Witness the downfall of titans as we navigate through the latest tempests to hit America's elite. I'm your host, Darrell McClain, and in this gripping episode, we're dissecting the staggering $450 million fine against Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani's bankruptcy in the wake of a defamation verdict, and Wayne LaPierre's controversial financial escapades with the NRA. These tales of financial and legal woe highlight a seismic shift where accountability is no longer a mere specter for the powerful.
As the GOP faces transformative times, we analyze the ripple effects of Trump's primary triumph and Rana McDaniel's surprise resignation, shedding light on the evolving dynamics within the Republican Party. We'll also grapple with the haunting questions that service members carry with them, as they confront the moral quandaries tied to their roles in economic-driven conflicts. Join me for a candid exploration of these pressing issues, where we unravel the complex interplay between money, power, and the pursuit of justice.
Witness the downfall of titans as we navigate through the latest tempests to hit America's elite. I'm your host, Darrell McClain, and in this gripping episode, we're dissecting the staggering $450 million fine against Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani's bankruptcy in the wake of a defamation verdict, and Wayne LaPierre's controversial financial escapades with the NRA. These tales of financial and legal woe highlight a seismic shift where accountability is no longer a mere specter for the powerful.
As the GOP faces transformative times, we analyze the ripple effects of Trump's primary triumph and Rana McDaniel's surprise resignation, shedding light on the evolving dynamics within the Republican Party. We'll also grapple with the haunting questions that service members carry with them, as they confront the moral quandaries tied to their roles in economic-driven conflicts. Join me for a candid exploration of these pressing issues, where we unravel the complex interplay between money, power, and the pursuit of justice.
Welcome to the Daryl McClain show. I'm your host, daryl McClain, today is 227 of 2024. You are listening episode 393 Independent media that won't reinforce tribalism. We have one planet and nobody's leaving, so let us reason together.
Speaker 1:Let's jump right into some topics that are Going on when it comes to the American public Discourse. So a big thing that happened while we were gone Was that the former president of Donald Trump lost the New York fraud ruling and massive, massive Money was asked to be paid. So on yesterday, which would have been the 26, the former president Appealed the judge's decision ordering him to pay more than 450 million dollars in the New York Attorney General sprawling the silver fraud case against his business empire. So the judge author in Garand's decision early this month marked a stunning legal and financial blow to the former president, barring him from serving in a leadership role in any New York business for three years and and ordering independent officials to monitor Trump's companies.
Speaker 1:The decision followed a months long trial, after which the judge determined that Trump and Top executives for years conspired to alter his net worth to receive tax and insurance benefits. Trump appeal was expected because he and his lawyers have attacked the judge's ruling as a politically motivated and a manifest injustice. For days Now Trump has denied any wrongdoing. He's put out a statement which said we trust that the appeal Appellate division will overturn this eros, egregious, egregious fine and take the necessary steps to restore the public faith in the New York legal system. Now, of course, that statement came from Trump's attorney on behalf of Donald Trump, elena Habba. Now, with Trump's notice of appeal formally filed, the case will head to the First judicial department appellate division where the former president will seek to get the nine figure fine and other Pillowties tossed. The New York Attorney General's office declined to comment. The appeal comes after Trump's attorney sought to delay enforcement of the $454 million sum by 30 days to protect the former president's appellate rights. Ingeron's last week declined that and he said you have failed to explain, much less justify any basis for the state. I Am confident that the appellate decision will protect your appellate rights. Trump is also responsible for paying an additional interest on the stunning fine if it is upheld. The clock actually began with an entering the judgment and has been climbing by tens of thousands of dollars per day. New York Attorney General. New York Attorney Leighetta, james Democrat has Nailed the former president by posting an updated amount each day on X, formally known as Twitter. Now, while the ruling won't shudder Trump's companies, it would significantly shake up his organization and leave it in namesakes. Family business without Trump at its helm. For the first time, and Beyond the penalties against Trump, his two adult sons, eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr, are being banned from serving in leadership roles in businesses in New York for two years. The judge also expanded the authority of an independent monitor to oversee Trump's organizations and finances and impose fines against Trump's sons and top company executives.
Speaker 1:So in the same kind of area, I'm gonna jump from Trump to jump to America's mayor, rudy Giuliani and His bankruptcy.
Speaker 1:He actually found for bankruptcy and the really Giuliani bankruptcy he actually shows the Trump's ally Is drowning In financial debt. So really, giuliani's bankruptcy, spurred by a multi-million dollar verdict against him For defaming two Georgia election workers, have provided fresh insights To the New York mayor's finances. A federal jury in Washington DC in December ordered Giuliani to pay ruby freeman and she must A whopping 148 million dollars for baselessly claiming they engage in widespread voter fraud after the 2020 election. Now, days after he fell for bankruptcy and acknowledging the severe strain the penalty put on him and his finances, his bankruptcy judge late Tuesday Allowed the longtime ally of former president Trump to appeal the defamation verdict. But in the meantime, his bankruptcy proceeding has cracked Giuliani's finances wide open, shedding light on his debts and his overall standing. That standing includes Thousands of dollars in taxes and credit card debt and millions more he could owe to a voting technology company name dominion voting system and one cost, mark manic, if he is found to have defamed them as well. So that is uh.
Speaker 1:I find really Giuliani as Predictable in this to be somewhat sad and um and it's only just because, uh, somebody who was just a After 9 11, a very um sought out leader, steadiness and everything that happens, A major thing like that happening to his city and the resolve that it took for him to be out on the front with something the imagery alone, was something that he can't be unseen, can't be undone, and to go from that stature to become the person who is defaming and who has been now illegally found guilty of defaming two private citizens for engaging in, you know, volunteer work and what. And the problem with this is the reliable and the defamation angle is them saying it was knowingly defamatory. This is a fall of somebody who for a long time, was seen as kind of one of the backbone figures of the post 9-11 America. So so it's a really Giuliani he put that massive fine because he lost that case has now the power bankruptcy and there's a whole you know as they break down his finances, a whole thing about you know basically having to go through the same thing that everybody else has to go with the credit card debt, so on and so forth, and sticking with this theme of the chickens coming home to roost a lot of these things. It also has touched the National Rifle Association, as the NRA has stung by corporation verdict, tied to millions of dollars.
Speaker 1:And so, basically, a Manhattan jury actually found that the National Rifle Association's former leader, Wayne LaPierre, had used the group's funds to pay for a lavish personal expense, including vacations and luxury flights. So in a sweeping rebuke of the National Rifle Association, the nation's most prominent gun rights group, and Manhattan jury ruled on Friday that his leaders had engaged in years long of pattern of financial misconduct and corruption. The jury, after a week of deliberations, found that the group's former leader, Wayne LaPierre, had used NRA funds to pay for his personal expenses, including vacations, luxury flights for his relatives and yacht rides, and that the two other top executives had failed in their duties to the nonprofit organization. The case brought by New York's Attorney General LaHina James touched the uppermost echelons of the gun rights group. In addition to Mr LaPierre's, the defendants included the group's former treasurer, Wilson Phillips, and its general counsel, John Frazier, who still works for the group. The NRA itself was also the defendant and was found to have ignored whistleblower complaints and submitted false foulings to the state.
Speaker 1:The NRA found and did this misleadings and flat out. I see this as like flat out theft. People go to the NRA because they really believe that the government is enthroning on the Second Amendment rights and there's supposed to be this well-funded legal body that is always there to protect those rights, taking states to courts and state scourge etc. Instead you have this slush font of money being sent for prostitutes and girlfriends and family members and yacht rides and jet-flying and limousines. That's not what people, when they're sending that money to these advocacy organizations, state they're paying for.
Speaker 1:The NRA was founded after the Civil War to promote Markmanship and has been one of the most powerful lobbying groups in American politics, pushing for an expansive view of the Second Amendment rights and fighting any measure meant to restrain gun ownership. Its success meant the firearms increasingly defying the terms of American political debate and the nation's very culture. People began to regularly carry firearms and demonstrations and protests in the face of terrifying and daily school shootings. Children learned their ABCs along with how to hide themselves, and the steady drumbeat of bloodshed continued this year alone, as seen at least nine mass shootings, violence, and that is a violence in which four more people died, not including the attacker. Still, the NRA has suffered setbacks, defections and internal strife in recent years, even as debates over gun rights increasingly moved to the state level, with more conservative states seeking to enhance such weapons and liberal basins like New York trying to stem the tide.
Speaker 1:The decision in this suit brought by Ms James was undoubtedly a low water mark for the group, but another high for her. It was her second major victory in a week, following a judgment of at least $454 million, including interest, leaving a level against former President Donald J Trump in a civil fraud trial. Ms James said late Friday that the entire verdict was a major victory for the people of New York. For years, Wayne LaPierre used charitable dollars to fund his lavish lifestyle, spending millions on luxury travel, expensive clothes, insider contracts and other perks for himself and his family. Today, after years of rampant corruption and self-dealing, Wayne LaPierre and the NRA are finally being held accountable.
Speaker 1:Others found that Wayne LaPierre had mis-spent $5.4 million.
Speaker 1:He has repaid some of that but must still repay $4.35 million. Mr Phillips must repay $2 million. The judge overseeing the case will decide in a second phase of a trial whether a monitor should be installed to oversee the NRA's administration of charitable assets and whether Mr LaPierre and Mr Phillips should be barred from serving as officers or directors of any other New York non-profits, but the group will also get some benefit from the verdict because its non-profit fines paid by the defendants will be returned to the organization. The outcome will hardly be a financial penencia given to the NRA, but because it has spent tens of millions of dollars and years in legal fees defending this and other cases. A lengthy statement released Friday. Even the NRA put a positive spin on the verdict, saying that it showed it was victimized by certain former vendors and insiders who abused the trust placed in them. This is the year of redemption and retribution. We just have to reflect on what this means for the larger conversation when it comes to politics this has had zero effect, none whatsoever.
Speaker 1:The former president, donald Trump's strong grip on the Republican caucus has been spanking Nikki Haley in every competition they have faced, including recently beating Nikki Haley in her own state of South Carolina. I was surprised that Nikki Haley almost got a loss by 20 points. After she lost, surprisingly, the people like the Cokes stopped giving her money.
Speaker 1:Trump's victories over shadow weaknesses in his election bid the former president is coasting to the GOP nomination, but the trip has exposed some real obstacles in his path to winning back the White House. In New Hampshire, trump's easy win over rival Republican Nikki Haley masked a weakness with independent voters. South Carolina, trump trounced the former governor in her home state, but his win also cast a spotlight on the large swath of moderate Republicans who aren't backing him. Haley performed better than Trump in suburban areas that will play a critical role in November. She also did better than Trump with more moderate voters. Roughly 40% of Haley voters indicated their vote was plainly just an opposite to Trump, a sign the former president has to do a lot of work before the November general election. He's effectively the presumptive nominee, but there are still a lot of Republicans who would prefer somebody else. I think this is a challenge for him, said Alex Connott, who worked on Senator Marco Rubio's 2016 presidential campaign. Once we get into the general election and Republicans don't have a choice, some voters will come home, but in a close election, those voters are why Trump lost in 2020. I think it's problematic and striking how Trump has done nothing to expand his appeal since 2020.
Speaker 1:Trump won Saturday's California primary with 60% of the vote to Haley's 40%. He was. He had won each of the first four GOP primary contests and his campaign has projected he could win the 19 delegates needed to clinch a nomination no later Then March. The 19th exit polls reflected Trump's domination of the Republican base and that they underscored that his supporters had made their minds up about voting for the former president months in advance. But exit polls also show Trump's march to the nomination is unlikely to translate to a general election romp. So Haley performed considerably better than Trump and moderate voters, which likely is the most critical group in determining November's election. Haley ran even with Trump among colleagues grad, so I'm sorry that that's a. She ran Better than him among college graduates, another group Trump has actually traditionally struggled with. And oh, when it comes to the voter base. The former South Carolina governor also led Trump among voters who oppose a national abortion ban, which could prove problematic for Trump given his reported support for a 16 week ban and a procedure and his boast about ending Roe v Wade. Now, while Trump has argued, democrats were able to vote in South Carolina primaries. Exit polls found only 5% of GOP primary voters identified as Democrats. When he says this is the most united Republican Party, he's seeing it is the most united Republican Party, at 59% of those Haley voters said they're not voting for him. Mark Tissen, the former judge W Bush, white House officials said Monday on Fox News Haley has vowed to remain in the race despite her lack of a path to winning the nomination and her inability to win a single state so far. The former ambassador to the United Nations has argued it's significant that 40% of the primary voters did not back Trump. She went on to say I'm an accountant, I know 40% isn't 50%, but I also know that 40% is not a small number. Americans deserve to have a choice in the election and I have a duty to give it to them, haley said Following her loss in South Carolina. Now the Trump campaign has dismissed analysis of the primary exit polls that suggests he has any Breeds, any problems for him. They instead point to a general election polling that shows the former president ahead of president Biden In a hypothetical general election matchup at a national level in key swing states.
Speaker 1:Now, when it comes to the elections, especially on the Republican side, there's some. There's been a figure that we've been hearing about lately and that is Ronald McDaniels. Now, if you were paying attention to the Republican primaries, you actually heard Vivek Ramaswamy attack McDaniels and saying she needs to step down and they have somewhat blamed her for a lot of the losses that have been happening in the Republican Party since Donald Trump lost his reelection bid. Now McDaniels has actually come out now and said she is going to step down as the Republican National Chair Committee person March 8th as Trump marches towards the nomination. So the Republican National Committee Chair, rana McDaniels, resigned from her post. She said this on Monday and she went on to say it has been an honor and a privilege of my life to serve the Republican National Committee for seven years as chairwoman to elect Republicans and Gaurav Party. Mcdaniels had in a statement I have decided to step aside at our spring training on March 8th in Houston to allow our nominees to select a chair of their choosing. She continued the RNC has historically undergone change once we have a nominee and it has always been my attention to honor that tradition.
Speaker 1:Mcdaniels decision was not unexpected. She had reportedly planned to step down after the South Carolina primary Saturday and Trump had already endorsed his preferred replacement RNC general counsel, michael Watley. Rnc co-chair Drew McKinskey said in a statement Monday that he would also resign from his role in March. Trump has endorsed his daughter-in-law, Laura Trump, to serve as the next co-chair. I look forward to working with the RNC and President Trump's team to make sure that we win this November by taking back the White House, the Senate and maintaining our majority in the House of Representatives, mcickskick said. Mcdaniel on Monday cited the GOP winning back the House in 2022, the creation of the election integrity department and the pushing for Republicans to vote early as examples of success.
Speaker 1:During her roughly seven years on the job, she first became the RNC chair with Trump's backing in 2017 and won her reelection four times, including in a contested election last year, but her critics pointed to her lack of electoral success and questioned the party's spending. Her relationship with Trump was also strained as former president pushed the RNC to cancel primary debates and back him in 2024 and process instead. So Trump has coasted to victory in Iowa, new Hampshire, nevada and South Carolina and is leading in the polls and on most of the other upcoming primary states over his lone remaining rival, nikki Haley, who, as, of course, as we discuss his vow to stand the race, wattley and Lord Trump are expected to be elected as the new chair and the co-chair in the coming weeks, with the RNC members typically giving the presumptive presidential nominee the deference to put their own leadership in place. Top Trump advisor, chris LaCoussica, is also shifting to the RNC to oversee day to day operations. Chairwoman McDey-O has led our party with grace and vision and has been a true friend to me and the North Carolina Republican Party. He said of the statement, her leadership on election integrity, minority outreach, voter contract and much more will be felt.
Speaker 1:So anyway, a major question moving forward is whether the party will pay Trump's legal bills. If I'm a president facing 91 felony charges across four separate investigations and, as recently, was ordered to pay 355 million in the civil fraud trial, trump's campaign has fit millions of dollars on legal fees over the past years, leaving his operation at a significant cash disadvantage compared to President Bynes campaign. Lacatheta reportedly said in recent days the campaign would not ask the RNC to pay Trump's legal bills, but skeptics have noted that once the two start jointly fundraising, the money may ultimately be used for legal fees anyway. So let me just put this little small statement out here McDaniels fell like most Trump sycophants and allies will fall, do fall.
Speaker 1:All end up falling on the Trump sword because she was so loyal to Donald Trump that she actually stopped being using the name that she'd been using for years, which is Romney, because this lady is the niece of Senator Mitt Romney and for a year she was known as Romney McDaniels. But because Romney voted for the impeachment and he has been a constant thorn in the side of the what the labels and Biden labels and people label now the MAGA wing of the Republican Party, it was kind of embarrassing to her. It made her job a lot more difficult. So she, for sakes her family, tossed out her heritage in order to jump on the Trump train and she had seven years of a good run and now she will have to crawl back on when she came and see if the Romney part of the family is forgiving.
Speaker 1:You see, when it comes to this type of thing, whether it's vice president Mike Pence, whether it's McDaniels, whether it's Giuliani, whether it's Sydney Powell or even Tucker Carlson, staying loyal to any individual that the sole focus and purpose of them is to be loyal to themselves and themselves alone, is not going to end up in your best interest. And I'm just gonna leave it right there, rana. You know McDaniels and all the losses that have happened since Donald Trump lost. So the special elections, etc. Etc. Cannot solely be laid at the feet of organizational structure. The losses are because there are policy that a large you portion of the Republican Party in this iteration agree with, that a large swath of the American populace do not, and plain and simple. Whether the Democratic Party has an actual viable answer to the policy or is irrelevant because they're not selling anything that the people at this point has found repulsive, and that's the problem. The problem is the same fervor that people have when they like a Donald Trump is the same vitriol that is created on the other side and it galvanizes those people to oppose a Donald Trump. So the Democrats which they are trying aren't running on any actual significant policies per se this year, or they haven't run on them for a while. They are running against a specific type of individual and they have labeled them the MAGA Republicans to always have you thinking of Donald Trump and the visceral reaction that a lot of people rightly or wrongly have for the former president. And there's nothing Ronald McDaniel can do to be Trump's PR person and clean up whatever the vitriol people will have in opposition to him. So that's just that.
Speaker 1:Now I'm gonna talk about something very brief. Very brief because I found it somewhat disturbing, very sad and but I don't want it to go unignored and so I don't want it to be ignored. I should say there was a service member in the United States Air Force active duty and I want to choose my words very wisely here. He was 25 years old, his name was Aaron Buschel. Now, aaron went to a building and he set himself on fire. The last words that he said when he set himself on fire was free Palestine. He didn't want to know. He no longer in his. In his explanation, he did not want to be complicit in the killing of Palestinians at the hands of the Israeli government, backed up by the money that we even fund.
Speaker 1:To see the video was disturbing. I have been forcing myself to watch things like this and for several reasons, and I'll maybe do a bit of explaining on the backside, but I'll just say this this Soldiers Act is on the hands of the congressman who won't stop taking contributions from lobbyists and stop this genocide. The Soldiers Act is at the hands of the US government as much as the Israeli government. Now so many soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, coast Guard commit suicides because of some of the atrocities that they have to commit from combating unwanted wars and unnecessary deaths on civilians and rather than then getting a fire extinguisher, if you pay attention, the officer in the video pulls a gun on the man who is on fire. I am waiting for a narrative that he had a mental issues. Well, if you're watching what the world is watching, a lot of us are disturbed in our minds and in our hearts. Come November, it will be a very sane who will not be voting for.
Speaker 1:You know, the mainstream media and the West Wing try to spin this horrific death as an active duty member of the US Air Force sets himself on fire outside of the Israel Embassy in Washington DC in the US in a protest of the war in Palestine, in Gaza, this man has declared he would not be complicit in a genocide and, as you heard, as he's dying in one of the most painful ways that I could even imagine, he's screaming at the top of his lungs free, palestine, free Palestine, free Palestine. Now this was very difficult for me because, as a former service member, suicidal ideation is something that is real. It's a struggle with for me, for a lot of my friends. I have have had friends who have lost that battle, have given up and have taken themselves off of the chessboard, and I have had close friends of mine who've done it when they had young children and you leave everyone wondering why and thinking about you know, what could we have done?
Speaker 1:When you deal with something as massive as a war or a genocide and you take the weight of that war and that genocide, as I Me am doing this, that is an amazing way to put on your shoulders and it is sad, because I know that the death, the, the taking of one's own life, you know, is not going to stop the conflict in Israel and Palestine is not going to stop the atrocity. And then you have to sit back and starkly think this is us post, who lives matter, and I think the resounding Thing that we have told each other in our actions is no one, no one is safe, no one is important, nobody matters. The money, the money, and Don't get this thing twisted it may be about a little colonialism here. It may be about settler colonial societies, it may be about, yeah, whatever, you know.
Speaker 1:Uh, this is some some racial stuff, maybe about a historical narrative, but when it comes to the Americans Parts in this, it is about the money, the money, and that's what's funding these atrocities, and I'm deeply sad and that a service member who is 12 years younger than me Feels like he is responsible and complicit in this, when he's not writing the policy, he's not sending the aid, he's not casting the damn votes. Thank you for tuning in and I'll see you on the next show.