Can a single conviction change the course of a political career? Join us on this gripping episode of the Park Needs Direction Podcast where Ty and I dissect the political ramifications of Trump's recent legal setbacks. With Carol on a deserved break, we delve into the New York hush money case, examining how Trump's conviction is tilting the electoral scales in Biden's favor. We scrutinize the Republican Party's unyielding support for Trump post-January 6th and the strategic blunders that could cost them future victories. Our analysis also covers alarming legislative moves in Texas aimed at manipulating election outcomes, raising critical questions about the integrity and future of American democracy. And for a lighter twist, listen in as Ty shares a hilarious story about his unexpected journey to Juarez for antibiotics.
As we move into the second half of the episode, we illuminate the ongoing legal battles facing Trump's associates, with a particular focus on new felony forgery charges stemming from the 2020 election in Wisconsin. We spotlight the indictment of Kenneth Cheesebro and other Trump co-conspirators, unmasking the intricate network behind the fake elector plot. Our discussion extends to chaotic developments in Michigan and the broader implications of these indictments across various states. We stress the urgency of addressing these legal challenges before the 2024 election, underscoring the critical role of the January 6th committee hearings in exposing this elaborate conspiracy. Don't miss this comprehensive exploration of the legal maze surrounding Trump and his allies, and the pressing need to keep these issues at the forefront of public discourse.
Can a single conviction change the course of a political career? Join us on this gripping episode of the Park Needs Direction Podcast where Ty and I dissect the political ramifications of Trump's recent legal setbacks. With Carol on a deserved break, we delve into the New York hush money case, examining how Trump's conviction is tilting the electoral scales in Biden's favor. We scrutinize the Republican Party's unyielding support for Trump post-January 6th and the strategic blunders that could cost them future victories. Our analysis also covers alarming legislative moves in Texas aimed at manipulating election outcomes, raising critical questions about the integrity and future of American democracy. And for a lighter twist, listen in as Ty shares a hilarious story about his unexpected journey to Juarez for antibiotics.
As we move into the second half of the episode, we illuminate the ongoing legal battles facing Trump's associates, with a particular focus on new felony forgery charges stemming from the 2020 election in Wisconsin. We spotlight the indictment of Kenneth Cheesebro and other Trump co-conspirators, unmasking the intricate network behind the fake elector plot. Our discussion extends to chaotic developments in Michigan and the broader implications of these indictments across various states. We stress the urgency of addressing these legal challenges before the 2024 election, underscoring the critical role of the January 6th committee hearings in exposing this elaborate conspiracy. Don't miss this comprehensive exploration of the legal maze surrounding Trump and his allies, and the pressing need to keep these issues at the forefront of public discourse.
hey, this is d night. This is ty. Carol is mia. She's pooped. She had a long week and understandably needs a day off, but she'll be back next week and you're listening to the park needs direction podcast. I know you're like who the fuck is carol if you think anyway, um, yeah, so it was a week. Obviously, you know trump's been convicted of of numerous crimes in his hush money election interference case in New York and there's been quite a bit of fallout politically for him ever since. Ty, I'll let you take it away.
Speaker 2:
Yes, so we're going to start with Trump's poll flops flops. Since trump was found guilty in his new york hush money election interference trial in manhattan, three separate polls have suggested trump's guilty verdict has hurt his electoral chances. Because being a rapist and an insurrectionist wasn't enough? And if so, Reuters poll of 2,135 registered voters conducted between May 30th and 31st found that in a two-way race, 41% would vote for Trump's Democratic rival, Joe Biden. If the election were held today, Trump, on the other hand, would garner 39% of the vote. Echelon Insights full of 477 likely voters sure none of them were Democrats, because they don't ask us Also conducted-.
Speaker 2:
We don't answer our phones, todd, we're millennials and shit Also conducted between May 30th and May 31st found that 49% would vote for Biden, while 47% would vote for Trump. Previously, the pollsters found the pair tied with both on 47% of the vote shared. A morning consult poll of 2,200 registered voters found that 45% would vote for Biden, while 44% would vote for Trump. The poll conducted on May 31st showed Biden gaining three percentage points up from May 28th. And also what the fuck?
Speaker 1:
yes, look, I know it's a lot closer than we would all like, but in terms of movement in the polls, um, it's, it's been all towards biden and over the course of just a few days.
Speaker 1:
That's actually a massive impact because in this political landscape, nothing moves the polls, especially not overnight. And since we're seeing Well, first of all, sample size aside, like I wouldn't put too much into the small sample size of these polls, but the fact that it's moving period does suggest that this is harmful to Trump's electoral chances. But, bigger picture, I think this is a cue that, whatever the media is saying about Biden not leaning into Trump being a convicted felon is probably wrong. The Trump campaign, rather the Biden campaign, should be leaning into this in every way possible, and maybe not in terms of, like, the federal investigations, but this particular instance where trump was convicted. This is damaging shit. So you gotta like constantly hammer at home. And then the way that news media filters information down to voters, like it's not. It's not entirely likely that the voters will get the entire story if the trump uh campaign continues putting out its propaganda campaign and it's not addressed by Biden and the Democrats on the other side.
Speaker 2:
No, absolutely. And did you see what Lisa Murkowski had tweeted? And you know she was like which is absolutely true, 100 percent true, where she said we wouldn't be here if we put up a viable fucking Republican candidate, and right now I feel like all Republicans are trash. However, candidates like Asa Hutchinson and though I really can't stand even Chris Christie really can't stand even chris christie that would have been better candidates and had a real chance to swing the independent voters, to swing those on the fence and the moderates, if they had put them aside from Trump. I mean, we knew this was coming, yeah.
Speaker 2:
I mean you know this was coming for him.
Speaker 1:
It's insane that they didn't do a better job, immediately after January 6th, of getting together and picking a handful of just replacements for Trump to like lead the party into the exactly like getting and getting behind them.
Speaker 2:
Like, okay, even if he wasn't convicted by the senate and thrown out, they still could have pivoted and thrown their support behind anybody of literally anyone the other kids and they could have, they could have drawn straws they could have drawn straws and like the like just five random republicans, you guys are the future of the fucking party like take it away.
Speaker 1:
But instead they immediately like regrouped and pledged their loyalty and fealty to trump. And he let them you know, they let him run roughshod over the party. Now he's got control of all the money, he's got control of the RNC. They're fucking doomed.
Speaker 2:
And I was looking today, I think, and they were like that the RNC has raised X amount of dollars and are still in the red because of like you know all the down ballot candidates and stuff and um, and I read something today that so the gop controlled legislature here in texas. They have put forth legislation that will basically make it impossible for a democrat to win to win. So even if they win their race, it's not going to count. It's going to red counties to decide the winner of the race.
Speaker 1:
What the actual thug yeah, well, look, you know that's what we have to look forward to. If republicans win in 2024, brother, they'll just like in 2028 all of the elections in red states will be rigged for gop candidates, no matter what the outcome of the election is, and we'll have know a brand new bevy of Trump appointed Supreme Court justices to ensure that you know those laws stand and you'll never have another free and fair election again. Just, you know something to look forward to if you don't get deported or put a detention cap in the second Trump administration.
Speaker 2:
Well, when I was wearing my scarf, and you know, I guess I look Dominican.
Speaker 1:
No one knows what you're talking about. You got to explain the context. When were you wearing your scarf?
Speaker 2:
Well, you know, trump has been very explicit that he wants to bring Operation Wet Backpack.
Speaker 2:
But I went to Juarez to get my daughter some antibiotics and it was like eight in the morning, dropped the boys off to school and I go and I got my scarf on you know, no lace front and when I'm walking back across the bridge I get caught up in the migrants and so it's like 300 people like coming back over, and the border patrol and shit is there and I'm like, oh, goddamn, like what, what's gonna happen? You know here, um, with me going back over, but the rules and shit that greg abbott and ken pax are doing here in texas and we've been pretty insulated here in el paso because we're far off, you know there see, uh, chihuahua plates, chihuahuas. You know mexico and you know people from mars. You know people cross back and forth, whatever riding around and I'm like so is it going to be now that if you're not speaking english and you're speaking Spanish, that they can just stop you and take you in for quote, unquote, supposedly, like, oh, you're an illegal.
Speaker 1:
you know what have you that's exactly what's going to happen in 2025 if Trump wins he's going to deputize exactly deputize local police officers to work in immigration. They're going to just round up everyone who doesn't speak English or doesn't even look like they're American, likely including Black people.
Speaker 2:
And I was going to post because I have a lot of friends that care where Chris goes. There's only like two high schools here on the West Side where I live goes. There's only like two high schools here on the West side where I live and they have wealthy parents in Juarez and when the wars were bad they sent their kids here to protect them because they would, you know, kidnap the kids of wealthy families to ransom or whatever. And I was thinking about, you know, a post today and you know I was going to write.
Speaker 2:
It was like you know, I know a lot of you have been here since 2008 because your parents were afraid for your safety and your life. So they sit you here to be safe from the violence. It's like, however, I see some of you posting negative shit about people coming from Central and South America who were fleeing violence and wanted to get their kids to safety. So how does that make you different from them? I fucking have more respect for them because they fucking tricked 3,000 goddamn miles and, you know, filled it off violence, not knowing what was going to come, but trying to get their kids to a place they felt was safe.
Speaker 2:
You hopped across the bridge. You didn't come here the right way, as they like to say. You came here the privileged fucking way. So what makes you fucking different from them? Your parents? Because they just hopped you across the goddamn bridge right here, because they feared for your safety. These parents feared for their kids' safety and went through saving every fucking nickel and dime that they've made over the past two, three years just to get their kids here, and then you turn around and turn your nose down at them.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, they're a bunch of clearance, thomases, man, you know they they get here and and get into a position of privilege and they want to make sure.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, you know absolutely and like and there's kind of a unwritten rule, like if you invest like 250 000, so it could be a house, it could be a restaurant, because we have a lot of restaurants that originated in what is, that are here like the same uh companies and brands that you get a visa oh really automatic.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, yeah, like it's. It's not, but it's a, you know, kind of a unwritten, unspoken rule, and I'm like you, you're coming here and then when you say, oh, we gotta our taxes have to pay for illegal immigrants going to a public school, I'm like, bitch, you went to public school. Like you went to franklin these same people, yeah. So I was, like you know, trying to formulate like the kind of tweet that I post on Facebook, because that's where most of the people that you know, I know, here are on, but wanting to like you need to really fucking sit back and think about this shit. Like you're saying this. Fucking sit back and think about this shit. Like you're saying this.
Speaker 2:
And it's like, motherfucker, you're only here because of this and because your parents had the money to you, but you still you're driving a bmw to school and you're hopping back and forth and you had a house. It was like you got people who fucking had no assurances of what they would face when they got here, but for the same fucking reasons that your parents did, but we're able to just fucking send you here over the border, like you need to. Yeah, so I I've been thinking on that for like the past few days, like and how I'm gonna word it, because I know like a lot of them, you know, are my friends and uh on facebook like to put together a post to like really make motherfuckers take a step back and think about that shit yep, just the inability to have empathy for other people who were once in a similar position.
Speaker 1:
That's just wild man. Just yeah, I don't understand, just makes no sense to me. But um, so there you know. Trump's not done facing legal challenges here, even after his his recent conviction in new york. As we have some news out of wisconsin, they're cutting the cheese, so to speak. Wisconsin attorney general josh cowell filed felony forgery charges tuesday against three trump co-conspirators who helped submit paperwork falsely saying that trump won the election in the state in 2020. The indictment's named kenneth cheeseborough. You might be familiar with his work with the fake elector plot. He's that Trump won the election in the state in 2020. The indictment's named Kenneth Cheeseburger. You might be familiar with his work with the fake elector plot.
Speaker 2:
He's also how apropos, yeah, cheeseburger.
Speaker 1:
Jim Troupis, another guy who was in Kenneth Cheeseburger's orbit and also former Trump aide, mike Roman he's age 51, who also delivered the fake elector paperwork to Pennsylvania congressman Stafford in order to get them to the vice president on January 6th. He might be more familiar with Mike Roman for being the cause of the delay in the Georgia Rico case.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, he's the one that precipitated the.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, the hearing involved, yeah, and and her relationship with a special prosecutor on her team. But uh uh, they face one felony count each that is punishable by up to six years in prison and fines of up to $10,000. And to date that brings the grand total of fake electors or individuals charged in the fake elector plot to 18 in arizona, 19 indictments in georgia, 16 indictments in michigan, six indictments in nevada and, as of tuesday morning, three indictments in Wisconsin. And this is again along the lines of Cheesebro. Having faced seven charges in Georgia, he reached a plea agreement and then he began traveling across the country to the numerous swing states in what appeared to be an attempt to cooperate in order to avoid prosecution. People had been saying that he might have possibly reached some kind of cooperation agreement to escape indictment from the feds. But I typically feel like when the feds have cooperating witnesses, at least those who are co-conspirators, they charge them with something and had them plea out in order to get a cooperation agreement, similar to the Michael Cohen situation. So the fact that he's finally been indicted in another state outside of Georgia probably lends to the idea that he actually wasn't in a cooperation agreement with the feds. But I mean, I guess anything's possible. But it's just ironic, though, that, after traveling across the country and talking to prosecutors everywhere you know, then we had indictments in other states pertaining to the fake electors Arizona, for instance, and now in Wisconsin.
Speaker 1:
I'm glad things are moving along, but one key takeaway from this is people think that after last week, after trump's conviction in the the new york hush money election interference trial, they're like all right, well, that's it. You know, we're not going to see any more trials until the election. Nothing else is going to happen for the next five months, and I'm like that's not how this works, folks. Yeah, um. So while we might not see any of the other trials go forward in terms of like DC with the January 6th trial, florida with the documents case, georgia with the RICO case, it's still entirely possible that Trump faces even more indictments. Arizona is still an option, again. Wisconsin here is an option, we'll get to it later, but Michigan might be a potential venue in which he's charged with some kind of election interference.
Speaker 2:
But the thing is the fake elector cases. They're huge, but everything has been focused on Trump because he's not named in these indictments and these charges, so everything's that kind of been focused on him. So it has been kind of pushed in the or put in the background. As far as the fake elector seems like these are a big fucking deal, yeah, and they should be getting more amplification and, you know, a spotlight on them in the media.
Speaker 1:
Ty, that's why we talk about them, because no one else will but yeah, like, but they should be, you know.
Speaker 2:
But of course every everybody wants to just focus on trump, trump, trump, trump, trump, but not the grander scheme and all of his co-conspirators and and I think, like I, I really think about when people talk about j-stakes or, and they're like, oh, this was, oh, that was just these, uh, oh, it was, uh, oh, they uh were just exerting their first amendment rights, whatever bullshit they come up with. But I think it needs to be more amplified of the entire conspiracy as a whole.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, the massive scope, yeah, like the whole story yeah, people focus on trump to the detriment of all the things that trump had his hand in, and I think the way to talk about it is like you have to talk about the massive scope and all of these details but also tie it back to trump. Yeah, and I think so. One and one of the other things like to just know what he ever talks about is like, hey, man, you know, members of Congress were also involved in this plot. You know, like that part, like that part forging the fake elector documents alone wouldn't have been enough to get Trump back into the White House. If the plot has succeeded, you had a number of people who were aware of the plot in Congress, who, I mean, not only were involved in behind the scenes in planning of the fake electors, but making sure they got to Congress on January 6th in order for them to vote on the fake electors as opposed to the legitimate electors, in order to get Trump back in the office.
Speaker 1:
Like, when are those indictments coming now? I understand when we talk about this all the time, at least on this podcast, actually to. To be honest, I think I was the person who brought it up in the first place. Why hadn't Jack Smith indicted any of the members of Congress who were involved in this plot and obviously it was because you know the DC indictment was designed to be as sleek as possible. So, in order to ensure the highest odds of it going to trial before the 2024 election, no I mean I would, I would have started at least.
Speaker 2:
I mean I know there's 147 of them. They should have never been seated for one, but whatever. But yeah, yeah, well, that takes the seditious six that asked for pardons yeah, and go from there like why you need a pardon, and go from there like it's yeah, I think so.
Speaker 1:
Like, obviously, the idea with Jack Smith's team was get this trial all before the election. But I think they missed the opportunity to charge members of Congress and you know, of course, that likely would have delayed the trial until after the election. But that's where we're sitting at anyway at this point, given the Supreme Court and their ability to step in and kind of delay things at will. But uh, the opportunity they missed out on was cooperating witnesses. I mean, it's entirely possible if you charge a few members of congress and maybe you get one or two cooperators you've got.
Speaker 2:
You've got staff who were there on january the 6th frightened for their fucking lives, barricaded in offices like I mean it's entirely possible yeah, it's possible.
Speaker 1:
Some of them are cooperating, right, so?
Speaker 2:
no, I have to fucking lootly because I mean, these were you know you've got and I am sure I have zero doubt yet so many of them, you know, they, they get this job intern staff member, whatever. Like, oh my god, I want to work for this congressman, whatever.
Speaker 2:
And then that shit happened yeah, and they're like I didn't sign up for this shit, like I just I just I'm just was just trying to get my foot in the door, like on capitol hill. You like that would no doubt. I mean, if you can get Hope Hicks to fucking testify against Trump, you can get a fucking lowlife staffer to testify against Andy Biggs. Okay.
Speaker 1:
Well, so to take it back to the Mueller investigation, like I know, we weren't podcasting at the time, but you know I follow that closely Most investigation had been going on for months and come to find out, you know, like individuals like George Papadopoulos and Mike Flynn had pled guilty and been cooperating for two or three months before the information was ever even made public. So it's entirely possible that Jack Smith's team and, you know, mary Garland before him, have induced a number of cooperators and we just don't know.
Speaker 2:
And.
Speaker 1:
I'm not saying necessarily that that involves individuals who were like charged with sealed in diamonds and then ended up playing guilty and becoming there might just be witnesses, there might just be cooperating witnesses and not necessarily co-conspirators, but you got to think of just the number of hands involved in making sure all of this Like to ensure the scheme.
Speaker 2:
They thought that they had all of their bets hedged. Yeah, like, okay, we got the spring court here, we've got. They had the fake electors they had. Like they had all hands on deck.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, let's dive into that for a second. So they had the fake electors and they were like, well, maybe we can get pence to just certify the fake electors and that'll solve the problem. Boom, trump's president again. And then they were like, well, let's say, pence won't, he won't certify the fake electors, but he can decline to certify any of the electors because the fake electors offer him some plausible deniability and we'll just delay it out and Trump will stay in office after January 20th because we won't have certified any of the electors and they'll kick the election back down to the state legislatures where they had control. And they'll like they'll kick the election back down to the state legislatures where they had control.
Speaker 1:
But you know, if that didn't work, they had the attack on the Capitol to try to delay things indefinitely. And the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers had this plot to make sure that they occupy the Supreme Court as well. So not only could Congress convene to certify the electors, the Supreme Court couldn't meet to do business either, and they were going to surround the White House and make the supreme court couldn't meet to do business either, and they were going to surround the white house and make sure that trump couldn't be.
Speaker 1:
So they had like all these branching, these like branching plots to ensure one way or another that trump stayed in office like they still fucking failed yeah they're salty as fuck about that yeah, part of the reason they failed is because they didn't expect nancy pelosi um to reconvene at the joint session of congress to certify the vote on the same day, because they thought, once they had the delay they were like, oh, if we can put it off for one day, that we can put it off for as many.
Speaker 1:
And then pelosi got him back and got everything in order and she, like republicans, couldn't get enough of their cohorts to sign off on delaying the certification any further. But just like the problem with a massive criminal conspiracy when you have hundreds of people involved, at this point you've already got 60, 70 some odd indictments here, like there's so much fucking evidence, like there's too many people who know about the plot, so there's too many threads investigators can pull, and that's how you end up seeing this many indictments and we probably got a lot more to go. And as that pertains to Trump here, his legal challenges aren't over, they're simply just beginning. And it could be.
Speaker 1:
We could be in a situation where, when November comes and it's election day, trump is charged with crimes in all of the swing states that he needs to win. He could be charged in Georgia and Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and Michigan and Arizona, like all of these states that he needs to win in November. He could be facing a criminal trial and that's not good for his electoral chances. I mean, obviously we want the law to be executed, you know, faithfully, and not based on, you know, any kind of political bias, but these things do have a political effect and that's largely what we discuss here. But speaking of um trump's ongoing legal issues, I'll let you let you tackle this one, ty okay, the state of electors in michigan as part of that was a play on words examinations for six republicans whose names were submitted as fake electors in Michigan.
Speaker 2:
Captain Michigan State Police. Captain Darren Green said Friday that he had been interviewed Thursday by an FBI agent and two US prosecutors from Washington DC. Green was at the Michigan Capitol when a group of false electors attempted to enter the building on December the 14th 2020, to present their documents to the Michigan Senate. Green said that the subject of the interview Thursday was the fake electors, and we all know that Michigan GOP is a goddamn shit show.
Speaker 1:
In numerous ways.
Speaker 2:
Just prior to Greene's testimony, an agent for Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel's office testified that he had outstanding subpoenas or search warrants for information as part of an ongoing state investigation into the false elector's certificate, saying it's still an open investigation. The agent, Howard Shock, said that Trump was considered an unindicted co-conspirator but as of now, there wasn't enough evidence to recommend charges against him. He's part of the investigation but he hasn't been charged with a crime yet. Yeah, Michigan, yeah, Fuck off. Yeah.
Speaker 1:
Michigan Fuck off. So, more importantly than the state charges that Trump could possibly be facing, is the fact that we have just yet more confirmation that, while the feds haven't months here, like, what is Jacksonville doing right, everything's done behind doors. The investigation didn't stop once Trump got indicted Like it's continued. And what are they looking at? Well, clearly they're looking at the same thing. A lot of these states are this fake elector plot and the individual fake electors, probably the middlemen in between, who helped organize like the, the gathering of the fake electors to get the signatures, to have them certified. Like michigan was crazy. It was one of those states where the state law requires the fake electors to like have their uh ballots certified at the capitol, the state capitol, and they were like trying to sneak in and shit, and this, this, this particular officer who testified in this hearing was one of the ones who was like, hey, man, the fake electors are already here, y'all. I mean the real electors are what's up?
Speaker 2:
the michigan gop? The same ones where they had like a meeting with the gop and they kept out some people and a motherfucker was kicked in balls and then rushed in through the door, broke down the door, rushed in and like.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, that was somebody like to the ground and yeah, it looked like one of those world star videos from the Royal Rumble else, um, from, like, the royal rumble, like it was wild, uh.
Speaker 1:
But yeah, just you know, it's great to have some confirmation that the feds are looking into this because clearly, like as I was saying, there's so many people involved between, like, if the fake electors are at the bottom of the pyramid and trump is at the top, like there's so many people in the middle that no one's there's just been no attempt, it appears, to have investigated or charged or and like I don't know what the media is doing. Like, where did investigative journalism go? Like, we had all of those january 6th committee hearings that pointed out all this information about all these congress members who are involved. Like, like, no one does any fucking reporting. No one's digging up.
Speaker 1:
I can't believe how, in four years, we know so little, at least in terms of new reporting about all the co-conspirators. But I mean, I guess you know Jack Smith's on it at the very least. So that gives me some level of comfort, man, we just need some more progress on this. Like, the problem is with the 2024 election is the people who were involved in the 2020 plot to overturn the election are still in office and they're probably plotting some way to try and seal the 24 elections. So you gotta indict the motherfuckers to make sure that they don't engage in any more shenanigans, otherwise, like who knows what could happen in November.