Breaking News from Pod Save America - Trump Hit with TERRIBLE NEWS Moments Before Republican Midterm Convention

Episode Date: September 9, 2026

Trump gets terrible news just as his Republican Midterm Convention kicks off. Plus, Jeanine Pirro loses her cool with reporters at a wild press conference. Tommy Vietor and Brian Tyler Cohen break down the latest. Get your free, 30-second personalized assessment TODAY at https://PDSDebt.com/rank Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Great news. The federal EV rebate is back. Eligible customers get up to $5,000 with the federal EVAP rebate on select 2027 volt and 2026 Equinox EV models. Visit your local Chevrolet dealer today for more details. Brian, the Republicans are about to begin their midterm political convention in Dallas. And here is CNN's polling expert Harry Enten explaining why it might be a terrible idea. You know, this idea is so ill-conceived. You can just see it by the fact that they're doing it when the football season.

is starting. Who does that? My God. 60% of Democrats are extremely motivated to vote. 59% of that hardcore Trump-based MAGA Republicans, 59% of them, the same as the Dembs. The ones who are not motivated to vote are the non-Maga Republicans, the people who are far less likely to prove Donald Trump, the people who think that Donald Trump's Republican Party

probably this should be the end of it. That's where the problem is. It's like, oh, let's focus in on Donald Trump. But in fact, the people who are the least motivated to vote are the folks who are the most likely, within the Republican Party to disapprove of Donald Trump. So no, it is not, in fact, the hardcore Republican base that needs that motivation.

It is other folks that this convention simply won't be reaching because they'll probably be watching football like most Americans. So right. Lizards might be thinking, don't we only have to suffer through endless political conventions once every four years? Yes, normally. But when the world's biggest narcissist is the head

of a Republican Party, you have a midterm convention that's two days long, where he's speaks twice. I'm like struggling to decide whether this is just irrelevant. No one is going to watch. No one decided voters will care or whether it could actively hurt Republicans in the midterms because Trump's approval is so far underwater. Do you have a theory of the case here? I think it is both of those things. I think it won't help, but it can be neutral or it could hurt the people who are tying themselves to Trump at the exact moment when they want to be running away from the guy. So there are a bunch of reasons that this is a bad idea.

As Harry Anton explained, we're going up against the, like, the opening game of the NFL season. Patriots Seahawks tonight. On Wednesday night, which is weird. It is weird. And there's a Thursday night game. There's a Thursday night game. There's a ton of Sunday night games. And then, of course, there's Monday night football.

And if you look at the list of, sorry to catch it, but if you look at the list of, like, top-rated 50-100 broadcasts every single year, it's all football games. It's all NFL games with, like, a couple other things sprinkled in between. So this is like a huge event, viewing event to go against, like the opening of the NFL season. Correct. So you've got that. You've got the fact that a lot of these Republican candidates had to pay for the privilege of being able to walk in the door. A lot of money. Trump has like $450 million fucking dollars that he won't spend on anybody. But you have candidates who cannot raise money if their lives depended on it, who can't get earned media if their lives depended on it, scrounge together what cash they can in their small districts in God's. knows where USA. And then they have to give Donald Trump and the RNC like $25,000 to $100,000 just to be there so that they could, again, align themselves with the guy who has a 33% approval rating. So there's that. There's the fact that we're less than two months out from the midterms

and these people should be on the campaign trail talking to their actual voters, not genuflecting at the altar of Trump. And then, of course, as I alluded to before, this is basically going to be a Trump worship fest at a time where his approval rating is so low that the only only thing these candidates should be doing is figuring out ways to distance themselves from the guy who is responsible for launching a trade war that sent the cost of everything surging, engaging in a foreign war after promising no new wars, and suppressing all of the Epstein files because he's named in them tens of thousands of times. And yet, here we are. It is, it's so delicious. Also, when they first announced this thing, he was going to speak on

one night and J.D. Vance was going to keynote the second night. Oh, no, can't have that. It's so funny that he is now keynoting, like, de facto both nights. Yeah, look, I think you're right. Look, it is, the event is happening in Texas where there is one of the biggest, most closely watched and targeted Senate races. I mean, look, even the fact that they're doing it in Texas is a tacit admission that they're in big trouble. Like, there is no world where the Republican should be holding an emergency convention

just unto itself, but an emergency convention in, like, their big red bastion. Not a famous, not a swing state for a while. But again, like, there's a poll out today that has Trump nine points underwater in Iowa. That is a state he won by 13 points in 2020. All right, Ann Seltzer. We've been here before. No, nine points on the right. Like, if he, that is a signal that he's an anchor around the neck of like all these candidates.

And so, like, the case for Republicans is there are a bunch of voters who are Trump fans. They don't turn out in the midterms. Maybe this crap will motivate them, motivate the base to turn out. I think that... Yeah, nothing says non-political viewership, like, going up against, you know, the Seahawks. Yeah, look, I think that political partisans and obsessives and junkies are the people who watch conventions. Now, it gets clipped up and shared on TikTok. Like, right, there's a million other ways we're consuming content.

These days, I don't want to sound like this is some, like, 1980s view of what a convention is. But mostly, I think that normies are going to be focused on anything else in their lives, the NFL, their families, whatever. and they'll be pissed that gas prices are up again. Like the price of Brent crude hit $97 today. And there was a massive like volley of missiles fired between the Iranians and the U.S. last night. Like all the things that Trump would want to kind of calm down in ahead of the midterms are getting worse.

And this dumb convention is not going to solve that problem. Right. It's only going to, it's going to inject them right into the front and center of the zeitgeist because, I mean, he is the person responsible. His administration and his White House is responsible for doing all of these things. so it's only going to increase coverage of the very things that Trump wants to, wants to, you know, should want to suppress five minutes before an election. Yep.

By the way, if you want to get news and analysis from people that will never make you suffer through two-day-long conventions, please subscribe to Pod Save America here on YouTube. Please subscribe to Brian Tyler Cohen's channel. We're trying to build independent, progressive media channels to help push back on all the right-wing crap that flood YouTube. When you subscribe, when you like these videos, when you share them, it really helps us grow. And it's free. so please do.

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relationship with his close personal aid, Natalie Harp. It keeps getting weirder. People watching probably remember the kind of Natalie Harp week-plus-long news cycle boomlet that was kicked off by Georgia Senator John Ossoff, like mentioning her name in a speech. He said Trump wants to travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace. And boy, did they pull out the fainting couches with that one. How dare you smear her? Republicans lost their minds.

Because remember that Natalie was one of the handful of AIDS that hid from Iran in the catering cart. She got a front row seat in that catering cart. Yeah, just right next to the salad. Not with the rest of the cabinet on the decoy plane. Next to the amuse-bush, yeah, while all the serious people, Pete Hegseth was on the Trump plane. That I get. Marco Rubio was like, okay, buddy, you're going to, you're the chaff that the missiles are going to fire it at. So the Washington Post this week broke the news that Donald Trump gave Natalie Harp a $45,000 cash gift.

The money was described on Harp's personal financial disclosure form as cash gift for holidays. Harp is a 35-year-old staffer. Her job is to just be with Trump at all times. Her colleagues call her the human printer because she follows Trump around with a printer and prints out positive news about him for him. Trump also gave $45,000 to a 31-year-old communications advisor named Margot Martin,

and then another young female aide named Chamberlain Harris, who is his 26-year-old executive assistant. And then Walt Nauta, who is the director of Oval Office operations. He got 20 grand, so he had a little bit of a come-down. He was a co-tebrose. I'm going to say there's, why is that one thing different from all the others? Ah, because he has the, because he knows where the skeletons are buried.

He's got the goods. Brian, that's all weird. Don't? I'll tell you what's weird is I, here's what I got from Tommy and the team at Crooked. Oh, no. I got a backpack. And meanwhile, Trump is, I do love the backpack. Trump is giving his, a nice slot for your laptop.

It doesn't know. Trump is giving his people. people, $45,000? $45,000? Yeah. I mean, look, does it surprise you that the creepy old man who is also named 38,000 times in the Epstein Files, is given out tens of thousands of dollars to his young female aides? It is weird, man.

Also, like, for what it's worth, Richard Painter, who is George Bush's ethics advisor at the White House, also a big Trump hater now, he said that the payments are probably illegal. They probably break the law because there's a statute that prohibits federal employees getting outside money, but then like supplementing their income. So who knows? I mean, the Post also said there are no other public instances of U.S. presidents giving staff employed by the White House large cash payments. Government ethics experts said they were not aware of any other payments on this scale

from a superior to a subordinate government worker. I think the story cites a fruit basket. Just me like the next one down. Who gives fruit baskets these days? I guess I've gotten one in my life. I mean. Yeah. It's good for it. Look, I think that the reason for this is like, who is going to push back on this?

Is Trump's DOJ going to do anything about it? Is Trump's DOJ going to investigate or prosecute? And so the statute of limitations is five years. It's five years. And I think that's what's important barring some, you know, I think everybody's just banking on this idea that they're going to get a pardon before they leave the Oval Office. But this is him testing the fence. And I think it's why we need some serious reforms so that because any inch they get, they will take. But it's like giving them $45,000 for what?

For silence, for something creepier. Like, it's just the whole thing is so weird. It's a famously cheap man, Donald Trump. Yeah. But he's also a famously pervy man. And most of these people, other than Walt Nauta, who is, again, as you said, his co-defendant, all of these people are just young women. And he has a history of paying off young women.

I mean, let's not forget that he started his presidency paying $130,000 to Stormy Daniels. And I'm not equating the two or saying or suggesting that he's done something untoward with Margot or Natalie Harp. But like, again, this guy has a proclivity or Walt Nouda. But like this guy has a proclivity to pay a lot of money. To make problems go away. To make problems go away. Yeah, that is. And you know what the ultimate irony of this is that just today, Janine Piro came out and was harping on the virtues of this administration fighting fraud.

I mean, she talks about crypto, which like the lack of self-awareness for the Trump White House to be beating their chest on crypto scheme enforcement. I mean, like, you would be surprised. Any less self-awareness, these people wouldn't be able to see their reflections in a mirror. Here's a go up, Brian. She said, if you know somebody that thinks they've got an opportunity that's too good to be true, they've been contacted by someone who's got in on the cryptocurrency, because none of us really understand cryptocurrency as much as we'd like to. You got to tell them stop. Do not send a penny. I mean, Donald Trump has bilked his followers out of literally billions of dollars.

Billions of dollars. And his meme coins, you know, the insiders had early access. They made a boatload of money. And all of the regular retail buyers got completely fucking fleeced. I think that they lost like 97% of their value or something like that. And meanwhile, you have Janine Piro out here, like, from this administration, beating her chest as some champion for fighting crypto fraud. And also, like, the crypto industry has poured like hundreds of millions of dollars into elections to support Republicans. They cannot be thrilled about these comments by Piro. We'll see

if she gets scolded for it. Hunter Biden's doing his level best to even the playing field here. Gross. How much slaptop did you buy? You were saying, you were saying just before we got on, half a million? Yeah, I know. If you want to turn $1,000 into $30, it's a great investment. Speaking to Jeanine Piro, here's another clip from the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. Genean Piro, let's watch. No, I'm not going there. Don't even go there. That's why I didn't call you.

You and I had this relationship, and I'm not going there. Anyone else? So, Brian, you got asked about the reflecting pool of prosecution. So I guess it's okay for her to try and prosecute an innocent man, a former Olympian, David Hearn, for doing nothing, to just try to smear him, destroy his life, before then finally having to admit that the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was falling apart

because the contractor did shitty work, which everyone knew, but now you can't ask her about it. Right, you can engage in a vindictive prosecution. You can try to take away someone's freedom, but God forbid you have to be held accountable for doing it. And look, she may not want to be asked these questions. She may not answer these questions,

but there are complaints already filed with the DC. bar. And so her law license may very well be at risk. So she can be all tongue and cheek about this and act all cutesy about it and say like, no, no, I'm not going to answer the question that you asked because I know what question it's going to be. But like, the reality is, this is yet another example of an administration official abusing their position of power to try and destroy somebody's life. And it's not even just. A random innocent person. An innocent person, a 67 year old former Olympian, David Hearn, but it's not just. Biking by the Lincoln Memorial and I'm swept up in this. It's not just him. I mean, there's, there's,

There's James Comey, there's Letitia James, there are, I mean, the list of people who have been targeted by this administration. Comey was, you know, trying to kill people with those shells. That is fair. Those seashells. That is fair. And I don't want to understate the gravity of what those seashells could have done. He sells, she sells. Sorry, sorry.

Continue. But, but like, you know, I just think it's so crazy how these people think that they don't have to answer for anything. for her, A, not to answer for it, but B, to think that she's being all cute and tongue in not answering, it just goes to show that these people view themselves as completely unaccountable, which is ironic because that was the very thing that this administration was predicated on when they were campaigning, that there were two tiers of justice and that there's a whole level of these elites who don't have to answer for anything they've done, and also this idea of a weaponized government at the hands of the Biden administration.

Now you've got the Trump administration doing all of those things, and it's a big joke to them. Every accusation is a projection. Finally, Brian, speaking of hypocrisy earlier this week, the New York Post reported that next season's Jimmy Kim alive on ABC will be its last. A source familiar with the situation told the post, quote, his contract is not getting extended, which means the show would end in May of 27. ABC kind of denied it.

I'll read this quote to you. This information is inaccurate in ABC Entertainment spokesperson said in a statement to entertainment weekly. Any reports about the future of the show at this point, point are purely speculative. Which is like the kind of thing you say when no decision has been made now, but you're well aware it's going to be made later. Listeners to the show, our viewers right now are probably remember that Kimmel was briefly pulled off the air last year.

He made comments about the murder of Charlie Kirk. That led Brendan Carr, the chairman of the FCC, to threaten Disney to threaten local affiliates to pull Kimmel off the air. It also comes after the late show with Stephen Colbert, was canceled by CBS after a ton of pressure from the White House. They basically danced on Colbert's grave, the show's grave, when it was over. So, Brian, I mean, do we think Kimmel is going to be another casualty of MAGA cancel culture here? It feels like we're trending in that direction. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, as you said, it was Stephen Colbert. It's probably going to be Jimmy Kimmel next. I mean, Trump has been really effective, to his credit, at kind of

ingratiating himself into the leadership of these networks at CBS and probably soon to be CNN. You've got Ellison, who is a big Trump sycophane who installed Barry Weiss and now look at what's happened. 60 minutes started hiring all of these right-wingers and you have all of these actual journalists who've come out and kind of exposed the extent to which Barry Weiss had her finger on editorial decisions. On editorial decisions. I know that we were talking about hypocrisy just a moment ago, but like all of the things that conservatives complained about when it came to liberal media and activist, like liberal bias. I mean, they're doing all of it in real time.

Free speech absolutist. Elon Musk told us that that was why he bought Twitter, and that's why he loved Donald Trump so much. And immediately suppress the accounts of any left-of-center content creators. So it's just like, as you said, like it's all projection. It's happening all the time. And so long as he's able to continue using his government, using the FCC, to block any mergers that are unfavorable to him and to encourage any mergers that are favorable to him and his political ideology, this stuff will continue to happen. And, you know, it's a shame. The only silver lining

is that viewership is going down because it's just, you know, linear TV is just getting less viewership, which again underscores the need for everybody who's watching right now. If you're not yet subscribed to this channel, make sure to subscribe because this is, this is where it's at. And as we continue to watch, not only viewership in linear TV decline, but also linear TV continue to get more and more right wing. It just increases the need for progressive media to get all the helping get. Amen. All right, well, that's it for us.

We're going to go watch 24 to 48 straight hours of convention, so I can't wait for that. That's it. And see you guys soon. See you later.