Transcription
All right, Brian. We got some major Jeffrey Epstein news. A top Trump administration official did a New York Post interview that is raising a lot of eyebrows.
Liberal Tears is brought to you by PBS Dead. I mean, that's an incredible story that you could pick up that he was a pervert. It's gross. That guy's gross. I'm right with my wife. He's gross. The guy's gross. This was not Oh, the deep nuance of Howard Lutner. This guy's gross. Right.
So, how come Bill Gates and all these other people could hang around him and not see what you saw? Or did they see it and ignore it or No, they participated, right? That's what his MO was. You know, get a massage. Get a massage. And what happened in that massage room I assume was on video. This guy was the greatest black mailer ever. Brian, that was Howard Lutnik, Trump Secretary of Commerce. Listeners are probably thinking, "Yeah, seems like he's stating the obvious." That's what we think, too.
But in that brief clip, he contradicted both the Department of Justice and the FBI's narrative about Jeffrey Epste. Remember back in July, the Trump administration leaked this weird memo to like Axios and it said Epstein didn't have a secret secret client list, that there's no credible evidence that he blackmailed people. And then FBI director Cash Patel has insisted that Epstein was was not murdered, that he actually did kill himself and inexplicably also said that there's no evidence that Epstein traffked women to other people despite lots of Epstein's victims saying that's exactly what happened.
So Brian, I mean, I watched that and it made me wonder like if Lutnik got the ick about Epstein in like 30 seconds, why was Trump friends with him for what, a decade? I mean, to answer that question, you really just have to look at the Virginia Guay example. Uh we know that she worked at the spa at Mara Lago. We know that she was eventually poached by Jeffrey Epstein uh to go work for him and we know that after that point she was abused and and trafficked by by him. And so and so you know if you're wondering why it was worth Trump to maintain that relationship, it's because there was some business transactional relationship happening between between them.
But also, I think what's what's more important to recognize between uh what Lutnik said versus what the rest of the administration said, if we're getting contradictory information from these people, there isn't there's an answer here, and that's just to release the files. Like, this stuff exists. We don't have to pretend that it's all some some amorphous black box here. There is a file that includes hundreds of thousands of documents that is that that is sitting on Pam Bond's desk. Her words, not mine. And if she wants to give some clarification here as to as to the truth, just release the files that are already in your possession. Yeah.
Like there was a several weeks if not monthsl long firestorm about Jeffrey Epste and the Epstein files. It is died down in kind of the mainstream media discourse, but we're still waiting on this vote in Congress to get to release the full Epstein files, which has been held up for some pretty shady reasons. Well, there there is a new update on that front and that is that Adalita Graalva won her uh special election uh and and she's supposed to be sworn into the House of Representatives. She would represent the 218th vote that would force this discharge petition uh to be brought to the floor for a full vote. And yet Mike Johnson refuses to allow her to even be sworn in. And now that the shutdown has occurred, there's no chance of her being sworn in anyway. And so they kind of benefit both ways here. they get this shutdown which allows Donald Trump to usurp all of these powers uh and to continue enacting all of the uh policy points that he wants to enact with project 2025, but also they get to prevent this discharge petition from moving forward because they get to prevent uh this new Democratic lawmaker from signing on. Yeah.
Which basically just means like Speaker Johnson is colluding with the Trump people to prevent a vote on the release of the Epstein files and it's pretty shady and every day we learn something new that makes you wonder why. Um, also Brian, last week the House Oversight Committee got their hands on a bunch of new files from Jeffrey Epstein's estate, including a copy of like an itinerary or kind of like schedule or diary that Epste kept. So, Politico reported on what was in some of these files. They found what appears to be a copy of Epstein's schedule that had, wait for it, Elon Musk making a trip to Epstein Island on December 6th, 2014. Uh, the calendar also mentions lunch with Peter Teal in November of 2017 and breakfast with Steve Bannon in February of 2019. And to be clear, all of those dates are years after Jeffrey Epstein went to prison for his conduct in Florida. So like you read this, you're like, I don't know, man. Like I guess the the Epstein calls have been coming inside the house the whole time. You know, it's like all of these top people like Elon famously had his breakup with Trump and he tweeted Trump is in the Epstein files. Well, so are you, buddy. Right.
And and I think what's what's most telling about this is the extent to which Trump's supporters were conned. I mean, Trump himself campaigned on this issue in particular, made sure to exploit this issue to get support from these voters who didn't know any better only to I mean, he knew full well that he was in the files. He knew full well the reality. But also, this has been going on for years. I mean, Alex Aosta was Trump's labor secretary. The guy was in his administration. And so, the notion he gave the sweetheart deal to Epstein in Florida in 2007. Exactly. And so this notion that Trump was ever going to be some champion for accountability when it comes to Epstein I is is just such a joke and such a slap in the face to anybody out there who earnestly believe that he would be some some crusader for transparency. This is a big deal that anyone wants like justice for the Epstein's victims.
It's also a big deal politically because there's a new PBS News NPR Maris poll out this week that asked about Trump's handling of the Epstein files. Let me read you some findings. 61% of Americans disapprove of Trump's handling of the Epstein files, including uh 69% of independents. Nice. 77% of Americans want the files released with appropriate redactions. That includes 84% of Democrats, 67% of Republicans, and 83% of independents. Only 9% of uh people who responded to this poll don't want the the files released. So, like it's like it's like Trump, Elon Musk, Don Jr., Howard Lnick. So look, I I roll Bill Gates, Bill Clinton. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. So I like look there are some politicians who like I roll my eyes and they're like everything is a distraction from the Epstein files, but clearly this is an issue that voters care about that is overwhelmingly on the side of transparency and we should keep pushing. Yeah.
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All right, Brett. So, we're recording this on Thursday afternoon, Pacific time. Um, as we speak, the government is shut down. There's no votes Thursday to reopen the government because of the holiday. Uh, but Congress will vote again Friday and then again Monday if that fails. In the meantime, though, as you mentioned earlier, like Trump is using the shutdown as a pretext to slash funding for blue states. uh OM announced the cancellation of $8 billion in green energy funds to 14 states run by Democrats and then $18 billion in funding to New York City was just cut. Uh but Brian, somehow this very serious and important policy debate and and debate about healthcare and debate debate about like the function of our government has devolved into uh the dumbest possible memor. Yeah.
Uh here's an example from the Republican side. There's no way to sugarcoat it. Nobody likes Democrats anymore. We have no voters left because of all of our woke trans Not even black people want to vote for us anymore. Even Latinos hate us. So, we need new voters. So, that's uh that's from the Trump's official account. And then uh there's been some rejoinders from Democrats. Here's an example from the DNC. Republican and Democrat kitties cannot agree on what should be funded. Democrat kitties want you to have healthcare. Republican kitties do not. Republican kitties control the Senate House and the White House. So, they're using that to cut your healthcare and give money to billionaires. Democrat Kitty tries to negotiate, but Republican Kitty keeps running away. He has a vacation to get to. Uh-oh. Suddenly, the money you pay for your health insurance has tripled. Thanks, Republicans. Uh, is this not why you uh why you jumped into politics? Yeah, I kind of think like maybe the one rule of political memore is no one wins political memore. But I don't know. What are your thoughts on this communications battle? Is this breaking through to people?
So I think if you're looking at just raw numbers, I mean, both of them are breaking through and they're speaking to a they're both speaking to their respective audiences and and not entirely unpersuasively. I mean, if you look at the the the Kitty explanation, that's reached well over three million people on Tik Tok. It's intended for a Tik Tok audience. I I think we're safe to say that we're probably not the Yeah, we're a little outside of it, I think. And in terms of the meme war stuff, I mean, that resonates with Trump's audience. Is it is it are both of them represent a a pretty a pretty sad deevolution of our of the political discourse? Yeah. But I I actually think if you're looking at the uh at at at what both sides are representing, I think it's it's a pretty apt representation because Trump is relying mostly on just you know xenophobic slop, lies and xenophobia, right? They're saying that Democrats are trying to pass funding to give undocumented people healthcare, which is just a madeup thing. And they're doing it in a way that is designed to be inflammatory and to feel racist and to make Democrats respond to the tone and tenor of the memes themselves and the videos themselves. And all of a sudden we're having a conversation about that about whether Trump's tweet was racist, which is just like not the ground the Democrats should be fighting on. You've heard the expression like never wrestle with a pig in mud because you both get dirty and the pig likes it. I mean, that's what Trump is trying to do here. I know you're getting real excited at the prospect of some mud wrestling with I was editing a lot of jokes in my own head, but please continue.
But but you're right. I mean, the reality is that they want this to be put on their on their own grounds where where they usually succeed, which is the idea of either attacking immigrants, attacking trans people, whatever it may be. When in reality, this argument is is actually very simple to understand. Republicans want to cut healthcare uh funding in the in the in with these ACA subsidies and Democrats are saying if you want the government to reopen our red line the we're going to use what little leverage we have because you need seven Democratic votes in the Senate. We're going to use what little leverage we have to force you to continue the existing ACA subsidies. So we're not asking for anything more. We're not asking for increased subsidies. We just want a continuation of the existing subsidies so that 24 million people don't see their health care costs double or triple as we head into 2026, which is a pretty reasonable thing to ask for, especially when you consider the fact that in the last 5 years, the vast majority of of ACA enrollment happened in red states. Uh Texas, West Virginia, Tennessee, all of these states together saw a combined 157% increase in ACA enrollment. States that voted for Kamla in 2024 saw a combined 36% increase in ACA enrollment. So there are a lot of red states who are taking advantage of these ACA enrollments that are about to see their healthcare costs double or triple because the Republicans refuse to uh uh continue this funding. And and so what the Democrats are saying is look, we just want a continuation of this funding. And Republicans are coming and saying the Democrats want uh to fund healthcare for undocumented immigrants, illegal aliens. And and there is not a single dime of federal funding that goes toward healthcare for undocumented immigrants. Not a dime. It says it on healthcare.gov, which is a website run by Trump's own administration. Yeah.
It's deeply frustrating. I mean, look, the on the merits on the policy merits, like Democrats are unequivocally in the right. Like, we can't let people's premiums increase 75%. That's a horrible thing. On the on the politics, it's like we're like helping bail out Republicans from their own political problem, right? which is like always in the position we're in cuz we're like the responsible party that cares about people and and thinks government should help you. And you know there are people out there who are saying look why not why not just allow the Republicans to shoot themselves in the foot in an election year. What do you say to those people? I I look I mean I think I understand the thinking like I'm torn on this. I'm torn on this whole government shutdown whether it was a good idea, whether it was a bad idea. I sort of had this similar thought too which is like I don't know that people are really going to turn on Trump until they feel the impact of his policies economically. There's there's a part of me that's like the Democrats keep swooping in to bail out Republicans on the issues that they're most vulnerable. I think what's more likely to happen here is there will be some deal made that reopens the government and then after that there will be something done to address this concern about the subsidies that will probably involve more like brutal policy choices and deep cuts uh in healthcare. And look, all of it just speaks to how much it sucks to be out of power. Yeah.
So, uh, but like look, Democrats, we like led with the meme stuff because it's, I don't know, visual and funny, but like Democrats are trying to get more digitally savvy. Uh, they're creating more of their own social media content. They're talking to progressive YouTubers like you, like us, independent media. Uh, uh, speaker, uh, leader Jeffy's office tried to do a 24-hour live stream about the shutdown. It was like somewhat effective. It turned into a bit of a punchline because like low viewership that kept getting screenshotted. curious what you made of it, Brian. Because like on the one hand, look, I'm I I'm glad these guys are trying. We got to try new things. We have to be creative. We have to stop going through the like mainstream media filter or thinking that an MSNBC hit is going to win the political debate. But on the other hand, you know, like I don't know the impact has been what we want it to be at. Yeah.
I mean, look, I I think there's a difference between Democrats embracing independent media or digital media and Democrats thinking that that their media distribution strategy should be completely vertically integrated. Right? There are companies like Crooked Media, uh, like what I do, like Midas Touch, like all of these creators who do a great job who've built that infrastructure. So, you don't necessarily need to reinvent the wheel. When we want Democrats to embrace independent media, that doesn't mean to create it unto yourself. Like, they are not they are not independent media outlets. these are members of Congress or or senators. Some of them have the ability to do that really well unto themselves. Bernie Sanders gets well over a million hits on all of the videos that he puts onto YouTube. AOC obviously when she goes online there's, you know, I tune in to her Instagram lives. Thousands of people tune in. You see the video they did together. They're like Bernie and AOC are kind of walking somewhere in DC. It's like two and a half minute long video where they kind of explain the stakes of this healthcare fight. And I think they did so in a really effective way. Super effective. And I just covered that on my YouTube channel as well. And so I think if you have people like that who are able to build out the infrastructure onto themselves, great. Then then then that's like that's that's gravy, right? But I think in instances where where you want to get the word out and also show some support and embrace independent media, then there are other ways to do that without thinking that that you also need to become the outlet that you then distribute your message on. Yeah.
If you sort of treat yourself as the distribution channel, then you have to do a lot of work to build the infrastructure to build the follower count to kind of like make it so that it's juiced and we'll get seen. This is like a it's it's work work smarter not harder. And so if there are people that already have uh you know the distribution channels that and and you you don't have the ability to do that and ramp up as quickly as we need uh eyeballs on this stuff, then then find the folks who are already doing it. Well, speaking of independent media, uh if you're not already, please subscribe to POS Save America. Subscribe to Brian's channel because we are little lone little voices in the space trying to combat uh some right-wing channels here on YouTube that have huge follower accounts. And what that means in practice is when normal people search on YouTube for information about the shutdown, they're finding right-wing crap from Ben Shapiro or TPUSA. And what we're trying to do is get them good factual information from a progressive standpoint uh and just to help them better understand stuff. So, please subscribe to Brian's channel. Subscribe to Podave America. Thank you for watching. It's free.