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00:00Welcome to The Beat, everyone. We're about to be joined by a Trump White House veteran,
00:04lawyer Ty Cobb, who has spoken out against this Trump second term, and we're going to get into
00:08that ABC News bombshell about what some argue could be funding another insurrection. The report is
00:14that the Trump DOJ, under control of Donald Trump, may move to settle Trump's lawsuit basically
00:20against his own administration, the IRS, and that Trump would use, many critics say, abuse this
00:28process to try to take over a billion dollars from taxpayers and use it to give to his MAGA
00:35allies, including people who faced conviction for crimes against the United States.
00:43That corruption is not an occasional weekend excursion for them. Corruption is all they do.
00:50First, it's probably illegal. Secondly, it's outrageous. And finally, it's corrupt.
00:55It's like watching The Sopranos and waking up and what is the scam of the day?
01:03Democrats wasting no time. They're being very aggressive. You'll notice different than what
01:07we'd see sometimes in the first term where they say, well, this is a report or it hasn't happened
01:12yet or yada yada here. They've seen the movie enough times. And while it might have seemed once
01:17unthinkable that a sitting president would want to hand out your taxpayer money if you're watching this
01:22in the U.S. and give it to convicts convicted of crimes against the U.S.
01:28I mean, giving it to any convicts would seem odd by itself, but specifically those who attacked
01:33the United States Congress and attacked police and put January 6th forever in infamy in American
01:38history that you would want to fund and pay them, which raises questions of why. I'll show you
01:42what Raskin says because it is chilling.
01:45Another watchdog group says it's like walking into Fort Knox and stealing the gold,
01:48taking the gold. The potential beneficiaries here include the people charged and many convicted
01:55for the Jan 6th attack. That includes people like this.
02:05I think about a traitor and he deserves to burn with the rest of them.
02:15If Pence came, we're going to drag motherfuckers through the streets.
02:19You f***ing politicians are going to get f***ing drugged through the streets.
02:33Yes, the people convicted of violence against the United States, against police, targeting lawmakers,
02:40calls to assassinate officials. Those are the people that under this reported plan would get
02:47your taxpayer money. There are many different ways this could run afoul of the law, but the
02:52problem, of course, is that the DOJ is the first line of the law. This would have to then be
02:56challenged in court, potentially held back. And the deeper question is why Donald Trump,
03:01who has no more elections yet to run, is so interested, so fixated on using or abusing a
03:07legal process to fund these people. He already freed them from prison, which remains one of his
03:12greatest scandals of this term. Some of these people were convicted of sedition against the
03:17United States. They were supposed to serve for over a decade. Now they might, under this plan,
03:21profit. And at a time of economic hardship, the Trump plan is to take money from honest Americans,
03:28from people who aren't convicted of anything, take your taxpayer money and give it to these
03:33convicts. Trump's slush fund could go beyond those so-called foot soldiers or militia members.
03:39ABC says it could also be routed to anyone else who says the Biden administration weaponized the legal
03:44system against them. And that could just be other people, rich people, connected MAGA elites and
03:49insiders in Washington or elsewhere who are tied to Trump. Because remember, if he's in control of
03:55this slush fund and it takes your money and hands it out, he could give it to Bannon. He could
03:59give
03:59it to others who were convicted of crimes back in that period of the law where the courts worked and
04:09there was accountability. If you ducked a subpoena or violated your obligations, you might end up in
04:14federal prison. So those people at the top could also try to get some of this money that Trump
04:19clearly wants to hand out. Giuliani, Eastman, Powell were talking about people who were supposed to learn
04:27their lesson and some of whom faced various types of accountability. There was a case in Georgia.
04:33There were disbarment proceedings. There were other types of accountability. Now he wants to take your
04:37money to pay them back. Lindsey Graham is another lawmaker among Republicans who's at time floated
04:45the idea that, again, by the way, this was knocked down under protest. So these things matter.
04:49Sunlight matters. But at one point you had Republicans saying they should also get paid with, again,
04:54your taxpayer money because their phone records were caught up or reviewed in a prior DOJ probe.
05:01That fell apart. But this looks like another end run around that controversy
05:05to try to get some of that money. We're talking about a combination of alleged corruption and very
05:10likely greed. Now Trump could also divert funds to other entities because while the ABC report says
05:16it wouldn't go directly to him, you have entities like Mar-a-Lago, which of course was subject to a
05:22lawful search. You have the Trump organization that has faced legal review. And you have a wider
05:28question tonight. And I'm going to put it to you this way before I bring in Ty Cobb.
05:37Think about what we've lived through. This insurrection was the greatest violent crime
05:44against the United States in modern history. The DOJ investigated it. And it was the largest,
05:51most sprawling federal probe in our history. And there was at one point accountability.
05:56Then Donald Trump started this term, freeing those people, including those who attacked police,
06:01which very literally put Donald Trump against police, against blue lives and on the side of
06:07the people who do violence against police, as long as apparently he thinks it's in his or the MAGA
06:12interest. That was already beyond anything we've ever seen. An anti-police, anti-law and order
06:19presidency, putting partisanship and an attack on democracy above America itself. Sounds stark, but that's
06:27what he did. This push to go further raises the question of why he doesn't just want these people out
06:33free roaming the streets, many of them, of course, former convicts, but why he wants them incentivized on his
06:39team with his money to potentially do what they did last time or do it again with more success.
06:48I want to bring in Ty Cobb, who, as mentioned, was a White House attorney in the first Trump administration.
06:53And Ty, this is serious. Jamie Raskin says this.
06:59It's an effort to refund what he calls a January 6th militia, and he says presumably to get them ready
07:05for the next round of battle. That's a serious allegation or concern against a sitting president,
07:11but do you think it's a fair concern?
07:14Oh, I think it's a very fair concern. I think Jamie Raskin is really a voice that, you know,
07:2010 years from now, 20 years from now, when people look back at this time in history,
07:24people will point to his courage and the accuracy of his observations. But yes, this is intended
07:32to basically give Trump, you know, $1.7 billion on top of either the $9 billion that Ted Lieu has
07:43a
07:43chart that he uses in Congress frequently to demonstrate how much Trump has looted America
07:48over the last 18 months or the $4 billion that the New York Times and the New Yorker,
07:54use as a figure of Trump's looting, you know, to basically facilitate the illegal aims and the
08:04rewards that he intends for his people. Seriously, the potential uses of this slush fund are intended to
08:14be as currently fashioned, totally opaque, not reviewable, you know, not something that the
08:23American people are going to see or understand. It's completely illegal and absurd. Keep in mind,
08:31this is a case, the case against the IRS is a completely fabricated vehicle for Trump to try to
08:40loot the Treasury. It's barred by the two-year statute of limitation. The statute involved
08:50only allows $1,000 per disclosure, per illegal disclosure. There's an argument that there may
08:58have been, you know, somewhere between one and 10 disclosures. There's no argument that supports
09:02the 10,000 or more disclosures that would be necessary to get him to $10 billion, which is what he's
09:09demanded. So it's really absurd. You've got a judge who, when assessing the case, had very serious
09:19concerns about whether there's any adversity here. This is Trump negotiating with himself.
09:24Yeah, that it's not a real case. It's not a real case. I mean, he himself has admitted that he's
09:31negotiating with himself. That's true. That's not a case of controversy. And, you know, there's no basis
09:37for an award here. The Justice Department has vigorous defenses. Last night, the Miki Curie,
09:44the lawyers that the court had reached out to for guidance on whether this was really a case in
09:52controversy, filed their brief, making it plain that there was substantial reason to doubt that
09:58this case could be fairly adjudicated between the two parties because there really is no case
10:05of controversy. And the court should ask some, you know, piercing questions. Clearly, in the case,
10:12they point to the fact that Pam Bondi directed her Justice Department to be loyal to Trump,
10:19not to the Constitution. Trump issued an executive order directing all government lawyers,
10:26all government personnel, government-wide, you know, preventing them from taking positions
10:33that were contrary to his opinion about the law. And his opinion about the law is he's entitled to
10:40anything he wants. And the Justice Department is falling into line. Todd Blanche, who was cautioned
10:47early on in the administration about the necessity of recusing himself from most things related to
10:52Trump because of his personal appearance on Trump's behalf previously in many of the criminal cases that
10:57Trump had, including the 34 felonies that he was convicted of while Blanche was his lawyer,
11:03was urged to recuse himself in connection with those matters. But he's now, you know, he's now the primary
11:10dealmaker for the Justice Department doing all things that Trump that Trump wants. So, you know,
11:17with Blanche as a co-conspirator, it's pretty clear there is no there is no case or controversy here and
11:22that it really is Trump just looting the government. Right. Looting the government, self-dealing,
11:29taking money from the taxpayers, which is bad enough and could be investigated. Indeed,
11:35if it's attached to other allegations, it's the type of thing that a Congress could impeach and
11:39hold a trial on and review the evidence. And if they refuse to participate, well, you can hold that
11:44against them because a Senate trial, which would be an option if the Democrats went back to midterms,
11:49that trial then deals with the government you have. And if you have a government that is basically
11:53unlawful and resisting, then you take the evidence as it is and you make that choice. And then you add
11:58to
11:58that this looming threat of them trying to fund and incentivize future potential violence to
12:05overthrow the elections. I mean, a lot of this is out in the open. Ty, I want to turn to
12:09another
12:10piece. So Ty stays with us. I'm going to give folks the facts. There's new ethics filings that show
12:14because some of the system does still work. They are required to release this. And they did that
12:19Trump has been trading heavily in the stock market, disclosing hundreds of millions of dollars
12:24and transactions, including in major companies. That includes securities and stocks in a tech space
12:30that obviously are involved with AI and other big ticket items that Trump oversees. Microsoft,
12:36which has a big stake in ChatGPT and OpenAI. They're in court this week as well on another issue.
12:42Facebook, Meta, Oracle, big purchases of Apple and NVIDIA. These companies have CEOs who also are
12:50very close with Trump. They've accompanied him to China and you can see others there. And to be fair,
12:55there are other administrations that have tried to build business alliances, advocate for U.S.
13:00commerce abroad. The financial forms, though, show the timing of what Trump is doing, that he or his
13:07people on his behalf, but under his name and money, seem to be pretty actively trading. You can see here
13:13NVIDIA. That's the kind of the big chip that's powering all this AI. You can see that purchase.
13:17You can see, of course, Tim Cook and others are very much involved with Trump this year. The
13:23financial forms show that he purchased that on February 10th. That was actually eight days before
13:28the company announced a big deal with Meta. Now, we don't know from the documents whether that's one
13:33of those many coincidences or whether all of these meetings and discussions give a clue.
13:38No one's alleging insider trading here, but a clue in terms of access, of mood, of information that,
13:44hey, this is a good time to buy or not. Trump also touted AI software maker Palantir on Truth
13:49Social, meaning he's using his public platform, which is mixed with the fact that he's the
13:55president, to promote a stock that he purchased. On top of all that, Trump continues to operate
14:03through himself and his family, crypto and other business ventures to a degree we have never seen
14:08from a modern president. Ty Cobb, do you view this as aggressive, poor judgment, but ultimately legal,
14:17so it's okay? Or do you view what we know, combined with the other corruption allegations against the
14:24administration, as something that should concern Americans about whether this actually goes farther
14:29and undermines our administration, our trust in it? Well, I think it does go farther, and I do view it
14:36as intensely criminal. It's not illegal at all. It's never been done by another president. There's
14:41never been a president who has had the wholesale absence of frontal lobe control and impulse control
14:50to avoid the kind of corruption that Trump does on a daily basis, highlighted most recently by the
14:55$1.7 billion effort. But yeah, and these stock purchases, highly irregular, you know, rarely in history
15:04as a president, you know, done anything remotely similar.
15:09Can I slow you down on that point, Ty? Sure.
15:12Because you're an expert, you've been a White House lawyer, most people haven't done that. You're reminding
15:17everyone that we don't usually have presidents actively trading in individual stocks just because they
15:24wouldn't even want to go near the conflict that when they're meeting with CEOs, which, of course,
15:28they may do, that there could be a conflict where their personal interest is against the public
15:33interest. No, that's exactly right. And let's go back to the $1.7 trillion case or billion dollar
15:40case that we were talking about, the tax thing, which we don't have cases like that either, because
15:45historically, every president has disclosed their tax returns voluntarily. You know, Trump is upset
15:49because he tried to hide everything, largely because it's full of the false valuations, you know,
15:56the fabricated losses that got him convicted of 34 felonies in New York. So he tried to hide all
16:03that. It came out in portions and, you know, from a subcontractor to the IRS, not from the IRS directly,
16:10but from a subcontractor to the IRS, which is a defense that is available in that case. And the same
16:15thing is true in the stock things. Usually you have blind trust. Usually you have, you know,
16:20total distance between a presidential, a president's purchase and sale decisions, you know,
16:27that he typically does not make it. It's, it's handled by either a trustee or, you know, family
16:32members or people that, you know, are not directed by him to make purchases. And the timing of these
16:38things, as you point out, is there are no coincidences when it comes to Trump already. There are no
16:44coincidences. Um, so when Trump buys a stock and then promotes it, you know, when Trump buys a
16:50stock and then promotes it, that's a desire. I'm only jumping in to say, and I'm only jumping in to
16:55say we, we value your expertise. So you're free to say that. That's, that's your view. He, you know,
16:59the government can respond in the news. We do more than coincidence, right? Uh, so I'm careful to say
17:05that. Go ahead. Yes, no, you're absolutely right. I mean, I'm not putting words in your mouth,
17:10but I'm just saying there really are no coincidences. When Trump says I'm negotiating
17:14with myself, you know, he, what he means is I'm going to take what I want. When Trump goes to
17:19China
17:19to get, you know, a deal for Boeing to purchase 800,000 planes leaves without a commitment and
17:27says it was a great deal. And they're going to have a bunch of, you know, they're going to have
17:30a bunch of disclosures about wonderful trade deals. And the farmers are going to be happy,
17:34notwithstanding the fact that under the last year in the Biden administration, they told,
17:38sold $27 billion worth of soybeans to China. Last year, they sold 14. This year, they're going to
17:45be lucky to, you know, sell seven. Um, you know, this, he's, he's ruined the markets because of his
17:50crazy tariff stuff. Uh, and, and the fact that we're shedding allies at a rate never before seen
17:55in American history, but he, so I'm going to continue to be, to fabricate the status of those.
18:01Yeah. I'm going to, I'm going to keep you, you mentioned fitness. I want to ask you about his
18:06mental fitness when we're back with Ty in just 90 seconds.
18:13Donald Trump's conduct has renewed scrutiny on his fitness, on how awake he is and on what many
18:20see as late night erratic behavior. He does off, uh, apparently during this meeting, you can judge
18:26for yourself since you see what's there, but that's gotten a lot of response. His late night
18:32rants are drawing scrutiny and the gaffes where he does seem to be rambling.
18:39Are you concerned about the president's mental wellbeing?
18:41Oh, a hundred percent. I don't know how anyone can see what he posts or watch him in any meeting
18:48and think that he's fit for office.
18:50We have strategic ambiguity. His is just all over the place. Um, it's confrontational. It's
18:57inconsistent. It's erratic. I don't trust that man to be able to cognitively make a complete sentence,
19:05let alone negotiate with China. I think he's seriously ill. I think Trump needs medical attention
19:12and there needs to be an intervention.
19:16That's some of the response in Congress where we see this is a mainstream issue as it was raised
19:20at times for the last president. Uh, Ty, your view. So it's not just my view. I in 2017, Bandy
19:29Lee,
19:29a well-respected, uh, uh, psychological professional trained at Harvard and Yale and, uh, highly regarded
19:37as the National Institute of Mental Health and 26 of her colleagues and other respected psychiatrists
19:43around the world posted a, uh, uh, lengthy, uh, art journal article, uh, commenting on Trump's
19:49malignant narcissism and, you know, the appearance of frontal lobe, uh, early frontal lobe dimension.
19:56The, the symptoms have only gotten worse. Uh, there, they are remarkable at this stage of the game
20:02and the wake sleep reversal is a very common symptom highlighted by mental health professionals,
20:08uh, when, when discussing Trump's cognitive decline. The fact that he's up late texting about
20:15excrement, putting means out of, you know, Democrats in the reflecting pool, which I see behind you when
20:21it was still a reflecting pool and you're in your graphics here, um, you know, before he, uh, has,
20:27uh, changed it. The reality is what he does late at night causes him to sleep during the day. Uh,
20:37and that is a very well known symptom of, uh, cognitive decline, frontal lobe dementia, Alzheimer's,
20:43uh, and, uh, and because he has no impulse control left, he's, he is, he is guided solely by his
20:52malignant narcissism, which everybody has recognized for years. And he, he practices only vengeance and
20:59greed. Now, uh, everything he does is about revenge and, and, and looting the government for his
21:07benefit. Hmm. Yeah. It's, it's striking. And you mentioned the late night posts, any public
21:13official, you could be a CEO of a company. If you posted 30 times at night, people would say what's
21:19going on. And if you posted the hate and the bile and the misinformation that you mentioned, uh, you
21:25might, you might be on review or removed by your board the next day. And we're in this, this strange
21:31moment where we talk about it, but there hasn't been consequences tie on more than one topic
21:36tonight. Thank you so much. Always a pleasure to be with you. I have a great weekend.
21:41You too, sir. Appreciate it. Uh, we're going to finish a break. When we come back,
21:45I have one of my breakdowns on why Trump's gaffe, admitting he doesn't care about what's going on
21:49in the American economy is haunting them in the midterms. And Che Comanduri
21:54as well. Coming up tonight.
21:59President Trump's approval has crashed. His own voters upset. You see it in polling and in moments
22:06like this, Robert Cleveland, Ohio Republican, you're on open forum.
22:12Well, I like to first say, I apologize to all of America and all of Americans. I was a diehard
22:21Republican. I cannot believe I drank the Kool-Aid. Okay. I am guilty. I drank the Kool-Aid of Donald
22:29J. Trump. This man is ruining the constitution of the United States. If you see all the corruption,
22:38the billions of dollars that the Trump family is grabbing, it's a, and he says, it's never about
22:43the money. It's all about the money. The lies, the lies, the lies.
22:51Lies, money, and the corruption reports. All of this may be accruing. The caller's not alone. 55%
22:56of Republicans blame Trump for these high prices. The war has really crystallized the issue. Oil is up.
23:03Fox News says Trump has now given this political gift to Democrats in a gaffe that has not gone away.
23:09This is a president who claims he can say and do almost anything, but admitting on camera he doesn't
23:16think about America's finances right now has not aged well at all.
23:22Mr. President, to what extent are American financial situations motivating you to make it easier?
23:28Not even a little bit. The only thing that matters that I'm talking about, Iran, they can't have a nuclear
23:34weapon.
23:34I don't think about American financial situation. I don't think about anybody.
23:41Yeah, that's the problem. Indeed, that is exactly what Democrats want to prove and show going into
23:48the midterm. So having Trump admitting it in real time may help them. This kind of moment that
23:54crystallizes something tends to pop. It's the kind of out of touch moment that nowadays we say
24:02it might go viral online. In the old days, we would just say it became something larger than a story
24:07or a moment in the news cycle. It can haunt a politician to their political core.
24:14He was skewered for seeming out of touch at a grocer's convention.
24:19He marveled at new technology that could read a shredded barcode.
24:26The New York Times said he didn't know how an ordinary checkout counter worked.
24:31I think still the fundamentals of our economy are strong.
24:35Well, you've been attacked, obviously, for saying the fundamentals of this economy are
24:39the fundamentals are strong. There's an ad out this morning.
24:43There are 47 percent of the people who have walked for the president from Ottawa.
24:47All right. There are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent on government, who believe that
24:52they're victims. It's a political earthquake in the presidential race, and the Romney campaign
24:56is in full-on damage control.
25:02Admitting that you don't understand what people are going through in the economy or that you think
25:0747 percent over 100 million Americans are just victims on the dole, or when people were suffering
25:14in a crash and McCain said everything's basically fine and strong, these things define them.
25:20Republican strategist Karl Rove warns that Republicans will lose seats in the midterms
25:27because of that dreaded word in American politics, malaise.
25:33It's a reference to Jimmy Carter, who also, like Trump, was very unpopular once people got a load
25:39of what his governing looked like against economic problems.
25:42That notorious malaise speech is taught in campaigns and political science classes as what not to do.
25:49Carter didn't even actually use that word.
25:53The symptoms of this crisis of the American spirit are all around us.
25:58For the first time in the history of our country, a majority of our people believe
26:02that the next five years will be worse than the past five years.
26:11Trying to push or lie people into thinking that the economy that you oversee is better than
26:16it actually is has often failed.
26:19Telling people you don't even care and aren't thinking about it is probably worse.
26:23Our friend, Cheiko Manduri, Obama veteran, says that Trump has a Carter problem.
26:30So, we'll be right back together.
26:34And when they went to the queen to tell her her subject had no bread, do you know what she
26:41said?
26:42Let them eat cake.
26:46Let them eat cake.
26:47It's the kind of gaffe that echoes across history, and Trump has done something like it,
26:52which turns us to a special day here landing on this happy Friday.
26:57Today, it's Che Day on the beat.
27:00You can tell because you have a picture of Che and the real Che, a veteran of several
27:06presidential campaigns, including Obama's.
27:08Welcome back, sir.
27:11Good to be back.
27:11All right.
27:13Do you see this as a gaffe that actually will extend into the midterms?
27:20Yes.
27:21I mean, if you think about this, you know, Michael Kinsley said a gaffe is when a politician
27:27accidentally tells the truth.
27:29And what happened here was that Donald Trump actually told the truth.
27:33He doesn't care about Americans' financial situations.
27:36He cares about his own financial situation.
27:39You can see how much money he's made in office.
27:41He cares about his ballroom.
27:43He talks about it incessantly, even in that clip.
27:45He talks about his triumphal arch.
27:48He posts pictures of himself on Mount Rushmore.
27:51He cares about his golden statue down in Mar-a-Lago.
27:55Those are all things that Donald Trump cares about.
27:58He doesn't care about the American people.
28:00And I think that what's important about this is that this is a key strength for Donald Trump
28:06and the Republican Party, the economy.
28:08Ever since the Great Recession, Republicans have had a superior advantage to Democrats
28:14on the economy.
28:16Trump has compounded that advantage because people do buy into that whole apprentice persona
28:22of him as the great businessman who can make deals, who can get the economy revving.
28:27And he did inherit a really good account from Barack Obama and then incessantly praised himself
28:33for stewarding it.
28:35That all helped.
28:36This particular gap, if you want to call it that, this particular truth that Trump uttered,
28:41goes right to his core strength and can turn it into a weakness.
28:48I know in preparing for tonight, you also had mentioned that there were moments when George
28:53Bush Sr.
28:54where he was trying to show care and it didn't work and that you saw a little bit of an
29:01echo
29:01there.
29:01Let's look at this and what history can teach us tonight.
29:05Just some kind of a useless exercise.
29:08But message, I care.
29:10We're trying.
29:12We need help.
29:14We'll have good.
29:15We have had and we'll continue to have, I think, sound and sensible programs.
29:21Check.
29:22Yeah, when people heard that, what they heard was message.
29:25I don't care.
29:26I mean, who actually speaks like that?
29:28But to be honest, you know, to be fair to George Bush Sr., that was just a clumsy thing
29:33that he said.
29:34Same thing with Jimmy Carter's Malay speech.
29:36It was very clumsily worded.
29:38It was poorly worded in that speech.
29:40What happened here was not a matter of clumsiness.
29:43What happened here was that Trump just blurted out the actual truth.
29:47He doesn't care.
29:48And, you know, somebody who doesn't care would do the exact things that Trump has done, which
29:53is inflict tariffs on on people, inflicted this Iran war on people, which nobody asked
29:59for.
30:00He says it was about national security.
30:02Well, you know, it doesn't seem like national security has improved.
30:04It's not a mission accomplished in Iran at all.
30:07And I don't see how it ever will be at this rate.
30:10And he didn't even care enough about what would happen economically to the country.
30:16And it's hurting Congressional Republicans because you can tell they know it's bad because
30:21they don't say, yes, let me explain.
30:24They just say, no, it didn't happen.
30:28Take a look.
30:30The president thinks about America's financial situation.
30:33Every time I talk to him, he's focused on affordability.
30:36I didn't say that.
30:37He's got a lot on his plate, including the war.
30:40When we get the Strait of Hormuz reopened, that will alleviate a lot of pressure with
30:44gas prices and other things in the economy.
30:48Jay?
30:49Yeah, I think congressional Republicans are living in a world or they want to live in
30:53a world where Trump is significantly more popular, where he's where he was just a year
30:58ago after inauguration, around 50 percent approval after winning the election.
31:04That is not the world we live in anymore.
31:05And I think one of the things that's really interesting about the way Trump has navigated
31:09this and Republicans have navigated this is that Trump has created his, you know, for
31:14the last 10 years, a reality distortion field.
31:17It comes from Star Trek.
31:18The idea you create this illusion.
31:20It's something con men are very good at.
31:22It's something that Trump was always very good at.
31:24Creating an illusion of success, creating an illusion where he alone can solve the problems.
31:29That field, the reality distortion field, is now failing.
31:33And there are a couple of reasons why it's failing.
31:35But I think one of the biggest is something you talked about in the last segment.
31:39Trump's own physical decline.
31:40He simply cannot deliver the message the way he used to.
31:46The illusion is simply not matching the reality that people are seeing at the pump.
31:51Yeah, economic failure met with message failure.
31:54Che, thank you.
32:01Americans are facing higher prices, this gas crunch, plenty of questions about how to hustle
32:06in these hard times.
32:07Well, our next guest is known as much for his artistry as his business acumen.
32:12A hit maker, Grammy-nominated rapper, entrepreneur, Rick Ross has really defined the hip-hop soundscape
32:17with anthems you know or you've danced to at weddings and bar mitzvahs, hustling, the boss,
32:22BMF, I'm Not a Star, the wider Maybach music series.
32:26He's celebrating the 20-year anniversary of the debut album that changed everything,
32:30Port of Miami, Florida boy, what's up?
32:32He has also led what has now become a really popular move,
32:36where brand-name stars launch their own brands and businesses.
32:39He's got a fleet of wing stops, the spirits business, a car show, a real estate portfolio.
32:43And here in Newsland for political junkies, I should mention Ross is an Obama-level artist,
32:50joining then-President Obama in the Oval.
32:54A great moment, considering that Ross has rapped, thought it was Obama the way I came through.
32:59I'm talking different commas from them lame dudes.
33:03That's the kind of Ross bar that, you know, sticks in your mind.
33:06In fact, they come up often on this show so much that we played a few to Ross the last
33:11time he joined us.
33:12You're one of our most quoted artists here.
33:15This is a little sampling of when we cite Ross to explain something happened in the world.
33:20Take a look.
33:21Was it not Rick Ross who said, I am flawed?
33:25Walking in the courtroom, sipping on a beverage, I know the judge, so I got a lot of leverage.
33:32Every day is another opportunity to touch the paper.
33:36Count the profits.
33:37You could bring them in a Nike box.
33:39Grinding in my Jordans, kick them off.
33:41They might be hot.
33:43Shoe box, no shoes in it.
33:45And the implication is there's drugs in the shoe box.
33:57We have fun.
33:58Even if it's a little meta to play Ross, our Ross catalog, to the extent that news shows have a
34:04catalog.
34:05Well, the boss is here.
34:06He has a new book, Renaissance of a Boss Notes from a Creative Awakening, and joins us now.
34:12Welcome back.
34:13Good looking, family.
34:15You look great.
34:16You feel great?
34:16Oh, man, I feel wonderful celebrating the book release.
34:20Got the book right here, the Renaissance.
34:21I have so much to talk to you about.
34:23But first, this is all about creativity.
34:25Facts.
34:26What does that mean to you now?
34:27Just 20 summers in the game and still being excited, still waking up, remaining creative, and actually contributing something to
34:35the game.
34:35You say to be creative, you've got to start somewhere.
34:38People think it's the other way around.
34:39Waiting for lightning to strike.
34:41That's not the way it goes.
34:42It's engaging in the process of creation that ignites the imagination.
34:46I'm curious how you apply that, because people look at you and say, okay, he's done it.
34:50He's successful.
34:51And you've got folks sitting around sometimes saying, someday I'll wrap.
34:55Someday I'll write.
34:56I've got a book idea, but I haven't written a page.
34:59What are you getting at there?
35:00The time is now.
35:01You can't postpone nothing.
35:03We have no time to waste.
35:05Not a day, not a second.
35:07Apply it all right now.
35:08If it's heavy on your heart, let's execute.
35:10You also write from the new book, Speaking My Dreams Into Existence.
35:14Facts.
35:14Has always been my modus operandi.
35:16I was dead broke when I started calling myself the biggest boss.
35:20And I love that, because your music is like this.
35:23Movies are like this.
35:24People watch Scarface.
35:26They identify with the star, with the rich person.
35:31Maybe not all of the worst parts of him, but we identify with that, and hip-hop does that.
35:35And so you were saying now, you were identifying success before you achieved.
35:41Without a doubt.
35:42I understood that I was willing to go to the greatest heights to achieve my goals, which is to be
35:49successful, which is to be a writer, an author.
35:52Whatever it was that I had ideas of, I knew that I would do exactly what it took, and even
35:58much more.
35:59So I began manifesting.
36:01I put it out into the universe.
36:03I'm the biggest boss.
36:05I'm going to have 40 cars.
36:06And MC Hammer, that's what I said.
36:10Here it is.
36:11Here it is.
36:12I was listening to some of the songs here, and we've talked before, but one I've never asked you about
36:16was interesting, because there's a toughness in your voice, the way your voice sounds, and sometimes in the way you
36:23deliver a message.
36:24And I wanted to ask, so you talk here in Marathon, you say, Judas was a politician made up like
36:30a Ronald Reagan.
36:31This is just a war on drugs.
36:33Tell me how you feel about it.
36:35And then you sort of seem to be challenging.
36:37I want you to explain what you mean.
36:38You say, black lives really matter now?
36:40Tell Emmett Till about it.
36:42George Floyd was face down as you all stood around it.
36:46Did your little FaceTimes?
36:48Left the neighborhood astounded.
36:51Who are you addressing there?
36:52What are you getting at?
36:53I'm really addressing everyone who's listening to the vibe.
36:57You got to join the fight.
37:00You got to join the struggle.
37:02It's like it came a time where, you know, some of the worst things could be happening, and everybody just
37:08want to FaceTime or go live.
37:10Let me get a little content.
37:11Instead of getting in the battle, getting in the fight.
37:15So that's deep, and we see that in politics, and we see that across.
37:18You can see that on whatever your politics are.
37:20Exactly.
37:20Exactly.
37:21That's pejorative.
37:22You're saying doing your little FaceTimes.
37:23You want to get clout or content on this, but you don't actually want to deal with the important part.
37:29No, you're not in the battle.
37:33You're not in it.
37:34Yeah.
37:34You want to stand around.
37:36I get it.
37:37Respect.
37:38I want to do a lightning round, starting with in a word.
37:40We'll finish some sentences, but this is just in a word.
37:43Too easy.
37:44Miami.
37:46Flamingos.
37:47The promised land in Fayetteville.
37:49Rich.
37:50Wingstop.
37:51Lemon Pepper.
37:52I'm pitting Ross Bangers against Ross Bangers.
37:57So you got to pick one.
37:59Hustling or BMF?
38:02I'm going to say hustling.
38:04Because?
38:05Came first.
38:06First.
38:06I'm not a star or MC Hammer?
38:09I'm not a star.
38:10Wow.
38:11All right.
38:11I just got to be honest.
38:13I'm not a star.
38:15What does that mean when you say, because I'm not a star because I'm really a hustler.
38:18So I was riding in L.A.
38:19I had my homeboy, Spiff, playing instrumentals for me, and I had the driver just ride me through
38:25the hills, show me the $50 million homes.
38:28But he showed me Michael Jackson's, and he came across one.
38:31And that's where MC Hammer lived.
38:34Damn.
38:35Stopped the car.
38:37Played the beat.
38:39Ten minutes later, the song was done.
38:40These are my last ones.
38:42Finish the sentence.
38:42Too easy.
38:44Being broke means?
38:46We got to start all over.
38:49Being rich means?
38:51We can't this up.
38:54Being a boss means?
38:56Shot caller.
38:59Real bosses know?
39:01Everybody depends on you.
39:04The difference between money and success is?
39:09Money you have.
39:11Success is an opinion.
39:15Wealth or respect?
39:18Wealth.
39:20Last two.
39:22Failure means?
39:24You bloated.
39:27Success means?
39:30Everything all right.
39:32Respect.
39:33The book is Renaissance of a Boss.
39:36Everything's all right right now.
39:37I really appreciate you coming in, sir.
39:39Thanks once again.
39:40True hip-hop head.
39:41Salute to you.
39:42Respect.
39:42The show always on fire.
39:44Thank you, Rick.
39:49We follow the news, and if you care about America and our civil society, you've probably
39:54followed a lot of what's been happening these last years.
39:57Tonight, I want to end our hour with a look at how that is also echoing in art, because we've
40:02seen these ICE protests that have really galvanized people in Trump's second term, and we've also
40:07created some indelible images.
40:09Take this photo.
40:09A line of California National Guardsmen who squared off, as you see, holding the top of the image against all
40:16of these unarmed protesters.
40:19Or a street beset by tear gas as an agent pins an individual to the ground.
40:24You see there in the middle, the human on the ground.
40:27Or two people separated by masked officers.
40:31These are photos of reality, but they also have become a type of art, because they're in a new photo
40:36exhibit,
40:37Tension and Tear Gas Fill American Streets, on display at Photoville, which is actually a free public art event.
40:43It's in New York, opening this weekend.
40:46The images tell their own story, and people can decide how to view them, and like all art, what to
40:51do about them.
40:52We wanted to mention that as we go into the weekend.
40:55Thanks for watching The Beat.
40:56The weeknight starts now.
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