroy the nuclear program destroy the missile capability neutralize proxy forces in the region crippled the naval capability. Each one of those objectives from a military standpoint requires different scale. Different time horizons different force resources, you know, the amount of forces you have on on the ground.

4:31Commitment and conflating these is potentially being just a mission that might change every once and while it causes some major challenges, you know, you're showing right now on the screen, the what was the I think it was the bombing of Tehran yesterday by his rally forces. And I've seen maps from from the Institute of the study of war that says the number of targets that have been hit inside of Tehran is just mind boggling there are literally hundreds. So when you are striking the so called military targets and trying to, you know, destroy the capability or counter the capability. I got to tell you there's always collateral damage among civilians and you're talking about a large city that is now in turmoil I'm sorry I'm I'm rambling on a little. I know you're doing great, but there's so many things to talk about one of the other things I just wrote an article about this for the bull work, which has to do with the president.

5:34The mantra that seems to be going around the beltway that he's comfortable with using military forces and what I'd say to any civilian leaders who's comfortable using them. That doesn't necessarily mean you're using them in the right way it's just that you're employing them and I'm sure I want my civilian leaders to be all that comfortable when they send men and women into harm's way. So that's the last thing I'll say and we can kind of jump off from there no question about I mean it sounds like he's a little too comfortable. I'm using military forces and I mean he's already taken out the leadership and Venezuela and Maduro of course we're striking Iran now he's talking about Cuba, but you mentioned the civilian toll in Iran. I mean this according to the Associated Press the evidence now does suggest that the deadly blast at an Iranian elementary school was likely a US air strike. This happened on February 28th produced the highest reported civilian death toll since the war began. And about 1,230 people have already died in Iran 211 on and of course the six US soldiers.

6:41But Mark one thing that I think we have to talk about is I mean if you want to talk about how Trump has been a little too casual about this I mean there are his comments that he's been making lately about that's the way it is when it comes to soldiers who die in military conflict. But he also was talking to time magazine this is the last day or so we can put this up on screen if we have it. He tells time magazine I guess there could be retaliatory attacks in the United States and he says quote but I think they're worried about that all the time we think about it all the time we plan for but yeah you know. We expect some things like I said some people will die and when you go to war some people will die your thoughts on the way he's been communicating on all of this. Well I'll talk about the first piece of that commentary you know about I guess there could be attacks in the United States it's interesting to me having recently spoken to several FBI agents that who are who are in the cyber realm of the FBI they say that their capability has been really

7:45somewhat I don't want to use the word gutted but it's been it's declined let's put it that way the ability to figure out cyber and the guys were telling me that it also is affecting other elements within the FBI. So when you're talking about the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security being the key agencies that prevent any kind of homeland terror. Both of those organizations have been in a little bit of churn lately and that's saying it's kindly you know we've just seen the DHS secretary replaced yesterday because of some some bad actions on her part we don't know what that's done inside the agency I would suspect morale isn't that great in either the FBI or the DHS I'm not saying it is or isn't I'm just suspecting that I know how I would feel if I was working there. And those are the two agencies that protect the homeland from terror attack the other thing I'd say is just you know I don't know if the president was answering a question on this but to imply that you know he would take care of it that concerns me too.

8:54Because in terms of potentially stoking an attack in the homeland could contribute potentially to what might happen as we approach election day with groups on the street and kind of the desire that the president has had to have more military focus in the streets of America which he's repeated multiple times. Yeah and Mark about what what the potential might be with Russia the Associated Press is also reporting that Russia has provided Iran with information that could help Tehran strike American warships aircraft and other assets in the region is according to two officials familiar with the intelligence and all this talking to the Associated Press but I think there's a real potential here for. I mean going back to unintended consequences I mean just as the U.S. has been helping the Ukrainians fight the Russians I suppose over at the Kremlin they're probably thinking why not help the Iranians strike back at the U.S. and that could have major consequences for assets in the region.

10:00Yeah absolutely not only within the region but also in Europe as you just pointed out I mean this is going to be spreading Jim that that's another concern I have you know that you can't limit when you go to war you can't limit the kinetic capability of your enemy and when you're dealing with a state like Iran they are going to strike out. And when you have the Russian Federation supporting them and being partners with them as they have been as Iran has provided Russia with so many shahed drones over the last four years you know this is Russia's payback to them they're going to give them some intelligence and we all know that Russia's intelligence capability is pretty damn good. So or an Iran is not in terms of the region so if if there's even the potential for a coordination between Iran and Russia it could be problematic for U.S. forces and other Gulf countries in the region. Yeah and this is how the White House Secretary Caroline Levin reacted to that we should play this because I mean they're very blase about this being a problem I think this could be a major problem let's listen to this we have it.

11:10I wanted to start you off this afternoon because we have confirmed reports from U.S. officials that Russia is providing intelligence to Iran to help it target U.S. assets in the region. I'm sure this is something that does not please the president whatsoever has he spoken to Putin about. Well look I'll leave that to the president to answer himself but what I will tell you John we don't comment on intelligence reports that are leaked to the press. If you're not this happened frankly it does not really matter because President Trump and the United States military are absolutely decimating the rogue Iranian terrorist regime. Wow yeah I mean I had not heard that Jim and that's just simply shocking I mean it is it's beyond blase are hand waving. There are so many security violations inside the current administration and for the press secretary to say something as offensive as that.

12:12Hey we don't care and this is another problem I have being a former military guy they are using the military as a shield because they are performing so well in the operational campaign that nothing else matters. Do you have a strategy no we don't need one because the military is doing great. Do you worry about Russia no because we're completely decimating the Iranians. Are you worried about the economy no because this is going to be over quickly. I mean it is that repeated mantra Jim that is just so offensive to anyone who works in national security and knows how this works. Yeah and I mean to me the way that the civilian you call the civilian leadership the way they've been commenting on all this has been pretty distressing. I mean the secretary of he calls himself the secretary of war the secretary of defense Pete Hegseth you know the way he was speaking to the press the other day. I mean he calls himself the secretary of defense you know the briefing room is full of you know I call the mega ringers they're basically sycophantic outlets that are loyal to Donald Trump they're not.

13:16It's not like having the New York Times Washington Post Wall Street Journal military times stars and stripes CNN MSNBC those kinds of folks in there. And he still has to say well the way you guys are reporting on US casualties you're doing this to make Donald Trump look bad. How is that a message to be sending to the American people in this moment it seems to me it's just yeah I when I heard that I just thought I I get who Pete Hegseth is but does he have to say that like come on. Well and and secretary Hegseth secretary of defense headset that I will call him pointed around the room the other day and and use the term fake news. Yeah and for a secretary of defense to be doing something like that to to basically be you know there there is there are a couple of people that are mentioned by name. In the Constitution of the United States one is the army and the other ones the free press. And if if you don't like what they're reporting give them a better story in terms of what you're doing.

14:16Don't just call them fake news and think that you shouldn't inform the American people. I'll be honest with you Jim you know during the various times I was in combat the media was a pain in the ass of course at times. And that's their job to be my pain in the ass because I need to inform and so do they the American public. And that's what the important part is you know I know you know Tom Shanker the the New York Times. He was embedded with us in Iraq and after he was embedded for a very long period of time. He and I wrote an article together called the media the military media relationship a dysfunctional marriage but we stay together for the kids. And the kids in both of our cases are the American public and our soldiers we protect. And if you just go around calling people fake news because you don't want to tell them what's going on that's an abomination in my view. Yeah and for the folks at home who haven't seen it let's play it and talk about it on the other side because I want to just ask you one more thing on this.

15:16If we can play full screen to that be great control the Iran's airspace and waterways without boots on the ground. We control their fate. But when a few drones get through or tragic things happen. It's front page news I get it the press only wants to make the president look bad but try for once to report the reality. The times of this war will be set by us at every step. Yeah I mean you know to me Mark. It makes me wonder are they going to be able to withstand scrutiny if this grinds on. And I think back to what happened during Iraq and the Iraq war and how I mean that was a long I mean that was a long engagement that. I mean it had so many unintended consequences and it really was so hard on so many military families in the US. And it it got to a point where the press just had to show what was happening.

16:16And you know there was a there was a moment in the beginning of all of it when. I know the bush folks were pretty steamed at the press but then I think at some point they just had to throw their hands up because they realized. What a mess things have become but I mean to me reality is reality how do you not report on reality. And if this thing grinds on this could be a real problem if they can't just take regular press criticism and scrutiny. I think it's already showing signs of having some real problems Jim and you know the scrutiny part of what you're saying is exactly right. And that scrutiny by the way contributed to secretary known being relieved yesterday. Well that's true after after a long period of time and if secretary hexeth continues to say we've got complete control of that. First of all I would say any defense secretary or military guy that says we have complete control they haven't studied warfare. We never have complete control it is controlled chaos and it often gets out of hand.

17:18So any civilian secretary who's spent maybe a couple of months in combat who claims that he's got complete control because of what we're seeing on the screen of a lot of kinetic activity. You know well one of the things I'll say in those press conferences it's all about what we're doing. There was no statement of what Iran was doing and they had some pretty good successes during the first couple of days of this conflict right now it's it's winding down to a degree in terms of their capability. But you know there's always that surprise that's what clause which tells us I hate to get geeky here. But because what says be ready for the surprises and be ready for the friction in the fog of war. And I think we're going to experience that probably soon I hate to be a pessimist but I've been in too much combat to realize nothing ever goes clean. Right and and one of the things that will not be clean about this and we can talk about this. I definitely want to get to the book in a moment but I mean getting back to Russia and Ukraine.

18:19I mean one of the things that the Ukrainians learned was the value of asymmetrical warfare and the innovation of using drones and that sort of thing. I mean it really did level the battlefield for them with the Russians. And it seems to me that the Iranians may just try to do the same exact thing. I mean the six US soldiers who were killed were apparently killed by a drone. And irony of all irony is apparently the US. The administration is going to the Ukrainians and saying hey help us out with some of this drone technology we could really use your help which. Yeah maybe JD Vance will think. You know Zelensky about that but I mean that you know I remember that whole thing but yeah. I mean this this this could be something I mean this is part of the part of the deal if you. Let the genie out of the body a bottle if you open up Pandora's box this this can happen. Yeah and you know you bring up the Zelensky piece I think that is critical to talk about as well. Because we have taken our eye completely off the Ukrainian ball over the last eight months or so.

19:24Because of Venice Waila and Greenland and the Epstein files and now. Now Iran the interesting things to me is we have. Thwarted all of our allies Jim and as you know. I'm a big believer in alliances and security alliances especially. Who is with us right now. I mean there are some marginal folks that are saying yeah we'll help out a little bit but we when we used to go to war. We could count on a whole lot of allies going with us if we had a good strategy and if they understood it. I'm not seeing that right now I mean there are some golf corporations countries that are doing that the GCC. But how much are they providing I mean what is happening other than our shared sorties with Israel. I don't see a whole lot other than them defending themselves against Aaron missile launches using our equipment in many places. And part of the problem though is in the general is that we don't know why we're at war.

20:26Do you think general that we have heard a solid rationale for why we're even doing this. No it's been an ever changing series of rationals by different people. You know Jim one of my all time favorite movies is is drum line. I don't know if you've ever heard that and there's a line or seen that but there's a line in there that says one band one sound. We have not seen one band one sound out of the administration every single secretary has said something different and usually when they say it the president will counter it that night and say something else. So yeah it's confusing the allies they are trying to be nice but they they see I mean I was watching Chancellor Mertz in the Oval Office the other day. The body language was telling everything I don't know if you watched that I saw having been having been in Germany for 12 years of my career. You could kind of tell what was going through his mind of oh my gosh what what kind of partnership do we have with these people right now and it's not very good.

21:34It's not very good at all and you know I mean that that's a problem that could you know come back and bite us years from now. Absolutely it seems to me and I know you have a lot of conversations with folks overseas across the pond in Europe you know where all the western democracies are that are supposed to be our best allies. And they are they I think they've just sort of thrown up their hands and they don't know what to do now. I mean the whole situation with Greenland I mean that really pissed them off frankly and I think it's the fact that they finally showed that they were pissed off that got trumped a back off of that idea. And I just wonder if something really serious were to happen to the U.S. what would happen then I mean 9-11 we had the world behind us because it was an unprovoked attack and the United States had to respond and the world was with us. If something happens to us this time around I imagine there are going to be some folks around the world who were going to say well.

22:34Didn't you kind of bring this on yourselves because of Donald Trump's behavior you put him back in office. We told you not to put him back in office and you went and did it anyway. He's spreading this chaos around the world. Chaos can have consequences. Yeah. I absolutely agree with you Jim. I think there are going to be some people and they most of the Europeans won't say it but they'll be thinking it. Yes. You deserve this. You did this to yourself. And that's you know I think most of them are yeah I know I mean I I I hope they don't think that way but I'm sure they do in many cases. Because they seen how we have not rain this individual in from doing the kinds of things that don't represent the way America feels when when you take a look at the polling and I'm not a big polster or anything but I look at them. No one wanted this. Nobody. They saw how dangerous this was other than the rabid defenders of the president.

23:37And again if you can't give a strategy for why you're doing something that puts Americans in harm's way. It's just it's boggling. It is mind boggling. Well let's talk about the book everybody who's watching right now you got to go out and get a general hurtlings book. It's called if I don't return and I can't wait to pick it up and and dive into it. You've had such an incredible military career you've learned so many great lessons over the years. I imagine that the book is packed with a lot of those lessons and I know how writing a book is you probably wish there were stuff in there that you couldn't get in there and got cut. It's on the cutting room floor and so on. But just wax poetic for us for a moment and tell us you know why do you write the book and what do you want people to get away from it. Well this is this book a quick long story I'll try and be as sure as I can Jim but this book was a result of something our son did to me. I had a journal in fact it's it's right here this was the original journal that I kept during desert storm.

24:42You know army record book with a lot of notes and before we deployed to desert storm in 1990 desert shield in 1990 and then into desert storm. We were surprised by the deployment a lot of people don't know this history but at the time Saddam's army was the fourth largest in the world. They had just gotten off of the eight year war with Iran they were battle hardened he had used chemical weapons against his own citizens in a lot in the Kurdish region. And when we were told we were going the second day after we were notified we were pulled into a intelligence briefing and the intelligence officer said. The one one cab the first cabaret squadron which I was in the reconnaissance element of the division is likely going to suffer 50% casualties. Now that seems absurd when you think about what happened later in desert storm how it was a quick and almost sanitized war but we went into it thinking we were going to suffer 50% casualties.

25:44So when I saw that we might have a coin flip chance of returning home in the fact that I had a seven and a 10 year old son what I wanted to do was leave a journal for them. At the UPS store reinsure your small viz stand out with a variety of high quality paper stock options banners posters for stores and more. Most locations are independently owned product services pricing and hours of operation may vary see center for details the UPS store be unstoppable coming to your local store today and get your print on. You're having a good time you're out drinking with the boys now it's time to pay the tab 11,352.47 cents wait what well there are court costs attorney fees higher insurance costs damage to your car do you buy finds not to mention the damage to your social life plan a sober ride or pay the price drinking and driving costs more than your drinks it could cost a life learn more at what's the damage dot org brought to you by Virginia DMV. That would teach them how to be meant so it addresses all kinds of issues from the beginning and when I went home they were still they were then eight and 11 when I redeployed home

26:54and they didn't want to look at any journal that had thought the waxing thoughts of their old man so it I threw it into a foot locker and it was it was recovered a couple of years ago by our youngest son who had both of our sons have had multiple tours in Iraq so they are now combat veterans themselves and our youngest son took it out and typed it up unbeknownst to me. And Christmas morning in 2024 when all the grandkids were open their presence and we're off playing and everything and and he just came up to me and said dad this one's just for you and I wanted to wait for everybody else to be either room. And it was the type journal and he said my brother and I realized what you were trying to do by telling us about life and leadership and emotions and values and then a little bit about the combat as well. He said we realize what you were trying to do you were trying to prepare us in case you didn't come home and he said that was great of you to do that but now you have to take that book and expand it and write to your five grandsons and two granddaughters and give them more lessons of life.

28:04So it was actually Jim a very easy book to write because I told the people that were adding it don't touch any of the journal entries so there's misspellings and syntax but there but the reflections after each one of those on the same subjects or what I learned over the next 35 years going back into combat multiple times and making new friends and going into different careers as a whole chapter on CNN in there and in the media. And so and hospitals and teaching at a grad school which I do now so it is it's it's my publisher says it's not a war book it's kind of a leadership book values book culture book and reflections of the life lived and truth the last thing I'll say Jim I've never wanted to write a leadership book like here was my life. You know because I've seen too many leadership books that just beat their chest and all that so this book also has a whole lot of failures and foibles and things that I made mistakes with but it it's mostly about what I learned about friendship and leadership culture and all those kind of things well a couple of questions coming to mind when I hear you talk about this one is when you talk about parenting and being a father and being a dad to young men I think about and it's been a subject on my show for some time now.

29:31You know the crisis that we have or I guess me I don't know if we call it crisis but a problem that we have with young men in this country right and are we raising them right how are we preparing them for this world. Are we just letting them be on their phones to learn all the wrong things about life itself and I guess what are some of your parenting fatherhood oh gosh that I would or what is there a hurtlingism that you would boil it down to a couple of things. No I mean you got to love first of all you got to love and you got to teach and you've got to discipline and one of the things that as at the end I actually do a podcast yesterday with a guy who's doing a podcast called raising men and he's a dad who has two young kids and he wants a bunch of people to tell them these stories. The last the last chapter of the book Jim is a reflection on a thing that Sue and I my wife and I have had on our wall since the kids were born since our two boys were born and now both of them as fathers have the same thing on their wall and I'd suggest you and your listeners Google it it's called MacArthur's prayer and I'm not a big Douglas MacArthur fan although he was a great military leader but he wrote a prayer.

30:43That basically starts off give me a son or Lord who does these things and I take the entire last chapter of the book and take that prayer and dissect every line of it as kind of a guide post for parents and what they should look for in their children and how they can help them become that so that's my favorite chapter every time I read it I get emotional. And every time I walk into one of our two sons houses and see that same prayer on their wall MacArthur's prayer for his sons it kind of chokes me up a little bit. I'm going to check that out that's that's terrific and on leadership I mean my goodness I feel like we could use a Mark hurtling leadership clinic in Washington DC these days. I don't mean to bring it back to the president you know I don't want to ruin the conversation bringing him up again but I just worry about the lessons that are being taught now with his very selfish narcissistic self-absorbed leadership style.

31:48It just seems to be all about him even when it comes to what's happening in the Middle East right now and I tell you know I tell my son I you know I try to say on this show to younger viewers this is you know I've had young guests on the show who basically said the only president they ever really remembers Donald Trump in their lifetime which makes my gosh mind blow up but you know I always go back to JFK's profiles encourage I mean there is more to leadership than what we are seeing right now. Profiles encourages back there on my shelf. And and what I think you're talking to and it's what I teach and strategic leaders shift to a bunch of MBA students and what I've taught doctors is it really has a model of your character who you are which is based on your background and your values and what you grew up with. And then your presence of who other people see in you and when those that character and who you are is kind of overlap with who other people see in you.

32:56That usually makes for a good leader along with the intellectual capacity and their ability to teach and train others and to pay attention to constant self analysis of themselves to be better every day and then finally to make things happen. All combined to help you influence others to do the right thing Marty Dempsey who you know always gave me a great line I mean it was a mantra of his show show people what right looks like. And if you can do that as a leader and you really represented in your values and your character then the people around you will catch on to it too and and take that with them and and build the bench for the future. And you're right we're not seeing that right now we're seeing the people with a lot of swagger who want to spike the football who want to blame other people and that's not leadership at all not even close. Not even close well the book is if I don't return and it's written by the great retired lieutenant general Mark hurtling US Army and I wish I hope we can get you back as soon as possible.

34:04I know you're very busy with the book tour and everything but would love to get you back and keep this conversation going because I think it's such an important conversation. I just want the guys out there to start paying more attention to what's right you know in front of their nose and that to me is it's a it's part of the whole ballgame here it seems to me a big part of it but really appreciate the time. Jim it's always a pleasure to be with you you're a dear friend and a great journalist so thanks for all you're doing and keeping keeping the message going. We'll do absolutely thank you make you mark you always tell me to call you mark and I feel my mother raised me right not to call a general bias first but you've scolded me many times to say marks. I did I did I did thanks you have a good time skiing too I will I'm going to try not to hurt myself and do too he's back here too thanks. I did I take care of it appreciate it I know for the folks who tuned in late yes I am in different settings here and I really appreciate having Mark hurtling part of this conversation he's such a great guy and has so many wonderful lessons to talk about in life.

35:08And you probably saw one point the light was coming in and that was because I was letting he was squawking and whining and you wanted to go outside and go look around outside. You know he's a beagle this is what beagles do he's an attention addict but there's a lot of other important news happening right now and I mean one of the most important stories and you guys we talked about this on the show many times is the Epstein files I've said it over over and over I'll say it again we're like a pit bull on steroids where we're we clamp down on the Epstein files we're not going to let that story go. And somebody who's clamped down on it more than I have and is has become really an expert in all of this is our friend Ellie Leonard I want to bring her back in. Ellie is great to see you and I see the you sent a little note saying this will be relevant for the conversation so we need to get into that so I'll pull that up at some point and hopefully not blow up the link here.

36:09But one reason why I wanted to reach out to you is because there has been the story in the news were what the better part of a week this was this was a story before Trump started a war in the Middle East. That there were documents that were in the Epstein files there was stuff in the Epstein files that then got pulled out of the Epstein files and they pertain to allegations regarding Donald Trump and a very young underage minor back in the 80s. And now those documents have reappeared and we can now see what they say and Ellie my understanding is and if I'm characterizing wrong feel free to knock me over the head and correct me. But this appears to be the interview or excerpts from the interview with a person who made this allegation I guess what back in 2019 talking about events that she said occurred back in the 80s. But what do you think is the significance and we should note on page eight in all of this there is a part where it says that she bit him I believe in the penis I think is what she said which he alleges this is what it says here Trump mentioned something to the effective let me teach you how little girls are supposed to be Trump unzipped his pants put head down to his penis and then she bit the shit out of it.

37:31And I'm sorry for the graphic language here, but this is what is now in the Epstein files has been released public. The Justice Department I guess put out a statement saying Trump's been exonerated I'm going on too long and setting this up at Ellie your thoughts. I think it's a big explosive story yeah me the more Trump tries to knock it down makes it more of a story I just think it's it's an incredible journalism by the folks at MP are because they discovered that these were missing and they did it based on kind of like a mathematical algorithm. And you know because I had reached out to them asking if they at least do the file numbers if that's how they figured it out that there were missing file numbers that they knew and they said no we don't even have those it was like the specific search tool that they had used. And so we knew that there were 53 missing pages and we knew that they specifically had to do with Donald Trump. So you know low and behold we now have 16 of them we're still missing 37 but the significance of this is is they you know if you think about somebody coming forward with an allegation there are steps between having an allegation and getting a first interview with the FBI we we don't often get that far based on how credible they think our stories are.

38:40So the fact that they interviewed this woman four times is a lens a lot of credibility to our story but the biggest interview which is either either takes place between the second and the fourth one that we have because we have one that took place while Epstein was still in jail but alive we have one that I believe right after he died and then we have one in October so one either took place in between those last two or one took place much more recently. But they interviewed her four times right they interviewed the same woman four times and her story is so I mean it's different in ways you know I try not to get stuck on M.O.s in the way that Epstein would do things but it's so much earlier than the other stories and so there are significant details that are very, very unique to the story that would be really hard to create if you're honest with you know like they would be really hard to just make up these things you know specific things about. You know she was a little bit more naive she was worried her mom was going to get mad because she pierced her ear she went to a Rick James concert you can Google and see if there was a Rick James concert there at that time and there was it's just a very, very significant piece of piece of information.

39:53Yeah and Ellie I mean it's very detailed there's lots of detail in this like as you're saying so for this this woman in 2019 to concoct the story in this elaborate detail to me that just doesn't add up to me and I mean you know in the fact that these these documents disappeared and now they're reemerged. How much has this been going on since the files have been released and I guess as you said we were still missing a lot. I said this to Wajahat Ali the other day. I think last night actually if you or I were documented by the DOJ for 30 years and they had 3.5 million files on us and we had a best friend during that time for 15 of those years that we socialized with combined finances. With modeling companies with and they didn't show up in those 3.5 million files that best friend of 15 years that would be significant that wouldn't exist.

40:58And so the fact that we don't see Trump very much in these files is significant I mean there's there's no way for him not to be there but also be a best friend for you know almost two decades. Right exactly and I mean he's he's mentioned in the files. I believe tens of thousands of times let's talk about the story in the post and courier yes this is a South Carolina publication for folks who don't know the post and courier. And it says this is the headline is Hilton had the teen venture to a vacation home on it the South Carolina sea island arriving for a babysitting gig as she commonly did for tourists who run a property from her mother but she found no young children to look after. According to accusations contained in the legal filing decades later and instead she encountered a young financier from New York City during the evening he applied her with booze and drugs and later the night. She said he raped her initiating a pattern of abuse that spent years and crossed eight lines it was 1984 she was 13 he was Jeffrey Epstein tell us about this story the allegations that says came to light in a 2019 federal lawsuit.

42:07She filed against the Epstein state she sued under the pseudonym Jane do for their Jane does that are part of this Epstein saga right I mean it sounds as though this. This woman is one of them and talking about things that happened and we should note the Trump stuff those allegations pertain back to the eighties and so does this and so the eighties is an important time frame and all of this. So here's the significant of this this actually was given to me while I was watching you this is the power of this idea of crowdsourcing information so while we were digging through these these files from last night you know someone taught me how to copy paste pieces of PDFs and then and right over with them with different fonts to see which fits and you start to figure out what words fit. It behind the red actions and so what I did is I knew she drove home to an island from this concert in Savannah Georgia so I went okay what islands could she drive to.

43:12From Savannah Georgia and get there by the evening and there's only so many and I started to plop those islands in behind the red action to see what fit with the font what didn't slide anything over and the only one that fit was Hilton head. And so I posted that in my group chat on signal with all these folks who are out there searching for information and someone came back to me with this article about the girl from Hilton head in 1984 and so this I am in my in my heart of hearts this is likely the same person from these interviews. It's incredible and I mean it goes to show you how long the abuse was going on yes and if only he had been stopped you know decades ago the damage would I mean the damage that he did. By you know putting together this network of guys around the world who in who got their kicks off of abusing young girls I mean that maybe it would have been stopped years ago.

44:14And then I guess what just to get back to the story of this Trump accuser I'm working at Julie K brown sub stack and all of this. I mean to me you know the White House is you know the files exonerate Donald Trump and the White House I guess put out a statement this is in Julie's piece. They say that the victim is sadly a disturbed woman who has an extensive criminal history. Somebody who has an extensive criminal history could be telling the truth we don't know. But how can the how can the US justice department say and how can Trump say that he's been exonerated that's just I mean that that is not some of the justice department should be saying Donald Trump can go out there and say I said he can say whatever he wants he lies all the time. But the justice department to say he's been exonerated based on what.

45:15What do we see somebody yeah somebody with an extensive criminal history can't tell the truth is probably not something that they should be saying because they have a president who has an extensive criminal history and doesn't often tell the truth. You know in this conversation she's very honest about her history she's honest about her mother's history which is how she partially got wrapped up in this. She her mother was dating a man named Jim Appkins we're still trying to track down who that is. But but they they basically found out that she'd had to pictures taken of her and her mother tried to get the pictures taken back and supposedly was willing to do things in order to get those pictures back and then ended up going to jail for those things and and in in the last interview which I believe is the shortest one from October. She is very wary about coming forward because she's not really asking for anything she's just saying like if I come and I tell you these things I need to know that the things that I if you know the petty crimes that I've gotten in trouble for in the past I'm not going to get in trouble for them again I want I want to just tell you these things despite that other information and so they knew it they knew it upfront what her criminal history was she as with many abused women.

46:32Had a lot of trouble later in life she she was harmed and she was traumatized and it led to other thing at the UPS store reinsure your small distance out with a variety of high quality paper stock options banners posters for stores and more most locations are independently owned product services pricing and hours of operation may fear see center for details the UPS store be unstoppable coming to your local store today and get your print on. The sun shining birds are singing and all feels right in the world. Until the season changes and suddenly you lose your motivation to get out of bed in fact one in five people experience some form of depression no matter the season or time of year. At the American Psychiatric Association Foundation our vision is to build a mentally healthy nation for all because we want you to live your best life and be your best you all year round please visit mentally healthy nation dot org to learn more. Going wrong in her life and so I think I think they looked past that and they just wanted to hear about these specific details but she was very open and honest about it.

47:33No I mean it seems like she was extremely open and honest about this and I guess I mean the other thing that I wanted to talk about is. Where this goes from here where do you think this goes from here early I mean what's your sense of. I mean you know I had one of the survivors on just a few days ago Danny Bensky and I mean she. One of the things that she talks about is how you know she can't get they can't get these stories on conservative media. And it's a big problem they can't get their stories told on Fox news and if you go and watch what Fox has been saying about it they almost mock these victims I mean people like Greg got felt who is repugnant they go about mocking these people and mocking what they've been through. And it seems to me there has to be a way to get this into conservative media to get these cowards to start covering this stuff.

48:34Because what it says to be is that they're just afraid of getting the truth out there. Yeah I think if you if you look at just like politics in general this week if you look at like some of the elections if you look at Montana. Things are on very very shaky ground and I feel like a lot of people are having there come to Jesus moments. And they know that this is this is not a long term career goal for most people to be involved with this administration it's not safe it it hurts their reputations it hurts their families. And you know when you think about people at Fox News like there are a lot of women who work at Fox News and the statistics about sexual abuse do not you don't discriminate against your politics like there are probably a lot of women who work there who have also been sexually abused. And and I hope I hope that people feel the strength and the power to come forward we've seen that a lot with women in Congress who have crossed political lines in order to support these women.

49:35And I would hope that that means something at some point I don't know how long people are willing to go down with a very very quickly thinking ship. But but so far Fox News is just all in. They're all in and I correct me if I'm wrong I don't think Donald Trump has even asked about these allegations. No pertaining to this 13 to 15 year old I don't believe he has sure he knows about them I'm sure he knows you know I mean war was declared in the Middle East you know I wasn't but he he launched a war in the Middle East like days after this NPR story I mean I just I just can't imagine like if it was you or I and we were accused of something this heinous and we knew we hadn't done it. We wouldn't just be quiet and say that we're just innocent you know what I mean like we'd be fighting we'd be getting legal representation we'd be talking we'd be showing our emails we'd be showing our history we we find a way to exonerate ourselves not just be like I don't care about this I'm innocent.

50:35You know what I mean like it's just not a normal way to react to to a devastating accusation like I just that's suspicious in itself. It's suspicious it just doesn't sound right it doesn't smell right doesn't seem right. In the other part of the these latest allegations that you and Julie and many others have written about pertaining to this 13 to 15 year old girl back in the 1980s is that it sounds as though what she what she alleges is that she was shared around it wasn't just Trump it was at unit was others and that fits the same pattern. Yeah it's and it's the other right there are things that fit the MO and the things that don't fit the MO you know like she said she went to a concert in Epstein was there that's probably not something we're used to hearing you have to remember he's like 20 years younger you know what I mean he's a he's a young financier he's meeting people he's growing the idea of him even drinking like he didn't drink later in life but the idea of him like going to a bar and having a drink like that could have happened when he was very young.

51:45We can't just stick with this idea of like a 55 year old sex offender like at one time he was 30 years old and he was within the big life. That's exactly right and in the 80s Donald Trump was obviously a much younger man but a grown man at that point and knew exactly what he was doing. Ellie great to talk to you as always thank you so much for coming back when I saw this story this morning that the documents had reemerged I I wanted to immediately come to you because you've just been all over these documents and that's the thing that the Justice Department needs to understand it seems to me is that they can't really pull a fast one here with this stuff anymore because there are too many people like yourself and others who are just like on the case like you know when something's up right. It's a title wave it's a title wave of journalism like there's so many people you're doing so many things so it's it's really cool. Yeah well thank you Ellie really appreciate it. Thank you too have a great weekend. You too thanks a lot that's Ellie on sub stack the panic writer and Duke is finally calm down it can you imagine that right at the end of the show he finally calms down.

52:54So I appreciate Duke he's worn himself out I came home and he had this burst of energy and he's he's finally settling down. So so maybe I could do a final closing take at the end of what has been a really busy crazy week yet again and I mean to me we need to talk about the economic consequences of what we're seeing right now. I mean first of all the latest jobs numbers like I mean not to bore everybody to tears with the jobs numbers stuff but I just want to say. The I mean this is important stuff the economy lost 92,000 jobs in February oil has hit 90 dollars a barrel. That means according to the experts that we could be seeing gas prices go up by possibly a third here in the coming weeks I mean NBC is reporting it this way US crude oil recorded its biggest weekly gain on record dating back to the inception of the West Texas intermediate oil contract. In March 1983 as the escalating Iran war threatens global energy supplies on Friday alone US crude oil spike more than 12% to more than 91 dollars per barrel that's the highest price since October 2023 Donald Trump ran on lowering gas prices he said he was going to lower gas prices for all Americans.

54:19And I just want to say on the jobs front we just you know to do the compare contrast Peter Baker with the New York Times he put out an excellent tweet on this earlier today I mean he put this out there and I think it's important in the 13 months since Donald Trump took office the economy has created a net total of 198,000 jobs a net total of 180 98,000 jobs in 13 months in sound Trump took office compare that with 1.4 million. Created in the last 13 months of the Biden administration I point that out because you know at the end of the Biden administration I mean this was written in the economist and I'm not here to carry Joe Biden's water or anything like that the economy was heading in the right direction the economist was saying that the US economy at that point was the envy of the world. And then Donald Trump comes in in he unleashes two economic policies that have been devastating for the US economy one of course being the tariffs the other being the mass deportation policy both of those things have had a devastating economic impact and one of the things that has saved Donald Trump's bacon is that yes you know while we do have an affordability crisis in this country and inflation has not maintained it has not gotten crazy out of control.

55:40In terms of the inflation in this country but ladies and gentlemen when oil is hitting $90 a barrel that is a problem when gas prices start to soar at the pump that is a problem and what was Donald Trump elected to do I mean we talked we heard about the price of eggs we heard about the price of eggs all day long that was something that he he and others on the right we're talking about what's the price of eggs okay. But a lot of the time Donald Trump was talking about what people were paying at the pump and I just have to say if gas prices continue to go up if we continue to see job losses at the rate that we're seeing them right now. You know we've been talking about a wipe out a blue title wave a blue tsunami in the November elections no wonder Donald Trump is contemplating up trying to pull a fast one with the voters heading into these midterms no wonder he talks about meddling in the upcoming midterm election cycle no wonder we are seeing Republicans head for the hills Republicans who are endangered in their districts in their Senate seats heading for the hills and it goes back to what I was talking about.

56:53We're talking about with Ellie a few moments ago when she brought this up and I think she made a very good point Donald Trump is toxic right now he's completely toxic because of the Epstein files because of the economy in this country he seems to think that unleashing a war in the Middle East I mean we could show the the bombardment of Tehran this week he seems to think that unleashing a war in the Middle East is somehow going to help his his his prospects his parties prospects in the fall. Iran one of the largest oil producers in the world. Of course this is going to have spillover effects and you heard at the very beginning of this program when I was talking to retire general Mark hurtling when I asked him has he heard a rationale for the war in the Middle East right now for the war against Iran right now I said no no rationale for what's taking place right now. And so make no mistake when Donald Trump does not have a rationale for what we're even doing right now when Donald Trump is telling time magazine about the prospect of retaliatory attacks in this country that oh I guess so oh I guess we might have retaliatory attacks in this country.

58:08These little these little metrics that we're seeing right now about where our economy stands you know 98,000 jobs lost in the last month oil hitting $90 a barrel or 92,000 jobs lost in February oil hitting $90 a barrel. Donald Trump is creating a dangerous world for all of us. Donald Trump is plunging the United States into a more dangerous world. And this is why you have to talk about the law of unintended consequences. This is why I'm so glad I had somebody like Mark hurtling on the program. He understands this all too well he was as he said he was part of the military leadership when when the United States went to war with Iraq in the 90s in the early 90s. And there were predictions back then that you could have high casualties fortunately that didn't happen.

59:11But we saw what took place a decade later when George H. W. Bush's son George W. Bush plunged the nation into a war in Iraq that had nothing to do with 911. Thousands of Americans dead an economy that went into a tailspin we had a financial crisis in 2008. We had a quagmire in the Middle East. I'm at a loss as to as to what he thinks he's doing Donald Trump what do you think you are doing we used to do this segment on at the end of the show earth to Donald. Earth to Donald wake up oil is at 90,000 or excuse me oil is at 90 dollars a barrel where job losses in the 90,000 range. What are you doing you're talking about the possibility of retaliatory attacks here in the United States and saying I guess that might happen.

1:00:13Like I said some people will die Donald Trump said like I said some people will die when you go to war some people will die. This what's happened what's happened to this president why does he think he can just talk like that to the American people. And it makes you wonder where we are headed and all this I don't think Donald Trump has the first clue I don't think people on the Republican side of the aisle. I have to assume we're looking at these economic indicators and ringing their hands right now and starting to sweat bullets I doubt they know what is going to happen next what Donald Trump is up to. And so we're heading to this weekend with a great deal of uncertainty as to where we are going as a country and it seems to me Donald Trump doesn't have the first clue. He's been telling he's been calling reporters and telling reporters how great this military exercise how this war is going in the Middle East right now doesn't look like it to me.

1:01:17And I wonder when folks are at the gas pump this weekend what they're going to be thinking. MAGA what were you thinking to the folks who live in those red states what were you thinking you had to know if you put Donald Trump back in the oval office chaos would be unleashed. He went out with a bang the last time around he's going to go out with a boom this time around as I like to say. And it seems to me Donald Trump not only has no rationale for why we are at war at the moment and he has no idea how we're going to get out of this and the economic consequences are already starting to feel very very real. I thanks to all of you for another great week I don't say it often enough I'm going to say it again at the at the end of this show supporting independent media matters if you enjoyed this program enjoyed hearing from Mark hurtling and Ellie Leonard these are the kind of guests that we have on a regular basis here on the Jim Acosta show and it makes for some really great.

1:02:19In reaching conversations a comprehensive conversations about all of the news out there right now and we keep doing it each and every day and we can't do it without you we can't do it without the support of the viewers like you. And so it does matter when you subscribe it matters when you like it matters when you share these these episodes whether it's on. Substack or YouTube or Apple podcasts anyway you can help this program it makes a huge difference so thank you all of you and for the folks who do that and I every once in a while here from the folks who say I am doing this I am yes I understand you are doing it. And please for me and from Duke who is finally calm down behind me. Thanks to all of you for supporting this program it makes a huge difference and I love the idea of being able to have on regular guests like Mark hurtling regular guests like Ellie Leonard folks who have become experts in their field to share with us what they know about the really important stories that are happening out there right now and I thank all of you for supporting this program and watching each and every day.

1:03:24It means the world to me it means a world to do to I'm going to go see how he's doing now that he's finally calm down I'm now I want to play and Duke's just going to have to deal with it he's just going to have to deal with me wanting to pick up the toy and play but hope you guys heading in the weekend have a good weekend get a chance to exhale but a lot of crazy events this week. But take some time for yourself your family your friends and the important people in your lives thanks so much for watching still reporting this time I'm out in Utah. I'm Jim Acosta I'll see you next time. One thing that it's for sure that James Tolerico spent more money time and effort to reach Latinos than all the other candidates I judge that by he actually spent money on Spanish language advertising he actually showed up in community he advertised on soccer games he advertised on Spanish language univision. Award shows he sent out by lingua mailers he was out in multiple languages having these conversations so that's the first step is to actually communicate there's lots of folks that are like we're working to get the Latino vote and we're going to go do this thing and we're going to have a carne asada like no you have to spend money and resources especially on media mail and digital in Spanish and English but lean into your Spanish because you're already going to be buying a bunch of English that's the real difference here and what it is.

1:04:49It proved you is that all of these counties along the Rio Grande that me and you have talked about have been trending to the right dramatically swung back to the left in counties along the valley three times as many Democrats showed up then Republicans to vote in each respected primary to show you that something was happening and let me go one step further 30% of those folks had no primary democratic voting history they were new primary voters that tells you how. Everybody is and that's what helped Trump in 2024 new voters and if the Democrats can get new voters to the polls that's that's a big indicator right there and I guess you know you mentioned the Rio Grande Valley and the the border districts I mean that's that's really helped Trump in recent years I mean Tony Gonzalez is in hot water obviously over some deeply personal issues a big scandal for him I said I was reading that there's a Democrat but I guess we need to pay attention to. Who is a Tejano musician apparently he is he is one his primary and is going to be running in the fall it seems like we're seeing a big not just a swing of Democratic voters but Democratic candidates too I mean I was talking to Gina Hinoosa last week she's going to be the candidate running against Greg Abbott for the governorship.

1:06:06Think about this Jim the Donald Trump gerrymander where he went into Texas and made them redraw lines because he wanted more Republican seats in play because he knew he was going to get his ass handed to him in the midterms because of his failed policy and now a third war where we're spending all of our money overseas while he's driving up our gas prices guess what that does to regular folks it makes him really angry and when they really angry they vote so they redraw these districts well guess what I'm going to do is I'm going to do it. What they redrew three of them know four of them in majority Latino areas based off of the number Trump had got in 24 to make them plus 10 plus 11 plus 12 Republicans based off the Trump number when since Donald Trump's been in office the overperformance of Democrats has been at least 18 points and what that does is put all these seats in play that they thought were safely Republican and Latino areas because of somebody just like you mentioned Bobby Palito. Who's running for Congress in Texas 15 in McAllen Texas along with Vicente Gonzalez and other folks that are down there running to where they're all in our plus 10 more districts now but with as mad as everybody is in the midterms and having good candidates this is where you see pie on Trump's face in this redistricting what I like to call a dummy mander.

1:07:26Yeah I mean this is blowing up in his face in a big way because now Virginia's trying to do their own redrawing of the maps and it looks like they'll be able to do that in Virginia and so this whole thing may backfire but how much you mentioned gas prices and I think that's a huge thing Donald Trump not tackling inflation and going headfirst into this wars a bad thing for him how much is ice playing into the politics of this are you see do you think that a lot of Latino voters showed up on Tuesday because they are pissed about the ice thing and they're saying you know what you know fuck you Donald Trump you're not going to go after a boiler you're not going to go after the kids and lock them up in places like Dilly is that driving some of this to it's a major factor you know I've been working for James for a number of months been in the field with them seeing what both the sun shining birds are singing and all feels right in the world until the season changes and suddenly you lose your motivation to get out of bed in fact one in five people experience some form of depression no matter the season or time of year at the American Psychiatric Association Foundation our vision is to build a mentally healthy nation for all because we want you to live your best life and be your best you all year round please visit mentally healthy nation dot org to learn more

1:08:42because you're actually saying along with a number of congressional races across Texas and a few things are really popping if you ask a Latino voter who voted for Donald Trump if they agree with the philosophy of deportations they would say yes if you come to this country and you rate kill or murder somebody you should be deported if you do a heinous crime get them out of here but what they didn't sign up for was autonomy down the street who's been here for 30 years and the only law you ever broke was coming here as a kid with his mom to try to have a better life and then they're deporting the grandmother who's watching somebody to take care or this was the final straw they did they weren't comfortable with that but when American citizens started getting shot in Minnesota that was the final straw you couple that with rising prices and you get the anomaly of more democrats voting in Texas than have voted there in forever and outvoting the republican for the first time in 30 years and I mean I think there's also I mean that this save America act save act whatever they they keep changing the name of it hoping that it'll stick but in Trump wants to make everybody think that it's just about voter ID but it's not just about

1:09:46voter ID I think that's a big issue for Democrats to run on to I mean this the save America act that they're calling it would hand over voter rolls to the DHS I mean nobody wants that that sounds like some 1984 George Orwell should and Trump was posting about it on true social we can show it Chuck I don't think he's gonna get he's not gonna be able to ram that through he can just bitch and moan about that all he wants he's not gonna get that through people see that as a distraction because just like they see the Epstein files and they see other things that this administration is doing the war right they're all trying to Bob and we because the American people don't want to talk about something about turning over voter rolls to some agency that's been keep literally killing American citizens in the street they want to know what are you doing to make my utility bills cheaper everybody's utility bills are going through the roof because of these AI centers of having to power them everybody's gas now is going up because of a war that we've started in the Middle East and everybody's groceries have been on the rise since covid and never

1:10:48came down with Donald Trump promised them he would do it on day one and a lot of people and a lot of Latino voters trusted him because they're younger they're more influenced by social media they're like whatever this guy's outside the system let's give this a shot Democrats hadn't really done that much for me in their opinion and then they get caught in this way like oh holy shit I didn't sign it for this the two most popular things popping is corruption with voters and affordability these two things are the number one thing that voters saying are motivating them for the midterm is they're sick of seeing the corruption whether it's the ballroom the Kennedy Center the wars the crypto accounts the DHS a private prisons where somebody had a contract from just eight days ago filing a company to open up a private prison like you can see through this shit and the American people aren't stupid they're not stupid and the other thing that we got to talk about is Trump is totally freaking out over James Tallerico he is saying he's going to endorse and everybody thinks he's going to endorse John Cornyn over a Ken Paxton even though Ken Paxton's the more

1:11:50mega guy and Trump is panicking over this why is he so freaked out about James Tallerico what is it about Tallerico that has Trump soiling his diapers let me tell you that you are a friend of mine and I'm not going to bullshit you I've done this for 36 years I've run campaigns and been involved long time I go back to running campaigns in Texas to end Richards I tell all of you that to give me some credibility or what I'm about to say James Tallerico is what we need at this time he's a special candidate who talks differently than any Democrat I've ever seen run for a statewide office and what I mean by that is he's been to Bible school he literally went to seminary he knows the Bible he he lives his values he's got a wonderful family God I got to hang out with his mother and his father this last weekend and they're just salt of the earth regular people you know this is what scares the shit out of the Republican Party as you have a guy that can go on the stump and say like James does all the time this ain't about you hating the Republicans

1:12:51or about the Republicans hating the Democrats we got a quick look and left and right and start looking at the billionaires screwing over the working people this is not left versus right it's top versus bottom that sounds a lot like Donald Trump the first time that he ran where he got a lot of working class people to believe in him and then they saw he was full of shit and the other thing is James Tallerico will get on stage and say you know what I learned in the Bible was you love the Lord and you love your neighbor and we are not going to fight hate with hate we're gonna fight that with love and if you voted for Donald Trump you're welcome over here if you're frustrated you he wants to have a hopeful message around family faith and affordability that's his platform you know what family faith and affordability scares the shit out of a bunch of conservative Republicans who think they own the Bible it's so true the two Corinthians and everything and you know the other thing Chuck is the other line that I like from James Tallerico is that he says that the only minority who is hurting you right now is the billionaire that is such a perfect message in this moment the in this goes back to what you and I were talking about

1:13:56when it comes to immigration and you and I you know we do a lot of you know outreach with the Latino community people in the Latino community are so hurt right now because they feel targeted by this government Donald Trump is waging a war on Latino people in this country but Latino people who are hurting MAGA and folks in MAGA they're not hurting the the farmers in Nebraska and Iowa who are getting crushed right now by the terrorists those people are getting crushed by the billionaire oligarch agenda in this country and people are starting to fucking figure that out Bernie Sanders did really well with Latinos because he talked to Latinos about a rigged system and Donald Trump thought he could steal some of that let's call it that that some of those verbs and nouns and cobbled together something that could get Latinos on board and then he would loop together criminals as if they were all Latinos were all criminals as if Chuck wrote to Jim Acosta goes we're from Hispanic heritage criminals goes of our skin color when regular folks out there know that that's just not the case all folks including this Mexican redneck if you come to this country and you

1:15:00break a major law you had your chance you're gonna have to go back but 99.9% of folks who come to this great country like my family did Jim and your family did are trying to become a fabric of America of a multi-quit quilt shade that's actually built this country to be a wonderful economy that's right we would have never our parents and grandparents Jim would have never dreamed people would pay us to be on TV to do the news run political campaigns that's the dream of our forefathers and everybody at a certain level even if you're Irish Italian Jewish we've all had that same dream in America is that unique experiment where that happens and that's what's going to a fucking Donald Trump in the republicans because folks don't see all immigrants as thieves and rapists they see him as brothers and sisters while they're trying to demonize that I think that's really going to get them in the midterms I agree with you wholeheartedly and I so let me since sometimes I like to throw a devil's advocate at folks what about the question of could James Telleriko be another better or work that he can he can mount a great campaign he can give a great speech but he's not

1:16:05going to be able to get across the finish line in a place like Texas I don't want to throw cold water on everybody everybody get mad at me but what is what is the possibility of that is that possible it's the it's a fair question and you should ask that question to any candidate and I'm a horrible consultant because I've told the truth and let me tell you the truth the truth is let's not look at the polls on whether he can win in the general let's not look at some thesis paper some well intention white folks wrote about Texas who are from New York let's look at what just happened in the primary that's what you gauge you know look at his results in the primary compared to Beto O'Rourke's does that mean everything no but it's real people voting in a real off your election and you can judge them hundreds of thousands more people voted but more than that 30% of them as I said didn't have a democratic primary voting history that means they had voted in primary before most of them were general election voters but they were motivated to come back it's showing true motivation let me finish this last thought which is here's the dagger Jim and it's not talked about a lot 12% of the democratic primary voters in Texas had a Republican history voting

1:17:13in the Republican primary in the past that means that folks are crossing over to vote for James Biko because this happened in places that he won overwhelmingly showing unlike Beto O'Rourke that there's crossover appeal but let me also play the devil advocate back to you it's not easy to do any of this James Tallerico now has a lot of work to go win back African American voters from Jasmine Crockett yeah that whole East Texas area that went big for Jasmine Crockett he's got to do a lot of work over there and that the great news there is A he's got a Mexican redneck consultant from East Texas B when he gave his victory speech last night the first thing out of his mouth was thank in Jasmine Crockett the second thing was to thank her voters for showing up and the third thing said I understand I wasn't your first choice but I look forward to the honor of gaining your vote not taking it for granted that's the first step in winning back a black voter and then the best news is that it's March he has a lot of time to show up in those communities give his message to those community and win those communities back while at the same time getting

1:18:15that crossover voter and the last thing with the African American vote Jim and you know this is what I do guess who's a very religious honorable awesome vote black folks in East Texas go to church and guess what they're going to like they're going to like the message James Tallerico has about hope and affordability and family because they live it every single day something tells me James Tallerico is going to be hitting some churches Donald Trump freaking out about the midterms he's having a meltdown over James Tallerico winning the Democratic nomination for the US Senate seat in Texas he defeated Jasmine Crockett who has graciously conceded in that race and now Trump is telling the world he's going to choose a candidate

1:19:20between the two Republicans brawling over that Senate seat the incumbent John Corden and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton who was a maggot darling speaking of darlings Molly Jungfast is here she's the best Molly great to see you I mean there's also breaking right now the House oversight committee has submitted the Attorney General Pam Bondy speaking of hot messes and there were five Republicans who crossed the aisle and joined with the Democrats to issue that subpoena there's a lot to talk about yeah I mean I think that that Texas let's just go through Texas for a minute because it just happened so last night Democrats are really over performed in Texas they were really big numbers and you know if if the I mean there are a lot of indies in Texas so you can't look at the primaries as a one-to-one with the general because a lot of the indies don't vote vote in the primaries by the function that they're independent so we won't we don't really know but it seems as if you look at just like Democrats versus Republicans

1:20:22Democrats way overperformed and they overperformed in a bunch of those seats that Donald Trump had gerrymandered in the hopes of Democrats not being able to flip the House or four seats were Democrats overperformed because they were Latino voters that Donald Trump thought he would have in the bag which he does not have because no he does not number of ice crises so I think that what happened in that text I saw it earlier today was remember Donald Trump or that tweet or that truth or that whatever what uh earlier today we will remember that Donald Trump had had earlier in the contest had endorsed three all three of the candidates yeah made the coveted all three endorsement by the way not a thing in case you're wondering yeah the thing that you should fix the person who's gonna win anyways it's something like that well he doesn't like to lose right he doesn't like to be wrong which is why he loves our mayor's oran but

1:21:22you know he likes to win he likes him here's the thing you have cornon who is the sitting senator and who was in leadership and it's pretty pretty popular in the senate and then you have packed in who is the Texas AG who is like Trumpier than Trump has been impeached was almost removed has is a flander I mean he has all of the Trumpi it's kind of like Trump yeah he's basically Trump and that guy is much more popular in text you'll be shocked to hear that the guy is like Trump much more popular in Texas so Cornon has been spending spending spending a gazillion dollars and he's still like there's still pretty much neck and neck and Paxton has not really been spending so look Trump is a real problem here because if he you know if he endorses cornon which is what the Republican establishment really wants there's still a chance that cornon doesn't when that's right if he endorses Paxton who I think has sort of more momentum behind him

1:22:26he has just like pissed off all of the Republican establishment which historically has been fine but because Trump has like 10 wars going and his polling is as bad as it's ever been and the economy is pretty much in freefall I'm not sure he can do that stuff as much anymore that's right and we should show the truth social post from Donald Trump having a meltdown over this I can't read the whole thing because my brain will explode but somewhere in the capital letters it's a lot of capital letters but it says it must stop now fighting between the Republicans we have an easy to beat radical left opponent and we have to totally focus on putting them away stubborn James Elrigo who is not radical is clearly freaking out about losing a Texas sentence because you know if you think about Donald Trump who is only thinking almost always about Donald Trump there's a world in which remember he's been impeached twice and the only way that you get removed

1:23:27is if the Senate removes you that's right times they were the votes if they were not the votes in the Senate to remove him there's a world where he gets impeached and there are the votes in the Senate to remove him yeah because I mean we have not really gotten to where he is fucked up the most I it's possible that we have not I mean it's you would think the January six would be that thing but I just want to just prepare the American people and folks of listening around the world that he may fuck up even worse than that but one teeny little part of that true social plan that back up is key here he says I will be making my endorsement soon and we'll be asking the candidate that I don't endorse to immediately drop out of the race actually explanation point and so speculation mark it'll be packed in that he asked to drop out of the race and magas freaking out about that they're pissed that he would go with a rhino like John Kornin but that that's what makes the most sense if you don't want James Elrigo to win it seems to me at

1:24:29this moment but I mean Trump is expected to endorse John Kornin this is according to our friend Ashley Parker and Michael Scher over at the Atlantic I mean if you want any chance of stopping James Elrigo and Molly I mean the other discourse is that of Taloriko wins he's in kind of the driver's seat or one of the driver's seats for 2028 although my hot take on all of this lately when this comes up is he's young he's like 3839 but if he wins a Senate seat in Texas how does the Democratic party allow him to run for president and then open that Senate seat again don't you want him to hang on to that Senate seat for the next 30 years if he's 38 years old I just want to pull back and go to Paxton from it because Paxton no one has done more for Trump than Ken Paxton true okay Trump loses the 2020 election Ken Paxton is out there you know he's he is litigating and litigating and litigating and trying to overturn the election results he is Trump's biggest cheerleader

1:25:30so the question is if he betrays Ken Paxton A I'm not convinced Ken Paxton drops out because that guy does not really care what other people think correct and then I'm also just like what is the message here to other people who are willing to burn themselves at the at the alter of Trumpism like you saw a Crenshaw go down last night I mean they're you know chip Roy I think Roy isn't a runoff chip Roy isn't a runoff now for Texas AJ it didn't look good though for him last night that didn't but maybe he'll be okay in the room but it's a runoff is going to be it either way it's going to be super expected the Toyota Tundra and Tacoma are built to keep going blending rugged muscle with precision engineering all supported by Toyota's time tested legacy of dependability step into a Tundra and feel the unyielding capability with the available iForce Max engine Tundra puts out impressive power torque and towing performance and the roomy high-tech cabin keeps you connected on the go or take a look at Tacoma made for drivers who push

1:26:33past the path agile tough and relentless with available features like crawl control affordable JBL speaker a power lift gate so gear goes in fast and the adventure keeps moving the Tacoma and Tundra are engineered to endure season after season mile after mile so drive one home today visit toyota.com or stop by your local Toyota dealer to find out more toyota let's go places you're having a good time you're out drinking with the boys now it's time to pay the tab $11,352.47 wait what well there are court costs attorney fees higher insurance costs damaged to your car do you why finds oh not to mention the damage to your social life plan a sober ride or pay the price drinking and driving costs more than your drinks it could cost a life learn more at what's the damage dot org brought to you by Virginia DMV I mean text and expensive state these these runoffs are expensive I mean the reason why Trump is saying that he wants people to drop out is because he sees that another three months of this

1:27:36is not going to be going further the public in Texas yeah but going back to the point that you made earlier if the Democrats can win the Senate and with James Telleriko that becomes a real possible you can't say oh they'll never win the Senate you have you have to stop having that conversation now because James Telleriko puts them in a position to win the fucking Senate that makes life much more difficult for Donald Trump Lindsey Graham has a tantrum because he does not have the gavel and he's not the chairman of the judiciary committee anymore I mean it's all of these dominoes that fall Democrats have subpoena power in the Senate that's much more serious and craved than the Democrats having the speed of power in the House if Democrats flip this Senate yeah it will be a completely different world I mean it will be like Donald Trump will be able to do nothing yeah he will be he will spend the next two years just blowing up for hearings right putting his name on shit right decorating mostly he'll just decorate and play golf because he will be so

1:28:40it will be impossible for him to do anything and by the way good because he's done in two years this been I mean we're not even two years we're a year and a half into this thing and we're in more with you know I mean just every which way you look there's a war yeah there's Ecuador which I didn't even have that on my bingo car I'm 2026 yeah and then let's talk about Pam Bondi and I know I use this joke and it's very low brow but she reminds me of Ricky Bobby's wife and Taladega nights but anyway that's besides no idea this is that's a different work on you but it works with all right I'll be audience all right all right all right all right all right are we live we are live right in and tell them tell us they don't like it all right Pat Matt and Sam will tell us what the comments say which is probably not good but yeah no Pam Bondi I mean what do you make of that five Republicans crossing over joining the Democrats to make Pam Bondi testify that's not good I mean that says to me and you and I were having this conversation on your show about Kristi Nome my sense of it is that her polling is dog shit she is not dog in the dog scenario Pam Bondi's polling

1:29:45mostly dog shit too if they are putting her up like this I mean if there doesn't mean consequences are hauling her ass in wait we're just talking about the people who voted for it so this is an amendment a mace amendment yes Nancy Mace has is all over the place she's all over the place all over the mess but she did in fact she did impact both set this up she's sort of the driver here they were I think seven Republicans let me go back and look at this little article here I would love to just look at who voted for it yeah I'm with you no I think the Hill says let's I want to make sure we have this accurate Nancy Mace put forward the amendment then Lauren Bobert of Beetlejuice fame Tim Birchett Michael Cloud and Scott Perry it's a really interesting group for any number of reasons uh Bobert and Mace while both being abstraperous and weird have been quite

1:30:49yeah 24 to 19 baby is that is that because that the Epstein files is a powerful potent Sanley in Magga yeah people mag is still really care about it it's like they haven't been programmed five times though I mean they say we'll put it on Fox but this is yeah remember Marjorie telegreen left congress over this she broke with Donald Trump over this no Marjorie telegreen like Donald Trump's biggest person I'm not surprised to see Bobert on there and I'm not surprised to see Nancy Mace because they both have been really involved in the Epstein stuff I also think like and you saw also Nancy Mace wanted to really you know Nancy Mace and Bobert are also extremely upset about Tony Gonzalez who is that's right remember of congress who had who was sexting and harassing his district staffer she set herself on fire um and you know there's a story there's a feeling you're I want to pull back there was a really good reporting by Annie

1:31:52Carney in the New York Times about how a lot of these women in the Senate are you be furious how it was just it's just been a terrible time I mean in the house it's been a terrible time to be a woman in the house that my Johnson has treated them terribly that the only woman that's on that heads of committee you'll remember is um is uh is Virginia Fox who's 10,000 years old right and the other women are allowed to head committees I mean I just think these women have had enough they've had enough they totally had it up I mean and just like what's happening with the Epstein files the Wall Street Journal which I I've been saying they're sort of like the the second paper in the country after the New York Times it used to be the Washington Post now it's a Wall Street Journal after a journal analysis identified more than 40,000 files that appear to be missing from documents posted to DOJ's website a Justice Department spokesman said that 47,635 files were offline for further review and should be ready for reproduction by the end of the week it includes

1:32:54documents that detail women's unverified allegations of sexual misconduct by Donald Trump I think you know and you and I talked about this on your show I think you know and people have all kinds of theories it's about the oil it's about Israel it's about all you know Trump's senile and BB Netanyahu's dog walking him there are all these I think it's the Epstein files that's what I think it's what wag the dog to get to distract from the Epstein files I think that's right the Toyota Tundra and Tacoma are built to keep going blending rugged muscle with precision engineering all supported by Toyota's time tested legacy of dependability step into a Tundra

1:33:55and feel the unyielding capability with the available iForce Max engine Tundra puts out impressive power torque and towing performance and the roomy high tech cabin keeps you connected on the go or take a look at Tacoma made for drivers who push past the path agile tough and relentless with available features like crawl control portable JBL speaker a power lift gate so gear goes in fast and the adventure keeps moving the Tacoma and Tundra are engineered to endure season after season mile after mile so drive one home today visit toyota.com or stop by your local Toyota dealer to find out more Toyota let's go places