America's Talking - Trump Surrenders on Charges of Trying to Overturn the 2020 Election

Starting point is 00:00:00 Greetings and welcome to American Focus powered by the Center Square. I'm Dan McAulip, executive editor of the Center Square Newswire Service. Joining me again today is the Center Square's Washington, D.C. Bureau Chief Casey Harper. How are you, Casey? Doing good, Dan. How are you? I am doing great. Thank you. We are recording this on Friday, August 25th. Casey, former president Donald Trump surrendered Thursday to federal authorities in Georgia, where he faces charges. He tried to overturn the 2020 election results in the state. Trump had his mugshot taken, the first president to ever have done so, and boy, was the mainstream media and a tizzy about it. If you've been anywhere near a computer on your phone watching TV, you couldn't miss the former president's scowl, head leaned down a bit, wearing directly at the camera. What do you think? Yeah, I mean, this is unprecedented. This is

Starting point is 00:00:54 historic. I mean, this is the kind of thing that you have to imagine. That picture will be in the textbook. You know, I mean, that's the kind of thing we're living through here. This is a former U.S. president being arrested and a mug shot taken. That's going to be up there with some of the, you know, most memorable images of American history one day, I think, at least for this century. So it's unprecedented. And clearly from Trump's perspective, they are leaning heavily into this trying to make Trump a martyr. They immediately sent out, you know, pictures of his mok shot to raise. money. They changed Donald, you know, Donald J.Trump.com has, you know, has the mockshot on it. And actually, this is pretty amazing, Dan. Trump actually posted on Twitter for the first time since he was basically booted off related to, you know, the January 6th. His last tweet was January 8, 2021. And he says, to all those who asked, I will not be going to the inauguration on January 20th. So because of his contesting of, you know, of the election and what happened to January 6. Two days later, he's basically booted from Twitter. And then when he was probably going to

Starting point is 00:02:04 be allowed back on by Musk, he didn't take him up on that. But 11, I guess, late last night, which would be Thursday, he posted a picture of the Mokshot. And it just says election interference, never surrender. Donald J.Trump.com. So he's leaning heavily into this. I think him going back on Twitter's actually a really big deal for the election cycle. But Trump faces almost 100 charges in four states. New York, Washington, D.C. and now Georgia. Some of those charges are related to his alleged work to overturn the 2020 election. Some are related to his alleged payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels. And then some are related to his handling of classified documents, right?

Starting point is 00:02:45 So these are kind of unrelated, different things that are all coming in at once. It means that Trump is going to spend a lot of this campaign season in the courtroom, meeting with lawyers. And it could, believe it or not, Dan mean that the Republican front rudder for president could end up behind bars even before election day or interestingly enough, possibly after. We don't know what will happen then if his case delays after the election and he is able to win. What would end up happening? Can he pardon himself? I think he will certainly try very likely. And then that'll kick off its own legal battle.

Starting point is 00:03:22 Yeah. You can't see me, but I'm shaking my head because this whole thing is just unbelievable. this is playing out. Of course, we've talked about Trump's legal woes and being the frontrunner in the presidential GOP presidential primary in episodes past. But I still can't get past the fact that this is happening in real time. It's almost like a soap opera. You couldn't make this stuff up if you were a Hollywood writer. Of course, if you're a Hollywood writer, you're on strikes. You're not making anything up right now. But just... Dan, don't give me an idea. Is a Trump soap opera? Oprah, I would definitely watch that. I'm not going to lie.

Starting point is 00:04:01 I don't know that I'd watch it if that's what you're asking, but give it a shot. Who knows? And we're going to have months and months and months of this. I think that did I, the prosecutor in the Georgia case wants to set the trial for later this year. One of the one of his indictments that trial has been set for, I think it's either April of May of next year. We are getting into the heart of primary season. He's a former president. He's far and away the leader in the GOP primaries,

Starting point is 00:04:36 according to the Center Square's voters' voice poll and just about every other poll out there. We've got another debate. There was a debate this week where Trump did not join, but he got huge audience on Twitter or X, formerly known as Twitter, his interview with Tucker Carlson, for a former Fox News host. They got millions of views. I don't know. It's just, it's amazing to me that

Starting point is 00:05:05 this is happening. And then, of course, on the other side, you've got President Joe Biden, where there's concerns about his age and his mental capacity, and he's facing his own inquiries and his and his son's business dealings overseas. If it were right now, it certainly would be President Biden versus former President Trump in a matchup. And just the storylines here are incredible. Yeah. I mean, just going back a little bit, that Tucker interview, Dan, in three days, and less than three days, it has 253 million views, which is insane.

Starting point is 00:05:48 I mean, blows the debate out of the water. I think what Trump did this week, oddly enough, is he secured the Republican nomination, unless him going to jail or prisons can somehow unseat that. But I think the debate didn't really change anything. And that mugshot, I think, is going to win him the nomination. People, I think it's just going to energize Republicans. He's already had it locked up. But something about that, it's like, in my mind, it's kind of cemented him winning

Starting point is 00:06:15 the Republican nomination. The only thing I think they could change it is somehow a dramatic prison sentence that convinces a lot of Americans that he can't run. But even then, I'm not sure that that would unseat him. So I think we're looking at the Republican nominee here in the Smokshot. It is historic, as you said. The debate didn't do anything to change it. There's too many candidates out there. They're a little too similar. You know, I think some have really grown their own name. You know, we talked a little bit about on the last podcast about Ramoswami, how he really rose, I think, in the Republican consciousness this and could be setting himself up for some running maybe in 2028 as a Trump 2.0.

Starting point is 00:06:55 I think that's a real, you know, possibility. I think DeSantis could also, you know, do a lot better if he wasn't in Trump's shadow right now. So, you know, there are interesting things happening down the road for the Republican Party as far as some of these candidates. I mean, I think Nikki Haley, former ambassador, did pretty well at the debate, actually, and she's a little bit more of a moderate option. I think Nikki Haley actually could beat Biden in a general election. but she's only polling at 4% in our Center Square Voters' Voices poll. So some of these candidates that have, you know, general appeal just couldn't win the primary.

Starting point is 00:07:31 So it is historic. I agree with you. I mean, 253 million views, Dan, that is, I don't know if people realize. I mean, that is, that's Super Bowl, you know, better than Super Bowl level numbers. Listeners of America in Focus podcast, you heard it here first. Casey is calling the GOP primary for former President Donald Trump before a single vote is cast. Might as well call off the Iowa caucus is the New Hampshire primaries next year. It's going to be Trump.

Starting point is 00:08:00 Dan, that's why the people listen because of my insight and analysis I can see into the future. All right. We'll pull this clip in a year. I'll pull this clip in a year and I'll ask for a formal apology. Well, I'll tell you what. Let's have a producer Cole McNeely of America's talking. Set this aside. let's bring it back up in a year, a year from now, the Republican Convention, which is in Milwaukee, where the first debate was, will be over.

Starting point is 00:08:27 The Democratic Convention, the Democratic Convention, which will be in Chicago, will be over. So, Cole, please put that on your calendar. Let's bring this segment back out after the conventions. We are out of time. Listeners can keep up with all of these ongoing stories at the Center Square.com. or Casey Harper. I'm Dan McHale. Please subscribe.

Starting point is 00:08:50 Thank you for listening.

America's Talking - Trump Surrenders on Charges of Trying to Overturn the 2020 Election

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