On tonight’s show…
Donald Trump finally had to pay one of his victims. E. Jean Carroll received $5.6 million in cash after Trump exhausted his appeals in the sexual-abuse and defamation case. That is only the first installment. Juries have ordered Trump to pay Carroll roughly $88 million altogether.
Then we turn to Iran, where Trump’s supposed ceasefire has collapsed, the heavy bombing has resumed, and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has plummeted. Trump announced that he would charge ships a fee equal to 20% of their cargo for American protection -- then abandoned the idea one day later after claiming that Persian Gulf “kings and emirs” called him. Oil prices are rising again, the nuclear material Trump supposedly started this war over has practically disappeared from the conversation, and America appears to be right back where it started.
We also discuss former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denying reports that he was secretly an Israeli asset, along with the ten-foot “Iran War Participation Trophy” placed on the National Mall to mock Trump for losing his own war. And Mike Johnson now says Trump needs another $350 billion for the Pentagon, in part to fight “communism” here at home -- while Republicans allow health-insurance subsidies for ordinary Americans to disappear.
ICE has reportedly been ordered to curtail vehicle stops after agents shot and killed two more people. We examine ICE’s justification for one shooting -- that the man might have endangered the public had he escaped -- and why that sounds less like self-defense than an admission that agents killed someone over what he might theoretically do later. These are heavily armed, masked agents being thrown into tense confrontations without the training or judgment necessary to handle them.
Trump is also promising a major Thursday speech about “free and fair elections.” The latest theory is that he will release intelligence about foreign attempts to influence the 2020 election, even though the intelligence community found that no foreign government changed votes or manipulated voting machines. We also look at the Heritage Foundation’s own research showing only ten cases of in-person voter impersonation among billions of ballots and just 41 instances of noncitizens registering, voting or attempting to vote over approximately 50 years. The fraud they claim to be fixing essentially does not exist -- which raises the obvious question of what their election legislation is really designed to accomplish.
Then there are the extraordinary new details surrounding Lindsey Graham’s death. While experiencing chest pains, Graham reportedly called his scheduler and asked her to contact emergency services rather than calling 911 himself. By the time she reached his home, emergency responders had broken down the door and were working on him.
We also revisit Trump’s mysterious Reflecting Pool “gash,” which grew from 250 feet to 300 feet, then 350 feet and finally 300 yards -- even though photographers and reporters examining the drained pool cannot find the supposed gash at all.
Finally, Ukraine’s drone campaign is bringing the war home to Russia. Ukrainian attacks have hit Russia’s largest refineries and helped create a fuel crisis affecting tens of millions of people. Some regions are rationing gasoline, drivers are waiting days in line, and officials are providing food to people stuck at filling stations. Ukraine may not have defeated Russia, but it is inflicting economic pain on a scale ordinary Russians can no longer ignore.
After the news, we discuss TikTok’s live-stream verification system, water-leak alarms, my latest Greek citizenship and passport update, a remarkable old Chicago chart ranking ethnic groups according to their supposed effect on property values, and why families need to identify, preserve and print their old photographs before nobody remembers who is in them.
