Breaking News from Pod Save America - Trump SUES The American People In INSANE Move

Episode Date: October 22, 2025

Tommy and Jon discuss Trump's most blatant act of corruption yet, and the latest on Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner's Nazi tattoo controversy. Get 50% off your new system. Visit https://simplisafe.com/crooked. There’s no safe like SimpliSafe® Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thanks, yours too. What does RAV stand for anyway? To me, it's the remarkably advanced vehicle. Really? To me, it's the runway approved vehicle for its amazing style. What about remarkably adaptable vehicle because of its versatile cargo space? Or really admired vehicle? Oh, or really awesome vehicle. It really is the recreational activity vehicle.

The stylish 2026 Toyota RAP4 Limited. What's your Rav for? Breaking News, John. Donald Trump is suing us. Let's watch a clip to explain why. Because the New York Times is reporting that your legal team is seeking $230 million from your own Justice Department now in response to the investigations and to you. Is that something you want your legal team? I don't know what the numbers.

I don't even talk to them about it. All I know is that they would owe me a lot of money, but I'm not looking for money. I'd give it to charity or something. I would give it to charity any money. But look, what they did, they rigged the election. And as you know, we had in one case, 60 minutes. had to pay us a lot of money. George Slopidopidopoulos had to pay us a lot of money.

And they already paid, you know, they paid me a lot of money because what they did was wrong. And, you know, when somebody does was wrong. Now, with the country, it's interesting because I'm the one that makes a decision, right? And, you know, that decision would have to go across my desk. And it's awfully strange to make a decision where I'm paying myself. Yeah. You're not paying yourself, first of all. You were suing every American taxpayer for 230 million.

million dollars John like I maybe I say this too much but is this the most politically insane thing he has ever done you know what this story I saw the headline yesterday and it was doing too much so I didn't really dig into it

and I was like that seems shady and then I read the New York Times story and I got so fucking angry this is this is crazy I mean this is just taxpayer dollars yep and like you can charity for nothing right first of all first of all also for nothing because they

they just tried to hold him accountable for breaking the law. And now not even a court gets to decide this. He decides this. Yeah. So the first claim is damages, seeking damages for the FBI and the special counsel investigation into Russian election tampering, which did happen, by the way, and then possible connections to the 2016 campaign, which, again, I realized the Mueller report didn't like prove it definitively.

Paul Manafort went to jail. Paul Manafort went to jail. John Jr. had a meeting with a Russian lawyer where they were offered. for dirt on Hillary Clinton. Like everyone's memory holeing the reality of this thing. And the second complaint is from 2024. It accuses the FBI violating Trump's privacy by searching Mar-a-Lago and his resident in Florida for the classified documents.

But again, it was covered that were there. And it accuses the Justice Department of malicious prosecution in charging him for this. And again, according to the DOJ manual, settlements of claims against the department for more than $4 million. It must be approved by the Deputy Attorney General or, an associate attorney general. The current deputy attorney general was Trump's criminal defense attorney on these cases, but he's not recusing, obviously. Again, just so people understand how crazy this is, if this was a U.S. citizen that was suing the federal government because of a wrongful prosecution,

then either the federal government would say, you're wrong and we're going to court, or, okay, we'll settle for something. This is the president who is now suing his own justice department, the people and will not go to court because he will just settle with himself and his former defense lawyer turned deputy attorney general and $230 million if that ends up being the number will come out of the treasury and go into Donald Trump's pocket and then he can do with it what he pleases. He says charity. Yeah. And of course his word is bond.

Yeah. Very believable. So yeah, that's what we're dealing with. RIP Doge. Yeah. I mean, the corruption is. so brazen in Trump 2.0 that it's all just getting lost. Like the Financial Times reported the other day that Trump has made $1 billion in realized gains in cryptocurrency this year alone.

We have no idea, really, who's buying the Melania coin or the Trump coin, but we know that an investment company linked to the UAE bought $2 billion worth of a stable coin from Trump's company. And then shortly after they got access to top of the line, NVIDIA AI chips. What a coincidence. Yeah, Don Jr. and Eric, they're going around the world. They're making real estate deals. They're building golf courses with countries that want to curry favor with Trump. The official line is there's a firewall between Donald Trump and his sons and his businesses. But just the other day, Trump's on stage and Charmel Sheikh at the quote unquote peace summit. And we hear Praboa Subianto, the president of Indonesia being like, should I call Don?

Should I call Eric? And he's like, call Eric. He's a good boy. He's a good boy. But like, even still, directly exhorting the United States government for $230 million. It's like hard to wrap your head around it. There are thousands of federal workers right now who are not receiving a paycheck because Donald Trump and Republicans refuse to open the government because it would involve lowering people's premiums, preventing people's premiums from doubling, tripling or quadrupling. So there's people all around the country.

Millions of people are about to pay thousands of dollars more in premiums and their health care premiums. There's a bunch of people out of work in the federal government. and Donald Trump is going to dip his hand into the treasury for $230 million as all of that corruption is happening all over the world and making him and his family even richer. As he demolishes parts of the East Wing to build himself a ballroom. And then there's, have you seen the arc to Trump thing? I forgot about that. It's just it's too much. Very fashy.

Okay, so that's fun. In other news, John, Graham Platner has a new tattoo. For those who have not followed the story earlier this week, I interviewed Maine Senate. candidate, Graham Platter on Ponce of America. We focused the bulk of the conversation on controversial and or offensive things. He had written on Reddit several years ago. And then we played a video that revealed for the first time a tattoo on Platner's chest that his political opponents say has a Nazi affiliation. Today we learned that Platner has gotten that to tattoo covered up. So here's a photo. Oh no, it's an antifa symbol. So there he is. He popped the top for a main local news outlet.

nice of these folks who tweeted it said credited the main news outlet but i don't know which one it was there's the new tattoo here's the video we played on tuesday's pot save america episode that just gives you a sense of what the original looked like unfortunately we have to mute the audio here because we don't want it to get taken down because of copy-written music but he is rocking out to wrecking ball by myly cyrus can we sing a few bars or no came in like a wrecking ball um this is at his brother's wedding uh his gift to his brother and sister and law was to humiliate himself before their eyes and now apparently to mission accomplished entire world so um okay the tattoo resembles a totenkov a symbol associated with the Nazis

the old one the old one the old one the old one platter told me he got the tattoo in croatia back in 2007 when he was in the Marine Corps and out drunk with his buddies on a shore leave until recently platter says he was unaware of the extremist association his critics don't believe him earlier today one of his opponents Jordan Wood said Platner's comments are disqualifying so john we're pundits let's start with style over substance. Thoughts on the new tat? It, to me, seems like, first of all, I don't know, you know, I don't know the story behind why he picked that one,

but it does seem like I think he mentioned in the story, as opposed to getting it removed, which takes quite a bit of time. Right. Quite expensive as well. And he's in Royal Maine, and so this is, the best thing could do is just cover it up. So I think for a cover-up, you know, that's pretty, that's serviceable.

Yeah, it does the trick. I mean, nice nips. It looks like kind of an amoeba covering a baby dragon, maybe. I think, I think it's probably not easy or pain-free to cover up a tattoo that large. So they just kind of did a quick and dirty version. Yeah, I said this yesterday, but I'm out of my depth on all this stuff because I could never imagine getting a tattoo ever. It seems painful.

It seems like very permanent. And when it's not permanent, you have to go through and do this. So I'm not a tattoo person, but good for him. Good for you. This video is brought to you by Simply Safe Home Security. Simply Safe is the new way to keep your home safe. Typical security systems only react once someone is inside your home. Real security stops a crime before it even starts.

With Simply Safe, the moment someone steps onto your property, AI-powered cameras detect threats while they're still outside your home, and alert real security agents right away. To get 50% off your new system, go to Simplysafe.com slash crooked. That's simplysafe.com slash crooked for 50% off. There's no safe like SimpliSafe. It's notable that like Plattenor's tone has changed since our conversation on Monday. The takeaway from that conversation to me was kind of like he thought the comparison was ridiculous, that it was obvious that he was not a Nazi,

that he would never purposefully get a Nazi tattoo. But he has since said, you know, he wanted to get the tattoo removed and got it removed. So it's a tonal shift. As a communications exercise, I do think it would have been valuable for him to just have said he was going to get it covered up or removed in that conversation. So there's not a second news cycle, but whatever. Also, after we talked, Jewish insider report. reported that, quote, according to a person who socialized with Platner when he lived in D.C.

a decade ago, this person said Platterner used to say about the tattoo, oh, this is my Totenkov. Now, Platner's campaign denied the report. He said it wasn't until his political campaign started that he realized the tattoo had a Nazi affiliation or resemblance. So, look, it's been weird to sort of have us be at the center of this controversy, people talking about the show. I don't have a preferred, like, dog in this fight or a candidate in this. race. I really liked

Graham Plattenor when I talked to him. I'd like to talk to Janet Mills. Maybe she's a good candidate. Maybe she's not. I want voters to decide. It's sort of how it works. I think though the people asserting as fact that Graham Platiner is a Nazi are fucking gross and they're idiots and it's absurd. And I think we as a

culture maybe should require more than one data point before we lob that accusation against literally anyone. Maga, lefty, anybody in between. Let's pin it down before you call someone a Nazi. Yeah, I feel the same way. I thought a lot about this.

I listened to the interview. I thought it was a great interview. I thought you did a great job. Like, it wasn't a softballish interview by any means. That wasn't fun for him. You literally went through all of the Reddit posts. And then this, I found him talking about his service and what he went through in Iraq and Afghanistan and how bad it fucked him up, both physically and mentally when he came back and how he had to sort of build himself back up. I was in a dark place.

I just found that very honest and human and compelling. And but again, and you know, I said this yesterday on Tim's pod, like, if it comes to June, right, primaries in June, it comes to June and it's clear that Janet Mills is the stronger candidate, great. In fact, I don't know as much about Janet Mills and I don't know as much about Graham Platner. So like, and I'm not a fucking main voter. So who cares about me? But like I am, you know, I'm like interested in learning more about both of them because it's a whole race. on the tattoo.

I guess there's two stories you could believe here. One story is he either got the tattoo knowing that it was a Nazi symbol or got it by a mistake and then realized it soon after and just decided, you know what? I'm not getting rid of it because I like this Nazi tattoo and then has so far that we know of never uttered a word or a post even when it was an anonymous Reddit thread that's a good point that was anything expressing any kind of sympathy for not just Nazis, but any kind of fascist or fascist-adjacent politics. Or racist.

We just haven't heard that, right? So that would be strange, I think, to just have the Nazi tattoo and like the Nazi tattoo, but other than that, you know, you don't say anything. Or it's what he said. And even if the, and I don't know about the Jewish insider story about him and the Tune in 2012, but even then, I think what people need to understand, is this, and he's told you this, this guy never thought he was going to run for office. And so if you are someone who was a 23-year-old drunk kid, got a tattoo somewhere along the

line, it's like, oh, it's not, this could be a Nazi imagery. Like, first of all, I would never would have known it was a Nazi imagery, or Nazi symbol. Bad on me, I guess, but like, I did not recognize it as such until someone told me about it. And so like, even if he did that and he never thought he was going to run for office. You could imagine him being like, okay, well, this sucks, but it's under my shirt. I'm not going to, I'm not going to get rid of it. And I live in rural Maine, and I'm going to spend $10,000 on tattoo removal. Like, I just, I think the worst, the worst version of the criticism is just that he figured it out at some point, and he's lying about it now. Right. And I do think dishonesty would be, uh, that'd be a, that'd be a black mark for me.

Right. And if he, if he knew about it and he thought it was kind of ironically funny, like, I'm sure that's, you know, that's certainly something that could trouble a lot of people would be troubling to me. For sure. I too, though, like, I am mostly annoyed. Look, I don't know. Like, I don't know what the deal is. I wasn't with him in Croatia in 2007, right?

We can't like, I believed him. I found it very annoying that people didn't listen to the actual interview itself, clearly. And he had a lot to say about his military service and the way fighting in the post-9-11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan really. fucked him up. And I think that kind of candor is tough in a therapist office, let alone on a podcast with a guy you've never met in the context of a political campaign. And we all say we want that kind of honesty from political candidates, and then we hammer them when they provide it. And I think, well, that brings me to a column by a friend of ours, Jonathan Martin in Politico.

It was called Democrats keep falling for political fantasies. Will they ever learn? talks about Platner and the dynamic here and the race and the kind of like the party versus the outsiders. And I think I don't want to pick on Jonathan because I think he's one of the smartest reporters in the business. But I do think the column missed the mark because I think it's good for people to be inspired by political candidates. We should not mock that or scold that. I think to the extent that people are annoyed about this race in particular, they're focused on it because they care about it because it's really important that we win this. The reason people are annoyed about it is because the DSCC, the Democratic Senate campaign committee, controlled by the party in Washington, is thumbing the scale so hard. Like Schumer recruited Janet Mills, the current governor to run. And also the DSCC has formed a joint fundraising committee with her. So they're helping her raise money. So you really can't like endorse harder. And I think Schumer and maybe endorsed officially yesterday. Right. And so there's also a lot of rumors. And I can't confirm or deny because I've talked to people in this place. Like the DSCC is the one pushing this oppo on another Democrat.

and one who excites a lot of people who are young and progressive. And so I can understand why they find that gross. Big picture, like vetting is good. We'd need to vet political candidates before we get to general election. That's the point of a primary. I am not opposed to the parties pick and sides. Like politics ain't beanbag. We should talk about electability and focus on that.

But it doesn't feel like we learned any of the issues from Joe Biden about his age in picking Janet Mills. And it also just feels like, like you mentioned, just a minute ago, the primaries in June. Like, let people vote. Let's not declare it's over today because of a Reddit post and a tattoo. No one knows. At one point in J. Mart's column,

he says, like, oh, Democrats are always looking for a savior, like the next John F. Kennedy or the next Obama. But in reality, you know, don't be fanboys, be like discerning shoppers about your candidates. All of that could have been said and was said about Barack Obama in 2007. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Like, we were there.

I know it was a long time ago, it's like when we were kids. But the Reverend Wright stuff, like Reverend Wright went out there and said the chickens, 9-11 was the chickens coming home to roost and God damn America. And this was Barack Obama's pastor. He went to his church all the time. He was like his mentor. And what people were saying when that came out was like, this guy is done. And like maybe Hillary Clinton's going to win the primary and this is bad. And why are we going to risk this?

We've had George Bush for two terms and don't we need someone safe? And so that is very much, and I'm not like comparing the exact scandals at all, but I'm saying that kind of sort of outrage over an association or something in someone's past. It's very much been like a, it's happened before in Democratic politics and Republican politics for like quite a long time now. And I think that the, I think that the real question is like how you respond to those moments in a campaign. ends up being more important than the moment themselves. Absolutely. And I don't think we're done with Graham Platner responding to this just yet.

He's got an event tonight. He's powering through it. Yeah, I think like going right to a tattoo parlor and having it covered up right away is a strong start. Yeah. But I'm sure he's going to get questions at town hall, like tonight's town hall from reporters. There's going to be other stuff. So it's like how he handles it is a big question. Yeah.

Put some skin in the game, as they say, in this tattoo parlor. Yeah, look, the other part of this is just that. the history in Maine, like Susan Collins is kind of like a moderate sounding, moderate presenting Republican who votes with everything Trump wants, right? So that's why she drives this insane. We've tried running a moderate presenting Democrat against her name, Sarah Gideon. She got trounced. And I think a lot of people are worried that Janet Mills feels familiar. Now, I don't know if that's the case. I'm just sort of articulating the argument. But I don't think it's like a fantasy or delusional to try a candidate that is more inspiring and populist in the style of a Bernie Sanders.

Bernie Sanders lit something on fire in the political world in 2016 that has not been extinguished. And if that's where the base wants to go in a primary, I think we need to be mindful of not shutting down that process or scolding them or inserting the party's preferred candidate because that's what people rightly think happened with Joe Biden this past cycle. And like main Senate race aside, hearing Plattner talk to you about some of the opo that's being pushed on him, especially some of the stuff about his disability benefits and PTSD and all that. Yeah, basically people were saying because he swung a kettlebell in a video that he should not be getting disability benefits for injuries that he got on his back in his knee, I believe.

And pretty fucking offensive. And he was very angry about that. But his anger was directed more towards like, how are you going to get people to run for office if this is what happens to them? Especially people who are like normal people, regular people who didn't ever plan on running for office, which Graham Platner is one. Because we say we want outsider candidates who are more human than a lot of the politicians we get. Well, you're not going to get an outsider candidate with a perfect resume and who's never done anything wrong, particularly as we all get older and you start getting people who are. candidates who've lived their entire lives online. And I can hear some people being like, well, just don't have a Nazi tattoo.

I'm not saying that all of the situations are going to be like that. But if it's not a Nazi tattoo, if it's not a Reddit post, it's something else. It's some video you have. It's something that you set online. It's like all of it's out there for all these people. And if we're going to get real outsider candidates, they're going to be not completely polished and perfect in their ideology, in their positions, in the things they've set. And maybe that's really, really bad.

career ending for them, or maybe they're Donald Trump, who is elected president of the United States three times. Just kidding, just only two. And I don't want like a Biden related, didn't steal that one. Right. And I don't want a Trump for our side. Like, I want someone who's like, good in their, good in their soul and honest. I want a winner.

But like, nothing about what Platner's done so far makes me, you know, definitively believe that he's not a good person or not, or at the very least, not a person who has had growth and throughout his life. And again, like, you know, I could end up. importing mills on this, you know, even in the primary. But I'm just saying, like, it bugs me on a level that's not Graham Platner related. Yeah, I just find it, you know, there's a very annoying kind of archetype of a D.C. insider person who tweets about politics from their couch in Washington.

It's like, I don't know what main voters want. I don't think they do either. We'll find out in June. Yeah, I'm not certain about this. Let them vote. But a lot of other people seem very certain. So, so certain. It's like, guys, we're crazy.

Haven't we learned the lesson here? Remember when we all said Donald Trump could never win that Republican primary? and they could never win a general election. And that Joe Biden was the obvious candidate we should run on. Who's going to challenge him? And he is this winning record. And look at the midterms. Yeah.

So anyway, Jonathan Martin, great reporter. I think you whiffed on this one. Poor James Talleyco catching strace in that piece too. And Beto of poor Beto always. Beto, wonderful man, by the way, who's been like working on doing grassroots organizing ever since 2018. I also think it kind of with a guy like Beto kind of misses the obvious point, which is running in Texas is really hard.

And he ran hard and he did not succeed. Period. Like Amy McGrath, similar thing. Trying to defeat Mitch McConnell in Kentucky is really hard. Now, are there legitimate criticisms of candidates like that kind of sucking up grassroots money that could have been better used elsewhere? Absolutely. And we've made them. And we've made them, which is why we have a Senate fund at the time that was trying to steer money away from Amy McGrath into states where we were more likely to win those Senate races. But anyway, I don't know that this story's over.

I do not think Graham Platner's dropping out. I think he's going to fight his way to June. and we'll see if we're still talking about this then. I kind of think they'll be on to new things. New Apo. Possibly. We'll find out. Possibly.

Since it's, you know, every news cycles last about an hour or two now. About eight seconds. Donald Trump is suing all of us for $230 million. Okay, thank you for watching this episode of Potsave America here on YouTube. Please subscribe to our YouTube channel. We are trying to build a progressive media empire and beat back the right-wing forces of Ben Shapiro's, the Johnson's Benny, all those goobers. And when you subscribe, it really helps.

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